Please turn to the book of Haggai. I will read Chapter 1. It says in Haggai 1:1-15:
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of JEHOVAH by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh JEHOVAH of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that JEHOVAH’S house should be built. Then came the word of JEHOVAH by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith JEHOVAH. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith JEHOVAH of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of JEHOVAH their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as JEHOVAH their God had sent him, and the people did fear before JEHOVAH. Then spake Haggai JEHOVAH’S messenger in JEHOVAH’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith JEHOVAH. And JEHOVAH stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of JEHOVAH of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
Notice that it says in Haggai 1:1 that the Word comes to Haggai “in the sixth month, in the first day of the month.” Then in Haggai 1:15, the very last verse of Haggai 1, it says that it was “the four and twentieth day of the sixth month” when Jehovah stirred up Zerubbabel and Joshua, and the people began to work. The entire book of Haggai is actually a little picture of the tribulation period, but we are only going to look at Chapter 1 today.
So at the end of twenty-three days, they began to work again, which is a picture of the first part of the Great Tribulation period. We know that at the end of the first part of the Great Tribulation period, the end of those 2300 days that began on Pentecost in 1994, is when the Lord poured out His Holy Spirit again, God’s people began to work again, and God began to save again.
Let us talk about this a little bit. In Haggai 1, this is actually after the official tribulation period had ended. This takes place in the second year of Darius the king, which is actually 520 B.C. We know that this official tribulation period began in 609 B.C. at the death of Josiah, who was the last good king of Judah. This period lasted for seventy years. Twenty-three years (inclusive) later, in 587 B.C., the temple was destroyed. Finally, in 539 B.C., seventy years later after 609 B.C., some of the Israelites went back to rebuild the temple. The Lord brought back their captivity and they went back into their own land.
We can read about this in Daniel 9. This seventy-year tribulation period had been prophesied by Jeremiah. He had told the Israelites that they would “serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” This prefigured the tribulation period that we are coming to the end of right now, which began in 1988 and which will end on May 21, 2011. So in Daniel 9:1-2, we read:
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of JEHOVAH came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
How did Daniel understand “by books”? He understood by studying the Bible, as God opened his eyes to what was happening. So this tribulation period began in 609 B.C. and ended in 539 B.C. This is that seventy-year tribulation period.
Back in Haggai, this is after this tribulation period has ended; yet we still see tribulation here. A lot of the Israelites are still in foreign lands and the temple is in ruins. In 539 B.C., a contingent of the Jews went back and began to rebuild the temple; but their work was stopped by the people of the land, which we will look at in a moment. So we read in Haggai 1:1:
In the second year of Darius the king…came the word of JEHOVAH by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest…
Both of these men are figures of Christ. Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah. Joshua was the high priest. The Word of Jehovah is coming to them through Haggai the prophet.
All four of these names have to do with salvation or being brought out of Babylon, as it were. Zerubbabel means “to descend from” or “to flow from” or “to come out,” to come from Babylon. Zerubbabel is the son of Shealtiel and Shealtiel means “asked God” or “petitioned God” or “obtained leave of God.” Joshua is the same word as “Jesus” in the New Testament. It means “Jehovah freed” or “Jehovah delivered” or “Jehovah saved.” Joshua is the son of Josedech and Josedech means “Jehovah righted” or “Jehovah justified” or “Jehovah cleansed” or “Jehovah turned to righteousness.”
So all four of these names have to do with salvation, and being brought out of Babylon is a picture of salvation. This is the sense of this in the first place. The Israelites are being brought out of tribulation. They are being brought out of Babylon and coming back into their own land. However, we read in Haggai 1:2:
Thus speaketh JEHOVAH of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that JEHOVAH’S house should be built.
If we go back to Ezra 1, we will see what is happening here and what this is all about. In the opening verse of Ezra, we read in Ezra 1:1:
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia…
This would be 539 B.C. when the Medes and the Persians came in and defeated Babylon. This is officially the end of the tribulation period and the captivity of the Israelites.
So we read in Ezra 1:1-3:
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of JEHOVAH by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, JEHOVAH stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, JEHOVAH God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of JEHOVAH God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
God is commanding that they go back and begin to build this temple again.
Then if we go to Ezra 3:8, we read that they got started on this. It took them a little while, but they got started on rebuilding. In Ezra 3:8, we read:
Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of JEHOVAH.
In other words, they began to build. This would be 537 B.C. at this point. This was the “second year of their coming…in the second month,” and so they began to build again in 537 B.C.
