Ezra chapter 3, if you don't own a physical copy of the Word of
God, please come see me after the Bible study.
I have a gift for you. I really encourage people to
have a physical copy of the Scriptures with them.
And for whatever reason, if you don't possess one, again, please
come see me immediately after the service.
I want to help you with that. Ezra chapter 3 and put your
finger there verse 8. Now when Cyrus king of Persia
made his Kingdom wide announcement to the Jewish
exiles about returning to the city of Jerusalem, he had one
main purpose in doing so, to rebuild the House of the Lord.
That is what his invitation centered on, going back to
restore the House of worship. And in the latter portion of
this chapter of Ezraim, we are actually going to witness the
returnees beginning that very endeavor.
Now, I say beginning because these exiles will only be able
to lay the foundation of the temple before significant
challenges arise and hinder their work.
But that does not undermine the significance of this historical
moment. You have to put yourselves in
their shoes. For just over 70 years, this
covenant people did not have their temple, the designated
place divinely sanctioned by God Himself, where He promised to
cover their sin, where He assured them that He would
commune with man. And humanly speaking, you would
think that it's nearly impossible for this privilege to
be restored after all that they went through.
But God made many promises, notably in Isaiah 44, verse 28,
where He prophesied that the foundation of this temple would
be laid again one day. And you and I are now going to
witness the fulfillment of that very promise.
This is a great achievement, one that is worthy of careful
attention. And that is why we are going to
consider at least three things about this exciting undertaking.
3 things. The first thing that we will
look at are the people in the work, the people involved in the
work. Secondly, we will look at the
praise for the work, how the people responded to the laying
down of this foundation. And finally, we will consider
the perspective of the work. So all starting with peace
preachers like to do this kind of stuff by the way, the people
in the work, the praise for the work, the perspective of the
work. And if you are engaged until the
end of the study, which I hope you always are, we will see how
this very section of Ezra will connect to one of the most
powerful and undeniable proofs that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is
indeed the promised long-awaited Messiah.
And not just Messiah, but Messiah who is God himself.
I'm sure you're going to be amazed to see how this links to
that incredible truth. It's going to reinforce your
faith and who Christ is and claims to be.
Lord, we ask you tonight again, Your word tells us that it is
like a mirror. And so we pray that we would be
honest in this study to see what You say of us, and that wherever
there is a blemish, wherever there is anything that is not in
alignment with Your will, we would repent and we would
conform to Your desire. Lord, Your word also says that
it is like water. So we pray that it would refresh
us, that it would refresh our faith, our joy, our peace, our
strength. But we also know that Your Word
says that it is like fire. And so we pray that it would
consume any hint of disobedience, any growing
rebellion, anything that would hurt or grieve the Spirit of
God, consume it through the fire of Your Word.
And Lord, we also know that Your Word says that it is like a
hammer. So even the most hardened heart,
the most calloused heart, the one who is growing cold towards
you, you would smash that heart and that you would melt it
again, and it would be tender towards you and your will and
Your word. We pray these things in Jesus
name, Amen. Let's look at the people, the
people in the work beginning in verse 8 down to verse 9.
Now in the second year, after their coming to the House of God
at Jerusalem in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of
Shiao Thiel, and Joshua the son of Jozadak, made a beginning,
together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priests and the
Levites, and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity.
They appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to
supervise the work of the House of the Lord.
And Joshua with his sons and his brothers, and Cadmiel and his
sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen
in the House of God, along with the sons of Hennidad and the
Levites, their sons and brothers.
Question #1 Why did the people begin this project, which was
supposed to be their primary purpose in returning, in the
second month of the second year? That seems to be like a delay at
first glance. Well, we get one answer from
verse 7. Remember what it says in verse
7? That with the funding that came
from Cyrus, they hire the Cydonians and the Tyrians to
come and to bring cedar from Lebanon by sea.
That takes time, doesn't it? Yes.
Apart from other planning and other purchases and other things
and other preparations, it took time.
It's not that they were hesitating.
They just waited for all the material and all the men to
arrive. But there is something else, I
believe, beyond the obvious delay.
