Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: The writer of Proverbs says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That's the same important message that we'll hear from the Old Testament prophet Haggai in this study on Thru the Bible. I'm Steve Schwetz, glad that you're here as we continue to travel through the entire Word of God with our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Before we jump into Haggai, though, we’ve got more of our continuing introductions on God's judgments. Here's Dr. McGee now.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now Isaiah had something to say about it, in fact, a great deal. In Isaiah the 26th chapter at verse 20, he says, "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast." That's the Great Tribulation. "For behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain." In other words, there's also going to be the judgment of the nations, and we're going to look at that also, but probably at another time because we don't want to take too much time in these introductory matters.

Now the Scripture has a great deal to say about this. If you go over to the prophecy of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, he says, "But who may abide the day of his coming?" That's chapter 3, verse 2. "And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years." You see, a time of judgment before they can enter the land in peace and plenty and prosperity of the kingdom.

That is the chronological order and the logical order of Scripture all the way through, by the way. Now when you come to the New Testament, we sometimes try to work the church in, and especially in the Gospel of Matthew. But the Gospel of Matthew is about the kingdom of heaven, and in the 24th and 25th chapters, we have here passages that make it very clear that God intends to judge the nation Israel. And then he intends to bring those into the kingdom that were the wise virgins. There were the foolish virgins and only the wise could finally enter in. Now those ten virgins are the nation Israel, they're not the church. The church is the virgin bride of Christ and comes with him at that time, but the Lord Jesus, for the Great Marriage Supper, will judge the nation Israel to see who's going to enter into the kingdom. So this is a judgment of the nation Israel, which is separate from the other nations.

Steve Schwetz: We'll hear more in our next study. Now while you grab your Bible and your seat, let's hear from a fellow Bible Bus passenger in Texas.

Robert: Hi, my name is Robert. I live in Meadows, Texas. I've been a listener with Dr. J. Vernon McGee since 2021. It's funny, I drove a school bus in 2017 for a town not too far from where I live now. At the time, it was early in the morning as a school bus driver and I flipped it over to Dr. J. Vernon McGee not knowing anything. I heard his voice and I was like, "Oh my goodness, who is this guy?" and I kind of laughed and I turned it off.

Then it's funny, four years later, I started listening to him on a full-time basis, and I continue to listen to him today. This book of James that Dr. McGee just finished really spoke to my heart. I've been a Christian a long time since March of 1978 and I've always been a hearer of the Word but I've never been really a doer of the Word.

But now the Holy Spirit is really speaking to me and pulling me out. I’m really wanting to be a doer of the Word now and be a blessing to others and a testimony unto others. So thank you so much for that. Thank you, Steve, and thank you, Gregg, for everything that you guys do. Love you guys. I'm going to continue to listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee's ministry, and I'm going to continue to grow and grow and grow in the Lord so that I can be a blessing to others. Thank you, God bless, and have a wonderful day. Take care, bye-bye.

Steve Schwetz: What are you learning from these studies? Well, we'd love to hear your story. So call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE, send a note through our app, or email us at biblebus@ttb.org. Or send your letter to Bible Bus, Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, would you fill us with your joy and peace? And thank you for your Word that assures us that you can be trusted. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Here's Dr. McGee with our study of Haggai 1 with Thru the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now friends, it’s well to keep before us the outline that Haggai is giving to us because this is a very orderly little book. This man Haggai is organized; he is an administrator. He is a man that’s right down to earth. He’s out yonder helping them rebuild the temple and encouraging them all the time and challenging them.

We’ve had in this first eleven verses a challenge to the people. That is, first of all, there was a charge of conflict of interest. They were putting their own selfish interests against the program of God, and that was the reason the temple was not rebuilt. They were giving the excuse that it just simply wasn't the time to build. Then God asked them to consider their ways, that actually God was judging them and they didn't seem to recognize it. They were hardened to the fact that the trouble they were having, the problems, was the judgment of God upon them, and he called them to consider their ways.

Then he gave them a command to construct the temple, a command to construct the temple. The solution to their problem was very simple: they were to go up to the mountains and cut down trees. Second, they were to bring wood to make lumber. And then they were to build the house, the temple of God. A three-point sermon there, but not a very exciting one, I must say. It was just as simple as this, and the results would be great, though. God would be pleased and God would be glorified.

You see, they were then putting God first. And then what would happen? Well, material blessings had been withheld. He made that very clear. He reviews their condition and clearly states the reason for it: they had failed to build the temple. Now we come here in verse 12 through the rest of the chapter, the response to the challenge. First, the construction of the temple. In verse 12, the people obeyed.

Notice this: "Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord." Now they did two things here. They obeyed. Obedience. To obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. Obedience. "If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, just keeps on cleansing us from all sin."

We must walk in the light of the Word of God, and the Word of God will humble us. It will show us our failures and all of that, and a great many of us don't like to have them called to our attention. But if we will look at them and deal with them, then we'll find the blood of Jesus Christ just keeps on cleansing us from all sin and we'll have fellowship with God. And so the people obeyed God and they feared. That's the second thing. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. These people not only believed God, they obeyed God and they feared God.