If we look now at Ezra 4, we read that the people of the land hindered their building. We read in Ezra 4:1-2:
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto JEHOVAH God of Israel; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.
This is referring to the king of Assyria who had placed these foreigners in the land of Judah when they went into captivity.
So Ezra 4:3 says:
But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto JEHOVAH God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.
Then Ezra 4:4 says:
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
They actually were able to get this work stopped, but look at what it is saying in Ezra 4:4:
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah…
We are talking about the Promised Land in Israel. The people of the land are weakening the Jews in building this temple again.
What we are to see in this is that this land, which is a representation of the Kingdom of God, now has foreigners in it, people who are not true Jews, which is a picture of the tares in the church. So these people were actually hindering the building of this temple.
All through time, God is building a house. He is building the house of the true believers, and God’s people are actually spoken of as builders. We read about this in 1 Corinthians 3. It says in 1 Corinthians 3:9-13:
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
So God’s people are being used to build this house.
Look at Hebrews 3. In Hebrews 3, it is speaking of Moses and comparing him to Christ. In Hebrews 3:3, this is speaking of Christ. It says:
For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
Moses actually represented the church here as he brought the Law; but this is saying that Christ Jesus had much more honor than Moses.
Then we read in Hebrews 3:4-6:
For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Again, the house that is being built is the true believers. All through time, God has been building this house, which He uses His people to do. We are now at the end of the tribulation period and God’s people have again returned. They are attempting to start building this house again.
In 1 Kings, we read about Solomon building that temple, and it is the same picture. Solomon is a picture of the church and he was used to build that temple of God. When they built the tabernacle in the wilderness, that was also this same picture.
Turn to Psalm 127. It starts out in Psalm 127:1 to say:
Except JEHOVAH build the house, they labour in vain that build it…
This is the house that is being spoken of. God’s people have returned now to the Promised Land to build this house and they are now being hindered by the people of the land.
Look at Psalm 37. We know from Genesis 17 and others chapters that Abraham was given the physical land of Canaan, but Canaan was simply a picture of the Kingdom of God and it always has been. But in Psalm 37:3, we read:
Trust in JEHOVAH, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Look at Psalm 37:34:
Wait on JEHOVAH, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land…
This is referring to salvation. It continues:
…when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
So the people of the land have now hindered the Israelites in trying to build this temple again, and this is what it is talking about in Haggai 1:2:
Thus speaketh JEHOVAH of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the JEHOVAH’S house should be built.
It is as if they are saying, “Now is not the time. There is so much opposition that we cannot do it.”
So we read in Haggai 1:3-4:
Then came the word of JEHOVAH by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?
Throughout the book of Haggai, we can see where God is speaking both to the unsaved in the church and to His elect. The Israelites were dwelling in their own ceiled houses, but the house of God was still in ruins and was laid waste.
Again, this is a picture. In the corporate church, they have some beautiful edifices. They are in their houses, but God is not there.
To get an idea of this word “ceiled” and what it is speaking of, look at Jeremiah 22. God is speaking to the Israelites in their rebellion, in their apostasy, in their falling away, in their turning to Baal, and in their false teachings, to the priests and to the prophets who were leading the people astray. Jeremiah 22:13-14 says:
Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbour’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; That saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
This is that same word. This is actually looking at the corporate churches who build these beautiful churches today but they have built them “by unrighteousness,” even though they are “ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.” In other words, they are beautiful.
This is what is being talked about in Haggai 1:4, where God says to the Israelites:
Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?
Their houses are desolate.
Let us turn to Jeremiah 33 and we will get an idea of this word “waste” and what it is talking about. Almost the entire book of Jeremiah speaks about the judgment that God is bringing on the Israelites through the Babylonians. He actually does not tell them until about Chapter 19 that He is going to bring judgment by the Babylonians. We see the longsuffering of God in this. For the first 19 chapters of Jeremiah, He just tells them of their apostasy and their falling away, how they have turned to Baal. Then He tells them that He is going to destroy them. He does not actually tell them that it is going to be through the king of Babylon until Chapter 20. But look at Jeremiah 33:10, where the Lord is speaking about His house that is laid waste:
Thus saith JEHOVAH; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate…
He is speaking about the desolations that are going to be brought on Israel. This word “desolate” is the word “waste” in Haggai 1.
So we read in Jeremiah 33:10-12:
Thus saith JEHOVAH; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise JEHOVAH of hosts: for JEHOVAH is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of JEHOVAH. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith JEHOVAH. Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast…
He says this three times. He links “desolate” to being “without man and without beast.” He is sending the Israelites into captivity and the land is going to be desolate, but He is going to bring His people back. “The voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride” will again to be there, as there will be the voice of truth going out. Certainly, Christ is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride.
