"The Beauty of the Lord's Glory" - Haggai 2:1-9

Pastor Brian leads us through Haggai 2:1-9, being the second installment in the series. 

Transcript

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Brian's gonna be preaching from Haggai chapter two today. He would stand in reverence of the word of God being read. Haggai chapter two, verses one through nine. On the twenty first of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by Hagi the prophet, saying, Speak now to Zerubabel, the son of Sheeltiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehosedak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? But now, take courage, Zerubul, declares the Lord, take courage also, Joshua, son of Jehosadak, the high priest, and all the people of the land, take courage, declares the Lord, and work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts. As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit is abiding in your midst. Do not fear. For thus says the Lord of hosts, once more in a little while I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also, and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts. This is the word of God. You may be seated. Brian, will you please come?

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All right. Again, what a joy it is to be able to dive into the Word of God together. What a gift, what a privilege. Let's go to the Lord once again. Let's never take this time lightly. It's just transformative for us all. So, Father, we thank you for the privilege of your word to us. We thank you for the gift it is to be able to dive in and see what you have spoken. This inerrant, necessary, authoritative word would impact us all this morning. By the power of your Spirit, Father, we pray that you would do a mighty work in each life here. That nobody would leave without encountering the risen Christ through the Word. And that we would all be transformed in some fashion or form by your grace to faithfulness. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Well, again, it's a blessing and a privilege to be in this book again. And last week, if you can recall, if you were here, we were blessed to see that the Lord graces Israel, or specifically the remnant, with some gifts. He gives them the gift of repentance. And he gives them the gift of mercy. And he allows them to be forgiven as they turn back to him. And he even goes so far, God is so gracious, he even goes so far as to allow himself to be pleased, to be glorified even in and through them in this time. What a gracious Savior we serve. And so, as we see for today, that the prophet Haggai begins his next prophetic utterance from the Lord, as recorded in verse 1 in this second chapter, and he begins by giving his audience, and of course us here today, the exact date of his ministry to the people. It's the 21st day of the seventh month, which in that time for them would have been the month of Tishri. Interestingly, this date, according to Leviticus 23, was the seventh day, almost the end, the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles, or you may have heard it called the Feast of Booths. This feast that they celebrated as a joyful time for the Israelite people as they remembered what God had done to rescue them. In this time they would gather together to celebrate the Lord's deliverance, his constant provision. They all built, this is the different part for us. We don't really have a framework for this, but they would all build these temporary housing shelters to live in for this celebration as they remembered the wilderness wanderings from back in the desert with Moses in his leadership. That's why it's called the Feast of Booths. They lived in these temporary booths for eight days. They rested on the first as well as the eighth because those were the Sabbaths. But they're all together. And by the way, there were three what we could call hallmark feasts. There were three really important feasts that the Jews would celebrate. They would come together to celebrate Passover. They would come together to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And then, of course, this one here. And so what we know is that all three of these feasts were established by God to cause them to remember who he was and specifically what he did with their forefathers back in the day, back in Egypt, and in bringing them to the land flowing with milk and honey, we read in the Bible. Now, what's interesting here is that the workers had finally started to lay the foundation for the new temple that they were rebuked for not building, as we saw last week. It's interesting that this date was the same date in which Solomon's leadership and the building of the temple that they constructed then was completed on and dedicated to the Lord. There's a lot of overlap here. And so the same day of this feast that we see here, that they're where they're finalizing the foundation as they get going again, it was the same day that the much larger and you could call it grander temple was dedicated back in Solomon's Day of 1 Kings 8. Now I know