Let us have another word of prayer.
Lord, we are rejoicing in Your presence today. Lord, we are not our own, but we are Yours. We are thankful that we have been bought with a price, transferred out of a kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of Your beloved Son with a great and marvelous purpose.
And Lord, as we come and continue to sit at Your feet during this time, we open our hearts unto You for Your Holy Spirit to have great freedom in this hour. Lord, we thank You that it is still called today, that You are speaking, You are working. And we do pray that we would have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the church in this hour.
In Your precious name, amen.
I would like for us to turn again to 2 Corinthians 11. I shared out of these verses a couple of months ago on this thought: the Lord has a desire for us to return and to stay in that place of simplicity and purity in our devotion to Him.
We know, in the hour and days in which we are living, that it is a great time of confusion. Many things are trying to come in and rob us of our place and the riches that we have in the Lord. We thank the Lord that, as Paul had such a heart for these dear ones in Corinth, that same heart carries over to us today.
We see in 2 Corinthians 11, beginning in Verse 1. We will read Verses 1 through 3:
I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me.
For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
Paul uses some intense words here, such as jealousy. There was a yearning within Paul’s heart because he had spent a good bit of time—perhaps a year and a half or so—with these dear ones in Corinth. He loved them so much, and yet he saw some things that were creeping in.
Out of that heart of love, he cries out to them: Do not become so complicated. Do not get involved in many things. There is one thing necessary. Return and stay in that place of simplicity and purity of your devotion to Christ.
Brothers and sisters, that is a foundational lesson that we need to have made very real within our lives, particularly in the days in which we are living. We see so many things being shaken. We see things that we used to be able to trust in, things in which we used to have confidence. All that is outward is eroding away. But praise God, He is forever the same.
He wants us to truly know that place of rest and security, because He has put us in this place with a purpose. As I was looking at these verses, and even as we have been praying for the conference, it tied in with Peter’s desire: “What kind of people ought we to be in holy conduct and godliness?” There is a simplicity and purity that comes forth in godliness and holiness.
Paul knew himself, and he knew these ones well. He cries out to them, “I have really got it on my heart. I am concerned that you would be led astray, that the enemy would come in and lead you astray from that simplicity and purity.”
We would like for those words to search our hearts too—not in some ethereal way. When we talk about simplicity and purity, when we talk about godliness and holiness, this is not ethereal talk. God desires that it be made very real.
Really, godliness and holiness, simplicity and purity, are simply the life of our Lord Jesus Christ lived out in our lives. How do we stay in a place of simplicity? How do we stay in a place of purity? It is saying no to ourselves and yes to Him. It is His life being expressed.
It is when we get involved that unholiness comes in. It is when we get involved that all the complications and all the mixture come in. So we pray, and we are thankful that we still have time. It is still called today.
As we have been betrothed to Him and are waiting for our Lord’s glorious return, this is a time of keeping ourselves pure. It is a time of preparation. It is a time of maturing. It is a time of growing up in the Lord, that we would even be vessels that would hasten His return.
Oh, how the Lord yearns to return. The limitation is not on His side. He is desiring that the bride would make herself ready. Would we be those people who return to that place of simplicity and purity?
Now, for us to get a better feel for what this means within our daily lives, we want to look in the Old Testament. It is one thing to talk about simplicity and purity, but what does that really mean to us?
There was a period of time in the Old Testament when the dear ones who had been brought out of Egypt and into the promised land—into that place of God’s dwelling, with all its riches, beauty, and glory—left the simplicity of Him as the one living God. They began serving their own desires and serving idols, and mixture came in.
We know that the Lord, in His judgment and in His mercy, took them into Babylon. But praise God, even in judgment the Lord remembers mercy, because He has a purpose and He is going to accomplish it.
The people of Israel spent seventy years in Babylon. As Bill has shared with us, Babylon means babble or confusion, which is the total opposite of simplicity and purity.
