“Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong,
O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye
people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you,
saith the Lord of hosts: according to the word that I covenanted
with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among
you: fear ye not.”–Haggai 2:4-5.
Satan is always doing his utmost to stay the work of God. He hindered
these Jews from building the temple; and to-day he endeavours to hinder the
people of God from spreading the gospel. A spiritual temple is to be
builded for the Most High, and if by any means the evil one can delay its
uprising he will stick at nothing: if he can take us off from working with
faith and courage for the glory of God he will be sure to do it. He is very
cunning, and knows how to change his argument and yet keep to his design:
little cares he how he works, so long as he can hurt the cause of God. In
the case of the Jewish people on their return from captivity he sought to
prevent the building of the temple by making them selfish and worldly, so
that every many was eager to build his own house, and cared nothing for the
house of the Lord. Each family pleaded its own urgent needs. In returning
to a long-deserted and neglected land, much had to be done to make up for
lost time; and to provide suitably for itself every family needed all its
exertions. They carried this thrift and self-providing to a great extreme,
and secured for themselves luxuries, while the foundations of the temple
which had been laid years before remained as they were, or became still
more thickly covered up with rubbish. The people could not be made to
bestir themelves to build a house of God, for they answered to every
exhortation, “The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should
be built.” A more convenient season was always looming in the future, but
it never came. Just now it was too hot, further it was too cold; at one
time the wet season was just setting in, and it was of no use to begin, and
soon the fair weather required that they should be in their own fields.
Like some in our day, they saw to themselves first, and God’s turn was very
long in coming; hence the prophet cried, “Is it time for you, O ye, to
dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?”
By the mouth of His servant Haggai stern rebukes were uttered, and the
whole people were aroused. We read in verse twelve of the first chapter,
“Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, 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 did fear before the Lord.” All hands were put
to the work; course after course of stone began to rise; and then another
stumbling-block was thrown in the way of the workers. The older folks
remarked that this was a very small affair compared with the temple of
Solomon, of which their fathers had told them; in fact, their rising
building was nothing at all, and not worthy to be called a temple. The
prophet describes the feeling in the verse which precedes our text. “Who is
left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it
now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?” Feeling that
their work would be very poor and insignificant, the people had little
heart to go on. Being discouraged by the humiliating contrast, they began
to be slack; and as they were quite willing to accept any excuse, and here
was an excuse ready made for them, they would soon have been at a
standstill had not the prophet met the wiles of the arch-enemy with another
word from the Lord. Nothing so confounds the evil one as the voice of the
Eternal. Our Lord Himself defeated Satan by the word of the Lord; and the
prophet Haggai did the same. The subtle craft of the enemy is defeated by
the wisdom of the Most High, which reveals itself in plain words of honest
statement. The Lord cuts the knots which bind His people, and sets them at
liberty to do His will. He did this by assuring them that He was with them.
Twice the voice was heard–”I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.” They
were also assured that what they builded was accepted, and that the Lord
meant to fill the new house with glory; yea, He meant to light it up with a
glory greater than that which honoured the temple of Solomon. They were not
spending their strength for nought, but were labouring with divine help and
favour. Thus they were encouraged to put their shoulders to the work: the
walls rose in due order, and God was glorified in the building up of His
Zion.
The present times are, in many respects, similar to those of Haggai.
History certainly repeats itself within the church of God as well as
outside of it; and therefore the messages of God need to be repeated also.
The words of some almost-forgotten prophet may be re-delivered by the
watchman of the Lord in these present days, and be a timely word for the
present emergency. We are not free from the worldliness which puts self
first and God nowhere, else our various enterprises would be more
abundantly supplied with the silver and the gold which are the Lord’s, but
which even professing Christians reserve for themselves. When this selfish
greed is conquered, then comes in a timorous depression. Among those who
have escaped from worldliness there is apt to be too much despondency, and
men labour feebly as for a cause which is doomed to failure. This last evil
must be cured. I pray that our text may this morning flame from the Lord’s
own mouth with all the fire which once blazed about it. May faint hearts be
encouraged and drowsy spirits be aroused, as we hear the Lord say, “My
spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.”
I shall enter fully upon the subject, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit,
by calling your attention to discouragement forbidden. Then I shall speak
of encouragement imparted; and, having done so, I shall linger with this
blessed text, which overflows with comfort, and shall speak, in the third
place, of encouragement further applied. Oh that our Lord, who knows how to
speak a word in season to him that is weary, may cheer the hearts of
seekers by what shall be spoken under this last head of discourse!
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
