The people in Jerusalem had been taken captives by the Babylonians and this was according to the words of prophet Jeremiah. Also according to the words of Jeremiah, the people of God returned back to Jerusalem. At this period of returning to Jerusalem, God raised 3 prophets. First was prophet Haggai, then Zachariah and Malachi. These were the 3 prophets in the period of Israelites’ history. Today the speaker will make use of the book of Haggai for mutual encouragement.

To understand the period in those days, we may need to read the book of Zechariah and also Ezra. In the book of Ezra records of the people returning back to Jerusalem.

Haggai was the first prophet God sent to encourage the people. After that, God sent Zachariah. Some people say that prophet Haggai was an old prophet and because Haggai 2:3 seems to suggest Haggai saw the temple in the old days;

‘‘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? ‘

What we can know is that when God called Haggai to serve as a prophet, he served for about 2 months. During these 2 months, God used him to give 4 encouragements. All these encouragements also talk about what will come in the future. In other words, some of these were prophecies. Haggai was giving encouragement and hope to the people in those days. Today we will examine these encouragements. The speaker will speak about 3 of them (or 1, if there is time constraint).

We first turn to Ezra 1:1-3;

1 ‘Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. ‘

Ezra 1 introduces the king of those days, that is King Cyrus. He was already king before those days but at this time, he was the king of Babylon. Hence, Ezra 1:1 says that he was now king of Babylon. Once we understand this, we’ll understand about the period then; it was about 538 BC. At around 538 BC when he became king, he was stirred up to suddenly allow the people of Israel to return to Jerusalem to build the temple. In v5 we see that God moved the hearts of men to return to build the house of God;

‘Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ‘

There were 2 special leaders then: Zerubbabel and Joshua. Later on, much of the encouragement was directed to them. In Ezra 1:1 we see that the people of Jerusalem were allowed to return to build the temple. We read Ezra 3:8-10;

8 ‘Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord . 9 Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites. 10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord , the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord , according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. ‘

Here it tells us that the people have already returned from Babylon to Jerusalem (2nd month of the 2nd year) and a period of time has passed. No matter what, they’ve begun to prepare the rebuilding of the work of the holy temple. V10 says that the builders have started to lay the foundation of the temple;

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord , the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord , according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. ‘

They’ve begun to start work because they’ve returned to Jerusalem to begin the work. This is around 536 to 537 BC (remember these dates for later discussion of Haggai). Around this time period, they began the work of rebuilding the holy temple. What were their feelings like? V12;

‘But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, ‘

We see here that the older ones who’ve seen the first temple wept and those who’ve never seen the temple before shouted aloud for joy. This work of rebuilding the temple stirred up similar emotions as it did during the first temple; this was something positive and moved them to want to do this work. We can understand that the people were thinking how they could do this work. V13 tells us that the voices they raised could be heard from afar.

In Ezra 4 happened some unhappy happenings. We read Ezra 4:1-5;

1 ‘Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” 4 Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, 5 and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.’

Here tells us that when they began the work of rebuilding the temple, some of their enemies came to trouble them. Some said in v2 that they belong to the same tribe and are known as the Samaritans in the New Testament (they were dismayed by the Assyrians). They weren’t taken captive but were in the land of Israel; they aren’t pure Jews. These people asked to join in the work because they said that they were the same. The Israelites replied, “No, this is the work of the people of Judah and God. We’ll build it ourselves.”

What started off with seemingly good intentions became bad because they sought to trouble the people of Israel. Was this for a short period of time? V5 tells us of this period;

and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

It started when they started the work to the time of King Darius; the King of Persia (about 10 years later). It seemed to be troubles after troubles; what was good when God allowed themselves to return to Jerusalem led them to much troubles later on. We see in Ezra 4:24 that the work of God ceased for a while;

‘Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.’

