Zerubbabel: The Not So Great Non-King (Dr. Trey Benfield)

Scripture Readings:

Jeremiah 22:24-23:6
Matthew 1:12-16
Haggai 2:20-23

Today is our sixth and final sermon in our study of the book of Haggai.  A little recap before we look at today’s text.  Haggai was a prophet for about three and half months in 520 B.C.  Haggai’s message was for the community of Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon about 18 years earlier after the decree of King Cyrus of Persia.  The decree was a big deal, a fulfillment of prophecy, and a source of hope and inspiration that God would at last redeem His people, right all the wrongs or world, establishing a new age of peace and justice over the whole earth.  The expectation of these people was nothing less than this and yet the reality was far from it.  Haggai urges the demoralized people to rebuild the temple but as we learned a few weeks ago, its appearance was far from glorious.  Even Haggai calls the temple nothing.

Nevertheless amid this depressing situation Haggai promises that God is present and at work.  The people are to be strong and work because God is with them.  Though they are a defiled and ruined people after suffering the trauma of defeat, conquest, slavery, and exile, God declares that He will bless them.  Haggai’s message is then hope in the face of hopelessness because God is at work and is directing all things to His ultimate purposes.  The people then have no reason to fear because their God is still working to bless them.  

Our text today takes place on the same day as Haggai’s last message.  While all of Haggai’s previous messages were directed to the community as a whole, this message was addressed directly to Zerubbabel.  So in order to understand Haggai’s message to Zerubbabel we are going to have to look at a little history so we can learn exactly who Zerubbabel was and his significance to the story of Israel.

What I want to do is giving you some idea of the political situation in the last years before Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon so you know how Zerubbabel fits into the picture.  The difficulty for us as we read a text like Haggai is we are not familiar with the context.  The people who Haggai addresses though are very familiar and so we are always playing a little catch up in order to understand.  So I am going to start with the last years of Israel before the exile.  

The kings of Israel had realized the rising power of Babylon and in response began to ally themselves with Egypt.  After the death of King Josiah, Egypt installed his son Jehoiakim as a puppet king, believing they could rule through him.  Jehoiakim was an oppressive tyrant, who spent lavishly on himself as the people suffered under the taxation required to pay the heavy tribute owed to Egypt.  Jehoiakim even attempted to have the prophet,Jeremiah executed when the Jeremiah spoke out against him but was unsuccessful.  

After the Babylonians crushed the Egyptian army at the Battle of Carchemish, Jehoiakim formally submitted to the authority of King Nebuchadnezzar.  Jehoiakim’s policies and practices did not change and Jeremiah condemned him.  Jehoiakim responded by having Jeremiah’s prophecies burned after they were read to him.  Later though, Jehoiakim sensing a moment of weakness in Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, withheld tribute leading Nebuchadnezzar to place Jerusalem under siege.  Jehoiakim died during the siege and after the city was taken, Nebuchadnezzar took the new king Jehoiachin, who was 18 and ruled for about three months,  along with much of the nobility to Babylon in chains.  This is when Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego were taken to Babylon.  Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar.  

Eventually Zedekiah would join with Egypt to rebel against Babylon.  However, this time Nebuchadnezzar would show no mercy, crushing Jerusalem.  Zedekiah’s sons were put to death before his eyes and then Zedekiah was blinded and taken prisoner in Babylon.  Meanwhile the king’s palace, the temple, and any other structure of significance was burned and the wall around Jerusalem was torn down.  The people were enslaved and many taken to Babylon.   

So if you are keeping score at home.  Jehoiakim died during the first siege of Jerusalem.  His son Jehoiachin and brother Zedekiah are prisoners in Babylon.  Zedekiah would die shortly thereafter in Babylon.  The family of David has reached a devastating conclusion.   God had promised David about five hundred years earlier way back in 2 Samuel 7 that God would raise up David’s seed as kings and God would use these kings to establish God’s kingdom.  God says He would build a house for His name and establish the throne of David’s kingdom forever.  That promise is not looking so good at this point.

Worse than that though, look at our passage from Jeremiah.  Jeremiah’s words are directed to Coniah another name for King Jehoiakim, the 18-year old who ruled for 3 months and was taken in chains to Babylon.  God calls Jehoiakim a signet ring on His right hand but tears it off and gives Jehoiakim to the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar.  A signet ring was a personalized symbol on a ring that was used to stamp officials documents.  It was like a signature used to sign legal documents and so is often used as a metaphor for power and authority.  In this case God is saying that He is removing the power and authority He had granted Jehoiakim.  

However, the text goes on to say in verse 30, “Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his seed shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”  So not only has God removed the power and authority symbolized by the signet ring from Jehoiakim, but God has said that none of his seed will sit on the throne of David.  That is despite the fact that God had promised David that He would establish the throne of David forever.

This is where Zerubbabel fits into the story.  Zerubbabel is the grandson of Jehoiakim.  We learn in 2 Kings that Jehoiakim was freed from prison by the new king of Babylon, Evil-Merodach, and given a position of honor at the king’s table.  This story is contained in the last verses of Kings and it is given as a a picture of hope that the story of Israel is not yet at an end.  Zerubabbel then becomes the great hope of Israel and here in Hggai we find Zerubbabel back in Jerusalem.  Later we learn in Matthew that Zerubabbel’s line continues and leads directly to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ will be the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy to David.  Jesus is given all power on heaven and earth and His reign will truly have no end.

So what happened?  Why did God tell Jehoiakim that none of his descendants would ever sit on the throne and yet in Haggai we have God declaring that He has chosen Zeubbabel and that He is being made God’s signet ring.  Then we learn that Jesus Christ himself is a descendant of Jehoiakim.  Did God change His mind?  

The answer is not clear cut because we are dealing with God and God and God’s actions and God’s decision cannot be so easily made to fit in our normal language.  So I cannot give you a nice, rational explanation for how this works out.  Much ink has been spilled and theologians engage in all sorts of mental gymnastics to try to rationalize this - I’m not going to do that, mostly because I find the explanations unsatisfying.  However, I do want to make a couple of points that I think give us some idea of the character of God.  

The fact is that there are several passages that specifically state that God changes His mind.  Let me give you a three examples.  In Exodus after the Israelites build the golden calf to worship in place of God, God says that He will consume the people and make a new nation starting with Moses.  Moses asks God to remember His own character and the covenant He made with Abraham.  We are told that God relented from the disaster He had spoken to His people.  In other words, God changes His mind.  In Amos twice the Lord declared judgment against Israel and after Amos argues on Israel’s behalf, God relents and says, “It shall not be.”  God told King Hezekiah that he would not recover from an illness, but after Hezekiah pleaded with God, God added 15 years to Hezekiah’s life.  I could go on - there are plenty more.  

However, the point I want to make is that there is a common thread to all of these examples of God changing His mind.  Everyone of them has God turning from away from wrath.  In each of the examples I just gave you, God’s judgment is turned toward mercy.  So God does change his mind and on its face that statement may bother of us. How can we have an inconsistent God?  However, God changes in a consistent way completely in accord with God’s character.  

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will be no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” I go back to this statement describing God’s character again and again because it recurs throughout the Old Testament.  Notice that the words describing mercy and forgiveness outnumber the words about punishment.  Steadfast love abounds for thousands while iniquity lasts only three to four generations.  

