Hag 1:4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? (KJV)
I really enjoy reading the Old Testament prophets. There was a time when this wasn't the case. It was probably due to my whole concept of Old Testament prophecy. I used to think that the message of the prophets was primarily a foretelling of future events. Certainly this is a component of the message of the OT prophets. Sometimes they foretold events in the distant future, and other times they would bring forth a message that would be fulfilled within the lifetime of the hearers. But it would be a mistake to think of the prophets as merely predicting apocalyptic events. Often their messages were very practical. Such is the case with today's message.
The book of Haggai records a series of messages (4) that the Lord gave Haggai to convey to Zerubbabel (the governor) and Joshua (the high priest). The time frame for these messages takes place just after the Jewish people had experienced Babylonian captivity. Nebudchadnezzer and his army destroyed Solomon's magnificent temple and carried away the Israelites as captives. Now some have begun to return to their homeland, and started the rebuilding effort. An important part of rebuilding was reconstruction of the temple. The temple project began, and great enthusiasm filled the air. Soon, the foundation was laid, and work on the altar had commenced.
But something happened. Through opposition of neighboring peoples, and frustrations and discouragement, work on the temple project came to an abrupt halt. It stopped for nearly 14 years. Then, enters Haggai the prophet with a message from the Lord. His first message to the people (in particular Zerubbabel the governor, and Joshua the high priest) was "consider your ways". They had left off building God's house (i.e. the temple) and were busy building their own houses. God was grieved that the people had lost a sense of eternal perspective and were feverishly minding the temporal things of this world. During this period of spiritual sloth, the Israelites reaped a harvest, but it was not the type of harvest they wanted to gather. We will look at that in the coming days.
I'll begin this series of blogs by asking a rhetorical question: "Have we left off building God's house in favor of working on our own?" The church, and the nation of America faces difficult challenges in the days ahead. We too, will have to decide whether we are going to trust God and continue working His work, or whether we will be consumed with the cares of this life (see Luke 21:34). I look forward to sharing insights from this prophetic book with you.
Until next time....
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