Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron’s Sermon Series - Matthew 28
Preaching KSU Tomorrow
Witnessing Coventry on Saturday
Students traveling this week (Balfours, McGullions, Geils, Westbrooks, Pollocks, Ratcliffes, etc)
Success in school
Jennifer's friend moving
Ministry Burnouts
Text – Zechariah 4
Beloved, during the summer I was preparing the curriculum for this year and Zechariah appeared to be the perfect book for us because it’s so much fun and has so much awesome symbolism and teaches so much, but when I came to chapter four I almost scrapped that idea all together. This is a HARD chapter to explain and understand and so I’m going to start out teaching a little differently today than I normally do so that you get the major point and not the exact details.
Before we go too far in, let’s just look at verse 1 of chapter 4, then we’ll talk about context.
v.1-2 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, "What do you see?"
We find Zechariah in deep thought; why is he that way? What just happened in Zechariah 3? In Zechariah 3 we see God covering and cleansing the sin of Israel, stating that in a single day he will put their sin away. This was a huge event for Zechariah and he is contemplating what exactly it means and how God might do it.
What was wrong with Joshua when he stood before God? He was filthy. What did that filth represent? The sin of Israel. Could Joshua stand in the presence of God in that state? Absolutely not. So what did God do? He changes Joshua’s clothing with brand new ones.
It is amazing that God takes what is so disgusting, our sin and sinful nature, and radically transforms us to be pleasing to him. A verse that beautifully shows that we’ve put off our old nature and have inherited a new nature is:
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
Zechariah is concentrating so hard on how amazing it is that God is putting off the sin of Israel in a single day that he misses that there is a new vision to see. The angel gets his attention, and instead of Zechariah asking a question, the angel asks him, “What do you see?”
I imagine that this is a little like Paul and John in Heaven, that they couldn’t describe what they saw. Zechariah sees something amazing, and it’s so amazing that describing it is difficult. So if you don’t understand exactly what we’re looking at, know that the ambiguity is probably intended, and that we’re only supposed to understand a very complicated contraption with a very definitive purpose.
v.2 I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it,
This part is straightforward enough, he sees a menorah like lampstand, with seven candles. This is a fixture in the temple which lights the holy place. Daily the priests had to refill the oil wells in order that they wouldn’t be in the dark. What is different about this lampstand from the temple is that this one has a bowl on top,
v.2 with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.
Here’s where it gets confusing. The Hebrew here is not at all clear as to exactly how these lamps are fed from the bowl. Every translation says something a bit different that radically changes how we see this lampstand. It has at least seven tubes which bring oil from the bowl to the lamps, and as many as forty-nine. I think the best way to understand it is that there are seven tubes from the bowl, and also seven connecting tubes between the candle reservoirs. However, there could be tubes running every which way.
This is significantly different from the lampstand in the temple which needed each reservoir to be filled individually by a priest. These are self filling as long as there is oil in the bowl. Let’s jump forward a few verses to see who refills this bowl:
v.3,12 “And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” “the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out…”
There are two olive trees on either side of the lamp. Do you know off-hand what kind of oil these lamps burned? Olive oil. So the people would take the olives, and through very specific processes make oil out of them, then take them to the priests, and they would put it in the lamps, and then they would have light. The work involved was incredibly tedious and time consuming. This represents the Old Covenant.
But here we see the New Covenant, a completely automated light system, the candles are fed directly from a bowl of oil, and the bowl of oil is fed directly from olive trees. There is no human involvement at all. Confused yet? You’re not alone, let’s go back to verse 4,
v.4-5 And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."
Zechariah asks a question, and for the first time he doesn’t get a straight answer, instead Jesus is pretty sharp with him, basically asking the question in admonition wondering that Zechariah doesn’t know what he’s looking at. Obviously this is the lampstand from the temple. Zechariah is honest and says he still doesn’t understand. Jesus goes on a tangent which seems unimportant until we realize that this lampstand is fully automated.
v.6-7 Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"
Zerubbabel, for context and reminder, is the governor of Jerusalem. He is a descendant of David and a great-great grandfather of Jesus Christ. He is actually in the place of the king, though because Judah has been conquered by so many nations they are not allowed to have a king.
Zerubbabel has accomplished and is going to accomplish some amazing things, he brought many exiles back to Judah, he built an altar to offer sacrifices to God, he commissioned the rebuilding of the temple, Haggai announced that God recognized Zerubbabel as king of Jerusalem, and here we see that he will be the one who places the final stone on the temple to complete it. Based on his influence Nehemiah would then be able to rebuild the walls around Jerusalem.
Zerubbabel did some outright amazing things, but God is quick to point out that it’s not because of Zerubbabel’s might or power that these things got done, but because of God’s power and might. God is saying he can take the greatest problem and make it a non-issue for his people. God makes molehills out of mountains. Let’s read three verses that support this idea from elsewhere in the Bible:
John 3:27 John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”
2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Psalm 127:1-2 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
The rejoicing that would ensue at the completion of the temple would be very tempting for Zerubbabel to become prideful, but this is a call here for him to remain humble and realize that God is the one who equipped him and gave him the strength to do what he has done. We must give the glory to God, so that others see it and give the glory to God.
v.8-9 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
This is a little veracity check in the middle of Zechariah’s book for the people he is directly preaching to. It doesn’t much apply to us now because we look back and see that Zerubbabel did commission and finish the temple. But at the time of the writing of this the temple was not yet finished. The people must have been asking, “How do we know God is actually talking to Zechariah and that it’s not the devil, or maybe Zechariah just ate some bad olives or bad pizza and is having nightmares?” Well here we have a check for them, that God not only guaranteed that the temple would be completed, but that the topstone would be put in place by Zerubbabel. When they saw this happen they would know that Zechariah was a true prophet. We have an infinitely better check because Zechariah is so perfectly describing the Messiah whom we can compare and see a perfect fulfillment in many places.
v.10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
I LOVE this verse, it’s the greatest verse ever. I also heard some outright TERRIBLE sermons on this verse because people aren’t looking at the context. At the beginning of this temple some people were excited, but those who had seen Solomon’s old beautiful temple were sad because this temple was not nearly as glorious, and they were also hoping for the huge extravagant temple that Ezekiel describes in chapters 40-48. It could be said that they DESPISED the small temple because it wasn’t what they were hoping for.
