“Questions God Asks” (Hag 1:4)
Dr.
Paul Manuel—2022
Text:
2 Chr 36:17 Nebuchadnezzar….
19 set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; [he] burned
all the [royal] palaces and destroyed everything of value there.
Hag 1:8
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. 9 “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. 10 Therefore,
because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.
Hag 2:3
‘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? …9 ‘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.”
Outline:
I. The temple is ruined. (2 Chr 36:17-19)
• The Babylonians destroy it.
Application: God does not
begrudge His people wealth, but He expects them to use their wealth wisely. (Prov 10:22)
II. The temple is repairable. (Hag 1:8-10)
• The Israelites rebuild it.
Application: Do not postpone
what you should be doing for God until the time is convenient for you (2 Pet
3:9).
III. The temple is required. (Hag 2:3, 9)
• The Lord commands it.
Application: Become familiar
with what God commands, because obedience pleases Him and profits you (Deut
4:40).
Introduction: One of my favorite internet
commercials is for
Credit Karma and relates the conversation between two plain clothes detectives tied back-to-back in a pair
of chairs. “Of course, this happens [only] two days from [my] retirement.” One
complains. “Hang on.” His partner replies, and manages to get his hands loose.
But instead of helping the other detective, he takes out his cell phone to
check his credit score saying, “Credit Karma is free!” …“Wait,” the first
detective exclaims in astonishment. “Is your hand free?” This is a question born out of frustration….
Thankfully, God does not get frustrated, although He does ask questions.
Background:
There are questions we all ask. As kids on a family trip: “Are we there yet?”
As students in a new class: “Will this be on the exam?” God also asks questions,
not because He does not know the answer but to make sure we know
the answer, and what that answer reveals about Him. There are several question
God asks in scripture:
• To Adam, who tries to
hide in the Garden of Eden, God asks, “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9)
• To Adam and Eve, who disobey in the garden, God asks, “Who told
you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not
to eat from?” …. “What is this you have done?” (Gen 3:11, 13)
• To Cain, who is jealous
of and murders his brother, God asks, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?
…“Where is your brother Abel?”… “What have you done?” (Gen 4:6, 9, 10)
• To Moses, who is uncertain
how he will part the Red Sea to lead Israel across, God asks, “What is that in your hand?”
(Exod 4:2)
• To Elijah, who is hiding
in a cave, God asks, “What
are you doing here?” (1 Kgs 19:9)
• To Isaiah, who wonders what his ministry should be now that most
of the Israelites have been taken to Babylon, God
asks, “Whom shall I send?
And who will go for us?” (Isa 6:8)
• To Jonah, who is displeased that Nineveh might not
face punishment for its sin, God asks, “Have you any right to be
angry?” (Jonah
4:4)
• To Ezekiel, who doubts if
God’s people could ever recover from its captivity in Babylon, God asks, “Can these bones live?” (Ezek 37:3)
• To Job, who thinks
he knows what is best, God asks, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s
foundation?” (Job
38:4)
• To Haggai, who berates people for maintaining their own homes
while the temple is in disrepair, God says, “Is it a time for you yourselves to
be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” (Hag 1:4)
While it is possible for man to question God inappropriately
(Manuel 2005), God is always within His rights to question man, simply because
He is God. We will consider the last question—about rebuilding the temple—why
He poses it. The main reason to have a temple is because God commanded it when
His people first left Egypt:
Have
them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle
and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. (Exod 25:8-9)
The original command was to
build the tabernacle, a portable place for worship until the Israelites were
settled in the promised land. Years later, Solomon replaces the portable
tabernacle with the permanent temple.
Many years later, the Babylonian Empire is the largest kingdom
the world has ever seen. Its expansion, however, has not been without
resistance. Bothersome smaller countries like Israel and Judah have attempted
unsuccessfully to resist and retain their independence. But the enemy’s three
incursions have crushed the will of God’s people. As Ezekiel records it:
They say,
‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ (Ezek 37:11)
Successive exiles under King
Nebuchadnezzar, including the capture of Daniel, who now serves in the royal
court of the empire, have left few in the land, and those who remain are
considering a move to Egypt, which still has a stable and independent government.
