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Posts tagged ‘rebuilding the temple’

Rebuilding the Temple: Haggai’s Call to Action

Haggai 1:4(NKJV) “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”
Haggai 1:8(NKJV) Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD.

Author

  • Haggai
  • Haggai means “Festive”

Date

  • 520 B.C.

Theme

  • Rebuilding the temple

Purpose

  • Haggai was among the first prophets to minister to the Israelites returning from Babylonian captivity.
  • In 539 B.C. they begin rebuilding the temple under the leadership of Ezra. They were delayed for eighteen years by opposition from the north.
  • In 521 B.C. after receiving a decree from Darius king of Persia they continued the work and dedicated the temple in 515 B.C.
  • Haggai urged the people to continue the work of the temple. It was believed that Haggai was old enough to remember the former temple before it was destroyed by the Babylonians.
    • Ezra 6:14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
  • Haggai had to address the three D’s
    • Disinterested
      • Haggai 1:2(NKJV)Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.”
    • Discouraged
      • Haggai 2:3(NKJV) ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?
    • Dissatisfaction
      • Haggai 2:19(NKJV) Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.”
        • They were seeking an immediate turn around

Content

  • The call to rebuild the temple: Haggai 1:1-15
    • Haggai 1:4(NKJV) “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”
    • Haggai 1:8(NKJV) Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD.
  • Hopes and expectation for the new temple: Haggai 2:1-9
    • Haggai 2:9(NKJV) The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
  • God’s promised blessings: Haggai 2:10-19
    • Haggai 2:19(NKJV) Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.””
  • God’s final triumph: Haggai 2:21-23
    • Haggai 2:21-23(NKJV)”Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying: ‘I will shake heaven and earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots And those who ride in them; The horses and their riders shall come down, Every one by the sword of his brother. In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel (She-al-ti-el),’ says the LORD, ‘and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

Christ in the Book of Haggai

  • Christ and the work of the cross as the fulfillment of the latter glory filling the temple of God
    •  John 2:19-21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.
    • 1 Corinthians 6:19,20(NKJV) Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Category:

Old Testament Survey, Scriptural Articles

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