Revealing Christ In the Old Testament XXX: A Divine Message In A Bottle

Malachi or “my messenger” prophesied and is the voice of the One he prophesized of. Instead of speaking of an end, the prophet at the end of the Old Testament speaks of a new beginning to come. He foretells of John the Baptist as God's messenger and of our Lord Himself as the Messenger of the Covenant. In Malachi 1, God is indicting the priesthood. Instead of living exemplary lives they were guilty of breaking the very Law they were charged to uphold. They were “serving” the Lord and it was disgraceful and a dishonor to His name.

First and foremost they were treating their obligations and God with utter contempt. This head and heart attitude formed their precepts and concept for behavior towards God. It tainted how their duties were performed for Him and towards Him. Inevitably it led to contemptuous behavior towards God and worthy of God’s wrath. It showed that they were totally insensitive to their sin and others which didn’t allow them to realize they were “despising” God.

They were offering blemished sacrifices. Levitical priests where raised and taught what was considered defective sacrifice but did so anyway and thereby defiled God’s name. The priest where then naïve enough (or brazen enough) to ask, "How have we shown contempt for your name?” and “How have we defiled you?” They just didn’t get it, they were clueless and shouldn’t have been. It is like saying a builder doesn’t know how to hammer a nail. They could not plead ignorance. They had become so hardened in their sins they were behaving as if they had gone insane.

Then a stinging and convicting reproach …they say that the Lord’s table is contemptible by their actions by bringing blind animals, when sacrificing crippled and diseased animals. He asks them if they think that is wrong and their answer should’ve been “yes”. We sadly see the depraved condition of their minds and hearts. These are animals that wouldn’t even have been offered to the governor in a banquet. So why would God accept them?

Malachi implies that it would be better to shut the doors to the temple than to continue such worthless sacrifices. God would no longer accept the offerings from their hands. He was not pleased with them…at all. If they couldn't serve Him with their full hearts He didn’t want any of their worship. God is either worthy of all our praise or none of it. Either put on your big boy/big girl pants and buck up or go home.

We see a people lost in their sin that have been exhorted repeatedly to return to the Lord…to know the Lord and in their sin they refuse to do it in the prescribed manner that He had given them. The Lord views their actions as contemptible. This is as He would view the sinner now in this day and age. He loves people but they are to repent and come under his terms, not theirs. Failure to come before God and in the correct manner gets rejection. Not because God likes to reject but because it reflects the heart’s contempt for God by taking His statutes lightly and without credence.

We then see the reason for the Lords refusal to accept the sacrifices. At some point in the future, “His name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations…" As designated by the word “will” a time was coming when the message of salvation would be taken to all nations (gentiles included).What the priests failed to understand is that it is better to obey completely rather than to sacrifice negligently. This applies to us today also. We are never to take God lightly. It is better that we not even approach God rather than come to Him in a blasé manner.

If the priests are admonished harshly what should we expect if we do the same? If they did not listen obey, “if you do not set your heart to honor my name” God was going to send a curse upon them, and even curse their blessings. The Lord then reminds the priests because it is clear they are either spiritually calloused or purposely recalcitrant and/or filled with contempt for the Lord. He states that His covenant was a covenant of life and peace and He gave it to them and because He did this there was reverence and awe expected in return. They have obviously failed to live up to the covenant. They took their privileges for granted. Do we do this in Christ now? Do we take for granted the death on the cross and abuse grace? I suggest many do when they sin with the presupposition that is somehow okay because Jesus has "got it covered." This is more of an Antinomian attitude. Instead of Pharisaical legalism we see irreverence and arrogant abuse of grace. I fear I see this all too often even in my own church and others I've attended.

We are called to faithful service. The priests in Malachi are cautioned against the perversion of their duties and obligations. We as a kingdom of priests to the world as Christians are well advised to take heed to the same caution. We are commanded to evangelize the world as disciples and spread the Gospel. By not doing as commanded (Matthew 28:19-20) we are exactly the same as the negligent priests in Malachi’s time. What is worse is that by not fulfilling things like the Great Commission and spreading God’s word we are slipping into apostasy and turning away thereby leading others behind us into apostasy also.

“It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” Luke 17:2

Malachi's message is to people who should’ve been leaders in righteousness instead they were only guilty of leading people away from God in apathy and ambivalence. Are we guilty of the same sin or are we reverent with the Spirit of God within us? If we are leading people astray in apostasy… the Spirit cannot possibly be what compels us. If not the Spirit of God, then what spirit compels us?

So who is the "Messenger of the Covenant" in Malachi 3:1? If we refer to the original Hebrew of Malachi 3, the Hebrew tells us the messenger is [Strongs H4397: mal’ak] “messenger-of-me/Me” or literally “a messenger; specifically, of God. Whomever this is, he is coming directly from God himself. This first messenger will also prepare the way for God or in this context/case Jesus Christ and as suddenly as this messenger will come, the Lord they are seeking will come to His temple. This verse is the Old Testament counterpart to Matthew 11:10, Mark 1:2 and Luke 7:27. It is also the Old Testament companion to Isaiah 40:3: “A voice of one calling: In the desert prepare the way for the LORD make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. The Messenger is John the Baptist.