One of the silliest verses in the Bible, if it wasn’t so tragic (but then redeemed here in verse 10) is,
Ezra 3:12-13 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
But we see that those who despised the small temple would rejoice because they’ve seen that God had returned to their midst, that he had reappointed his king in Zerubbabel, that he’s cleansed his priest in Joshua, that he has welcomed Judah back into fellowship, and that there is a continued promise for a coming Messiah. Here we have an incidental prophecy for the King of Glory who would be born into such a poor family as to be born in a manger.
Mark 7:2-3 On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
Just as the Israelites in Zechariah’s day were disgusted with a small temple when they were expecting a great temple, so were the people in Jesus’ day disgusted with a carpenter when they were expecting a warrior. But when we see Christ risen from the dead, we rejoice, we see that Christ is vindicated by the Spirit as perfect, that though we expected something different, we see that what we expected was incorrect because Christ is perfect and what we needed all along. Zerubbabel would finish the temple, drop the plum line from the top to check the perfection of the temple, and then Haggai tells us that God would fill the whole temple with his glory. This is worth rejoicing over, especially since we’ve seen the glory as of the only Son from the Father.
God answers a question now which Zechariah didn’t even ask from chapter 3, because Zechariah was so caught up in the amazingness of God forgiving sins. This is what the seven eyes on the cornerstone represent:
v.10 "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth."
For time’s sake let me just remind you that this represents the omniscient (all knowing) Jesus as ultimately being the temple of God, not this building that Zerubbabel is overseeing work on. Christ is the cornerstone and the capstone of God, and that everything here said about the temple is ultimately prophecy for his body as the temple. Let’s just read one verse so you see that I’m not making this up:
John 2:19-21 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
v.11-13 Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" And a second time I answered and said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?" He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."
Zechariah really wants to know what these are, so he’s asked now three times, and again Jesus says he should already know, but fortunately for us God answers us in our persistence.
v.14 Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."
These two olive trees represent two things, one temporal, and one eternal. We know this through many references to anointing in the Bible. First of all, Zechariah would instantly recognize this language as referring to the High Priest and the King, they were anointed and authorized to stand with God. These two were the conduits by which God was blessing his people.
However, when we read Revelation we see that this lampstand represents the church, which was established after Christ’s sacrifice on that one day at Calvary, and we know that Christ and the Holy Spirit are the ones who anoint/bless/strengthen the church. Consider this really, quick: there is one church, but there are many church buildings. There was only one Israel and only one temple. In Zechariah’s day there was only one lampstand here, only one light source, but under the church we have many lampstands described in the New Testament. Read Revelation 1-3 to see that, I wish I had time to show it to you.
We see that the church is sustained not by the works of men, but by the free grace of God. Again, many verses say this, but I really want to get to Christ’s further exposition on this topic. Have you ever heard of the two witnesses of Revelation? These are two preachers in Jerusalem during the tribulation who are given supernatural powers. Have you ever heard who some people think they are? Elijah and Enoch. Do you know why? It’s because those two never died, and if it’s appointed for a man once to die, some people think they have an appointment to keep. But that doesn’t make sense because Paul says there are many who won’t die but will see Christ return. I know who these two witnesses are, at least I’m pretty sure.
Let me set this up for you, in Second Thessalonians it says that Christ won’t return until the Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist, sets himself as God in the temple. In order for Jerusalem to have a temple, they will need to build one, and then they will appoint a High Priest. I believe that these two witnesses will be the converted High Priest and the leader of Jerusalem, will we call him a King or Governor or Mayor? I don’t know, but these two witnesses will be recent Jewish converts to Christianity, the king and high priest of Jerusalem.
Revelation 11:2-13 And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth." These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here!" And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them. And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
So your application is that Zechariah was under an Old Covenant, one which required works to maintain; in order to have light, the people and priests needed to refill the lampstand. But under our New Covenant we do not maintain our faith, Christ maintains us, and his light will shine forth. Let’s read two last verses to draw this all to conclusion,
John 12:46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
Philippians 2:14-16 Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
And beloved, in all of this, remember that it is not by your power or your might that you do these things, but by the Spirit of God, so that people may see it and give glory to the God of Heaven.
Showing posts with label Haggai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haggai. Show all posts
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
August 22nd - Intro to Zechariah
Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron and Summit
Three kids at Pigs and Peaches
Pastor Aaron and Summit
Three kids at Pigs and Peaches
Grant in Montgomery
Kari's friend's kidney
Jennifer - Brother
James - Grandma
Roberts/Clark - Grandma
KSU and Southern Poly Starting
Celebrate Freedom Witnessing (Sept. 4)
KSU and Southern Poly Starting
Celebrate Freedom Witnessing (Sept. 4)
Chaplain Application
Praise - Denise Johnson
Text – Zechariah 1:1-6, Isaiah 45:1-7
We're starting our journey through Zechariah today, this will take us approximately 18 weeks and it should be a great study. Zechariah is one of my favorite prophets because he speaks so often about the Messiah to come, some 500 years after he would write this book. It is said that only Isaiah has more prophecies for the Messiah.
In order to fully understand this book we need to know some history. When we read Zechariah we need to realize, and we'll probably spend a good deal of time in, that three other books are happening at basically the same time: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai. Does anyone remember what Haggai's main message was? It was prophesying Christ as the Temple, and calling the people to rebuild a temple so that they could have God in their midst.
