Two kings have reigned in Persia since the period of our last lesson,--See Article 3, "Rebuilding the Temple," Present Truth, August 24, 1899, in the section, "Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther." and one of them, Artaxerxes in response to complaints to assist those who were not allowed to assist in rebuilding the temple, has given orders that the work of restoration is stopped, "So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia." (Ezra 4:24)
In that year, Haggai and Zechariah began to prophesy unto Judah and engaged them to go on with the work of rebuilding the temple.
It is evident from the 1st chapter of Haggai that the people had become discouraged. They were saying that the time had not come for the Lord's house to be built. Yet they were building goodly houses for themselves. It was just as true then as it is now that those who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness will find all other necessary things added to them. The prophet called the people to consider their ways. He reminded them. "You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but you have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink, you clothe yourself, but there is none warm; and he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes. ... Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that is waste, and you run every man unto his own house." (Haggai 1:6,9)
We may find in this lesson an explanation of much of the misfortune that attends the plans of men in these days. A lack of liberality toward the cause of God is no economy. "There is that withholds more than is meet but it tends to poverty. ... He that waters shall be watered also himself." (Proverbs 11:24-25)
It is true that there were a great many very serious obstacles in the way of building the temple, but because of this the people were not justified in concluding that it was not yet time to build the Lord's house. Faith is that which connects us with God. No one can come to Him who does not believe Him. Hence it is important that faith shall be able to endure testing and trial.
Men would like to escape this experience and go right into heaven without a trial, but if they did, it would not be heaven very long. Israel desired to go straight from Egypt into the Promised Land, but till the influences of Egypt and the love for the ways were taken out of their hearts they would have turned Canaan itself into a copy of Egypt.
In the building of the second temple, God was not so anxious to see the completion of an erection of wood and stone, as to see in the hearts of His people that preparation for a pure and spiritual worship which would make it possible for Him to bless them. The people had not arrived at this state, and it was necessary that they should be schooled and disciplined by the trying of their faith, that this being much more precious than gold that perishes, or even the structure of a magnificent temple, might be found unto praise and honor and glory.
For this reason, they were tried, to see whether, in the face of difficulty and temptation, they would still seek first the kingdom of God, or make the food and raiment of chief account. That they did the latter, showed them lacking in the first principles of the service of God, but they were not for this rejected. They needed instruction, and prophets were sent to teach them the right way.
The words spoken by these prophets are for us also, that we may not make the mistake of letting the service of God become secondary to anything else. Nothing is more foolish than for a man to weigh his chances of getting a living against the call to obey God. It is true now, as it was in Haggai's day, that faith must be tested, but there is no question about the Word of God being sure. The only uncertain element is our confidence in that Word. When we believe it and obey it with all our heart, our welfare is assured, for it rests upon the security of promises which cannot be broken. We must learn now to trust God's Word, even in the face of adverse circumstances, for the unbelieving and fearful never enter the city of God.
Even after the Jews had set to work on the temple, their hearts were discouraged when they remembered how far short it fell of approaching the splendor of Solomon's temple. Some of the people had seen this before the captivity, and they despondingly compared these two.
But this was a small matter. The Lord sent a message by Haggai to all the people of the land bidding them work and be of good courage. The most splendid temple that men could have built would have fallen far short of God's grand purpose. This was that men themselves should be His temple. "Thus says the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?" (Isaiah 66:1)
Solomon had recognized how impossible it was to build a habitation meet for the God who had created all things. In his prayer of dedication he had said, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this house that I have built?" (1 Kings 8:27)
God's chosen dwelling place is not in temples made with hands. He himself has constructed a temple, a living one, in which He may reveal His glory. "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. The temple of God is holy, which temple you are." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)
We cannot make ourselves holy; God has done that already; but we can defile the temple of God by enthroning idols in the holy place where God has chosen to dwell. The sacredness of the human body can only be measured by the holiness of Him who dwells there. "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit." (Isaiah 57:15)
But in this same verse, we read, "Thus says the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity." (Isaiah 57:15)
Think how much is brought into God's temple. There is the loftiness and height of God, as well as His eternity. So we read that we are to comprehend the length and depth and breadth and height of the love of Christ, that we might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:18-19) God will infinitely enlarge the life that is submitted to Him, so that it shall be a fit temple for himself in every respect.
