Title: Jehovah of hosts (Haggai 02:10-23)
Contents The phrase ‘check your deeds’ is found in Haggai 1:5,7 and is not translated in the text, but you are waiting for grace with the same meaning as the words to remember that time.
1. Strange Principle
If you look closely at God's promises between God and humans or between humans and people, two strange things appear.
1). Holiness is not transmitted.
(Haggai 2:12) “If the hem of his robe touches bread, soup, wine, oil, or other food, would it be sacred?”
The holiness of God cannot be transmitted to man by itself.
In other words, just because the father is holy does not make the children holy.
In verse 12 of the text, the prophet Haggai asked the priests with the voice of God regarding this issue.
The priests respond that a holy person touching an object does not make it holy.
2). Evil is transmitted.
(Haggai 2:13) “If a person who is unclean by touching a corpse touches one of them, will it be unclean?”
While holiness cannot be transmitted, evil done in the presence of God will have consequences for future generations.
The body is unclean.
So when a person who has touched a corpse, that is, an unclean thing, touches another, it becomes unclean.
Denial continues to spread.
When Israel did evil before God, that sin spread among all the people.
Therefore, the people of Israel fell under the curse.
So when we become corrupt, our descendants become corrupt and everything becomes difficult.
The way to salvation before God is a personal matter. Each individual must be saved. To become holy, God must make us holy.
2.From today
(Haggai 2:15) “From this day on, remember before, when no stone was laid upon stone in the house of the Lord.”
The word “from today” at the beginning of verse 15 appears not only in verse 15 but also in verses 18 and 19.
It gives a sense of urgency as the starting point that determines whether it is a blessing or a curse.
From now on, it means a very urgent situation whether you will be blessed or not.
God's time is always present.
In God's time, there is no past and no future.
Therefore, what is important to the believers is not what I did in the past, but what I am doing before God now.
If you look at the people who evacuated from the north, they say that all of them lived in the big houses of the ancient Gwangsil, and no one lived without a golden calf.
People who didn't come from the north do not know, so they lie all the time.
But whether this is a lie or not, the important thing is that it has nothing to do with being useless to any mate now.
Another person uses the name of a famous person or a very pious person, and talks about whether he was a high school classmate, a kindergarten friend, or a junior living in the same neighborhood.
But that's all useless.
The question is, what will I be like from today? Now I am doing something.
The past is useless to regret and no use to boast about.
God's time is from today.
From now on, we need to look at what we should do before God.
“I am sick, and when I am healed, I will do God’s work.” What is God's work? The work of God is to believe in those whom God has sent.
So, even if you get sick, you can do God's work with faith as much as you want.
However, even though he is old and unable to move, he is conscious and can do God's work of praying for his children, for the church, for the ministers, even while lying down.
Therefore, we must do God's work with faith.
To do God's work without faith is to commit a great sin before God.
We must trust God and rely on Him to carry out His work.
3. The Last Prophecy
The last prophecy God gives through Haggai is not to the Israelites, but to the governor Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel is not an ordinary man, he is a leader.
It was a very difficult time for Israel at that time.
Although the people returned from captivity, it was a dark age filled with hopelessness and vague ways to live.
Not only that, after promising to build the temple before God, only 15 years have passed since only the foundation stone was erected. Moreover, people trying to kill Zerubbabel were rising everywhere.
In this way, when the leader Zerubbabel's difficulties were severe, the word of God came to him.
1).Blessings and Curses
(Haggai 2:19) “But from this day on, I will bless you.”
When the Lord comes, the blessing and the curse will happen at the same time.
This is because it will be a time of blessing for God's people, and judgment will come to those who oppose God.
That is why, if you accept God right away, it will be a blessing, but if you don't, you will become self-sufficient.
You and I do not want to become people who tremble in fear of the day when God will come, but to become saints who can sing the hymn, 'The morning when the glory of Zion shines' because of injustice and painful events.
2).Restoration of love
(Haggai 2:23) “In that day I will take you and seal you.”
Wearing a seal is a symbol of power and a symbol of authority.
At that time, there was a custom of making mud and stamping it on it and wearing it as a mark on the finger or making a necklace and hanging it around the neck.
It serves to protect the person holding it, which is safe for those who wear it on their hands or around their neck.
In Jeremiah 22:24, there is a saying that God will take the signet ring of Jehoiakim, the grandfather of Zerubbabel, and put it into the hand of the enemy.
(Jeremiah 22:24) “I swear by my life, declares the LORD, that even if Coniah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah is a seal ring on my right hand, I will take it off.”
In other words, he promised to abolish God's power and protection from Jehoiakim.
However, the message of the text is to restore the stolen blessings to Zerubbabel.
This is the moment when God's love and honor are overlaid on God's servant Zerubbabel.
God prophesied to Zerubbabel through Haggai and concluded, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts.”
These words are truly blessed and great words.
The Lord Almighty, the Lord Almighty, chooses and protects us.
It is a time when God's love is restored and God's protection is promised as Almighty God, not a dear friend, father, or teacher, says that we are born with a seal.