The second month is also the same month of the year when
Solomon began building the First Temple, according to First Kings
61. So it can be that this was an
intentional kind of pursuit, that in the second month, they
would do this as a way of almost hoping that what they're about
to continue in would echo the Golden Age of Solomon's
construction and what he was able to usher in through his
leadership. But by the end of the study,
we're going to discover that whatever they do here is going
to fall very short of the standard that Solomon set when
he led a similar project. Now, there's something else that
stands out here. In verse 8 and verse 9, the word
together is repeated. And so at the outset of this
construction, there is still optimism.
The people are excited. They're one mind, one heart.
They're doing this together, They're doing this in unity.
And we can draw many truths from that.
But what I really want to focus on is how the Holy Spirit
highlights the age of the Levites who supervise the work.
Did you catch that? Look again in the last part of
verse 8, the last sentence. They appointed the Levites from
20 years old and upward to supervise the work of the House
of the Lord. Why do I need to know how old
they are? Well, we can say it's because
they want to be obedient. Yes, that is one reason they are
being obedient, because the law does spell out the minimum age
of the Levites when entering into their office.
And there's actually an interesting history of that that
is worthy of exploration. Levi, he's the son of who?
I'm talking about the original Levi.
No, he's the son of Jacob, who's later called who?
Israel. Now, let me ask you this.
Levi had how many sons? How many sons did Levi have?
I'm talking about the original Levi.
Did he have one son? Did he have two sons?
He had three sons. OK Does anybody know the names
of the three sons? Good.
Somebody's got it.
Say it. Gershon is one of them.
Murari is the third. Who's the first?
Starts with the letter K Kohath. Very good.
Did you hear it? Kohath.
Gershon Murari, welcome to Friday night Bible study in the
Hebrew Scriptures. It's good we have to repeat
these things to remember them. I want you now to turn to
Numbers chapter 4. Because God had given
instructions to the descendants of Levi when he formalized and
made their ministry official. These are some of the initial
instructions that the Lord gave to Levi, which was the tribe
that was set apart to perform spiritual duties at the dwelling
place of God. Look at Numbers chapter 4
starting at verse one. Numbers 4 verse one.
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying take a census of
the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi by their clans
and their father's houses from 30 years old up to 50 years old.
All who can come on duty to do the work in the tent of meeting.
So Kohath, his first son, how old were his sons supposed to be
before entering into the service of the 10th of meeting?
Good. Scroll down now to verse 29 of
Numbers 4. Excuse me, verse 21, Numbers
421. The Lord spoke to Moses saying,
Take his census of the sons of Gershon also by their father's
houses and by their clans, from 30 years old up to 50 years old.
You shall list them all who can come to the to do duty to do
service in the tent of meeting Gershon his sons.
How old? 30 very good.
Now verse 29 of Numbers 4. As for the sons of Marari, you
shall list them by their clans and their father's houses from
30 years old up to 50 years old. You shall list them everyone who
can come on duty to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.
So it's clear, isn't it? We can see it.
The original minimum age for all the Levites in the Tent of
Meeting to serve was 30 years old.
Now that seems interesting in light of what we read in Ezra,
but it becomes even more puzzling as this develops.
We don't even get to finish the book of Numbers before we
encounter this in Numbers 8. Now look here in verse 23 and
the Lord spoke to Moses saying this applies to the Levites from
25 years old and upward. They shall come to do duty in
the service of the 10th of meeting 30/25/20.
Well, let's just deal with this for now, without any
explanation. Just a few chapters after the
initial and original command, we learn that the minimum age for
the Levites drops by five years. Now notable Jews, rabbis, those
who have written material for the Jewish people, unbelieving
Jews, have suggested an attempt to reconcile this, that what we
find here, Numbers 28 with the 25 year olds was a type of
training apprenticeship, a way of entering in, not officially,
but to become familiar and to become instructed with lighter
responsibilities before they enter into the official office.
That's described in Numbers Chapter 4.
Now they wouldn't. They wouldn't explain it in that
depth, but they would just kind of label it as well.
This is just really a training phase from the age of 25 to 30
before they actually walk into and they are officially serving
as Levites and, and there is some truth to that.
