God is Sovereignity and all He has stated will take Place

 Haggai 2:1-9

 

On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them,  ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?   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.’

The twenty-first day of the seventh month was when the people celebrated the blessing of a good harvest and recalled when their ancestors lived in tents, wandering in the wilderness.  It was also the last of the Feast of Tabernacles.  A large crowd of people would have been there for the feast and so Haggai would be able to address many people with God’s message.  When Haggai ask who had seen the temple before it was destroyed, it was only a reminder that the temple was only a shadow of the former temple.

The message, be strong, was to remind the leaders and the people that God had not changed, and His Spirit was with them, as it was with the people coming out of bondage in Egypt.  “Do not fear.”  In this time of the China Virus, how often do we have to be told by God and His Word to not fear?  Many a churchgoer has listened more to some talking head on TV than to God.  Do you recall God saying all men are liars and only God is truth, have you again put faith in man?

 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.   I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.  ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.   ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place, I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

What God is saying He is going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the land, He is reminding us of His sovereignty over all that will happen.  Haggai, God’s mouthpiece is telling the future of what the Persians would pay for the full cost of reconstruction, it is found in Ezra 6:8.  King Darius not only is funding the project but has given orders to put to death anyone that tries to stop the rebuilding of the Temple or the walls of Jerusalem.  

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice