Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Today is Prophecy Friday. Haggai. I’m calling today’s episode “The Desire of All Nations.”

Comments on Haggai

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.

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. 

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!”

And then, 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.”

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.” 

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.”

And in verse nine, 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.”

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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Transcript

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STEVE WEBB – 0:00
They don’t know it, but he is the answer they’re looking for.

INTRO S12E310 – 0:10
And here we are together again coming to you from Riverside, California. This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible, and podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily show where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year. Today’s Prophecy Friday. We’re going to read the book of Haggai. I’m calling today’s episode, “The Desire of All Nations”. The show notes page for today’s episode is at lifespringmedia.com/s12e310. And my email address is st***@*************ia.com. Let’s begin.

HAGGAI 1 (NKJV) – 0:46
Haggai, chapter 1. (1) In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, (2) “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”’”

(3) Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, (4) “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” (5) Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!

(6) “You have sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

(7) Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! (8) Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. (9) “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. (10) Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. (11) For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

(12) Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the Lord. (13) Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the Lord.” (14) So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, (15) on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

HAGGAI 2 (NKJV) – 3:03
Haggai, chapter 2. (1) In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: (2) “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: (3) ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? (4) Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. (5) ‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’

(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.”

(10) On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, (11) “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, (12) “If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?” ’ ”

Then the priests answered and said, “No.”

(13) And Haggai said, “If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?”

So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.”

(14) Then Haggai answered and said, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

(15) ‘And now, carefully consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord— (16) since those days, when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. (17) I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord. (18) ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider it: (19) Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’ ”

(20) And again the word of the Lord came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, (21) “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying:

‘I will shake heaven and earth.

(22) I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms;
I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms.
I will overthrow the chariots
And those who ride in them;
The horses and their riders shall come down,
Every one by the sword of his brother.

(23) ‘In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the Lord, ‘and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

COMMENTS – 6:36
Well, Beloved, there were twelve Minor Prophets and the first nine prophesied before Judah was taken into captivity in Babylon or pre-exile. Haggai is the first of the remaining three minor prophets who came after the seventy year exile.

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

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

Now 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 2 of Haggai, the Lord encouraged the people. He told him, “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!”

And then verses 6 through 9 were very, very special. Let me read them to 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 the 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.”

You might ask, why are these special verses? Well, it’s because the phrase “The Desire of All Nations,” is a prophecy of the coming Messiah. There is no doubt that the nations don’t know that Jesus is the Desire of All Ntions. 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.”

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! 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.”

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

And verse 9 ends with, “’And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Well, let’s connect John 14:27, when 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.”

Yes, Beloved, we truly do have the only answer for the strife that is rampant in the world today. We have got to 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 those many years ago. Let us not be discouraged by a culture that doesn’t want to hear the name of Jesus. They don’t know it, but he is the answer they’re looking for. God has us here for a reason, Beloved, we are to be salt and light for a lost and dying world and we cannot allow fear of being canceled to cause us to put our light under a bushel basket. It’s our job to raise the light up high enough to chase the darkness away from even the hidden places. “Fear not, says the Lord, “for I’m with you.”

What do you think? Leave a comment at lifespring media.com/s12e310. Tomorrow is Gospel Saturday and we’ll read Acts 13 and 14.

Boostagram!

BOOSTAGRAM – 11:46
A boostagram came in this morning from Sean of San Pedro. He sent 1,234 sats, 1-2-3-4. He sent it in while listening to the Ecclesiastes 5 and 6, “Your Life Has Meaning” episode and he said, “As you read Ecclesiastes 6, I thought to myself, ‘Wow. Yeah, that’s right.’ And then your comment mentioned we’re going to learn how incorrect that is. I guess I’m a big Eeyore.”

Eeyore
If it is a good morning, which I doubt.

Christopher Robin
Did I get your tail back on properly, Eeyore?

Eeyore
No matter. Most likely lose it again, anyway.

Christopher Robin
Poor dear.

Sean said, “I look forward to the upcoming lesson in weeks to come.” Well, Sean, Thank you for your boostagram. And I don’t think you’re that big of an Eeyore. Yeah, I’m looking forward to the coming weeks in Ecclesiastes as well. Thanks for the boostagram.

ON THIS DATE IN CHURCH HISTORY – 12:49
On this date in church history, July 8, 1835, the American Liberty Bell cracked while tolling the death of Chief Justice John Marshall. The bell had been cast in England in 1752 and bore an inscription from Leviticus 25:10 that said, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

PRAYER REQUESTS – 13:18
Prayer requests. I got a prayer request from Kirsty. She said, “Hiya, Steve, I can’t access the Deuteronomy episode on Google podcasts. But it’s working on your site. So I’m gonna listen from there.”

