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[0:00] Last week we started working our way through Haggai chapter 2 verses 1-9.

[0:15] ! We saw the Israelites begin to realize that rebuilding the temple would be a long and difficult process.! Despite daunting circumstances, God promises both His presence and His provision to accomplish His purpose.

[0:29] ! That's the main idea for all nine verses. Despite daunting circumstances, God promises both His presence and His provision to accomplish His purpose. So let's read verses 1-9 of Haggai chapter 2 again.

[0:43] In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.

[1:22] All you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.

[1:34] For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in.

[1:49] 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 shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.

[2:02] And in this place, I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts. The nine verses have a simple outline. In verses 1-3, we saw discouragement.

[2:15] And in verses 4-9, we see encouragement. Let's do some review of the five verses we covered last week before we move into the new material for tonight.

[2:25] The discouragement, documented in verses 1-3, came from several sources. Rebuilding the temple was hard work. The people were in a month that had three required holidays when work had to be stopped, so even less progress than usual would have been made.

[2:44] During the Feast of Booths, one of those holidays, people were required to bring their tithes. Those tithes would have been smaller because of the string of poor harvest. On top of all those things, some of the people who had seen the original temple were saying that the rebuilt temple could never be as good as Solomon's original.

[3:04] Any progress that was made was being belittled by all those negative people. Considering those factors, we can understand why the people would have been discouraged. Most of us likely would have had similar feelings if we'd struggled with that, and we probably have had similar feelings when we've faced a challenge ourselves.

[3:25] We need to remember that God never promises that His work will be easy. God does promise that He will be with us to help us accomplish the work that He has for us to do.

[3:36] Verses 4-9 document encouragement from God through Haggai. And we know from the main idea that God promises both His presence and His provision to accomplish His purpose.

[3:49] We looked at verses 4 and 5 last week, and they have the promise of God's presence. Listen to those two verses again. In verses 4 and 5, it says, God encouraged the people to be strong, work, and fear not because He was with them, and because His Spirit was with them.

[4:31] So that is where we get the presence promise of the main idea. God's reminder of the covenant that He made with their ancestors when He was bringing those people out of Egypt also reminded Haggai's people of God's faithfulness and God's unchanging nature.

[4:47] The Israelites had sinned by previously neglecting to prioritize the temple rebuild, but this encouragement from God to be strong is a renewal of hope in their midst.

[5:00] The reminder of sin is necessary to compel them to confession and repentance, but the reminder of grace is necessary to bring them hope. The statement is a reminder that God had not forgotten or had not given up on them.

[5:15] Yes, God was saying, you have sinned, but there is hope yet. So this is essentially the message of God to this point. God is doing what He always has done and always will do.

[5:28] He's encouraging them that even though they are sinful, His grace is greater than their sin, and of course that's the glorious truth of the gospel. The provision part of the main idea comes in verses 6 through 9, and those are the new verses that we'll study this week.

[5:47] Listen to those verses one more time. Starting in verse 6, it says, The Lord of hosts, We know that God will bring His glory.

[6:28] That purpose cannot be stopped, and it won't even be slowed. If there's one message that is constant throughout Scripture, the message is that God's purposes will never be halted.

[6:41] Verses 6 through 9 of Haggai chapter 2 are a consistent reminder of that fact. We're told here that God will assert His sovereignty, that He will provide for the completion of His purposes, and that He ultimately will deliver an even greater glory than the glory of the temple that they would rebuild.

[7:02] Jerry Lee Lewis may have made the song famous, but as early as 520 B.C., you see that God told the people that there would be a whole lot of shaking going on. Look at verse 6 together with the first part of verse 7, just to see all of that shaking.

[7:20] They say, For thus says the Lord of hosts, Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land, and I will shake all nations.

[7:31] So you can see it talks about God shaking everything that is. And this is a reference to the authority of God and the sovereignty of God. A.W. Pink said in The Sovereignty of God that sovereignty should be defined like this.

[7:48] He said we mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the Godhead of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is God.

[7:59] The shaking that is mentioned here is a rather colorful way of describing the fact that God is over every creative thing. It was a reminder to the nation of Israel that His word was to be obeyed.

[8:12] It was also a reminder that God would be able to provide the strength necessary to accomplish the task. It was a reminder that He would provide the necessary resources to rebuild the temple.

[8:25] God most certainly chose the word shaking as a specific reminder to the Israelites. That Hebrew word is used other times in the Old Testament to refer either to God's presence or God's activity on behalf of the Israelites.