And we don't even have to go to rabbinic tradition to confirm
it. All you have to do is compare
Numbers Chapter 4 and Numbers Chapter 8.
Look at the context and look at the wording to come to a very
similar conclusion. In Numbers chapter 4, when the
Lord said, look, the sons of Levi, they have to start at the
age of 30. What's being emphasized there is
the responsibility of setting up and tearing down the Tabernacle.
Remember, this is long before the actual permanent temple.
We're talking about the portable tent.
And in numbers four, they were called to set up tear down.
And not only that, but each of the sons of Levi were
responsible for different articles of the Tabernacle and
to bear it and to transport it to the next location.
When you come to Numbers Chapter 8, we don't have that emphasis.
In fact, if you look at the context carefully, you learn
that there is a broader application being made that the
Levites who are starting at 25, we're not to be engaged in that.
What we find in Numbers 4 necessarily, because the Levites
had other things to do, especially when the Tabernacle
was situated. They would have to watch who
comes in and who exits the Tabernacle.
They'd have to make sure things were clean, or they have to
evaluate if something is unclean and they had other smaller
duties. And so here's how you can make
sense of this, even if you know Hebrew.
This helps because when you look at the Hebrew wording for
service in comparison to the duty in both chapters, it's
different words. Now you may not have access to
the Hebrew, but just the context explains it.
So here's how we can make sense of this.
The 25 year olds were indeed supposed to be recruited at 25.
They were called to deal with different matters in the
Tabernacle, and once they turned 30, they were supposed to enter
in in a more official way and deal with the holy things of the
Tabernacle. Now that seems to solve this,
but just when we thought that, we came to a solution with his
dilemma. You keep reading your Old
Testament, you're studying now about David and you realize that
David has it on his heart to build a temple.
And as he's making preparations for the temple, notice what is
said in First Chronicles 23 verse 24.
These were the sons of Levi by their fathers houses, the heads
of fathers houses, as they were listed according to the number
of the names of the individuals from 20 years old and upward who
are to do the work for the service of the House of the
Lord. So we just made sense of the 30
year olds and the 25 year olds. And now we Fast forward to
David's time and he goes, actually, I want to lower the
age from 30 to 20. This time, however, we are given
a reason, and this is divinely sanctioned.
By the way. David is not just making up his
own rules. He's not just adjusting the law
of Moses. You read in this context that he
is being led by God for the blueprint of the temple and all
these other things that he's adding.
What is the reason in the very next verse of First Chronicles
23? Look at verse 25.
For David said the Lord the God of Israel has given rest to his
people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever.
And so the Levites no longer need to carry the Tabernacle or
any of the things for its service.
For by the last words of David, the sons of Levi were numbered
from 20 years old and upward. So what's the explanation now
that the Tabernacle is becoming the Temple, and the Temple is
this permanent structure remaining in Jerusalem?
The setting up and the tearing down and the carrying of the
burdens of these articles are no longer required.
And since the responsibilities have changed, let's now change
the age. Let's bring it down to the age
of 20. Let's adjust it.
We went through all of that to at least draw 2 lessons.
The first one is this. As we look at the ages of the
Levites, we learned that God desires for you and I to offer
up the best years of our lives to His service, the best years
the prime of your life. It's totally possible for the
Lord to recruit anybody at any point to do things for His name,
even great things. But there is something special
about a person who gives the Lord the peak of their strength,
energy, agility, mental capacity.
And that's what you find here. The Lord says I want you Levites
to consecrate your 20s, your 30s, your 40s to me.
And notice the retirement age is 50.
But that doesn't mean that the Levites were never to engage in
temple service. They were not promoted to
supervising the younger ones. But what he wanted in terms of
full time service was the best years of their lives.
And speaking about Solomon in this study, that's exactly one
of his final exhortations in the book where he speaks about the
vanity of life. You know, when people want to
try to encourage the young, the youth to be consecrated to
Christ, they often quote Ecclesiastes 12 verse one,
right? Remember your Creator when in
the days of your youth, before what the days of evil come and
the years draw near, which you will say, I have no pleasure in
them, and they tend to stop it right there.
Yes, remember you're created in the days of your youth.
