Beyond Restoration
v9 ' The latter glory of this Temple shall be greater than the former'
Haggai 2:1-9
Today's sermon is one that I got really excited when writing it. You see there are times when God brings you to a passage of scripture and it just sits differently. It resonates with your soul and it stirs up a passion. It reminds you that God is sovereign and has a plan... even when we can't see it or sometimes when we don't even believe it. This reading from Haggai today was one of those readings for me and I want to take the next short while explaining to you why... I want to dissect the reading so we don't miss what God is telling us today... so let's start at the beginning...
The book of Haggai is a very short book in the Bible. In only has the two chapters... but there are a lot in these two chapters... so much that many sermons could be written from the 9 verses that we are only looking at today.
The context of the book of Haggai is that the Jews were allowed to return to Israel after being exiled. they began to rebuild their houses and Haggai tells them that they must also focus on rebuilding the temple... they agree to start building it but they are getting discouraged because the temple wasn't as grand or as big as it was in Solomons day which some of the jewish elders would have remembered...
I want to stop here for a moment... Does this sound a little bit familiar? ... How many conversations have we been involved in where we have reminisced of a time where the church was thriving... where we had no empty seats... a thriving Sunday School ... and then something usually happens and things change... Those who are left trying to rebuild the church and bring it back to its former glory are then left discouraged...
Some of you are maybe starting to see where I'm going here... some of you are putting the puzzle pieces together and thinking... "hang on a minute... he's going somewhere with this"... and you're right... i am.. lol
Now that we have a little bit of context about chapter one of Haggai, we are caught up to where our reading began today in chapter 2. . .
Verse one of Chapter 2 gives us a time stamp where we can see the distance between the prophecy in chapter one and the prophecy here in chapter 2. But if we move onto to verse two, we see God naming certain people that He wants Haggai to address here... This isn't normal in the prophetic books. Normally God addresses the nation of Israel or a larger group than just a handful of elders... So there is something significant happening here. . .
God is addressing those elders who knew the former glory of the temple. He had a message specifically for them!... I believe today that this message is specifically for us... That is why I got so excited about writing this sermon, because I knew that God had something to tell us today that would cause a significant shift in our lives and the lives of the church... And the next few verses will tell us what that is...
Before God goes on to tell the elders what He wants them to hear, He takes a moment to allow them to reflect on the things that are in the past. If you remember from my sermon last week, I said sometimes we need to stop and look at the past in order to be more fruitful in the future... This is what God was doing with these Elders. He was reminding them of the former glories of the temple. How things were great, the church was thriving, and He was drawing a sharp contrast to what it was now... It had been torn down and lay empty for years. It wasn't a shadow of what it was all those years ago...
I love how some translations start verse 4... it says..."But now the Lord says..." How many amazing verses are there in scripture that start with But God... how many of our personal stories have "But God" moments... Any time we see these words in the Bible, we know there is a huge shift in circumstances coming!... I believe this is exactly where our Church is at the moment....
I preached a few months ago a message "Past to passed". I talked about how God knew the struggles and the pain of this church and how there was a new day coming where the church would be restored and even greater things were to come... I believe we are at this "But God" moment where we are beginning to see that! This is why my Spirit jumped when I read this section of scripture during the week, because God reminded me of the sermon He gave me those months ago and reminded me that He hasn't stopped or finished with this church!...
Verse 4 continues with words of encouragement for those elders. For the ones who had seen the temple in its former glory... God says be Strong. He names them one by one and tells them each to Be Strong! its says ... Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. . .
Perhaps you could insert your name here in this church's Haggai story?... (pause)...
I like how the NLT says this next part... it says Be strong... "and now get to work!"... lol.
God was encouraging these people that He knew the things of the past, He knew the pain and the suffering they went through and He knew the heartache they had when they saw the temple destroyed... That sermon I preached a few months ago was that same message... God nows the heartache that some have went through in this church... God knows the pain and the suffering. . . He encouraged the elders in Haggai 2 to be Strong and today He is encouraging you to Be strong... He is then calling us to "get to work"... but it doesn't end there...