But this is what we are looking at in Haggai 1:4, where He says:
Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste?
Then Haggai 1:5 says:
Now therefore thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Consider your ways.
This literally means: “set your heart on your ways.”
Then we read in Haggai 1:6:
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
This is tribulation language. This is speaking of the judgment that God has brought on the Israelites. There is no fruit coming from His land.
Turn back to Deuteronomy 28. Most of us are familiar with Deuteronomy 28. After verse 15, it goes on for over fifty verses using terrible and frightening language where God is speaking of judgment; and God is admonishing them in Haggai. He is telling them what is going to happen if they depart from His ways and His Word. So we read in Deuteronomy 28:36-37:
JEHOVAH shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither JEHOVAH shall lead thee.
This next verse is just like what we are reading in Haggai. We read in Deuteronomy 28:38:
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
This is speaking of judgment and tribulation. Then we read in Deuteronomy 28:39-42:
Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit. Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity. All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.
This is what He is telling them is going on in Haggai 1:6. Then He says in Haggai 1:7-8:
Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith JEHOVAH.
Matthew Henry’s commentary says that “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood” is talking about going up to the mountains to cut the trees and then bringing the wood back to build the house, but I do not believe that this is what He is saying. I think that what He is saying here is what we read in Isaiah 2. This house was to actually be at the top of the mountain and the Israelites were to bring the wood up the mountain to build the house. Isaiah 2:1-2 says:
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of JEHOVAH’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
I think that this is the sense of the building of the house in terms of the mountain. God has set His city on a hill. He says in Matthew 5:14:
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
In Psalm 48:1, it says:
Great is JEHOVAH, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
So Haggai was telling the Israelites to bring wood and to go up the mountain to build the house.
What is the wood? Who is the wood? We are the wood if we are part of this house. We know that when Solomon began to build that temple, he got fur trees and cedar trees and almond trees from Hiram king of Tyre; and these are all figures of people. The different woods in the Bible have different spiritual significance, but it all has to do with people being brought in to become part of the house. We just read about this in 1 Corinthians 3, “If any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble,” and such.
Look at Psalm 96:10-12:
Say among the heathen that JEHOVAH reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice
We read in Isaiah that “all the trees of the field shall clap their hands,” or we read in Psalm 1 that the godly man will be “like a tree planted by the rivers of water.”
So this is the wood that Haggai is speaking of to the Israelites, as we read in Haggai 1:8:
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith JEHOVAH.
All of us are involved in this as we are involved in organizing these tract trips or going on these tract trips, as we have vans and cars with signs on them, as we give of our material wherewithal to what we consider to be a faithful ministry or a to what we consider to be a faithful way in which to get the Gospel out. Many of us do a lot of praying, and this is part of it. We are all being used of God, if you are a child of God, to bring wood and to build the mountain. We are going out and we are being used to bring in “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
This is what we are reading about here in Haggai 1:8:
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith JEHOVAH.
This is the bottom line, is it not? It is all to the glory of God. He says, “I will take pleasure in it.”
Look at Psalm 149:4. It says:
For JEHOVAH taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
He takes pleasure in His people.
So back in Haggai 1:8-9, we read:
Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith JEHOVAH. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little…
He is speaking of how He has judged His people. It continues:
…and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith JEHOVAH of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
He is repeating the principle of every man running to his own house while the house of God, the true house, is lying waste. When He says, “I did blow upon it,” this has to do with the judgment of God. We will not develop this, but this is just language of how God has judged His people and His church.
He goes on in Haggai 1:10 to say:
Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
Dew is a blessing. It helps the herbs and the flowers and the grass to grow, but the heaven is stayed from the dew. God uses “dew” in the Bible the same way in which He uses “water.” It is a figure of the Gospel.
Then He says in Haggai 1:11:
And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine…
Again, these are all figures of the Gospel. It continues:
…and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
We now read in Haggai 1:12:
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of JEHOVAH their God…
When God speaks of the “remnant” in the Bible, He is often speaking of the true believers.
Look at Jeremiah 23:1-3. It says:
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith JEHOVAH. Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith JEHOVAH. And I will gather the remnant…
“I will gather the remnant.” This is referring to the elect. It continues:
…of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
Back in Haggai 1:12, we read about the remnant of the people. In the middle of this verse, it says that they:
…obeyed the voice of JEHOVAH their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as JEHOVAH their God had sent him, and the people did fear before JEHOVAH.