But he didn't stop the charge at that point, he does something
else. From verse 2 down to verse 7 of
Ecclesiastes 12, Solomon gives a very poetic and descriptive
picture of aging and he provides many illustrations, but the main
one is of a house falling apart. It's amazing.
And there's there's debate about what part actually signifies
what. But when you look at it, it's
kind of plain before your eyes, then before you slouch over,
before you don't find pleasure because of of your exposure to
the things of this life and the burdens and the trials.
All these things are given as a charge, as a as an exhortation
for the young to give what they can before it becomes harder to
serve God. And that's just the truth of the
matter. This is something for you and I
to consider because they're it's so encouraging.
How many of those here are in that very bracket of time?
How much are you truly investing in serving the Lord?
Because look, the Bible is so honest.
God is gracious, His arms are always open.
Anybody can come to Him at any point, as I said earlier.
But it also communicates that there are going to be undeniable
challenges that come as you advance in years.
This is the segment of your brief existence where you can
develop your roots and establish habits.
And create a history with God that can have ripple effects for
the years to come. Give your mind over to knowing
the Word of God with the freedom that you still have with your
schedule before it becomes more stuffy, as it naturally will.
Do with it what you can to really serve the Lord.
You'll have no regrets while you have strengthened your joints
and in your muscles, and while you're still able to to actually
endorse certain things. Lay it off the feet of the Lord.
And that's what the Lord says here, I'm sure with the Levites.
But there's a second thing to learn, that as much as the Lord
is ready to recruit the young, this is so important.
He still requires maturity. He still requires maturity.
Did you notice that the different ages for the Levites
corresponded to the level of responsibility assigned to them?
So why did he make it 30 years old and Numbers 4?
Because the responsibility was greater at the time.
You're going to have to handle these holy articles, these holy
furnishings. You're going to have to be
careful with setting up the House of God, bringing it down
carefully. Not especially the the sons of
Kohath, not peeking into the things.
You have to cover it with certain materials.
So there was a demand for maturity and, and, and once the
responsibilities change by David's time, OK, we can make it
younger now. We can ask the younger guys to
come in. And this is really something for
those who are eager to serve God in their younger years.
And I've met these young guys and gals where they're so
frustrated because they feel as though they have the zeal, they
have the availability, they have the energy, and yet things don't
seem to be moving, doors don't seem to be opening.
And here's where you have to remind yourself of the
following. Be patient.
Because had the Lord not
considered the maturity level of these different Levites, it
could have done way more damage than good.
And that's something for you and I to consider.
And oftentimes, not always, but generally, maturity requires
time and experience. If you and I have not developed
the characteristics and the convictions that are necessary
for longevity, you can not only harm yourself but harm others
that you are called to serve. So this is what we see with the
people in the work, at least some things.
But we now transition to the praise for the work.
Come back to Ezra 3 and look at verse 9 down to verse, excuse
me, verse 10 down to verse 11. And when the builders laid the
foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priest in their
vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the
sons of Asaph, with symbols to praise the Lord according to the
directions of David king of Israel.
And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to
the Lord. For He is good, for His
steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.
And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praise
the Lord, because the foundation of the House of the Lord was
laid. Now there are many things that
we can say about this exuberant response of the people, but the
one thing that I want to point out is when they praised, when
they praised, or why they praised.
Look at the last part of verse 11 again.
Because the foundation of the House of the Lord was laid, now
you might expect such explosive acts of worship to be given at
the completion of the temple. We're just at the beginning.
This is just phase one. And yet they could not help but
give to the Lord this honor and this recognition with their
talent and with their voices. What does that teach us?
It teaches us that you and I must develop the conviction that
God is worthy of praise in the process as much as in the
completion. That you and I must recognize
God's doing, His grace, His provision, His protection at
every step, not just at the arrival.
And you find this pattern all over the Bible.
You even see it at another laying of another foundation far
greater in size and scale than what we find here.
God spoke to Job directly at the end of that book.
And one of the things that He asks of Job speaks to this very
thing that we find here. Do you remember what He said
about creation? Let me remind you, in Job 38
verse 4, God says where were you when I laid the foundation of
the earth? Tell me if you have
understanding, who determined its measurements?
