years before, but whenever somebody would suggest a building program, some of the fearful people would resurrect their excuses for maintaining the status quo. “The economy isn’t good and there might be another strike,” was the major excuse we heard, but in that part of the country, there were always strikes! And who can predict or control the economy? “Our pastors don’t stay long,” one member told me, “and it would be a tragedy to be in a building program without a leader.” But the Lord led us to build a lovely sanctuary and He saw us through!
Evidence. What more evidence did the Jewish people need that God’s time had come? How could they doubt that it was God’s will for them to rebuild the temple and restore true worship in Jerusalem? Hadn’t God moved King Cyrus to free the exiles and commission them to return to Jerusalem for that very purpose? (See 2 Chron. 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–4.) Didn’t the king generously give them the money and materials they needed, and didn’t the Lord graciously protect the exiles carrying the temple treasures as they traveled from Babylon to Judah?
The Jews certainly knew the words that the prophet Isaiah had recorded about Cyrus: “He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be rebuilt,’ and the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid’” (Isa. 44: nkjv). Isaiah had also written, “I have raised him [Cyrus] up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city and let My exiles go free” (Isa. 45: nkjv). By stopping their work, the Jews were admitting that they had no faith in God’s Word or in God’s power to perform it.
In the light of these facts, on what basis were the people refusing to obey God and build His house? For one thing, both Isaiah and Jeremiah had predicted a national restoration that would amaze the Gentile nations and bring glory to Israel, but that wonderful event had not yet occurred. (See Isa. 2:1–5; 11; 35; 60:1–5; Jer. 30—31.) The people failed to understand that some of these promises would be fulfilled in the end times (“the last days”); and when the situation in Judah became worse, the people questioned the dependability of the word of God.
Perhaps some of the scribes studied Jeremiah’s promise about the seventy years of captivity (25:1–14) and decided that the allotted time hadn’t yet ended. Only fifty years had transpired since the temple had been destroyed in 586, said the experts, so the Jews would have to wait another twenty years for the prophecy to be fulfilled. God took them at their word, and the work stopped for sixteen years. The temple was completed in 515, so the scholars got their seventy years accounted for!
Evasion. The people were terribly inconsistent: it wasn’t time to build the house of God, but it was time to build their own houses! And some of the people had built, not just ordinary dwellings, but “paneled houses,” the kind that kings built for themselves (1 Kings 7:3, 7; Jer. 22:14).
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [food, clothing, shelter] shall be added to you” (Matt. 6: nkjv). Haggai’s congregation had never heard that great promise, but the principle behind Christ’s words was written into their law. “Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine” (Prov. 3:9–10 nkjv; and see Lev. 26:3–13; Deut. 16:17; 28:1–14; 30:3–9).
It’s obvious that the nation had its priorities confused, but are God’s people today any different from those ancient Jews?
Local churches can’t expand their budgets for world evangelism because the money isn’t there, and yet many church members don’t believe Matthew 6: and put God first in their giving. Measured by Third World standards, Christians in the Western world are living in luxury, yet their giving is low and their debts are high because their wealth is being used for things that really don’t matter.
When we put God first and give Him what’s rightfully His, we open the door to spiritual enrichment and the kind of stewardship that honors the Lord. A century after Haggai ministered, the prophet Malachi accused the people of robbing God of tithes and offerings and thereby robbing themselves of blessing (Mal. 3:7–12); and his words need to be heeded today.