The sport of boxing is unique, in that it seems like you’re not really a part of a team. You are the only one in the ring with your opponent. Every success or failure -- whether you win or lose the fight -- is completely dependant on you. At the end of the fight, only one person has their hand in the air -- and the other person knows that he didn’t lose the fight because a teammate made a mistake, or because his team wasn’t working together like they should have been. He lost because he made mistakes.
This is only true on the outside, though. When you’re watching a boxing match, all you see is the two boxers in the ring. What you don’t see, though, is the coach. When their boxer goes down, that coach is standing in their corner, shouting at them, “Get up! Get up! Get up!” It’s that encouragement that helps them ignore the pain, get back on their feet, and get back into the fight.
For the past several weeks, we’ve been discussing some of the minor prophets. So far, all of them have had one thing in common -- they’ve all spoken about God’s impending judgement upon the people. God has repeatedly gotten angry with the Israelites, Judeans, and Edomites because they’ve repeatedly chosen to ignore His laws, and therefore, ignore His love. But God’s smart. He made us, so He understands how our minds work. He knew that He couldn’t just keep throwing punch after punch after punch and expect us to listen. Whether we deserved it or not, God knew that sometimes His people just needed some encouragement.
The book of Haggai is different that most of the other prophetic works of the Old Testament in that it is almost entirely composed of encouraging words that God sends to His people. Let’s start with a little history -- remember a few months ago when I spoke on Nehemiah? Nehemiah was the man who helped the Israelites return to their homeland and rebuild the city wall. Haggai comes along after Nehemiah. The city wall is finished, and the people have even built the foundation for a new temple. But sixteen years later they get discouraged, and give up on the new temple in favor of trying to rebuild their own lives. At this point God sends two prophets -- Haggai and Zechariah (We’ll speak on him next week) to encourage them to resume work on the temple.
1In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest: 2This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.”’ 3Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4‘Is is a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’ 5Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 6You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’ 7This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 8Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. … 12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
Let’s break this apart a bit here. We can see that Haggai has an interesting personality quirk -- he is huge on detail. We know when this happened, to the day. Thanks to surviving Persian records, we know that Haggai said this on August 29th, 520 BC. Haggai also mentions that this word is for the leadership of the time, by name -- Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest. Finally, and this is probably the most obvious example, he repeatedly mentions “This is what the Lord Almighty says”. Haggai wants to make sure that the people knew who sent him!
So what does the Lord Almighty say? Well, God is encouraging His people, though it may not seem that way at first. First, in verse 2, God makes it clear that yes, He knows what’s going on. What the Judeans do isn’t hidden from God. In verse 4, God makes His point -- the Judeans were being selfish. They were more concerned about their own comfort than ensuring that there was a place to worship. In verses 5-7, God reiterates that He knows the problems that they’ve suffered. He tells them to “Give careful thought to [their] ways”. He says it twice! Then He tells them what they need to do to “fix it” -- go to the mountains, get lumber, and rebuild the temple.
At first glance, this doesn’t seem very encouraging. It’s almost like God’s just reminding them of their problems, right? But He’s not just fussing at them! In boxing, the coach tells the fighters to “Get Up!”. Can they get up if they’re not down on the ground? No, of course not! By telling them to get up, the coach is still reminding them of their problem -- that they almost got knocked out. But the fighter chooses not to see it this way -- he knows that his coach is not simply reminding him of his troubles, but encouraging him to get past them and finish the job he was sent to do!
The Judeans saw it the same way as well -- they could tell that the Lord wasn’t trying to beat them down or make them feel guilty. He was trying to remind them of the job they were sent to do -- praise God! So, in verse 12, that’s exactly what they do! They go to the mountains, get the lumber, and come back to begin rebuilding the temple.
In some ways, this seems like the end of the story. God tells them to do something, and they do it. But things are never really that cut and dried, are they? We don’t make things that easy. In chapter 2, the Judeans get upset because they don’t feel like what they’ve done is good enough. This is the Lord speaking through Haggai:
3‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? how does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? 4But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, ‘ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 5This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear. … 9The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
Many times in our lives, we receive a promise from the Lord. That’s all well and good, but what happens when God never gives us a time frame for that promise, and it doesn’t go as fast as we would like it to? That’s what the Judeans were dealing with. God promised them a new, glorious temple, but when it was finished, it had no comparison to what King Solomon created! The people felt betrayed -- they were promised a new, glorious temple, but they felt like they didn’t get it.
Remember, God invented emotions, so it didn’t hurt His feelings when His people told Him how they felt. God knew that the people needed encouragement, so He did just that! He tells them to be strong! Then, he makes three encouraging promises to the people. First, he reminds them of the promise He made to their ancestors, in verse 5 -- He reminded them that He promised He would be with them to fulfill all of the promises made to those ancestors. Secondly, also in verse 5, He promises that the Holy Spirit would remain with them. Finally, he promises them that the temple they just built would surpass that of King Solomon! Word for word -- verse 9: “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house”. Notice, though, that he says the glory WILL BE greater. He doesn’t say it is already greater! God knows something the rest of the Israelites don’t know -- this is the same temple in Jerusalem where Christ Himself would speak! All four gospels plus the book of Acts mention Jesus teaching at the temple several times. This is the exact same temple! This temple will forever be glorified more so than any other temple on Earth, because the Son of God Himself preached there!
God fulfilled His promises to the people of Judah, even though the same people He made the promise to wouldn’t live to see it fulfilled. But, in doing so, He was constantly encouraging! God was like the boxing coach, constantly screaming, “Get up! Get up! Get up!” When you’re knocked down, it’s hard to think of how easy it will be when you’re back up. All you can think of is how much you hurt!
Has God promised something to you, but you feel like He hasn’t delivered yet? Remember that God always keeps His promises! If God promised something, it WILL happen. The only question is how and when -- and that’s the fun part. Be encouraged!