Zechariah's prophecy happened in 520 BC, this is important because Judah has just returned to Jerusalem after being in exile to Babylon. This exile to Babylon started in 605 BC when God sold them into slavery for their sins, and they started returning in 538 BC. Remember in BC we count downwards.
A hugely important event for understanding Zechariah's letter is the way that Judah came home, so let's read Isaiah 45:1-6 which deals with the return from exile.
Isaiah 45:1-7 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Do you know when Isaiah was prophesying? 739-686BC. The prophecy he is making is over 100 years early of a man named Cyrus. Let's take it apart piece by piece.
v.1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped,
The word for anointed is Messiah, though he is not speaking of Cyrus being the ultimate Messiah, but a type for the Messiah, a conquering king. Many kings of Israel are called anointed, and so are you and I:
1 John 2:20 you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
This is neat because we had become worthless, but Christ has restored all sorts of great things to us. For example, we were not a people, but now we are God's people, we are priests offering praise, we are evangelists declaring the good news, we are apostles sent by God, we are prophets delivering the Word of God, and we are Christians anointed by God.
This king was specially chosen and equipped by God to do something, and we see that God has grasped his right hand, which means he has become puppetmaster guiding Cyrus for these purposes:
v.1-3 to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places,
When Cyrus conquered much of the known world, it was customary for cities to thrust open wide their gates in surrender and strip their kings of honor in order to give it to Cyrus. This began in 559 BC and concluded with the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. This was accomplished for a very specific purpose:
v.3-4 that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name,
Remember that Isaiah is writing this at least 100 years before Cyrus was even born, yet God calls him by name. The purpose is so that Cyrus and Israel and later the whole world would know that God is God and is in charge of the beginning to the end. He has a definite preordained plan which cannot be thwarted by men.
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will...
v.4 I name you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God...
Cyrus was a Zoroastrian, a follower of a duel-godhead which one, Ahura Mazda, was good and the other, Angra Mainyu, was evil. The truly neat thing here is that God is both saving the nation of Israel, and the man Cyrus. He is concerned both with the populous and the individual. He knew us before we were, he has a plan for us to walk, check out Jeremiah's introduction,
Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
This is your first application, that God has a plan for you that absolutely cannot fail. Check out Ephesians 2:10, this is my favorite verse;
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Does that take the fear out of it? If God is for us, who then can stand against us? Paul said it another place just as well:
Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
This Cyrus, after conquering Babylon in 539 BC, asked the Jews what they were doing in Babylon and then sent them home. Someone took to him a copy of Isaiah's prophecy and Cyrus read it and saw that his life had progressed exactly how God said it would, and he fell on his face and declared God to be Lord, and Lord God of Heaven, and the Lord God of Israel. This threefold declaration shows the fullness of his repentance.
v.5-6 I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
The sun rises in the East and sets in the West, this prophecy was only partly fulfilled in Cyrus; though he conquered a huge amount of land, this prophecy wouldn't be fully fulfilled until Christ, who is anointed beyond that of all others who are anointed. Literally the sun never sets on the kingdom of Christ. Right now it is dark somewhere in the world, but we are proclaiming his name to all peoples; when it is dark here someone in the light will be singing his praises.
v.7 I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
This is one of my favorite verses, it has a two-fold purpose. First it is a direct polemic against the gods of Zoroastrianism, one whom is supposed to be good and the other evil, and also to remind the Jews that they were sent into exile by God and redeemed by God. God is more than capable of working evil to punish sins. Amos says that disaster cannot come without God sending it.
So that finally brings us to Zechariah 1, Israel had been warned of exile, sent into exile, and redeemed from exile, and Zechariah 1 is going to remind them that God is in total control. First we get to meet Zechariah.
Zechariah 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying,
Zechariah is a really popular name in the Old Testament, there are 29 of them in the Bible. His name means "The Lord Remembers" and it points to the faithfulness of God. According to a list of priests in Nehemiah, Zechariah was one, which places him in the tribe of Levi. Zechariah's fathers name was Berechiah, which is another popular name which means "Blessed of the Lord". A Zechariah son of Berechiah was murdered in the temple in the first century, but it is almost certainly coincidence that they have the same name.
Zechariah's grandfather Iddo was also a priest, so Zechariah comes from a lineage of priests. He begins his prophetic work in October of 520 BC, which is important because two months earlier Haggai had called for the temple to be rebuilt which is now underway and the people are beginning to repent, and Zechariah is going to push them to live a life of repentance and not just a short lived change of mind. The reason Darius is in charge is a soap-opera in itself. Cyrus died in 528 and had two sons, one of the sons killed the other son secretly so he could be in charge, but an imposter claimed to be the elder brother and took the throne. Much war ensued sort of taking the pressure off of Jerusalem, and as the younger brother was dying, he confessed to his brother's murder, and an army officer named Darius went to the imposter and killed him and took the throne, and after a brief bout of fighting, was in charge of the Persian empire, which included Judea.
So all this happened the way it happened for a reason, which Zechariah is now going to tell us,
Zechariah 1:2-4 "The LORD was very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.
Zechariah's message is for the people to return to God and not be like those who rebelled. There was no lack of prophets who called the pre-exilic Jews to repent: Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel, yet the people would not listen, so verse two says that "God was VERY angry with your fathers." We need to remember that God is totally justified in getting and staying angry, let's read one of the greatest descriptions of his anger:
Psalm 7:11-13 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.
Zechariah continues with a very stern threat to these people who have seen God's Word come true and are now offered a fresh chance to repent.
Zechariah 1:5-6 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?
God is making a point that his Word is eternal, and that our lives are brief. He has promised to preserve his Word even when all things pass away.
