It's Time to Return to God's Work - Haggai 2 (June 23) Myles Holmes

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

So good to be with you this morning and to worship with you.

I was reading the newspaper recently, and you get to the end of each day's newspaper, and you find yourself in an obituary section.

And so there's a big old obituary there, and I decided I would read this as well.

This is what I love to do with my spare time.

And so I read this obituary, and I and I left with this impression of like this guy had it was in the Globe and Mail with his obituary, so you kind of have this feeling that you need to accomplish a lot to do that.

And as I read this man's obituary, I really had the sense that he had done just that.

I was amazed by all the things that were uh that he had accomplished in his life.

He was a doctor and he served on several boards, and he uh had done some apparently, I mean they could have said this, I would have had no way to prove whether or not it was true, but he had done some pretty significant research on a disease that I had never heard of and could not say again.

I left reading this obituary with this sense of like, what am I doing in my life?

Like what work am I participating in that's going to be this impressive?

And when you compare yourself to a doctor who works on diseases whose name is 15 syllables long, you feel like it's gonna be pretty hard.

Well, Haggai had something to say to us this morning about the work that we do and the significance of it, the endurance of it, and the glory of it.

You know, it's interesting, and even in preparation for this message, I tried to go back to that obituary and find it, and the interesting thing kind of illustrates maybe what Haggai's getting at here is I couldn't find it.

I don't know this man's name.

I can't find his obituary again.

And you get this sense that even the greatest accomplishments, quickly, if not given some time, will pass away into obscurity.

And Haggai wants to speak to us about a work that we can do, if a work that is done for God.

And if we do this work, it's a greater, a significant, and a more lasting work.

Or two build kingdoms that we can build.

We've been learning this as we've worked through Ezra and Haggai, it's a kingdom of self or the kingdom of God.

And what Haggai really wants to do is esteem the value and the lasting worth of these kingdoms that we might build.

He wants to call us away from really a worthless work that cannot stand the test of time, to a work that's for God that will endure for all of eternity, that truly is glorious, that truly is worth your time.

I trust that as you come here this morning, that's your desire in life, isn't it?

Each of us are working hard.

I imagine, working very hard, whether it's in our jobs or in our families or just in life in general.

Life is filled with hard work.

And my assumption this morning is that we share this desire to participate in a work that lasts.

Isn't that what we want?

In fact, this was illustrated for me recently.

I was building a uh a mud kitchen for my daughters.

And if you don't know what a mud kitchen is, it's because you don't homeschool your kids, and that's it's a homeschool thing.

And so I was building this mud kitchen, and if you've been here for a while, you know that I don't really work with my hands very much.

This is why I got into pastoral ministry.

It's more of a spiritual work, less of a physical work.

And yet every once in a while, duty calls, and a kid needs a birthday present.

And so I found myself out here becoming a carpenter.

And I live with my father-in-law, he's a very skilled everything.

He can do, I don't know how he learned it, he's learned how to do everything.

And I found it on about half-hour intervals, he'd be coming out of the garage and he'd be giving you a tip.

And some of you guys can imagine this, and you think this would be incredibly annoying.

And yet I found it was incredibly helpful because I just have no idea what I'm doing.

And he would come and he'd say, you know, if you do that, it's gonna, you know, warp in the winter and it's not gonna last as long.

And so, because of his regular stops and kind of intervening in the work that I was doing, now I'm guessing that this thing is gonna last, unless he was just leading me astray and it's gonna, you know, over the winter every board's gonna pop out or something.

He is my father-in-law, so I could see that happening.

But what he's done for me, I believe, is shown me the material, shown me the method I I need to build with if I want this thing to last.

And what Haggai wants to do is sort of do an audit of your life and say this hey, are the things that you're working for, are they really gonna last?

Is it really worth it?

You see, there's a way to build your life that results in glory and meaning and purpose.

And so last week we saw in Haggai 1 that God was calling his people to return to his presence.

They had busied themselves doing the work that would build up their own kingdom, and God in his grace turned to them and said, It's time to return to my work.

It's time to return to my presence.

And here in Haggai 2, what we find is that Haggai is calling the people of God, now that they're all ears for God, to return to his work.