[8:41] Sometimes it's translated as shaking. Sometimes it's translated as trembling. Other times it's translated as quaking. So let's look at a few other occasions where that word was used.

[8:52] The first is Exodus 19.18 when God descended on Mount Sinai. Here is Exodus 19.18. It says, Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire.

[9:10] The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly. So you can see there it's translated as trembled. Now listen to Judges 5.4-5 And this is part of the song that Deborah and Barak sang after God allowed them to be successful in battle.

[9:33] Judges 5.4-5 say, Lord, when you went out from Seir, you marched from the region of Eden. The earth trembled and the heavens dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.

[9:44] The mountains quaked before the Lord, even Sinai before the Lord, the God of Israel. So those verses have a reference to both the battle and to Sinai.

[9:57] And now listen to Psalm 68, verses 7 and 8. Here are Psalm 68, 7 and 8. O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain before God, the one of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

[10:21] The Psalm verses reference both Sinai and the wilderness when mentioned quaking. And other prophets, including Joel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, use the same word.

[10:31] We'll look at just one more, and it's Jeremiah 10.10. Jeremiah 10.10 says, But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King.

[10:45] At his wrath, the earthquakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. The people of Haggai's day who knew their scripture would have made connections with the other uses of the term in that scripture.

[10:59] By starting Haggai 2.6 with the term translated as Yet Once More, God was tying his past actions to what he was about to do for the Israelites in Haggai's day.

[11:14] Think about what the Israelites would have been going through at this point. Only a conviction that the Lord is speaking to them through his prophet is likely to provide adequate motivation for the daunting task before the people.

[11:26] The prophet never lets them lose sight of the theological basis of his message. Haggai 2.6 also tells us when this shaking will happen.

[11:38] Pay particular attention to what comes just after the phrase, Yet Once More. It says, For thus says the Lord of hosts, Yet Once More, In a little while, I will shake.

[11:51] The In a little while is important to understanding the remainder of tonight's passage. God through Haggai is talking about a shaking that is going to happen soon.

[12:04] God was saying to the people rebuilding the temple, I have shaken things before and I'm about to do it again. So can you see why God's words would have been encouraging to those people?

[12:16] Well, moving on to the end of verse 6 and the first part of verse 7, God says what he will shake. God is going to shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

[12:30] And then in verse 7, he says he will shake all the nations. So notice the two pairs of opposites there. We have the heavens and the earth. We have the sea and the dry land.

[12:44] And those two pairs are the way to signify that God will leave nothing unaffected to accomplish his purpose. And if the people fail to understand this from that language, God made it even clearer when he said that he will shake all the nations.

[13:03] One commentator said, God's cataclysmic action first affects creation, but then it finds its goal in the context of human affairs when it causes a secondary shaking affecting all nations.

[13:16] This second shaking supports the call to not fear in 2.5 and eventually answers the concern over the lack of glory in the temple. In the remainder of verse 7, God summarizes what will happen because of this shaking.

[13:33] God says he will do the shaking so that the treasures of all nations shall come in and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. We mentioned last week that this passage has some of the most difficult wording to interpret in Haggai.

[13:51] And this is where the translation difficulty begins. Here's how the various translations differ on verse 7. We already heard the ESV, but here it is again.

[14:04] It says, Now listen to the same verse in the King James Version.

[14:18] The King James says, The New King James Version differs slightly from the King James by saying, 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.

[14:43] And you can see from your handout that the New King James has the desire of all nations capitalized. The New American Standard Bible 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.

[15:01] And here's one more. The NIV says, I will shake all nations and what is desired by all nations will come and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty.

[15:14] The controversy surrounding verse 7 centers around how to translate the original Hebrew word rendered as treasures in the ESV. That same word is rendered desire in the King James and New King James and it's rendered as wealth in the NASB.

[15:33] If you look in the New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek words, it says that the original Hebrew word can mean delight, desire, or something that is goodly, pleasant, and precious.

[15:46] In the original Hebrew, the most literal translation for the phrase is the desirable things of all the nations. One commentator said, this expression is one of the most misunderstood statements in the book of Haggai.

[16:04] There are three major interpretations of the phrase, a messianic interpretation, a non-messianic interpretation, and a blend of the two. You might be wondering why the interpretation matters.

[16:18] And some of you probably are thinking that I'm stretching this lesson because it was too long to fit in one lesson last week and too short to fit in two this week. But the interpretation is important because the interpretation significantly affects how we understand tonight's passage.