with what I've established so far, what I've said so far, you are thinking to yourself, ooh, this is gonna be exciting. I get it. But as we dive into this, I'm telling you, I'm completely confident you'll be blessed. We'll get there. Not because I'm gonna preach a great sermon, but because for one, this is the word of God, and if you're a Christian, that's something to you. But for two, the beauty of what we see here today, I'm gonna say we'll blow your socks off if you're in Christ. So that being said, the most notable underlying theme in this passage, so by the way, lock away, place away that uh that that conversation on the temple and what's going on here, because it's it's gonna be important. But the underlying theme in this passage, and even this first verse where we see Haggai give the date, the underlying theme is the messianic implications of what we're gonna see. And this will kind of be the theme to some extent for today. And so, you see, to start off with, what we come to see as we study the Bible, I just want to give you a quick reminder as we as we study the Bible, especially the Old Testament, it all points to the new, and therefore it all points to who? Jesus Christ. Amen. And so there's not any debate about that, even in even in Christendom, which is surprising because we debate about pretty much everything. And so, but there's no debate that the Old Testament points to Christ. And so, if we zero in a bit on our text for today, this is precisely what we see. And so you see, the Feast of Tabernacles, like the other prominent feasts, it it's it's to point us to Christ. That was to point them to this great Messiah that was to come. Now, they did remember back at what God had done, and that's why they had the shelters, and that's why all that's going on, but it was ultimately to point them to Christ. Remember what John 1:1 says? In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So there in that passage, we have the eternal Jesus, the Word of God, present and active in creation as God, right? Skipping down to John chapter 1 and verse 14, what do we read? We read the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now here's the thing: that word dwelt. He dwelt among us in the incarnation when he came as a babe. Remember Christmas? That word can also be translated tabernacle. Tabernacle. And so the point I'm trying to make is that this feast, this feast of tabernacles, feast of booths, that the Israelites are partaking in in Jerusalem as they had been laying the foundation of the temple for a month or so. The point of the feast in the ultimate sense of things was to point us to the Messiah who would come and tabernacle among us. The people were to dwell in these booths to remember what the Lord had done in rescuing them and remembering back all of that and temporary wilderness shelters, but it points them ultimately to the one Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, who would dwell among them. I begin with that because it really does set the stage for what we're going to see. Ultimately, is the beauty of the Lord's glory overarchingly. So let's look at the first point again in your bulletin. You should have those points there. If you take notes, it's hopefully a useful tool for you. The first point we see is that the Lord is encouraging his people to be strong in him. We see that in the first five verses of our text. Now I want you to picture the scene. Remember the Ark of the Covenant? Remember reading about that? The Ark of the Covenant, the great and mighty ark that God used so many times to promote his glory. It was even brought by the Israelites into battle. Remember those occasions if you've read through the Old Testament? Well, that ark isn't around anymore. Now I'm not going to go full Indiana Jones and try to figure all that out. It's just not there, okay? It used to be in the old, the grand temple, and now it's gone. It's not with the Israelites anymore at this time. And so we think about it, there's also the vast amounts of gold, silver, other precious and valuable materials that were in the temple that Solomon had built for the Lord. Where are they? Yeah. By and large, gone. By and large. Now they were sent back with some things, but not fully in that capacity. And so what we can't help but notice in this passage is that this building that they're beginning to rebuild is obviously smaller in size and scale, and it really just didn't compare to the former one. Didn't have the ark, all the gold, none of that. And so in verse 3, Haggai speaks for the Lord, and he kind of asks all of those who are older, Haggai may be one of them, I don't know. He asks if they're older, do you remember the temple and what it looked like, Solomon's temple, the former temple? And I think what we draw from this, the implication of the text, is it may be discouraging to the people. I say that based on what the Lord goes on to tell them. So I think the the older, think about it this way. They had begun their work on this new temple with renewed vigor, energy. You know, when you're forgiven by the Lord, and