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Here in Zechariah God is making the point that his decree is unchanging and will come to fruition. Many times God's decree is conditional, that if a person won't repent, he will sharpen his sword against them. The converse is that if they do repent, the sword won't be used on them. The pre-exilic Jews wouldn't repent so they went into exile to Babylon, even though many of them fought it, as it says in Jeremiah 29, where the ones who refused to go were killed.
One of their fathers and prophets was Daniel, he totally embodies verse 6,
Zechariah 1:6 So they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.
Check out his prayer for mercy after 70 years in exile; it is full of repentance for sins, and acknowledgement that God is in fact God and is right to punish for sin;
Text – Zechariah 1:1-6, Isaiah 45:1-7
We're starting our journey through Zechariah today, this will take us approximately 18 weeks and it should be a great study. Zechariah is one of my favorite prophets because he speaks so often about the Messiah to come, some 500 years after he would write this book. It is said that only Isaiah has more prophecies for the Messiah.
In order to fully understand this book we need to know some history. When we read Zechariah we need to realize, and we'll probably spend a good deal of time in, that three other books are happening at basically the same time: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai. Does anyone remember what Haggai's main message was? It was prophesying Christ as the Temple, and calling the people to rebuild a temple so that they could have God in their midst.
Zechariah's prophecy happened in 520 BC, this is important because Judah has just returned to Jerusalem after being in exile to Babylon. This exile to Babylon started in 605 BC when God sold them into slavery for their sins, and they started returning in 538 BC. Remember in BC we count downwards.
A hugely important event for understanding Zechariah's letter is the way that Judah came home, so let's read Isaiah 45:1-6 which deals with the return from exile.
Isaiah 45:1-7 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Do you know when Isaiah was prophesying? 739-686BC. The prophecy he is making is over 100 years early of a man named Cyrus. Let's take it apart piece by piece.
v.1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped,
The word for anointed is Messiah, though he is not speaking of Cyrus being the ultimate Messiah, but a type for the Messiah, a conquering king. Many kings of Israel are called anointed, and so are you and I:
1 John 2:20 you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
This is neat because we had become worthless, but Christ has restored all sorts of great things to us. For example, we were not a people, but now we are God's people, we are priests offering praise, we are evangelists declaring the good news, we are apostles sent by God, we are prophets delivering the Word of God, and we are Christians anointed by God.
This king was specially chosen and equipped by God to do something, and we see that God has grasped his right hand, which means he has become puppetmaster guiding Cyrus for these purposes:
v.1-3 to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: "I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places,
When Cyrus conquered much of the known world, it was customary for cities to thrust open wide their gates in surrender and strip their kings of honor in order to give it to Cyrus. This began in 559 BC and concluded with the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. This was accomplished for a very specific purpose:
v.3-4 that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name,
Remember that Isaiah is writing this at least 100 years before Cyrus was even born, yet God calls him by name. The purpose is so that Cyrus and Israel and later the whole world would know that God is God and is in charge of the beginning to the end. He has a definite preordained plan which cannot be thwarted by men.
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will...
v.4 I name you, though you do not know me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God...
Cyrus was a Zoroastrian, a follower of a duel-godhead which one, Ahura Mazda, was good and the other, Angra Mainyu, was evil. The truly neat thing here is that God is both saving the nation of Israel, and the man Cyrus. He is concerned both with the populous and the individual. He knew us before we were, he has a plan for us to walk, check out Jeremiah's introduction,
Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
This is your first application, that God has a plan for you that absolutely cannot fail. Check out Ephesians 2:10, this is my favorite verse;
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Does that take the fear out of it? If God is for us, who then can stand against us? Paul said it another place just as well:
Galatians 1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
This Cyrus, after conquering Babylon in 539 BC, asked the Jews what they were doing in Babylon and then sent them home. Someone took to him a copy of Isaiah's prophecy and Cyrus read it and saw that his life had progressed exactly how God said it would, and he fell on his face and declared God to be Lord, and Lord God of Heaven, and the Lord God of Israel. This threefold declaration shows the fullness of his repentance.
v.5-6 I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
The sun rises in the East and sets in the West, this prophecy was only partly fulfilled in Cyrus; though he conquered a huge amount of land, this prophecy wouldn't be fully fulfilled until Christ, who is anointed beyond that of all others who are anointed. Literally the sun never sets on the kingdom of Christ. Right now it is dark somewhere in the world, but we are proclaiming his name to all peoples; when it is dark here someone in the light will be singing his praises.
v.7 I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
This is one of my favorite verses, it has a two-fold purpose. First it is a direct polemic against the gods of Zoroastrianism, one whom is supposed to be good and the other evil, and also to remind the Jews that they were sent into exile by God and redeemed by God. God is more than capable of working evil to punish sins. Amos says that disaster cannot come without God sending it.
So that finally brings us to Zechariah 1, Israel had been warned of exile, sent into exile, and redeemed from exile, and Zechariah 1 is going to remind them that God is in total control. First we get to meet Zechariah.
Zechariah 1:1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying,
Zechariah is a really popular name in the Old Testament, there are 29 of them in the Bible. His name means "The Lord Remembers" and it points to the faithfulness of God. According to a list of priests in Nehemiah, Zechariah was one, which places him in the tribe of Levi. Zechariah's fathers name was Berechiah, which is another popular name which means "Blessed of the Lord". A Zechariah son of Berechiah was murdered in the temple in the first century, but it is almost certainly coincidence that they have the same name.
Zechariah's grandfather Iddo was also a priest, so Zechariah comes from a lineage of priests. He begins his prophetic work in October of 520 BC, which is important because two months earlier Haggai had called for the temple to be rebuilt which is now underway and the people are beginning to repent, and Zechariah is going to push them to live a life of repentance and not just a short lived change of mind. The reason Darius is in charge is a soap-opera in itself. Cyrus died in 528 and had two sons, one of the sons killed the other son secretly so he could be in charge, but an imposter claimed to be the elder brother and took the throne. Much war ensued sort of taking the pressure off of Jerusalem, and as the younger brother was dying, he confessed to his brother's murder, and an army officer named Darius went to the imposter and killed him and took the throne, and after a brief bout of fighting, was in charge of the Persian empire, which included Judea.
