Future Glory

[0:00] But if we could, this evening, with the Lord's help, and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of scripture that we read. The book of the prophet Haggai, chapter 2.

[0:17] Haggai, chapter 2, and if we read again from the beginning. In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.

[0:30] Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehoshadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing?

[0:50] In your eyes. Particularly the question, who saw this house or temple in its former glory, and how do you see it now?

[1:03] Who saw this house in its former glory, and how do you see it now? As we all get a little older, and the years of our life roll on, we realise that there are so many things around us that are changing.

[1:30] And not all the changes are bad. Some things are for the better. But isn't it true that the older we get, the more we like to think back to the past, and back to the good old days.

[1:44] And everyone does it, because we love to reminisce about days gone by, and we love to remember what happened in the past. And we love to discuss all the events which took place that shaped our lives, that shaped our present, and it's going to shape our future.

[2:02] And I suppose that's why we have a local magazine called Back in the Day, where there are pictures of events, or school photos, or football teams. And they're all historical archives, and they all retell what happened back in the day.

[2:20] And more often than not, we love to look at our history with fondness, and highlight all the memories of great times, and maybe times of great blessing.

[2:30] And when we think of these moments, they bring to our attention the joys that we had, and all the privileges that we experienced. And they remind us that we have so much to be thankful for.

[2:44] But when we think of our past, and consider all these good memories, it inevitably causes us to contrast it with our present situation. And maybe, my friend, maybe for you today, you look at life, and you say, life is different now.

[3:02] It's not the way it used to be. It's not the way I remember it. It's not the way I had ever imagined it to be. Because so much has changed in my life.

[3:12] And sometimes, the changes have been for the better. But more often than not, these inevitable changes in our families and in our homes, they haven't been for the better.

[3:25] Because when we look at the story of our lives, we see that there are things which we have had to go through. Where there were bereavements which we never saw coming. There were illnesses which we weren't anticipating.

[3:38] There was sad news that we weren't prepared for. And because of all these events in our lives, so much has changed. And because of them, we have changed. And life is so different now.

[3:51] And you know, when we look at all these changes and think about the temporary nature of life, it sometimes makes us feel so weak. And so helpless.

[4:02] And so vulnerable. And maybe we go numb at the thought of it. Nevertheless, it's good to look back. And be reminded of the Lord's goodness to us.

[4:13] Even. Even in times of sadness and sorrow. But as I probably mentioned this to you before, when I was studying in the Free Church College, we were always reminded that the purpose of looking back in history and studying it, is so that we will learn from the past, we will build upon it in the present, and we will prepare for a better future.

[4:40] Learn in the past. Learn in the past. Build in the present. Prepare for the future. And that was the message of Haggai. It's good to look back, he said.

[4:53] So long as we learn from the past. And it doesn't hinder us for building in the present and preparing for the future. But unfortunately, that's what Haggai was up against.

[5:07] Because as we saw last week, the Israelites, they had been sent into exile in Babylon because they neglected the temple and they were worshipping idols. But when the Israelites returned from exile to rebuild the temple, they started with enthusiasm and excitement.

[5:24] But after a while, the work stopped. And the work stopped because the Israelites became complacent and they neglected the temple. They lost sight of their priorities.

[5:36] And they focused upon building their own homes and making their homes comfortable for themselves while the temple lay in ruins. But as we saw, Haggai challenged the complacency of the people and he commanded them to go back to the work site and pick up their tools and get going again.

[5:56] He commanded them, as the Lord said, build the Lord's house that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified. And the people did. They responded.

[6:07] They redirected all their priorities and they resumed building the temple. But it didn't take long until the Israelites ran into more problems.

[6:17] And that's what we're going to see in chapter 2. Because the problem of the Israelites was that they were looking in all the wrong directions. In fact, I want to highlight this evening that the Israelites, they were looking in every other direction apart from the right direction.