Let's read it together.

I hope you'll follow along with me, whether in your Bible, or maybe you can borrow someone beside yours.

Haggai chapter 2 says this: In the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Sheeltiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehosadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 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?

Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord.

Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehosedak the high priest.

Be strong, all of you people of the land, declares the Lord.

Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt.

My spirit remains in your midst, fear not.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, yes, yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

The silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.

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.

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, ask the priests about the law.

If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?

The priest answered and said, No.

Then Haggai said, If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?

The priest answered and said, It does become unclean.

Then Haggai answered and said, So it is with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord.

And so with every work of their hands, and what they offer there is unclean.

Now then consider from this day onward, before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare?

When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten.

When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.

I struck you all I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.

Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider, is the seed yet in the bar barn?

Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing.

But from this day on I will bless you.

The word of the Lord came to a second time to Haggai on the twenty fourth day of the month.

Speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the thrones of kingdoms.

I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother.

And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring.

For I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.

God's calling us to his work, a more glorious work, and as we consider what God has to say to us, let's turn to him in prayer.

Father, we bow before you.

And God, we have just sung of the most glorious victory, the victory of Jesus Christ over death, over sin, over Satan.

God, you have conquered our greatest enemy.

And because of that, Lord, there is so much good news for us this morning.

And I pray this morning as you speak to us that this would be a call for us to live in light of all that you have accomplished for us on the cross.

God, you have done so much.

You have shown us your love by sending us your Son and not withholding him from us.

He was obedient even to the point of death.

And so, God, we turn to you now and we desire, because of your your great love for us, to show the same obedience to you, God.

And so speak to us, Lord.

I pray that you would reveal to us any way that we are not living for you, not doing your work, not committed to your kingdom.

God help us to believe that when you reveal these things, this is your love for us.

Speak to us, Lord, a word of grace, a word of mercy, and a word of hope.

I'm so thankful.

I'm so thankful, Lord.

I I prepare this message, and I know you have a word for each and every one of us by the power of your Holy Spirit.

So speak, Lord.

We're listening.

I pray this in the name of your son.

Amen.

Well, Haggai's calling us to God's work, really to work for Christ, and he's showing us how this work is greater work than anything else we could do.

And the first thing that I want you to see this morning in Haggai 2 is that God's work does this.

It promotes a greater confidence.

It promotes a greater confidence.

Now in Haggai chapter 2, Haggai again is commanded to speak.

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

And really what Haggai is, is four sermons that are compacted into one.

And this is the second sermon we find.

Hagai is commanded to speak to Zerubbabel, who is the leader of God's people at this time.

And look what he says then in verse 3.

He says, This Who is left among you who saw this house, that is the temple, in its former glory?

You'll remember just a few weeks ago, as we were going through Ezra, we saw the people of God come from Babylon to Israel to begin building the foundation of the temple.

And when they finished, something interesting happened.

The people who were of the younger generation were pumping their fists, shouting praises that could be heard far away with the work that God had done and building the foundation.

But there was another group of people who, as they saw this, there is this sense of disappointment.

You see, this group of people had seen the first temple, the temple that Solomon built.

And Solomon was one of, if not the richest man that ever lived in the history of the world.

And he had built this temple just about as lavishly as you could.

And so for these people, they had, it's like you had been given a Mercedes-Benz, and then the rental agency calls you and says, Hey, listen, you know, that Mercedes-Benz, we got to give it to someone else, and so we're gonna give you this Ford Pinto.

And there's this great concern, like I was just living in luxury, now I gotta drive this car that's going to explode on me.

And this was the sense that many of God's people had at this time.

Zerubbabel is spoken to, and God is speaking here through the prophet Haggai.

He says, Who is left among you who saw this house in this in its former glory?

And look what he says, how do you see it now?

Is it not as nothing in your eyes?

The way you could translate this is like worse than nothing.

What the people of God are doing is they're looking at this temple that God had brought them all the way from Babylon to Jerusalem to build, and they're saying, listen, this is much worse than nothing.

It'd be better to have absolutely nothing than it would be to have this foundation.

I want you to notice something here, a word for God's people for all time, that when when you do God's work, one of the reasons why it's so difficult for us to be compelled to do God's work is because at the very beginning it does not seem that glamorous.

At the very beginning of being called to do God's work, we look at all the options we have in our life and we say, there are about a thousand other things that we could be doing right now that would be much more productive, that would be much more glamorous, that would serve our own comfort and pleasure and joy more than doing this.

Take for cons, for instance, the the people who right now are serving in kids' ministry or who came early this morning to set up the chairs.

I'm sure that a temptation in that moment is to say, man, I'm just setting up chairs here.

There is work that I could be doing that is much more significant.

You know, we have people on our setup team who are the CEOs of companies.

They run their own business, and here they are on a Sunday morning making thousands of thousands of dollars in the week, and they're setting up chairs, and one of the temptations can be like, listen, I do much more important work than this, and yet what drives so many of them to faithfully do that is this acknowledgement that the chair they're setting up serves a significant purpose.

Someone's gonna sit in here and hear the gospel, and that is so much more valuable than anything else I could do.

When we're called to God's work so often, it seems like it's not that impressive, it's not that productive, it's not that glamorous.

I want you to understand that God's people have always struggled with this.

Do you remember Israel?

Before King Saul was established as the ruler of Israel, they didn't have a king.

And you know what the Israelites were doing?

They were looking around at the other nations and they were saying to God, listen, God, all these other nations have kings.

All these other nations have rulers.

Why don't you give us a king?

That would be so much better.

They're doing the same thing.

They're looking at the way that God is working, the the life that God is calling them to, and they're viewing other things and saying, wow, there's a much more productive path here.

And so you need to know that one of the most difficult, one of the most difficult things about pursuing God's calling in your life is that the path that He calls you on, often to your own wisdom, doesn't seem as productive and glorious as other paths that you can walk on.

Take, for example, the call to prayer.

Scriptures call you to devote yourself to prayer.

Jesus says to pray and to not lose heart.

There is to be this sort of intensity in the Christian life that in which you are devoting yourself to the work of prayer.

But do you know what happens as soon as you begin the work of prayer?

Maybe you set aside a time in the morning.

As soon as you set that time aside, you know what happens?

At least it happens for me, I'm sure it happens for you.

Your mind starts to be filled with all these other seemingly productive things that you could do.

You think, you know, I'm already a busy man and there's only 24 hours in the day, and so you know, I'm praying here, but I wonder if maybe I should cut this time a little short so that maybe I can go and do something else, because there's a lot that needs to get done.

There's this temptation to believe that that prayer is not as productive as the other things that you could be doing.

That the best thing you could do is just get up and get to work.

And yet we know that a call to the work of prayer is a call to have the ear of the God who with a word can move mountains.

In fact, this is what Jesus says about prayer, isn't it?

That uh prayer can move mountains, faith can move mountains, and even when it's small, it's powerful.

What about the way in which you work?

You know, as a Christian, you are called to work with a Christian ethic, and you know what you'll find?

When when you try to pursue uh a life that models Christ in the business world, there will be other people who cut corners, who do it maybe in an unethical, immoral way, and it will seem like they get ahead faster because they aren't committed to the ethics that you're committed to.

You are in the workplace and you are working, yes, for a paycheck, but more so you have this Christian worldview that tells you that you are working because you want to please your father.

This is what Paul says, that you are to work as though you are working for God Himself.

And so you find yourself working with this Christian ethic, and and all the maybe all these other people are advancing ahead of you because they're cutting corners, or maybe they're doing it unethically, or maybe it's because you as a Christian are also called to lead your family and serve your church, and you're called to all these other things that take you away from the workplace, and so you feel like you can't advance as far because you're a Christian.

So often the work that God calls us to and the way he calls us to do that work at the first sight seems like it is less glamorous, but but Haggai is teaching us this that when God calls us to a work, it is like planting the acorn of an oak tree.

The seed is small and seemingly insignificant, but it grows into this massive, massive tree.

It's an investment that is always multiplied.

Jesus tells us by the hundreds.

Listen, who's the ultimate example of this?