Both judgment and mercy are there but they are highly asymmetrical.  We find other evidence for this in the Old Testament.  Psalms 30:5, “His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime.”  Isaiah 54, “For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.  In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you.”  So in a way God is always changing His mind, but the change is always away from wrath and toward His people and His promises.  So in today’s text God is turning away from His judgment against Jehoiakim and toward Zerubabbel and the promises He made to David.  Far from a problem with God’s sovereignty, this a beautiful picture illustrating to us the character of God - a God who is in a real relationship with His people limiting Himself in order to fulfill His promises.  It is why I think the Bible allows this and other obvious contradictions to remain.  

I am sure Haggai knew of the prophecy to King Jehoiakim.  Jeremiah was a big deal and he and Ezekiel were the last prophets that spoke to Israel.  Haggai would have known what was said to Jehoiakim.  The signet ring is a prominent image in this passage just as it was in Jeremiah - I think the repetition is supposed to be jarring.  I think we are supposed to take note of this.  The contradiction is drawn out for us not because of an oversight, but to teach us something about God.  There is a mystery to God’s anger and it is this - God may change a word He proclaims.  God is greater even then His own decisions and His anger is instrumental, conditional, and also completely subject to His will.  God’s anger is never automatic or deterministic because God is not a force but a person and God is a person in relation with His people.  The mystery here in God’s changed mind, is that beyond justice and anger lies the mystery of grace and compassion.   

Now let us turn our attention to Zerubbabel.  We actually do know very little about Zerubbabel.  We do know that Zerubbabel never becomes king of Israel.   Haggai seem to go out of his way, to let you know this.  Zerubbabel is always referred to as governor.  On three occasions, Haggai tells us the date and the date given is always with reference to the reign of the Persian King Darius.  Despite being a descendent of the royal line of David, Zerubabbel was not a great king.  You know who was a great king - Darius.  At this time the Persian Empire stretched from Egypt to India.  The Persian Empire was one of the greatest empires in history and now it was at its greatest extent and King Darius stood at its head.  

Zerubabbel had no real power, he was poor, and he had no army.  In the ancient world the qualities that were most admired were wealth, wisdom, and military power.  Yet God says this man is going to be part of something great.  Again God tells the people that He is going to shake the heavens and the earth.  I made the point that this language is used by the prophets to describe the day of the Lord when God would at last return to Israel and restore His kingdom.  The whole world would be flipped up side down.  It is end time language.

Haggai then speaks of overthrowing the chariots and their riders and the horses and their riders going down.  Again this language would have been familiar to Haggai’s audience.  It is from Exodus 15, the song of Moses, when Moses composes a song after Pharaoh’s army had been defeated at the Red Sea.  Let me read some of that poem, “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown in the sea.”  Then a little further on in the song, “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host, He has cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.”  This is exciting language, Haggai is intentionally using these phrases to let us know that an event as decisive as the Exodus is coming again.  

In Jeremiah right after stating that none of Jehoiakim’s descendants will sit on the throne of David, God promises that He will raise up for David a righteous Branch who would reign.  This king would deal wisely and execute justice and righteousness.  He will save Judah and Israel will dwell securely.  God here anticipates that He is going to change His mind returning the signet ring to Zerubabbel, Jehoiakim’s grandson, who God calls His servant and declares that He has been chosen.  

Zerubabbel though is like the temple, pathetic.  We could look at him and say the same thing Haggai said of the temple - is he not as nothing.   His name means, “seed of Babylon”  Babylon the name used throughout the Bible as a metaphor for all that is wrong and evil and unjust and cruel in the world.  Zerubbabel’s very name is a reference to the greatest tragedy of Israel.  Zerubabbel is the walking embodiment and reminder to everyone of defeat and crushed hope.   Yet God honors Zerubbabel with a dignity and majesty that goes beyond his appearance and what he does.  He has been given Zerubbabel a new identity and a role to play just as God gives the people a new identity calling them the remnant.  I cannot name one great thing Zerubabbel does.  He is not a great hero of the Bible.  

I think that should be a lesson to us who are also not great heroes.  We who are also ones who lack wisdom, wealth, and might or other attributes that our society values.   Here is the mystery of God’s plan and something God has been trying to teach us throughout the Old Testament.  God uses the exact opposite of those people because God’s kingdom is a different kind of kingdom.  Its why God uses scoundrels like Jacob, weaklings like Gideon, a despised, desperate, Moabite woman like Ruth, people like Rahab, women like Deborah and Hannah, David, the youngest, smallest and most insignificant of Jesse’s sons, it is why God is always subverting birth order in Genesis.  Many more examples will come to mind when you stop and look back through the Old Testament.  

When Jesus stood before Pilate and Pilate asks if Jesus is the king of the Jews, Jesus responds by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world”  meaning Jesus kingdom is not like the kingdoms of this world.  It is not a kingdom characterized by wealth or power. Jesus says, “If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.”  Christ’s kingdom is a kingdom with a different ethos radically different from the worlds.  Its why fishermen like Andrew, Peter, James and John are chosen, tax collectors, and sinners, its why Jesus’ birth is announced to shepherds.  Its why the kingdom comes about on the cross in the most humiliating, scandalous form of execution reserved for slaves and other nobodies.  

According to Matthew when Jesus dies on the cross defeating sin and death, the forces that had imprisoned humanity since the fall, the earth shook.  The cross was the moment when God  shook the heavens and the earth and defeated the power behind the thrones and kingdoms of the earth.  The greatest and ultimate weapon of tyranny and oppression, death was defeated absolutely.  

In a way though its easy to read these verses in Haggai and to be somewhat disappointed.  Zerubabbel is told He is the signet ring.  As I said earlier the signet ring would have had an image representing the authority and power of the king.  As a signet ring, Zerubbabel would have been a picture of God to the world.  Zerubabbel is called God’s servant and told that He is the chosen one.  Zerubabbel would never live up to this promise.  Everyone reading Haggai would have known Zerubabbel never amounted to anything.  He was a promise that never seemed to live up to expectation.  

Yet in the end as the ancestor of Jesus we see all of this reach fulfillment in a more glorious and greater way than could have possibly been imagined.  Hebrews tells us that Christ is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.  Its no too much of a stretch to imagine that the author of Hebrews has something like a signet ring in mind when He describes Christ as the exact imprint of God’s nature.  All power and authority in heaven and earth was given to Christ.  The Jews mocked Jesus at the cross saying, “let Him save Himself if indeed He is the chose one.” Jesus who on the cross takes the role of the suffering servant.  It is this image of sacrificial on the cross by which God wanted to be known.  Not as great conquering king, but as one who gives Himself for humanity.  

It is here at the cross that the prophecy of Zerubabbel is fulfilled.  It is here at the cross that Zerubabbel identity as signet ring, chosen one, and servant is fully revealed.  Zerubabbel’s identity is changed forever from seed of Babylon, a name reminding everyone of humiliation and defeat.  Now Zerubbabel’s identity is fully realized in Christ who suffered humiliation and defeat on the cross.  This example of Zeruababbel and his strange importance and non-importance leads me to a few points that I think speak directly to us and to our lives.