So all this happened the way it happened for a reason, which Zechariah is now going to tell us,
Zechariah 1:2-4 "The LORD was very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.' But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.
Zechariah's message is for the people to return to God and not be like those who rebelled. There was no lack of prophets who called the pre-exilic Jews to repent: Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel, yet the people would not listen, so verse two says that "God was VERY angry with your fathers." We need to remember that God is totally justified in getting and staying angry, let's read one of the greatest descriptions of his anger:
Psalm 7:11-13 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and readied his bow; he has prepared for him his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts.
Zechariah continues with a very stern threat to these people who have seen God's Word come true and are now offered a fresh chance to repent.
Zechariah 1:5-6 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?
God is making a point that his Word is eternal, and that our lives are brief. He has promised to preserve his Word even when all things pass away.
Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Here in Zechariah God is making the point that his decree is unchanging and will come to fruition. Many times God's decree is conditional, that if a person won't repent, he will sharpen his sword against them. The converse is that if they do repent, the sword won't be used on them. The pre-exilic Jews wouldn't repent so they went into exile to Babylon, even though many of them fought it, as it says in Jeremiah 29, where the ones who refused to go were killed.
One of their fathers and prophets was Daniel, he totally embodies verse 6,
Zechariah 1:6 So they repented and said, As the LORD of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.
Check out his prayer for mercy after 70 years in exile; it is full of repentance for sins, and acknowledgement that God is in fact God and is right to punish for sin;
Daniel 9:3-19 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. "O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name."
Here's the neat part is that what God is calling for the people of Zechariah's day is what Daniel did, which ultimately was the event God was orchestrating to end the exile. All of this would be fresh in the minds of the Israelites.
So that is our introduction to Zechariah. He was one of the last prophets before God ceased revelation in 400 BC, and his book is going to show us that God has been working since the beginning and is working now, that he has a plan, that the Messiah was expected before he came, and fulfilled impossibly precise expectations.
Our application is that we see God is working for a very specific purpose, to call his people to repentance and see them walk in the works which he has prepared for us before time began. We see that God is able to use both believers and unbelievers to accomplish his purposes. Christ said if believers don't praise God that the rocks would then cry out. Similarly the high priest when Christ was crucified was still prophesying truth even though he was totally an enemy of God. We see that God's Word is eternal and it will come true, so it is in our best interest to submit to it now.
John 11:49-52 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Just as Cyrus was a type for Messiah and many kingdoms surrendered to him, so must we surrender to the Messiah Jesus. Just as Cyrus bowed to God and confessed him as Lord, so must we now. We will bow willingly, or we will bow forcefully on the final day, because every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father.
So that is our introduction to Zechariah. He was one of the last prophets before God ceased revelation in 400 BC, and his book is going to show us that God has been working since the beginning and is working now, that he has a plan, that the Messiah was expected before he came, and fulfilled impossibly precise expectations.
Our application is that we see God is working for a very specific purpose, to call his people to repentance and see them walk in the works which he has prepared for us before time began. We see that God is able to use both believers and unbelievers to accomplish his purposes. Christ said if believers don't praise God that the rocks would then cry out. Similarly the high priest when Christ was crucified was still prophesying truth even though he was totally an enemy of God. We see that God's Word is eternal and it will come true, so it is in our best interest to submit to it now.
John 11:49-52 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Just as Cyrus was a type for Messiah and many kingdoms surrendered to him, so must we surrender to the Messiah Jesus. Just as Cyrus bowed to God and confessed him as Lord, so must we now. We will bow willingly, or we will bow forcefully on the final day, because every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
March 21st - The Treasure of All Nations
Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Sarah Driving
Adam Feeling Better
Emily C.
PasXa Outreach - April 2nd
Spring Break Missions Trip
Text – Haggai 1-2
For about four or five weeks now I haven't felt like I've been doing Peter justice or that I've been giving you the full amount that each passage has in it. At first it was just nagging at me, but I've gotten to the point where I can't continue Peter until I get a better grasp of what he is saying and find a way to present it to you that will be both worthwhile, memorable, and exhorting you to action.
As I was preparing all week for chapter 3:8-12 and 4:7-11 I just felt like I was skimming the surface of the beauty in these passages and by last night I couldn't bear to teach you the lesson I had prepared for the lack of quality in it. I erased it and was going to start over when I thought, why don't I skip a week to look at something else?
So this week we're going to look at something else. So please turn to the book of Haggai with me, this is the third to last book in the Old Testament, right before Zechariah, which is right before Malachi. I think one of the reasons I'm having such a hard time with Peter is because Peter explains things so well and so concisely that sometimes there isn't anything left to explain and some of the passages probably ought to be just read, possibly with some explanation of what the words mean that Peter is using.
So the reason we're in Haggai is because Haggai doesn't endeavor to explain anything, he just tells it like it is, and I think there is a huge amount to be learned from his book, which is only two chapters, 38 verses long, and we'll try to look at all of them today. Haggai is one of my favorite Old Testament prophets.
Haggai 1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
This is where we need to camp out for some context. The date given is the Babylonian dating system way to say August 29th, 520 BC. Why didn't Haggai write "520 BC"? Because he didn't know it was BC! Albeit his going to talk about the Christ in a little bit.
The word of the Lord comes through Haggai to the governor of Judah and the High Priest. This is hugely important because this is in Jerusalem, and Israel has just come back from captivity in Babylon where they spent from 587 to 538, a total of 49 years. The reason a nation would move a conquered nation away from their homeland was so they would be assimilated into the new culture and would lose their identity. This has NEVER worked with the Jewish people.
