God's temple. Haggai and Zechariah, an older man and defilement and not the condition of the heart. No amount of
Haggai 2 the imperishable, and does the impossible." Our work today is a part of God's work in the future, and we want to do our best.
promise. Many people played different roles in the drama, but each of them was important. Abraham founded the nation, and Isaac and Jacob built it. Joseph protected it in Egypt and Moses redeemed the people from Egypt. Joshua gave them their promised inheritance, and David established the kingdom. In spite of sin, suffering, and failures, the Davidic line never ceased, and the day came when Jesus Christ, the Son of David, was born in Bethlehem.
4. Putting God first is the guarantee of God's best blessing. Why should God's work suffer while we pursue pleasure and comfort for ourselves? An affluent generation of Christians that is wasting God's generous gifts on trivia and toys will have much to answer for when the Lord returns. Matthew 6:33 is still in the Bible, and so is Romans 14:12.
When the Christian church celebrates the birth of Christ, people remember Mary and Joseph, the magi, the shepherds, and even wicked King Herod; but they rarely think about Zerubbabel, a humble player in the drama, but a faithful one.
5. Apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, our labors are in vain. "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13 nkjv). God still demonstrates His power and receives great glory through the weak things of this world (1 Cor. 1:26–31). If we're too strong in ourselves, the Lord can't use us. That's what ruined King Uzziah, "for he was greatly helped until he became powerful" (2 Chron. 26:15).
We can't leave Haggai without noting some practical lessons for God's people today.
1. The work of God is begun, sustained, and encouraged by the Word of God. "So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo" (Ezra 6:14 niv). When God's servants proclaim God's Word in the power of the Spirit, things begin to happen. "Is it not clear, as you take a bird's-eye view of church history," said Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "that the decadent periods and eras in the history of the church have always been those periods when preaching had declined? What is it that always heralds the dawn of a Reformation or of a revival? It is renewed preaching."3
Now, we turn to Haggai's associate, the young prophet Zechariah, and study his striking prophecies and Jerusalem, the Jews, and the Messiah.
Notes
1 In the Authorized Version of Leviticus, words relating to ceremonial cleanliness are used 71 times, and words relating to "uncleanness" 128 times. "Unclean" is used 31 times in Leviticus 11, the chapter that details what the Jews were allowed to eat. Of course, "unclean" refers only to ceremonial defilement and not the condition of the heart. No amount of washing or sacrificing could of itself make the inner person clean. For inner cleansing, there must be repentance, confession, and faith (Ps. 51). 2 Whatever touched the altar became holy (Ex. 29:37), as well as whatever touched the sanctified vessels of the tabernacle (30:28–29), but the "holiness" of the objects that touched the altar or the vessels couldn't be transmitted to anything else. 3 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. Preaching and Preachers (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1971), 24.
2. God's servants must work together to build God's temple. Haggai and Zechariah, an older man and a younger man, both ministered the Word to the Jewish remnant, and God blessed their mutual efforts. It's tragic when preachers and churches compete with one another and even carry on public disputes that give the enemy ammunition to oppose the gospel. "For we are laborers together with God" (1 Cor. 3:9).
3. When the outlook is bleak, try the uplook. Apart from God's promises, we have no hope. As Vance Havner used to say, "Faith sees the invisible, chooses