Who's the ultimate example of a person who committed his life to a work that was seemingly insignificant?

Isn't Jesus?

Jesus was the ruler of the universe.

Bible tells us that Jesus, simultaneously, while he was on this world, was holding up the universe by the word of his power, and yet you find him in the gospels, he's washing the disciples' feet.

Like the most insignificant task, the most menial, menial servant task that you could possibly consume your time with, and Jesus has committed himself to it.

Why?

Because the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus' calling from God Himself did not seem grand in the eyes of the world, but God would use it.

Well, listen, here's the principle that we're coming to understand this morning that what is big in your eyes, God will make small.

This is what the Israelites had learned in Haggai.

What is big in your eyes, God will make small, but what is weak and insignificant in your eyes that you give to God, God will make large.

He uses that.

The question is, why?

Why does work for God bring a greater glory?

Well, look what it says here in verse 4 and 5.

That guy says, Yeah, now be strong, O Zerubbal, declares the Lord.

Again, be strong, O Joshua.

You see it again there at the end of verse 4.

Be strong, all you people of the land.

Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts.

The reason why work for God brings greater glory because is because when you do the work for God, when you when your life is consumed with working for Christ, God promises his power with you so that you can stand in his strength, and he promises his presence with you.

Be strong, God says to his people as they build this temple whose foundation is worse than nothing.

Be strong, for I am with you.

This will be far more glorious.

Because I'm doing it with you.

What Haggai's doing here is reminding them how much time and effort God had already put into this temple.

He does that by really three ways.

First, as Haggai says this, be strong.

The Israelites' mind is going to their history.

Do you remember another time in the Israelites' history where Israel was told to be strong?

You remember in Joshua 1, verse 6 to 9, as the people of God stood on the edge of the promised land, and there was going to be some war.

Joshua 1:6–9

It was going to be difficult.

The promised land at this time was filled with God's enemy.

And what does God say to his people?

Be strong.

Be strong.

Be courageous.

Gotta deliver them then.

This isn't the first time God's people had also been told to work, for I am with you.

In fact, this is what David said to Solomon when Solomon built the first temple.

David said to him in 1 Chronicles 28, 20, work for I am with you.

And these people could look back to that first temple and be reminded, oh yeah, they were successful because God was with them.

So listen, Joshua was successful because God gave them strength.

Solomon was successful because God was with them.

And if that's not enough, Haggai adds one more thing to the list of reasons why they should have confidence in God's work.

He says, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt.

He brings them back to the Exodus.

And what God is really doing with us this morning is saying this listen, I've brought you this far.

Do you not think I am going to join myself to the work that you do for my kingdom?

All of history has been circling around my kingdom being established on earth.

So anything you give to the kingdom of Christ, God says, I am gonna multiply and multiply and multiply.

I've brought my people this far.

You know, one of the things that Hagai couldn't say is that God had sent his own son, and you and I have this to add to the list.

That God sent his own son to die on the cross so that his kingdom could be established.

That means that anytime you do a work that is for Christ, where you're saying, God, I want you to use me to establish your kingdom on earth, I want you to use me for your purposes, man, God has so much invested in this.

You know, if you are an employee of a workplace and you have a boss, one of the things that you learn is to discover what your boss is passionate about.

You very quickly learn that if you want like some funding for a project or something and you decide to make that project about what your boss is passionate about, you very quickly will have the support of your boss.

He'll come behind you and resource you for the effort.

And you know, God's passion is Jesus.

God's passion is his kingdom.

So the moment you turn to God and say, God, use me for your purposes, it doesn't matter how small you feel like your offering is, God will use that.

He gets behind it.

He's committed to this work.

It means you work to make him known, and God goes with you and he empowers you.

It also means this that God in his love, what he will do is he will frustrate the reward of the work that you do for yourself.

And I have sat with countless people who have just been walking on this path that whether they know it or not, is really this path where they just are not pursuing God's will in their life and they're so frustrated by it.

I I just I don't know why I'm so filled with anxiety.

I don't know why I just cannot be happy.

I don't know why I just cannot find this thing that I'm looking for, and it is because God in his love, what he will do is if you're not walking on the path of obedience, he will not give you the reward.

