THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST

SPLENDOR OF THE NEW TEMPLE

The Latter Temple Will be More Glorious Than the First

Haggai 2:1-9 – Good News Translation (GNT)

2 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month of that same year, the Lord spoke again through the prophet Haggai.

2 He told Haggai to speak to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, to Joshua, the High Priest, and to the people, and to say to them,

3 “Is there anyone among you who can still remember how splendid the Temple used to be? How does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all.

4 But now don't be discouraged, any of you. Do the work, for I am with you.

5 When you came out of Egypt, I promised that I would always be with you. I am still with you, so do not be afraid.

6 “Before long I will shake heaven and earth, land and sea.

7 I will overthrow all the nations, and their treasures will be brought here, and the Temple will be filled with wealth. 8 All the silver and gold of the world is mine. 9 The new Temple will be more splendid than the old one, and there I will give my people prosperity and peace.” The Lord Almighty has spoken.

2:1–9

2:1 Haggai’s second message ["Be strong…and work v.4"] comes approximately two months after the first an about one moth after work on the temple had begun.

2:3 House in her first glory refers to Solomon’s temple. Some of the elderly had been children at the time of Jerusalem’s fall.

2:5 The promise of spirit was affirmed by a covenant at the beginning of Israel’s history. The promises continues to be fulfilled as God’s Spirit remains among the Israelites to take away their fear.

The Holy Spirit is a vital part of God’s covenant with His people. "according to the word that I covenanted with you."

The Holy Spirit is an abiding gift to the people of God: "My spirit remaineth among you."

The presence of the Holy Spirit removes fear from the hearts of God’s people. Therefore, "fear ye not."

2:6-9 This passage is best seen as referring to God’s final in breaking into history, the culmination of "The day of the Lord."

Understand that it is the presence of Jesus that produces glory.

- All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces;

and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms

us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18

2:6 It is a little while denotes its assurance.

2:7 I will shake all nations is God’s final dealing with evil just before the world to come. I will fill this house with glory refers in part to the dedication of Zerubbabel’s actual temple, but also prophesies God’s indwelling of human temples through Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 6:19. 20).

Zerubbabel is one of the people listed

in the genealogies of Jesus. Two things make Zerubbabel significant and link him to Christ:

Zerubbabel is a sign of a man chosen by God, from whose yielded nature God causes to flow life, leadership, and ministy. What Zerubbabel did in part, Jesus did in full as the Servant of the Lord.

Zerubbabel is also in the line of the Messiah. The lists of Jesus’ ancestors in Matthew and Luke include the name of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, whose own personal significance was surpassed by his role as one who pointed ahead to the coming Savior of the world.

2:9 In Jewish tradition this latter house is called "The Second Temple." Solomon’s temple being the former temple. This is the temple that would be standing in the time of Jesus through enlarged and beautified under Herod.

2:8 Good Stewards of God’s Gifts. STEWARDSHIP. The same principle of stewardship King David emphasized in accumulating the wealth to build the original temple (1 Chr. 29:14) was also emphasized in its restoration (Hag. 2:8).

After 70 years of captivity in Babylon, the children of Judah returned to Jerusalem and rushed to the task of rebuilding their own houses. They took the position that the proper time had not come for the Lord’s house to be build (Hag. 1:2). The prophet’s response was "Is it time for you, O ye to dwell in your cieled[panelled] houses, and this house [God’s house] lie water? " (v.4) . As v.5 goes on to point out, we must always consider our ways when we seek to use the Lord’s money for our puposes and neglect His house and the ministries that seek to accomplish His massion. The children of Judah were made to understand that their lack of material goods was directly related to their unfair and unjust stewardship. "Ye have sown much, and bring in litte, 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 to putit into a bag with notes." (v.6).

Be forever encouraged,