We're going to read another statement of faith in Haggai 2, and we're going to read verses 4 through 9. This is the third to last book of the Old Testament. We've made major progress. Hear the Word of God. Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and be strong, O you people of the land, says the Lord, and work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you. Do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts." And all God's people said, Amen. Father, we thank You for Your Word. And as we study it, may You give us insights, even things that I did not mention as we're reading through it, that we might glory in You and the treasures that You have stored up for us. Bless this preaching in Jesus' name. Amen. I was once a member of a church that took on huge debt in order to be able to have a very attractive and welcoming building. And I will admit, it was a gorgeous building. But I was very, very nervous about the debt, and I disapproved of the debt that they took on. And there were actually quite a number of members that were fearful enough about this debt that they left the church, which of course added financial pressure for what they were under. And because this pastor had previously been regularly preaching that tithing is unbiblical, We really need to give out of love. He could not depend on regular tithes So he had to preach on love and he preached on love a lot You only love the Lord 10%? I mean, Jesus said we need to be giving 50% of what we own to others. And of course, it was a misapplication of the passage where Jesus said, if you have a brother who is naked and destitute and you have two shirts, yes, give him your one shirt, extra shirt. But that's a wild leap to go from a naked, destitute brother that you're giving 50% of what you owe to, which makes perfect sense, right, to going to say you need to give 50% of what your savings are to a very wealthy church that just had super bad stewardship. Well, they also preached from Hagia, I remember very distinctly, saying that you really ought not to be preoccupied with your own homes until our church is built. You know, what that church did is being done all across the states and pastors justify it by saying Haggai 1-4 does after all say, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to lie in ruins? Build a temple, then you can build your houses. And my response is, the church is not the temple, right? But anyway, one website that I looked at on Wednesday said the prophet Haggai should be the patron saint of parish fundraising. And I say, no, Haggai should be the patron saint of a kingdom vision. That's what he is about. Haggai chapter one is not about making the kingdom of God the top priority and everything else is outside the kingdom. You can do whatever you want with that. That's not the point. The temple was the symbol of God's lordship over absolutely every area of life. So yes, Haggai 1.8 says, go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified. But the application Haggai makes is that God's glory should be our passion, not our own self-seeking glory. God's pleasure must be what we seek, not our own independent pleasure. We must be seeking God's kingdom and God will take care of us with all of these other things when we put God's kingdom vision as our driving concern. That's exactly what Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you. And so, as we go through this book, I think you're going to see it. It's not a sacred-secular dichotomy. He is saying, this is a test of your vision, whether you have the kingdom. By the way, chapter 1, that's the main emphasis, is kingdom stewardship. And then that gets applied to the future in chapter 2. So, that's the way we're going to look at this. Now, sometimes I think it is helpful to get a little bit of historical background, and if you turn to Ezra chapter 4, I'm going to show what that background is. Ezra chapter 4, and beginning to read at verse 1. Now, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the father's houses and said to them, let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do. And we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here. Now, Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priests response seems almost rude when you don't understand the context. They're rejecting these people who want to be a part of what they're doing. They want to help them build this temple. But they understood two things, and the first was that the Samaritans were theological liberals who were trying to infiltrate and undermine. It was really a demonic desire that was driving them, and we'll see that in a bit. And then second, God was simply a mascot for them, not their Lord. Maybe if we do a little bit for God, He will then give us all of our desires, right? So they're not seeing God's kingdom as their passion. They've got their own kingdom that they hope God will get on board in supporting. So it's a totally different attitude. Anyway, the leaders say no in verse 3. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and that's just another spelling for Joshua, the high priest that Haggai talks about, but Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the father's houses of Israel said to them, you may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we alone will build the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us. Now when infiltration did not work, Then they begin to explicitly, very overtly and outwardly oppose the work. And that shows where their hearts truly were at. Their hearts were not interested in serving God and being stewards of the kingdom. Verses four through five. Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose. All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. So this opposition went from 536 B.C. all the way up to 520 B.C. when Haggai and Zechariah, the prophets, came onto the scene. So this is 16 years of opposition, 16 years in which the temple has not been built despite the fact God had told the people this is really something you ought to pursue. Ezra 5, 1-2 says, Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Ido, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. So Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedach, rose up and began to build the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them. Those two verses that I just read pretty much summarize the whole of Haggai chapter 1. And Haggai expands upon that. So let's take a look at Haggai 1 verse 2. By the way, English pronunciation can be Haggai. The Hebrew pronunciation is Haggai. Haggai. So you might find me alternating between those two pronunciations. Either one really is appropriate. So Haggai 1 verse 2, thus speaks the Lord of hosts saying, this people says the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. Now in this verse, he identifies himself as Yehoah of hosts. All capital letters, Lord is Yehoah and what a great name to stir up the post-exilic community. Yehovah is the covenant name reminding them that they were not saved to pursue their own interests. That's the way a lot of Christians think, oh good, we've got a free ticket to heaven, now I can go about my own interests. No, we have been saved to serve Him. We are in covenant with Him. We are bond slaves to Him, and we must be kingdom-oriented, whether we're brushing our teeth, building a house like the younger Jesus no doubt did as a carpenter, or engaging in admin work like Joshua I mean Joseph the patriarch did. Everything that we do must be kingdom oriented. And so the temple really is the throne of God. It's his palace. The throne was actually in the Holy of Holies, but it's his palace and it represents his lordship over absolutely every area of life. Marriages, food, whatever. So really, by refusing to build the temple, they were in effect denying His Lordship, but they were also making this division between the sacred and the secular. They were saying, look, we've got to survive, we've got to work on our own things, and eventually we'll get around to working on the spiritual. For them, they thought it was a matter of timing and priorities. And God said, no, it's a matter of focus. You have lost your kingdom focus. The rest of his name, Yehoah of hosts means Yehoah of armies. Even though they had faced formidable opposition from the enemies all around them trying to get them to stop, they should remember that God has armies, angelic armies that can back up his people if they are willing to obey him and willing to follow him. Now they had come up with spiritual sounding excuses. The verse says, the time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. So again, they're claiming it's an issue of timing, not disobedience. And with all of the enemies opposing them, hey, even the emperor is opposing us. This is obviously not the time to be working on the temple. When God providentially opens things up, yeah, we're going to get around to building on the temple. They planned to obey when it was feasible to obey God, which means that they were pragmatists, right? We have similar spiritual sounding excuses for why we do not obey God in many areas of life, politics being one of them. It won't work in our context, is what people think. It's not the right time to apply the Bible to politics. Why? Because people just won't accept it. We don't outright disobey God. We delay. We put it off to a theoretical future. We have spiritual-sounding excuses. But Haggai is about to show that when our focus is upon God's kingdom, nothing should take precedence over Him. Let's read verses 3 through 6. Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You have sown much and bring in little. You eat, but do not have enough. You drink, but are not filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Part of their prioritization had to do with time and money, and God was blowing away both. All of the time invested was lost. All of the money that invested was lost. And Haggai said when they were responding, hey, we'll get around to the temple when we can afford it. And he said, you got it backwards. The reason you can't afford it is you're not getting around to the temple. You're not obeying God. You're not seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So he's pitting his house against their house, same word, beit in the Hebrew. But he's pitting those two against each other because he's in effect saying that if you're not willing to obey me in the building of my house, it's extremely unlikely that you're serving me in the building of your own houses, right? It's a test of stewardship. And since they were not faithful stewards, he was not gonna entrust them with more stuff. Now, since we are not commanded to build the temple today, we don't have a literal temple, right? Let me give you a modern equivalent. We are commanded to tithe as a test of our stewardship, and interestingly, Malachi, who was also a post-exilic prophet. He uses the issue of tithing in exactly the same way that Haggai does on the temple. I've talked to people who have said that they would start tithing once they earn more money, once they can afford it. And I've told them, you've got it completely backwards. The tithe is a test of whether we see everything that we own as belonging to God. It's not an issue that God owns 10%. We own the rest and can do whatever we want with it. If we don't tithe, it is unlikely that we are