But the moment you turn to him, the moment you commit to working for his kingdom, he what you give him, he will multiply.

Well, here Haggai says the first thing that calls us to the work of God is that it promotes a greater confidence.

The second thing I want you to see here is that it promotes a greater glory.

Working for God promotes a greater glory.

Now, in verses six to eight, Haggai makes some pretty astound astonishing promises about the what's happening in the kingdom.

He says in verse six, for thus says the Lord of hosts, Yes, yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

I will shake all the nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.

The silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.

God is telling Israel that he is the one who has sovereign power over the whole world, and he is doing that by using this illustration of himself as a shaker.

God says, I could shake like this whole globe we're on right now, I could pick the whole thing up and shake it like it's a Rubik's or uh not a Rubik's cube, you don't shake the Rubik's Cube.

Again, not good at math, never touched a Rubik's Cube in my life.

Magic eight ball, that's what you shake, right?

I could shake the world like it's this tiny little object in my hands.

I mean, you and I right now, you know, I thought about doing this as an illustration, but I thought someone's gonna get injured and this will not be good.

I thought of making us all stand up right now and like jump at the same time and seeing if we could shake the building, but I also don't want to test this building because it's pretty old and that would be also catastrophic.

The the principle here is that you and I really we cannot like we cannot do anything to shake the earth.

God can shake the nations, God can shake the universe.

So this thing that you're doing, he says to Israel, it seems like it's impossible.

It seems like it's impossible that you can build a temple in Jerusalem so that it that it's so grand and so glorious that all the nations will come in and that the borders of the temple will expand until it reaches the whole entire face of the earth.

It seems impossible, but but remember, Israel, I'm the shaker.

I'm the one who has absolute power.

God's telling us this that history it advances for one purpose, it advances according to what God plans.

All of history, there has never been a nation that has rose to power that has been outside of God's plan.

And recent history for Israel says just that.

You remember Babylon?

Babylon seemed like this unstoppable force.

But but God would say, Babylon is just a pawn in my hands.

And at the right time, he would raise up Persia so that the Persian Empire would say to the Israelites, You can go back and build the temple.

God isn't in control of everything.

So as the people partake in this work, what they're gonna find is this that because it's working according to God's purpose for his world, it cannot be stopped.

And listen, this is wisdom for you and I.

It is wisdom to commit our lives to a mission that cannot fail.

This is what Jesus said about the church.

This is what's so glorious about building up Jesus' church, that Jesus said that the gates of hell will not be able to stop the church.

It is a victory that is sure.

You're committed here to a mission that will advance.

Every other mission will die.

Isn't that true?

What business has lasted over the span of more than maybe a hundred years?

It's so rare.

What family has lasted?

Nothing has lasted, only what is done for Christ has lasted.

And so God looks at this world and says, Hey, listen, in Haggai one, you can build your little cedar-paneled homes, but listen, I'm gonna shake them and they can come crashing down in a moment.

God looks at our lives and says, Hey, listen, you can do you can pursue all these pleasures, all these comforts, all these promotions, all these things that you want, but but I can shake the world in a moment, and all this will come crashing down.

Why don't you then pursue what cannot be shaken?

This is why in Hebrews chapter 12, the writer of Hebrews will quote this, and in fact, we're gonna bring this up on the screen, Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Look what he says: At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised.

Here he's quoting Haggai, what we just read.

Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is, the things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and let us, thus let us offer to God acceptable worship and rev with reverence and awe.

You know what the problem is with building anything, committing your life to anything other than the building of Christ's kingdom, is that thing can be shaken and then destroyed.

And what the writer of Hebrews is saying is this listen, commit your life to the work of Christ, and you are receiving a thing that cannot be shaken.

This thing cannot be taken from the coming judgment.

Now, I don't know about you, but lately on my phone, and it really in the last few years feels like it's expanded or multiplied more and more and more.

I'm getting all these tornado warnings.

I don't know if this is part of living in the boonies, but I just, it's like every week there's a tornado warning, and I could literally see a tornado now.

I won't believe it because the boys cried wolf enough times.

However, the first few times you get these tornado warnings, it's a little concerning.