God knows how tired some of you are who have been working tirelessly to get to this point... but the second part of verse 4 and verse 5 tell us here that the Lord is with us and His spirit has remained with us... Therefore it is not in our strength that we are to get to work... but it is the Spirit at work within us!
God speaks to Zerrubabel again in the very next book of the Old Testament it says... "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: `Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
Sometimes we do need reminding of these truths. Every sermon up to this point that I ave preached hasn't been one of fancy words or flattering stories but have been plain and simple reminders of the goodness of God in our lives and that call to do His work...
The end of verse five gives us another plain and simple reminder... do not be afraid.
How many of us are excited by this sermon today?... How many of us are scared? lol...
God is telling us here that we are to be strong... and to be brave... (Pause)...
In verse 6 to 8 in the reading really begins to build... it says...
6 “For this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. 7 I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
I want to stop at this point... In verse 7 where it says the treasure of all nations will be brought to the temple... this treasure is Jesus. It doesn't mean financial gain it means the Kingdom. It means that to this Temple, the Lord will bring the riches of His Kingdom. . .
Going back to some of the sermons I have preached on the Kingdom I want to remind you of Dallas Willard's definition of the Kingdom... He said..."The kingdom of God is where what God wants done, is done"...
So what does this mean for the Church? We just need to read on in Haggai to find out...
if we look at the second half of verse 7 is says "I will fill this place with Glory"... reading on then in 9 it says... 9 The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. And in this place I will bring peace. I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
God was telling the Jewish elders here that greater things are yet to come... He was saying that He wasn't finished with Temple... And I believe that this is exactly what God is telling us today... No matter what we see around us, no matter how we feel or what our current situation may look like... God is not finished with His Church... That greater things are happening where God's Kingdom will become a reality again, where the former glory is nothing compared to what's to come. . . That albeit the full pews, and packed Sunday school and thriving church where good things... they are drop in the ocean compared to what is coming next...
I like how the last two sentences of this Prophecy finish... the first says "and in this place I will bring you peace". I still love How God remembers the hurt and the suffering that took place before and promises the one thing that Churches up and down country need now more than ever... Peace... He promises peace. However this new move of God's Spirit may look, we can be sure of one thing... peace. . .
The last sentence says... " I the Lord of Heaven's armies have spoken"... These are words that cannot be taken back or changed or distorted. It's like the signature at the end of a letter. Once it's written, it cannot be changed... To bring it a bit closer to home, it reminds me of when I used to try and play my mum and dad off eachother... I'd already have been told no by my mum and i'd try and convince my Dad, but the answer would always have been the same... "You heard what yer ma has already!"... Her word was final... lol.... God's word here is final... this is just something that might happen down the line or may not... God has spoken it and is faithful to perform it.
I want to finish in that traditional way I always do... by encouraging us to take action... I want to do that by asking 3 questions...
How do we prepare as a church?
Are we ready?
Will we accept it?
The answer to these three questions is something that we are going to discuss at our Thursday night gatherings, so can I encourage you to attend those... but to close today... I want to encourage you to think long and hard about these questions. As a church can I encourage you to pray... Things happen when we do. Prayer just isn't a quick phone call to God, He hears the desires of our hearts and is faithful to act. our Psalm today reminds us of this it says...
18 The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth. 19 He grants the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cries for help and rescues them. 20 The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked.
Let us be a church that Prays. That has an unshakeable relationship with God who hears our prayers and that we pray in confidence that He hears us and is faithful.
Let us pray
Almighty God, we receive your word today for this church. Help us to be courageous and strong. To, not fear what's ahead, but to find hope and joy in the greater things to come. Lord this is your your church, we are your people. The greater glory to come is for you and through you and not of ourselves. That is why we can be encouraged by it, becuase it is a hope and an assurance that the former things are nothing compared to the glory that is to come. We thank you in Jesus name... amen.