man, I'm excited to work for him, right? They had failed him completely by being concerned for their own houses, their own stuff only, before even putting a drop of sweat towards God's house and his work. And so God sends Haggai to rebuke them for it. They then respond with repentance by the kindness of the Lord, and they're ready and they're willing to do this work. Yes, they say. You call that a temple? Ha! That's yeah, you should have seen what we had back in Solomon's day. That's a shack compared. It's one of those back in my day moments. I'm getting to the point where I can say that here and there, especially with my kids. It's a pretty exciting time in my life. But but notice what the implication of the text, I know it doesn't spell it out specifically, but the implication of the text is that the older people are not impressed, you know, kind of sitting back. And then in verse 3 again, we see the Lord Himself is weighing in on that very subject, and that's where we draw that from. And so it's true. This is nothing like what it once was in its former glory before it was destroyed, which was a result of the people's sin, by the way, and not just a mere enemy coming. Uh the Lord had sent the enemy, if you can recall. Captivate, take them captive. Because they were an adulterous people, the Lord says. And so verse 3 shows us that the Lord and as he points out, the older generation are looking upon this new foundation, and they're basically saying it's nothing in comparison, and they're right. But then comes verse 4. Yeah, yeah, I'm drawing a little bit out of verse 3, but I think that's there. Verse 4. The Lord says, which, by the way, in and of itself is amazing. He speaks to them through the prophet, and he speaks words of encouragement, and they don't die. So that's awesome. The Lord says through the Prophet Haggai, the Lord says, take courage. He sees they're disgruntled. He sees they're discouraged. He says, take courage, take heart. This temple cannot be compared to the former one. It's okay. But take courage, Zorabul, the leader, the governor, take courage, Joshua, the high priest. Take courage, all the people in the land, take courage, the remnant, and work hard. Why? Because God Himself tells them, I'm with you. I'm with you. It's okay. It's okay. What more is needed than that? The Lord remarks about the absolute insignificance of the temple compared to the old one in verse 3, but then proves his constant, everlasting compassion and his loving kindness to them once again, and says, hey, take courage. It's okay. Work hard, though. Don't slouch. Take courage, work hard with what you have, what I've given you to do, and I'm with you in the work. Remember what they were doing before? Rebuked. They were doing nothing for him. It was all for them. And yet, in God's long-suffering, loving kindness, he can now say, I'm with you. Take courage. What a kind God. Back up with me for just a moment and picture the scene again, if you will. These people are all living in these lean twos, if you will, uh, out of these houses made of probably leaves, sticks called booths or tabernacles, and the and the temple they're reflecting on as they pause for the work because of the feast and Sabbath, it's looking kind of small. And then here comes Haggai. Here comes a prophet with another word from the Lord. Now I can only imagine what's going through their minds as the prophet once again starts in. Remember the last time, about a month ago, he spoke to them? It was an absolute word of rebuke. Now we have these old people speaking of the smallness of the work, how how the old one is much better. And then here comes Haggai, oh great. Right? That's what I'd be doing. He begins to speak, he begins to recount how the Lord has noticed the smallness of the work. And then comes verse 4. What a great God. Work hard at what you've been given. I'm with you. I know your hearts. And hey, here's the thing. I'm pleased. I'm pleased. I'm with you. Remember, as the Lord spoke through Joshua, the general of old, all those years ago, after entering the promised land. He commanded them what? Be strong, be courageous. That's the same kind of theme going on here. Be strong and courageous in the Lord. Be strong. Take up your courage. Do what has been appointed to you. Forget the fact that the other one was more glorious. It doesn't matter. It's not going to be like the former temple. It's okay. It's smaller and way less splendor. But what's important isn't those things. What's important is I'm with you as you stick to it. Beauty of God's glorious grace. As they're building the temple, they are to remember that the temple is the dwelling place of God among them at this time. As they look forward to the Messiah coming, as we reflect on what they're currently celebrating, is already mentioned, even as we reflect on Mark 6, maybe where Jesus comes walking on the water. Remember that one? He comes walking on the water and he says to his apostles, what? Take courage, take heart, it's I. It's okay. And so again, what we see is that it is because of the very presence of