You're you're imagining, you know, this tornado ripping the roof of your house off.

And so, as we got these tornado warnings, and I know there's different degrees of them, there's a tornado watch, and then there's a tornado warning, and I just don't care about any of it.

I'm sleeping through every watch and warning I get now.

Thank you for listening to me, my TED talk on tornado warnings for a moment.

But those first few tornado warnings were really concerning.

And like we live out in the boonies, and there's all these trees, and the sky grows dark and the wind is blowing the trees, and we're thinking we gotta get somewhere that cannot be shaken by this tornado.

We know that there's a safe place to get, you can get to the basement.

And if you really want to protect what's valuable, and you grab your coffee maker, I mean, you grab your kids and you grab your coffee maker, and you get down to the basement where it cannot be shaken.

And this is what the writer of Hebrews is calling us to.

There is a kingdom that will last, that cannot be taken from you.

You know, those things that you love, even your kids, even your wife, your job, your investments, your material things, all these things can be taken from you, and they will.

But there is a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

It cannot be taken from you.

We say this quote often.

I think about it so much.

Only one life will soon be past.

Only what's done for Christ will last.

So the question for us this morning is this as Haggai prompts us, what's gotta be put off?

What work do we need to put off in life?

What is the thing that we are running after so hard right now that can be shaken and taken away from us?

And the reverse of that then is this what what must we be doing?

Maybe the practical application is to serve in a ministry.

All of our ministries at this church have this purpose of building the kingdom of Christ, there's not a single thing that we will do.

I mean, one, we're not interested in it, and two, we just don't have the resources to have any sort of fluff ministries happening right now.

All of the ways that we serve at this church build up the kingdom of Christ.

But what about what about this?

How seriously are you taking discipleship in your life?

When was the last time you took someone out for a coffee just to like encourage them and let them know, like, hey, listen, I'm here for you.

I would love to speak truth into your life.

When was the last time you shared the gospel with someone or invited someone to church?

See, maybe what needs to happen is a commitment to this kind of work, trusting that God will then use it.

Verse 9 gives us a pretty astounding promise here.

Haggai says to the Israelites, he says, 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.

Well, well, here's what God says.

Listen, the this this house it looks like less than nothing, but it's gonna be even greater.

The glory of this house will be even greater than its former glory.

And our question then is how?

You know, as we look over the history of Israel, the second temple really seems like it doesn't really accomplish much.

I mean, the tab you you know the tabernacle, the tabernacle, the glory of God in Exodus 40, descends upon the tabernacle, so that in the midst of the holy of holies, the presence of God is there.

The same thing happens with the first temple.

The glory of God descends into the Holy of Holies so that you know the presence of God is there.

It's significant that never for the second temple do we read that the glory of God descends on it.

Not only that, as we look at the really the history of the temple, we find that not much is really accomplished by it.

In fact, in 400 years, this temple would be torn down in by Rome.

And Jesus would enter this temple, he would flip tables.

I mean, he would be so mad about how disgusting the temple worship had become, he would sit outside on the temple steps, he would make a whip, and he would go in and flip tables in this holy and righteous anger.

I mean, it surely seems like this second temple never achieved the glory of the first temple, let alone a greater glory.

How do we make sense of this?

Well, what you need to understand is that while God's redemptive plan for his people involved a temple, the physical temple with walls was not the end in and of itself.

It was the means to what God wanted to accomplish.

The physical temple with walls was not the primary thing.

You know what the primary thing was?

The primary thing was what's been the primary thing from Genesis 1 to Revelation 21.

It is God dwelling with his people.

That really is what this book is all about.

Like the main point of this book is God desiring to dwell with the people that he made.

That's the main point.

And what you find is that the second the temple as a secondary object accomplishes that because God promises when they build the temple, he will dwell in their midst, that the holy of holies will represent the center of his presence among his people.

Now, as we consider that the primary purpose of the temple is for God to dwell in the midst of an unholy people, we begin to see how this plan God has for his presence to be among his people can be more glorious.

This is what I want you to understand that from the beginning to the end of the Bible, God's plan has been to have his presence among his people.