stewards of the rest of our money, of any of the money that we work. And Malachi will bring the same message, saying that because the people refused to tithe, they were cursed. He concluded bring all of the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now in this says the Lord of hosts if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a Blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it. He's basically saying when you pass my integrity check, the tithe on finances, I will bless you with finances. I'll just pour out blessing into your life. The Sabbath is another test of whether we have a kingdom orientation. Now, last Sunday, Gary quoted from Joseph, Joey Piper's book on the Sabbath, And Joey Piper said this, Sabbath keeping promotes stewardship of time in the same way that tithing promotes stewardship of money. Both are simply tests of whether everything we own is being used as a stewardship trust for God. And so chapter one, really the essence of that chapter, is an accusation that these Jews were not acting as stewards. They were not seeking God's kingdom. They were building their own independent kingdom. They were centered on their own independent pleasure and seeking their own independent glory. And let's read verses 7 through 11 that gives his powerful message to them. Thus says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, but indeed it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why, says the Lord of hosts. because of my house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore, the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and on the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and in all the labor of your hands. So he brings this powerful message into their lives And almost immediately they repent they all repent and they adjust their attitudes and god's word Has a way of doing this. We read this in the catechism earlier today God ordinarily works through the preaching of the word and it has a powerful effect upon our lives giving us Enthusiasm to search building our faith. That's why we should be under the preaching of the word on a regular basis and so in verses 12 through 15, we see their reaction. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent them. And the people feared the presence of the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel. of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius." I'm just going to point out briefly, if you look on the back side of your outlines, you will see that this whole first chapter is arranged as a chiasm beginning and ending with a date. And when you get into the Hebrew, I put the Hebrew to the right of that. It is quite detailed and quite beautiful, the parallelisms that are in there. And I forgot to put Christology and the keys in your book, but yesterday I did put it onto the online version, so eventually it'll be there. But anyway, if you go back to your chiasm chart, you'll see that the center point of it is verse eight. Verse 8, seeking God's kingdom, God's glory, and God's pleasure. That is what should consume our life. That is what we should be passionate about. That's what should bring us the greatest delight. And this message of chapter 1 is not just to individuals. If you look at verse 1 of chapter 1, you will see this was addressed to the church and to the state. Let's read that. In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, so Zerubbabel was the governor of the state and Joshua was the high priest representing the old covenant church. And the point is that God's Word must govern all of life and all people. When civil magistrates are consumed with God's glory, seek His kingdom, take pleasure in bringing God pleasure, God will prosper the work of their hands like nothing else. But when, as they currently are doing, they're seeking their own glory, building their own kingdom, seeking their own pleasure, God can blow away the work of their hands. I mean, it gives you a totally different perspective on politics. It makes you no longer satisfied with conservative victories if God is left out. It should grieve us to the core of our being when God is left out of anything, even out of politics. So, we must long for more and more of God's kingdom and law and politics, and work for more of God's kingdom and law. And the same goes, by the way, for churches and families. Each government is accountable to live their lives to God, and so chapter one really is a call to stewardship for all of life. Now, you've figured out by now from Gary's sermons that this whole year we're going to keep bringing up from time to time the subject of stewardship, right? And I would really encourage you to take seriously some of the resources that Gary and I provide for you. But the temple was simply a test of whether they had steward's hearts. So that's the end of chapter one. Chapter two begins about a month later, and it would be another four years before the temple would be completed. But already a month later, there are people who were discouraged and who are giving up. And what's even worse, these guys are talking other people into being discouraged. They're just slowing down the whole work. They were old people who remembered what the Temple of Solomon used to look like before it was torn down. And they're thinking to themselves, and they're saying it out loud, oh, this is never going to be as good as Solomon's temple. And there's no way we could complete this anyway. Think of how long it took Solomon. And he was a multi-trillionaire. He had all of the money. There's no way we can do this. We are so weak. They came up with all kinds of reasons why they should not undertake this project. As Zachariah worded it, They