In the end, this group, which includes Jeremiah, chooses to remain in the land
God promised to His people, and it is good they do.
A change of administrations from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus signals
change for the exiles. The people of Israel may return to their ancestral home.
Moreover, a sympathetic government is now advocating for the Israelites to
rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. The political tides are turning, but they
are not all flowing in Israel’s favor. There is a faction opposed to the temple
rebuilding effort, and it has managed to derail the project by turning peoples’
attention to their own concerns. They have after all just returned to the land
and need to establish themselves before tackling such a big project as
rebuilding the temple. It is certainly better to resolve more immediately
pressing issues first.
For seventy years, the entire period of the exile, God’s people
had no means of ceremonial purification. The temple was destroyed, and the
sacrificial system was suspended. They still had soteriological purification,
eternal salvation. They always had that:
[Jesus] was
chosen before the creation of the world. (1 Pet 1:20)
He has
appeared once for all…to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Heb
9:26)
In God’s mind…
The
Lamb…was slain from the creation of the world. (Rev 13:8)
And He
ordained that…
Without the
shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. (Heb 9:22)
God’s plan
from before the beginning was to redeem man from sin, and God sent His son to
do that at just “the right time” (Rom 5:6). Because
God is timeless, though, He leaves man’s final disposition to a single event:
God
presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He
did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. (Rom 3:25)
Upon a
man’s death, he waits in a place of reward or punishment, heaven or hell—not
purgatory—for God’s final disposition.
Man is
destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. (Heb 9:27)
If a person does not settle his sin’s account
with God by then, it is too late. There is no appeal or sentencing review.
Physical death is indeed the end.
In
this world, and back in the promised land, His people are subject to ritual
defilement and need the remedy God requires for Israel to retain its holiness.[1]
Again, animal sacrifices have no bearing on salvation; they are for ceremonial
purification only and only in the promised land. When
the people were in exile, separated from the land, they had no need of ceremonial
purification.[2]
Now back in the land they need to rebuild the temple to acquire it, and they
may present their offerings only in one location:
To
the place the Lord your God will
choose as a dwelling for His Name—there you are to bring everything I command
you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and
all the choice possessions you have vowed to the Lord. And there rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your sons and daughters, your
menservants and maidservants, and the Levites from your towns, who have no
allotment or inheritance of their own. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt
offerings anywhere you please. Offer them only at the place the Lord will choose in one of your tribes,
and there observe everything I command you. (Deut 12:11-14)
The efficacy of temple
sacrifices extends only to ceremonial purification. They have no salvific
benefit:
This
is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and
sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.
They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial
washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order…. The
blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are
ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much
more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to
death, so that we may serve the living God! (Heb 9:9-10, 13-14)
Temple offerings are for
ceremonial (external) purification only. Actual sin requires a more efficacious
means of atonement, a means only Christ’s sacrifice provides.
By exiling most conquered people, the Babylonians hoped to sever
whatever connection they have to their past, thereby discouraging rebellion.
The practice was effective in most cases, especially as many conquered people
assimilate to Babylonian society and adopt Babylonian gods…but not so the
people of Israel. They remain separate, holding to their own laws and religious
practices, as Daniel and others illustrate:
Daniel
resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the
chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. (Dan 1:8)
Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego…pay no attention to you, O king. They neither serve your
gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up. (Dan 3:12)
These
captives remain loyal to the Lord,
and some of them rise to high office in the empire. Daniel, for example, is:
“chief of the magicians, enchanters, astrologers, and diviners” (Dan 5:11). Nehemiah is “cupbearer to
the king” (Neh 1:11).
When the administration changes, Cyrus allows former captive Israelites
to return to their ancestral home. After seventy years in exile, God’s people
may now go back to the land He promised to the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Not everyone makes the trip. Some are too old and infirm; others are too
entrenched in their adopted society. For those who do return, there is the
uprooting of a settled life, the arduous journey, and the depressive condition
they find when they arrive.
I. The temple is ruined. (2 Chr 36:17-19)
• The Babylonians destroy it.