Knowing this makes the identity of the One that will usher in the New Covenant and the One who will abrogate the Old Covenant obvious in hindsight. It is Jesus Christ or the One who will prove He is God by purifying His people like a “refiner’s fire” and punishing sinners. He will fulfill the ceremonial law once and for all. He will up the ante on the moral laws as these laws were not abrogated but further elaborated upon and the true implications are brought to the surface by Christ in places like the Sermon on the Mount. "You have heard it said...but I say to you..."

He (Jesus) will be the abrogator (One who fulfills) of the Old Covenant in that He will fulfill the demands of the covenant in His life and with His life. When He rises from the dead he will usher in the new covenant with His marvelous work of redemption.

As for the reference of Elijah...in Malachi 4:5, it appears to be one final double-entendre or type of metonymy. The Elijah referred to here is not the Elijah of the past (but it could) be (and probably is; Matthew 11:13) the Elijah of the future, John the Baptist. The herald or messenger sent directly by God to prepare the way for Jesus Christ. In a historical context he is the forerunner of Jesus at the spiritual level. He comes to pave the way for our Messiah…to level the road for the King. If Malachi is the last word of the Old Testament then one of the last things it mentions is one of the first things we will see in the New Testament Elijah/John and of course our Messiah Jesus Christ. Paradoxical (chiastic or patterned)…what else would you expect from our mighty God who has plans since before the foundations of the world?

What we see and hear between Malachi and Matthew is a complete absence of God from His people and a deafening silence of 400 years. Between there is a remarkable link between the two testaments.  It is like a divine message in a human vessel/bottle between two shores. A message of salvation and assurance to assure that we would leave this mortal shore and arrive on Heaven's shore intact. A 400 year gap that would separate men from the obligation of the Law given under Moses and a new obligation given to them to repent and accept the message of Jesus Christ. The message would be Jesus and the Gospel and that message would assure safe transit between this life and the next. Jesus would be the bridge between the unattainable perfection/message of the Old Testament Law and sinful humanity. The bridge or message between Holy God and sinful humanity. The message would save both those of the Old Covenant and those of the New Covenant and bridge the two together into a unified whole...just as in the Body of Christ.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit...Ephesians 1:13

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6

Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!” Acts 28:28

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. Hebrews 1:1-2

The very last Figure on the inspired page of Malachi, and the first of Matthew, is the forerunner of Christ (John the Baptist)…and then Jesus Christ Himself tying all of the word of God together. I guess this exactly what we would expect of the One who would sustain…

“…all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3

The Old Testament closes with the word חֵֽרֶם / doom or curse in Malachi 4:6. But it is expressive of the great desire of God's love to avert it.

He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction. Malachi 4:6

It is interesting that opposed to the curse at the end of the Old Testament, in the end (culmination) of the New Testament we will find a blessing. This is because at the end of the Old Testament, Jesus had not yet come but at the end of the New Testament, He will have come twice and the second time He comes to stay and to reign in full. In His presence we would all be blessed in perpetuity.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. Revelation 22:21

The Angling Carpenter & A Carpenter's Angle

Luke 5:1-11 ~ On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Having read this passage I see quite a few ironies, paradoxes and interesting quirks that should be mentioned to enlighten a reader. It should first be noted that Jesus, the carpenter is telling the professional fisherman that He needs to use his boat to preach to the people on the shore. Jesus, a carpenter therefore becomes a fisher of men in the fisherman’s boat by preaching the Gospel. Please note Jesus doesn’t ask here, He tells. Jesus fishes from the fisherman’s boat but catches no real fish but catches something worth infinitely more…men’s souls. In the Sea of Galilee, had not Peter held the boat still it would’ve surely drifted away from shore. It is necessary that Jesus anchor his teaching in His disciples since after He is gone it will be they (with Him) that carry on His teaching, just as the boat now carries Jesus and His message.

When the preaching of the Gospel is completed we would think that Jesus would ask Peter to take the boat back to shore but Jesus always the Master of the unexpected tells them to put out for the deep and drop their nets. The problem with this is that, in view of the world, it is a carpenter telling professional fishermen how to fish. What is even more shocking is that Jesus has picked the absolute worst time of day to drop a net into the water. It is the middle of the day and water is warm. The oxygen content in the water near the surface is low. The fish would surely have dropped into much deeper waters and under rocks…out of range of the nets. This is further exacerbated by the fact that these professional fishermen know for a fact that they should fish at night for the best catch and the previous night was a horrible night’s catch. They must be absolutely exhausted. We should expect these professional fishermen to tell Jesus He’s nuts and forget about the whole deal. They do not. They actually signal to the other boats (probably subtlety so not to clue in other groups of fishermen) and they do as they’re told.