We see in the world today, and within Christianity today, so much mixture and so much confusion. One says, “This is Christ.” Another says, “This is Christ.” How are we to know?
Those who have that intimate relationship with Him know the Shepherd’s voice. Do we know our Shepherd’s voice? Are we listening to the many voices? There is one voice leading us on. Would the Lord draw us back, that we might have our ears attuned to hear His voice in this hour?
After those seventy years of captivity in Babylon, the Lord raised up King Cyrus, who said that anyone among the people of Israel who desired to return to Jerusalem to build the house of God was free to go.
There were millions in captivity at that time, and they were all given freedom to return. But tragically, only about fifty thousand chose to go back. We can read the history of these times in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. We also have three prophets associated with those times: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.
When the people of God came back to Jerusalem, they rebuilt the altar and began rebuilding the house. But after about two years, they stopped. For fifteen years, that house lay desolate.
They had been called back with one purpose: to build the house of God. In that, they would be ushering in our Lord’s first coming.
In a similar way, brothers and sisters, we have been called back to the simplicity and purity of our devotion to Christ. We have been called with purpose. Why have we been called to Him? That His house might be built; that He would have materials that would go into that house and dwelling place; that His life would be expressed among the people of God in this hour.
Through that, there would be the hastening and preparing of His second return. But tragically, in Ezra, after those two years they stopped building, and they did not build for fifteen years.
Then they started building again through the ministry and prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah. The Lord spoke to their hearts, and they arose and rebuilt.
Later on, toward the end of Nehemiah, they were going through many outward forms and rituals, but they had lost the sense of their first love. They had lost the spirit, power, and life of God. In that, the Lord raised up Malachi.
As we consider maintaining the simplicity and purity of our devotion to Christ, we want to look at these three prophets and allow them to speak into our hearts and lives concerning the lessons and things that the Lord pointed out to them. Then we want to allow that to translate into our lives and see how it impacts us today.
The Old Testament is a picture, and there are many things we can learn from it. We want to learn these lessons.
It is important to realize that each of these prophets addressed one overall issue: the matter of first love. Whether it was Haggai saying, “Consider your ways”; Zechariah saying, “Return to Me”; or Malachi saying, “I have loved you”—there was a heart issue of first love.
There was a simplicity, purity, and devotion of first love that had faded away during this time. The Lord used these three men to stir the people up and bring them back to the place where they originally had such a heart that other things did not matter in their lives. All they were concerned with was pursuing the heart and mind of the Lord.
It is good for us to remember that the people in Jerusalem were the right people. They were God’s chosen people. They were in the right place—the place God had chosen to put His name. They were in Jerusalem.
They were the right people in the right place, and they were there for the right purpose: to build the house of God. But they had stopped.
So we have to look at ourselves today. Brothers and sisters, are we the right people? We are the right people not because of ourselves, but because we have been chosen. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and we are in Christ. In Him, we have all the riches of Christ. We have been made the right people—the chosen ones.
Are we in the right place? We are not talking physically here, but we are in the house of God, in that spiritual house of God. So we are in the right place.
And are we here for the right purpose? I think we would all agree that God’s desire is for His house to be built.
The question is this: if we are the right people, in the right place, with the right purpose and the right heart, why is there not a greater manifestation of the life of Christ in this hour? That is what is set before us, and may these prophets speak to us.
First, let us turn to the prophet Haggai. Haggai is the third book from the end of the Old Testament: Malachi, Zechariah, Haggai. You have to know where it is, because you will miss it. In most Bibles, it is about a page and a half.
While you are turning there, I had a question this week about how to pronounce it. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, there are two ways: “Haggai” or “Haggi.” Both are acceptable. So however you say it is fine, and however I say it is okay—however it comes out.
Who was Haggai? By tradition, most believe—and we can see in Scripture—that he was an older man. He had probably seen the temple as a child in Jerusalem, seen that original temple, and then was taken into captivity. So he was probably eighty years old or older.