Why did God send prophet Haggai out to help out in the work? Their work had ceased and so encouragement was needed. When did prophet Haggai come out to encourage the people? We turn to Haggai 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, ‘

The 2nd year of King Darius was around 520BC. It was around 538 BC when they returned to rebuild the temple and they laid the foundation at about 538-537 BC. They began to meet with troubles until the time of Haggai when he began to encourage the people. Around 16 years had passed and the work had stopped for around 16 years; there was no way for them to complete the work. They didn’t stop work completely but did some work here and there without completing the rebuilding. Ezra also wrote that they were constantly disturbed and troubled by their enemies. Understand that it was difficult to continue the work due to the continuing troubles. However, was this truly the reason? When we read the book of Haggai, we’ll see this problem from another perspective/angle. We read Haggai 1:2-11;

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.”’

We mentioned previously that in Ezra 4, the people of God met with many problems. This was something they didn’t really want to do but people understood. Why didn’t Haggai encourage them in this manner? He could have said, “I can help you in your troubles and God will destroy your enemies!” After 16 years, the words of God suddenly came; God could not take it anymore and decided to encourage them. However encouragement wasn’t, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of these people.” God wanted to encourage and direct their attention to the real reason why they didn’t complete the work of God: they were spending time on their own matters. The common excuse they had is in v2;

‘“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.” ’ ”

“This is not the time! When I want to do the work, I receive accusations. How could this be the time? Since it’s not the time, let me do my own things. Since I’m in Jerusalem now, I’ll live my life to the best. When the time comes, we’ll gather together to do this work of rebuilding the temple.” The speaker doesn’t know when they thought was the right time in those days. The nation of Israel was no longer a nation because the people were scattered. They couldn’t master up an army because they had no king to lead them in battle.

They were thinking of this problem but this was something that couldn’t come to pass. When is the time? The enemies were still around and hence when they thought that it wasn’t the time, they thought that it wasn’t possible for them to rebuild the temple. They were deceiving themselves that there was an opportunity to rebuild but it just wasn’t the right time. In v4 God rebuked them;

Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”

“The temple is in ruins, are your houses in ruins?” Their houses weren’t in ruins; they spent time building their own houses. This was a problem God was directing them to. They no longer understood the reasons why they returned back to Jerusalem; it was just 16 years later. They knew that they had to rebuild the temple but said that it wasn’t the time; the idea of rebuilding the temple was no longer in their minds. Was it, “Since we’re back in Jerusalem, let’s rebuild the holy temple”? It isn’t so because in Ezra we read that they returned because they were going to rebuild the holy temple.

We read that in the book of Ezra, God moved the hearts of men to want to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the holy temple. Some families have lived in Babylon for around 70 years at that time but whatever it is, they would’ve established their homes in Babylon already.

The speaker was born in Malaysia and came to Singapore when he was a young child. If the speaker was told to return back to Malaysia now, it would be very tough to do so. The speaker grew up in Singapore but this would be tough even on those who have been here for only a few years.

There must be a very big reason the people gave up their familiar lives just to return back to a place they were unfamiliar with. The people who returned had a spirit of heart and mind to return for God and the people. They had this commission and hence God could move them to have this desire to return back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. However we find that after time, they lost their sense of commission, “The time is not right because what’s more important is I must eat, drink and live better! It’s not the time yet.”

This way of thinking has a reason behind it. We read v5-6;

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.”

V9;

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.

Because they didn’t rebuild the temple of God, He sent disasters and didn’t bless them, “You have much but bring in so little. You eat and eat but you’re never full. Though you clothe yourself, your clothing can’t keep you warm. Though you earn money, whatever you earn in one pocket goes out from another.”

We see that they didn’t rebuild the hold Temples and were striving hard for their daily needs. They needed to strive hard for their daily needs because whatever they ate, drank and wore weren’t enough. Hence they thought, “I have troubles because my life is so hard. I need to work to earn these things but it’s still not enough! I have to work harder.” However we see that it wasn’t enough to build their panelled houses; they were finding ways to lead a better life and it wasn’t enough for them. This was the situation of the people in those days and hence God needed to encourage them.

They no longer realised the situation they were in; they didn’t even realise they were suffering when they were. When they were to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, God should’ve blessed them with a secured life for them to rebuild the temple but they never thought, “I’m leading such a bad life because I didn’t listen to God and obey Him.” They began to be numb in their hearts towards the entire matter. Hence we see that the mindset they had needed the intervention of God. Thank God that they began the work again after listening to the words of Haggai. We read Haggai 1:12-15;

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.’

