[:en]SCRIPTURE: HAGGAI 1
INTRODUCTION:
In 538 B.C. when Cyrus was the king, he allowed the Jews to return from exile to Jerusalem. People were busy building their own houses and forgot the God’s temple which was stopped by their enemies.
Haggai’s message was that the time had come to build the house of the Lord. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua and with Haggai’s prodding, the temple was rebuilt during thears 520-515 B.C. This temple will be greater than the former temple because the Glory of God would fill in this house.
“Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:5-6)
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” (Haggai 1:7-11)
“So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month” (Haggai 1:14-15)
A CALL TO BUILD THE HOUSE OF THE LORD (vs. 1-14)
People were busy building their own house while God’s house remained a ruin. Zerubbabel and Joshua obeyed the vow to the Lord and called on the whole remnant to start the work on the house of the Lord on the 24th day of the 6th month in the second year of King Darius. He used “Give careful thoughts to your ways” two times to prompt them into action. He cited the reason why they planted much but harvest little. They never have enough to each and drink. Their clothes did not keep them warm and their wages were insufficient because they neglected God’s house. God hd withheld rain and dews so that all the ground produces and labor of the land were in vain.[:]