Now, will you notice? And they have now a confirmation from God. Notice now verses 13 and 14. Verse 13: "Then spoke Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people saying, 'I am with you,' saith the Lord." Now could you ask for anything more than that, friends? He says, "I am with you. I am with you." The Lord Jesus said, "Lo, I am with you until the end of the age," and that rested upon obedience, you see. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. He didn't say, "I will be with you if you sit upon your haunches and you don't do anything for God." He never said he’d be with you there. He said, "I'm with you when you obey me." And that is the place of blessing and we can have fellowship with him. "I am with you," saith the Lord. You can't improve on that, friends. You can't have anything better than that.

And so what happens here now? The leaders, they enter enthusiastically into the work. Notice verse 14: "And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God."

Now this is pretty important to see. The leadership of the nation: the civil leader, Zerubbabel the governor. He was in the kingly line. He was actually the son of Shealtiel. That word Shealtiel is an interesting word; it means asking of God in prayer. So there was a lot of prayer back of this also. Now will you notice? They came and did work in the house of the Lord. And Joshua here is the high priest. And then we're told the remnant of the people that had come back. So that here is a joining together of government and citizens and religion—the God-given religion in that day.

Now this took place, in verse 15, "in the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king." Now this was September the 24th, 520. Now the first message was given on September the 1st, 520. That's when God challenged them. Now they responded to the challenge here, and on September the 24th, why, Haggai gave them the second message because what had happened? The people have now come together; they're organized. They're going to start work and they're beginning now to cut down the trees, bring the logs down, make it into lumber, and they're beginning to build. I suppose at this time the foundation was laid and probably a few of the uprights around the temple, they were in place.

Now we come to chapter 2. And when we come here to chapter 2, we come to the discouragement of the people and the encouragement of the Lord. And that's in the first nine verses. Now this took place on October the 21st, 520. Now will you notice this, and this is the third message and it's dated here. Verse 1 of chapter 2 of Haggai: "In the seventh month," you see the other took place in the sixth month, "in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai saying..."

Now they had been working a month. They spent about 24 days getting organized, probably getting the foundation down. And now for a month, the temple is beginning to go up. And there's this great enthusiasm about all of this. God has encouraged them; God says, "I'm with you." Now we come to the second item of discouragement.

Now will you notice what God says here in verse 2: "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the residue of the people saying..." Now this is a message that is directed now to the same group of people that God had encouraged in the last chapter. Same leaders and the same people. Now we come to the second hurdle that Haggai had to clear as the prophet. Now you must remember all the time Zechariah is prophesying along with him, but we'll get to Zechariah next time, that is, the next prophet we take up.

Now here was the problem, and will you notice it? He says, verse 3 now of the second chapter of Haggai, "Who is left among you that saw this house in its first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison with it as nothing?" In other words, this was the thing that was happening. You see, many of those who had returned from the Babylonian captivity, they remembered, though many of them had been very young at the time of the captivity. They could remember the beauty and the richness of Solomon's temple.

Now in comparison, this little temple they're putting up is sort of like a shotgun house—just a little long what would be called a long house. And in comparison, this temple here, it looked like a tenant farmer's barn in Georgia compared to the richness of the temple of Solomon. That temple, by the way, it was ornate; it was rich in every detail. And the thing about it is, this temple here just didn't seem to measure up at all.

Now will you notice that Solomon's temple had not really been a great temple; that is, it had not been a large temple by any means. And I suppose that the people here that could remember the other one, they could remember it in all of its beauty. They could remember the richness of it and how ornate it was and the jewels that had been put in it, the gold that had been put in it, and the silver. Actually, the temple of Solomon, it's been variously estimated how much wealth really went into the construction of it, and you can get figures anywhere from five million to twenty million dollars. Well, friends, that's quite a difference, of course, and it certainly is not like our national debt by any means; it's not that much. But in that day, believe me, this was quite a bit of wealth whether it's five or twenty million would make any difference.

That temple was a jewel box. It was a thing of beauty. Now the thing that had happened was simply this, that as this temple went up—and you notice the date that he gave this message—it was the seventh month in the one and twentieth day of the month. Now that's quite interesting. If you check into that, if you go over to Leviticus the 23rd chapter and look at the feast days, you will find out that this was the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles. In other words, the final feast of ingathering for the year. And I'm of the opinion that the people had pressed forward in order to get the temple as far along as possible in order to use it for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.

And this building never was, even when it was completed, never was as ornate as Solomon's. And when many of the old-timers came in, there was the absence of the jewels and of the silver and gold. We're going to see that in this chapter here, that it lacked all of that beauty and all of that wealth that characterized Solomon's temple. So the thing that happened when the people went apparently to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles—and this is just a construction that's just hurriedly now fixed so it can be used—and you know any kind of a building, whether it's a house or a great office building, before it's completed, it sure doesn't look good. It's not impressive, you see. You have to wait until the building is finished to appreciate it.

And this building was not finished. But actually there was no comparison between this building and Solomon's temple. So there was mingled and mixed reaction to it. In fact, I'm going back to the book of Ezra, and I'd like to read there some verses from the book of Ezra that I think will help us. If you have your Bible, maybe you'd like to go back with us to the third chapter of the book of Ezra. And when we get back there, we're going to turn to the third chapter and I think I'll go back and begin reading at verse 8.

Now listen to this: "Now in the second year of their coming into the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Joshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. Then stood Joshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah together to set forward the workmen in the house of God, the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he is good, for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid."

So you see, they had a celebration with just the foundation and maybe a few uprights there. Now will you notice verse 12: "But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy."