Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

The best strategy for success in Christian life is found in Matthew 6:33 and Matthew 7:24. Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33). He also said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24). In other words, “Hear and do.” It is not, “me first and the Lord Jesus last.” It is also not the philosophy of family first, no matter what. Our success is based on hearing and doing God’s word.

At the beginning of our Christian life, we confessed, “Jesus is Lord” (Rom 10:9). This Jesus commands us to repent, believe, and love God and one another. Jesus Christ our Lord has received all authority from the Father. We are to obey everything he commands, as taught by his ministers. That is the message we want to examine from the small book of Haggai.

Around 536 BC, fifty thousand people of the Jewish remnant returned from Babylon under the guidance of Cyrus. What was the purpose of their return? They came back to rebuild the temple that lay in ruins, as Cyrus commissioned them to do:

This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:2–4)

Yet the people failed to rebuild. It is true that they laid the foundation of the temple and offered sacrifices, daily sacrifices, on the altar of burnt offering. But they failed to finish building God’s house so that he could dwell in it and bless his people as the Lord of hosts, the Lord Almighty, the Dominus Exercituum.

Cyrus, God’s choice servant who defeated Babylon, would later die in battle. It was he of whom Isaiah prophesied that God would use to let his people go: “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut” (Isa. 45:1). Jesus Christ alone is the Lord of history. He runs his universe as he sees fit.

But several years had passed, and the remnant failed to complete the purpose for which they had returned—to rebuild God’s house. There are eleven references to the house of the Lord in this very short prophecy. These people had stopped building and failed to resume until God sent his prophet Haggai in the second year of Darius, in the sixth month of 520 BC, on the first day.

The name “Haggai” means happy; it is similar to the names “Hillary” and “Festus.” It is good to see a happy pastor, a happy prophet. Haggai prophesied to the leaders of the remnant: Prince Zerubbabel, whose name means “born in Babylon,” who was a grandson of King Jehoiachin, and to Jeshua the high priest. Let me tell you a secret: The most precious thing in this world is the word of God. Without it, how can anyone be saved? But it is not always easy to find. In Samuel 3:1 we read, “The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.” The Lord was refusing to speak to Eli and his wicked sons.

When the Lord speaks to us, especially through a pastor, he is showing love to us. Paul writes, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent [by God]? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news [of salvation]!’” (Rom. 10:14–15).

Thank God for his prophets and pastors, who feed us with the word of God! God’s word is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training God’s people to do righteousness for God’s glory. So God sent Haggai, the happy prophet, to speak God’s word to the remnant, God’s covenant people.

God’s Charge against His People

Haggai begins, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built.”’ 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?’” (Hag. 1:2–4). The people were saying, “The time to rebuild God’s house has not yet come.” That was a lie. It was an excuse for not performing. But Haggai exposed their hypocrisy. Instead of calling them “my people,” he called them “these people,” a derogatory term. That designation disclosed God’s displeasure with his disobedient people. These were not covenant-keeping people. They had time to build mansions for themselves, but they said they did not have time to build God’s house.

They said, “It is not yet time to build the house for the covenant Lord, Yahweh, the Lord of hosts.” They were saying, in effect, “me first, God last.” The Lord himself spoke to them about this: “‘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 his own house’” (Hag. 1:9). This is “me first, God last” philosophy. Such people will think that God can always wait. Such people may live sixty or seventy years, or more, and yet they will not take time to trust in Jesus Christ alone for their eternal salvation, even though they can die any time. If you are such a person, I ask you to repent and trust in Jesus Christ today. Seek ye first the kingdom of God by seeking the King, Jesus Christ.

People of God, Give Careful Thought

Five times the Holy Spirit spoke through Haggai, telling the people of God to give careful thought to their ways:

• Haggai 1:5: “Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways.’”
• Haggai 1:7: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways.’”
• Haggai 2:15: “Now give careful thought to this from this day on—consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple.”
• Haggai 2:18: “From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought.”

We must think carefully about the word of God when we hear it. Pay attention! The word of God is speaking about our eternal salvation.

Christianity is for people who think clearly, that is, biblically. Paul reasoned with the learned, the rich, and the powerful people of his day with a single argument. To these mighty, brilliant people he said, “Why should any of you consider it incredible [unreasonable] that God raises the dead?” (Acts 26:8). I am an educated man, and I believe every word the Bible says. Bright people believe in the Bible.

The infinite personal triune God, the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God, who created the universe—this God is in the business of raising the dead. And the resurrection is very reasonable when we understand who it is that is raising the dead.

The God of the Bible created the universe. Chance did not do so, for chance is nothing. It was God, as revealed in the holy Bible. The same God by his mercy converts unbelievers who then go and preach the gospel. That is a miracle, isn’t it? It is this same God who raises the dead. He does all things.

So, Christians, think! Analyze! Reason! Use logic; there is cause and effect. Be “thinkful” so you can be thankful—thankful to God. The heart of the covenant is, “I am your God and you are my obedient, covenant-keeping people.”

We must serve this God whom we confessed as Lord wholeheartedly. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Matt. 6:24). James, his brother, said, “A double-minded man is unstable in all he does” (Jas. 1:8). And I have a saying: A double-minded man is single-minded in doing evil. We are to serve God wholeheartedly. In Luke 10:27 we read, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Jesus Christ is in his church, telling her what she needs to hear. Concerning the church in Ephesus, he says, “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” The Sovereign Lord does not like such double-minded people. Double-mindedness says, “me first, God second.” The Lord continues, “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (Rev. 2:1–5). The Holy Spirit is speaking. Christ is speaking: Get back to your first love.

The remnant, the people of God, had fallen from their first love. Through Haggai, God was telling them that they must repent and return to their first love and obey the Lord of hosts. Jesus himself said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15). In Lamentations 3:40 we are exhorted, “Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.” We do not worship money and power. We worship the true and living triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God Disciplines His People

God disciplines, rebukes, and corrects his children when they do not obey him. Through Haggai, the Lord described how he was disciplining his disobedient people:

• Haggai 1:5–6: Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have 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.’”
• Haggai 1:9–11: “‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.’”
• Haggai 2:15–17: “‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on—consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the Lord’s temple. When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the Lord.”

“I blew.” “I brought drought.” “I struck.” Who is the “I”? He is the Dominus Exercituum, the Lord of hosts, the Almighty God. He knows where to touch, when to touch, when to discipline. It is he who said, “‘I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the Lord.”

God disciplines his people when they do not obey his word. Giving to God is another area in which we are to put God first in our lives. In Leviticus 27:30 we read that the tithe belongs to the Lord. What about those who do not tithe? Such people are stealing from God. They may say, “First, I want to buy a home. Then I need to build a college fund for my children. Last, I will tithe, when I can.” This is another example of “me first, God last.” But God will discipline those who do this.

We read about God’s rebuke and discipline in Malachi’s prophecy: “‘Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’ ‘In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.  I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty” (Mal. 3:8–12).

God will discipline his people when they do not obey him. We read about such discipline in 1 Corinthians 11:30: “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.” Why were God’s people experiencing these things? It was because they were sinning when they celebrated holy communion. Who is exercising this discipline? It is Jesus, the resurrected Christ. He not only saves; he also disciplines and kills. In Revelation 2:23 we read his warning to the church of Thyatira: “I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”

Are you still wondering whether you want to trust in Jesus Christ alone? I warn you; he cannot be mocked. He will kill you and send you to hell unless you trust in him. Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

Obedience Will Bring Blessing

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,’ says the Lord” (Hag. 1:7). The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” In other words, what is the chief reason for human existence? The answer is, “To glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”

The people did obey Haggai’s words and they began to build. So we read, 

Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.  So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius. (Hag. 1:12–15)

            They obeyed the prophet. That means we are to obey a prophet who is sent by God, one who does not beg but commands. Parents are to command their children, and preachers are to command the people to do what is right. (PGM) The IRS can command us to pay our taxes. The policeman is to command: “Stop!” And if you do not stop, he can shoot you, and you will stop.

The people obeyed the prophets. They feared the Lord, not their enemies, who were trying to discourage them from building. And the Lord gave them this wonderful promise: “I am with you.” The Lord is with me, and he has been blessing me all these years. So we read, “Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord” (Hag. 1:13; see also Haggai 2:4). God is with us! If God is for us, who can be against us? God is with us, God is in us, God is in front of us, God is in the rear of us, God is all around us. And it is he who will fight against our enemies.

In Zechariah 2:5, the Lord says about Jerusalem, “And I myself will be a wall of fire around it, and I will be its glory within.” We are never alone. The Holy Spirit is with us, in us, in front of us, in the rear of us, and all around us. He fights against all our enemies. He is for us; we are never alone.

In Ezra 1:5 we read that the Lord stirred the hearts, moved the hearts of his people—Zerubbabel the prince, Joshua the high priest, and all the people—to go and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. God moved them. This happens to every true believer: God himself moves us to do his will. Paul writes, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12–13).

God is with us and in us, inspiring us, stirring us, and guiding us. Paul also speaks about this, writing that as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God (see Rom. 8:14).