In his eighty years of life, do you know how long Haggai’s public ministry lasted? Four months. Four months—from his first prophecy to the end. Eighty years of life, and four months of public ministry.
But how long was his hidden ministry? How long was his hidden life with the Lord? He was a vessel made ready.
It is testified of Haggai—and it is said of no one else in the Old Testament—that he was a messenger of the Lord. In Haggai 1:13, he is called “the messenger of the Lord.”
In some translations, it reads that he was the messenger of the Lord, and the message was in him and he was in the message. There was unity between what he was saying and his very life. Haggai was a man of character.
How vital that is for us in this day and time. So often we can focus on having a great message, but what is the character of the messenger? The Lord is looking for the message, yes, but He is also looking for the character of the messenger—for His life to be expressed in the messenger. The message comes out as an overflow of the life.
Haggai was very faithful. We could say that his walk and his talk were the same. This is one of the most terrifying things whenever you share the Word of God, because immediately you feel disqualified. You know that whatever it says here has not fully developed in your life.
But praise God, in His mercy we can have teachable hearts. Would the Lord be teaching all of us in a fuller and greater way? There is a difference between our message and sometimes the character of the messenger, but we are all in process. Great grace needs to be given as we are in process and learning.
Anyone who has ever shared—whether teaching on Sunday mornings, Friday nights, youth groups, or here—has generally learned far more than what he shares. Sometimes we think we are the ones doing the talking, but actually we have learned and seen. It is a blessing.
How the Lord desires that His character would be developed among the people of God.
As we look into the book of Haggai, there are two overall matters to point out. Haggai speaks to the condition of the people. He speaks to their inner life. There is no reference in Haggai to the works of the enemy or the adversary.
He addresses their life within. We know that sometimes the enemy is very active. In Zechariah, we see the enemy standing there accusing Joshua as unworthy. There is that aspect. But in Haggai, the Lord is focusing upon the life within—His life being expressed among the people of God, the condition of their inner life.
This is what the Lord is looking for in this hour: the manifestation of His life. Too often we can blame the enemy. Now, he does a lot, but the conditions that the people of God found themselves in during Haggai were not the enemy’s problem. The source was from within.
So many of our problems have their source within, and this is what the prophet Haggai addresses.
It is also interesting that in Haggai there is no teaching or correction of doctrine. They knew the doctrine. They had the knowledge. They all said, “Yes, the house needs to be built. We know why we are here.”
In Haggai 2, the question is asked: Can you distinguish between the holy and the profane according to the law? They said yes: “This is holy; this is profane.” They knew the teaching. They had the knowledge. There was no correction needed in that regard.
The issue was that their hearts were not in the right place. It was not their knowledge; it was an issue of their hearts. The life within was not right. These are the two overriding factors that we see throughout the book of Haggai.
Let us turn to Haggai 1. I am reading from the New American Standard Bible.
In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: This people says, ‘The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.’”
Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways.
You have sown much, but harvest little;
you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied;
you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk;
you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough;
and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider your ways.
Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
“You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.
Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce.
I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the Lord.
Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke by the commission of the Lord to the people, saying, “I am with you,” declares the Lord.
So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.
These dear people of God were gathered in Israel on the first day of the sixth month. The first day of the month was always the new moon celebration. For fifteen years, nothing had been happening with the house of God. It lay desolate.
The Lord had been trying to speak to them, but on this particular day, in God’s timing and initiative, He raised up the prophet Haggai. There is no reference to the people in Israel crying out to God for help. Actually, it is just the opposite.
If you look at Haggai 2:17, the Lord says, after describing all that He had been doing to get their attention, “Yet you did not come back to Me.” He had been trying to speak to them through adverse circumstances, but they did not get it.
God, in His mercy and great love, sent forth Haggai. Those adverse circumstances had been an expression of His love, trying to draw them back to Himself. But they were not responding.