Surely you know, or who stretched the line upon it, or
what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone?
The cornerstone was the very first stone that you would put
down in any construction project.
Look at verse 7, when the morning stars sang together and
all the sons of God shouted for joy, one of the angels of
heaven. Rejoice in song, in creation,
the beginning, not at the end when God laid the foundation,
when he placed the cornerstone. And so that just reinforces what
we find here in Ezra, that heaven and earth testifies that
God is worthy of our praise at every step, every step.
I'm speaking to those who serve God and are often discouraged
because you can't seem to see the fulfillment of your prayers,
the realization of your dreams and your desires.
That no matter how much you seek God, no matter how much you
serve him, no matter how much you resist sin and compromise,
no matter how much you're able to overcome a lesser quality of
faith and a lesser quality of of serving the Lord.
It doesn't seem to be happening the way I hoped that it would
happen, or it doesn't seem to be coming as soon as I would like
for it to come. Learn from this.
OK, so here you are saying,
Lord, I would love to be on that platform or in that position so
that I can have a greater impact.
Great. And he might grant that to you,
but are you joyfully mindful of the opportunities that he's
giving you now? Right now, Lord, I want more
souls to invest and I want to disciple more people.
Time is running out. OK, great.
That's, that's a that's a great and worthy thing.
But what about the people that He has allowed you to encounter?
What about them? Are you thankful?
And this is what we see here, a common thing among God's
servants, that they lose sight of the progress of the very
thing that He's doing right under your nose, of the thing
that He's allowed right there before your eyes.
So there is a danger looking back.
We're going to find that out in the next section.
But there's also a danger of looking too far ahead, that you
miss what God is doing here. And I think that this is a
timely word for this very church.
It's a reminder for us that as we are anticipating the next
chapter to this ministry story, not to become blind to the very
foundation that He has been laying over these past four
years, to really rejoice week after week, year after year, as
new ministries start, as other ministries are strengthening.
Do we have big desires? Sure do.
Do we have a trajectory in mind? Maybe.
But don't become so fixated that you lose sight of the glory of
the moment. Enjoy it.
Give God glory for it. And this is what we learn from
the praise for the work. But now we finally come to the
perspective of the work. This is really interesting.
You could say that this is the first time, as we're about to
read verse 12 down to verse 13, that this is the first time in
the book of Ezra where we find dissonance among this remnant
who up to this point were united in mind, united and ambition,
united in zeal. Let's read it in verse 12.
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of Father's
houses, old man who had seen the 1st house, wept with a loud
voice when they saw the foundation of this house being
laid. Though many shouted aloud for
joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the
joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping.
For the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was
heard far away. Unexpectedly there's weeping,
and it's coming from one distinct group within this
company, old men who had seen the 1st House.
So evidently you have people among the remnant who even after
70 years of exile, were still alive when they beheld Solomon's
temple. And they've now arrived to this
historical pivotal moment. The foundation is laid.
And the younger generation who weren't really exposed to the
former temple, they're like, this is amazing.
We're going to rebuild the temple.
We're going to re establish our worship.
And they're shouting and they're embracing.
And then in that, there is a mingling of sounds where the
older men are actually weeping out loud.
Why? Because they could not help but
compare the glory of the former temple with the modest progress
of this one, and it broke their hearts.
And this single observation carries wonderful instruction
for us. Notice what they sang in verse
11. What did they sing all together
for? He is good.
For His steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.
That is a glorious and appropriate truth to scribe to
the Lord and to proclaim, because this group have been
what? Forgiven, restored, and in real
time they are rebuilding their relationship with God.
So yes, His steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.
But Please remember this truth. God's love is so strong, so
available, that He is willing to erase any sin, and He is willing
to always reconcile with us. But that does not promise the
erasing of the consequences of our sins.
These people are restored to God, but they're still weeping
at the loss caused by their own iniquity.
They could not help but be reminded of all that had been
forsaken, all that they had been surrendered, even as they found
themselves here standing before God's faithfulness, God moving
nations and kings to bring them back to himself, that still
could not deal with the sorrow that their sin brought to their
lives. And I want to share this as a
warning because love warns, do not entertain any kind of sin
with a dangerous mindset that God will forgive you.
