The Jews who had returned to Jerusalem were arguing that it was the wrong time to rebuild the temple. It seemed that a mixture of economic circumstances and opposition for outsiders had convinced them that even though they didn’t disagree with the plan, that the timing simply wasn’t right. However, God has made it clear that they were the ones responsible for the decision to postpone building and now begins to expose their poor excuses for what they are.
Read Haggai 1:3-15
God speaks again, although it is a continuation of the same oracle it is marked out by another “Thus says Yahweh.” It is as though there is a pause for affect after the first statement “You are saying that it’s not yet time”… [pause] … “but”. His first response is to point to their own personal circumstances. They are living in good quality, well built, decorated and furnished houses.[1] If it is a question of timing, then how can the circumstances be right for them to live in comfort with their own homes built whilst God’s house continues to lie in ruins? It is fascinating to compare this with David’s concern to build a temple. There he himself was provoked because he had his own palace but the ark of the covenant was housed in a tent. At that point, God said it was not time to build because the job was for David’s son. However, here, the people have been specifically commissioned to build the temple and that was exactly why the Jews in exile were retuning but they had prioritised their own comfort and their own homes (v3-4).[2]
God’s second argument is that whilst they now have comfortable homes, things are not going well for them in other ways. They were struggling economically; the harvests had been poor. Of course, this was one of the reasons why they were saying that they could not build the temple. However, God invites them to look again. Who is it that ultimately controls the crops and harvests? The implication is that the situation is caused by their failure to honour God. So they are invited to “give careful thought to your ways”. They are encouraged to self evaluation and assessment. The reason that the harvest is poor is not because they aren’t putting enough effort in. They are working hard at it but they are not getting the results. So working harder at those things and cutting back on their time and giving towards the temple was not going to change things. The more they put in, the less they got out of their efforts (v5-6).[3]
Notice the echoed refrain, to “consider your ways.” If working hard on their farms whilst neglecting to rebuild the temple wasn’t working, then they should consider reversing the approach They should focus on gathering in materials to build the house of the Lord. God confirms that the reason that there has been drought and famine is because he called for it (v9-11).
The people led by Zerubbabel and Joshua obey God. He speaks again through Haggai and reassures them of his presence with them. Through discipline and rebuke, God stirs them to repentance and action (v12-15).
Digging a little deeper
We need to be careful not to rush from Haggai to a mechanistic application to our own lives. When we do this, we end up assuming that things like pandemics, storms and droughts are God’s judgement on our nation for sin. However, it is worth bearing in mind two things. First, that we should be careful not to pronounce judgement without clear revelation from God. If Haggai shows us anything, it is our fallibility when it comes to attempting to read circumstances.
Secondly, we need to remember that when the Old Testament talks about things affecting the nation, it is specifically the nation of Israel as God’s people. The comparison today is not to our nation, there is no Biblical warrant for Christian Nationalism. Rather, it is with God’s people now with the church.
We should still be cautious about making immediate conclusions about the church or individual Christians from circumstances. We should be wary of the Prosperity Gospel which says that if you do the right things, say the right things etc with enough faith, then God will bless you. Indeed, I don’t believe that Haggai is calling for such a mechanistic response. It’s hearts that need to be stirred.
We also need to see how the prophecies are pointing to Christ. There are two aspects to this. First, we can see that God controls timing. God’s Word brought time and space into being. God’s word was meant to prompt action. Christ would come according to God’s time plan even though the people would not be ready.
Second, if the issue was how the sat under God’s covenant in terms of blessings and curses, we need to remember that God’s covenant is now in Christ and that he took the curse on himself so that we could enjoy blessing in him.
Haggai informs our understanding of what was going on in Jesus’ day and why he was rejected. It just wasn’t the right time for the people then. For the Pharisees it was the wrong time spiritually, they thought that they had to do more morally, to make the people ready through Torah before God would come to dwell with his people and liberate them. For the Sadducees and Sanhedrin, it was the wrong time politically, Jesus’ arrival unsettled their relationship with the Romans. Perhaps they didn’t want the Romans around for ever but thought that liberation would come when they had built up their own strength and resources to rule themselves.
The truth of course was that they rejected Jesus and God’s timing for their own benefit out of pide and comfort. They were looking for their own security, power, identity and comfort. They wanted to look after themselves and believed they could look after the people. Haggai should have been a warning for them that they needed to prioritise listening to God and seeing what he was doing in Christ.
A look at ourselves
What is the real reason why we delay getting right with God. The truth is that behind our excuses, we simply prefer our own comfort, power and security. This is why it is also important that we don’t think in terms of doing what we think is God’s will in order to better our circumstances.
Recognising that we shouldn’t delay or get distracted from God’s purpose is true when it comes to the decision to follow Christ and it is also true when it comes to speaking for him to others. We will never feel ready to witness to others. There will always be the excuse that they are not ready to hear or we don’t feel equipped to speak. With these two things there is objective certainly. Now is always the right time to tell people about Jesus, now is always the right time to respond.
I’ve heard people use the excuse that a local church is not ready to reach out to the community and needs to prioritise the needs of the congregation. If the church is now God’s house then we should never find excuses to neglect that work.
It’s harder when it comes to decisions where we think that God might be leading the church in a certain direction whether that’s a building project, new ministry, church plant or whatever. In those cases, we don’t have special revelation, instructions from Scripture telling us what to do and when. So, there is a lot more cautious sensitivity to God’s guidance as we discern what seems good to the Holy Spirit. However, it is important for us to double check where our motives lie.
Finally, whilst I don’t think we should look at material prosperity whilst we live in the now and not yet overlap of the ages, we can assess where we stand in terms of enjoying God’s spiritual blessings. It might be helpful to work through Ephesians 1 as a checklist. Objectively, those covenant blessings in terms of redemption and justification remain true but there ca be times when we have less appreciation, awareness and enjoyment of them. This is particularly so if we are struggling with assurance and security. If this is the case, then perhaps it is time to check on where our priorities have been.
[1] “Panelled houses” points to them being complete and inhabitable in contrast to the temple. Hill, 65.
[2] Note God’s naming as “Lord of Hosts” or “Lord of Armies”. Petterson, 57
[3] As Hill observes, Haggai is seeing the situation for God’s people in terms of covenant blessings and curses. They need to understand their circumstances in terms of what God has revealed to them about what it means to live in his presence under his rule and experiencing his provision. Hill, 65. See also Petterson, 59.
Faithroots 