They were still going through the offerings. Haggai 2:14 speaks of their offerings. We know from Ezra that when they came back, they restored the altar, maintained the continual burnt offering, and restored the Feast of Booths. They were going through the outward forms.
Yet with their lives and lips they were saying, “The time has not yet come to build the house of God.” They intended to build. They had the correct teaching concerning the building of the house of God. They knew that was what God wanted. But it was just not time yet. It was not convenient.
It was not inconvenient because of opposition; it was inconvenient because of their hearts and priorities in life. The Lord addresses them by saying, “Look at My house. It is lying desolate.” Then He says in Haggai 1:4 that they were occupied with building their own paneled houses—their own nice houses.
They did not build merely simple things. Paneled houses spoke of the extra life, the efforts into which they were putting all of themselves, while the Lord’s house lay desolate.
We also see their priorities displayed in Haggai 1:9: “My house lies desolate while each of you runs to his own house.” What do you run to? You run to the things you love. You run to the things to which you want to get. The house of God was lying desolate, while they were running to their own houses. That was their heart and their priority.
Spiritual lethargy had come in, and they had been captured by a spirit of materialism and self-desire. “We want this. We are going to have this. Yes, we know. I can tell you about God’s house. I can tell you about God’s purpose. He intends for this house to be rebuilt. He liberated us from Babylon. He brought us back here.”
They had all the teaching, but it was the life within. They were sitting there. They were not building the house of God.
They were putting all their effort into trying to satisfy themselves. But what was happening? Haggai 1:6-7 says that they sowed much but harvested little. They earned wages, but it was like having a hole in their pocket. They ate food but were not satisfied. They drank, but there was no satisfaction.
All their efforts produced no satisfaction, and yet they did not get it. It did not wake them up. They were working much but accomplishing little.
We see God’s love and tender care expressed as He tried to get their attention. In Haggai 1:9, He says, “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little. When you bring it home, I blow it away.” Who was blowing it away? God was blowing it away out of a heart of love: “Look, these things are not going to satisfy you. Wake up.”
He even says later, in Verse 11, “I brought about the drought.” Brothers and sisters, sometimes, as we look upon this country and pray on Wednesday nights, we can blame the enemy for all the disasters and everything going on. But is God trying to get our attention and wake us up?
Praise God, in judgment He has mercy. There are signs and things going on in this hour. The people of God were in the right place. They were the right people with the right purpose, but they were not getting it because their hearts were not in the right place.
They did not have that life. There was self-seeking. They were trying to fulfill all their own ways. But praise God, in His mercy, He sent forth His Word.
Praise God, brothers and sisters, it is still called today, and God is speaking. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
What does Haggai say to the people of God? He says, “Consider your ways.” Literally, that means, “Set your hearts.” Look within your heart. Set your heart on the right way. It is not a matter of mental gymnastics. It is setting your heart.
Return to first love. Go up the mountain. Deny yourself. Get the wood and bring the material back for the house of God.
The great encouragement was that when the people of God responded, when they heard the Word, when the call to repentance and the call to return to first love went out, they responded. God came forth and said, “I am with you.” There was great rejoicing.
How does all of that apply to us today? Do we, not so much with our lips but with our lives, say, “It is not yet time to build”?
By the choices we make, by the things we do and the things in which we get involved, do we say, “It is not time to build the house”?
We know enough that we would never say that with our lips. But what do our lives testify? We all know that it is God’s desire to build His house. Nobody is questioning that. We have the teaching. We have the knowledge. We know it is God’s purpose to have a vessel prepared for His return.
But it is not time. We have other priorities in our lives.
As John shared concerning fellowship, fellowship is very active and in the present, that we may have life and express that life together. “What I have seen, what I have heard, what I have touched, this I share with you.” There is a presentness—a life interacting together—that relationship we first have with Him and then with one another.
Yet, even as we have fellowshipped with the brothers on Sunday nights, a word has come out: disconnected. Somehow, there is a disconnect. It is not yet time to build.