On the 24th day of the 6th month in the 2nd year of king Darius they began the work again. This was around 24 days later. What was good was that the people were willing to listen to the words of God. V12 says that they began to fear the presence of the Lord. V14;

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,

The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel and Joshua to lead the people; their hearts accepted the motivation of God to start the work.

Why didn’t God motivate them in these 16 years that have passed? This is because for a person to be stirred up by the word of God, the person must first be sensitive to the words of God. It wasn’t that God didn’t want to stir up the people but that the people’s hearts were hardened; their hearts couldn’t be moved. Thankfully the people turned back and rebuilt the temple again. This happened in the history of the Israelites and is now a good encouragement and reminder to us today.

From the beginning of the 20th century in 1917, the true church of God has been built; we are the revived apostolic church. All of us here are to rebuild/complete the work of rebuilding the church of God. Have we realised this point? That we are like those people in those days who’re called back to do the work of rebuilding the temple? Have we considered that as Christians this is an important matter we have to do? If we look at the church today, sometimes it seems that the progress is slow but sometimes it’s not so slow because some come to believe. Sometimes it seems that there’s an influx of new believers but sometimes it seems that the work has stopped. It seems that the work of rebuilding the church is doing and stopping. Some may say that we’ve not begun actively to rebuild the church but no matter what the situation may be, the fact points to this: do we want to be like the people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple? If you want to return, you must first stir your hearts and prepare properly to rebuild the temple. To rebuild the temple is a very difficult thing because the devil will always find means and ways to attack us so our work won’t be smooth; like the people in Ezra 4 who continually disturb the work of God for 16 years.

Recently our moral grounds on homosexuality has been attacked as well as the constant need to upgrade our livelihood, that it to raise our standards of living to enjoy MORE. More recently, there is the attack on the concept of the one true church, “If you’re not a true church, why is there a need for rebuilding? Other churches are also preaching Jesus and they’re preaching to further places than you! Have you done so?” These are different ways the devil will use to attack us.

However, this is not the main problem. God here didn’t direct His words to the attackers but was concerned as to whether their mindsets were right. Our hearts may be like the people who think that their time isn’t right to serve the Lord, “It’s true, I am very busy with my work! Working from home is so much busier than working at the office; I’m so stressed and must enjoy myself. If I cannot enjoy myself and rest, there’s no time for me to care about matters of the church. Even though I’m home now, I only have time to attend afternoon service. I need time to watch YouTube videos and Netflix to distress.”

If you’re under much pressure, you need to find time to relax. However, have you considered the words God spoke to the people? In Haggai 1:6;

“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.”

“You have so much but so little. You find yourself running circles trying to do more but you never have enough.” Have you considered that God was using the same method in us today just as He did on the people then? The more we work, the more stressed we are. Just to get the 0.2% growth, we have to work SO hard for the little increment. We may say that the entire society is like this but have you thought that this was perhaps God’s discipline to you? God disciplined the people then for the people to turn back to God. We must consider our ways to see why we’ve worked so hard but still find what we have not enough. They may be seemingly blessings but in actuality we have to put in so much effort for things we don’t find enough.

Have we forgotten the commission to come back together to rebuild the house of God? This is something all Christians must consider, or else God will treat us in this manner. When we come to the end of our days, how will we give an account to God? You may say, “God, You didn’t remind me! You gave me such a bitter life.” When we read Haggai, we must consider if we’ve lived the way God wants us to, to rebuild the church of God.

Due to time constraint, the speaker will not elaborate too much on point 2 and 3.

A brief description of point 2: It’s to give the people of Israel hope in those days. It’s to tell them that, “Though you’ve finished building the temple that is not as great as Solomon’s day, it’s still a glorious church!” God gave them a hope that He will bring a glorious ending to their work.

Point 3 “You in the past didn’t obey My words so whatever you’ve done has defiled the people. But now you’ve begun to turn back, I will bless you.” God encouraged them that He will bless them and their lives won’t be so difficult anymore.

These are the encouragement from prophet Haggai to the people in those days. May God encourage and motivate us so we will do and join in the work of rebuilding the church.