had, quote, despised the day of small things, Zechariah 4 verse 10. And so Haggai has to prophesy in order to encourage these people, hey, your labors in the Lord are not in vain. Not only is this temple going to be an incredibly glorious temple in the future, but it's actually going to merge into Messiah's temple, which will be far more glorious than any earthly temple. This is going to be very similar to Ezekiel's merging from the literal temple of Zerubbabel into something that's obviously not literal. It's pointing to the temple in the New Covenant. But anyway, he's telling them their labors in the Lord are not vain. Now you'll notice that verses one through nine of chapter two are almost a complete chiasm. It's missing the second A, the date, but really the second A is simply the beginning of the next grouping. And you will see this frequently in Hebrew literature, that there's an interconnection between different parts by doing that. So there's a sense in which it is a complete chiasm. The two A parts, are the dates, but otherwise a typical chiasm with the glory of Solomon's temple in verse 3 being compared with the glory of the future messianic temple in verses 8 through 9. So you can see on that chart, the two Bs, verse 3 parallel to verses 8 through 9, the work of demolition, wow did they have a lot of demolition, and reconstruction for the current temple in verse 4 is compared to the universal deconstruction and reconstruction that the Messiah will engage in with regard to His future temple. So, verse 4 is parallel to verses 6 through 7, and that brings us then to the heart of the chiasm in verses 4C through 5. where God says this, "'Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says the Lord, "'and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak the high priest, "'and be strong, all you people of the land,' says the Lord, "'and work, for I am with you,' says the Lord of hosts, "'according to the word that I covenanted with you "'when you came out of Egypt, "'so my spirit remains among you, do not fear.'" If God is for them, they have everything that they need to accomplish their task. Now, Haggai's Fellow worker Zachariah gave very similar words, but here's how Zachariah worded the same comfort. It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. So both prophets are in effect saying, guys, don't worry about the fact that you're weak. Don't worry about the fact that this is an overwhelmingly huge, seemingly impossible task. If I'm with you, there is nothing that can stand against you. Are you willing to obey me even in the impossible things that I've called you to do? That's basically what they're saying. And he did do a miraculous work on their behalf. It's absolutely amazing. Let me just give you a hint of how amazing it was. They had no permission of the emperor yet. In fact, the emperor had forbidden any work on the temple. They had opposition from without. But they started to work on the temple in faith because of what the prophets had said. And immediately there is opposition. And they keep working despite the opposition. Tet and I, the pagan governor, He wrote to the emperor and told him, hey, these guys are rebuilding this temple. You need to stop it. It backfired on Tetoni. Not only did Darius tell him to lay off, not oppose it, but he threatened them. He said, if you oppose this, I'm going to hang you on one of the girders out of your house. We're going to confiscate your house, and we're going to do it to anybody else who opposes this work. And hey, I'm actually going to fund this project, and I'm commanding you guys to fund the project. It was astounding. From absolute opposition, it went to such a well-funded and well-supported project that what took Solomon seven years to build was completely built in four years by Zerubbabel. God can do miracles when we are willing to quit looking at our weakness and start to follow him in his commands and say, Lord, if you command me to do it, even if I die, I'm going to do it. But I trust you that you are strong enough to do this through me. It really is a wonderful, wonderful story. And we can apply it in our own situations. God commands us in the word to apply his word to politics. And people say, ha, that's impossible nowadays. It's irrelevant whether it's impossible. Our God is the God of impossibilities, right? What is our duty? That's the key thing. And so we need to really apply this in our own lives and not fear, but look to the Lord's grace and watch Him do the impossible. So let's look again at this whole structure of verses one through nine. The second half of this refers to Messiah's kingdom, and it's quoted in Hebrews 12. He's comparing their work on the temple to the even greater work that the future Messiah is going to do. And the promises in this section, I think, are such encouraging promises, especially when you're faced with the kind of demoralizing setbacks that we're faced with in America. Okay, chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. In the seventh month, on the 21st of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? So that was the discouragement I've already talked about to the old guys What was currently being built and accomplished seemed like nothing compared to Solomon's temple. They were looking at the glass half empty and taking the wind out of the sails of those who were excited to be involved in the work. It's very easy for armchair critics to discourage the efforts of others. And God does not appreciate the comments of these people. They were not comments that flowed from faith at all. They were comments that questioned the value of doing anything. And if you tend to be a glass half-empty kind of a person who's a naysayer, I would encourage you to take heart to what God says to these people here. When you kill the faith of other people, God is holding you accountable. Not then, he's holding you accountable for holding back the kingdom. Build faith in others, don't rob it. Now in verse four, God restores faith to the remnant with words that I think are wonderful. Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord, and be strong, Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work, for I am with you. That's really all that matters. in the ministry, the work of the Lord, if God is with us. And when you think about it, if the opposite is true, there's no point in engaging in anything if God is not with us, because we need His presence, His power, His blessing. But if He's with us, obstacles are irrelevant. I think that's one of the messages of this book. And as I said earlier, He promised His Holy Spirit's presence with them, and based on that assurance, they need not fear. Fear kills faith. And when fears arise within your heart, Go to the recipe here. What's the recipe? You start chasing that fear away by meditating upon the promises of God and the greatness of God and the irresistible forward advancement that He has promised of His kingdom. Now, the two seas of that chiasm compare the huge task of clearing away the rubbish of the previous temple and building the second temple with a far greater task that the Messiah will have of getting rid of all of the rubbish of the fall. okay, and replacing it with the new things of His temple building program. So, both of those seas deal with deconstruction and reconstruction. I'm just going to look at the second sea in verses 6 through 7. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, and I will shake all nations, and they In other words, the shaken nations, they shall come to the desire of all nations. And I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. Now, there is debate on whether the Hebrew phrase for desire of all nations is a title of the Messiah or whether it should be translated as the wealth of the nations coming into the temple. I won't be dogmatic on it, but I think Hebrews 12, the fact that it quotes this passage, and there is no way you can get around this, some people have tried to get around it saying he's quoting the second time of shaking, but he quotes the once more, which only occurs here, and then applies it to New Covenant times, and to me this demonstrates that this is a prophecy about Christ shaking the entire universe and gradually making all things new. Let me read Hebrews 12. beginning at verse 25 See that you do not refuse him who speaks for if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth So that's a reference to God's shaking the earth at Mount Sinai when he brought his revolutionary document the Pentateuch to Israel Much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven whose voice then shook the earth So we're not talking about a shaking that's going to destroy planet Earth, as some people talk about, because cyanide definitely did not destroy planet Earth, but it changed it, hugely changed it, right? But now He has promised saying, yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this yet once more indicates the removal of the those things that are being shaken, now that is in the present tense, so this shaking was already going on in the first century when he wrote Hebrews. So he says, indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken as of things that are made that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Since we are receiving, that's in the present tense as well, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. So here is the point, just as Haggai Haggai, boy, Haggai, that's the way I used to pronounce it. It's gonna get really hard to change that. But just as Haggai really tried to get these people to work and build the kingdom, Hebrews is trying to get the first century saints to work and build the kingdom and don't give in to discouragements or opposition. And Hebrews assures us God is with us, just like Haggai did, and that our God is a consuming fire. Now, there is a bit of warning there. Hebrews 12 is saying that there is a certain judgment that will fall upon you if you identify, as the Samaritans and Tet and I did, if you identify with the non-New Covenant things that are being removed. In other words, if you're a part of what is being shaken, the shaken things, the rubbish that he's trying to get rid of, you're in trouble. There's only two alternatives. You're a part of what's getting shaken and thrown out, or you're a part of the new covenant where Jesus is making all things new. There's no neutral between. So, with the inspired commentary of Hebrews 12, we may not interpret this as James Jordan and some others do. as referring to anything prior to Christ. Yes, there is a literal temple that transitions into the new, but it's clearly referring here to the New Covenant. And in the New Covenant, Christ claims ownership of everything, including your gold and silver, everything. And since the temple is the symbol of Christ's kingdom, Yehoah of Armies promises that this future kingdom or future temple will be far more glorious than anything. in the earthly temples. Verse 8, the silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts. And that ends the first snapshot in chapter 2 that was designed to give encouragement to the post-exilic community. He was giving them reasons why their labors in the Lord were not in vain. when they what they were building was a symbol of the messianic kingdom. In fact, probably shouldn't get into it, but the Spirit of God would be poured out on that literal temple, which is the symbol of Christ, and that's where the symbolic, non-literal temple began to be built of living stones that would eventually fill the entire world. Now, let me just read you a couple of samples. Why don't you turn, actually, with me to Ephesians chapter 2, and I'm going to give you some samples that describe this temple that Haggai is pointing to. Ephesians 2 and beginning to read at verse 19. Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Chapter 3 goes on to show that this temple composed of believing Jews and Gentiles wasn't 100% understood by Old Testament prophets. Chapter 4 speaks of him pouring resources, gifts, into this temple, which is his body. And 1 Peter 2.4 says, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now, I won't give more, but as you start tracing this temple imagery in the New Testament, you realize Christ is the temple. His body, the church is the temple, and individuals who are filled with the Spirit of God are also the temple. In other words, this is the symbol of the new covenant kingdom as it's invading earth, shaking out of it everything that smacks of Adam's rebellion, or smacks of Satan, or smacks of sin, and eventually producing a world in which only righteousness dwells, and God abides with His people forever in His temple, in His house. Now, the last three snapshots also begin with a date, but commentators point out that it's a reversed date, and I don't have the time to get into it. But the way the dates are used symbolically in both chapters, along with a couple of other reversals, shows the reversal in time of the humanistic dominance that previously existed to Christ's universal kingdom. Let me just give two examples of how that works. First of all, in verses 11 through 14, he gives a very common knowledge fact to make them realize that holiness of a priest's garment Can make any it cannot make anything that it touches holy So these priests had holy garments, you know, so if he brushed up against this, uh, unholy pulpit here He said no, it's not going to do anything. He asked them that question. They knew the answer but then he asked If you're an unholy person and you've got an unholy garment, it's an unclean garment Does everything that it touches become unholy? And they say, yes, it does. Now, the point of this illustration is in old covenant times, the defilement of sin was far more pervasive than the cleansing of God's grace. That's in the old covenant. the leaven of sin was far more dominant and pervasive than the leaven of the kingdom. And so that's why things kept tending to go downhill all the way up to the cross. The cross reverses this. After the cross, it's the exact opposite. The leaven of the kingdom will dominant and eventually replace the leaven of sin. So when everything under the Messiah becomes holy, as it will, We can only attribute it to God's grace. Why? Because we've seen in the Old Covenant it's impossible for this to happen apart from God reversing it. Okay, that's the point. Then he gives a second illustration. He points out that they had repeatedly sown grain and barely got anything in return. They had gotten something in the Old Covenant, there was something. But God had cursed their previous efforts, but now that they had started building the temple and had thereby gained a renewed kingdom focus, God was gonna show. He says, mark it on the calendar. From this day forward, you're gonna see remarkable changes in your crops. And you're gonna see remarkable blessings in other ways. Now this too is symbolic of Christ's kingdom reversing things on earth and producing more and more blessings. But even on the literal level, I think there's a lot that we can learn from this. They still had to plant. God's not gonna bless us if we don't work, right? So they had to plant, but he said, from here on in, I'm gonna just pour out blessings upon your crops. And again, his point was they could not attribute these blessings to chance. Blessings come from heaven. Now I don't know, some of you probably remember seeing the transformations of videos. where they looked at Guatemala and some other countries where there were regions that are 100% Christian, they're following God's law, and it's remarkable that stark changes that happen, even soil that was poor and unproductive, is massively producing all kinds of things. So, the point was, God astonishingly, providentially, ensures a connection between kingdom orientation and being prospered. He loves to do that, and he illustrates that. Even in the Old Covenant, he illustrated that. Anyway, his concluding application is that the messianic promise that he had earlier given in verses six through nine could not be attributed to human goodness or human effort. Though God blesses our efforts, the messianic kingdom is the supernatural work of God Himself removing the Old Covenant curses and all of the messes of sin and replacing them with new covenant kingdom realities that cannot be shaken. This is the trajectory for planet Earth. This is the trajectory that the Bible lays out for planet Earth. Now it takes faith to believe that, but hey, the just must live by faith. And without faith, it's impossible to please God. God sets a paradigm that requires us to live by faith. Are we willing to do it? In any case, he starts with a reverse date in verse 20 to show he's still talking about the reversal of sin, but he only mentions the shaking that he had previously mentioned, not the rebuilding. Now, I think the rebuilding is also implied. I think this is just a shorthand way of saying, now I'm returning to the subject that we talked about earlier, shaking and rebuilding. And so you link those two together. Let's read verses 21 through 22. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake heaven and earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them. The horses and the riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. And again, the fact that Hebrews 12 merges phrases from verses 6 through 9 together with phrases from verses 21 through 22 shows to me he's still talking about the messianic kingdom's shaking work. Haggai is guaranteeing that eventually all enemies will be purged from this earth before Christ's work is finished. That's what he's guaranteeing. And 1 Corinthians guarantees the same thing. He must remain at the right hand of the Father until all enemies are put under his feet. This is a pervasive theme in the scripture. All evil kingdoms will be brought to nothing and all that will eventually be left will be the Messiah who is symbolized by Zerubbabel the governor referenced in the last verse. Verse 23 says, in that day. In what day? Well, context in Hebrews 12 indicates we're talking about New Covenant times. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts. Now, many evangelical commentaries take this as purely being a symbol of Jesus because it obviously goes way, way, way beyond Zerubbabel's lifetime. But I think it's a mistake to do that. We have seen over and over again that with symbols in the Bible, there's always a literal referent. You know, there's a literal rock that's struck, pointing symbolically to Jesus being struck and the Holy Spirit. So, you can't dismiss the literal when you're looking at what it symbolizes. Now that puts a conundrum then, because he's saying that the literal Zerubbabel is going to be connected in some way in New Covenant times to God's finger. And how do you reconcile that? Well, the way I reconcile it is just telling people to look at my Revelation series. And in Revelation chapter 20, we saw that all of the old covenant saints were raised in what Revelation 20 calls the first resurrection. Not the second one, that's reserved for us, right? But the first resurrection. So I think in a very literal way, along with all the other saints, Zerubbabel was raised up, put on God's finger like a signet ring, was very close to God. But even in that, he still is a symbol of Christ. as a type, and several evangelical commentaries point out that the language of verses 6-9 and verses 20-23 is very messianic in nature, so much so that even some unbelieving Jews in the past have said, this has to be referring to somebody beyond Zerubbabel's lifetime. So anyway, these commentators say it has to be referring in some way to Jesus. Just as David was a symbol of the greater David, Jesus. Zerubbabel is the symbol of the greater Zerubbabel, Jesus. Okay? And O. Palmer Robertson points out that the references to Zerubbabel as God's servant, God's signet ring, God's chosen one, all have messianic overtones. And since Zechariah, who was Haggai's contemporary, since he clearly uses him as a type of Christ, it's the same thing going on here. Now let me just read from Ochtemeyer's commentary. says God always keeps His promises. And so when the kingdom of God began to come among us in the person of Jesus Christ, Mark 1, 1, 14, and 15, that one born of the house and lineage of David came as the descendant of Zerubbabel, Matthew 1, 12, Luke 3, 27, and as the beginning of the fulfillment of this word to Haggai the prophet. He introduced God's kingdom, which has no end, Luke 1, 32 to 33, which will overthrow every rule and authority and power, 1 Corinthians 15, 24 through 26, and which cannot be shaken or ever pass away, Hebrews 12, 28. The word of God spoken by Haggai the prophet began to find its fulfillment in Jesus Christ our Lord. When the Lord returns to complete His kingdom, may He find us working to build up His church. And I say amen and amen. So that's the theology of the book. But let me end with 10 more applications that David Knorr brought to my attention. Praise God, I've got another two or three weeks with this research assistant that's here. Big help. Verse one. shows the importance of addressing God's Word to both church and state. We've already touched on this, but there is no area of life that should ever be exempt from the law word of God. We completely miss the purpose of stewardship when we exempt the state or any other aspect of life from God's Word. The humanism of American politics and law is a part of what is being shaken and blowing away, and we need to make sure that we're not clinging to what Jesus wants to shake and blow away. We cannot cling to it. Psalm 2 tells us that God's law mandates for the new covenant that states bow to King Jesus, that kings bow to King Jesus, go into covenant with him, submit to his laws. It's very clear. Second, Verse 2 of chapter 1 shows how easy it is for us to rationalize and compromise His Word, even when it's clear disobedience. I regularly ask God to reveal any self-deception in me. I want to be pleasing to the Lord, and I know how easy it is for me to just compromise that and deceive myself. So we just need to be aware of the implications of self-deception. By the way, it just came to my mind now, but Bonson has one of the most fabulous, it's a tape lecture, we maybe need to digitize it, but on the apologetic implications of self-deception. It is powerful. When you start realizing how easily we deceive ourselves, it has ramifications for many areas of life. So pray that God would unravel anything within you, anything within me that needs to be shaken and blown away, and that He would replace it more and more with His kingdom focus. May His kingdom come more and more in our lives here on earth. May His will be done more and more on