Many of the prophets can be considered independent prophets because they dealt with the kingdoms of Israel or Judah.
These prophets spoke words of condemnation to:
• The Political leaders that led people from God
• The Priesthood that led people from God
• The Nations that had turned people from God
All the prophets spoke of the day when the nations would be destroyed. The times of destruction did come as they prophesied. For example:
• In 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell at the hands of the Assyrians
• In 606 BC, the kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians
This began the great tragedy of the exile, the most pivotal event in biblical history since the exodus.
All the leading citizens of the kingdom were taken away, and led into the city of Babylon. The Temple in Jerusalem was completely destroyed and the nation became divided.
• They lost their independence to govern themselves
• Their place of worship was gone
• They lived in this condition for 70 years
Eventually, the Babylonians were defeated and conquered by a new empire, the Persians. The Persians did not have a policy of exiling the leading citizens of conquered lands, so they offered the exiles a choice.
(1) They could remain where they were because many had assimilated themselves into this culture
(2) They could embark on the journey home, where they would be allowed a measure of self-government, and be permitted to rebuild their temple
Many chose not to make the return trip to Judah. They knew:
• It would be a difficult journey
• It would be a difficult life in the impoverished land
Those who returned, saw it as the opportunity God had given them to be part of the remnant of the New Kingdom of Israel. They returned with this grand vision for their homeland.
The building of the temple work began immediately! Things were going great for a year, but eventually things began to get difficult and the focus of the people turned from the temple to themselves. The temple was left unfinished on mount Zion.
Into this era comes the prophet Haggai, the first of the post-exilic prophets. Let’s look into the scriptures and look at the life of this great man of God; the PROPHET HAGGAI!
We see -
I. THE MAN
Haggai means “festival, feast, festive.”
We get the impression from reading this book that Haggai was one of the OT prophets with a heart of love.
The prophet was most likely born in exile, in Babylon, where the Jewish people were held for a 70-year period before a group returned to Jerusalem led by Zerubbabel.
WHO WAS ZERUBBABEL?
• Zerubbabel was the grandson of Jehoiachin, King of Judah.
• Zerubbabel led the first band of Jews, numbering 42,360, who returned from the Babylonian Captivity in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia.
• Zerubbabel also laid the foundation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem the next year. Little else is known about him.
Haggai comes 16 years after Zerubbabel led the Jews back to Jerusalem, and he noticed that the temple was not completed.
During Haggai’s four months of ministry, he gave four prophetic messages that dealt with God’s priorities for the lives of His people.
(1) He gave a call to rebuild the house of God (Haggai 1:3-15)
(2) He gave a call to have courage in the Lord (Haggai 2:1-9)
(3) He gave a call to clean up their lives before the Lord (Haggai 2:10-19)
(4) He gave a call to confidence in the Lord (Haggai 2:20-23)
We have looked at THE MAN, now look at -
II. THE MESSAGE
As God speaks to him, He shows Him His displeasure because after sixteen years the temple of God has not yet been rebuilt.
Look at Haggai 1:1-2. We read, “In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built.”
Haggai recognized that these people returned with good intentions, but they had been sidetracked with their own SELFISH PLANS!
When they were rebuked for carrying out their own SELFISH PLANS instead of the PLAN OF GOD to rebuild the temple, they simply said, in verse 2, “… The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built.”
Often today we still hear people talk about things they should be doing, but they say, “THE TIME IS NOT RIGHT!”
These people had waited for 70 years in a foreign land and now they offer these words, “THE TIME IS NOT COME!”
This is a trick Satan has played on God’s people throughout the ages. People have the best of intentions, but Satan has convinced them that the time has not come to CARRY OUT THOSE PLANS that God wants them to carry out in their life.
WHY HASN’T THE TIME COME? Because people take these bodies that God created and put life into and use them for their own SELFISH GAIN! They live their life with GOOD INTENTIONS, thinking that God is pleased with them as long as they have good intentions.
Haggai lets them know that the TIME HAS COME!
Look at Haggai 1:3-4, we read, “Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?”
God through Haggai said, “How dare you after sixteen years of good intentions and stalling say the time is not come.” Then the Lord says, “You have time, money and energy to build your paneled houses but you do not have time, money or energy to build my house!”
Then Haggai says, in verse 5, “Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”
This is a nice way of saying, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH YOUR LIFE? He says, “…consider your ways.”
