"The Latter Glory of This House" Sermon: Haggai 2:1-9

“The Latter Glory of This House”

[Haggai 2:1-9]

October 16, 2011 Second Reformed Church

            In 538 B.C., God freed Israel from exile through the decree of Cyrus, King of Persia, and about 50,000 of the several million who went into exile returned to Israel – to Jerusalem – with instructions and supplies that God had sent through Cyrus:  they were to rebuild the Temple.  And with great zeal in their hearts and great generosity of gifts of gold, they worked on the Temple for about two years – first building the altar, that they might offer sacrifices to God.

            But then, the neighboring nations got nervous and pressured Israel to stop rebuilding the Temple and to concentrate on giving themselves pleasure and competing with each other.  For fourteen years, the Temple lay uncared for.

            Then God sent the prophet Haggai, who challenged them not to give up hope, but to repent of their sin and to continue to rebuild, because the first call on their lives – and on the lives of everyone who believes in God and His Savior – is to glorify God through obedience.  So God told them to continue to build the Temple to His Glory.  And they did.

            This morning’s text begins about a month after the people repented and went back to work.  They had worked hard; they had laid the new, small, less ornate foundation of the Temple.  It was a day of celebration – for some.

“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?”’”

Ezra brought the people together to celebrate the completion of the foundation.  Then the historical writer records this:  “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,” (Ezra 3:12, ESV).

The first Temple – the Temple of Solomon – was one of the wonders of the ancient world:  it was enormous, covered in gold, with gold works throughout.  It was a time of unsurpassed prosperity in Israel, and Solomon built a temple the likes of which would never be built again.  And some of the remnant that returned to Jerusalem remembered Solomon’s Temple in all its glory, and when they looked at the Temple they were building – using the best and the brightest, being sacrificially generous with their gold – it was nothing compared with Solomon’s Temple, and they cried.

“What’s the point of trying?  They best we can do is still so far short of what was destroyed.  Why should we even attempt to do something so small?”

“Remember when Rev. Freeman was here and the pews were full and we had plenty of money and we could do whatever we wanted?”

“Remember when Irvington was a peaceful town – once a farming town – and there wasn’t the kind of crime there is now?  Remember when we could leave our doors unlocked?  Remember when everyone knew their neighbor, and they all went to church?”

“Remember when we were young and we were able to do things and contribute to the life of the church?”

“Remember the good old days?”

Did you know that in the “good old days,” the older folk were saying to each other, “remember the good old days?”

There is value in looking back on our history – in remembering our accomplishments and God’s blessings to us.  There is value in looking back on our history – in remembering those things that we did wrong – even our sins – and learning from them and not doing them again.

But we need to be careful.  As Daniel Amos sings, “if you go back once too often, then you’re likely to remain.”  God has not given to us to live and die “back then.”  God has given to us to live and – eventually – die – (if Jesus does not return first) – now.

God has given us Peter Butler, Jr., as pastor now.  Well, he’s no Jeremiah Burroughs.  He’s no – whomever your favorite preacher is.  You’re right.  But God has not called me to be anyone but me.  I am to be me to God’s Glory.  And you are called to be you with all your faults and all your blessings to God’s Glory.

God didn’t tell the remnant to rebuild Solomon’s Temple; He told them to rebuild God’s Temple – the Temple that they were able to build with all that God gave them in that day.

We are not called to be any particular “golden age” as we might remember or imagine it; we are called to be faithful with what God has given us today.

Are you ready for what God is calling you – and us – to do today?  You have already read in the Newsletter how we are planning to begin a feeding program in January – beginning with hosting a lunch once a month for people who are hungry.  As this comes together over the next couple of months, we will need people to help with setting up, cooking, serving, cleaning up, being with the people who come – sitting with them and greeting them and telling them that we are doing this to glorify Jesus.  And for those here who have difficulty providing meals, we need you to come and eat.

            And some of you are saying to yourselves, “We can’t do it.  It’s a good idea, but we can’t do it.”  The remnant was saying, “We can’t do it.  We’re not skilled enough.  We don’t have the money.”  And in a sense, they were right – and so are you – you can’t do it – I can’t do it – they couldn’t do it.  Listen:

“’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.’”

God told them – and He tells us – three things:

“Be strong, for I am with you.”  If we are doing the work of the Lord, He is with us, and it will be accomplished according to His Will.  God is not too weak.  God is not too poor.  God is not too dumb.  God will accomplish His Purposes.  God is ready to work with us and in us and through us – are we ready to follow Him in service?  Are you ready to work hard at what God has called us to do and not worry, but trust Him for the outcome?

We are in year one of a five-year plan that I am working up – bringing us up to our one hundredth anniversary.  “How do you think we’re going to be here five years from now?”  By the Grace of God.  I can’t tell you what God has in store for us.  But I believe that God will keep us here doing His Work as long as He has work for us to do here.  This is now the beginning of my thirteenth year telling us that.

“This is no Temple of Solomon.”  We’re not called to build to Temple of Solomon.  We’re called to do what God has called us to do here and now – and God promises that He is with us as we do His Will.  And He was with the remnant as they built the second temple.

            “Work, for I am with you, according to the covenant.”  God has made promises – promises to individuals – promises to nations – promises to everyone who will believe in His Savior.  And God says to all, “Get to work on what I have called you to do, being confident in this:  I never break My Promise.”