earth in our lives. Third, verse 4 shows, this chapter 1 verse 4 shows that God puts tests of our stewardship into our lives. And when we pass the test, we're blessed. When our disobedience proves that we've lost a kingdom vision, He doesn't bless. And especially since this year, again, is the focus on stewardship. Do study, try to grow in this whole area of stewardship, but also get used to seeing for providential tests that God brings your way and determined to pass those. Fourth, the twice repeated phrase, consider your ways, is a good reminder that we do need to occasionally engage in self-examination. See if our lives have drifted. It's very easy to be blind. To you know our drifting so do a spiritual checkup fifth verses 9 through 11 shows God Disciplining his people by evaporating their budgets making their crops not turn out etc and like Deuteronomy 28 Haggai assumes that God's providence relates to every molecule, every germ, every virus, our cattle, money, adversaries, skin, bone, children, politics. And God is very creative in using all of those things to discipline his people. And I think we Christians need to get better at reading those providences and saying, Lord, are you disciplining me? Bring conviction to my heart if this is something you're reminding me of. More and more, I've begun recognizing some of the ailments that I have from the Lord are reminders. Phil, you need to press into God. Kathy was telling me of something that's just always consistent in her life when she needs to press into the Lord. So be sensitive to God's providence. In verses 12 through 13, God gives the central promise of the previous covenants, I am with you. That is such a glorious promise. And Hebrews repeats it. I will never leave you nor forsake you. When we fear, press into that. Say, Lord, thank you that you have promised that never, I will never leave you. You are with me. Help me not to be fearful. Seventh, in verse 14, and again in chapter two, verse four, we see the command to work and God's blessings on manual labor. If Jesus devoted most of his life, really, most of his life to the manual labor of carpentry, then that shows how much God values physical labor. Physical labor should not be beneath any of us. It should be something we honor just as God honors it. And even your carpentry, you need to do as a kingdom vision, as unto the Lord. Even if you're doing carpentry for relaxation, by the way, you can relax to God's glory. You can, if you're strategic, you're really thoughtful in the way in which you relax, it's a part of seeking God's kingdom, it really is. Eighth, in chapter two, verses four through five, we have God encouraging us that we should not get discouraged with small things, small beginnings. If God is in it, our small beginnings can leverage huge things. People might be tempted to think that this conference that got thrown together because we all of a sudden found out that Matt Truwilla and Rusty Thomas are coming, That's an impossible goal. Why would you even think of making Nebraska a sanctuary state? You know, it's unicameral. We've got so many things going against us. And really? Abolish abortion in Nebraska? I say, brothers and sisters, according to your faith, be it unto you. But I would encourage you to have faith that with God, nothing is impossible. And if we don't try, it won't happen. Right. And so let's have faith and and try to do what God is calling us to do and trust that he can do miracles through us. OK. Oh, where was I? Don't despise days from the beginnings. Okay, ninth, chapter two, verses seven through nine, gives the goal for all of our lives, to glorify God and bring Him pleasure. This is my heart's desire, that the Lord would say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. I want the smile of His approval. I want to experience His pleasure. And though there are other applications, I'm just going to end with one more. And this one actually is an iffy one. I'm not dogmatic on it because the Hebrew can be translated two different ways. But if the new King James is correct in translating this as Messiah, the desire of all nations, then it speaks of the post-millennial hope that all the earth will become jealous of the gospel glories and will stream to Christ from every part of the globe desiring him. He certainly is our desire and vision. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3 that he was willing to quote, count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. He said, I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. His life passion is stated in the next verse, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. So certainly Christ was the desire of Paul's heart. And it's my prayer that we would desire this magnetic pull of Christ to capture our desires and pull us closer and closer to Him, just as Haggai says, that the nations are gonna be magnetically drawn to the Lord Jesus Christ. May our faith and vision Be consistent with Christ's goal to shake off from planet earth anything that is in competition with Jesus, that only His kingdom and His glory remains. Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you for the reminders in Haggai of how we need to press into your kingdom. Have a kingdom vision, have a steward's heart, and I pray each one of us would grow in this. We realize that our whole lives we're gonna keep pressing into that and we won't be perfect. So help us not to be discouraged when Satan tries to beat up on us for our failures, but help us to just keep focused on Christ. Keep pressing into your kingdom, and may you do astounding, astonishing things as we, by faith, do the impossible that you have commanded us to do. In Jesus' name, amen.