Thoughts

The Minor Prophets

There were twelve Minor Prophets. The first nine prophesied before Judah was taken to Babylon in captivity, or pre-exile. Haggai is the first of the remaining three Minor Prophets who came after the seventy year exile.

The Reconstruction Begins…Sort Of

Cyrus King of Persia allowed the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem in 538 B.C., after seventy years of captivity. Two years later, in 536 B.C., construction to rebuild the Temple was begun, but the work stopped just two years later, in 534 B.C. For fourteen years, the Temple was completely neglected. They had a foundation, but that was all.

And then, in 520 B.C., the Lord told Haggai to speak to the people about their neglect of the Temple. They had excuses for not continuing to rebuild the Temple, but they seemed to have no problems building homes for themselves. 

This Time For Real

To their credit, Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua, the high priest and the people listened to the word of the Lord through Haggai, and they restarted construction. And in chapter two of Haggai, the Lord encouraged the people. He told them to “…be strong and work, for I am with you. According to the word that I have covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!”

A Messianic Prophecy

And then, chapter 2, verses 6-9 were very special. Let me share them with you again:

6“For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. 9 ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

Haggai 2:6-9 NKJV

Why are these special verses? The phrase “the Desire of All Nations” is a prophesy of the coming Messiah. Most certainly, the nations do not know that Jesus is the Desire of All Nations, but listen to what the great preacher, Charles Spurgeon said about this passage:

“He is the one, the true Reformer, the true rectifier of all wrong, and in this respect the desire of all nations. Oh! if the world could gather up all her right desire; if she could condense in one cry all her wild wishes; if all true lovers of mankind could condense their theories and extract the true wine of wisdom from them; it would just come to this, we want an Incarnate God, and you have got the Incarnate God! Oh! Nations, but ye know it not! Ye, in the dark, are groping after him, and know not that he is there.” 

Charles Spurgeon

And beloved, given the condition of the world today, listen and see how much more true these words of Spurgeon sound:

“Brethren, I may add, Christ is certainly the desire of all nations in this respect, that we desire him for all nations. Oh! That the world were encompassed in his gospel! Would God the sacred fire would run along the ground, that the little handful of corn on the top of the mountains would soon make its fruit to shake like Lebanon. Oh! When will it come, when will it come that all the nations shall know him? Let us pray for it: let us labor for it.”

Charles Spurgeon

And in chapter 2, verse 9, we read, “‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts.” The latter temple being Jesus Himself. Remember when He said in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” He was talking about Himself, of course.

Verse nine ends with, “‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.” In John 14:27, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Our Call

Yes beloved, we truly do have the only answer for the strife that is rampant in the world today. We must redouble our efforts to share the Gospel, because only Jesus will bring peace to the hearts and minds of the lost. Let us not grow weary of the work, as the Jews did in their effort to rebuild the Temple. Let us not be discouraged by a culture that does not want to hear the name of Jesus. They don’t know it, but He is the answer they are looking for. God has us here for a reason, beloved. We are to be salt and light for a lost and dying world. We cannot allow fear of being cancelled to cause us to put our light under a bushel basket. We must raise the light up high enough to chase the darkness away from even the hidden places. “Fear not,” says the Lord, “for I am with you.”

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 1-2 NKJV

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