First, like Zerubabbel we can only find our identity in Christ.  Zerubabbel was an insignificant puppet ruler of an insignificant province of the Persian empire that we know next to nothing about.  History is really long and a lot of stuff happens and there are a ton of people in the world and even Zerubabbel will likely outshine our fame and accomplishments.  In the book of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher wonders why he has struggled to be so wise, “for of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten.”   The fact of the matter is that according any sort of earthly measure, even compared to someone as insignificant as Zerubbabel, we are insignificant.  Yet Zerubabbel is given great significance chosen by God, God’s servant because of his relationship to Christ.

As the church, the bride of Christ, and Christ’s followers we identify with Christ, calling ourselves after the name of Christ.  Labeling ourselves with the name Christian.  In Christ, we are called children of God, sons of God, heirs to God, the body of Christ, God’s special possession.  Listen to how Colossians 2 puts it, “For in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”  If we look for any measure of significance in this world we will find nothing but disappointment, “there is no enduring remembrance … all will be long forgotten.”  In Christ though we share in the hope of the world to come and the power and authority of the King of all creation.  

Second, as I talked about earlier not only was Zerubbabel not someone important, he accomplished very little.  Yet Zerubabbel had a role to play in the great drama that God was composing.  A few weeks ago I spoke of the how God called the people the remnant and gave them a part to play and made the point that we to have a part to play.  It is part of what makes our identity in Christ an important concept.  Our identity in Christ means we have an important role to play in God’s drama of redemption

Third, when I read the Bible I know one thing - I am not a hero of the story like Abraham, or Moses, or Joshua.  I am not someone who speaks truth to power like the prophets.  I do not perform great miracles like Elijah and Elisha.  I don’t arrange contests with secular humanists and call fire down from heaven.  That’s the great thing about Zerubbabel - neither does he and yet God chooses Zerubbabel.  The Bible is filled with people whose name is only mentioned in passing.  Many people play a part other than the Peters and the Johns.  Yet God uses them and I think this part of the point.  Paul tells the Corinthians, “Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not may were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God choose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God choses what is week in the world to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised in the world, even thing that are not, to bring to nothing thing that are.”  Haggai looks at the pathetic temple the people had just built and asks, “is it not nothing?”  God says the latter glory of this house shall be great than the former.  Christ looks at Zerubbabel and says you are my signet ring.  

Fourth, the signet ring is the image of the king.  As the church who shares in Christ’s identity who are considered sons and heir along with Christ to the father, we are the image of God.  This is the role we play in the drama to show the world what God looks like.  Not by our wealth, or wisdom, or power.  That is not what the kingdom of God is about, but by sacrificial love for others.  As the hands and feet of Christ it our part of identity to show the world the character of God.  

So the lesson from Haggai and the lesson of Zerubbabel, is that we have an identity that goes beyond all appearances.  An identity that is derived not from our accomplishments, but from Christ and Christ crucified.  That identity means that we have a status greater than ourselves.  God does not simply love us and have a wonderful plan for our lives.  God loves the world and has a wonderful plan for all of creation and we are part of that.  It is our role in this plan, to make God known to the world not according the ways and means of this present, evil age that is dying, but that of the very Kingdom of God.  
 

The Intransitive Property of Holiness (Dr. Trey Benfield)

Scripture Readings:

Mark 5:25-34
Hebrews 10:1-24
Haggai 2:10-19

We are continuing our study of the book of Haggai.  A little recap before we start.  Haggai was a prophet to a small, but dedicated group of Jews who had returned from Babylon to begin the task of rebuilding Israel.  On one hand the return from exile was a momentous occasion.  No longer were the people in bondage in a foreign land.  There was an opportunity to rebuild what the Babylonians had taken from them.  On the other hand, their situation was precarious.  The people were few, weak, the harvests were poor, and they were surrounded everywhere by the ruins of their once great civilization.  The prophets had promised a glorious future in which God would perform a new act greater even than the Exodus.  Yet as they looked around there was no evidence that this was beginning or even a possibility.  At the urgings of the prophet Haggai, the people had begun to rebuild the temple, but as we saw last week it was far from what they had hoped.  Old men who had seen the first temple cried at seeing this new one and even Haggai declared its appearance was as nothing.  

Not only is the temple nothing, we are told in verse 19 that the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing.  If you will remember in chapter 1, Haggai had declared that the land’s lack of prosperity was a result of the temple not yet being rebuilt.  Now as the temple is being rebuilt, the people find that they still are lacking.  Prosperity has not returned and once again the people have found their high expectations met with the cold, harsh reality of their present situation.  This is not how the plan was supposed to work.  The people were no closer to their glorious future and yet unlike their ancestors, they had actually listened to a prophet for once.  

Haggai’s message last week was for Zerubbabel, the governor, Joshua, the high priest, and the remnant of the people who had returned to be strong and to get back to work because the Lord was with them.  The temple itself was symbolic of the presence of the Lord.  Haggai’s central message was that despite all appearances God was indeed present working and acting through them.  The Lord of Hosts is pictured as invading army and they the people who returned were the remnant taking up their role as the people who would play their part in the great cosmic drama leading to the day of the Lord when everything would be made right, Israel would fulfill its mission, and the Lord would return to rule at last with true justice instead of the present cruel powers of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. 

So why were the people in such a pathetic state with a pathetic temple and a promise land producing next to nothing?  Its a fair question, a great question, and our passage today is Haggai’s answer to this question.  

As is typically the case for Haggai, Haggai answers this question with a question.   The questions are directed toward the priests asking them to make rulings on issues of holiness and cleanness.  First, Haggai asks if a priest is carrying holy meat in his holy robes and then touches any other food item does it become holy?  Second, Haggai asks if someone is unclean because of contact with a dead body and touches something holy does it become unclean?  

In order to understand this passage, we have to understand a little about the holiness codes contained in the book of Leviticus.  If you have ever tried to read Leviticus, you know that it contains a very detailed description of the rules and regulation for how sacrifices were to be offered and also what foods, activities, and conditions were considered holy, clean, and unclean.  However, before we look at the rules of the holiness codes it is important to examine the context so we can understand the purpose of the holiness codes.  

The first point I want to stress is that the holiness codes are not meant to be universal, moral law.  These rules and procedures are introduced at a particular time in the story of Israel and fulfill a specific role in Biblical history and that is why the context is important.  In the book of Exodus, the Hebrews had been freed from enslavement by the Egyptians and led to Mount Sinai, where God makes a covenant with them and gives them the ten commandments.  God then instructs them to build the tabernacle where God will be present in a special way in their midst.  The book of Exodus ends with the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle.

It was this event, the filling of the tabernacle with the glory and presence of the Lord that necessitates the book of Leviticus.  The holiness codes contained in Leviticus are not needed if God is not present and dwelling in the midst of the people.  That is why the holiness codes are introduced at this particular point in the story of Israel.  

Israel must be instructed in how to live when the presence of the living God, the creator of the universe who had redeemed them from slavery and will now use them to redeem all of humanity from sin and death, is near.  God’s presence must be respected and feared lest it become familiar and treated lightly.  God may be near and in a special relationship, but He is still not of this world.  This special set apartness belonging to a higher and more perfect realm is what we call holiness.  Israel is told that because a holy God is dwelling in their midst then they must be holy.  The holiness code is a way to teach the people about holiness and help the people understand what it means to be in the presence of God.