This was the truth which God desired to teach Israel. So long as they got no farther than to build Him a temple of wood and stone, it was evidence that they could not see His purpose or enter into it. "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." (Hebrews 9:8)
The lesson will be learned when God's people enter the New Jerusalem, for John says, "And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." (Revelation 21:22)
There is no shadow needed there of the good things to come, for the good things have come. Then we know even as also we are known. (1 Corinthians 13:12) "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them." (Revelation 21:3)
The relation between God and His people, in their perfect union, is typified by the relation of the bridegroom and the bride. These are one flesh, yet each can see the other as a separate person. In a perfect marriage there is perfect union so that both lives are merged in one, yet the happiness is wonderfully increased by reason of the separate existence of the loved one. Thus not only do the heart and will and judgment find enjoyment, but also the senses that convey impressions from the inner life. So, "as in a glass, darkly," (1 Corinthians 13:12) does the Lord instruct us how we may be temples for His indwelling, and yet see His face, and find in Him our temple, wherein we may dwell always, and go no more out. "At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." (John 14:20)
This was the truth which God spoke to the Jews through Haggai, if they had had ears for it. "I am with you, says the Lord of hosts: According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remains among you." (Haggai 2:4-5)
God does not withdraw His Spirit from men, though they grieve it more, and resist its working. (Psalm 139:7-10) He dwelt in Israel, and that fact made them a holy people unto the Lord their God. (Deuteronomy 7:6) Now the Lord assures Judah that His Spirit remains among them still; therefore they are holy, if they will but acknowledge it.
The same thing is true today. Men have lost the knowledge of God and think that to be saved, they must purify themselves. But, "in returning and rest shall you be saved." (Isaiah 30:15)
It is true that God requires holiness, but how shall it be gained? God sanctifies every place where He dwells, and what men need to learn is that God does not cast off, but that He dwells in them still, and therefore they are holy. The holy place may be defiled, the sanctuary trodden underfoot, but He who dwells there can cleanse it, and He alone.
We are called to rest in a work which has been completed from the foundation of the world; (Hebrews 4:3) and to show our faith in God's finished work, by resting on the seventh day, whereon God rested from all His works. The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people, "that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifies them." (Ezekiel 20:12)
Because God has formed every man for His own dwelling place, and implanted in every soul desires that can only be satisfied by the fullness of God dwelling within, Christ is truly "the Desire of all nations." (Haggai 2:7)
Men are ever in a state of unrest, seeking variety for satisfaction in the things of this world, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." (1 John 2:16)
But, as we have seen, man was made for "the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity;" (Isaiah 57:15) consequently nothing short of this gives lasting satisfaction. The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest; there is no peace for them; (Isaiah 57:20-21) because they do not receive the one thing that brings peace and rest,--the fullness of God.
Do we hunger and thirst after something we have never yet attained? It is the crying out of our heart and our flesh after God, like a thirsty land. (Psalm 63:1) Perhaps we have some ambition or longing, which, if we can only get it satisfied, will, we think, be all we desire. It is not so. Let none grasp longer after fleeting shadows, but take the substance that is freely offered, and which makes the receiver "satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 33:23)
The highest stage of Christian life is to be "filled," and by the infinite greatness of that which fills, we may learn the insatiable character of the desire which God has placed in men. It is folly to think of finding satisfaction in the broken cisterns of this world. "I will fill this house with glory." (Haggai 2:7)
It was to this building, though much enlarged by Herod, that Christ came so many times in His earthly life. The Son of God, whose glory could not be contained by the heavens and the earth, filled the temple with His sacred presence. The mere adorning with silver and gold was nothing compared with this. "In this place will I give peace, says the Lord of hosts." (Haggai 2:9)
Christ, came to give peace to every restless, unsatisfied, longing heart. Malachi foretold that the Messiah, whom Israel desired, should suddenly come to His temple, but: "Who shall stand when He appears?" (Malachi 3:2)
Jesus Christ has come to the temple which was built in Haggai's time, but that does not fulfill the prophecy in its completeness. "Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations." (Haggai 2:6)
The Lord will come to His temple, the men and women who are His dwelling-place, and fill them with glory. But how will it affect them? "Who may abide the day of His coming? for He is like a refiner's fire." (Malachi 3:2)
Those who have defiled His sanctuary with their detestable things, will desire to be hidden from the wrath of the Lamb. His glory is to them a consuming fire; and they are "punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
It is not that they did not obey His law. They "obey not the Gospel." (2 Thessalonians 1:8)
The Gospel declared that they were the holy temple of God, and made known to them His sanctifying rest in the Sabbath, but they would have none of it. God is no respecter of persons, and it is His life that has been revealed in all mankind. Those who have confessed that Christ has come in their flesh (1 John 4:2) and have acknowledged Him in all their ways, (Proverbs 3:6) when He appears in His glory, (Matthew 25:31) are made like Him, for they see Him as He is. (1 John 3:2) "He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe," (2 Thessalonians 1:10) but the disobedient are unable to bear the revealing of His glory. Christ must fill all things, and it is for those whom He has chosen for His dwelling-place to decide whether He shall purify them from sin now, that they may be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; (Ephesians 5:26-27) or whether they will forget that they are not their own, (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) defile His temple, (1 Corinthians 3:17) and be consumed when He gathers "out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." (Matthew 13:41)--Present Truth, August 31, 1899--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons--Haggai 2:1-9
E.J. Waggoner