God Himself that we now have the ability and the command to have courage like them. To stand strong in the Lord like them. Because if the Lord is truly with you, if you're in Christ and the Lord is truly with you, then whatever He has called you to do will succeed. It may be painful, it may be difficult, it may not be the same road that you anticipate. Our roads are straight, right? Flat, maybe even a little downhill. That's not life. I'm told there's this road. I haven't done it yet. I know I've been here a couple years I should, but I'm told there's this road that goes, you're gonna know, there's this road that goes from Unity to Baker City. I'm told it's a little windy. And so that's kind of life, isn't it? Either way, he's with you. Take care. Let us not let this pass by without noticing something beautiful. The beauty of what the Lord's presence brings. Think about it. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came to the earth about 500 years after Haggai. And he came to dwell among men. As he did this, he lived the perfect life that you and I could never live. He died the perfect and atoning death for those who would call on his name and repentance and faith, and therefore he bore the wrath that was meant for us, meant for them. What this means is that if you are in Christ today, then the very presence of the Lord is always with you, tabernacling, dwelling with you. And so, what's the word we use, or what's the phrase we use? Take courage. Take heart in the work he has given for you to do. He's with you. No matter what's going on in your life, no matter how discouraging your life and work may seem right now, the Lord is with you in it. The risen and conquering king is there. Take up the courage that only he provides. You can't muster it inside yourself. You are not brave on your own. And by not talking about, you know, jumping in front of a bullet or in front of a speeding vehicle. That's not that's not eternal bravery. Eternal bravery is standing up for the Lord and walking in holiness. We can't do that on our own. We need him. But do you see how incredibly gracious the Lord is to his people here in us today? I mean, in Ezra chapter 1, the Lord stirs up his people by his spirit to leave Babylon and head back to Israel. In that, he even stirs up the king. Read that passage, it's great. In last week's passage, we saw that the Lord is once again with his people and he stirs them up unto obedience again by his grace. And here again we see that since they are blessed with the presence of the Lord, he stirs up their affections for his glory by reminding them that his spirit is abiding in their midst. Do not fear, the Lord is essentially saying in verse 4. The enemy may seem big, the temple may seem small. Maybe today our world seems to be in chaos and turmoil. The enemy is constantly pressing us to disbelieve the Lord and cling to what is worldly. The narrative of our culture is getting more and more ungodly and immoral. The cry of our culture is to cater to that which is ungodly, and even allow entrance into the church itself of that kind of stuff. It seems as though there's a lot to fear, right? But I tell you today you serve a conquering king who has conquered sin, death, the evil one, the world, even your own flesh if you're in Christ. You have nothing. To fear, take courage. You have nothing to fear but him. I'll say it again. Roosevelt was wrong when he said, you have nothing to fear but fear itself. You have the Lord to fear. Therefore, how dare we fear anything else? The Israelites of Haggai's day had the Lord himself with them in the work. Today we have the risen Lord Jesus with us in the work he's given us to do. What could possibly come to us that would cause fear in the Lord's work, especially if we have that truth, if we've been given him? I mean, you and I have something better than the Ark of the Covenant. We have Jesus. There's no longer a need for a temple on the earth. Isn't that awesome? Praise God. No sacrifice is needed. We have Jesus. And we're called the temple of God in the Bible. So take courage in the work he has for you. It's all for his glory. Let's dive into our second point. The Lord promises the presence of his glory. We see this in verse 6 through the first part of verse 9. Now back in the wilderness with Moses and the people who are by this time wandering because of their sin, there's this great shaking that took place. Do you recall the account? Moses goes up onto Mount Sinai, and the whole place is shaking. It says, with tremblings and earthquakes, with thunder and amazing displays of God's glory. It is from this time that the people get the written law of God, and hear me, the awful presence of God. And I don't say awful like we mean today. I mean it was a fearful thing in a great and mighty and awestruck kind of way. And so what Haggai's telling them here is he encouraged them in the work when speaking of the shaking of the heaven and the earth in verse 6. That's what he's talking about. In verse 9, he tells them ultimately the glory of the Lord to come will far surpass the