We learn at the beginning of the book of Hebrews, that long ago at many times and many places God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son.  One of the many ways that God spoke with His people was through symbolism.  Today this is not the primary way God communicates with us, because we have the teachings of Christ and Christ is the most perfect representative of God the father.  So symbolism is not as prevalent for us, but for the Israelites it was a big deal.  Maybe this was because literacy was not as widespread.  Maybe the culture of the ancient peoples was more receptive to symbolism than our own culture.  In any event, a lot of symbolism was built into the ritual the Israelites used as they approached God in worship.  This symbolism was the way God communicated to the people what God was like.  As the philosopher Paul Ricouer said, “symbolism gives rise to thought.”

The Holiness code then was ritualized symbolism.  The symbol itself was chosen to symbolize a truth, but there was nothing right or wrong or good or bad about the symbol itself. Uncleanness was unavoidable in many cases and was not sinful. Uncleanness happens. 

Let me give you some examples of how the holiness codes worked.  You would not approach the tabernacle after touching a dead body.  God’s holiness means life and not death because He is a creator who provides life.  Death is associated with sin therefore contact with a dead body made someone unclean.  God’s holiness means purity and so Israelites were not to wear clothes made from a mixture of materials.  It gets more complicated than that, but that should give you at least some idea of the logic.  The important concept to note is that something unclean is not sinful in itself, however it is symbolic of sin.  

This leads to the next part of the holiness code.  There are three categories under the holiness code: holy, clean, and unclean.  Something holy was appropriate for worship, something clean was a neutral state, and something unclean was a negative state.   If something holy comes in contact with something unclean it is defiled and no longer appropriate for worship.  If something clean comes in contact with something unclean, it then become unclean.  The progression goes one way.  Certain rites have to be performed to restore a worshipper or an object from a state of uncleanness to one of cleanness.  A rite has to be performed to change something from clean to holy.   What is unclean must be cleansed to be made clean.  What is clean must be sanctified in order to be holy.   Again the important thing to note is these categories move in one direction.  The categories are not transitive.  

The reason this concept is important is that it demonstrates the corrupting influence of sin.  Sin is not simply a moral failing or something to be avoided.  The Holiness code illustrates the defilement of sin.   Sin is like pollution, effecting everything it comes in contact with.  A Holy God is the opposite of sin and the pollution of sin creates a barrier between humanity and God.  That is why people who are unclean cannot approach the temple to worship.  What is communicated is the gravity of sin - it is associated with death, with disorder, with impurity, with chaos and it separates us from God.  Its purpose is not to impose a morality but as a teaching tool.  The book of Hebrews likens the regulations to a parable and calls them bodily regulations imposed until the time comes to set things right.  

With that in mind let us return to our passage and the questions Haggai asks.  Haggai directs these two questions to the priests.  In Leviticus the priest were charged with protecting and guarding the holiness of God and maintaining the sanctity of the temple.  The priests are tasked with “distinguishing between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.”  So it is natural for Haggai to ask the priest for a ruling.  Of course they know the answer - they are pretty basic questions, what the Levites would have learned in Priesthood 101.  Holy meat does not transfer its holiness.  Furthermore, If the holy meat comes in contact with someone unclean, such as someone who comes in contact with a dead body, the holy meat becomes defiled.  Uncleanness pollutes because uncleanness is a picture of sin and sin pollutes.

Remember though the question, that Haggai is trying to answer by asking these questions.  The people want to know why after following Haggai’s message and rebuilding the temple are they still suffering from poor harvests?  Why is Jerusalem still in ruins?  Why are they still under the rule of Persia?  Why has the restoration still not come?  Haggai’s answer that he is leading the people to by asking the questions to the priests is that they are unclean.  

The people are unclean and the sacrifices they bring to the temple they have just built are also unclean.  Unclean people transmit their uncleanness to holy sacrifices, unclean people are not made holy by the holy sacrifice.  As unclean people they cannot approach the temple and offer acceptable worship and since that is the function of the temple, their mission of rebuilding the temple remains unfulfilled at least in practice.  This then leads to question - why are the people unclean?

To answer this question, we need to remember that uncleanness is a picture of sin but not sinful of itself.  So we can reject the explanation that the people have done something morally wrong.  The people’s offense is not an issue of morality but a ritual failure.  The example of the dead body provides the clue.  Jerusalem had been totally and completely leveled by the Babylonians.  The temple had been destroyed and burned down.  According to Lamentations, priest and prophet were killed in the sanctuary of the Lord.  The people were enslaved and taken to a foreign land by a foreign people who did not know or care for God.  They were defiled by defeat, exile, slavey, and death.  None of these represent a God who is characterized by victory, freedom, and life.  The result of uncleanness, just like the result of sin is that it prevents prosperity.  It is true that these people were, for the most part, not responsible for this state, but this was often true of uncleanness.  Uncleanness was something that was unavoidable in many cases.  This too is true of sin whose effects often spread to those who did not commit the particular sin.  

I think this is a point our American individualism has often neglected in our theology.  Too often we look at sin as an individual moral failing.  Its not that this is wrong, individuals do commit individual sins.  However, we often neglect the effects sin has on the community beyond the individual.  Sin is bad not just because of what it does to the person but what it does to the community.  It corrupts and defiles and even those who are innocent suffer.  This is part of what it means to be in a fallen world.  The problem of restricting sin to the individual is this causes us to be blind to the people who suffer as a result of sin.  We see suffering and there is almost a tacit assumption that the the person is responsible for their own suffering.  I see this for example in our thinking about the poor - they obviously did something to end up in this situation.  The problem is the entire witness of the Bible seems to argue against this.  Often the Bible makes the point that it is the greed or oppressiveness of the wealthy and powerful that places people in situations of suffering and it is their sin of the wealthy and powerful that Bible condemns.  

Nevertheless, the people now have a problem.  The holiness codes provided a solution for uncleanness.  Uncleanness could be cleansed through an appropriate sacrifice.  The problem was that as verse 14 states, what they offer is unclean.  In other words, the people have reached a point where the holiness code can no longer alleviate their uncleanness.  The system has broken down and the people are stuck in their uncleanness.  

However, it is hear at this impasse where hope is seemingly nowhere to be found that we encounter the gospel in Haggai.   As with Abraham and Sarah who see no chance of have a child and are without hope.  As with the Hebrews enslaved by the most powerful empire of the world at that time.  As with Jesus who is taken prisoner and crucified by the cruel might of Rome.  At all points where the people of God have reached a point where there is no hope, where the powers of violence and oppression and evil have gathered to do their worst and the only certainty is death, God is merely setting the stage from His greatest acts of deliverance.   

God had promised Abraham and Sarah a child.  God had promised the Hebrews a land of their own where they could live in freedom.  God had promised that He would free Israel from the power of Rome and the world from the tyranny even of death.  In Haggai, God had promised the Jerusalem community that He would restore Israel to even greater prosperity and God will be faithful despite uncleanness and despite their unfaithfulness.  The answer for these people is to turn to Him.  Only God can provide a solution and see what God does - its amazing.  Look with me at the end of verse 19, God looks at His people and says, “But from this day on I will bless you.”  