[6:35] They were looking, first of all, they were looking down. Then we'll see that they were commanded to look up. And then, lastly, they were urged to look ahead.

[6:47] So they're the three points. Looking down, looking up, and looking ahead. Looking down, looking up, and looking ahead. So, first of all, we'll look down.

[7:02] Read again with me at the beginning of chapter 2. In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Sheltiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory?

[7:25] How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? When the Israelites were looking down, when they looked down, all they saw was rubble.

[7:38] There was rubble everywhere. And it was overwhelming for them. The ruins of the temple, it was this mammoth job of rebuilding it.

[7:49] Looking at it all, it just seemed this insurmountable project for them. And the sheer size of the temple, and the beauty which it once held for all the people before it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and his army, it seemed too great a job to try and restore it.

[8:08] And as a result, thoughts of negativity and this defeatist attitude, it arose within the people. They thought that the temple will never be completed, will never get there.

[8:21] And if it is completed, it will never look like the old temple did. It will never have the former glory that Solomon's temple had. But what's surprising about all this apathy and negativity is that it's not even been a month since the restoration program restarted.

[8:42] Which means that it's unlikely that any progress had been made at all. There's not a month gone by between chapter 1 and chapter 2. And although the work had started when the Israelites had returned, when they first returned from Babylon 15 or 16 years earlier, the site would have to be cleared again.

[9:04] The temple ruins had been neglected for so long and the assessments, they would have to be made on this part of the structure. Could it remain or would it have to be taken down completely?

[9:14] Tests would have to be carried out as to what part of the temple structure could stand and what would have to be demolished. And there would be a lot of organizing of getting men and teams together and working together to get the structure up again, up and running.

[9:34] They would have to be gathering supplies to get this work going properly. But before they had even reached the point of making any progress, the work stopped.

[9:47] But one of the factors which could have caused the work to stop was that in this intervening month, between chapter 1 and chapter 2, there had been three religious festivals during which no work was allowed.

[10:03] Because on the first day of the seventh month, so we're now on the 21st day of the seventh month, but on the first day of the seventh month, it was the Feast of Trumpets.

[10:15] And the Feast of Trumpets was like harvest thanksgiving. It commemorated the end of the harvest and you thank the Lord for it. And then on the 10th day of the seventh month, it was the Day of Atonement.

[10:28] The day in which the high priest went into the Holy of Holies and made atonement for all the people of Israel. And then on the 15th day of the seventh month, it was the Feast of Tabernacles.

[10:41] And the Feast of Tabernacles was this week-long festival during which every Israelite would move out of all, move out of their lovely, comfortable homes that they had built for themselves.

[10:55] and they were to move into tents and live in tents for a week in memory of their ancestors who travelled for 40 years in the wilderness. And having all these feasts and festivals and such a short space of time after the work of the temple had resumed, and the fact that all the worship services had to be carried out in this charred and demolished, ruined building, and seeing how little work had actually been done and how much there was still to do, it would have only added to the magnitude of the task before them.

[11:33] They looked at it, they saw and thought, it's impossible, so they gave up. They gave up. And you know, we can apply the attitude and mind of the Israelites to ourselves.

[11:46] Because, how quick are we to give up on things? How, how, how, how good are we at starting something but not seeing it through?

[11:59] Whether it's just a small and insignificant project we've got going at home, restoring a tractor, or whatever it may be. It could be that, or maybe a more important thing, such as our spiritual well-being.

[12:14] And I say that because more often than not, we're so good at starting something but not good at seeing it through. Whether it's reading our Bible, where we plan to read the Bible all the way through, but we stop at the book of Numbers.

[12:30] Or it's our prayer life. We set aside a period of time each day, but time goes by and the time becomes less and less. The prayer list becomes shorter.

[12:40] Maybe the people you're praying for, you just give up on them. I'd encourage you to keep going, to keep persistently praying. Or what about visiting, or evangelism, or any form of outreach.