glory of the former temple. Now, what does this mean? What is this pointing us to? Some commentators think it's merely pointing us to some things that have happened on the earth since then, or uh like the Persian Empire or Alexander the Great, and reflecting on things that have happened in the past. And yeah, there's some quote-unquote shaking of the earth during that time. I believe this is primarily pointing us to Jesus Christ the Messiah in both his first and his second coming when he will come again, which is a far greater glory than this constructed temple listed here will ever be. Haggai goes from speaking specifically to them in that moment to prophesying, remember he's a prophet, to prophesying about the future as an act of great comfort to the people. He uses the future blessing of the presence of God through Jesus Christ to comfort them as they get discouraged. Again, remember the Old Testament's always pointing us to Jesus the Messiah. That's what the Bible's all about. It's all about Jesus. By the way, it's not about us. We aren't the center of the universe. I am not the gravitational pole. Even though we try to be. It's not about us, it's not about what we get. It's about Jesus. I'll say this. The Bible itself is the overarching redemptive story of the manifold grace of God displayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's what the Bible is. And that is the greatest display of the glory of God. So here we go. Look at verse 6 again. The Lord speaks and he says, once more, in a little while, I'm gonna shake the earth and the heavens. Once more. He's done it before, he's gonna do it again. Remember when Jesus went to the cross? And he's hanging there? The universe is being turned upside down, metaphorically. The creator is being crucified by the creation. How silly is that to sound? This is the most monumental event that has ever taken place on this earth. The one who spoke life into existence is being killed by those who had the breath of life by his own hand, his own sovereign grace. This shook things up for the creation in amazing ways. This manifested itself in numerous ways as the life giver was giving up his life for those who came to who he came to save. What happened? Well, one of the things that happened is the ground began to shake. Again, Jesus willingly goes to the cross on that day. He had those nails driven through his flesh that then stuck him to that wooden cross. Jesus willingly allowed them to place a crown of thorns upon his beautiful head. Jesus willingly allowed them to whip him and scourge him with leather whips, with bone fragments and other things attached to the end, with the intention of tearing his flesh off. Jesus willingly carries that cross with help because of the pain physically. He carries that cross to the hill called Calvary, knowing that he's going to be mocked by sinners, scoffed at by wretched men. But ultimately, Jesus willingly went to that hill knowing that it would be a place of wrath. Jesus knew that the wrath of his Father in heaven had to be poured out on himself for anybody to ever be saved, and more importantly, for the Father to be glorified in the salvation of the lost. And so as he's hanging there, do you recall what happens? The sky goes completely dark for three hours as Jesus absorbs his father's wrath. And then the moment comes when Jesus gives up his life. Remember, they didn't take it from, he gave it up for us. He gave up his life and he breathes his last, and it is in that moment that the earth begins to quake and shake. Rocks are splitting in half. The veil of the temple was immediately torn in two from top to bottom, exposing the Holy of Holies and pointing us to our future priesthood as believers. Even the local tombs became opened in Matthew's account, and dead people raised up and began walking into the city and made their presence known to many people. Yes, this is miraculous. That doesn't happen every day. Or at all. Even some of the Romans were absolutely undone by this, and they began to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God. And so, this little while period of time spoken in verse 6 of our passage, I say it's speaking of about 500 years. In the Lord's economy, remember that his perfect timing is always in his sovereign decree. And so this was therefore spoken to encourage the people in Haggai's time. I'm gonna shake the heavens, I'm gonna shake the earth. Jesus is coming. So Haggai's encouraging them and teaching them that there is this one who's gonna come, and when he comes, it'll shake things up forever for the good. In verse 7, we see Haggai continuing on in the same vein, but this time as he continues, we see him naturally and easily just switch gears a bit to when the Lord the Messiah returns for his bride in his second advent. Look at verse 7 with me again. It says, I will shake all the nations, and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. Yeah, other nations did come in some small ways and give small homage to the nation of Israel. But this is speaking of a worldwide homage-paying time when the