We continue in the book of Haggai today. We are looking at chapter 2 I originally said we are going to just kind of do an overview of these minor prophets But this one I've kind of settled down in like the book of Habakkuk because I think there are some helpful things for us I trust as we come to the Word of God here today. These are some books that we're not so familiar with, are we? So we're kind of dusting this book off maybe, and hopefully there are things that we can learn from this for our own benefit today. And some of the dates that we are looking at, just to remind us where we are in Old Testament history, One of the important dates is 586. This was the time in which the temple was destroyed. Jerusalem was overrun by the Babylonians and many of the people were taken into captivity. Many were killed during this very dark time in the history of Israel. The 586 was when that happened. That's a really important date as we think of the Old Testament. And the time that we're looking at now is after that. It is after Cyrus made a decree in 539. The Persians had overrun the Babylonians and they are now Cyrus directed by God is sending back a remnant of people back to Judah, back to Jerusalem to do the rebuilding of the city, the rebuilding of the temple. It's an amazing thing. God uses a pagan king to accomplish his own purpose. And so they return. There's a remnant of over 42,000. It's a small remnant, but they return back to rebuild the temple. But as we saw last week, there was a delay. And Haggai is ministering in the year 520. He gives these four sermons within four months. to direct the people, to encourage them, but to resume the building of the temple because they have been lax in doing that. They have put it aside because they've been concerned with their own things rather than doing what God had commanded them to do. I mentioned last week that for our students, they're probably glad to be out of school and they don't want to have a lot of history and so forth. But I was encouraged after the service, one of the young men, Benjamin, came up to me and he goes, Pastor, I want you to know I like this. I like history. I like learning. So that was a great encouragement. I had two great blessings this week, becoming a grandpa and having him say that to me. So, we looked last week at chapter 1, where Haggai, the Lord through Haggai, says, consider your ways. Consider your ways. Look around you. This was a wake-up call to them, because they were not doing what God had commanded them to do. They were being disobedient. They should have been building up the temple, but they weren't. And so there is a call in chapter one to consider your ways. Now we come to chapter two where I think we find here a second sermon that is given and it is a sermon of encouragement to the people in this task. The first chapter is dealing with their disobedience. The second chapter is dealing now maybe with discouragement. And we find this here in chapter two, verse one, in the seventh month on the 21st day of the month. This would have been in the time of October, and this would have been the time in which they are just concluding the Feast of Tabernacles. This is an interesting feast in the Old Testament. This was kind of like going on a camping trip. So the family would not work for a week, and they would build these little shelters, huts, and they would live in them to be a reminder of how God had brought them out of Egypt, how he had delivered them and brought them through the wilderness and cared for them and provided for them. And so they were reminded of these things in which God was with them and how he had cared for them while they were in the wilderness. You remember their clothes didn't wear out, their shoes didn't wear out. God gave them manna every morning. God provided for them as they made their way through the wilderness. but also it was this same month in which Solomon dedicated the first temple that had been destroyed. They would have been reminded as they met together and were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles that this was the time in which Solomon dedicated that beautiful temple that had now been destroyed. But in both of these cases, God had been with His people, He had been with them, and He came and His glory filled the temple of Solomon. And it was a glorious time. And now they may be wondering to themselves, is God with us? That was in our past history. But what about now? And we note in verse 3 of chapter 2, who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? There were some of these older folks that had returned from exile, probably in their 80s and in their 90s, and they could remember that first temple. They were the Ray Smiths among them. Ray Smith tells us stories about World War II. None of us were there, but he was there, and he can tell us those stories. Well, there were those in those days that were telling these stories about the glory of this temple. And no doubt for some of them, maybe it was very discouraging as they thought about it. How do you see it now? Hegai says. It's nothing in your eyes. I mean, they've just laid the foundation. But they've heard stories about the former glory of the temple. And in fact, when they had begun to rebuild back in 539 when Cyrus made the decree, there were those Debbie Downers who were those older people who were saying, you know, this is nothing. This is nothing like the other temple. And they were crying at this time. Others were celebrating and rejoicing that the temple was being rebuilt. But these guys were crying. because they remember the former glory of that temple. Now, that would have been discouraging for these people as they are beginning this work, that it's not going to be like Solomon's Temple. Things are very different from those days. There's just a remnant that has come back to the land. They're trying to rebuild. Where are they gonna get the money? How are they gonna do this? And it probably was a discouraging time. And hey, guy, and the Lord is aware of that. And here we find in chapter two, at this particular time that he gives this sermon, here's encouragement, I think, to lift their spirits, to encourage them. All they can see is that the former glory of that old temple is gone. It's in ruins. Nothing is like it was in those days. There's just a small remnant in the land. And he wants to encourage them. They may wonder, is the Lord really with us? Notice he says in verse 4, yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehoshaphat, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work. Notice this, for I am with you, declares the Lord of Hosts. I'm with you. I'm here among you. Even though the day is different from the glory days of Solomon, I want you to know that I am with you. And three times he says, be strong. One to Zerubbabel, one to Joshua, and then to the remnant of the people. Three times to be strong. It's one of the ways that in Hebrew you emphasize something by repetition. I want you to be strong. I want you to be strong because I am with you. And who is he? He is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord of the heavenly hosts. He is the Lord of armies. And so he says, I am with you. This is one of the great themes through the Bible, that God is with his people. And we see it from Genesis to the book of Revelation. When the book comes to an end, we find God with his people. They're in his presence. He is their God. They are his people. Today we look forward to. But here he is reminding them that he is with them. And this, again, is a glorious truth. And he says to his people, be strong, I am We think of the words given to Joshua. Joshua 1, be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. He's ready to go into the promised land with the people to overrun the Canaanites. And God says, don't be afraid, be strong. I am with you, Joshua. I