[16:35] My goal is to give you a summary of the pros and cons for each, along with the reasons for my opinion on which is the best interpretation. So that you'll know where my potential bias is, I believe the phrase here in Haggai is a non-messianic interpretation.

[16:51] God seems to be saying through Haggai that he will compel other nations to supply the money and materials needed to rebuild the temple. That being said, let's spend some time on each view.

[17:05] Many Christian interpreters, both ancient and modern, have taken Haggai's phrase to be a cryptic reference to Jesus as the Messiah. The messianic understanding of the phrase is very ancient, and it was made even more popular in the 4th century by Jerome, whose rendering of this part of the verse has become very influential.

[17:26] And Jerome rendered the phrase, and the desire of all nations shall come. And you can see from your handout that the King James, New King James, and New International versions follow this lead.

[17:39] And here's a public service announcement before we go any further. What comes next may make you listen to some hymns and Christmas carols a little more closely, including even a portion of Handel's Messiah.

[17:54] The phrase, desired of all nations, has in many places assumed the status of a messianic title, and we see that in Christian hymns and in the titles of certain books.

[18:06] Those who favor this messianic interpretation usually relate it to the first coming of Jesus. Think about Charles Wesley's song, Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus, that we sing at Christmastime.

[18:21] Here's some lyrics from it. Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free. From our fears and sins release us. Let us find our rest in Thee.

[18:34] Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art, dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. And here's a section of the base part from Handel's Messiah.

[18:51] It says, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, yet once, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.

[19:05] You can see there that the words Handel used are nearly identical to verses 6 and 7 of Haggai 2 in the King James. Other hymns that use desire of nations as a messianic reference include O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and a few more.

[19:26] Now here's a slightly different take on verse 7 as a messianic prophecy. Augustine understood the phrase to refer not to Christ's first coming, but to his second coming.

[19:38] And here's what Augustine said about it. Before the whole world can await him and desire his coming, it must first believe in him and love him.

[19:50] So like the view that links verse 7 to the first advent of Christ, association of this verse with the second coming of Christ also has been widely held. Among current theologians, John MacArthur holds this view.

[20:06] So I am on a little bit of thin ice tonight. Not only have I quoted Jerry Lee Lewis, who's a great theologian himself, I'm also disagreeing with John MacArthur. But despite some theological heavyweights such as Augustine, Jerome, Charles Wesley, and John MacArthur supporting the messianic view, let's consider why many people reject that Haggai 2.7 is messianic.

[20:31] The New American Commentary says, but for all its attractiveness, this view is highly improbable. Nothing in the context of Haggai's second sermon justifies taking these words as a messianic prediction, whether in reference to the first or second advent of Christ.

[20:50] It seems clear that the words refer impersonally to the wealth of the nations that the Lord will cause to flow into the temple to make its construction complete. Some concerns also exist regarding how older versions of the Bible, such as the Latin Vulgate, the King James, the New King James, and even the NIV translated the original Hebrew.

[21:13] The word for desire is singular in the original, but the verb is plural. But we have even stronger evidence to discount the messianic view of Haggai 2.7, particularly as it relates to the first coming of Christ.

[21:29] Think about our study in Isaiah 53 a few months ago. Rather than presenting Christ as the desire of all nations, Isaiah 53.3 says, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and is one from whom men hide their faces.

[21:50] He was despised and we esteemed him not. That doesn't sound much like the desire of all nations, does it? In the New Testament, John 1, verses 10 and 11 say this about Jesus.

[22:05] John 1, 10 and 11 say, He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

[22:20] As we spend some time next looking at the non-messianic view, we'll only look at the most likely one of this view. People holding this view believe that Haggai refers to the Lord's provision of financial resources for the temple by sovereignly inducing the nations to make their wealth available for this purpose.

[22:40] In this view, by desire, Haggai is referring to valuable treasures of monetary value that were prized by all nations, including the values that Nebuchadnezzar's army had removed from the Solomonic temple in 586 BC.

[22:56] Remember how Nebuchadnezzar had taken the things out of the temple and taken them off to Babylon. And to facilitate the completion of the temple, the Lord is going to so move among these nations that they will bring resources to assist in the project.

[23:14] Because their wealth is in fact God's wealth, as verse 8 will point out to us, the Lord is free to do whatever he wants to with that wealth. The context focuses on how the temple project would be completed in such a way that it would be a worthy successor to the Solomonic temple.

[23:33] The natural expectation is that verse 7 speaks of how the temple rebuilding would occur. And it also flows well with the text because you notice they're talking about building the temple in verse 7.

[23:46] verse 8 talks about bringing the wealth to the nations and so it flows rather than have verse 7 jump all the way to the coming of the Messiah and then verse 8 jump back to how we're going to rebuild the temple.

[24:01] The original Hebrew word also agrees with this understanding. In addition to its use in 2-7, the word is used 15 times in the Hebrew Bible usually to describe tangible items of value or beauty.

[24:18] It's used in reference to stately ships, expensive houses, choice fields, and various types of valuable vessels or utensils. Several times it's used in reference to a beautiful land, and on three occasions it is used in reference to a person, and you have all those scripture references in your handout if you'd like to check them out later.

[24:42] The plural version of the word, with some slight changes in spelling, occurs ten times in the Hebrew Bible. Most often it refers to valuable items or treasures.

[24:54] Once it's used to find food, several times it describes Daniel as an esteemed individual, and putting things together, all of this suggests that while the word may on occasion refer to an individual, it most often refers to inanimate objects of special value or worth.

[25:12] prophets. So the third possible view is that Haggai 2.7 is a combination of messianic and non-messianic prophecies. But this view is relatively easy to dismiss because we've already mentioned several reasons why the verse likely is non-messianic.

[25:31] So if the verse is non-messianic, it can't be both messianic and non-messianic. So here's the bottom line for what Haggai 2.7 seems to be saying.

[25:43] The point of verse 7 is that the Jews will not have to bear by themselves the financial burden of rebuilding the temple. The Lord will so move among the surrounding nations that they will underwrite to a significant degree the heavy cost of constructing and refurbishing this place of worship.

[26:02] God says at the end of verse 7 that he will fill this house with glory. In verse 3, the focus was on the material glory or splendor of the temple rather than the glory of God's manifest presence.

[26:17] And it's material glory that also appears to be the sense here, especially with the reference to silver and gold that we see in verse 8. The sign of God's glory and presence will be his sovereign shaking of the nations and the subsequent material adornment of the temple.

[26:35] And so that's the provision part of the main idea. Look now at Haggai 2.8. It says, The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty.

[26:52] God's right to shake the nations and extract their treasures for his temple is backed by the claims of verse 8, in which the ownership of all the silver and gold, that is, every material resource of the world, is ultimately traced to the Lord.

[27:08] And this is particularly important for people who've recently seen Darius obtain the wealth and tribute of many nations. And let's remind ourselves of the decree that Darius made concerning the temple rebuild.

[27:23] These verses are Ezra, chapter 6, verses 3 through 13. So, Ezra, chapter 6, verses 3 through 13.

[27:35] In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king actually issued a decree, so this was before Darius even, concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained.

[27:54] Its height shall be 60 cubits, and its breadth 60 cubits, with three layers of great stones, and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury, and also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem, and brought back to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place.

[28:19] You shall put them in the house of God. Now, therefore, Tatanai, governor of the province beyond the river, Shethar Bozanai, and your associates, the governors who are in the province beyond the river, keep away.

[28:35] Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for all these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God.

[28:51] The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from beyond the river. And whatever is needed, bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require, let that be given to them day by day without fail, that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons.

[29:21] Also, I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a being shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.

[29:34] May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy the house of God that is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, make a decree, let it be done with all due diligence.

[29:50] Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shethurbosani and his associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered.

[30:03] So, when you look at the start of this passage to the end, you can see where Darius first reminds the people what Cyrus said was going to happen, and then he says what he is going to do to make sure that it happens.

[30:17] So, this would be a powerful reminder to the people just how God is going to provide what they need. Let's go back to tonight's text and check out verse 9 of Haggai 2.

[30:31] That verse says, The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts, and in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.

[30:45] Verse 9 serves two purposes. It reveals the final goal of the shaking, and it brings to closure the entire passage by addressing the people's concern introduced in verse 3.

[31:00] The prophecy does those things through the first part of the verse. God says that the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former. You'll remember that in verse 3 we heard how the skeptics and whiners said that the new temple was as nothing.

[31:17] In other words, they thought compared to the first temple, the new temple would be about the same as having no temple at all. But God clearly says that these people are wrong.

[31:29] He says that the glory of the rebuilt temple will be greater than the glory of the first temple. I keep saying first temple and new temple for simplicity's sake, but this is a good time to remind ourselves that God never saw the original temple and rebuilt temple as two different structures.