It is God who says I will veto your unfaithfulness, because God is faithful to His promises despite the fact that His people abandoned Him and despite the power of Babylon and despite exile God looks at His people and says, but from this day on I will bless you.

When we come to the New Testament we have Jesus doing the exact thing.  Jesus the pure image of the Father, who tells His followers He who has seen me has seen the Father.  I want us now to look at our passage from Mark.  This passage is set in a series where Jesus has just healed a man possessed by an unclean spirit who was living in a grave yard next to a herd of pigs.  It is the most unclean situation imaginable.  Jesus is then asked by a man named Jarius to lay hands on his dead daughter to make her alive.  On His way, He is stopped by the woman who is subject of our text.  A woman who for 12 years had been afflicted with a discharge of blood.  This condition would have made the woman unable to worship in the temple and would have alienated her from the community because contact with her would have made them unable to worship in the temple.  She touches Jesus, knowing that her contact would have made Jesus unclean but convinced by her faith that Jesus was something outside the system, of a greater and higher order than the holiness code.  In all these instances, Jesus does what God does and what God is always doing, Jesus touches them and result is that from that day on they are blessed.  

This is what God does, He is at work taking the ravages that sin and death have wrought on this world, taking a situation that is hopeless and declaring, but from this day on I will bless you.  It is what Christ in His death on the cross was sent to this world to do.  To undo all the bad things.  To wipe aways every tear from their eyes, declaring that death shall be no more, and neither mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

I want to tie all of these thoughts together by looking at our passage from Hebrews.  Turn with me now to Hebrews 10.  The passage starts by explaining that the holiness codes and the sacrificial system were a shadow, the word in Greek is where we derive our term scheme and it means something like a blueprint or model that was teaching the people what was to be fulfilled ultimately in Christ.  A blueprint is a plan that is necessary to build something but it is a means and not at end.  A blueprint is lacking in size and dimension and so the holiness codes were lacking.  Hebrews explains that the sacrifices were inadequate, they had to repeated.  They illustrated the plan, but ultimately it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to solve the problem.  Christ though is what the blueprint was pointing to and when He comes, He does away with the first order to establish the second.  Christ is the ultimate means by which God will bless His people.  

We are all effected by our own sin and by the pollution of the sin of others.  The world is broken and tainted by death.  Its a bigger problem than something we did wrong.  The Greek word for sin is hamartia, and its picture is that of an archer who cannot hit the target.  The word literally means “missing the mark.”  Like the Jerusalem community in Haggai we have reached a point where we cannot make ourselves clean - we have reached an impasse.  God though declares that despite this real, existential fact, from this day on, God will bless us.  He sins His son to as the perfect sacrifice that is able to sanctify our uncleanness.  As a result of the resurrection, Christ brings life and those of us who are raised up with Him no longer stink of death.  

The result of this is in verse 19 of Hebrews 10.  Now we can have confidence to enter the holy places.  Do you see that, we have been made by the blood of Christ.  The impasse has been broken because the God who promised us this is faithful and He has said from this day on I will bless you..  So now like the unclean women we can touch Jesus knowing that we will be made whole.  `Nor as this an end of itself because now we are a people with a mission, just as the remnant is one with a mission.  We can at last take our part in our true vocation that God has given us as humans, freed from the oppression of sin, freed from the tyranny of death, now we can stir one another up to love and good works knowing that from this day on God will bless us.  

Is It Not As Nothing? (Dr. Trey Benfield)

Scripture Readings:

Ezra 3:10-13
1 Peter 2:4-10
Haggai 2: 1-9

For the last few weeks we have been studying the book of Haggai. To recap Haggai was a prophet to the post exilic community in Jerusalem.  This community consisted of those Jews who had returned from captivity in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem.  I have made the point that this group were the true believers who had made an arduous journey away from the place that many had known as their home and left to return to a devastated and ruined city.  The only reason for this community of Jews to make this decision to rebuild is because they believed their traditions and the land those were connected to were important.  They were the true believers, people we might think of as patriots.  This community made their decision to return to Jerusalem fueled by their belief that the end of the exile would lead to the glorious restoration of Israel the prophets had spoken.  However, as we have seen the view on the ground is very different and as such the community is suffering a spiritual depression.  

Partly to renew their focus and to break the people out of their spiritual depression, Haggai has urged the community to begin rebuilding the temple.  As we look at our passage today we learn that almost one month has passed since the people began to rebuild the temple and it is at last complete.  Already we learn something key from this information.  You see if you go back to 1 Kings 6 you learn that it took seven years to build the first temple, the one that Babylonians had destroyed about 80 years earlier.  Not only did that temple take seven years to build, but it involved material and craftsmen from as far away as Lebanon.  A huge number of people worked on the temple included 70,000 burden bearers, 80,000 stone masons all under the supervision of 3,300 of Solomon’s officers.  According to the Bible, maybe 50,000 total may have returned and in just a month they have finished the temple using far inferior materials.

So it is no surprise that when we come to verse three we find Haggai acknowledging the disappointment the Jews must have felt when they took into account their completed temple.  “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?  How do you see it now?  Is it not as nothing in your eyes.”  Notice Haggai does not say its quaint, rustic, has potential like an ancient realtor.  Nor does Haggai say it is shabby or inadequate.  Haggai says it is nothing.  I find it interesting that even though Haggai urged the people to build the temple, once it is completed he does not try to sugar coat its appearance or pull any punches.  

We actually have another account that is contained in our first scripture reading, taken from the book of Ezra.  What this account tells us is that the old men who had seen Solomon’s temple cried when they saw this temple.  These men would have had to have been at least 80 years old to remember the old temple and even though they were very young they still retained an awe of the grandeur and majesty of the old temple.   When they saw this temple experienced nothing but disappointment and their only reaction is to weep.   

Once gain the hope and expectation of the people for the restoration has come crashing into the cold, hard facts of reality.  The people lack prosperity, they are still under the domination of Persia, and now the Temple though completed is a disappointment.  Though the people are obedient to Haggai’s message, it seems they still remain a spiritually depressed people.  So here, Haggai’s challenge is a bit different from most prophets.  Most prophets have difficulty getting the people to listen to their messages, Haggai does not have this problem.  Haggai’s problem is that the people listen to his message and follow his prescription but find no improvement and as a result are a beaten down and a discouraged people.

We can relate, we are an optimistic people as a whole but we are not blind to the world that surround us.  Despite our attempts to help feed people or provide them with goats or all the ways we try to make the world a better place, we know the task is an overwhelming one.  We also know that even our attempts to make things better sometimes make things worse.  What advantage does following the teachings of Christ and being part of the church gain?  Sometimes it can be difficult to answer this question.  When we look at the church, we too can look at its impact on the world and ask the question along with Haggai does it not appear as nothing?

So how does Haggai address this challenging issue that both the Jerusalem community as well as we in the church must wrestle with?  If you notice in verse 3 Haggai presents the problem after asking if anyone remembers the temple in its former glory asks how now do you see it?  To set the question in a more general context Haggai is asking in the present what  is your perception, your interpretation of God’s work before you?   In verse 4 Haggai also uses the word now - yet now be strong.  The repetition of the word now connects the two thoughts.  Verse 4 then is Haggai’s answer to this problem.  