As it turns out the carpenter is dead-on. They take in the haul of a lifetime. The boats literally began to sink. It is through Christ's work here that the catch of a lifetime comes to fruition. What we see from Peter and the other fisherman is a willingness to put away their pride and temptation to debate and fight Jesus over what appears to be an obvious fool’s errand. It turns out it wasn’t foolish to do what they did but made perfect sense. Peter then reacts exactly as a man should when he has been schooled in his own profession. He see’s Jesus as Lord.

It is therefore ironic that Jesus will take some of these very same men and make them the exact fishers of men that Jesus had just demonstrated personally previous to this monstrous catch. Just like the shadows and the types of the Old Testament that will one day point to Jesus, we see here a New Testament typology for the disciples who will follow in the footsteps of their Master. Jesus, a carpenter by trade but God in being and Savior in purpose…thee Fisher of men.

In this scenario Jesus had approached Peter in a situation where Peter had his strongest hand. Jesus is trying to bolster and build up Peter here, not tear him down by schooling him on how to fish. Jesus does this to build Peter up showing how his profession (fishing) will play such a strong hand in what Jesus will want Peter to do as a disciple. What’s more is that Jesus seems to do some of His most effective bolstering and building work on Peter when? When Jesus and Peter are alone in close quarters…these conversations between Jesus and Peter are personal and in many cases one-on-one. It is only when Peter divulges the information Jesus gave him to others that Jesus’ information becomes more public. Jesus is purposeful in is tact with Peter. It is similar to the way God still does work with individual believers. God reveals certain personal tidbits and information to believers that will move them towards His will. God approaches Peter and us often in isolation (private prayer time) far from the prying eyes of the world. The very same judgmental eyes that will often instigate us through sin and temptation to make poor decisions that God would rather not have us make.

Jesus came to Peter in private trying to truly reach him. Jesus wants Peter to focus with a single-minded intensity on what he is being talked to about. This I believe is because Jesus knows His creation well and knows that no man can focus on multiple tasks without dividing their attention therefore diminishing the effectiveness of their work. God doesn’t believe people can truly multi-task. He said as much in Mark 9

Mark 9:62 ~ Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”.

In dealing with Peter the way that he did Jesus puts Himself at Peter’s mercy too. He is adrift in a boat controlled by someone else. This is the way true ministry often looks. It is not the premeditated business model that supposedly guarantees certain amounts of return for effort expended (i.e.: purpose driven). It is a minister or shepherd that is willing to put Himself in the mercy and grace of the very one’s he leads. By doing it this way it behooves Jesus (or a pastor/minster) to properly train them to produce the desired holy outcome. A true leader is exactly this. A person that is willing to put Himself/himself at the whims of the ones He teaches as it instills a sense of responsibility and accountability. True leadership gets under those that they lead to supply them with the things they need to lead others. It is servant leadership from the suffering servant. In so doing Jesus starts as Peter’s επιστάτα / teacher or leader (v.5) but ends as Peter’s κύριε / Lord (v.8). By putting Himself at Peter’s mercies (therefore God’s), we see Jesus being rightfully recognized and exalted by God through Peter (and probably others in the immediate vicinity). It is in faith that Peter will recognize this fact also. I suppose it is no surprise then that it will be Jesus who pucks Peter from the water like a fish when Peter's faith falters (Matthew 14).

We see Jesus going in at the perfect angle for the best effect with Peter. Just as Jesus learned that it is better to measure twice and cut once as a carpenter, it is also smart to size up your catch before attempting to reel it in. It is also highly probable that being a carpenter, Jesus would’ve most certainly used a carpenter’s angle to make perfect squared edges with which to mate to other perfectly crafted edges. This is just like when we try to make perfect relations in Christ when we become disciples and followers of the Carpenter from Galilee.

When you know the tendencies of your intended catch, you bait your line so best to catch it. Just as a carpenter knows the tendencies of the wood he works, he wishes to work along the known grain so not to cut against it. Jesus had an angle and it was to make fishers of men just like Himself. He literally constructed and crafted them just as He had worked and coaxed the wood in His youth into beautiful creations. They would be all new and all unique. To make these men he had to lead by example. He had to stoop, flex and hone them one step at a time. Sometimes, going with the grain is better than cutting against it. Sometimes rolling with the tide is better than rocking the boat.

Jesus purposely put Himself at the mercies of others. Nowhere did we see this more than at the Cross. In so doing He supplied Peter with the exact thing he would need to catch others as a fisher of men. Jesus made Himself the bait for the fishermen. He made Himself the Gospel. Jesus made Himself the very thing that He preached from Peter’s boat just off shore at Gennesaret. That is God’s angle: The Gospel.

Revealing Christ In The Old Testament XXIX: Sticks and Stones Won't Save My Soul

Zechariah was connected with Haggai in space and time as both prophesied at the same time.  Zechariah's prophecy is a little more lengthy and intense than Haggai’s. Just like Haggai, his prophecies start at the people’s low ebb of rebuilding the Second Temple after returning from Babylonian Exile.

