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#1009
What is the proof that I am really a student of
the Word of the living God? It is that I am
growing in righteousness, faith and love, in
peace. 2 Timothy 2:22
Haggai 1
Our third book in this same time area... when
some of the Jews came back to Jerusalem to be
where the Lord wanted all Israel to be. In Ezra
you were reading all the things that happened and
also what they did in their work. This book of
Haggai is telling us things which the Lord saw in
the hearts of these same people at that same time.
Interesting? It explains a lot about ourselves
when we look below the surface of our
circumstances and at our state of soul. Though
they had begun to rebuild the temple (not the
wall), after a while they grew tired, and also
because of opposition, they started to work on
their own homes. May Christ be the attraction of
our heart, and if so, we won't slacken in our
devotion to Him.
Hag 1:1 Haggai was the man to whom the Lord gave
a message to deliver to Zerubbabel (remember him
from the previous two books?)
Hag 1:2 When the people returned to their land,
the temple was in ruins, and they set to work to
rebuild it. But after a while they became
careless, and the work stopped. So God raises up
a prophet to urge them to go back to work, but
they say the time isn't right.
Hag 1:4 The Lord notices that the people were
living comfortably in their "ceiled" (like
our word "ceiling") houses.
Hag 1:5 This was at the root of their
carelessness.
Hag 1:6, 9, 11 The Lord controls your every
circumstance. If He doesn't help, it doesn't
matter how much energy we use.
Hag 1:13 Contrast. We can count on the Lord to
bless when we obey Him. But we sometimes try to
use the Lord as a convenience for our own selfish
motives, and then we wonder why we are so
spiritually poor, and don't understand the Lord's
Word. The "Lord's messenger" spoke the
"Lord's message". Use God's Word when
speaking to people. There is power in it. If you
look in Matthew 1:12 & 16, you will see who
this man Zerubbabel is! What a miracle! This man
didn't know that his faithfulness would be
recorded in God's eternal book. Nor did he know
that he would be the ancestor of the Lord Jesus
as a Man on earth.
#1010
Only one chance to do His will; so give to Jesus
all your days. It is the only life when you
realize you have but one life.
Haggai 2, Verses 1-9
Haggai lived at about the same time as the first
half of the book of Ezra. The interesting
difference is that Ezra tells of the adversaries
(4th chapter) but doesn't tell of the condition
of the heart of the people; whereas Haggai tells
of the state of soul of the people and not of the
adversaries. The Lord allows the circumstances in
order to draw our souls closer to Him. Then we
understand.
Hag 2:3 The Lord reminds them of the glory of the
first house; but in verse 7, He tells them of the
future glory of "this house".
Hag 2:4-5 Beautiful promises. He tells them to be
strong, and better still, He tells them why they
could be strong..."I am with you". Eph.
6:10 is worth turning to.
Hag 2:6-9 They could look forward to a great
future on earth... we look heavenward! Phil. 3:13,
20. In this first message, the Lord encourages
the leaders to look to the Lord, not at the
circumstances.
#1011
Every need of ours brings to us the loving
ministry of the Lord. He came to Mary in her
sorrow. He came to Simon in his despair. He came
to Cléopas in his doubts. John 11:28, Luke 24:34,
24:15.
Haggai 2, Verses 10-23
Hag 2:10-17 God explains why they did not succeed
in their work. They were in a bad state of soul.
A real message for us. We need constantly to ask
God for a tender conscience. When we go on
carelessly, we lose our ability to understand
spiritual things, and we drift farther away. When
we have a tender conscience, then God lets us see
some of the careless things in our life. If we
confess and forsake them, then we begin to learn
a little more. We grow in our soul step by step.
Hag 2:12-13 We are not made clean by association
with what is clean, but we are soiled (contaminated)
by associating with what is unclean. A good thing
to remember.
Hag 2:1-19 If there is a pure heart toward God,
He will bless us in our soul.
Hag 2:20-23 We are not to try to set the world
right. Speaking reverently, if God has not set it
right, we cannot. Here we see into the future...
judgment is coming.
Hag 2:23 Zerubbabel becomes a picture of Christ.
He was God's pledge (promise) that Christ would
come. "I will make thee as a signet";
contrast this with the signet in Jeremiah 22:24.
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