[12:57] We start it, we enjoy it, we see the benefit of it, not only for ourselves, but also for others. But again, before long, the enthusiasm peter's away and we give up.

[13:08] And you know, my unconverted friend, the same can be true about seeking the Lord. Because there may have been times in your life where you were earnestly seeking the Lord and you wanted to become a Christian.

[13:30] There was a desire there and it was in the forefront of your mind and it was pressing upon your heart because you were aware of your sin and you knew that you needed to be saved.

[13:40] But, you became distracted. Something happened. Other things came into your life and you were preoccupied.

[13:52] Whether you became too busy or you lost interest or you thought you'd wait until a more convenient season or other things took priority or the thought of becoming a Christian, well, it's just too much just now.

[14:05] whatever it was, you backed off. And when you backed off, nothing happened. The work stopped and no work was being done.

[14:20] And it applies to all of us. If we do nothing, then nothing will happen. If we do nothing, then nothing will happen. But the Lord has a word for us.

[14:33] He wants to speak to us if we are in the mind to give up. We'll get there in a moment. But before we get there, I want us to see that the mammoth task of rebuilding the temple was not the only hindrance that the children of Israel faced.

[14:52] Because the Feast of Tabernacles, the last feast, it would have reminded the Israelites of their past. And it would have reminded them of the grand occasion of a former Feast of Tabernacles when Solomon dedicated his temple, his glorious temple.

[15:09] Solomon's temple was this glorious structure that took seven years to build. And every material of the temple, it was the best of the best. And it was all shaped and formed and fashioned off-site and then brought in.

[15:24] And everything there was then overlaid with gold. There was no expense spared in Solomon's temple. But now in the days of Haggai, there were many people standing around the ruins of that same temple who saw it and remember it in its former glory.

[15:42] Because the older generation, who were now in their late 60s and their early 70s, they would have remembered going to the temple as young children. They would have remembered the throng of people travelling to the temple at all the different times of festival.

[16:00] But now they're standing there in the ruins of the temple and they're weeping. They're weeping. But the younger generation, who were born during the exile, during the past 50 odd years, they never saw the temple in its former glory.

[16:19] They would have certainly heard about it. They would have loved hearing about the Lord's goodness to them and the privileges that they experienced, all the forefathers that they experienced and all the things that they saw.

[16:32] But as those born in exile, they can only give thanks to the Lord for allowing them to return to Jerusalem. And so around the ruins of this temple, there was a combination of weeping and praising God.

[16:46] The older generation were weeping because they could see that the temple of the future was going to be nothing like the temple of the past.

[16:57] And this is the other reason why the work stopped. Because they were not only looking down at the rubble that was around their feet, they were also looking down because the rubble was a reminder of the past temple that once stood there.

[17:12] It was a reminder of the temple in its former glory and beauty. And the work stopped because the older generation refused to build the temple.

[17:26] They're too old, they said. I'm in retirement. Don't have time for these things. The younger generation didn't know how to build it. The older generation only had eyes for the past which crippled the work in the present and caused them to lose sight of the future.

[17:45] The older generation were saying, well it's not the way it used to be back in the day. It's not the way I remember it. We remember the former days. We enjoy the former days. We enjoy the past.

[17:59] You can see where I'm going with this. Haggai's asking us the same question tonight. Who saw this temple in its former glory and how do you see it now?

[18:13] How do you see the church today? Is she just this dying institution on her last legs? Is she now receiving palliative care?

[18:25] Is her day done? Who remembers the churches in our island being full to capacity? I remember it. Who remembers the days when the streets of our town were black with people streaming out of church on a Sunday night?

[18:41] Who can recall the days when the singing in our churches was like the touch a touch of heaven itself? Who can think back to the days when everyone in the communities would travel to the Lord's house on the Lord's day?

[18:56] Who remembers the former days? Who saw the church in her former glory? And how do you see it now? And with all these changes in such a short space of time all the empty pews the lack of interest in the Lord the opposition to the church all these things can make us feel so weak and so helpless so vulnerable make us go numb where we're crippled by the size of the task to rebuild.