world itself will come and give worship to the worthy one when he comes again, this time in judgment. Some will pay homage with terror-filled-filled tears and bleeding knees before this great king and judge, as they're cursing. Others, those who are his, they will pay homage with grass steamed knees and joy-filled tears of comforting relief that the king has come and his glory has filled their hearts, and therefore the whole of creation. Now we see this spoken of, by the way, in Hebrews 12 near the end, as the author speaks of this unshakable king and his unshakable kingdom. And so the ultimate shaking of the created order and even of heaven has not happened yet, even today, the ultimate sense. That kind of shaking is going to come when our Lord returns and makes all things new. And here's the thing: this will be the most glorious moment in history because of the immensity of the presence of the Lord's glory. The Israelite remnant at the time of Haggai's writing was extremely blessed of the presence of the Lord and therefore his glory. But on that day that is still to come when the Lord returns for his bride, us his people, there will be a glory that will be more fully manifested at that time. It'll be a glory that has never been known or seen by human eyes on this earth. Remember what happened to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai when it was quaking and shaking as the Lord passed by? So, Moses, you're my guy, but you see me, you die. You can only see the train of my glory from this place I'm gonna hide you in. Even the glory of the Lord that filled the temple in Solomon's day when it was dedicated is gonna be nothing in comparison to the glory that comes as this risen and reigning Lord and King comes to the earth. Everything will be shaken again. Nations will come and bow before him, and the wealth of all nations, your translation may say the desire of all the nations will come. The Messiah will come again. This is what it's speaking of. Things were shaken up at the first coming of Christ, right? When he came and went to the cross and defeated sin and death and rose victoriously, ushering in the dawning of his kingdom, but they will be utterly shaken and completely changed when he comes again in glory as king and judge. No matter how many millions in gold were used to make the temple in Solomon's day, the presence of the risen and returned king will far surpass that glory and splendor as we see him face to face. And so back to it. The Lord is encouraging the people of Haggai's day that one day the presence and therefore the glory of the Lord will far surpass what they're working on. As the Lord Himself will tabernacle among them both in the incarnation when he came the first time and in the second in his glorious return. What a great reminder as they're sitting in their temporary shelters. This is not our home. This tent of flesh and this earthly dwelling pales in comparison to what awaits for us when the Lord returns. And the glory of that appearing as the Lord fills the spiritual house of his people will make silver as valuable as stone. And gold as valuable as old moldy bark chips in comparison. Therefore, Haggai says to his people, take courage, take heart. It's okay. The Messiah is going to come, it's all going to be good. He will go to the cross. The temple in that day will be filled with great glory, since the Lord Himself will step foot in it and he will cleanse it. In that day also the earth will quake and shake at his death, but death will not hold him. The grave cannot keep this Messiah. He will raise triumphantly from that grave, and he will come once more for his people. And the glory of that time will completely blow the former glory of this little temple out of the water. So don't worry. Don't worry about what seems to be lacking in your temple. It's just a temporary structure, even if it's made with stone. Because the Lord is coming and his glory cannot be contained in things made by human hands. Be comforted, people. I'm with you. The Lord says. Take courage. Those of you who are in Christ. Jesus is coming for his bride, his church. He will appear in glory, and his presence among us will be complete and it will be amazing. In the meantime, do the work. Do the work. Don't abandon your post. Work hard for him and his people. Make your presence known as you serve him side by side, day by day, with your brothers and sisters, building into what he's commanded us of here in this local church. Do what you've been called to do. Do the work of faithfulness in light of his glory and grace. No matter where or what that looks like, he's with you in it. Let that bring courage and fear. He knows who you are. He knows what your life consists of. And so, one way or another, let that continue to be the catalyst in your life. Why should we do this? There's lots of reasons. But look at the end of verse 9 with me. This is our third point. Look at the end of verse 9. Verse 9 says, The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and then here we go. In this place I will give peace, declares the Lord. This