This is why in Eden, do you know what Eden is?

Eden is the first temple.

You know, as Adam and Eve, they're told to work and keep.

There's only one other place that those two words are used in the Hebrew Bible, and that is in the first temple, where the priests are to work and keep the temple.

And just like this temple has walls, so in Genesis 1 and 2 we're told that the Garden of Eden has walls, and this is the place that the God, the presence of God dwells.

Eden is the first temple.

And what we find is that in Revelation 21, we are going to another temple.

Can you want to read about that with me?

Let's go to Revelation 21.

Keep your hand in Haggai 2 with me, but go to Revelation 21.

I do this because it's incredibly easy to find.

Just get to the back of your Bible, go to the first or the last chapter, and you'll be in Revelation 21.

But listen, God's plan ends with a temple.

Revelation 21, verse 3.

Revelation 21:3

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

Look with me at verse 22.

And I saw no temple in the city.

For its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb.

And the city had no need of sun or moon to give to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

What is John painting here?

John is painting this picture that at the end of time, all the whole of the heavens will be the temple of God.

There will not be a room that is called the Holy of Holies with four walls that is dedicated to God's presence.

Instead, God will dwell with humanity and this whole world will be his temple.

This is God's plan for his presence to cover the face of the earth.

Just as light, when it comes up in the sky, shines across the whole land, so in heaven there will be no need for a sun, because the glory of God will be in the midst of his people and it will be pervasive over all creation.

All creation will be the holies of holies.

And so God has a plan for the people of Haggai to get them there.

And God has a plan to get you there.

And every step of the way, what God has been doing from the people that Haggai was speaking to to our day is accomplishing that plan to a greater and greater degree.

The question is, how?

Well, Jesus would come, and he would come to replace the temple with his own body.

Significant that we've said time and time again that Jesus would stand in this very temple and said, I will tear it down in three days and raise it up in three days.

And they looked at him and said, Listen, this temple took forever to build.

You cannot do that.

And yet Jesus was not talking about a physical temple.

What was Jesus talking about?

He was talking about the temple that was his body.

And it's very significant.

As Haggai talks about shaking the heavens and the earth, it's very significant that in Matthew 27, when Jesus is crucified on the cross, what happens the moment that he dies?

Do you know?

The sun goes dark and there is an earthquake, and the whole lands are shaken, just like Haggai said, once more I will shake the land and the heavens, and then something significant happens upon that earthquake.

The curtain of the Holy of Holies is torn from the top to the bottom.

The heavens, meeting the earth, the temple of God expanded.

Christ becomes the temple.

But in Ephesians chapter 2, we're told something very significant that through Christ the church would become the temple.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

Let me read this for you.

Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

This would be so helpful for you to study this week.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19 to 21.

Ephesians 2:19–21

It says, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

Listen, this is all temple language.

What's what where is the foundation of the temple that the church dwells on today?

Paul says it's the foundation is the apostles and the prophets.

They laid the foundation immediately after Jesus ascended to heaven.

Well, what's the cornerstone of the temple?

The cornerstone of this new temple is Christ Jesus.

And if that's not enough to convince you, Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 21, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Ephesians 2:21

Where is the temple today?

The temple is right here where God's people gather.

The temple of God is being built.

When will it end?

Once the whole heavens and the earth are covered with the presence of God's people, God dwelling in their midst.

It is so significant then that in Matthew 28, a chapter after Matthew 27, where where the earth is shaken and the temple veil is torn into, Jesus looks to his disciples, the very disciples who he told would start the church in Matthew chapter 16.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

He says, And behold, I am with you.

And the church is essential to God's plan to dwell among his people.

This is the mission of the church.

Lost people saved, saved people matured, and mature people multiplied.

Why?

Because this is temple expansion, and every person is another building block in the temple that God is building.

Listen, this is why I think that a low view of the local church is such an issue.

This is why I think that if your sort of attitude is, listen, I don't need the church, I think you're missing the point because the primary thing that God is using to advance his mission is the church.

Missions is impossible without the church.

The church exists for missions.

These things go hand in hand.

If you want to see the temple of God built, which is the very desire of God in this earth to dwell in the midst of his people, then what needs to happen is an evangelism of the lost who are then brought.

