"THE FIRST AND SECOND TEMPLE"
HAGGAI 2:1 - 9
SCRIPTURE:
In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts: According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.
MESSAGE:
Friends, due to the nature of tonight’s message it is vitally important that we understand a bit more about the relevant background of our text and of the situation and history of this book and prophet.
The author is known simply as “the prophet Haggai.” Apart from this book he is mentioned only in the book of Ezra. His name is usually associated with that of his better-known and younger contemporary, Zechariah. His message contained in this book was given to the people shortly after their return from Babylonian captivity.
It was at the hands of the Babylonians that Solomon’s temple was destroyed. Solomon’s temple was the pride and joy of the Israelite nation, spectacular and extravagant, it stood at the heart of Jewish worship and was therefore a symbol of great importance to the older Jewish people.
This was during the exile, now we fast-forward a bit past the exile to the present time of this message. The Israelite people were finally given permission to return to their country and rebuild their city with its temple. Soon after the first band of exiles had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in about 536BC, they began to rebuild the temple. It was not long, however, before various hindrances and waning enthusiasm brought a halt to the project. Haggai’s mission was to rekindle the faith and courage of the people so that they would complete the temple.
Right, now that we have a broad idea of what was going on we can move forward. We are going to look at our passage tonight in two parts. These two parts were, to my knowledge, first indicated by the great devotional commentator Matthew Henry, when he considered and wrestled with this same text. Firstly the "problem", which we find in verses 1-3 and secondly the "encouragement", which we find in verses 4-9.
A. The problem (2:1–3).
Our text contains the message that was brought by Haggai about a month after the work had begun, he encouraged the people, assuring them that their work is not in vain, and that what they are doing is indeed meaningful and pleasing to God.
We encounter the truth of the problem for the first time in verse 3: “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory?” "…this house in it’s former glory…" refers to the temple of Solomon before it was destroyed by the Babylonians. Those who had seen Solomon’s temple belittled the new temple that was now under construction. Ezra 3:10–13 recounts the laying of the foundation of the temple shortly after the return of the exiles. In this account of Ezra we see that there was great rejoicing on this occasion by the younger people, but also loud weeping on the part of the older priests, Levites, and family heads. The reason for this weeping was that they had seen the glory of Solomon’s temple and knew that the present effort would not come close by comparison. The builders began to wonder whether all their effort wasn’t maybe in vain since the temple will be so poor by comparison to Solomon’s. Their new temple seemed to them to be “like nothing” (v. 3).
This poor attitude weakened the hands of the builders. For, though God is pleased with us if we do in sincerity as well as we can in his service, our own proud hearts will never let us be satisfied with ourselves unless we do as well as others, whose abilities far exceed ours. This may sometimes, as in the case of our text, be the fault of older people who discourage the sincere efforts of the present age by crying up too much the performances and attainments of the former age. "Ah the good old days!"
It is important for us to remember that past experiences and achievements are there so that we may be motivated to emulate them. They should never be recalled in order insult the efforts of younger generations and to expose them to contempt.
Ecclesiastes 7:10 says this: "Say not thou that the former days were better than these", but thank God that there is any good in these, bad as they are.
B. The encouragement ( 2:4–9).
The words "be strong", repeated three times in our text, are reminiscent of God’s admonition in other crucial situations of the past. Joshua was encouraged with these same words in Joshua 1:9 when he faced the awesome responsibility of stepping into Moses’ shoes and leading Israel in the conquest of Canaan. He was never told that he was bound to fail and would never live up to the reputation of Moses. He was encouraged, and as a result he was the one who led the Israelites into the Promised Land. Likewise, in 1 Chronicles 22:13 David encourages young Solomon with these same words when he was given the great task of building the temple. He was encouraged, and the result was the glorious temple that is now causing the people to be demoralized with their attempts, that will, in their minds, never live up to the reputation of Solomon’s. Friends, when God has ordered a task to be done he always does his part. It is for his servants to be strong and work.
This admonition is grounded on two promises: Firstly, in verse 4 we read that God says: “I am with you”; and Secondly, in verse 7 God says: “I will fill this house with glory”. The first promise is a link to the past, to the covenant made at Sinai. The second is linked to the future, the glory that is yet to come.
The fact that God is present with his people by saying: "I am with you", means that he approves of their work, and that he will support and protect them. To God’s people this makes all the difference between despair and rejoicing, defeat and victory. The first reason, then, why they should not be discouraged at what seems to be such a feeble attempt to restore the temple to its former glory is that God is with them in accordance with his promise, and this means that He is pleased with their work. If God is pleased who else is there that we need to satisfy?
A second reason is that God relates their present activity to the coming surpassing glory of the temple, it’s not about how beautiful the temple was, it’s about the fact that God was present in it. It was natural for the people to make comparisons between Solomon’s temple and Zerubbabel’s temple. But from God’s perspective these temples are both his houses. These buildings are visible representations of the fact that God has seen fit to dwell among his people. Their temple, though less splendid than that of Solomon, is nevertheless God’s dwelling place where His people can come to worship Him. Since God has acknowledged it and promised his presence, there is no reason for discouragement. Furthermore, the standard of excellence is not Solomon’s temple, but the future temple - Christ! Their work, though seemingly insignificant, is nevertheless a part of God’s overall plan of establishing his presence on earth in such a way that not only Israel but ultimately all nations will be affected. God fulfilled this purpose through His Son Jesus Christ.
CONCLUSION:
Friends, the principle of this message serves as a powerful incentive to believers of today. As long as we are doing the work God has given us to do in accordance with his will, we are valued participants in God’s great program of making his salvation known to the lost, no matter how small our part may seem to be in comparison to others. If we do whatever it is that God has called us to do in sincerity to the best of our ability, we carry God’ blessing.
Let us never become guilty of having the same problem as these Israelites. Let us never recall the past with the aim to insult the efforts, or dampen the spirits of those that are at work today. But let us rather encourage them that they might become the Joshua’s and Solomon’s of tomorrow.