Haggai 1:2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD."
The temple was destroyed in 587 BC,
2 Kings 25:9 And he burned the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.
It was pillaged and burned, where a once great temple once stood, now was a pile of rubble. When the Jews returned from exile, they immediately began reconstruction of the city, the wall, and of the temple, but the Babylonian and later Persian overseers made them stop working on the walls and temple:
Ezra 4:23-24 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
The reason the walls weren't rebuilt was so that Jerusalem wouldn't be defensible, and the temple wasn't rebuilt so that Jerusalem wouldn't have a dwelling place with God. Looking back today this seems strange to us, but that is because we are under a new Covenant where we can worship God in spirit and truth anywhere in the world. But check out Asaph's lament over the destruction of the temple:
Psalm 74:4 They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
Under this covenant, God was very specific in who could draw near to him and where he would live on earth. It started with the Tabernacle in the desert, then became a big beautiful temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon, overlaid with gold and totally beautiful and huge.
So it's now 18 years later and the people are still thinking...it's not time to rebuild the temple.
Haggai 1:3-4 Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?"
Solomon's temple was paneled, this is a sign of wealth, showing that Jerusalem's houses are quite well furnished, and these nice houses are surrounding a burned-out shell of a temple.
Haggai 1:5-9 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?
Judah is in the middle of a depression, both economically and physiologically, things are pretty bad in Judah. The illustration of the hole in the bottom of the money bag is beautiful and I want to spend a bit of time on it. When I worked on F-15's we had this thing called a Comsec Purse. Comsec means communications security, it is the classified stuff that allows the F-15 pilot to be able to talk to other military people, and drop bombs in the exact spot they mean to drop bombs on, and ultimately so they don't get shot down by enemy and friendly fire. It's really important stuff during a war, and it's also a very bad thing to lose. We carry it in a silver purse with no padding so if we need to destroy the things that are in it we can just swing it and bash it on the ground and the classified stuff is destroyed and/or erased just like that. Well, one day I opened it up to get something and everything that was supposed to be in there wasn't, just a hole. After freaking out for a second, I found it without looking too hard, but it was a great lesson on a bag with a hole in the bottom, that no matter how many things I put in that bag, they would end up on the ground and lost.
I think there is a direct relation to what was happening in Judah and what we see economically in America. More than half of Americans spend more than they make, and that ranges across all age and earnings brackets, people that make $12,000 a year and people that make $120,000 a year spend every last penny they make. You give me a dollar and I put it in a purse with a hole in it, and it's gone, you give me $100 and I put it in a purse with a hole in it, and it's gone. This is Judah at the time of Haggai, they can't save, they can't get warm, they are in trouble, and God asks them why? Then he gives the answer.
Haggai 1:9-11 Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.
God is specifically against the efforts of the people, and why, because they haven't seen fit to rebuild the temple. Now don't just think of this as a building, this is where the presence of God dwells among the people. By them not rebuilding the temple, they're saying, "We don't want God in the midst of us." And because of that God is specifically standing against them. Now here is where some of your parents might disagree with me, so ask them today when you get home, but I think this can apply to every nation and not just Israel. Why is America in bad shape today, why is any nation in bad shape? It's because they've forgotten God and have labored apart from him. I have a Bible verse to support this, so it's not like I'm just making it up.
Psalm 9:15-17 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. The LORD is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.
The rules apply to whole nations, and not just to Israel and Judah. Where we can get into a major mistake is when we think that these rules apply to individuals instead of whole nations. Like, be good and God will give you stuff. It doesn't work that way, God works with nations, and while he works with individuals there is no rule for him to bless individuals monetarily with money or possessions. Instead you remember from First Peter that the righteous should expect persecution.
Haggai 1:12-15 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’s message, "I am with you, declares the LORD." And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
All this to say, on September 21st, 520 BC God turns the people to rebuild the temple and they get to it with his help. Check out what happens on October 17th of that same year after they've been working on this temple for a little while:
Haggai 2:1-5 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.
They've been working on this temple and compared to the last one, everybody 70 years old and older remembers, is terrible. This isn't an underfunded temple, I think they were expecting a big beautiful messianic temple which Ezekiel prophesied in eight chapters in Ezekiel 40-48.
Check out this parallel passage:
Ezra 3:12-13 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
It's not the temple they were expecting, so many cried, but also many shouted with joy, and the reason they shouted for joy was not that the temple was being built, but that God would once again dwell with them! He is preparing to point to the Messiah, check out verse seven, it's my favorite verse:
Haggai 2:7 And I will shake all nations, so that the Treasure of All Nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
This temple which appears to be nothing, which the builders rejected, is symbolic of the Coming Messiah. We've read this verse before, but it is so amazing at how the Creator God would enter into the world:
Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Jesus is the true temple of God, not much to look at in his first coming according to the Bible, but the true temple with which God is well pleased. So what did God do with this temple in Haggai when it was built? He dwelt among the people. Check out my favorite verse:
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This small man-sized temple, nothing much to look at, was the glory of the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. He is the Treasure of All Nations, what a beautiful name for our King. How do we know for sure this is what God is talking about?
Haggai 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts.
God is saying this temple isn't small for lack of funds or because God couldn't make it bigger, it's small and humble because that's what God intended. He's saying, "If I wanted a solid gold temple with silver inlay, I could have a solid gold temple with silver inlay. This wooden and stone temple that is being built is the temple I want, just as my Son will later be the tabernacle with which I am well pleased."
Haggai 2:9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.
He's talking about the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the one who will give peace to all who are in his church; not peace with the world, but peace with God.