Brought into the church and discipled themselves and matured so that they can then go out and evangelize the lost and speak the truth in love into other disciples, so that thereby disciples can be multiplied.

Why?

Because every disciple, Peter says this, 1 Peter 2, 9, every disciple is a building block in the temple that God is building, that is the church.

What God is doing now is so much more glorious.

And if the people of Haggai could have seen it, they would have rejoiced that the wonder of what God has done in these days, what you and I get to participate in.

He then speaks to the priests in verses 10 to 19.

And there's some interesting things going on here.

It's really a question that he has for the priests.

The question is this if you are carrying holy meat and that meat touches someone, is that person made holy?

Of course, the answer is no.

The second question then is then if you are carrying meat that has been made unholy and that touches another person, is that person made unrighteous?

The answer, of course, according to the Levitical law, is yes.

And the principle here is this that the power of unrighteousness is stronger than the power of holiness.

You see that in your own life?

Don't you find it's a lot easier to be sinful than it is to be holy?

Isn't it true?

Sin is like weeds in my life.

In fact, the Christian life has been helpfully described like this it's like biking uphill.

The moment you stop, you start going backwards.

And what Haggai is doing is telling us something incredible that unrighteousness is incredibly powerful.

You have no hope of stopping it.

It will grow like weeds in your life.

It just will keep coming and keep coming and keep coming.

And there's a great problem because God has promised his blessing for the people who are holy.

But here are the people who time and time again have been unholy, and history will show they will be unholy again.

And so in verse 20, God has a significant thing to say to his people.

He speaks to Zerubbabel.

And he says, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms.

I'm about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother.

On that day, declares the Lord.

There's a promise here that God is going to defeat the enemies of Israel.

That the enemies of Israel, they don't stand a chance against God.

The question is, how is he going to do that?

And he answers that in verse 23.

This is so significant for you and I.

Says, On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Ozarubel, my servant.

And if you have a pen, I want you to circle my servant.

Circle that word.

It's so significant.

My servant, the son of Sheeltiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord.

What God is promising here is that He is going to defeat His enemies through a servant.

And the word was incredibly, incredibly meaningful for God's people, because ever since Genesis 3, they had been waiting for a servant of the Lord who would defeat their greatest enemies.

In Isaiah 53, we're told how this servant would defeat his enemies.

Jesus speaks of the suffering servant, and he says in Isaiah 53, verse 4, you've heard this before.

Isaiah 53:4

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

Remember what was promised to Israel?

Peace in the land.

How would we get it?

Through Jesus Christ.

There's one way to peace.

And what God promises to Israel is the one way through Zerubbabel, who would be the servant of God.

It's so significant in Matthew 1, when Matthew shares a genealogy of Jesus that Zerubbabel is named.

Through Zerubbabel's line, peace would come to the nations.

God has defeated through Jesus Christ the greatest enemy that you and I can face.

It's the enemy of our sin and our suffering.

And He's done it on the cross so that you and I can have peace.

As we come to communion, this is what we celebrate.

We celebrate that peace has been offered to us through Jesus Christ.

And the second is if you have sin in your life that you're unrepentant of.

Not that you're a sinner, but that you have this sin that God has revealed to you and you're unwilling to deal with it.

And we'd ask that you let this pass.

As we turn to the cup, let's turn to the Lord in prayer.

Father, we thank you for this work that you have done.

God, you have made it possible for us to participate in a glorious, worthwhile, and lasting work because you have defeated our greatest enemy.

You have accomplished the greatest task.

When your son climbed onto the cross, died, and was raised to life three days later, Lord, you brought heaven to earth, and you are establishing your kingdom now so that we can participate in something that will succeed in the coming of the new heavens and the earth, new the new earth.

And so, God, we turn to this cup, and it represents so much for us, Lord, it represents the victory of Jesus Christ on our behalf that we can now labor as ones who are already victorious.

The mission is already accomplished.

And we thank you for the blood and the body of Jesus Christ.

It's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

You're gonna find two layers on the top of this cup, and the first will get you to the bread.

Jesus, or Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when it given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.