am with you. One of my favorite verses that brings this out is Isaiah 41.10. And the Lord says this to his people, fear not for I am with you. Maybe you're here this morning and you're fearful. There are things that just overwhelm you and there's fear, anxiety. And the Lord says to his people, fear not, for I am with you. Don't be dismayed, for I am your God. I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. I am with you. May we take encouragement in that tonight or this morning. Galatians 6, 9, Paul writing to the churches of Galatia says, let us not grow weary. Let us not grow weary while doing good. And we can, as we think of the tasks that are given to us as believers in our own day and age, not building a temple, a physical temple, but ministering and building up the church of Jesus Christ. called to be holy, he says, let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. And Paul to the Ephesians says, finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. I am with you. Then in verse 5 he says, again not to fear, this is all according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. He's reminding them of the covenant that he made with them at Mount Sinai, that he would be with them. Exodus 33 says, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. As you go into the land, I am going to go with you. I am with you. I am your God. And so he is reminding them here, encouraging their hearts as they are called to rebuild the temple in some hard times, dark times. I'm with you. I will be with you. Do not fear. But the other thing that he encourages them with is what we see in verse nine. And he tells them, as you begin to build this temple, I want you to know this. Verse nine, the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place, I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts. Now, they were reminded by the older generation of the former glory of the first temple, the Temple of Solomon. But he says, I want you to know something, that this second temple is going to have something associated with it that surpasses that glory. The Solomon's Temple was a glorious thing. It was a wonder of the world of that day. People came from far and wide to see it when Solomon was ruling, to see Jerusalem, and to see the city, and to see the kingdom, and to see the temple. And it was a glorious thing. But here he encourages them as they begin to rebuild, know this, that This is going to exceed the glory of the temple of Solomon. And he is going to make it to be glorious. Back in verses six and seven, it talks about that he's gonna shake the earth. He's gonna shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says, the Lord of hosts." There's a debate about verse 7 as to what this is. Many have seen it as messianic, looking to the coming of Jesus, who is referred to by in the King James Bible as the desire of the nations. But there's a lot of debate about that. But I think what he is saying here is that God's going to shake the nations and he's going to bring from even the nation's treasures to rebuild this temple. Verse 8 talks about the silver is mine and the gold is mine and I'm gonna shake the nations and they're going to enable you to help to build this temple. And this has already been seen when Cyrus sent them back, he sent them with gifts, with money to rebuild. And then we read in Ezra 7 about Darius Darius says, I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God. Let the cost be paid at the king's expense. The king's going to provide the money to build this temple. Well, where does the king get his money? From people, doesn't he? So it says here, let the cost be paid at the king's expense from taxes nothing new under the sun is there so the king's expenses come from the taxes of those that are beyond the region he's gonna and force a tax among those who, some of them, the Samaritans who were seeking to hinder the growth of the building of the temple. And he's gonna now have a tax that will help enable them to build this temple. And so, what we find is even these Gentile nations, God's gonna shake them and God's gonna provide finances for the building of the temple. But I think there's even something more here. Isaiah has a lot to say about Gentiles being drawn into and coming to the God of Israel, coming to the temple as it were. That even Gentiles are going to come and they will bring their riches and they will serve the God of Israel. And we see this in the conclusion in Revelation 21. The kings and the nations of the earth shall bring their glory and their honor into this new Jerusalem. There's going to be this great in gathering of peoples from around the world that will come and will serve the God of Israel and they will finance the ongoing kingdom of God. So the latter glory is going to be greater. Now what is this latter glory? And I think in part it is that in this temple will come the Messiah himself. He himself will come into this temple that they are going to build. We have a hint of this in Malachi 3 verse 1. Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. There was a Shekinah glory that came down in Solomon's day in his temple. But this temple is going to have coming within its midst the very incarnate son of God who will be there, who will teach, who will cleanse the temple. But he himself will come into this temple of far greater glory, the incarnate son of God. And in this place, I will give peace. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ who gives this peace, who establishes peace through his death and burial and resurrection. And so here is this far greater glory that will be associated with it. And I think even pointing beyond that, he is going to be building a temple of his own people, a spiritual house of living stones that are being built up of which every believer is a member. And there will the glory of God be diffused through His people, as Paul speaks about in Ephesians 1, that we display the glory of His grace and of His mercy. So here are these discouraged people, many of them, and he wants to encourage them in this very humble situation that they find themselves in, in comparison to former days. He points them ahead. There is greater glory that is yet to come. God is going to bring in new things and God will bring forth his son as he has promised. And he will be the glory of his people in that day. And as we gather here today, and as it is our privilege to come to the Lord's table, we are reminded of the one of whom John writes and says, We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. I think we're going to end here this morning because it's our privilege to come to the Lord's table. But is this one that we remember the one who is clothed with glory, the very son of God. who has come to be near us. He is Emmanuel, God with us. God with his people throughout all the ages. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. And today we remember him. We remember the one who gave his life so that we could be forgiven of our sins, that we might have peace with God and the peace of God. We remember him today. If you're here without Christ, we point you to him, the only savior of sinners, who willingly laid down his life that we might be forgiven of sins and reconciled to a holy God through what he did at Calvary. As we come to the Lord's table this morning, I invite you to take the insert that's in your bulletin. We want to prepare ourselves as we come to the Lord's table today. We want to sing Behold the Lamb. We're going to sing the first three verses of this as we prepare our hearts to come to the Lord's table. And on the third verse, I'll ask those that are serving if they will come, and then we'll sing the fourth verse at the conclusion of the Lord's Supper. So if you will, let's stand together as we sing. ♪ Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away ♪ you.