            Have you noticed that in the Scripture?  God never breaks His Promise and sins and has to ask our forgiveness.  Sounds silly, doesn’t it?  God’s Promises are sure.  Everything God has promised will come to pass.  We don’t ever have to worry about God not keeping His “end of the deal,” as it were.  God is always faithful.  God can always be relied on.  God will never fail us.  And He promises that He is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and to His Glory (cf. Romans 8:28).

            If we follow the Will and the Direction of God, we will be victorious in God.  Are you ready to walk out in faith?  God wanted the second temple built, and, in time, it was finished.

            “Don’t be afraid, God the Holy Spirit is with you.”  The Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit causes regeneration – He makes us Christians – He brings us back from spiritual death.  He reminds us of what the Scripture says – what we have read and heard from the Scripture.  And He helps us to understand it.

            After Jesus – we have this even one better – God the Holy Spirit is not just with us, but He lives in us.  God is in us, working in us and on us and through us.

            God the Father is with us.  God the Son is with us.  God the Holy Spirit is with us.  And God is accomplishing His Plan.  Let us be strong in our Triune God now.  Let us be who God has called each one of us to be now.  Let us do what God calls us to do as the Church now.  Let us work to the Glory of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – in Irvington, NJ, now.

            And let us keep before us the future and the hope that God has promised.  God told it to the remnant twenty-five hundred years ago:

“’For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.  And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts.  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.'"

What is God promising?

Well, from the end of chapter two, which we will look at next week, D.V., we know that this prophecy would be fulfilled – at least in some way – during Zerubbabel’s lifetime.  God promised that these things would occur, and God would keep Zerubbabel safe and in power.  The text also tells us that the overthrow that God will cause – at least – has to do with nations and rulers.

Commentators look at this prophecy – as I have described before – as looking at a mountain range, when all the mountains look like they are right on top of one another, but they are actually far apart.  To Haggai, it looked like these thing all happened within a short period of time, but, actually, they occur over thousands of years.

Haggai was prophesying in chapter two in about 522 B.C.  In 515 B.C., the second temple was completed.  The first major overthrow was in 490 B.C., when the Greek army defeated Dairus the Mede at Marathon.  The Greeks continued to attack the Persian Empire, and in 480 B.C., they defeated Xerxes.  The final blow came when Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire and took it for Greece in 334 B.C.  (Then the Romans ascended and defeated the Greeks – and so forth.)

Zerubbabel would have lived to at least see the crumbling of the Persian Empire.  In this, we can see part of the prophecy being fulfilled in his day.  But the temple wasn’t more glorious than Solomon’s, and the nations had not given all their precious metals to Jerusalem, and there was no peace in Israel.

The author of Hebrews speaks of it – so the day had not finally come even by the latter part of the first century:  “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.  At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."  This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken--that is, things that have been made--in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:25-29, ESV).

The author of Hebrews states that this prophecy will be fulfilled in the Kingdom, when Jesus returns.  Jesus, Himself, will shake everything that can be shaken – everything that is broken, everything that is corrupted, everything that is less than God created it to be.  Picture one of those movies when someone is held upside-down and shaken until all the money falls out – God will take the Creation and hold it upside-down – shaking it – until all sin and evil and fallenness and corruption fall away into the pit, and all of God’s chosen will be received into His Glory.

The temple of Haggi was eventually destroyed, and a third temple was built – Herod’s temple – it was still being built in Jesus’ day (cf. John 2:20).  But the glory of that house did not exceed Solomon’s Temple – and it was destroyed in 70 A. D.  So, there must be another temple – a fourth temple.

But there will never be a fourth temple built by human hands.  We will never be able to build a house whose glory exceeds that of Solomon’s Temple, because God tells us, He is the Fourth Temple, Himself – God is the House Whose Glory exceeds Solomon’s Temple:

John described the Kingdom:  “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.  By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there.  They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.  But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life” (Revelation 21:22-27, ESV).

God began to fulfill this prophecy in the days of Zerubbabel, overthrowing the nations one by one to show the world His Power – His Sovereignty – to assure His people that He would bring all things to their glorious end in Him.  But the fullness of this prophecy comes with the Return of Jesus.

When Jesus returns, the Creation will be shaken and all evil and its corruption will be thrown into the pit with the devil and his angels, and God will restore the Creation and His people to holiness and give them utter peace.  All those who believe that Jesus died for their sins, was buried, physically rose from the dead, and ascended back to the Throne of the Son, will be received into the Glorious Kingdom where God Himself will be our Light and our Temple – the Temple more glorious than even the Temple of Solomon.

With that promise from the Almighty God, how can we dare say that the Will of God cannot be accomplished on the earth?  How can we hear the Word of God and tell God He’s wrong?  How can we hear God say that He is with us, He will never break His Promises to us, and He lives in us – strengthening us to do His Will – and still doubt?

Let us remember God’s Blessings to us – especially the Gift of His Son.  Let us remember what we have done wrong and our sins – repent of them and not continue in them.  Let us believe God – that He is our Strength – that we are able to do all that He calls us to do in Him.  And let us look forward; working with eyes of faith, knowing that the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, You have blessed us beyond our comprehension.  You have saved us and given us the promise of life in Your Kingdom.  Still, we are jars of clay.  We are afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.  Almighty Savior, strengthen us by Your Power, guide us by Your Hand, encourage us by Your Providence, keep Your Glory before us that we would not lose heart but run faithfully until the day of Christ Jesus.  For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.