Are we being built together as a holy habitation for the Lord in the Spirit? Or are our lives saying, “It is not quite time yet”? It is good that we have desire, that we want this and want that. But has it come about?
Are we like those people in Haggai, occupied with building our own houses, building our own fortunes, getting our security upon this earth, pursuing material possessions and careers?
So often we make choices and do not see immediate consequences. We can delay. We can say, “I am not going to do that now, but in about six months, after I finish this, I can serve the Lord.”
If we put it off and do not see an immediate consequence, there is an eternal consequence when a day is lost. Oh, would the Lord teach us to number our days, that each day would count for Him and that we could come into daily living in His presence.
Would the Holy Spirit have freedom within us to readjust our priorities and bring us back?
As we look around, what have all our efforts gotten us? As we pursue this and pursue that, have we found happiness? Have we found security? Have we found contentment?
Yet we are just like the people in Haggai. We try harder and harder, and God, in His mercy and love, blows it away. So we try a little harder, and He blows it away.
We say, “Oh, I do not have time. I cannot be with the brethren. I have to work this extra time. I have to make all this up.” He blows it away.
Now, I know there are times when we work overtime. I have worked enough in life to know that. That is not the issue. The issue is our hearts. It is a heart issue—what the Lord is speaking to and how He is trying to get our attention.
When we are going through things, do we stop and ask, “Lord, as all this stuff is blown away, are You trying to say something to me? Maybe there is something in this for me to hear.” Or do we even want to hear?
Are we enjoying things and simply enjoying our own ways and pursuits? Are we getting self-satisfaction from what we are doing and the things we are touching?
Would we be those people who really allow the Holy Spirit to search us? What is the Lord trying to speak to us today?
Brothers and sisters, the Word of the Lord for us today is the same: “Consider your ways.” Consider means to set your heart. Set your heart on your way. Who is your way? Jesus is the way.
The answer in this hour is the same then and now: set your heart on Jesus.
Set your heart on Jesus. That is where we need to have life restored, renewed, refreshed, and revived within us. As our hearts are set upon Him, His heart becomes our heart.
Jesus is the answer within every crisis of life. We see it in Scripture. What was the answer during the time those letters went out in Revelation? The answer was considering Jesus. Hebrews says, “Consider Jesus.” Paul writes to Timothy in his second epistle, “Remember Jesus Christ.”
The answer in every crisis in which we find ourselves is Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, think about our Lord and how He responded. In the midst of crisis, He went up the mountain and got the wood—the material for the house. He went to Mount Calvary.
In Scripture, what does wood speak of? It speaks of humanity. It speaks of mankind. It speaks of you and me. Our Lord went up the mountain, got us, and brought us down. Now He desires for us to be building material within the house of God, that His life can be expressed.
Going up the mountain is the daily working of the cross: “Not my will, not my desires, but Lord, Your desire.”
As we set our hearts upon Jesus, we see One who was steadfast about His Father’s business. He did not hesitate to go up the mountain—to Mount Calvary, the way of the cross. He did not look for another way. He knew that was His purpose.
Brothers and sisters, as we desire for the Lord’s life to increase within us, we have to be those willing to go the way of the cross, that the material for the house of God can be made ready.
Our Lord did that at Calvary, and daily He is desiring to do that within each one of our lives. May we respond, and may we allow Him.
The psalmist said:
O Lord, search me.
Try me.
See if there is any wicked way within me.
As we stop to consider our ways, it is not our own self-evaluation. It is putting ourselves before the One who has first loved us.
All of His calls, all of His discipline in our lives, all the trials and various things we experience, come out of His heart of love for us and His heart of love for His house to be built. There is a purpose in all of it.
Praise God, He will build His house, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
As we look at Haggai, we are really taking only a snapshot. There are many other lessons. I would encourage you to spend some time going back and looking at the other matters in this book, because there are many riches and lessons within each of the four prophecies that Haggai shared.
As we look at the second prophecy in Haggai 2, it says that on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet. This is the next month.