Ezra 4:23,24 ~ “As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Zechariah’s exhortations appear a little more forceful by telling the rebuilders that they should not disappoint God the way their ancestors had done (Zechariah 1:1-6). God is clear though that it is not byu their power that these things will eventually succeed.

Zechariah 4:6 ~ “So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

Just as the stone, wood and gold of the Temple are only tools in the builders hand, so too are the believers and faithful like Zerubbabel in God’s hands. As we saw in Haggai, so too we see here, it is not just Zerubbabel either…it is us. It is not by or doing or our works that things are given their glory by God on high…but rather by His work, righteousness and holiness…lest any man should boast.

Ephesians 2:8 ~ “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

In the rebuilding of the temple in Zechariah’s time we then see a remarkably subtle reference to Christ in the most unlikely of places.

Zechariah 4:8-10 ~ Then the word of the Lord came to me: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”

Since God underlies and oversees all that is ever done we see Christ in the foundation being laid for the temple by Zerubbabel and we also see Him as the Capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel. It is no wonder Zerubbabel is called God’s signet ring in Haggai as his actions are an exact image of the will of God at this time.

Ephesians 2:19-20 ~ “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

1 Corinthians 3:10-11 ~ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

There are then eight visions. I will not be explicit about every one of them but mention them sporadically here.

In Zechariah 2 we see a man with a measuring line in his hand. As stated before a measuring line is a symbol of restoration. God will restore His people. Also as we had seen in Chapter 1 of Zechariah there was a man that would stretch the measuring line over Jerusalem (including the Temple). Zechariah asks him where he is going and the not so surprising answer is that he is going “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is." The man with the measuring line appears to be the Angel of the Lord, Israel’s Messiah. By measuring His city He is declaring that it is His and He will eventually use it to fulfill His Divine purposes no matter what has happened in the past or who controls it now. The people that were contemporaries of Zechariah, the remnant, were keeping the city alive for the day the Messiah would come…and they did. We too as believers are to upkeep the current temple (our body) in righteousness and obedience in expectation that the day is quickly coming when the Messiah will arrive. We are to be prepared in the event of His second coming.

We also see that "Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,' declares the LORD, 'and I will be its glory within.” It is quite possible that this will be because the believers themselves may be the city in  some form. As I have already said in the post on Haggai and here, believers themselves are indwelt by God just as the Temple itself was. It is not hard to see how a body of believers in community can be seen as a city with God inside them via the Holy Spirit (but I digress).

In Zechariah 3 we see more overt references and typology of Christ.  Joshua the High Priest (the holiest of men) is dressed in filthy clothes which represent his dirty, sinful condition. He is told to remove his clothes. The Lord then says to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin and will put rich garments on you”. As we get to this point in the chapter we sense that this is more of a judicial court setting as Joshua/Judah has just been deemed righteous or his sins have been removed which is a form of judgment on God’s behalf. The Lord has to deem whether or not something is sinless (remove sins) or holy as He is the ultimate and final judge of such things.

The Lord then tells Joshua to "Put a clean turban on his head" which gets done. This seem as though it is a re-commissioning to the office of priest of God. Then it is made quite clear in a condition clause that “If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house (judge my house) and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.” We are talking total commitment here, not half-hearted, half-baked actions but total faithfulness to duty. Joshua/Judah will judge and will have direct access to the Lord in the presence “among those standing here”. In this entire vision we see the fingerprints of Jesus Christ all over it. The high priest of the Old Testament (Joshua; in this case Judah too) is nothing more than the perfect high priest that is to come, The Branch (messianic title) Jesus Christ. The Old Testament sacrificial system was but a shadow of the only sacrifice worthy and suitable for human redemption. Jesus.

More importantly we now arrive at a parallel in Christ's later work that also directly relates back to the ceremonial Levitical system for priests. Not only did Christ pay the ransom to redeem us He also acted as the priest that entered the most holy place (Heaven/the Father's right hand) when he died offering His blood. All previously symbolically carried out by the priests in the Old Testament now carried out for real by Jesus in a once-and-for-all sacrifice that truly removed the sins of men.

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:14-16

All over this Old Testament book we see as Christian what the Jews never were capable of seeing nor can they now. Humanity, like Joshua are dirty even at their best and have no grounds of righteousness on which to approach the throne of God. While the entire system of the Law was based in works, it was never the works of the people themselves that got people into the presence of God. It was His works on their behalf. It is His Spirit indwelling us that allows us righteousness to be approved of by God. Without this we are lost. It requires that we accept it though. It is not our work or efforts through stringent religious practices but it is us accepting a gift already given. The glory is always God’s not ours. We are merely vessels and clay in the Potter’s hands.

A future promise is alluded to now. We arrive at the final portion of this chapter in the last two verses. There is an abrupt change in metaphor from The Branch to a stone. My first impression is that this is a stone for/from the Temple but it says there are seven eyes [facets] on it and the Lord will engrave and inscription on it also. Additionally, He will remove the sin of this land in a single day and in that day “each of you [in Judah] will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree.” The setting of the stone before Joshua implies that it is not a building stone but nor does it sound like a jewel. In a single day denotes that something will happen quickly at a single point in time or a decisive point in history. Neighbors inviting neighbors under a fig tree is an image of peace and prosperity and dare I say harmony (considering the time this is written). The Stone is another Messianic title for Jesus and parallels other teachings of Christ being some form of stone, a cornerstone, a stumbling block, a rejected stone, a smitten stone, etc.

In the end, we need to see that it is not the building but rather the builder. It is not the saved but the Savior that works within us. The Temple saved no one, it was the One who dwelt within it. It is not we that save others but the One who dwells within us. He is the only way.

It is not sticks and stones that save my soul but it is the Word who dwells within that saves me.

Revealing Christ In the Old Testament XXVIII: A King Makes a Chair a Throne

Haggai

It is highly probable but not stated directly in Scripture, that Haggai along with Zechariah were within the first exiles to return with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile. It is also possible that Haggai had seen the original glory of the first Temple. If this is the case than Haggai was quite advanced in age when he returned home.

Haggai 2:3 ~ “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?”

Ezra 3:12 ~ “But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy"

Haggai’s message is clear. People are to look at themselves and ponder their ways and what they are doing. They are to see how good they have it. The Lord is with them and it is time to rebuild the Temple. God first stirred the spirit of the leaders and subsequently the spirit of the remnant people. God moved within them all. To the prophet Haggai is given the message-- along with Zechariah-- to stir the people…and stir them he does.

They are to work to rebuild the Temple.

His first two prophecies he tried to shame the people out of their indifference in redecorating their own houses but leaving the Lord’s Temple in absolute and utter ruin.

Haggai 1:1-2 ~ In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest: This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”

Haggai 1: 3-9 ~ Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” 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.” 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.

Haggai’s prophecy did what it was supposed to do which was motivate Zerubbabel governor of Jerusalem and Joshua the High Priest. It also dramatically affected the people as they rose up and began the work of rebuilding the Temple, which had been interrupted (Ezra 3-5)

It is not long before discouragement seems to have set in again on the workers. It seems the glory of the former Temple so overshadowed the rebuilding of the new that it totally discouraged those that remembered the former glory of Solomon’s Temple. It is through the power of the Spirit of God, Haggai exhorts them to push on and continue to build because it is the Lord of Hosts who was with them and that very Spirit would remain among them.

It is here that we need to see Jesus clearly in the text. God is exhorting His people through Haggai. In essence what is being shown to them through a lesser but still significant rebuilding of a second temple  is that it is not the things of our lives that we do or the things we act on so much is it is the very fact that Jesus Himself dwells within us. It is not through our works that we get saved but through our acceptance of Jesus and the salvation He brings. It is after this acceptance that our actions change to become more Christ-like. Yes, our actions can help show that the Kingdom has indeed arrived by Christ being in us but it is not those works themselves but the impetus that is behind them…which is Christ. It was not the temple per se that made the Temple so glorious…it was He that dwelt within it that brought the Temple its magnificence, majesty and grandeur. The throne does not make the King, the King makes a chair a throne. It is not the castle that makes the King, it is the King that makes a home a castle.

What is ironic is that the fully adorned Second Temple would reach the peak of its aesthetic glory at the very same time that Christ would come in His incarnate form when Herod would have adorned the Temple. In the Lord’s prophecy through Haggai in Haggai 2 we again see the glory of the One who will give the true source of the physical temple splendor. The One who’s Presence indwelt both physical Temples will also will bring honor to the new temple that will carry His Spirit…the human believer (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). But before that Spirit can indwell individual believers, the Desire of the Nations will need to come as foretold in Scripture many times.

Haggai 2:6-9 ~ This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

What is further ironic is that the second temple would be further out-shined in glory over the fact that a believer themselves would be the temple-Jew and Gentile alike. 

Galatians 3:28 ~ "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

We as believers become the temple without walls or a cathedral made of people. Where God’s Spirit lives and breathes just as it had once done in the Tabernacle of the Wilderness and in the first and second Temples in the Holy of Holies.

The Lord of The Ring

Haggai 2:23 ~ “‘On that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Before departing the book of Haggai we should also mention the symbolism of Zerubbabel being God’s signet ring. He had led people in return from captivity in Babylonian Exile. This is akin to Jesus leading people back to God from captivity in their sin. It is also interesting to note that Zerubbabel was of the line of David. In this way he is a type or shadow of Christ. In building the Temple he was a servant of the Lord during a time of trouble for God’s people, just as Jesus was for people not only under Roman oppression but for Christians under the system of the world and sinners under their sin. Because he was called by God to do something in obedience to God, he again is like Christ. In the same way a King makes a simple chair a throne, so too God makes a simple man that is the exact impression of His likeness (Genesis 1:27) a king that is an exact type or shadow of His Son who is Himself a King and an exact representation of the Father (John 14:7), whose Spirit now indwells all believers who accept His Son (Romans 8:9-11) and they too...are to be like Him. If we take this one step further...what does this tell us about the nature of individual believers indwelt by the Spirit of God today if we are indeed like Zerubbabel who was made in the image of God? That's right folks, we are royalty and co-heirs in Christ because of Christ...just as Paul told us in Romans 8:17.