[19:26] But my friend it's easy to remember the former days. It's easy to think back to the good old days when the church was strong and she had a voice in the community and people came to hear the gospel.

[19:43] They came out of duty to come and hear the gospel. It's easy to think back to the times of the reformation in 1560 the disruption in 1843 the great awakenings and the great revivals even experienced on this side of the island where God moved with power.

[20:01] It's easy to think of these things. It's easy to think back to the former days and think how good it was then. And we ought to thank the Lord for these times.

[20:14] We really do. They were great moments of the past but the former glory should never cause us to lose sight of the fact that in the present we are building for the future.

[20:27] We are building for the future. My friend it's easy to look to the past at a glorious past. It's easy to look down at the ruins of the present.

[20:42] But that's not where we need to look. We need to look up. We need to look up. And that's what Haggai tells the Israelites to do.

[20:53] They've been looking down. But he tells them start looking up. Looking up. That's what he says in verse 4.

[21:06] Yet now be strong O Zerubbabel declares the Lord. Be strong O Joshua son of Jehozadak the high priest. Be strong all you people of the land declares the Lord.

[21:19] Work for I am with you declares the Lord of hosts according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit remains in your midst.

[21:32] Fear not. What better words could be issued to a people who were on the verge of giving up? They've been looking down at the ruins of the temple all around them.

[21:45] They've been looking back to the glorious history of the past and now feeling completely deflated and defeated and demoralized the Lord commands his servant to speak to the people with this threefold promise be strong be strong be strong but the Lord wasn't telling the Israelites to look inward.

[22:10] He wasn't telling them to be strong in yourself and in your own abilities. He wasn't urging them to look inward and to their inner self and receive strength from there.

[22:24] The world will tell you that. The world will tell you that you need to be strong in yourself and look inward and receive strength from there and go forward. But looking inward never helped anyone.

[22:35] because the psalmist proclaimed in Psalm 121 beautiful psalm I to the hills will lift mine eyes and then he asks where does my help come from?

[22:56] Not from this world not from the gods of this world not from self no he says my help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth.

[23:09] My friend it's only by lifting up our eyes it's only by looking up that we will be strong it's only by looking up that we'll be given a proper perspective on things it's only by looking up that we'll be reminded that the Lord is our strength and he is our song and he has become our salvation but what's so wonderful is that this promise to be strong wasn't only issued to the Israelites here and it wasn't only issued to a Joshua who was the son of Jehoshadak the high priest it was also given to another Joshua too you'll remember when Moses died and the children of Israel they're standing on the banks of the river Jordan ready to cross over Joshua is now their new leader but he's young and he's inexperienced not like Moses and yet the Lord comes to him four times in chapter one and he says to him be strong be strong and of good courage be strong be strong in the

[24:18] Lord Joshua was commanded not to look down or to look back but to look up look up and like Joshua that's the command which has been given to us today so I know what Paul said to the Colossians set your affection on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God my friend look up look up we need to look up but what we see here is that the Lord's servant not only reminds his people to be strong he also reminds them of the promise that when they work the Lord assures them I am with you work he says for I am with you and this is the same promise which we saw last week when the Israelites obeyed the Lord and they set to work to rebuild the temple we're told in chapter 1 verse 13 then Haggai the messenger of the Lord spoke to the people with the

[25:24] Lord's message I am with you declares the Lord Haggai conveyed to the Israelites the greatest comfort of the Lord I am with you I am with you and like the Israelites who forgot the Lord's promise within a month we can so quickly forget what the Lord has promised to us too because even though we're given promises from scripture promises of his presence and his help and his grace and his comfort we can so easily and so quickly lapse into despondency and defeat and despair but the gracious character of the Lord is such that he comes again comes again with a second word the same word reminds us of what he said already and he affirms it to us he affirms the same promises to us and he seals them upon our heart and he says that each promise that's what we're reading here each promise is according to his covenant of grace each promise is according to his covenant the unbreakable bond between