The Lord had challenged them with “Consider your ways.” They had responded to the Lord and said, “We will rebuild.” He said, “I am with you.”
The Lord is so merciful to us. Whenever the Lord calls us, draws us back, shows us, and tells us that He is with us, He reinforces it with an abundance that overwhelms us.
This was the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Between the first and second prophecies were the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
The first day of the seventh month was the Feast of Trumpets. The seventh month was the beginning of the new civil year. The tenth day was the highest day of the year, the Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur—the removal and settling of sin, the restoring of fellowship.
Then, from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of the month, was the Feast of Tabernacles, reminding them of God’s provision for them in the wilderness.
At the end of the first prophecy, the Lord testified, “I am with you.” In His great mercy, through these celebrations and feasts, it was as though He was saying, “I am with you. I am your new start. The past is concluded. I am with you. There is a full provision.”
Every feast in the Old Testament speaks of an aspect of the completed work of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of them show us different aspects of all that our Lord has done for us.
There was a timing of the Lord in the perfection of the way He was working between the first prophecy and the second. He brought these things before them: “I am with you. Consider this. I am your new start. Consider the past concluded. Consider the full provision I have made for you.”
Haggai 2:3 asks:
Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory?
And how do you see it now?
Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison?
How do you see it? What is your perspective? Brothers and sisters, we have to ask ourselves that same question. How do we see it? What is our perspective?
The Lord says, “I am with you.” You see this temple, but what is your perspective on all that I am doing? How do you see it? Does it seem like nothing in your eyes?
Then, in His mercy, in Verse 4, three times He says, “Be strong,” or, “Take courage.” He says it to different people and groups, but perhaps in light of the three feasts they had just celebrated, He was saying:
There is a fullness of Himself that He wants us to enter into and see. Because of Him, take courage.
Brothers and sisters, do we enter in and see the full provision that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ? There is no lack. There is completeness. There is a fresh start. There is new creation and new life. The past is concluded, and we have been brought into this place of fellowship—not somehow, but abundantly—to enter into all the goodness that He has.
He reassures them: “I am in control. I will shake the heavens.” Then, in Haggai 2:9, He puts the whole matter in perspective:
The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I shall give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.
The latter glory of this house is greater than the former glory. The Lord is revealing something to us here. How many houses are there? How many houses of God are there?
It says, “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former glory of this house.” It is not as though there was a house in the past, a house now, and a house in the future. There is one house.
There is one house that our Lord is working on. There is one house our Lord has been building. He has one purpose into which He has called us.
We do not have a house of God in Richmond and a house of God in Washington. There is one house of God into which we have been brought. The latter glory of this house will be far greater.
What is your perspective? How do you see it in your eyes? Do we simply see a house of God in Richmond? Is that the limit of what we are seeing? Or do we really see that there is one house?
There is one house of all God’s people into which we have been brought. He is doing a great work, and the latter glory of that house will be far greater because of our Lord Jesus Christ and the great work He is doing.
The prophecy calls us to have a perspective in which we are not looking at the outward but at the inward life.
The Lord is not interested in numbers. How does the Lord measure growth? Does He measure growth by the number of people you have, the number of works, or the number of activities? The Lord measures growth by a greater increase of the life of His Son.
That is what He is looking for. That is what He is jealous for: a greater expression of the life of God.
He could care less—if we say it in the right way—whether there are five hundred people around. What He is looking at is the expression of His Son’s life. Maybe there are ten or fifteen who express the life of His Son in a great way. That is what He is jealous for.
Are we jealous for that? What is our perspective? What does it look like in our eyes? Are we really allowing the Lord to teach us and show us that He is a God of purpose?
He has brought us into this house, and He desires for us to be built together into a holy habitation for our Lord in the Spirit. That comes through a greater expression of His life.
As we come to the next two prophecies, beginning in Haggai 2:10, we should note that between the second and third prophecies of Haggai comes the first prophecy of Zechariah: “Return to Me that I may return to you.” Lord willing, next time when we look at Zechariah, we will touch on that.