It is therefore is remarkably cool to mention that God would call Zerubbabel His signet ring. A signet ring was a ring that makes and exact impression of the object that is on the ring in a wax impression. If Zerubbabel is God’s signet ring, Zerubbabel like Christ is a representation of God, or in Zerubbabel’s case, a likeness or impression of God the Father as no one is a perfect imprint of representation of the Father except Jesus Himself.

John 14:6-7 ~ Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Hebrews 1:3 ~ The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

For us today we must realize something profound. If we are only evangelizing and trying to reach out to people to build God’s church when things are going really well, we really are not following the pattern laid down in Haggai. God’s people had fallen on difficult and strenuous times. They had many things working against them physically and psychologically. God exhorted them through His chosen vessel when and where He needed to, to keep the glory and splendor of the Temple moving forward. He will do the same today for the glory and building of His Body and Kingdom. The pivotal element in that building of that new temple, the Body of believers…is you. What are you doing to build God’s temple?

As Haggai said to his people then, so to God still says to us today: “Give careful thought to your ways.” (Haggai 1:5)

It is His Spirit that remains on us. It is He that makes us His Body, not us making His Body for Him. It is not our work in and of itself that rebuilds the Temple but rather it is His work within us that rebuilds us that builds His Body, therefore...His Kingdom.

A Throne For King Nothing

Atheists Unveil "First" Monument On Government Property

STARKE, FLA.  // A monument to atheism now sits near a granite slab that lists the Ten Commandments outside a courthouse in a conservative north Florida town. The New Jersey-based group American Atheists unveiled the 1,500-bound granite bench Saturday as a counter to the religious monument in what's called a free speech zone. Group leaders say they believe it's the first such atheist monument on government property. (Read Full Article Here)

Andy's Commentary: 

I just posted on atheist churches a week ago. Since many militant atheists are becoming, well, militant, it is not surprisingly I find another article pertaining to atheism floating in the news less than a week a later that warrants comment and commentary. Please note I am directing my comments primarily at militant atheism here. As our country is continuing to turn increasingly godless and certain sects of atheism becomes more militant, the push-back from these quarters becomes more pronounced. The ad-hominem attacks become more frequent and the straw man arguments from atheists about Christianity become more hostile and convoluted. All the while a friendly form of atheism is promoted but in truth the monuments in the article mentioned above are nothing more than rabid attacks on Christianity which is evident by the mischaracterization and misapplication of Old Testament Scripture of the punishments for disobeying the Ten Commandments. 

Any Christian understands that the punishments have been absorbed by Christ’s work on the Cross and a Christian needs only to accept Christ's atoning work on the Cross (not stone people). This is a straw man argument from the designers of this throne for godlessness. Good grief atheists, do you really view us as animals? Those punishments are under a different dispensation.Please people, get a grip. This is just another absolute and utter failure to understand what Scripture really says and an overt willingness to impose the wrong meaning on the text and then attack it. If anything this monument should've been an emphasis on an ungod or godlessness or a belief in no God (a monument to nothing...or humans which is the moral equivalent). Instead it is exactly what you would expect from militant atheism...a direct attack on Christianity. 

As for the comment on the monument that state things like hospitals should be built instead of churches...lets back up a few centuries. Who do the atheists suppose ran with the idea of hospitals during the middle ages for the old, started orphanages for children, began scholasticism and universities that train professionals such as doctors? Please people, learn history better. The comment that deed should be done instead of prayer is again another mischaracterization of true Christianity by the creators of the monument. The Bible one-ups on this fallacious comment. The Bible is clear about deeds in relation to true faith in addition to prayer.

James 2:18 ~ "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
James 2:26 ~ "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."

In defense of some atheists....it would be arrogant and disingenuous for me to say that all atheists or other non-Christian people are totally incapable of producing “positive” outcomes (in theology this is considered efficacious grace), but to say they are actually morally “good” though is a moral absolute truth statement and would be wrong from a philosophical logic standpoint. Most atheists say that what they are doing promoting a world without God is a good thing. Only a person(s) or being with a claim to absolute truth source would be on logically solid ground to be able say that. No one is good w/o this absolute metric, even Christ alludes to this in the Gospel of Mark.

Mark 10:18 ~ “Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God  alone.”

This means only those who would base their truths in the God like the one that Jesus speaks of would have a basis for true “goodness." A "good" example of this is a Christian who defers to God since it is Christ that said this and all Christians are in Christ spiritually. Sadly, this is a concept which an atheist is incapable of comprehending because of their self-limiting worldview.

