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When Haggai looked at the big world, the prophet saw a God who is shaking the heavens and the earth. Big events are happening. Things are changing rapidly. Nations are on the move. Empires are rising and falling. In the midst of this, there is tiny Judah with a handful of people. What significance do they have? What do they matter in this big, turbulent world?
One of the amazing things about human life is that though we are small, we can see really big. We can consider the events in the wider world. We can even look out into the universe and contemplate the hundreds of thousands of stars and galaxies.
We can’t help but ask from time to time, what does each one of us matter in the big scheme of things? As the heavens and earth shake and move, do our decisions on a daily basis matter at all?
The book of the prophet Haggai answers that question. It tells us that God is doing big things in this big world, and He invites and commands us to join Him. When we do so, God assures us that we matter to Him and that what we do makes a big difference, even when it seems like it does not. Haggai wanted to tell the people that they mattered. We will see their important place in God’s plan through Haggai’s challenge, the people’s obedience, and Haggai’s encouragement.
Haggai’s Challenge
In order to understand Haggai’s challenge to the people, we have to understand the context of this book. Remember that in the previous prophetic books that we have considered, the people of Israel were threatened first by Assyria and then by Babylon. In the end, Assyria took the people of the northern kingdom into captivity, and Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, took the people of the southern kingdom into captivity. He also broke down both the walls of Jerusalem and the temple of Jehovah. You can read about these sad events in the last 16 chapters of Jeremiah.
The kingdom of Babylon was eventually defeated by the kingdom of the Medes and Persians and their great leader Cyrus. Cyrus decided to let the people return to their lands. The Persians had a very different policy from that of previous empires. You can read about this in the book of Ezra. Under Ezra, many exiles returned to their homeland and began the worship of the Lord again in Jerusalem.
At that time, God raised up several leaders to lead the people back to the land and to restore its broken-down cities. Two of these are mentioned in this book in addition to Haggai. Their names are Joshua, the High Priest and Zerubbabel, a descendant of David. Joshua was the religious leader and Zerubbabel was the political leader.
Haggai prophesied about 18 years after the decree of Cyrus. Many Jews had returned, but the temple was not rebuilt. Why? “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house’” (Hag. 1:2). Why was it not yet time? One reason was that they working on their own houses. “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” (Hag. 1:4). Their focus was on the lives of their families and their own houses to the neglect of the Lord’s house.
The trouble with their projects was that they weren’t really going that well. Perhaps this was one reason that they thought it was not yet time. They wanted to wait until their own position was more secure. The prophet Haggai told them, “Consider your ways.” Think about your priorities. Think about what’s going on. Think about whether you are aligning yourselves with what God is doing. “Give careful thought to your ways.” God says (Hag. 1:7).
We often tend to look at our own resources and think simply on a horizontal level. We look and see how much we can get on our own. We consider what people, what money, and what talents will be available. God says we need to look up. He is the one who owns it all, and He is the ultimate source of blessing. Listen to what Haggai says:
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 your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops (Hag. 1:9–10).
In other words, you keep working but you are not getting anywhere. The reason is that you are out of accord with the universe. You are acting as if you are the center of the world, but you are not the center of it.. Honor the Lord first, He says, and you will begin to see progress. Your place is important.
Now, this does not always mean that every time you do what God says that you will prosper immediately or that those who forget God will automatically fail. It is a general principle of the world that describes how the world runs. “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” (Prov. 3:9–10). Honor the Lord first with your time, with your wealth, with your thoughts. That is what it means to be a servant of God. His priorities come first. This is precisely what Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mt. 6:33). Consider your ways.
Many people think, when I have more money, then I’ll give to the Lord. They will never have enough. That’s not really how it works. You honor the Lord first with little, and then you honor Him with more as you get more. That’s how it actually works.
From time to time through the years, I’ve heard people say, when we have a building that we own, then we’ll really do ministry. That’s not how it works. We focus on the ministry God gives us, and God will provide what we need to do the ministry as our ministry expands.
So, let me call you to consider your ways. What are you doing with your time and your money?
Is God calling you to start something that you haven’t started?
Do you really need to be doing all the things you are doing? Could you clear some margin of time and money to give to the kingdom of God?
What keeps you from giving more of your time and money to the Lord? What is your thought process as you consider what to give?
It’d be easy for me to simply say, why are you working on your houses why we don’t have a church building. I want to be clear that this is not what I am saying. You will not hear me say this. The church building is not the temple. It is a means for the work of the kingdom of God. I also won’t make a rule for how you ought to give. I will call you to consider what you are doing. Are you honoring the Lord with the first fruits of your possessions? Are you making Him the priority? Is the kingdom of God what you seek first? Consider your ways.
The Obedience of the People
So, how did the people respond to this rebuke and challenge? “Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, 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” (Hag. 1:12). The people obeyed. They changed their priorities. They gave their wealth, talent, and time to the work of the Lord.