Don't premeditate your disobedience because there's a
lot of reasons why that kind of thinking is wrong.
And one of them is that it never takes into account how, yes, God
is merciful, but you can lose things in this life that you
will never recover. Not many preachers will tell you
that. And I'll say this because they
don't love their people. There's some sins, there are
some decisions that can rob you in this life for the rest of
your life. That's how much sin hates you.
Why don't you hate sin with greater intensity?
Why don't I hate it when I realize just how damaging it can
be, just how much it can ruin me?
And so there are times, though, even I am restored unto the
Lord, that consequences carry over and those consequences are
not signs that God is displeased with me or that he will always
keep me at arm's length. No, that's not the case at all.
The context suggests otherwise. It's just the reality of sin.
And the most important thing in our lives, even if we sin, is
that we are restored to the Lord.
But there are some things, there are some painful ramifications
that are not so easily healed. You see that even with I brought
this up many times, but we see that even with the plagues in
Egypt, some of the plagues when Pharaoh have heartedly asked to
be forgiven or asked for Moses to intercede were immediately
removed. Others linger.
Do you remember the frogs? The frogs didn't just evaporate,
they stayed. And it says there an exodus that
the land stank, and there's some things that we do that leaves a
stench even though we are restored to God.
Remember that I'm saying this not to discourage you, but to
encourage you in your fight against sin.
The next time temptation comes knocking at your door, you would
realize you're more dangerous than you're making yourself out
to be, and that you would fight it with this truth.
But there's another thing to learn.
Another lesson emerges here, and it is how different generations
in a community of faith can perceive God's work differently.
And in this case, here you have the older generation that was so
attached to past glories that they could not even discern
God's work today. And that's really possible for
anybody who's long, who's walk with God long enough to have
experienced his power to experience testimonies, to
experience ministries and how God used certain ministries,
certain local churches that you're so fixated on that you're
so living in the past that you can't even register the new
thing that God is doing. And that's dangerous.
That's actually very unwise. You have to be able to come to
the realization that living so much in yesterday, even what God
has done yesterday, can cripple your faith for tomorrow.
It's actually a form of unbelief to constantly ruminate over all
what the Lord has done. Oh, what God has done.
Oh, what He's done at that point of history.
Oh, what He's done in that church I once was a part of.
Oh what He's done with those group of friends that I have.
When you think like that, you are denying the possibility that
God can do greater things in the days ahead.
Many people are like this and it's not just for older
generation. It could be those who are just
experienced in their walk with the Lord.
And if you struggle with this, I want to encourage you to bring
it before God. Ecclesiastes says it is not wise
to say why were the former days greater.
That's not wise because you're bringing harm to your own faith
among other things. No matter what you and I have
experienced before, you have to always expect greater things to
come. And so sorrow over the past has
become so ingrained with this older generation that it
actually lasted longer than the celebration here.
Do you see this? Maybe you don't see it.
You'll only see it when you read on in the Old Testament.
So severe was this pain and so ingrained was this reminiscing
of the the glories of the past, that God finally had to speak to
one of his prophets and say, I need you to send a message to
that generation. Does anybody know which prophet
it was? Good.
Hey Guy, let's go to Hey Guy in chapter 2.
And keep in mind that this prophetic message came sometime
after the foundation of the temple was laid, not at the
moment the people were weeping. So time goes on and God speaks
to Haggai in chapter 2 verse one down to verse 5, and he gives
them a series of encouragements that apply to us.
And here's the most exciting part that actually points to
Christ. Look at Haggai 2 verse one in
the 7th month. On the 21st day of the month,
the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.
Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shaltiel, governor of Judah,
and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak the high priest, and
to all the remnant of the people, and say, who is left
among you who saw this house in its former glory?
How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your
eyes yet? Now be strong, O Zerubbabel
declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua the son of
Jehozadak the high priest, be strong.
All you people of the land declares the Lord work.
I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the
covenant that I had made with you when you came out of Egypt.
My spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.
What a word. Again, we learned here in the
beginning that he, he came, the prophet came in the seventh
month. Why is that significant?