The very fact that atheists come from an anti-theist / anti-supernatural viewpoint prevents them and Christians from examining reality in exactly the same way. Atheists literally limit the sources from which they are willing to glean facts and truth from thereby cutting into a fraction what is possible for them to accept as real. Their criteria for gleaning those truths are then also limited. The key word is “limit”.  Atheists rely solely on “a posteriori” evidences, empiricism and they seem to cling tenaciously to a reality that is rooted in existentialism and/or methodological naturalism. Militant atheism actually seems to have regressed or got stuck in the mud of the past in what was once called Logical Positivism. Logical Positivism states that knowledge or information of what is real can only be derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory experience. This is literally a mental relic of the late 19th century later overturned by the likes of Anti-Positivism and the sub-atomic quantum phenomena in the 20th century. If humanity tries to prove the existence of God solely by “a posteriori” methods rather than "a posteriori" in conjunction with “a priori”, then we could never finish listing the events in the natural order to arrive at a conclusion or proof. It would still require some form of leap of faith. Thus, the proof would be incomplete--we would be anxiously awaiting future events. Therefore atheist belief systems are not based in bedrock foundationalism or self-evident truth as many will claim. This cripples their argument from a philosophical standpoint because their appeal to authority is something less than absolute … flawed humanity.

By doing this they preclude the possibility of a super-mundane Being (God). To me this is irreconcilable with my worldview or any other Christian. By not having this super-mundane Being as an absolute anchor of morality and ethics, you then have no absolute gauge or source of moral authority other than your own opinions or other people’s opinions. Atheist then have no absolute source of truth for their truth claim that a God does not exist. It becomes merely an opinion and a poorly reasoned one at that. It is at this point that the debate slips into moral relativism or worse postmodernism where all truths become true which is not logically possible. Even most rational atheists can admit that human authority and opinion is flawed, even when it is by consensus (plurality). Atheist source of truth is then subjective and relativistic.

Because of these factors atheists and Christians will have virtually nothing that we can agree on in terms of reality, morality or ontology (state of being). Atheists are looking for empirical evidences to prove a spiritual or supernatural being. Even a men as brilliant as Rene Descartes and Soren Kierkegaard knew that to deny God was absurd so Rene gave his proofs through his ontological argument and Soren never even tried to prove it directly per se, he inferred God’s existence (or assumed it through a syllogistic train of thought), hence his “leap of faith”. He argued “from” our existence, not “towards” God’s existence. The "leap" he speaks of is the point of see something by inference. In a word, God's existence does not hinge on our ability to see the point of an argument or evidence so much as it is the comprehending of an inference that is the actual "the leap." As long as people insist on scientific evidences (which is the only “fact” or “truth” our current culture accepts), we will never get to God from where we are at…which is lost. Because of this atheists are incapable of thinking outside of their philosophically restrictive box they have boarded themselves inside of. They claim truth by making absolute truth statement that God does not exist and they do not even have the philosophical basis nor sound logical basis to back their leap of faith and religion of "no God". In other words they are too intellectually arrogant to realize they are too arrogant and do not have proper underpinnings for their claim.

As I said before in other posts, I will say it again. Atheism is a religion. Sadly, it is the only one now allowed on government property most of the time without argument. In this way atheism and atheist have an unfair religious advantage in civil government. Atheism is a religion or is a belief system or a religion of no God. A religion being defined as a set of beliefs that dictate a person’s worldview that can include the following characteristics: A material dimension/aspect, ritual/rituals, ethics/virtue, doctrinal beliefs of philosophies, a social dimension, a logical basis and a narrative or meta-narrative.

As I’ve also written in the past, modern atheism has been inexorably predisposed and manipulated by the writings of Marx, Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche. All of these saw Judeo-Christian religion/values as a socio-cultural human creation. For the most part they saw the religions as being created out of necessity. In the end they all saw religions as holding humanity back from advancing, hence the comments on this atheist monument to nothing. Marx believed religion functioned like a drug to keep most people enslaved to the ruling class and called it the “Opium/Opiate of the Masses”. Freud more boldly called religion an illusion, and Nietzsche ignorantly asserted that God was dead.  All of them believed atheism and a focus on the self or humanity itself in some form were necessary to overcome human suffering and to reach a climax of human potential.

Along with Darwinism and the religion of evolution we essentially get the nihilistic and godless barren landscape of the 20th Century that spawned among other things, two World Wars and numerous other atrocities such as the Holocaust, China’ Great Leap Forward and Khmer Rouge--all in the name of Humanism, Communism, Socialism, Social Darwinism and Atheism. Atheism or the New Atheism has now turned aggressively anti-religion (mostly towards Christianity). They are nearly rabid and militant in the forms of Christopher Hitchens (now dead), Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins (the Four Horseman of Atheism) These men and their ilk actively attack religions and theists in general. They seek to actively discredit theism of any kind but seem to take an especially sadistic pleasure in maligning and bashing Christianity as we can see on the monument to humanistic relativism.

