FROM THIS MOMENT ON
Haggai 2:10-19
(Antioch Baptist Church: Sunday, October 19th, 2025)
There are certain moments that can change the trajectory of our lives. (Graduations, weddings, the birth of our children, deaths of loved ones, etc.) I have experienced many benchmarks and milestones over the last forty-three years, but without a doubt the most important day of my life was December 7th, 1997, for that was the day that I surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are various important moments that are chronicled in the Book of Haggai. The prophet’s first oracle was delivered to the people on August 29th, 520 BC. On September 21st of that year the people obeyed the Lord and began to gather the supplies needed to rebuild the Temple. Haggai delivered his second oracle on October 17th, then on December 18th, he delivered his third and fourth messages to the people.
Though there had been some preliminary work on the Temple, December 18th was a very special day, for this was the day that the actual foundation of the Temple was laid. The Lord speaks about the fact that “stone was placed upon stone in the Temple”. God informed His people that things would be much different “from this day on”
Every Christian has their own “foundation day”, that is, there is a day in our lives when we came to faith in Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that you can recall such a day, if not, it is important for you to know that this could be the day that your life is changed immediately, spiritually, and eternally.
With that being said, there is a need for many Christians to have a fresh encounter with the Lord. Similar to the Remnant is Haggai’s day, some have turned away from God and there is a need for them to return to Him. If you will do this, then I am confident that October 19th, 2025, will serve as an important milestone in your life. I would like for us to examine Haggai’s third oracle and consider the subject “From This Moment On”.
There is a great transition that is recorded in verses 18-19, the Lord says, “from this day on I will bless you.” The people returned to the Lord and as a result, the cursing that they had experienced would be turned into blessing. In a sense, the work of restoring the foundation of the Temple served as a metaphor concerning the restored relationship between God and His people.
- Let’s look to verses 10-12 and examine:
THE TIMING OF THIS MOMENT
v10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet,
One December 18, 520 BC the Lord sent another message to His people through the prophet Haggai. Exactly three months prior, “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel… Joshua… all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (1:14-15). The stirring of God and the response of the people occurred on September 21st, two months later, on October 17th, the Lord encouraged His people to “be strong… and work” and He assured them that He was with them (2:4).
God knows exactly what we need and He knows exactly when we need it. There have been times in my life when I was confused as to why God waited until a certain time to reveal various truths to me, or to place me in a specific situation, or to transform a certain area of my life. I cannot fully understand or explain the sovereignty of God, but I do know that we serve a God who is everywhere at all times. Our God is also all powerful, and He knows everything. Though we may not fully comprehend His ways, we can trust that His timing is always perfect.
If someone comes to faith in Christ today, it will be as a result of God’s perfect timing. If a fallen Christian’s relationship with the Lord is restored, it will be because of God’s perfect timing, if someone surrenders to a specific call to ministry today, it will be according to God’s divine timeline.
The Temple lay in ruins for many years, God was grieved by this reality the entire time. However, the events that are recorded in the Book of Haggai happened according to God’s sovereign will; they happened in His way, and at the exact right time. God’s timing is always perfect and His message is always pertinent
The Lord has ways of confronting us and teaching us truths that are important concerning our relationship with Him. In this instance, God instructed Haggai to converse with the priests about certain regulations that are described in the Law of Moses. Notice:
THE MESSAGE IN THIS MOMENT
v11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law:
It was the responsibility of the priests to provide God’s people with instruction based on His Law. From the beginning, God told Aaron (and his sons), “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses” (Leviticus 10:10-11)
The first question the Lord instructed Haggai to ask the priests was, ‘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 priests answered and said, “No” (v12). This is a reference to the peace offerings that are described in Leviticus 7:14-20.
Leviticus 6:25–27 declares that the meat of a sacrifice offered to the Lord became holy, and whatever the meat touched also became holy. In this instance, a garment that is used to transport “holy meat” would become “holy”. The question is whether the garment itself would then have the ability to pass on that holiness to other objects. For example, if the holy meat made a garment holy, and that garment then touched a loaf of “bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food”, would that food then become holy? The answer from the priest is “no”. Simply stated, holiness cannot be transmitted to the third degree.
The second question Haggai posed to the priests was, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean” (v14). The Law states in Numbers 19:11 “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days”. Haggai wanted to know if such defilement could be further transmitted by touch; the priests answered that “It does become unclean”. Their response is based on Numbers 19:22 which states, “Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”
The Lord’s intent in drawing a contrast between these two scenarios was to illustrate the fact that defilement can be transmitted by indirect contact to the third degree (and beyond), but this is not possible with holiness. The important lesson was for God’s people (then and now) to comprehend the reality that defilement is far more contagious than holiness.
The Lord goes on to apply the truths that were confirmed by the priests to “this people” and “this nation”. Notice verse 14 “Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it 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.”
The Lord declares that the Remnant’s labor on the Temple and the produce that “they offer there” is unclean. Though there was no standing Temple at this point, an altar for sacrifices was reestablished in Jerusalem after the return from Babylon. Joshua with his fellow priests, Zerubbabel and his kinsmen, “built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening” (Ezra 3:1-2).
Though it appears that the people were presenting sacrifices and offerings, they were unacceptable to the Lord. Based on the second ruling by the priests (verse 14) the people’s sacrifices were defiled; they transmitted their uncleanness to their offerings by direct contact.
Likewise, their work on the Temple was also tainted. The temple was to be the place where the contamination of sin was removed, but if the temple itself was contaminated, the people were in a hopeless situation. There is no way unclean offerings offered in an unclean temple could cleanse an unclean people.
Earlier in this Book, the Lord informed His people that He does not “take pleasure” in such sacrifices (Haggai 1:5-8). Now, in verses 15-17 the Lord again God describes the sin and the sufferings of His people. With unclean hands the people offered unacceptable sacrifices, the result of this was that they received curses instead of blessings.
