ED BESSELMAN -Haggai 1:1 - 2:9

Haggai 1:1 - 2:9
After 70 years in Babylonian captivity, God directed Cyrus - the Persian king to allow the Jews to return to Judah, reconstruct their city and rebuild the Temple (that had been destroyed by Babylon in 586 B.C.).
Haggai reproves the Jews for neglecting the temple.
Three appeals in Haggai 1:4-8:
1) An appeal to the mind
(How is it that you think that ‘it is not the time to build the LORD's house’, when you are living in luxury houses that you built for yourselves?)
2) An appeal to the heart
(Consider your ways!)
3) And an appeal to the will
(Go up and rebuild the temple.).
Three curses because of Israel’s inaction and their actions
1) ‘the heaven over you is stayed from dew’
2) ‘the earth is stayed from her fruit’.
3) I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands.
"Those who plan to give to God 'once they have enough for themselves' will never have enough for themselves!"
Hag 1:12-15  Haggai promises God’s assistance to Israel.
How did the rebuilding of the temple come about?

“Where He leads me - I will follow,
Anywhere He sends me - I will go,
Whatsoever He commands me - I will do”.
God sought to warn the people to heed His Word - through His servant Haggai. He also offered promises to motivate them to follow Him.
1) God’s people need to reconsider their priorities
2) Take courage
act on the basis of God’s promises
be stirred up by the prophecies
set about to rebuild the temple.
When we are doing God’s work, obstruction will arise!
Read Ezra 5:1 – 6:16
Haggai chapter 1 relates... that
The People of God
Reconsidered their Priorities,
Acted on God’s Promises,
Were encouraged by the Prophecies,
Set about to rebuild their Place of worship.
Chapt 2 vss. 6-9 First prophecy in Haggai
Compare Haggai 2:6-7 with Hebrews 12:26-29.
The view is also focused towards the time of the end - that is - the appearing of the Messiah. Christ will be revealed, at His second coming. Are you READY?
Haggai 2:7 I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come.
Jesus is the ultimate “Desire of All Nations” and the radiance of God’s glory. What the temple pictured - Christ fulfilled.
Jesus is the only one Who can fulfill the deepest desires of the human heart. As Blaise Pascal said, “there is a God-shaped vacuum inside every person”.
If we do not fill the vacuum with God, we are bound to fill it with the junk food of this world, (AND we will be constantly lusting for more – More – MORE, BUT we will never be satisfied.

1) We are challenged — to examine our priorities - to see if we are more interested in our own pleasures than doing the work of God;
2) We are encouraged — to reject a defeatist attitude, when we run into opposition (or discouraging circumstances);
3) We are encouraged — to rest secure in God’s hands, knowing that He will abundantly bless us (as we faithfully serve Him).
4) We are tested — to acknowledge our sins / our failures, to REPENT, and to live pure and holy lives before God;
5) We are encouraged — to act courageously for God, because we have the assurance that He is with us always, and HE is in full control of our circumstances;

Remember the entry that Jim Elliot made in his journal (right before he, and four other missionaries were killed by the very tribe, that they were attempting to reach with the gospel) — “He is no fool, who gives (what he cannot keep) to gain that (which he cannot lose).”

My life touched yours for a very brief space.
And what, O what, did you see?
A worried, a hurried, an anxious face?
Or the beauty of Jesus in me?
Was I so steeped in the ways of the world
(That you didn’t detect one thing)
That would set me apart, and showed that my heart,
Belonged to the Heavenly King?

For me (from this moment on) – may my prayer be —
All to Jesus, I surrender
All to Him, I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live.
(Moment by Moment)
I surrender all
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.