[26:42] God and his people the Bible assures us that all the promises of God they are yea and amen in Christ to the glory of God but the Lord's promise of his strength and his presence it goes even further when he says my spirit remains in your midst fear not and what the Lord means by this is that even though the temple is in ruins and it seems like there's no way forward just now the Lord is commanding his people look up and trust him because he's going to do a new thing he's going to do a new thing in Jerusalem and the Lord says to his people in verse 6 thus says the Lord of hosts yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in and I will fill this house with glory says the

[27:48] Lord of hosts the silver is mine the gold is mine declares the Lord of hosts the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former says the Lord of hosts and in this place I will give peace declares the Lord of hosts and it's a wonderful promise to these these downtrodden people the latter glory of the temple will be greater than the former glory but what did the Lord mean by this what was the new thing that he was going to do what why was the Lord going to shake all the nations of the world how was he going to do it well I want to say that when the Lord issued this promise to look up be strong because I am with you the promise was the promise of of the future it was a promise for for looking up and looking to the future because the Lord wasn't speaking about the glory of this completed temple that they were rebuilding the glory of the temple was the glory cloud that dwelt in the holy of holies in the sanctuary of the temple and this glory cloud it's often referred to as the Shekinah glory it represented or symbolized the presence of the

[29:12] Lord amongst his people so the promise isn't about isn't about the temple being restored the promises God's glory being revealed and when the temple was finally completed this temple that they're rebuilding the glory cloud in the former temple which Solomon built it never reappeared it never came back and for years the Israelites they anticipated the reappearance of this great glory cloud but nothing happened and throughout those years of waiting and waiting and waiting the Israelites they often they often wondered and thought has the Lord abandoned us now has he left us to ourselves and they were always holding on to the promise this promise the latter glory of the house shall be greater than the former but they never saw the glory of the Lord again they never saw that glory cloud coming to descend into the temple and yet what the

[30:14] Israelites had never anticipated what they never thought possible was that the glory of the Lord would appear in Persia in Persia it's beautiful when the apostle John writes his gospel he tells us that Jesus Christ is the eternal word of God he was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him there was not anything made that was made in him was life and this life was the light of men and he was the light that shined in the darkness but more than that says John if you read chapter one his prologue to the gospel he says this eternal word it became flesh and it dwelt among us he tabernacled that's the word for dwell he tabernacled amongst us he he made his temple among us and John says that this act of becoming flesh in that act we were enabled to behold what his glory what kind of glory the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth and what John was saying is this is the promised glory this is the glory of the latter temple which is far greater than

[31:40] Solomon's glory this is the house which is filled with the glory of God this is the new thing that the Lord has done this is how the Lord is going to shake the world and turn it upside down through this man Jesus Christ he's going to do it through his son because he bears the glory of God and he is the temple of the living God he is the place of true worship and he is the one to whom we must come was that not what Jesus said to the woman of Samaria you remember her in John chapter 4 she was from Samaria she was an outsider she wasn't a Jew and yet Jesus reveals his glory to her and she said about the temple Jerusalem is the place where the Jews worship we're not part of that but Jesus said to her the hour is coming and now is when true worshipers from all the nations of the earth will worship the father in spirit and in truth and the woman of Samaria said to

[32:56] Jesus I know that when Christ comes he will tell us all things and Jesus said to her I who speak to you am he my friend Jesus is speaking to us tonight and he's reminding us he is our temple it's in him we have to be united to him he is the glory of God and he's urging us to be strong this is the word from him the temple be strong for I am with you I'm in your midst and my glory will go with you so build the house that I may take pleasure in it that I may be glorified look up look up but there's one more direction which the Lord's servant tells his people to look they've been told not to look down they've been looking down they've been commanded to start looking up but now they're further commanded to keep looking ahead keep looking ahead so looking ahead if we jump down to verse 18 consider from this day on word from the 24th day of the ninth month since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid consider is the seed yet in the barn indeed the vine the fig tree the pomegranate and the olive tree have yielded nothing but from this day on I will bless you by this point the 24th day of the ninth month it's three months to the day since the