I will actually quote something from this monument to prove my earlier point. The highest authority that atheist could appeal to for this monument was an obscure reference to a treaty signed by a human government to still the fears of another human government in 1797. It was the Treaty of Tripoli and it was to calm the fears of a Muslim nation (Tripoli) that a Christian one (United States) was going to impose their religion on them. This of course is ludicrous as the US 1st Amendment was about not, “making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion…” To say, based on this treaty that America is in no way a Christian nation flies directly in the face of the fact that there are clear references by inference to natural law (inalienable rights and therefore God indirectly) in the founding documents. The Declaration of Independence is clear: “…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Like I said, atheists can only appeal to flawed humanity. Even the founding fathers in their desire to allow for religious freedom had enough sense to admit the fact that all men are created and are endowed with certain qualities by that Creator. I will also concede that under US  law they have a right to build this monument to humanism (or attacking religion). It will be a lasting reminder that will immortalize their flawed philosophical arguments. The flawed intellectual arrogance it takes to deny God and make a monument essentially to the self is staggering. To do so with flawed philosophical underpinnings is intellectually absurd.

To give all this perspective I will say this. Even if we exploded every nuclear weapon ever created by man they would not produce even a fraction of the energy that our sun puts out in a minute. Our sun produces energy so much greater in orders of magnitude than puny man could ever create. We are inconsequential on the astronomical scale. It is estimated that there are at least 100,000 suns in our galaxy (The Milky Way) alone. Multiply this time the estimated total of 176 billion galaxies thought to be in the observable universe and we arrive at a stagger sum of energy and matter. Now let us go from the interstellar to the infinitesimal. It is estimated that there are 1 billion trillion atoms in a single teaspoon of water. A majority of atom is just empty space and the stuff that is not (matter) is nothing more than compressed light (more energy). It is strong and weak nuclear forces (energy) that hold this mostly empty matter in place without it blowing apart in fission or fusing in fusion. How many atoms construct the 176 billion galaxies? Each and every atom containing unimaginable energy and power. Mind-boggling power as evidenced by our nuclear weapons. Enter into this the fact that atheist will have us believe that all this energy and matter either always existed which it couldn't (entropy precludes this) or that it all came out of nothing and caused by nothing. They will have you believe that all this complexity and pattern in the vast expanse of the heavens and the exact same structures in the infinitesimal that follow the same exact physical rules came from nothing. They either existed or came into existence with no intended impetus or purposeful cause (Aristotle's Un-caused Cause). They want us all to believe that existence and the universe is nothing more than mere chance and circumstance. The fact is it either took an unimaginable amount of creative energy to bring all this energy and matter into existence or it all came from nowhere. Which is more plausible to a rational mind? Seriously...answer the question.

This is an unbridgeable chasm folks philosophically or logically yet the atheist will have you believe you are absolutely stupid for thinking otherwise. I have given you a philosophically and logically sound argument for asserting otherwise. Not only is it statistically improbable (which means its impossible), it actually begins to make more sense to believe and have faith in the simpler and obvious existence of God (Romans 1 and Occam's Razor).  You can't get what we have from nothing...unless of course there was something else beforehand capable of initiating it. Something or Someone with infinite or limitless unimaginable power--that just by the power of speaking things into existence...they became. Would you rather believe that existence is all from something/Someone or that all that ever was came from nothing or just always was? Which makes more sense? In the end...the choice is definitely yours.

Romans 1: 20 ~ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Colossians 1:15 ~ 'For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.'

Hebrews 1:3 ~The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 

Hebrews 1:10 ~ "And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands..."

The Parable of the Lifesaving Station

Life Saving Patrol

1893

Edward Moran

Oil on canvas

36 1/8 x 54 1/2 in.

Smithsonian American Art Museum

On a dangerous sea coast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Some of those who were saved and various others in the surrounding area wanted to become associated with the station and gave of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little life-saving station grew.

Some of the members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The life-saving motif still prevailed in the club’s decorations, and there was a liturgical life-boat in the room where the club’s initiations were held. About this time a large ship wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick. The beautiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house build outside the club where victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split among the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon life-saving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station. So they did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another life-saving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown.

This is a poignant reminder to us to make sure we never lose sight of our original first love and purpose for the duties we are called to by God whether they be in the Church or in our vocations. 

Stay the course! People's lives depend on it!

I liked this modern parable so much I had to re-post. It appears to have come from an Ideas book from Youth Specialties, Inc. I've pulled a copy and cited it from InterVarsity Press. It appears the original author is untraceable. The story warrants peoples attention though.

"Parable of the Life-Saving Station-Student Leadership Journal - InterVarsity.org." InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA - Home - intervarsity.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 July 2013. <http://cms.intervarsity.org/slj/article/4249/0.1>