The Move Of God Series

The rebuilding of the Temple of God came to a halt, because of the harassment from the Samaritans and the pressure from the Persian officials.

• And it stopped for 16 years, until the 2nd year of King Darius’ reign. With the Temple unbuilt, God was left out of their mind and their lives.

• The remnant was distracted into other concerns and neglected the work of God completely. They needed a wake-up call.

Read Ezra 5:1-2

We started Ezra 1 with the move of God, stirring the heart of King Cyrus and also the remnant, leading them to take the journey back to Jerusalem.

• We have yet another move of God in Ezra 5. God raised His prophets to stir the hearts of his people back to work on His Temple.

• Haggai spoke regarding the Temple of God, while Zechariah encouraged the people with visions of God’s future plans for Israel.

The long neglect to the Temple led to spiritual apathy. With God out of their minds and their lives, the people became complacent. They needed to hear from God.

• And God spoke, through Haggai - Haggai 1:1-11

1 In 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:

2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, `The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.'"

3 Then the Word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"

5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You 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."

7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured," says the LORD. 9 "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labour of your hands."

Clearly the people has forgotten about God. They spent their time building their own houses and their own lives.

• Yet they were not really living well because they have ignored the true Source of their blessings. They were making a living by their own efforts.

• The Lord described their situation this way – they were planting much but harvesting little; they eat and never get enough; they drink but never get satisfied; they earn their wages but always lacking, like putting money in purses with holes.

• These were signs of their abandoning God. They left God out of their lives.

The Lord says, “You need to give careful thought to your ways” (mentioned 5 times in this book).

• In order words, if they think properly and ponder carefully, they would understand the reason why.

• They need to return to God. And the first step towards that is to rebuild the house of God!

Not that they have not started. The foundation to the Temple had already been laid, some 16 years ago.

• Clearly they were discouraged by the persecution and side-tracked into looking at their own concerns rather than God’s concern.

The people heard the Word of God. Haggai 1:12-15.

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.

13Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: "I am with you," declares the LORD. 14 So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.