Well, if you look more carefully, it's actually taking
place at the end of. The feasts of all the feasts,
this is the final feasts. But more than that, the 7th
month is the same month of the year when Solomon not built the
temple but dedicated it. That's in First Kings 8 verse 2.
And it could be now that you have this people who are even
mindful of the history of the temple.
It was this time of the year when King Solomon dedicated that
much more glorious temple. Then Haggai shows up.
Hey all, you who are left, who saw the former glory of this
house, what do you think about it now?
It's nothing. And he doesn't, he doesn't make
a case of how this building is far more glorious, more
splendid, adorned and dazzled. He doesn't do that, but he does
teach him something about what makes something truly glorious.
He goes, God's presence is with you.
The significance of this place is not the structure, it's not
the architecture, It's it's God's presence.
And I'm here to tell you that although the building itself is
inferior, the Spirit of God is in your midst.
Isn't that what counts the most? Isn't that what's most
important? But the promise and the
encouragement doesn't end there. Look what he says in verse 6.
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, 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, and in this place I will give
peace, declares the Lord of Hosts.
Brothers and sisters, this is the time to lean in and pay
attention. If you have enough to this
point, do you understand the implications of this promise in
this prophecy? The latter glory of this house
will be greater than the former. Now, here's in a very a very
critical part of this prophecy. Over and over he emphasizes this
house, this house. What house are we talking about?
Well, Solomon built the first Temple.
We're dealing with the second Temple.
He's discussing about the glory of the second Temple.
Now, how have rabbis tried to explain this?
There are two main explanations on their part.
Number one, they think, OK, the glory of the Second Temple is
greater than the first because it endured longer than
Solomon's. Because you got to remember the
second Temple went all the way up to when 70 ADI mean.
This is the same temple that Jesus walked into eventually.
This is the same temple that Herod would later adopt and
beautify and expand. Which brings me to the second
explanation among rabbis that it's not necessarily the
duration of the temple, but how gorgeous it was in terms of
material, in terms of his expansion and renovations, that
Herod made this temple far greater than even Solomon's.
But there are a few problems with this.
How does that actually justify it being greater in glory than
the glory of God that manifested in the first Temple?
Do you remember what happened at the dedication of the first
Temple? Let me remind you, in First
Kings 8:10 to 11:00, you don't have to turn there.
Just listen in First Kings 810 And when the priest came out of
the holy place, a cloud filled the House of the Lord, so that
the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud,
for the glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord.
God's manifest presence was so potent in the very Temple
Solomon's that the priest could not even enter into it to
minister. They have to stay outside.
Are you telling me that the duration of the second Temple,
or the gold and the carvings and the expansion in terms of size
that Herod brought to this temple is better than this
glory? Because if you bring this point
up to your Jewish friends who are studied, they will say
there's nothing more to this than the silver and the gold and
the treasures that would be brought to the temple.
Because remember, what does he say there in Haggai too?
That the silver is mine. And verse A, the gold is mine,
declares the Lord of hosts. He's speaking about physical
glory. And here's how you need to
respond. You would be hard pressed to
find the phrase filled with glory and limit that to physical
appearance when you look at kings.
When you look especially in Ezekiel, that phrase filled with
glory speaks primarily about God's manifest presence in the
House of God. And it's no accident that Haggai
is using similar language to the glory of God filling the temple
of First Kings. 8 It's this temple.
Why is that so important? Because some would even explain
it this way. Even believers.
OK, yes, this is speaking about a heavenly glory, divine
presence, manifest power. So it has to speak about the
millennial Kingdom. It has to speak about the
millennial temple. Now why would they have to say
that? Because if this is the second
temple, then you have to find in this bracket of time where there
is a greater glory than Solomon's.
So between the rebuilding of the temple here in Ezra and 70AD,
where is this greater glory? And if you can't identify it,
then you have failed prophecy. You have failed prophecy.
That's a big problem. But it's not a problem to the
Christian because we have determined that there is
something greater than a cloud appearing in the first temple on
a single day, and that is the glory of God taking on flesh,
and that glory not just visiting the temple one day, but on many
days. He cleansed the temple, He
purified it, He did miracles in its courts.