The answer then to the disappointment and spiritual depression that the community experience is to be strong.  The civil leadership represented by Zerubbabel, the religious leadership as represented by Joshua and the entire community are all told to be strong.  They are also instructed to continue their work.  However, mere activity and a positive attitude is not the answer to the challenge.  Positive feelings and frenetic activity can alleviate disappointment temporarily but we all know this a weak and transient solution.  

If this is all Haggai had to offer the people he would be no better than the numerous self help books and management guides that pervade our culture.  Haggai though does not stop with mere platitudes.  Haggai goes further - the answer is Haggai’s assurance that God is with them.  In most translations verse 4 reads “work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of Host.”  Here the word “for” is better translate to the word because.   Work because I am with you.  In other words the answer to the people’s disappointment and spiritual depression is to be strong and work not as an end to itself but BECAUSE God is present.  Again we return to the theme of the presence of God which is the main idea the temple represents.  

Verse 5 goes on to assure the people that despite the lack of evidence God’s spirit is indeed in their midst.  This phrase “in your midst” should sound familiar with last weeks sermon, because this was exactly what Moses knew was so important for the purpose of Israel - that God would be in their midst.  This is the whole turning point of Haggai’s message.  On one hand the temple they had just built sucks compared to the old one and the people are struggling and depressed.  However, what Haggai wants them to know is that despite appearances, God is present. 

 There is even a little pun here in the Hebrew.  The temple appears as nothing or ayin but God says ani I, as in I am with you.  As a result the people are exhorted to be strong, to work, and to not fear all driven by a firm belief in the presence of God.  So Haggai does recommend stiffening their resolve, Haggai does recommend that they get on with their job, but Haggai does so not as an end to itself but because God is with them.  God in their midst is what will make the difference lifting them from their depression and allowing them to be strong and to work.  

As a result of God’s presence, Haggai instructs the people to “fear not.”   If you remember back to my series on Ruth, I preached a whole sermon on the phrase “fear not.”  One of the points I made was that command to “fear not” or some variation is found in almost every book of the Bible.  It is the single most frequent command given in the Bible.  What I find interesting about this concept of not fearing is that despite this persistent repeated command throughout the Bible, the Church is full of fear.  We fear cultural relativism, shifting cultural values, future economic collapse, the marginalization of faith in public life, atheists, militant Islam, politicians that do not conform to our views and we sit and worry and fear that one or more of these groups will crush the church.  However, John tells us the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.  As Paul tells Timothy God has not given us the spirt of fear but of power and love and self control.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  

Haggai does not stop there though again he continues to help the people in their battle against their spiritual depression as they look upon their laughable temple wondering what is the point of it all.  Haggai tells the people not only will they be able to be strong and work because they are freed from fear because of God’s presence.  Haggai goes further and helps them be free from fear by reminding them that God has made promises to His people through the solemn oaths He has sworn to us and His covenants.  Haggai then asks the people to remember that God has been true to His promises in the past and asks them to remember how He freed them from the slavery of the Egyptians.  God used the full power of His might absolutely and completely defeating the Pharaoh and his armies and leading the people to freedom.  The lesson for the people and the lesson to us is that the way we are able to be sure of God’s presence and the way we are able to live without fear is to remind ourselves over and over of what God has done in the past.   What we as the church need to do more than anything, the message we need to hear more than any other is that of God’s greatest act of freedom and covenant fidelity, whereby not only an army and a king was defeat but Christ and Christ crucified.  There not only was the greatest empire the world has ever known shown to be powerless and impotent but sin and death was defeated and Paul can ask the question O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?  Thanks be to God who give us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is in our midst and so we can be strong and we can be without fear and we can go about kingdom work in this present evil age and the way we will do this is by reminding ourselves over and over of the gospel.  

Before finishing up the sermon, I do want to pause and make a very practical point from Haggai’s message.  Notice that Haggai addresses his command to be strong to three different audiences.  Zerubabbel, Joshua, and the people of the land.  Zerubabbel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin and the current governor of Jerusalem.  Joshua was the high priest.  So we have three office represented: the civic leadership, the spiritual leadership, and the people as a community of believers.  Notice that all three are subordinate to Haggai the prophet.  However, the purpose of the office of the prophet was to deliver the word of God.  So my point is that all three groups are ultimately under the authority of the word of God.

The New Testament sees the church as the true Israel and so we as the church and specifically Resurrection Church need to understand that whether we are the spiritual leaders like Chris or myself, or administrative leaders like Mason, or worship leaders like Lucia, or as members of the congregation all of us must understand that we are ultimately under the authority of the word of God.  The author of the book of Hebrews tells us that long ago God to spoke to His people in many times and many ways and spoke to His people by the prophets, but in the last says He has spoken to us by His Son.  John tells us Jesus is the word of God.  This means ultimately every action and decision we in the church make is to be guided and subject to the authority not just of the Bible but the Bible as taught to us by Christ.  

Now let us return back to our passage because I want to make one final point to tie all of this together.  There is a shift that occurs in the language of Haggai.  You have to look closely but in Haggai’s first address to the people in chapter 1, Haggai refers to them as these people.  Yet after they build the temple, Haggai begins to refer to the people as the remnant and here in verse 2 of our passage Haggai again calls them the remnant.  To us that seems like no big deal, after all they are part of a small group of Jews who survived the Babylonian conquest and an even small group of Jews that decided to return to Jerusalem.  However, referring to these people by the term remnant is highly significant.  Let me explain why.  

You see the purpose of God rescuing the people from Egypt and creating them as the nation of Israel was to form a relationship with Israel so that He would be there God and they would be His people.  This phrase is repeated over and over again throughout the Old Testament.  However, as a result of Israel continual disobedience where the people abandoned the worship of the God who brought them out of Egypt, God says in Hosea that they are no longer my people but not my people.  In Hebrew they are not ami or my people but lo ami, not my people.   However, God promises that He will call those who are not my people, “my people” again and will restore the relationship and prosperity to the people.  The faithlessness of the people will be the final word.  

So by the use of “those people” and not “my people” in verse 1 the text is communicating to us a broken relationship exists between this community and God.  There is a distance between the people and God.  The people are not in proper relationship.  The people are other.  Here is where the significance of now referring to the people as the remnant comes into play. 

Remnant did not just mean to them a small group that remains out of a larger group.  Remnant had a more specific, technical meaning in the Old Testament.  We find the term used first in Isaiah 10 & 11, where Isaiah promises that the Assyrians, the empire that had taken the northern Kingdom into exile, will be punished and a remnant of Israelite that had been captured will return.   Jeremiah continues this theme in chapter 23 where God promises that He will gather the remnant of His flock out all the countries that they had been driven, promising to bring them back to their fold where they would be fruitful and multiply.  
The concept of the return of the remnant is used in conjunction with language about the day of the Lord.  The day of the Lord refers to the time when the Lord would at last return, righting all the wrongs, establishing perfect justice and peace, and returning Israel to its place of prominence and prosperity.  It is what we might call end times language or if you are a theology nerd - eschatological language.  In Old Testament prophecy, the remnant along with the messiah function in conjunction with the Lord to bring about the day of the Lord.  