John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
Check this out, this is where I think it gets really cool. The first temple, built under Solomon, was magnificent, and this new temple didn't compare. God is saying that the latter glory, the later glory, of this temple will be more than the first, than the former glory. He's talking about Jesus, and Jesus basically quoted this in John 2:
John 2:19,21 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He was speaking about the temple of his body.
He has the latter glory in view, if you destroy this temple, and in three days it will be raised up as the super-glorious temple which the Jews were expecting from Ezekiel when they built the Haggai temple. And if you look at Jesus in Revelation 1, he's not at all like the Jesus who bled and died, he is wearing his glorified magnificent wonderful radiant temple, his glory perfected in his obedience.
This is the major message of Haggai, and what I want you to get out of it, that Jesus is the dwelling place of God on earth, that his glory is so much greater than anything we can imagine, that if we trade him for the fleeting pleasures of this earth, he will take them away, and that God's temple, Jesus Christ, must be at the center of nations in order for them to be blessed.
The rest of chapter 2 contains an awesome message as well. Because the people to this point might think that what God wants is a building, but he shows them the real reason they were being punished was for their sin, not because they didn't have a temple. They didn't have a temple because their sin kept them from building it, and just having a temple wouldn't have helped if they had continued to sin.
The temple wasn't the issue, see
John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
The people needed to repent of their sin, which would have resulted in the temple being built. Conversely with Jesus, just having a temple is not enough, you must repent towards him.
The final point of Haggai is setting Zerubbabel up as one like a "signet ring" which is a ring of authority, and if you look at Matthew 1 you'll see that Zerubbabel is in the lineage of Jesus Christ, and through him and his claim to the Davidic kingdom gives Christ the authority of God's Kingdom.
So in conclusion, Haggai is a beautiful prophetic book showing the coming Messiah, the tabernacle of God, and that he is the Treasure of All Nations, and so we repent towards him and in him we find peace and glory which far outweighs anything we can find on this earth. Those who reject this temple to live for themselves will find that God stands against them and keeps nations from temporal blessings and individuals from eternal blessings.
PasXa Outreach - April 2nd
Spring Break Missions Trip
Text – Haggai 1-2
For about four or five weeks now I haven't felt like I've been doing Peter justice or that I've been giving you the full amount that each passage has in it. At first it was just nagging at me, but I've gotten to the point where I can't continue Peter until I get a better grasp of what he is saying and find a way to present it to you that will be both worthwhile, memorable, and exhorting you to action.
As I was preparing all week for chapter 3:8-12 and 4:7-11 I just felt like I was skimming the surface of the beauty in these passages and by last night I couldn't bear to teach you the lesson I had prepared for the lack of quality in it. I erased it and was going to start over when I thought, why don't I skip a week to look at something else?
So this week we're going to look at something else. So please turn to the book of Haggai with me, this is the third to last book in the Old Testament, right before Zechariah, which is right before Malachi. I think one of the reasons I'm having such a hard time with Peter is because Peter explains things so well and so concisely that sometimes there isn't anything left to explain and some of the passages probably ought to be just read, possibly with some explanation of what the words mean that Peter is using.
So the reason we're in Haggai is because Haggai doesn't endeavor to explain anything, he just tells it like it is, and I think there is a huge amount to be learned from his book, which is only two chapters, 38 verses long, and we'll try to look at all of them today. Haggai is one of my favorite Old Testament prophets.
Haggai 1:1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
This is where we need to camp out for some context. The date given is the Babylonian dating system way to say August 29th, 520 BC. Why didn't Haggai write "520 BC"? Because he didn't know it was BC! Albeit his going to talk about the Christ in a little bit.
The word of the Lord comes through Haggai to the governor of Judah and the High Priest. This is hugely important because this is in Jerusalem, and Israel has just come back from captivity in Babylon where they spent from 587 to 538, a total of 49 years. The reason a nation would move a conquered nation away from their homeland was so they would be assimilated into the new culture and would lose their identity. This has NEVER worked with the Jewish people.
Haggai 1:2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD."
The temple was destroyed in 587 BC,
2 Kings 25:9 And he burned the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.
It was pillaged and burned, where a once great temple once stood, now was a pile of rubble. When the Jews returned from exile, they immediately began reconstruction of the city, the wall, and of the temple, but the Babylonian and later Persian overseers made them stop working on the walls and temple:
Ezra 4:23-24 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
The reason the walls weren't rebuilt was so that Jerusalem wouldn't be defensible, and the temple wasn't rebuilt so that Jerusalem wouldn't have a dwelling place with God. Looking back today this seems strange to us, but that is because we are under a new Covenant where we can worship God in spirit and truth anywhere in the world. But check out Asaph's lament over the destruction of the temple:
Psalm 74:4 They set your sanctuary on fire; they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it down to the ground.
Under this covenant, God was very specific in who could draw near to him and where he would live on earth. It started with the Tabernacle in the desert, then became a big beautiful temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon, overlaid with gold and totally beautiful and huge.
So it's now 18 years later and the people are still thinking...it's not time to rebuild the temple.
Haggai 1:3-4 Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?"
Solomon's temple was paneled, this is a sign of wealth, showing that Jerusalem's houses are quite well furnished, and these nice houses are surrounding a burned-out shell of a temple.
Haggai 1:5-9 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. "Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?
Judah is in the middle of a depression, both economically and physiologically, things are pretty bad in Judah. The illustration of the hole in the bottom of the money bag is beautiful and I want to spend a bit of time on it. When I worked on F-15's we had this thing called a Comsec Purse. Comsec means communications security, it is the classified stuff that allows the F-15 pilot to be able to talk to other military people, and drop bombs in the exact spot they mean to drop bombs on, and ultimately so they don't get shot down by enemy and friendly fire. It's really important stuff during a war, and it's also a very bad thing to lose. We carry it in a silver purse with no padding so if we need to destroy the things that are in it we can just swing it and bash it on the ground and the classified stuff is destroyed and/or erased just like that. Well, one day I opened it up to get something and everything that was supposed to be in there wasn't, just a hole. After freaking out for a second, I found it without looking too hard, but it was a great lesson on a bag with a hole in the bottom, that no matter how many things I put in that bag, they would end up on the ground and lost.
