Obedience Requires Strength but Results in BlessingHaggai 2:1-9

Main Idea: The people of Israel heard the word of the Lord, repented together, and obeyed God. As they obeyed God, He affirmed His presence among them.

1. The Presence of God’s Spirit Motivates the People to Work for His Glory (2:1-5).
2. The Lord of Hosts Will Shake Everything to Fill His House with Glory (2:6-9).

The Presence of God’s Spirit Motivates the People to Work for His Glory (Haggai 2:1-5)

I remember one of my earliest jobs. My uncle started a small business refurbishing riding lawn mowers. He would travel around to estate sales and yard sales, and he would purchase used lawn mowers that were in good structural condition. He would strip the mowers down, repaint them, put a new engine on them, and sell them at a much cheaper price than you could get at a retail store. He had a full time job, so he needed someone to help him out by stripping the paint off the mowers and painting them so they would look like new. This is where my younger brother and I came in. My uncle hired the two of us to strip and paint each mower. For each mower that we would finish, he would pay us $25, regardless of the time it required. I was pretty young at the time, so I was pretty excited about the opportunity to make some money. Recognizing that we could make more money if we worked faster, my brother and I developed a pretty nice little system to strip and paint these mowers. We were motivated by the possibility of making some money, so we worked hard because of that motivation. In a similar way, God makes a promise to the Israelite people at the beginning of Haggai chapter 2, only His promise is much more significant than a financial one. He promises His Spirit to them if they will repent and obey. In fact, we see four very clear and specific steps that occur in the first five verses of chapter 2 that culminate with the promise of God’s Spirit.

God begins by helping them to define the problem. The problem is ultimately their sin, which is seen in the unfinished temple. In verse 3 He poignantly asks, “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?” In other words, this house has been, and should again be, beautiful. Their disobedience, however, had left it unfinished. This conversation by God is the convicting work of God on display in their lives. He was bringing conviction of sin to them. Conviction always occurs through clarity. Their sin is laid bare for them to clearly see, and they can no longer deny it. The former glory of the temple and the lack of progress with the temple has clearly shown their failure to honor God with their actions. They were in sin.

He continues, however, by calling them to hope. “Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel!” This encouragement from God is a renewal of hope in their midst. It is a clarion call of potential in the midst of a growing awareness of sin. The reminder of sin is necessary to compel them to confession and repentance, but the reminder of grace is necessary to bring them hope. This statement is a reminder that God had not forgotten or given up on them. Yes, you have sinned, but there is hope yet—this is essentially the message of God at this point. God is doing what He has always done and will always do: He is encouraging them that even though they are sinful, His grace is greater than their sin. This is the glorious truth of the gospel, that “God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” (Rom 5:8).

He goes on by calling them to repent by working. It was important that they understood their sin, and it was vital that they recognized God’s grace, but all of that would be wasted potential if they did not respond in obedience, which demonstrated their repentance. Transformed hearts do not occur in isolation. Transformed hearts lead to transformed hands, and transformed hands do God’s work. This was the point that God was making through Haggai. “Work! For I am with you” is the declaration of the Lord. In light of your sin and My grace, work!

Finally, God concludes with the point that motivates all of this. If they will understand their sin and if they will respond to His grace by repenting, then they will experience His presence. God’s presence is directly connected to their ability to work. It is also directly connected to their ability to experience joy and satisfaction. Verse 5 points out that because God’s presence is among them, they will not have to be afraid. They can rest in God’s presence. He is a strong tower that brings grace, yes. He brings hope, yes. Finally, though, He brings rest.

All things considered, the promise of God’s presence is a powerful motivator. Much like the promise of $25 moved me to refinish lawn mowers, the promise of God’s presence moves His people to confession, repentance, and action. As we see throughout the whole of Scripture, there are many reasons why one will be blessed by following God, but none is more significant than the promise of God’s presence. “Better a day in Your courts than a thousand anywhere else. I would rather be at the door of the house of my God than to live in the tents of wicked people (Ps 84:10).

The Lord of Hosts Will Shake Everything to Fill His House with Glory (Haggai 2:6-9)

God will bring His glory. That purpose cannot be slowed or stopped. If there is one message that is constant throughout Scripture, it is that God’s purposes cannot be halted. Verses 6-9 of Haggai chapter 2 are a consistent reminder of that fact. We are told here that God will assert His sovereignty, that He will provide for the completion of His purposes, and that He will ultimately deliver an even greater glory than the glory of the temple they would rebuild.

Verse 6 speaks of God shaking everything that is. This is a reference to the authority of God, the sovereignty of God. A. W. Pink, in his great work The Sovereignty of God, defined God’s sovereignty this way: “What do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the god-hood of God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God” (The Sovereignty of God, 11). The shaking that is mentioned here is a rather colorful way of describing the fact that God is over every created thing. It was a reminder to the nation of Israel that His word was to be obeyed. It was also a reminder that He would be able to provide the strength necessary to accomplish the task. Finally, it was a reminder that He would provide the necessary resources to rebuild the temple.

In verses 7-8 Haggai continues on the sovereignty theme, specifically declaring God’s ability to provide the financial resources necessary to accomplish the task. This is an important and needed lesson to an Israelite people who were surely frustrated over the lack of provision that they had experienced, which God previously told them was due to their disobedience. We see this promised provision fulfilled by King Darius, the ruler of the Persians, in Ezra 6:8:

I hereby issue a decree concerning what you must do, so that the elders of the Jews can rebuild the house of God: The cost is to be paid in full to these men out of the royal revenues from the taxes of the region west of the Euphrates River, so that the work will not stop.

Not only would God provide the necessary resources, but He would do it without costing the Israelites anything at all. They were simply called to be obedient, and God would provide the means. This is an important lesson for us today, as we often struggle and resist God’s call to obedience due to our lack of faith in His provision. God is always enough.

Finally, we see the capstone of these few verses, and ultimately the capstone of the entire book. Not only would God provide and would the Israelites rebuild the temple, but God would eventually accomplish a greater work by providing a greater temple. God promises that the “final glory” would be “greater than the first.” He also goes on to promise that He will provide peace through the final temple. So what is this statement referring to? It is a Messianic promise. It is a promise of Jesus to come. In fact, in the gospel of Matthew Jesus Himself would declare that He was greater than the temple: “But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here!” (Matt 12:6). Jesus would also refer to Himself as a type of a temple in John’s gospel: “Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days’” (John 2:19). Jesus is the greater temple, and God was using the rebuilding of this temple, and the hope contained within it, to point to Jesus and the peace He would bring. In fact, He specifically describes this as shalom in the text, which means “peace.” His promised presence would bring them peace, although only temporarily. No, it is not final, but there is One coming who can provide lasting and complete peace. This verse declares that Jesus is coming.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What motivates you most often? Is the thought or the truth of God’s promised presence a comfort and motivator to you?
2. God promises hope, even when we know we are in sin. What sins do you have that you secretly fear God is unwilling to forgive?
3. How astonishing is God’s promise of grace to you?
4. Are you aware that repentance is a heart issue? Do you understand that genuine repentance requires a heart change and that behavior will always follow the heart?
5. Have you spent time in the presence of God today? We can know God through His Word and prayer. Have you pursued Him through those avenues today?
6. How does the truth of God’s sovereignty comfort and encourage you?
7. Are there times when you have struggled to obey God because you feared that you would not have the necessary resources?
8. How encouraging is it to know that there is a greater temple, Jesus, who is promised and is our hope?
9. Have you experienced the peace that comes from trust in Jesus, the greater temple?