He entered in, He engaged with people, He taught.
The only way this prophecy in Haggai makes sense is if you
understand God in Christ being the greater glory than the cloud
that entered in the temple and 1st Kings.
This prophecy is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, and
it's one of the most undeniable pieces of evidence that Christ
of Nazareth is the Messiah. Why?
Because he said that the latter glory of this temple would
exceed the first. So where does that fit?
In fact, if you look at rabbinic literature who have commented on
the Second Temple, they would say that there are actually many
things that were missing in the Second Temple in comparison to
the first. So they talked about how the
divine presence wasn't in the Temple, how the ark was not in
the Temple, how what they call the Shekinah, glory Shekinah, by
the way, is not. That's a Hebrew thing.
That's a Jewish terminology. So even rabbis in their own
writing say there are many things missing in the Second
Temple. So they're trying to understand
this prophecy, and most of them just say it's about the actual
structure that opens up more problems and solutions.
But for us as Christians, this is Christ, this is Christ.
He came into that second temple and he came as glory, the glory
of God, the perfect radiance of God.
And they denied him. They missed it.
There's so many things that we can say at this point.
We can compare to Malachi 3. We can look at the peace that
Christ he did bring because it talks about how He's going to
bring peace to this place, the peace that they denied.
Remember when he wept over Jerusalem?
Oh, if you only knew the the times of peace that I've come to
bring. But I want to give you this
final thought of the conclusion of this study.
Why were the Israelites exiled? Well, because of their
disobedience. They committed bloodshed,
immorality, idolatry. They kept going.
They kept going.
All right, enough is enough. You are going to be taken out of
the land. For how long?
70 years. I'm going to give you 70 years
before you you can return. The temple was destroyed.
Solomon's temple was destroyed, and they would be able to
rebuild it after seven years. The second temple was destroyed
in 70 AD. For what?
Crime, a far greater crime, denying the Messiah.
I want you to think about this. When they committed idolatry at
this time, they were expelled for 70 years.
When they denied Messiah, it took 1900 years before the
people of Israel went back to their land.
Nearly 1900 years later did this dispersed people finally come
back to their homeland. I believe even in that you have
an indication of just how severe their sin of denying Messiah
was. They pushed away the glory.
They missed the prophecy. But remember, the steadfast love
of the Lord endures forever toward Israel.
And even after the denial of Messiah, God made promises to
this people, and he promised that he would restore them and
that he would regenerate them, and that he would one day rule
over them as they would welcome and acknowledge them as their
Savior and as their King. They would see that He is indeed
the Son of David, the one that we read about, the one that
we've denied, the one that we've killed.
And Christ will embrace them, and he will show to the world
once again just how faithful he is.
That's our King. Never forget Haggai chapter 2 in
your defense of why Christ is Messiah.
He is the greater glory that came during the Second Temple
period. What's your explanation?
We have the greatest one because He's the truth.
Amen. Lord, we thank you for the
study. We give you glory and thanks.
My prayer, Lord, with my brothers and sisters.
Is that what we've studied? Tonight?
We just whet our appetite and that we would again rediscover
just how deep this word is, just how supernatural the authorship
is. And Lord, with all the things
that were shared and all the the thoughts and the insights that
were provided, may the ultimate end be our devotion to you being
greater and our love to you being more sincere.
So though we rejoice now knowing that we are in the truth, that
we in our faith have the backing of the Scriptures from Genesis
to Revelation, that over and over again you confirm to us
that Christ is indeed the Savior of the world and the soon coming
King. May you equip us not just for
knowledge sake, but to win others to the truth.
Help us Lord, to grow and to serve you with the best years of
our lives. Time is short, O God.
So we do pray for that urgency to be more real, but we also
pray for the patience and believe in your timing, for your
promotion in our lives and the open doors in our lives.
Lord, help us not dwell so much on the past, even on things that
are good, but be like Paul, forgetting what lies behind,
forgetting what's there and keeping focus on what's ahead.
Lord, we love you and we trust you.
We sing to you now in joy. In Jesus name we pray, Amen and
Amen. Let's stand and let's worship
the living Christ.