I think there is a direct relation to what was happening in Judah and what we see economically in America. More than half of Americans spend more than they make, and that ranges across all age and earnings brackets, people that make $12,000 a year and people that make $120,000 a year spend every last penny they make. You give me a dollar and I put it in a purse with a hole in it, and it's gone, you give me $100 and I put it in a purse with a hole in it, and it's gone. This is Judah at the time of Haggai, they can't save, they can't get warm, they are in trouble, and God asks them why? Then he gives the answer.
Haggai 1:9-11 Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.
God is specifically against the efforts of the people, and why, because they haven't seen fit to rebuild the temple. Now don't just think of this as a building, this is where the presence of God dwells among the people. By them not rebuilding the temple, they're saying, "We don't want God in the midst of us." And because of that God is specifically standing against them. Now here is where some of your parents might disagree with me, so ask them today when you get home, but I think this can apply to every nation and not just Israel. Why is America in bad shape today, why is any nation in bad shape? It's because they've forgotten God and have labored apart from him. I have a Bible verse to support this, so it's not like I'm just making it up.
Psalm 9:15-17 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. The LORD is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. The wicked return to the grave, all the nations that forget God.
The rules apply to whole nations, and not just to Israel and Judah. Where we can get into a major mistake is when we think that these rules apply to individuals instead of whole nations. Like, be good and God will give you stuff. It doesn't work that way, God works with nations, and while he works with individuals there is no rule for him to bless individuals monetarily with money or possessions. Instead you remember from First Peter that the righteous should expect persecution.
Haggai 1:12-15 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’s message, "I am with you, declares the LORD." And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
All this to say, on September 21st, 520 BC God turns the people to rebuild the temple and they get to it with his help. Check out what happens on October 17th of that same year after they've been working on this temple for a little while:
Haggai 2:1-5 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.
They've been working on this temple and compared to the last one, everybody 70 years old and older remembers, is terrible. This isn't an underfunded temple, I think they were expecting a big beautiful messianic temple which Ezekiel prophesied in eight chapters in Ezekiel 40-48.
Check out this parallel passage:
Ezra 3:12-13 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
It's not the temple they were expecting, so many cried, but also many shouted with joy, and the reason they shouted for joy was not that the temple was being built, but that God would once again dwell with them! He is preparing to point to the Messiah, check out verse seven, it's my favorite verse:
Haggai 2:7 And I will shake all nations, so that the Treasure of All Nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
This temple which appears to be nothing, which the builders rejected, is symbolic of the Coming Messiah. We've read this verse before, but it is so amazing at how the Creator God would enter into the world:
Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
Jesus is the true temple of God, not much to look at in his first coming according to the Bible, but the true temple with which God is well pleased. So what did God do with this temple in Haggai when it was built? He dwelt among the people. Check out my favorite verse:
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This small man-sized temple, nothing much to look at, was the glory of the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. He is the Treasure of All Nations, what a beautiful name for our King. How do we know for sure this is what God is talking about?
Haggai 2:8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts.
God is saying this temple isn't small for lack of funds or because God couldn't make it bigger, it's small and humble because that's what God intended. He's saying, "If I wanted a solid gold temple with silver inlay, I could have a solid gold temple with silver inlay. This wooden and stone temple that is being built is the temple I want, just as my Son will later be the tabernacle with which I am well pleased."
Haggai 2:9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.
He's talking about the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the one who will give peace to all who are in his church; not peace with the world, but peace with God.
John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
Check this out, this is where I think it gets really cool. The first temple, built under Solomon, was magnificent, and this new temple didn't compare. God is saying that the latter glory, the later glory, of this temple will be more than the first, than the former glory. He's talking about Jesus, and Jesus basically quoted this in John 2:
John 2:19,21 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He was speaking about the temple of his body.
He has the latter glory in view, if you destroy this temple, and in three days it will be raised up as the super-glorious temple which the Jews were expecting from Ezekiel when they built the Haggai temple. And if you look at Jesus in Revelation 1, he's not at all like the Jesus who bled and died, he is wearing his glorified magnificent wonderful radiant temple, his glory perfected in his obedience.
This is the major message of Haggai, and what I want you to get out of it, that Jesus is the dwelling place of God on earth, that his glory is so much greater than anything we can imagine, that if we trade him for the fleeting pleasures of this earth, he will take them away, and that God's temple, Jesus Christ, must be at the center of nations in order for them to be blessed.
The rest of chapter 2 contains an awesome message as well. Because the people to this point might think that what God wants is a building, but he shows them the real reason they were being punished was for their sin, not because they didn't have a temple. They didn't have a temple because their sin kept them from building it, and just having a temple wouldn't have helped if they had continued to sin.
The temple wasn't the issue, see
John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
The people needed to repent of their sin, which would have resulted in the temple being built. Conversely with Jesus, just having a temple is not enough, you must repent towards him.
The final point of Haggai is setting Zerubbabel up as one like a "signet ring" which is a ring of authority, and if you look at Matthew 1 you'll see that Zerubbabel is in the lineage of Jesus Christ, and through him and his claim to the Davidic kingdom gives Christ the authority of God's Kingdom.
So in conclusion, Haggai is a beautiful prophetic book showing the coming Messiah, the tabernacle of God, and that he is the Treasure of All Nations, and so we repent towards him and in him we find peace and glory which far outweighs anything we can find on this earth. Those who reject this temple to live for themselves will find that God stands against them and keeps nations from temporal blessings and individuals from eternal blessings.
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