The third message of Haggai begins two months after the previous prophecy. He presents a question specifically to the priests.
How many priests are in this room today? We are a holy priesthood, so we do not need to tune out during this time. We are all priests.
The Lord says in Haggai 2:11-13:
Ask now the priests for a ruling: If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?
And the priests answered and said, “No.”
Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?”
And the priests answered and said, “It will become unclean.”
There is a comparison here between the holy and the profane. If something holy touches something unclean, does it make that thing holy? No. But if something unclean touches something holy, does it make it dirty? Does it make it unclean? Yes, it does.
Again, as the Lord speaks, He says, “Consider your ways.” In Haggai 2:15, 18, and 19, He says, “Consider” three times.
There is a great difference between these three considerations and the two considerations in Haggai 1. In Haggai 1, when the Lord said, “Consider your ways,” it was like looking backward. Look at your actions. Look at the way you have been acting and compare it with the way the Lord desires us to walk in Christ.
But in Haggai 2, these three considerations are forward-looking. Some translations say, “Consider from this day onward.” There is a going on. There is a looking upward and forward.
Consider that you can go onward because there is a new start. Consider that you can go onward and upward because the past is concluded. Consider that you can go upward and onward in Christ because of the full provision.
The Lord tells them that from that day on, He will bless. Because of their prior actions, there were consequences. The Lord’s immediate blessing was not upon them as soon as they began building. There was forgiveness, but there were still consequences, training, and discipline.
Then the Lord says, “From this day on I will bless.” You can enter into all the goodness that I have in you.
As a holy priesthood, how do these things apply to us? What does this mean to us? If something holy touches something unclean, does it sanctify the unclean?
I think that if we look around Christianity today, we often stick the name Christian on something and think that makes it holy. But simply putting the name Christian on something does not make it holy.
Our touching things, just because we are Christians, does not make those things holy. But there are things out there that can defile us. There is such mixture in Christianity today that when the things of the world and the things of this earth touch us, defilement can come upon us.
There is an old saying that appears in various commentaries and books: A healthy person does not make a sick person well by touching them. If somebody has a cold and you do not, you can go touch that person, but they are not going to get better.
But if that person has a cold—or some serious sickness—and you go touch them, they can make you sick. There is a lot of spiritual application there, brothers and sisters.
So often we can touch things, and in our naivety we think, “Oh, that will not bother me.” Do you know how that is described? That is the fool in Proverbs who sees the danger ahead, sees the problem, and just goes right on ahead.
It is tragic. We need to wake up. These are days of waking up to realize that the things we touch impact our lives.
Every day, I have to ask myself: Why do I touch the things I do? Why do I spend time doing the things I do? Why did I spend so much time on that? Why did I spend so much time on this?
Is this really healthy? Why am I buying the things I am buying? Why am I spending my money to buy this or that? Do I think it is all harmless and has no impact?
There are things we touch and buy, and we do not see the ramifications of them. Why do we read or watch the things we do? We open our minds to so much through what we read and what we watch. We can be naïve and think it does not impact us.
In 2 Corinthians, where it speaks about Eve being deceived, it was in the mind. The enemy got to her and got her thoughts readjusted. There is a great battle over the mind today among the people of God.
Why do we associate with certain ones? We can see from Ezra and Nehemiah that, when they were rebuilding, certain ones came and offered to help them build, but they said, “No way. You are not helping us.”
There are certain ones we can touch, certain things we can do, and certain things that can come into our lives and homes that have a defiling effect. Do we honestly think that they will have no effect upon our holy lives?
We need to wake up. In His mercy and great love, the Lord says, “Consider your ways. Consider these things.”
We are only kidding ourselves, because so much of what pollutes and defiles our lives hinders the building of the house of God. It hinders and slows down the building of God’s house.