is our third point. The Lord's encouragements and presence brings peace. It's as if Haggai is saying to them, You look around now, dear remnant of Israel, and you're concerned. You look at the temple foundations, you get discouraged because you just don't have the resources. Maybe you don't have the know-how that they had in Solomon's day, but take courage, have peace. You and I today, church, may look around and we see what? We see some turmoil, don't we? We may see some chaos. There's some wars. We see diminishing morality in our world and in our country. You see chaos in crazy times. You see an increasingly hostile world and an even hostile America toward the gospel. They're okay with the watered-down version. But the real one. You see the modern evangelical church wavering on this gospel and the truth of the word. But take courage. Take heart. Yours is that of peace. Jesus has conquered the world. Jesus is head of the true church. And this is speaking of both a temporary and an eternal peace. Because the latter glory of the Lord's presence will bring forth a real and a lasting peace, a peace that for his people that is that is now known only as a foreshadow of what is to come. You see, in Haggai's day, there's this felt and known peace now between God and this remnant who are building the temple. They've received the Lord's rebuke. Praise God. They have turned from what they're doing by neglecting him and his temple, and now they're enjoying his presence. And since they are still alive and kicking, this means that they are enjoying peace between them and God, at least for now. But for us who are in Christ, after the Lord draws us to himself and saves us for his glory, there is this for the first time in our lives, there is peace between us and God, eternally. Before Christ saves us, the Bible says we're at enmity with God. We're his enemies. I don't have to tell you, that's not a great place to be. Our sin, it says it separated us from him. We're sons of disobedience, Ephesians 2. Before Christ, we are at war with God in our sin. And then the Lord draws. He draws our hearts, he draws our affections, our souls, and he captivates and he captures us by the regenerating work of his spirit. And at once by his marvelous grace, we are brought into the fold of God. We go from being at war in our rebellion against him to being called saints by his mercy. And now, verse 9, at peace with him through this marvelous grace. It's a wonderful thing to be at peace with God. It's for our good, it brings him glory. And the beautiful thing here, as we read this passage, as we dive into what it's saying, come to find out that this peace that it is speaking of isn't merely peace on earth and this tint of flesh. It is pointing us to the peace that comes through the Prince of Peace on that day. Jesus the Christ is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9.6. One of his messianic titles that we love to read at Christmas, right? He's king, he's wonderful counselor, he's mighty God, he's a Prince of Peace. He is the enactor and provider of peace, real and lasting peace, not that nonsense that the world wants. Where we can all just get along and hold hands. That's not gonna happen. Because Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Only through him can there be such. Praise be to God. You see, Jesus came and lived that perfect and faithful life and died and rose again about 2,000 years ago for the glory of the Father. The benefit to us is that you and I have the privilege of now being able to repent, to turn from sin. Just like the Israelites and Haggai's day, and to turn to God by his grace. We can never do this by mustering up something inside of ourselves. There is no one who seeks God, the Bible says, Old and New Testament. We need him to do that on our behalf. So beg him today that you would do this. That he would reconcile you to himself, that he would uh that you would come to have that eternal peace with the God of the universe through the all-glorious sacrifice, his blood, the blood of his son who came and died on the cross for sinners. Please hear me though. Understand what peace with God means. Peace with God doesn't merely mean that you and him are now on good terms. Like a handshake deal, it's not that. It doesn't mean that you're in, you got the get out of hell free card from Monopoly. Peace with God means that you are now free to worship him in all of life. Peace with God means that you have turned to him and you're now excited about working for him, as we see in our text for today. It means that the advancement and promotion of his glory is your primary concern because you have peace with God. It means you're no longer living for yourself, but that it is Christ who lives in you. It means that the beauty of his glory causes you to long for and to love the thought of his appearing. It means that the beauty of his glory is the cause that you champion day in and day out, no matter where you're at. Ultimately, what it means is that the presence of the Lord is with you. The gospel teaches us that for all who are