[34:38] Israelites had resumed work on the temple and by this point the project of rebuilding the temple it had advanced greatly so much so that they were holding a service to thank the Lord for the foundation of the temple now being laid and on this particular day the 24th day of the ninth month it was when a formal commitment to the Lord would be made by the people they were committing themselves to rebuilding this temple they're not turning back and it was on that day that Haggai received two messages from the Lord and both messages were promises of the Lord's blessing and so the first promise which Haggai relays to the Israelites is that their efforts of building the Lord's house that he may take pleasure in it that he may be glorified the Lord says it's not just a work of your hands it must also be a work of your heart it's not just to be a work of your hands it must also be a work of your heart because the reason the

[35:46] Israelites had stopped working on the temple in the first place was their priorities had changed they were all wrong their hearts were filled with selfish things and not the things of the Lord their hearts were more focused upon building their own houses than building the Lord's house their hearts were more concerned with all the material gain than the worship of the Lord and from past experience the Lord is warning his people that it's not just their hands he wants he also wants their hearts but in order to drive home this point the Lord prompts Haggai to ask the priests two questions and both questions stress the need to have their hearts committed to the Lord their hearts have to be committed to the Lord when rebuilding the temple this is what we see at verse 10 look at verse 10 on the 24th day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius the word of the

[36:49] Lord came by Haggai the prophet thus says the Lord of hosts ask the priests about the law if someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food does it become holy the priest answered and said no and the reason for this question is to highlight that there is nothing we can do by our hands to make ourselves or the Lord's work any holier there is nothing we can do that will manufacture the Lord's blessing and bring salvation into people's lives because all the Lord wants from us is our faithfulness and our obedience yes the hands have to be active but so does the heart the Lord wants our faithfulness and our obedience the Lord wants us to be faithful with his things which means that the worship of

[37:51] God is the Christian's priority attending the means of grace is the priority of the Christian before anything else in the life of the congregation and so what the Lord is stressing is our heart first before our hands our heart first before our hands but then Haggai asks the second question verse 13 then Haggai said if someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these does it become unclean the priest answered and said it does become unclean then Haggai answered and said so it is with this people and with this nation before me declares the Lord and so with every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean now the reason for this question is to stress to the Lord's people that in order to build his house we must live uncontaminated lives we must know the importance of a pure and a contrite heart we must exercise restraint and separation from worldly activities that are not fitting for a

[39:04] Christian and the only way to know that if something is fitting for a Christian or not is to ask the question would I take Jesus here with me would I let Jesus watch this with me would I allow Jesus to hear what I'm hearing or see what I'm doing but of course as I've said before separation is not isolation it's contact without contamination separation is not isolation it's contact without contamination and so what we can learn from these verses is that the only way for us to build the Lord's house is if our heart is right with the Lord and if we are distinct from the world and we are committed to the Lord and his house that's the only way to build his house because my friend the work of the Lord and the building of his house it can't be done out of a sense of duty or formality or that it's the right thing to do it must be done because it's our heart's desire it's an overflow from the heart to the hands we can do many things in church and for the church but unless we're doing it in the right spirit with the right heart and commitment to the

[40:25] Lord then the Lord will not bless us we can be seen to be obedient with our hands and involved in the workings of of building the Lord's house but the real obedience which the Lord sees and the obedience which the Lord desires is the obedience and commitment of the heart it's not about just about the hands it's also about the heart it's not just about the hands it's also about the heart but the last word which Haggai leaves us and he leaves the people of Israel with is the this promise of salvation look at jump down to verse 20 the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month speak to Zerubbabel governor of Judah saying I'm about to shake the heavens and the earth and to overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and about to destroy the strength of kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders and the horses and their riders shall go down everyone by the sword of his brother and these verses they hold out to us the great promise of salvation through Jesus

