Haggai: Rebuilding the Temple

Part 7

26^th April 2014

Last time, we read about Haggai's prophesy, reminding God's people that God had cursed them because of their selfishness and disregard for God's house, but promising that now they had repented and started to work hard rebuilding the temple, God would bless them.

Later that same day, he prophesied again:

Haggai 2v20-23
The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month:
"Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother. "'On that day,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel' declares the LORD, 'and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,' declares the LORD Almighty."

The people had obeyed God at last. They were rebuilding the temple. But the nations that lived around Judea were wealthier, more numerous and more powerful than they were. They'd disrupted the work and they could do so again. God's people must have been concerned for their own safety, as well as about the risk of being prevented from completing the work. But God is in control of the whole universe.

And we, in England in 2014, can be concerned when we read stories about street preachers being arrested, and Christians being sacked for admitting that they believe what the Bible says, or for simply wearing a cross. The question for us is the same as it was for them, "Are we going to let our fear prevent us doing God's work, building God's temple?" We might encounter opposition, as they did. Some of us might suffer, as they did. But they got on and finished the job God had given them to do in their generation. Will we do the job of rebuilding the church in our generation?

God is still in control. He always was, and He always will be.

God's people are called to obedience. They always were and they always will be.

Jesus said:

Matthew 28v18b-20
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

And He hasn't stopped saying it.

The God who is King of the Universe, in total control of history, then said, "I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother". That has always happened, and it will continue to happen unto Jesus returns. Empires and dynasties come into power, and God removes them from power, sometimes by external force, sometimes by internal division. The greatest kingdom in the world is and always will be the kingdom of God. As Isaiah prophesied:

Isaiah 9v7
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever...

But Haggai's words also had a particular application. God had overthrown the Chaldean kings as part of His plan to return the Jews to Judea, and given their empire to the Kings of Medo-Persia (Daniel 5). And, in God's time, the Medo-Persian kings would fall too. Alexandra the Great destroyed the Persian empire nearly 200 years after this prophecy. Having supplanted the Persian Kings, Alexander died just a few months later. His empire fell into civil war, and was thus divided into four kingdoms. Eventually, those four kingdoms fell in their turn, to be replaced by the Roman empire.

Haggai prophesied, "On that day... I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel... and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you". In fact, the prophecies never came true in Zerubbabel's lifetime and he disappeared from the pages of history soon after this prophecy was given. The prophecy was fulfilled in one of Zerubbabel's descendants, Jesus Christ (see Matthew 1v12, 16, Luke 3v23,27) who was born in the time of the Roman Empire. (It's not unusual for the Bible to identify a person or group with their antecedents. Indeed, the whole nation was called "Israel" after one man). Zerubbabel was in the direct line from David to Jesus, the Son of David.

Jesus was the Chosen One. God made Him "like a signet ring". A signet ring is used to verify that any communication from its owner is genuine. Jesus was the very Word of God. God gave Zerubbabel the very high honour of making this association between him and God the Son, because he led God's people in repentance and the prioritisation of building the temple.

That's how important the work of temple building is.

What will you do with your life?

That completes our brief study of the book of Haggai. I find the parallels with our own generation very significant. I hope you found it as interesting, and as challenging, as I did.