in Christ, for all who have turned to him and confessed him as Lord and Savior, for all of eternity you will forever dwell in the presence of the reigning King, the powerful creator, the mighty champion. It means that for all eternity you will be biting with and worshiping over this Prince of Peace, the all-glorious one. And get this, this is the one who chooses to abide with us as people. Tabernacling together. In light of all this, we sit here today marveling over what he's done, don't we? While we wait for him to come again. In that great universe shaking event. And then all those who are in Christ will be with him forever. What a great and kind God we serve. How beautiful is this grace. What is a man-made temple in comparison? This is what we will be marveling over for an eternity. In his presence. I've read this before from the pulpit, but I want to read it again. This is straight out of the book of Revelation. Look at what goes on, or listen to what goes on in heaven in regards to the presence of Christ. It says, and I looked. John looks, and he heard the voice of many angels around the throne, and the living creatures and the elders. That's everybody. And the number of them was myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing in every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them. I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and honor. Dominion forever and ever, and the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshipped. That's because of the gospel. This is in light of his glory revealed in his magnificent presence. The earth and the heavens have already been shaken at this time. And so this should encourage us today. Just like the depressed temple builders of Haggai's day, it should shake us up and to worship. Like the creation will be because the Messiah has come. And it should compel us to be saints who seek to promote the glory of God above everything in our lives. No matter what this future holds, brothers and sisters, my friends, no matter what it holds, we know that God will be worshipped daily by his faithful people. Does that bring you comfort? I mean, we know that his people will do the work he's commanded. Isn't that awesome? We may sit here today in Little Prairie City, today in our small church building. It may not look like a huge church building in the bigger cities, just absolutely busting with people. But if you're in Christ here today, you are his child, and like the remnant, you are called to work hard at building up his house by how you live and what you do each day for his glory, no matter how small or tucked away your life may seem. And so I ask you, are you walking in faithfulness? Are you working for him? Are you doing what he is calling you to do in his word? Are you a vital part of the work he's called you to do right here in Grant County? Are you praying? You may not be able to do a lot. Are you praying? Are you living each day, remembering you've been created to honor and glorify God and worship and obedience? God says he's with these people because they're doing what he told them to do. What did he say when they weren't doing what he told them to do? You're not gonna have food, you're not gonna have water, you're not gonna have clothes, you're being punished. Where do we want to be in life? Are you living each day, remembering you've been created to honor and glorify God and worship and obedience? Brothers and sisters, his presence is here. Be comforted, be encouraged, be challenged, and be changed. What you do might not seem like a lot. But just coming together for worship, being side by side with your church family, praying together, worshiping together, that's a vital part of the work he's calling us to do now. We don't, thankfully, we don't have to build a temple. We just got to be faithful. That's where it begins. And he's with us in the work. And one day he will return, and his presence will shake your very core because it will shake the entirety of the universe. What kind of shaking will that be for you? Will it be a trembling of joy? Or a quaking fear and dread? Are you ready for his presence among us in that way? Do you have his presence now as a Christian? If not, I beg you, don't leave this place without talking to somebody about what that means. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your marvelous grace. We thank you that although we have been deserters, in active rebellion, refusing to do what you've called us to do, you constantly show grace and put us back on the right track. We run the wrong race in the wrong stadium, and yet you continue to place us where we need to be. So, Father, sanctify us in this. Help us to be absolutely thrilled at the fact that you are with us in such a way that compels us to work for your glory. Whatever that work is. And that we would do this side by side. We cannot do this alone. We will not do it alone. You have so foreordained to call this community to do it together. And so give us strength and boldness in what you have called us to do. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.