As I get older I sometimes find myself looking back to the days of the past, the days of my childhood, now a good sixty years ago. I’m not alone. Many older folks look back to the past, missing some of the things from “the good old days”, when life was simpler, TV and movies were more wholesome and not trying to push an agenda, when children could play outside without their parents worrying themselves sick. Looking back too much can sometimes lead to discouragement about the present. This is what happened to some of the people of Israel in our Scripture for today, which the Prophet Haggai spoke about.
Not much is known about the Prophet Haggai, other than that he ministered to the Jewish people following their return to their homeland after the Babylonian captivity. His book was written around 520 BC, and was written with the purpose of encouraging the people to continue with the work that the Lord had called them to. When the Jewish people began to return to the Promised Land, in addition to rebuilding Jerusalem and the wall around that city, they started to rebuild the Temple which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. However, people from the neighboring nations started to harass them, and they eventually became discouraged and stopped the building of the Temple. For several years the partially built Temple stood idle.
It was to this situation that the Prophet Haggai spoke. As our Scripture opens, Haggai came to Zerubbabel, the Governor of Judah, to Joshua, the High Priest, and to the people, and spoke of their need to resume the work of rebuilding the Temple. It wasn’t just the harassment coming from unbelieving, pagan people that had discouraged them. It was also the memories of the glories of the former building, the magnificence of Solomon’s Temple (vs. 1-3). What they were building was nothing in comparison to the former Temple, and many did not feel like continuing.
Haggai brought words of encouragement to not give up. True, some of them were older, and had memories of seeing Solomon’s Temple before the armies of Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city, including the Temple. What they were building seemed like nothing compared to that. The Lord spoke His Word to the people through His prophet, and told them to be strong, to continue their work, as He was with them (vs. 4-5).
We. too, might get discouraged as we remember back to how things “used to be”. More people attended church back in past decades, back when we were younger. People had more respect for the Lord, even among the unchurched and unsaved. Believers could speak a bit more freely about the Lord and His Word back in previous years then they can now. Thus some have become discouraged and feel like giving up the work. The Lord says, though, to not give up. We don’t have a Temple to build, but we still have His work to do, to spread the message of Jesus. Be strong, for He is with us.
Haggai had one more message to bring the people about their work in rebuilding the Temple. They may have been discouraged that this building was not nearly as grand and magnificent looking as Solomon’s, however the prophet wanted to encourage them with God’s promise that this Temple that they were building would be even greater due to one particular reason. God would fill this second Temple with even greater glory, as the Desire of All Nations would come here (vs. 6-9). That, of course, is a reference to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. During His earthly life, Jesus would enter the Second Temple on numerous occasions. Solomon’s Temple may have been architecturally much grander and more magnificent than the Second Temple, however, Jesus never set foot there.
It’s alright to look back to former times once in a while. However, we should never stay there in our minds, and give up on today. God has a work for us to do today. Lamenting over how supposedly great things were in the past is fruitless. Don’t get so focused on the past, like the Israelites in Haggai’s day were, that we miss what God is doing in the present. The past is a reminder that God has been faithful, and should never be a trap that keeps us from participating in His present and future work.
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