Concerning their recent past, the Lord asked the Remnant, “Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare?”(v15-16) Haggai reminded them that when they hoped to gather “twenty measures” of grain, there were only “ten”. “When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty”. This deficiency was not the result of human failures or mismanaged resources, rather, God declares, “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.” God’s motivation for responding this way was for His people to return to Him, but they had not responded accordingly.
The message for the Remnant was that their sacrifices and their labor on the Temple were not sufficient enough to clean up their sin. God desired repentance and obedience; He wanted more than busy hands; He desired clean hearts!
Many people in the church have the misconception that their attendance, giving, service, and even their obedience are sufficient means of pleasing God. However, for many, while their outward actions are admirable, the condition of their hearts is deplorable.
The obedience that God desires is more than His people acting out of obligation. When we focus on rules and works rather than relationship we are involved in legalism. Instead, God desires His people to possess faithful obedience that comes from the heart and is motivated by our love and devotion for Him.
God’s message to His people in this passage was the same as it was in Haggai’s first oracle, He wanted them to consider their ways. More than that, He demanded that they change their ways.
The same is true for many who are assembled here. God would have those who do not belong to Him to repent and turn to Him today. Furthermore, for the Christian, God’s message comes with a requirement as well; the Father is calling out to many of His children and saying, “return unto me”.
- This leads us to:
THE REQUIREMENT FOR THIS MOMENT
The people began to fear the Lord after Haggai’s first oracle, and they responded with obedience by “working on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God” (1:14); however, something was still amiss. In November of that same year, the prophet Zechariah addressed this same Remnant with a call to repentance. Zechariah 1:3 says, “Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you”. Thankfully, the people heard the word of the Lord and responded by returning to the Lord. Their repentance was evidenced by their intense labor on the House of the Lord.
At this point, the people of God have reached an important milestone in their journey; throughout this passage the Lord refers to “this day” (v15, 18, & 19). “This day” points to the laying of the Temple’s foundation. Haggai refers to the time “Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord…” (v15). The first wave of returning exiles in 537 BC had done some work on the Temple foundation but opposition arose and the priorities of the people changed and the work lay dormant for many years.
If you examine the entire Book of Haggai you will notice that the location of the people was not enough. Though they had returned to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon their hearts were not focused on the things of God, they were living for themselves.
After receiving a stern rebuke from the Lord through Haggai’s first message, the people responded with fear and obedience; this was admirable but it not enough. Their only hope of enjoying a right relationship with God and experiencing His blessings was for them to have a change of heart and for them to “return” to the Lord.
It is a wonderful thing if you fear the Lord, it is admirable if you obey Him, if you belong to Him you should serve Him. However, these actions should be prompted by love for the Lord and appreciation for His grace, not an attempt to earn His favor. When you do what you do because you love the Lord and sincerely desire to honor Him for who He is and all that He has done for you, then you will be in a position to experience His blessings.
I have no doubt that every person assembled here today desires to experience the blessings of God. For many, the only way that this will be possible is for you to either turn to Him, or return to Him. If you will, His blessings will abound!
We have examined the timing of this moment, the message in this moment, the requirement for this moment, and I would like to close by considering:
THE BLESSINGS FROM THIS MOMENT
In verse 18 Haggai says, “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”. “This day” (in the ninth month of the second year of Darius) is what is considered to be the true “foundation day”. As such, the Lord assured Haggai, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the Remnant that “from this day on I will bless you.”
How is it that the Lord would bless His people? He promises them that He will bless their labors and the subsequent crops. In verse 19 the Lord asks a rhetorical question, He says, “Is the seed yet in the barn?” The answer is “no!” At this point it is December and the seed was already in the ground because it would have been planted in October and November.
The previous harvest that would have been reaped in May-June was meager; the grain was scarce, the wine was limited, and the seed was in the ground. On top of this, “the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing” (v19). As a result, the Remnant had limited resources and very little to live on.
Even with these devastating circumstances, God personally assures His people that He is with them and “from this day on” He will “bless them”. Because they have returned to the Lord, He has graciously forgiven them and desires to bless them. These people who have long endured the divine curses of God will now experience His bountiful blessings.
The exciting news is that even though it would be another four years before the Temple was completed, they would not have to wait until then to experience the presence and blessings of God. God has already assured them that He is presently with them, and the blessings came to fruition with the bumper crops they received the very next season. God’s promise was that “from this day forward” they would experience His divine favor, not because of their worthiness, but as a result of His unmerited mercy!
God knows each of us and He knows every detail of our story. He knows when we are ready to receive His message and He will send that message at the exact right time. For many, this could be that time; if so, the message is the same as it was for the Remnant; the Lord is crying out “return unto me”. It could be that you have endured the severe consequences of your sin for an extended period of time, if you will return to the Lord then you can enjoy His bountiful blessings.
If you have never surrendered to the Lord Jesus, you do not have access to the blessings that are described in His Word. However, if you will repent and believe in Him, then you will qualify to receive His blessings “from this moment on”.
- Hymn writer D.W Whittle spoke about “Showers Of Blessing”
There shall be showers of blessing:
Send them upon us, O Lord;
Grant to us now a refreshing,
Come and now honor Thy Word.
There shall be showers of blessing:
Oh, that today they might fall,
Now as to God we're confessing,
Now as on Jesus we call!
Showers of blessing,
Showers of blessing we need:
Mercy-drops round us are falling,
But for the showers we plead.
If you will either turn or return to the Lord, you can rest in the reality that God’s blessings are immediate, infinite, and immeasurable. Humble yourself before the Lord and allow Him to transform your life “From This Moment On”.
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