Because they have been living for SELF and not for GOD, Haggai tells them that God has not blessed them!
Look at verse 6. We read, “Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.”
In verse 4 we are told that the people were living in paneled houses.
Illus: In those days, paneled houses were associated with the very wealthy and usually associated with kings.
We see that in 1 Kings 7:1-13, when Solomon built his own 11,250 square foot house he paneled it with cedar (notice verses 3 and 7).
God is not saying that He is against paneling in your homes or that living in homes that are nicely constructed is wrong.
The reason God was upset with these people was because they took the paneling that was supposed to be used in rebuilding the temple and they used it to build their own homes instead.
In Ezra 3:7, we find that they bought and shipped cedar wood from Lebanon for the construction of the Temple. But when the construction stopped for fifteen years they apparently used the cedar in their own homes.
It would be similar to when a person takes the TITHES that belong to the Lord and use God’s tithes on themselves. When a person does such a thing they NEED TO CONSIDER WHAT THEY ARE DOING!
This is why Haggai is saying, “CONSIDER YOUR WAYS!”
I am convinced that if people would stop and think about what they are doing today…THEY WOULD NOT DO BE DOING IT!
God does not get upset if we live in paneled houses, but He does get upset when we take that which rightfully belongs to Him in time, money and material possessions, and use them for our own extravagance while His work goes undone.
God says to us, “consider your ways!” In other words:
• Where is your heart?
• What are your priorities?
Haggai continues by telling them what the Lord wants. Look at Haggai 1:8, we read, “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.”
It is interesting how Haggai used the word, “consider.” He seems to be aware that most people live their life not really thinking things through.
• In Haggai 1:5, the Lord said, “consider your ways!”
• In Haggai 1:7, the Lord said, “consider your ways!”
• In Haggai 2:15, the Lord said “consider from this day onward.”
• In Haggai 2:18, the Lord said, “consider from this day onward.”
For the last fifteen years they had CONSIDERED WHAT WAS IMPORTANT TO THEM, but Haggai tells them now to CONSIDER WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO GOD!
Illus: It is interesting in life that when a person takes a trip they would not think of leaving their home without making some kind of plan about which route they will take.
However, the voyage of life is the most important trip that we mortals will ever take and many live their life as if:
• They think it does not matter which route they take
• They hope to just follow the crowd and eventually get there
From time to time, we Christians need to CONSIDER OUR WAYS.
We should ask ourselves questions like:
• Are we in the will of God?
• Are we doing what is important to God?
We all need to take time to evaluate whether or not we have deviated from the very things that God has placed on our heart to do for His kingdom and His glory.
If we find we have deviated from God’s plan, we need to make some adjustments.
The people during Haggai’s time needed to get refocused as well.
God is clear in what He wants them to do. Go up the mountain. Bring wood and rebuild the temple.
HOWEVER, SOME MISS THE POINT IN WHAT GOD IS SAYING HERE.
Some seem to think that this means that the building is the most important thing. That God is concerned with a pile of wood, a pile of bricks, with the chairs, and pews, and furniture.
That is not the case here. HAGGAI SEES THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AS AN IMPORTANT SYMBOL OF THE PRIORITIES OF THE PEOPLE.
God rebuked the people in Haggai’s time because they did not please Him or glorify Him. Because of that, He withheld His blessings.
Notice what God said in verses 9-11. He said, “Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.”
God did not bless their focus or their priorities because they were all wrong.
Their focus was on themselves not on Him.
Do you want God’s blessings in your life? Then give Him the supreme place in your life.
If you don’t, then expect His discipline in your life, not His blessings.
From what we can see in the Book of Haggai, these people embarrassed God!
The temple was begun and not finished. And people could walk by and see it day after day. Still they were not moved to remedy the situation.
They lived in their paneled houses, and God was ignored.
• They ignored the God that had brought them home
• They ignored the God that had provided for them over and over again
We need to CONSIDER OUR WAYS today! Does our life:
• Bring glory to God
• Bring disgrace to God
Conclusion:
The response of the people during Haggai’s time was beautiful. The people showed reverence to the Lord. They came together and began to work on the house of God. And it began with the leadership taking the first step.
Then notice the Lord’s response in verse 13. He said, “Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.”
In the Book of Haggai, we have looked at:
I. THE MAN
II. THE MESSAGE