2 Chr 36:17 Nebuchadnezzar….
19 set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; [he] burned
all the [royal] palaces and destroyed everything of value there.
The Israelites did not leave their homeland in good repair. It
was in fact a wreck, the aftermath of war. They left suddenly and not of their
own volition. The Babylonians forcibly evicted residents from their property
(586 B.C.). Nevertheless, when the Israelites return, they believe God will
support them, and they undertake a very ambitious reconstruction, including
their earlier place of worship.
Delays are inevitable in any large undertaking, even for people who
are ostensibly doing God’s will. Those delays are compounded, however, by
selfish concerns, by interest in purely personal matters:
“Is
it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this
house remains a ruin?” Now this is what the Lord
Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. (Hag 1:4-5)
The Jews may rebuild their
homes but not too opulently while the temple is in disrepair.
God does not condemn the accumulation of material goods. It is
often a sign of divine favor:
If
you follow My decrees and are careful to obey My commands, I will send you rain
in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field
their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape
harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want
and live in safety in your land. (Lev
26:3-5)
God
gives a man wealth,
possessions, and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires. (Eccl 6:2)
God’s blessing adheres to the obedient,
those who “love [Him] and keep [His] commandments” (Exod 20:6).
Application: God does not
begrudge His people wealth, but He expects them to use their wealth wisely. (Prov 10:22)
The
blessing of the Lord brings
wealth, and He adds no trouble to it. (Prov
10:22)
II. The temple is repairable. (Hag 1:8-10)
• The Israelites rebuild it.
Hag 1:8
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. 9 “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. 10 Therefore,
because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.
Jews who return to the land are not overwhelmed by the task
ahead. It is doable even though it seems daunting, but people know how
important it is.
There are some delays, as personal projects take priority over
what should be their main priority. The Jews who return to Israel from Babylon
must first rebuild the city walls protecting from hostile neighbors. Having
secured the perimeter, they can concentrate their efforts:
Then the family heads
of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had
moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem…. All their neighbors assisted them with
articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuable gifts,
in addition to all the freewill offerings. Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the
articles belonging to the temple of the Lord,
which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the
temple of his god. (Ezra 1:5-7)
Bringing back temple
artifacts (except the ark) gives a sense that things will return to
pre-invasion levels, but it is just one step. “There is no way these relatively
poor exiles could have matched the extravagances of Solomon with his professional
craftsmen working with imported woods and huge quantities of gold” (Alden:585).
In light of their need, they must “be strong” (Hag 2:4), ready to meet these
challenges.
Application: Do not postpone
what you should be doing for God until the time is convenient for you (2 Pet
3:9).
The
Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is
patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance. (2 Pet 3:9)
III. The temple is required. (Hag 2:3, 9)
• The Lord commands it.
After seventy years in exile, many Jews have died, and those
still alive and able to remember the impressive structure of the previous
temple:
Hag 2:3
‘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? …9 ‘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.”
Rebuilding the sanctuary is
not optional. God commands an earlier generation to complete it:
Have them make a
sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its
furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. (Exod
25:8-9)
The earthly temple resembles the heavenly exemplar,
which Christ entered, “an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2
Cor 5:1).
When Christ came as
high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the
greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a
part of this creation…. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was
only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in
God’s presence. (Heb 9:11, 24)
The
heavenly tabernacle/temple is the model for the earthly one and, unlike the
earthly one, endures forever..
Application:
Become familiar with what God commands, because obedience pleases Him and
profits you (Deut 4:40).
Keep His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today,
so that it may go well with you and your children after you. (Deut 4:40)
Conclusion:
When God asks a question, whether in the garden or in the land, it is never a
question for Him, but one He intends to elicit a response in man that
ultimately results in obedience. Some questions are specific and apply to a
certain situation. Others are general and apply broadly:
He has showed you, O
man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act
justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Mic 6:8)
In
any case, He expects you to comply as best you can, for that is what pleases
Him and puts you in line with His will, which is the best place for you to be.
Bibliography
Alden, Robert
1985 “Haggai.”
Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 7. Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.
Manuel, Paul http://paulwmanuel.blogspot.com.
2005 Praying
through Tough Problems: Biblical Models for Arguing with God.
