Lesson 427 - Senior
Memory Verse
"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" (Haggai 1:6).
Cross References
I The Challenge to Finish the Temple
1. Haggai's prophecy came in the second year of King Darius, [HAG:1:1]; [EZR:4:24].
2. The people had said the time had not come to build the Temple, [HAG:1:2-4].
3. Their selfish ways and neglect of the Temple project had brought trouble, [HAG:1:5-11].
II Work Resumed
1. The governor, high priest, and all the people obeyed the call, [HAG:1:12]; [DEU:5:29].
2. The prophet brought encouraging word from the Lord, [HAG:1:13]; [ISA:41:10].
3. Everyone's spirit was stirred, [HAG:1:14-15]; [EZR:1:1-2].
4. The glory of this Temple did not compare with the first one, [HAG:2:1-3], [EZR:3:12].
5. The prophet prophesies of the glory yet to come to the Temple during Christ's Millennial Reign, [HAG:2:4-9].
III Blessings
1. Godliness and holiness are not contagious, [HAG:2:10-12].
2. Sin, unfaithfulness and backsliding spread, [HAG:2:13-14].
3. Remember the misery before this Temple project was resumed, [HAG:2:15-17]; [DEU:28:15-68].
4. Blessings have multiplied and will increase more as the work of God is advanced, [HAG:2:18-23]; [DEU:28:1-14].
Notes
The prophecy of Haggai was given during the second year of Darius, king of Persia. (This was not the same Darius who had Daniel cast into the lions' den.) Some 16 or 17 years before this time, Cyrus, first king of Persia, had given the captive Israelites their freedom. He had been stirred up of the Lord to do so. He had felt impressed to have the house of the Lord built in Jerusalem, and had called upon the captives in Babylon who served the true God to arise and go to Jerusalem to start building. God was bringing to pass His plan in stirring up this heathen king to do these things. Usually the kings kept their captives in subjection. Nebuchadnezzar had brought the Israelites into captivity but Babylon was overthrown by Cyrus, and had become only a province in the kingdom of Persia.
Vision Lost
Haggai comes forth to tell Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the high priest, that the Lord is calling the people to account for their failure to finish the house of the Lord. It was time to forget their own comforts and the beauty of their ceiled houses and build the Lord's house. Their enemies had discouraged them and stopped them but it was time now to build the Temple [EZR:4:24]). Their unfaithfulness and selfish indulgences had spread until such were the prevailing sins of the whole people. They perhaps became more and more discouraged as the rain was withheld and they had to work harder for less and less.
One is reminded of the testimony of many people who, when they withheld from God their tithes (which are rightly His), suffered for it. When one honours God by paying tithes, God makes the remaining ninetenths go farther than the whole would have gone had the tithes been withheld. The reasons for God's blessings are the same today as they were then. When one honours God, serves God, pays his vows and remembers to have no other gods before Him, the blessings come. When one forgets God, troubles multiply.
Even if the trouble does not come immediately, the reckoning time will arrive. Some have found that the fruits of their backsliding did not show up until their children were old enough to go into sin. Then the parents suffered the terrible remorse of remembering that they were responsible for having failed to bring their children up around a family altar and in church and Sunday School.
Another Chance
God was faithful to these people even though they had forgotten their obligations to Him. He sent His prophet to tell the governor and high priest what the trouble was and what to do about it. They and all the people obeyed the call to go to work, and set to the task of building the Temple. The prophet brought encouraging word from the Lord that He was with them. How they must have been blessed in their labours when they heard that word from the prophet! In these days, the Spirit of the Lord bears witness with ours when we are on the right road, and faithfully warns us when we are about to deviate.
Captive Israel Set Free by Cyrus
There is something beautiful about the fact that the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel and Joshua and all the remnant of the people. It was God, too, who had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, when he set the Israelite captives free and some 50,000 of them had returned to Judah. It seems unnatural for a heathen king to release these religious people, but God had put it into his heart to do so.
The time was ripe for God to fulfil His plan. The Israelites had been punished for their sins and when they had learned their lesson God gave them their liberty to return to Judah. But many of them did not appreciate it, and stayed behind in Babylon. Those who did return to Judah seemed to have lost heart quickly and soon were spending all their time in keeping their houses beautified and comfortable.
There is a warning in that for us today. God has done so very much for us! He has set us free from the bondage of sin, and when material things multiply around us there is the danger that we will forget the main reason for living, which is to serve the Lord who has redeemed us, and to make Him the centre and purpose of our life.
The Different Temples
The glory of this Temple that they were building did not compare in size or beauty with the first Temple, but the prophet exhorted them to be strong and to finish the work, for greater and more glorious things were promised. The prophecy of [HAG:2:9] has not been fulfilled yet, but it will be when Jesus rules the whole earth during His Millennial Reign. In that day we will go up to Jerusalem to worship, and from Jerusalem will go out righteous judgment.
Even at the best, the tabernacle and temple worship has served as only a shadow of the real. In a spiritual sense today we bask in the glory foreshadowed by the Temple, and look now for the One who is greater than the Temple -- for Christ and His return to earth again.
Desire
Some have the idea that by association with Christian people they will become Christians, but this lesson teaches us differently. Just because a thing is holy is no assurance that a thing defiled will be made holy by touching it. But on the other hand, the pure may be defiled by coming into contact with the defiled. You may get into sin by association, but into salvation, never! True righteousness comes to those who desire it, who will look to Him who is able to make them righteous.
When these people obeyed the Lord and followed Him, they had the joy of the Lord. They were an encouragement to one another in the same way as one Christian is an encouragement to another today, but one man cannot answer for another's never-dying soul.
Blessings
Haggai reminded the people of the struggle they had before they started to build the Temple. They suffered want. When they looked for harvest it was very scanty. The blasting, the mildew, the hail and the drought were all sent upon them because they had forgotten God. Now that they had started labouring on the Temple, they saw the hand of God blessing in every way. The rains came; the seed grew. The Lord fought their battles for them to the subduing of peoples and nations. He is the same God today!
Questions
1. What king gave the people of God permission to build the Temple?
2. What excuse did the people give for not continuing with the building of the Temple?
3. What indictment did the prophet bring against the people?
4. What did he tell them had been the consequence of their selfishness?
5. What was the effect of Haggai's message on Zerubbabel and Joshua?
6. Was this Temple as large and as beautiful as the first one?
7. What was the promise given concerning the glory of the house of the Lord in the future? To what era does that refer?
8. How were the people to fare now that they were engaged in building the house of the Lord?