Here in our passage we have end times, eschatological language.  You see this language that Haggai that uses in this passage that once again God will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land is not something Haggai is telling the people out of the blue.  This language along with the treasures from that nations coming in and the temple filled with God’s glory are reference to what other prophets had already told Israel about the end time restoration.  We find similar language in Isaiah and Ezekiel.  This is all part of the day of the Lord.

So what Haggai is promising to the people is nothing less than the restoration that the people had been awaiting ever since they had returned to Jerusalem.  So lets put all these concepts   together, God promises the people that they are to be strong and to work not as an end to itself but towards a purpose.   God is reassuring the people that He will fulfill His promises just as He did in the past specifically when God freed the Israelites in the Exodus.  This once again links back to the events of the Exodus further connecting this to the new Exodus that Isaiah had talked about.  

What is significant then by God addressing the people as the remnant, is that they are now part of this end time restoration.  The people have been given a new identity by God just as Abram, whose name means “my father is great” had been en a new identity by having his name changed to Abraham meaning “father of many.”  Just as Jacob whose name means “supplanter” referring to his character as a deceiver, was changed to Israel which means “God fights. “ Here the people had been given a new identity and now have a new role and new purpose involving nothing less than the completion of God’s plan of redemption for the cosmos.  

In our second reading we see Peter exhorting us to grow in salvation by understanding the new identity and role we have been given as Christians.  Peter addresses this letter to those in exile and describes his location as Babylon.  Since Babylon is often code for Rome, it is likely that 1 Peter is written during the persecution of Christians under Nero.  These were dark days for the early Christian church.  Again we have a situation where God’s community is living a precarious existence not at all characterized by the glorious future they had hoped would come after the resurrection.  Yet Peter reminds them that they are building something and just as Christ was the stone rejected by the builders, their rejection in the form persecution and suffering means something because of who they are - their new identity in Christ.

Like the Israelites, like the Christians addressed by Peter, we too may look around at dismay at the tragedy and suffering we see all around us.  Shouldn’t the resurrection have changed this?  Sometimes as we face the overwhelming evil and oppression arounds us where it seems as though the forces of power and oppression and violence are the winners, against whom the church has at best demonstrated only mild effectiveness and at worst has colluded with.  Often we can join with Haggai in concluding that it is nothing.  Haggai does not pull punches and sugarcoat reality, nor will I.   


However, here is the conclusion and the point  -  what Peter tells us and what Haggai tells us is to be strong, to work, and to not be afraid because God is at work.  What is more, we have a very real role in this drama that God is directing.  Peter tells us to remember our identity - we in the church are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession.  We are building something and the violent forces of oppression and and violence and power will not win because God is in control and He is in our midst.  As Haggai promises in verse 9 the latter glory of the house will be greater than the former.  God declares that in this place He will at last bring peace.  If we are to be strong, if we are to work, if we are to be without fear, then we must believe these promises that God is present and is at work and look to the cross where all the promises of God find their yes in Him and that is why through Him we utter AMEN to God for His glory.  
 

What Does God Need with a Temple? (Dr. Trey Benfield)

Scripture Readings:

Exodus 33:1-17
John 14:8-11
Haggai 1:12-15

So I am a big fan of Star Trek, but only the original series.  As many of you know, many years after the original series was aired a number of movies were made.  Some good, and one that was really bad.  My introduction today actually comes from Star Trek V, which is probably one of the worst movies of all time.  The plot works like this - a fanatical religious cult leader uses his mind control powers to gain control of the starship Enterprise to take it beyond some sort of energy barrier where the land of Eden is believed to be located.  While on the Eden planet, they find a powerful being who purports to be god and demands they provide him with the starship Enterprise so he can traverse the energy barrier.  It is as this moment that Captain Kirk issues one of the all time great lines in movie history.  “Excuse me!  I would just like to ask a question.  What does God need with a starship?”  

Before I look at how Captain Kirk’s question relates to Haggai, let’s recap a bit.   In our passage today, we discover that Haggai’s pleas to rebuild the temple have worked and the people together with their political and religious leaders have begun work on the temple.  However, I want to ask a very basic question that almost seems too obvious.  To paraphrase, Captain Kirk, what does God need with a temple? 

The temple is central to the whole book of Haggai.  As we have seen in chapter one, Haggai urges the people to build the Temple .  In chapter two Haggai will continue to encourage them when they begin to slack off.  Haggai will then deliver a message about ritual purity which is important because the temple’s holiness must be protected.  However, why is it so important to Haggai that the people build the temple?

The answer is not as obvious as you might think.  When David brings up the idea of building a temple in 2 Samuel 7, it is presented entirely as an initiative of King David.  God never asks or commands that a temple be built.   Furthermore, let me also read a passage from Isaiah 66, “Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool, what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?”  In this verse, God seems to mock the whole concept of a temple as a place that would somehow contain His presence.  Nor is the only place where the whole project of a temple seems questionable, Jeremiah and other prophets had spent a lot of time devaluing the temple because of the improper attitude the people and the kings of Israel had toward the temple believing God would spare them from conquest and disaster since doing so would destroy His temple.  It turns out God does not mind so much having the Babylonians destroy the temple, and Ezekiel provides a vivid description of the spirit of the Lord leaving the temple and departing from Jerusalem before its destruction by the Babylonians.  In Ezekiel 11 God tells the people that although they have been taken to Babylon He will continue to be as a temple to them.  

So if the Temple was an initiative of David, used as propaganda by the kings and as a talisman by the people, the whole concept God mocks in Isaiah, and His presence has departed from in Ezekiel and then operated as a temple for the people while they were in Babylon, what is the point of the temple?  In fact, there seems to be almost an anti-temple thread that runs through the Old Testament. So why is it so important that the people build this temple?  

See what I mean, it as not so obvious an question as you might would have thought.   However, I want to suggest three ways to answers this question of why in Haggai the temple needs to be built.  Furthermore, I think you will find that each of these three answers is relevant to our own life and how we relate to the presence of God.  

To answer this question, first I want us to look at our reading from Exodus that records a curious debate between God and Moses.  This event occurs right after the incident involving the golden calf.  If you remember Moses had just met with God on top of Mt Sinai and had been given the ten commandments. one of which forbade constructing any physical representation of God.  The people had taken all their gold that they had plundered from Egypt and built a calf, which was a sacred animal in Egypt, and worshipped it as God.  

At this point God enters into an interesting conversation with Moses, the point of which is to allow Moses to intercede for the people and to arrive at an understanding of what God’s plan is really all about.  God tells Moses that He will still bring the people to Canaan because He had promised this to Abraham.  However, although assured of success, God says that He Himself will not go up to Canaan among them, instead God would send His angel before them.  Furthermore, God would not meet with the people except through Moses in the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.  In other words, God would not meet them in the tabernacle that would contain God’s presence and that would have been located in the midst of the people.  

