Haggai: Rebuilding the Temple

Part 5

19^th April 2014

God doesn't always just spoon-feed us what we need to hear. He gave us brains and He want us to use them. Three months after the Jews had repented of their selfishness and started again to rebuild the temple (15 years late) He sent Haggai to them again. This time, it was to ask them to think:

Haggai 2v10-14
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Haggai: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Ask the priests what the law says: If a person carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and that fold touches some bread or stew, some wine, oil or other food, does it become consecrated?'"
The priests answered, "No."
Then Haggai said, "If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of these things, does it become defiled?"
"Yes," the priests replied, "it becomes defiled."
Then Haggai said, "'So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,' declares the LORD. 'Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled.'"

Perhaps they had to think about that for some time. I did.

It seems that God was saying that if a holy thing touches something else, that doesn't make the other thing holy, but if an unholy thing touches something else, that does make the other thing unholy. As Mathew Henry says, "pollution is more easily communicated than sanctification". I think it was T. V. Moore who commented that "One drop of filth will defile a vase of water: many drops of water will not purify a vase of filth."

And God said "So it is with this people and this nation in my sight". I think He meant that all the animal sacrifices they were offering, and all the ceremonies they performed at the site of the unfinished temple, didn't make them holy. Instead, their impurity of heart, their selfishness and materialism, defiled their worship and made it unacceptable in God's sight.

If I've got that right, this is an important message for God's church today.

Many churches have invested huge sums in their buildings and musical instruments. They have skilled musicians and wonderful songs. That's true of both modern youth-oriented churches with worship bands, and very ancient churches with valuable pipe organs and classic hymns. And it's all good, there's nothing wrong with good musicianship or nice buildings. But architecture and music are not the point.

When some modern churches come together to worship God, their meetings can seem more like popular music concerts than acts of worship, and when some very ancient churches meet before God their meetings can seem more like recitals. But the most important aspect of our worship is whether we're a holy people, whether we're keeping ourselves from being defiled by selfishness, materialism, or any other sin.

When we come together before God to worship Him, we can use beautiful liturgy and beautiful music in a beautiful building. We can sing loudly, and pray long prayers and preach long sermons. But the music, and the building, and the actions, and even the words, are not acceptable to God unless we're a humble and repentant people.

Romans 12v1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

All the expensive buildings and musical instruments, all the skilled musicianship, all the carefully worked-out liturgy (if that's your thing) even all the Bible knowledge, will not make us righteous in God's sight. And it will not validate our act of worship or make it acceptable to him:

Psalm 24v3-5
Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear by what is false.
He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from God his Saviour.

Our most important act of worship before God is to repent.

The people in Haggai's day did repent, and started in earnest to rebuild the temple of the Lord. And, as we'll see next time, God took away their reproach and blessed them.

Will we follow their example?

I suspect that the people imagined it would take many years to completely rebuild the temple. But the book of Ezra tells us that the job was done in just four years. If we totally dedicated to rebuilding God's house in our land, I wonder how much would be achieved in four years. A great deal, I suspect, because God is ready to work with us, as He worked with them.