May we wake up. We are to be a holy priesthood—a priesthood set apart unto Him, a priesthood distinct, bearing the preciousness of His name, His life, and His character.
Would we be those who return to the simplicity and purity of the Lord Jesus within our lives?
So often, when we find ourselves spending time doing certain things or buying certain things, we have to ask: Is the Lord Jesus enough? Or do I need this also?
Is the Lord Jesus enough for us? Is His life enough? Or do I need something else to satisfy myself? It does not satisfy the real desire within us; it only satisfies self-desire.
These dear ones in Haggai were so absorbed by their own self-interest and self-desire that the house lay desolate.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord in these last days is desperately trying to wake us up, to bring us back to that place of simplicity and purity of our devotion to Him—really to be a people of holy conduct, people of godliness who speak forth His very life.
The fourth prophecy begins in Haggai 2:20, on the same day as the third prophecy. It is addressed to Zerubbabel, the governor.
How many kings are in here? We are kings and priests unto Him, so this speaks to us also.
The Lord says:
I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, everyone by the sword of another.
On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant, declares the Lord, and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.
His kingship—our Lord’s kingship—will prevail. No matter what we see outwardly going on, His kingship will prevail.
Zerubbabel is a type of Christ. Our Lord won the victory. The Lord has won a great victory, and because of His victory, His seal has been set upon us.
What is a signet ring? A signet ring speaks of testimony. The signet ring itself has no value. The value of the signet ring is in whom it signifies.
Brothers and sisters, He has set His seal. He has set His signet ring upon us. We have our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been brought into Him, and we are to be the testimony that we are His children.
He is our King. He is our Lord. He is our Master. His kingdom will come, and His will will be done.
Praise God, our King has said, “I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Would we be the right representatives of our Lord in this hour?
As we are in these last days, just to wrap this up, sometimes I wonder in my own life what it will take to wake me up. I pray for mercy.
What is it going to take to wake me up to realize the days in which we are living and their severity?
Our Lord, as He has spoken through Haggai, has spoken to us concerning first love. He has spoken to us concerning vision and perspective: What do you see? What is your end?
He has spoken to us on the matter of holiness. He has spoken to us in that fourth prophecy concerning His kingship and lordship in our lives and in our life together.
May we be those who return to the simplicity and purity of our devotion to Him.
May we really, in this hour, allow the Holy Spirit to strengthen our personal and intimate relationship with the Lord—a life of the Lord in the Spirit, a life in Him.
This is what we need. John mentioned that book, Spiritual Exercise. That is about strengthening our life with Him—knowing Him, having communion with Him, knowing His voice, and having that intuition of His leading.
It is having the consciousness of what is of Him and what is not.
Would we consider our ways? Would we set our Lord Jesus before us and be willing to go up the mountain in this hour?
Much of Christianity will show us many ways in which we do not need to go up the mountain, but it will not accomplish anything as far as building the house of God.
We desire to be a holy habitation for God in the Spirit. We would be built into that, that we could be the testimony He desires us to be, that we might hasten His return.
Brothers and sisters, as we consider this, let us remember the fullness of the provision we have in Christ. Because of Him, we are the right people. We are in the right place in His spiritual house, and we are here for the right purpose.
May He be merciful to us and lead us on into a fuller expression of His life in this hour.
Let us pray.
Lord, our brother opened up this morning with the goodness of God. Lord, I thank You for Your long-suffering with me. I thank You for Your perseverance with all of us.
I thank You that Your love for us is not contingent on our love for You.
Lord, as we have an opportunity to stop, consider our ways, and set our hearts upon You, would Your Holy Spirit be speaking to each one of our lives?
Are there particular, specific things within our daily lives—things in which we are involved, things on which we are spending time—that are hindering the work of the house of God being built?
Lord, we thank You that it is not self-examination, but Your light of love that shines.
You are so jealous. As Paul was jealous for those Corinthians, how much more You are jealous for us—that Your house would be built, that Your kingdom would come, and that Your will would be done.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.