Moses knows the arrangement is not tenable or consistent with God’s character.  So Moses asks how will anyone know that they are God’s people?  “Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”  As I said, God is instructing Moses to intercede for the people and so though God is arguing, He is really leading Moses to the answer.  In education we call this the Socratic method.  God agrees with Moses statement and concludes their discussion by agreeing to do exactly as Moses suggests.  God will dwell in the midst of the people and will go with them.  He will not be relegated outside the camp and it will not be the angel of the Lord who goes before them.  At this point God renews His covenant with His people and then gives instructions for the building of the tabernacle, the precursor of the temple and the place where God’s glory and presence will reside.  

You see what Moses understands is that we cannot be the people of God and keep God outside the camp.   We cannot receive the promises of God if God is not in our midst.  The plan of God is for Him to be our God and we to be His people and that plan demands God’s presence.   You see that is what the people that Haggai is ministering to have missed.  They have forgotten that it is God going with them that makes them distinct.  The temple is a sign of the closeness of God.  They were not bad or evil people.  Remember that most of the Israelites stayed in Babylon.  The ones that returned were the true believers.  However, it was just easy for them as it is easy for us to become consumed by our daily lives, concerned about paneled houses and to hold God at arm’s length.   The temple with the presence of God will not let them have a God they hold at arms length.  The temple will not let them reduce their relationship to God to one that is merely spiritual.  

We do this just as much as these ancient Israelites.   Functionally we act as deists.  Deism is a view of God held by many early American thinkers that believes that God created the universe but once He had done so it He just let it run according to natural law no longer acting or interceding.  While many of us would reject this view as non-Biblical, we approach our lives as if this is what we believed, acknowledging God’s existence and secure in a belief that He has created the universe but content to act as though He is no longer intervening.  We believe God did some cool things a long time ago and we believe God will eventually do some cool things again but right now God is in heaven and we are here.  He has His world and we have our world.  We have practically banished God outside the camp.  It is not that we do not acknowledge Him or respect Him.  Instead we take the lessons and teachings of the Bible and relegate them to the spiritual realm and live as though Christianity is about a separate world from the one we actually live in.   That is what I mean by saying we are functionally deist.  I believe this is essentially how the community of believers that Haggai is ministering to are acting.  The temple is Haggai’s attempt to shatter this system of though, not because God needs a temple to be worshipped or to act, but because the people need to understand that if He is their God and they are His people, then He is present, and cannot be ignored or relegated away to the spiritual realm.  

It is true that God is transcendent but what the temple teaches us, and what the incarnation of Jesus teaches us, and what the Holy Spirit teaches us is that God is also immanent.  God refuses to be banished to the world of mere spirituality.  God demands to be here in the midst of His creation with His people because for God the key to His plan is the phrase repeated over and over again throughout the Old Testament - I will be your God and you will be my people.  That means a real relationship where God lives with us, experiences what we experience, feels what we feel, and suffers what we suffer.  

Nor is this a concept that is found only in the Old Testament buried in obscure books like Haggai.  When we enter into the community of God’s people, when we become part of the church, it is not through a pronouncement of words but through a physical symbol in which actual real, physical water is applied.  When Jesus gathers His disciples to explain what His coming death means, Jesus does not give them an abstract, spiritualized theology, Jesus gives them a meal.  So when we gather to experience the mystery of Christ and Christ crucified we eat real bread and drink real wine.  

Like baptism and communion, the Temple is physical and this is important for another reason.  Not only does God interact and work in the world, God is a creator God.  God created this world, the physical, material world of soil and trees, of animals and rivers and mountains.  In the ancient world a temple was considered a small model of the universe illustrating to the people the beauty and splendor of the reign of the god who inhabited the temple.  A temple was very much a model to help the people understand the true nature of this world - to visualize God ruling over His creation.  

All the promises God made to Israel were about real land and real prosperity.  We all have all heard a variation of the story about pirates or some sort of adventurers looking for treasure and the story concludes with them coming to the realization that the real treasure was in their hearts and inside them all along.   I hated that story when I was kid, it was such a letdown, and here is the thing - it is not the Christian story.  The Christian story does have an immaterial, spiritual disembodied ending.  Because resurrection and restoration is not a spiritual escape but a very real, physical, material renewal.

As a model not only does the temple represent creation it is also the blueprint of what creation is becoming.  The temple is future oriented showing the workings of God and His creation in harmonious completion.   The temple functions as a downpayment and a plan and an aspiration of a world united and perfected by the presence of God.  For the Israelites, the temple would point to the future and would leave no question as to the goal and purpose of God’s plan for His people.  The Israelites were to be a part of something bigger than the harvests, eating, drinking, clothing, wages, and paneled houses that so concern them in Haggai.   

So the temple is a picture of hope.  As Chris so eloquently stated in a sermon a few months ago, hope is not mere optimism or a solution.  Hope is a mystery and a absurdity that challenges accepted opinion and says that the world does not have to be this way.   It is about a God who is faithful despite our faithlessness.  A God who vetoes our faithlessness.  

For us who share like the Israelites the urge to see God as something remote out there in the sky far away.  For us who like the Israelites have the tendency to segregate God to a couple of hours one day a week and focus on the stresses and demands of the more immediate, how do we break out?

The answer is found in verse 13.  Look at it with me and listen to the language and you will hear the importance, “Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord.  This verse is the central teaching of Haggai.  Haggai’s whole message to the people is summed up in four words, two in Hebrew.  I AM WITH YOU.  It is God’s presence that the temple is all about.  “Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct.”  

If you will notice in verse 14, God is referred to as the Lord of Hosts.  Haggai constantly uses this phrase “Lord of Hosts” to describe God.  You find God referred to as the Lord of Hosts in verse 2, 5, 7, and 9.  I am always going on and on about the importance of repetition in Hebrew.  So what is the significance of describing God as the Lord of hosts?  

The hosts are the angels.  Hosts can be thought of as a multitude implying a great number of angels, but more concretely it has a militaristic sense as if the angels are soldiers of an army.  It would almost be a better translation to use the phrase Lord of armies.  The metaphor for God described by the phrase ,”Lord of hosts” is of a conquering king leading His armies into battle.  Haggai uses this phrase because He wants the people to understand that God is not distant but near and active.  In fact, Haggai wants us to understand God is leading the host and they are preparing for an invasion.

The return of God to the temple to establish His rule, to right the wrongs of the world, to end the reign of the powerful who use their might and wealth to oppress was the very heart of what the Israelites awaited when they were at last freed from exile.  What Haggai is telling the people is  God is on the move and when He comes it will be as a conquering king leading an invasion that will make the glory of Assyria, and Babylon, and Persia look as nothing.  So God is not distant but present and with His people.  

Of course we know the rest of the story that it is in Jesus that we see the perfect presence and image of God.  Jesus who says that he who has seen me has seen the father.  Hebrews says Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature.  Jesus is everything the temple pointed to who breaks in from heaven and begins the invasion.  This invasion in no spiritual one but a real invasion where God’s presence comes as a baby who cries because He has is dependent on His mother for food, who gets dirty, who is hungry, and thirsty and tires.  He is crucified on a real wooden cross with real nails.  The temple, the incarnation, Jesus what they represent is a God that will not be pushed out and who is not a disinterested transcendental remote force off in the sky somewhere.  A God who comes to us with one, simple central message “I AM WITH YOU.”  That is why God needs a temple.