[41:40] Christ because as we saw earlier with the shaking the shaking the nation shaking the world it indicates the arrival of the Messiah that Jesus is coming and with the arrival of the Messiah the kingdom of kingdoms of the earth they will be brought to nothing and the kingdom of God will be established but what's so beautiful about this promise is what the Lord says in verse 23 on that day declares the Lord of hosts I will take you oh Zerubbabel my servant son of Sheltiel declares the Lord and I will make you like a signet ring for I have chosen you declares the Lord of hosts Zerubbabel is to be the Lord's signet ring and as you know a signet ring would be worn by a king with his seal on it and when a king would approve something or put a seal on an important document with wax or he would put his seal on it and it would affirm ownership and authenticity because it's the king's signet and so what the Lord was affirming to his people and sealing to them in a promise was that through Zerubbabel blessing would be experienced and because through him the

[43:00] Christ would come Zerubbabel was a descendant of Jesus that's what Matthew picks up on in his genealogy of Jesus he says and after they were brought to Babylon Jeconiah begot Sheltiel Sheltiel begot Zerubbabel and the lineage it continues all the way down to Joseph who was the husband of Mary of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ the link's all there Zerubbabel was to be an affirmation to the people he had not left them and the Christ is coming but there's one more thing with this I'll close time has gone the promise of building the house the promise build the house that I may take pleasure in it that my name may be glorified it was a promise which was sealed to

[44:01] Zerubbabel but when we go into the book of the prophet Zechariah just over the page into chapter 4 we're told that the Lord spoke you don't have to go if you want we're told that the Lord spoke to Zerubbabel and affirmed to him and to all the Lord's people that building the Lord's house will be accomplished he says in chapter 4 at verse 6 building the Lord's house will be accomplished this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts and so what can we learn from Haggai the prophet don't keep looking down start looking up and keep looking ahead build the house that the Lord may take pleasure in it and that he may be glorified and we are to do it not by might nor by power but by his spirit and his spirit alone may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray

[45:33] O Lord our gracious God we give thanks to thee that thou art the great builder and architect of thy church we thank thee that Christ is the head of it and that we are the body and help us Lord to work with one another help us Lord to work together and to bear one another's burdens and to glorify our king and head help us Lord to build this house that thou wouldest take pleasure in it that thou wouldest be glorified by it O Lord we plead with thee that thou wouldest truly reveal thy glory to us that our prayer would always be like Moses Lord I beseech thee show me thy glory that we in this place would see the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth do us good then we pray bless us in the week that lies ahead help us Lord to serve thee to serve thee O Lord with all our might and to do it with a broken and a contrite heart before thee do us good then we ask for Jesus sake amen we shall conclude by singing in Psalm 51

[46:47] Psalm 51 so you all know by now is my favorite Psalm Psalm 51 we're singing verse 17 down to the end of the Psalm page 282 in the Scottish Psalter Psalm 51 from verse 17 a broken spirit is to God a pleasing sacrifice a broken and a contrite heart Lord thou would not despise show kindness and to do good O Lord to Zion thine own hill the walls of thy Jerusalem build up of thy good will then not then righteous offerings shall they please and offerings burnt which they with whole burnt offerings and with calves shall on thine altar lay these verses of Psalm 51 to God's grace a broken spirit is to God a pleasing sacrifice a broken hand of God thy heart a broken hand of God thy heart a broken hand of God thy heart Lord thou will heart is mine your kindness and to do good O Lord to

[48:27] Zion thine own hill the walls of thy can you Jerusalem build up of thy good will then righteous offerings shall shall we please and offerings and with calves shall on thine altar lay shall on thine altar lay these verses of Psalm 51 to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore

[49:39] Amen you you