Ep. 205. Haggai | The Prophet Speaks

EPISODE 205

THE PROPHET SPEAKS: HAGGAI 1-2

Haggai is a concise book (I still think it is funny that we call them books), so I'll keep it short. The people had resettled in Jerusalem, the foundation was built, and then they abandoned the work. In the meantime, they had busied themselves by making much of their own houses and lands. The result of this rejection of God's commands was that the people harvested little, never had enough to eat, never enough clothes to be warm, and their wages wasted away. "You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? Declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house." They had experienced profound lack because of their lack of care for the house of God.

We must be careful not to fold this forward on ourselves as a manipulative way to tell people to be in church. It might be used maliciously in our days like this: "You are suffering lack because you don't give enough money to the church, you don't go to church enough, or you aren't honoring the church correctly." This would be a terrible way of applying this text in Haggai. Our church buildings are not comparable to the temple of the Old Testament. We don't believe that God's presence resides in the pulpit like it once did in the Holy of Holies. We don't think the pastor is the only one who can come before God, like the Old Testament High Priest. We don't imagine we need sacrifices for our sins any further, having been sanctified now by the blood of Jesus. Haggai is operating and prophesying according to the Old Covenant; please don't try to fold it forward on the New.

ADDITIONAL READING: Hebrews 12:26-28; Amos 4:8-11