Well, I’ll stop right there. Yeah, that’s the episode that had a problem with it. I did fix it. But evidently, Google is still pointing to the old link. I don’t know what’s going on with Google, but I did fix it. But at least I’m glad you were able to go to the website and listen there.

Kirsty continues. She said, “I’ve got a prayer and a praise for you, too. My daughter, Eliza, and my husband, Seth, both have COVID. They’re doing okay. Just feels like a nasty cold at this point. Please pray for them. And that hopefully Ezra”–that’s her son—“and I can keep it away. Sadly, we were meant to head off for a family holiday today, but we’ve had to cancel.” Oh, that’s sad. I’m sorry. I hope you can postpone that and do it again a little bit later.

And Kirsty has a praise she said, “I got a new job yesterday. One that I’ve thought about wanting for a few years. It’s full time for six months, and that in itself will need prayer. I’m usually part time. And I’ll be the antenatal clinic coordinator. Basically, I’ll be managing a small team of midwives who see pregnant women for their pregnancy care.” She said, “I think in America midwives have a bad rap. Here in Australia, we are legitimate health professionals who are the usual carers for healthy women both before and after pregnancy.”

And I’ll stop there as well. Yeah, I think midwives do have sort of a bad rap here. But you might like to know that Tim and Val had a midwife for the birth of Penny. So I think they certainly do serve a purpose here. I don’t have any problem at all with midwives. Now. LeeAnn, on the other hand, she was saying, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. But I think as long as everybody’s healthy going into it and you have a good idea of what’s going to be happening, it can be a good thing. So congratulations on the new job.

And then Kirsty ended her prayer request with this: “Hope you and LeeAnn are doing well. Have you managed to get in lots of zoom calls with Penny and the family?” We’ve had a couple, not with Zoom, but with FaceTime, and it’s been fun. And speaking of that, I might as well announce it right here. Next week, LeeAnn and I are flying out to Florida to see Penny and Val and Tim. Val and Tim, eh, we don’t care about. It’s Penny we want to see! Just kidding. So while I am gone, I am even now working on pre-recording the shows for while we will be gone. We’ll be flying out late on Monday night and returning Thursday night. So I’m trying to get Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday shows done in advance. Maybe pray for me that over the next few days, I can get that done.

And then the last thing Kirsty wrote in her email was, “Talk soon and if you’ve got any more tidbits for the newsletter, I’ll be putting it out tomorrow,” which is today as you listen to this. So I did send some things to Kirsty for the newsletter. I sent her some pictures from our Independence Day celebration here at the house. We had a bunch of family over here and well if you want to know more about it, you’ll just have to be sure you’re subscribed to the newsletter, go to news.lifespringmedia.com. Of course, I won’t sell your information. It’s safe with me. I won’t share it. Nothing like that, I won’t sell it, won’t share it. It’s safe.

CLOSING PRAYER – 16:30
So let’s pray. Our heavenly Father we know that Jesus truly is the Desire of All Nations and how we long for his return when he will set all things right. The whole earth groans for that glorious day and you Father have given us this promise, this marvelous hope, and we wait with eager anticipation. But as we wait Lord, we know that you’ve given us a mission. We know that this hope is not just for us who know him now but for all who will accept him as Lord and Savior. So it’s our responsibility to give them the Good News of a risen Savior. Lord, give us an urgency to share, to speak with those whose hearts you’ve prepared to receive the news. Give us a boldness, Lord, and the words to say when you lead us to them. Again, I asked you for a revival and let it begin with us.

Father, I pray for Kirsty’s husband, Seth, and her daughter, Eliza. Give them a healing from this virus and restore their strength. And protect Kirsty and Ezra from the sickness. And thank you for Kirsty’s new job. May she be an effective and efficient coordinator and a light for you as she carries out her duties. Bless her and her family, Lord.

And again, I thank you so much for each Lifespring family member. What a joy it is to be able to meet around your word with them each and every day. Bless them Lord, I pray in Jesus name.

If you have a prayer request or to praise go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

OUTRO S123310 – 18:01
Comment on the show at lifespringmedia.com/s12e310. Send an email to me at st***@*************ia.com. Thanks to the team: Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro and Denise.

And thank you for inviting me into your life today. Support the show at lifespringmedia.com/support.

And until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb.

Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Corrected by Denise