This was in fulfillment of the prophecies before the exile. The prophet Jeremiah said, “I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them” (Jer. 32:39). When people give to the Lord, it is a sign of the work of the Lord.
This is what David prayed long ago when the first temple was going to be built. He called for gifts for the building of the temple, and he prayed. “Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you” (1 Chron. 29:18). In a way, we can see what happened here as an answer to David’s prayers and the prayers of so many saints before.
When you give to the work of God’s kingdom, it is an answer to the prayer of God’s people, “Thy kingdom come.” It is in fulfillment of God’s promises long ago. It is a gift of God’s grace.
And many of you have answered that call. When you have heard that call to give, you have given. You have worked to start and maintain ministries. You have sacrificed your time to serve those around you. You have reached out and given.
But you may feel tired today. You may be wondering if it is worth it. You may be wondering, how can I keep going? Haggai recognized that people would get discouraged. Now that the people had listened, He wanted to encourage them. These same encouragements can encourage us. So, let’s consider three encouragements that Haggai gives to this people.
The Encouragement of Haggai
First, God promises support. When they were focusing on their own houses, God says that He was not with them. That does not mean that He was not present there, for God is everywhere. It means that they could not count on His support and aid. However, as soon as they began the work, “Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord” (1:13). God is saying, I stand behind you. I support you. I am with you in this.
As a result, they should not be afraid. They should go forward in strength because God is their strength.
“But now be strong, Zerubbabel,” declares the Lord. “Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the Lord, “and work. For I am with you,” declares the Lord Almighty. “This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear” (Haggai 2:4–5).
As we seek to do God’s work, we can easily get discouraged. We need to know that God is with us. We are joining what He is already doing in bringing redemption and restoration to a fallen world.
Second, God promises provision. He will give us what we need to complete the work. If He gives the vision, He will give the resources. Haggai had this word from the Lord: “From this day on I will bless you” (Haggai 2:19). They needed to consider what a hard time they had providing for their needs. After they obeyed, God said, it will be different from here on out. I will bless you now. I will provide you what you need to do the work. Seek first the kingdom, and all these other things will be given to you as well.
The Apostle Paul made the same point to the Corinthians. “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work . . . Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:8, 10). Read the whole chapter of 2 Corinthians 9. It is highly instructive on these matters. What He is saying is that as we move forward with the work of the kingdom of God, God will provide what we need to make it happen.
Now, I will apply this to the idea of a future building. If this is where God is leading, He will provide what we need. We don’t need to look at our current resources and say, can we do it? We need to look and see, is this where God is leading us, then He will provide. Now, some may say, well, didn’t we lose a building previously? Yes, but let’s put that in perspective. God provided what we needed to do the ministry at the time that we did in that place. The time came, however, when God brought us to a different place. Since that time, God has provided what we need to do the ministry we need to do. A building is a means not an end. We need to do the ministry of loving people, building them up in the faith, and equipping them to serve the community. God will provide what we need to do for that at every point.
Let me give another example. Let’s say that we want to start a new ministry. We can easily look at the resources we have and think that we can’t do it. In fact, I can guarantee that we will not see how God will provide everything we need for every contingency in that ministry. But when you move forward, God provides the resources. If you wait until you have everything figured out, you will never move. God will provide resources on the way. That’s what God says. That’s what He does. That’s how He teaches us to trust Him.
Third, God promises a glorious future. When you start doing something, it looks small when you start. It can be hard work. However, God assures us that when we get involved in His work of bringing redemption and restoration to a fallen world, then our work is going to be glorious and lasting. God says that He will shake the heavens and earth. The world was going to change and things would fall. However, listen to this: “‘On that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” He says it three times to assure him of this. As a son of David, Zerubbabel was a type or picture of Christ. This prophesy really means that David’s greater son, Jesus, will be the center of world history. Everything else may shake and fall, but Christ will remain. As we abide in Him, we remain at the center of what God is doing.
What they were doing may not have seemed glorious at the time, but it was. And, it would be more glorious in the future. The Lord Almighty says, “I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory” (Haggai 2:7). In this case, the Lord Jesus would come to the temple. That would be its glory. The work they were doing would be that which would go into all lands and unto the ends of the earth. It seemed like such a small work, but it would fill the whole earth. It would be like a mustard seed that is planted in the ground and becomes a great tree.
Kingdoms will rise and fall. Nations come and go, but the kingdom of God remains. The work that we do for it matters a great deal. How do we have significance? Because God values us. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. What we do for the kingdom matters now and forever. God will take it and use it beyond what we can imagine. Each of us has an important place in a big world. So, keep going, giving, and working. God is with you as you go. From this day on, He will bless you. Amen.
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Photo by Kévin JINER on Unsplash