Encouragement

Finally, God encouraged his people. In Haggai 2:3–6 we read, “‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ 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.’”

We believe in the Pentecostal truth that the Holy Spirit applies redemption to every elect of God. Here the same Holy Spirit was telling God’s people, “Be strong.” Jesus himself promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Paul writes, “To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me” (Col. 1:29). He said, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13). He also said, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Cor. 12:9–10).

“Be strong in the Lord!” This is the first word of encouragement God gave to his people through Haggai. It is repeated several times.

Then the second word of encouragement came: “Work! Build my house, so that I may dwell among you.”

Third, the Lord said, “I am with you always as your Lord and Savior.” In the same way, King David encouraged his son Solomon, saying, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished” (1 Chron. 28:20). Now, God was telling these people, “I am the covenant God. I will protect you, provide for you, and discipline you. My Spirit is with you.” Elsewhere, he spoke through the prophet Zechariah, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord” (Zech. 4:6).

Finally, the Lord said, “From this day on I will bless you” (Hag. 2:19). The people repented, they obeyed, and they began to work. They began on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month of 520 BC and they finished the work on March 12, 516 BC. In less than five years, the second temple was finished. And who was dwelling in it? The Lord himself, to bless his people.

The Greater Glory of the Rebuilt Temple

The last point is that the rebuilt temple, which had looked like nothing, achieved greater glory than the temple Solomon had built. We are told in Haggai 2:3, 7–9, “Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? . . . I will shake all nations, and the desired of 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.”

How was this fulfilled? It was to this place that Jesus was brought when he was eight days old. God incarnate became man, and his parents brought him to this temple to be circumcised. It is to this place that Jesus came when he was twelve years of age to debate with scholars. Later, he told people, “I am the temple. You destroy this temple, and I will raise it up on the third day” (John 2:19–21). He was the temple. But do not believe me. Jesus himself said, “I tell you that one greater than the temple is here” (Matt. 12:6). He was greater than Solomon. God incarnate came to this rebuilt temple, and so the glory of the second temple was greater than the glory of the first.

In Jesus, God dwells, and Jesus glorified his Father perfectly. He never sinned. His food, his delight, was to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. He said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). Jesus Christ, the virgin-born God incarnate, obeyed God perfectly in our place, actively and passively. Christ died on the cross in our place and for our sins, and everyone who believes in him will be saved forever.

He also 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” (John 14:27).

Today the true church is the temple of God, in which God dwells. Jesus said, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matt. 18:20; see also 1 Cor. 3:16). So by faith we see Christ in this church and in every true church where the gospel is preached. And beyond that, every true believer is the temple of God in which God dwells, guiding him how to live (1 Cor. 6:19–20). So we read, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). We do so because God himself dwells in us.

Jesus Christ “was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). He was perfect. He lived, he obeyed, and he died for us, that everyone who believes in him may be saved forever. So we read, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Application

Christmas can be a time of misery for many people, especially if they are just focusing on business, profit, and gifts. But we are interested in Jesus Christ, whom we preach every time we come together in this church. We believe in his incarnation. It was for us he humbled himself, even to the death of the cross, for our sins. He atoned for our sins.

Many Christian churches in this world are synagogues of Satan. Such churches are all around us. What did John Calvin say? “Wherever we find the Word of God surely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, is a church of God.” Calvin was right. Many Christian churches in this world are synagogues of Satan. They are beyond rebuilding. Other churches are in ruins. God is saying we must rebuild these churches by seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. God is commanding his people to repent, to rebuild his church by preaching the word of God and by living lives that are holy and obedient to his word (John 14:15, 21, 23).

God also is commanding us to rebuild our Christian families. If you are Christians, your family is a little church. God commands us to rebuild this little church, according to the Bible, especially Ephesians 5:18–6:4. May our homes be places where Jesus Christ rules, where children obey their parents, where wives submit to their husbands as to the Lord in everything, and where the husbands submit to Christ.

God is also commanding each believer to rebuild his or her life, so that he or she will joyfully live out the confession, “Jesus is Lord.” Jesus Christ is the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Lord of hosts, Dominus Exercituum. When we do so, we will experience the kingdom life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

May God help us to begin today to rebuild the ruins! God is with us; therefore, be strong in the Lord and work hard. The Lord is with us to bless us now and forevermore. He is speaking through his pastors, telling us that God is for us, God is with us, and God is all around us as a wall of fire and glory within. Let us, therefore, rise to rebuild, beginning today, December 24, 2017, that we may experience one blessing after another today and every day in the future.