Then we read in Haggai 1:13-14:
Then spake Haggai JEHOVAH’S messenger in JEHOVAH’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith JEHOVAH. And JEHOVAH stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of JEHOVAH of hosts, their God,
It said back in Haggai 1:12 that the remnant:
…obeyed the voice of JEHOVAH their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as JEHOVAH their God had sent him…
We read about the prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesying as this building was going on. They were encouraging them.
In the last verse of Ezra 4, we read about what has been happening in Haggai and that the work began again in the second year of Darius. Ezra 4:24 says:
Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem…
This is when the people hindered them, but then it says:
…So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
This is what we are reading about here in Haggai.
Then Ezra 5:1 says:
Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.
Now look at Ezra 6:14. This is as the Jews are building again, and it says:
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.
Again, this applies all throughout time to all of people of God who are building this temple, as it were, those who are doing the work of God. God encourages us and strengthens us with His Word. This is what these prophets are a picture of here.
Look at Psalm 56. Psalm 56:1-4 says:
Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
This is why many of us want to be in this fellowship every Sunday morning, not that we have to be here, not that we are meriting anything by showing up every Sunday morning. It is just that we are encouraged by the Word. We have weaknesses and our flesh is fighting us, but we are encouraged as we stay in the Word. Again, this is what Haggai and Zechariah are doing here as the people of the Lord are building this temple and doing this work. All through the Psalms, there are passages like this.
Back to Haggai 1:13 again, it says:
Then spake Haggai JEHOVAH’S messenger in JEHOVAH’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith JEHOVAH.
The definition of the name “Emmanuel” is “God with us.”
Then we read in Haggai 1:14-15:
And JEHOVAH stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of JEHOVAH of hosts, their God, In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
Remember that Haggai began to speak to them “in the first day of the month” and they began to work “in the four and twentieth day” of the month.
We are outside now of the formal and official tribulation period, but this is still a picture of the tribulation period because, again, this temple is still in ruins and a lot of the Israelites are still in captivity. Notice how God references the time in Haggai 1:1. It is not according to a Hebrew king. It is in the “second year of Darius the king.”
We are still looking at the tribulation here, but it is twenty-three days after the Lord comes to them and admonishes them because they were saying, “The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.” Twenty-three days later, they began to work. Again, this is a picture of the latter rain period when God’s people, with God’s blessing, begin again to do His work.
There is another time period in Haggai 2. Maybe if I am absolutely convicted of what this is saying, I will speak about this next time; because in Haggai 2:1, He says:
In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of JEHOVAH by the prophet Haggai, saying,
This period ends at the “four and twentieth day of the ninth month.” Going by 30-day months, we would think that this was 63 days; but I have been told by a couple of men who are excellent with timelines in the Bible that this was actually a 61-day period.
The language of Haggai 2 corresponds with this time period that we are in now when God’s people are working while the church is utterly dead. Satan is there. God continues to rebuke them in this chapter and then He ends Haggai 2 speaking of the judgment, which we are going to see on May 21st. However, I am not utterly convicted of this yet.
A lunar cycle is 29.5 days and I need to go over again how the priest determined when the first day of the month started. But I have been told that this time period in Haggai 2 is referring to 61 days. So we would have 23 days or 2300 days of Haggai 1 and then 61 days or 6100 days of Haggai 2, which would add up to 84 or 8400 days of the Great Tribulation period.
This is all to the glory of God. This all speaks of God’s salvation and the utter sovereignty that God has in salvation and how He is going to save a remnant. He is going to bring His people out of Babylon. They have gone through this tribulation and it is God’s people who are doing the work of the Lord. They are the ones who are truly being used to build this house, to go out and to bring people in.
Again, to God be the glory! This is all about the mercy of God and this is all about His longsuffering. If we read through Jeremiah, the longsuffering of God is incredible. As we read in Jeremiah, for years He told them and admonished them over and over again, “Turn from your ways. I am going to bring judgment.” Finally, He did.
In God’s mercy, it still is the day of salvation. We still have a little over seven months left, but this time does not mean anything. God can save in an instant whenever He wants. We know this by looking at the thief on the cross. However, there is nothing we can do. There is nothing we can do, but we are still commanded to seek God for His salvation.
Man instinctively knows that this judgment is coming. Man instinctively knows what is right and wrong. He instinctively knows that there is a God and that He is a merciful God. All we can do, if we are not sure whether or not we have eternal life, is just to continue to cry out to Him. There is nowhere else we can go.
Let us stop here and pray.