[31:49] We saw that in the first part of verse 3 where God said, who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? In God's mind, the first temple and the rebuilt temple are the same house.

[32:02] The only differentiation that God is making in our verses tonight is between the glory of those two structures. And God says that the glory of the rebuilt temple will exceed that of the original.

[32:16] That statement would have generated a lot of hope among the people as they needed motivation to keep working. They know now that God promises to honor their efforts.

[32:27] But verse 9 goes beyond just that promise, though. God says that he will bring peace in the rebuilt temple. We know that the people were discouraged by the lack of progress, the recent famines, and probably even their still fairly recent oppression in Babylon.

[32:46] That prospect of peace instills hope that the future glory of the house will have an effect on the people. The prosperity that God is going to bring to the temple will spill over into the community of God.

[33:00] Although the focus is on God and his glory, God's glory affects the community as well. Here's how one commentator summarized verses 1 through 9 of Haggai 2.

[33:14] He said, Haggai calls a disgruntled and discouraged community to work with renewed strength and without paralyzing fear. But the promise of the presence and action of the Lord Almighty consumes the majority of the passage and provides them with the hope to finish the project.

[33:32] His message speaks with sensitivity to the immediate generation, promising God's presence with them as they face the greatest challenge of their lives. At the same time, he calls them to trace God's hand, seeing how he remains in sovereign charge of the affairs of the nations and is already beginning to place the treasures of those nations at their disposal.

[33:54] So remember the main idea. Despite daunting circumstances, God promises both his presence and his provision to accomplish his purpose.

[34:08] More than 2,500 years later, our situations are similar to the people of Haggai's day. We talked last week about how God still is with us, just as he was with the people of Haggai's day.

[34:23] The rebuilt temple, as glorious as it was, only was temporary itself. Believers today have something greater.

[34:34] By coming to earth, Jesus removed the need for the temple. In Matthew 12, 6, Jesus told the Pharisees, I tell you something greater than the temple is here.

[34:47] And of course, he's speaking of himself at that point. We also know that God provides for us, similar to how he provided for the people in Haggai's day.

[35:00] Remember Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount. We even hear a reference to Solomon's splendor in these words. And these verses are Matthew 6, verses 25 through 33.

[35:13] Jesus said there, Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

[35:27] Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

[35:39] Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing?

[35:50] Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

[36:02] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

[36:14] Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

[36:27] But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Jesus' words in 633 are very similar to what God told the people of Haggai's day.

[36:43] When we put God as our first priority, God will provide what we need. We've seen in our Haggai passage where God promised the people of that day that the rebuilt temple would be filled with more glory than it originally was.

[36:59] God promises us something even greater than that. Only one verse of Haggai is quoted in the New Testament, and that verse is Haggai 2.6, where God said that he will shake the heavens and the earth.

[37:14] The New Testament promises one more shaking. When God does his shaking again, he's going to establish a permanent kingdom. Listen to Hebrews chapter 12, verses 26 through 29, where Haggai is quoted.

[37:31] Starting in verse 26 of Hebrews 12, it says, At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

[37:43] Notice the yet once more that we saw in Haggai as well. Then in verse 27 it says, This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken.

[37:54] That is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

[38:16] Those people living during the time of Hebrews also lived under the threat of other nations, and they were challenged by the message of Haggai in the same way that Haggai's original hearers were challenged.

[38:31] They were challenged to continue in faithful service because of God's promised intervention in history. Such a vision of God also was intended to instill in them a reverence for God and a passion for his kingdom, even during trying circumstances.

[38:47] And we can say the same thing for us. Such a vision of God is intended to instill in us a passion for God's kingdom, even during trying circumstances.

[39:00] We can look throughout history and see how God worked during the time of Haggai and the time when Hebrews was written to bring himself glory. As we look for motivation to continue God's work during the difficult times in our own day, remember that one day we will get to join with the believers of the Old Testament and New Testament times to see something even more glorious than they did.

[39:25] Just like the believers of Haggai's day experienced peace, we along with them will experience an even greater peace. As the writer to the Hebrews says, therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

[39:48] Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the reminder of how you've been in work throughout history in both Old Testament and New Testament times to accomplish your purposes.

[40:05] Help that encourage us to remember that just as you were working then, you are working now to accomplish your purposes. Let that make us even more willing to engage in those purposes, because we know that what you have called us to do, you will provide for us to do.

[40:23] Give us strength as we go out the rest of the week. Help us tell more people about you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

[40:38]