Peace and Glory

Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Post-exilic Prophets (2)

Pray Psalm 22.27, 28.
All the ends of the world
Shall remember and turn to the LORD,
And all the families of the nations
Shall worship before You.
For the kingdom is the LORD’s,
And He rules over the nations.

Sing Psalm 22.27, 28.
(Darwall: Rejoice, the Lord is King)
All nations shall repent and hasten to the LORD.
All those to whom His truth is sent shall praise His Word.
The LORD is King! 
His sovereign rule on high now we His people sing!

Read Haggai 2.1-19; meditate on verses 6-9.

Preparation
1. What is God going to “shake”?

2. What will He do for His temple?

Meditation
The familiar phrase in verse 7 (in the Hebrew, חֶמְדַּ֣ת כָּל־הַגּוֹיִ֑ם, chadat chol hagoim), is often mistranslated, “The Desire of all nations” and is applied to Christ. But this misses the point of the text. The temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem was small, plain, and a disappointment to many. Solomon’s temple was filled with many precious things from Lebanon, Tyre, and other nations, and emissaries from nations all over the earth came there bringing gifts (1 Kgs. 10). But God was using this new, unimpressive temple, as a type of the temple to come—the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To this temple the “precious things” or “wealth” of all nations would come. This understanding of the phrase is reinforced in verse 8, where God says, “‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts.” But this, too, is another type. As people greatly desire the material wealth silver and gold can buy, so God greatly desires the most precious, the best of all nations, that is, His chosen people. He will call them out from every nation to come into the Church until all His house is full (Lk. 14.15-23). Then His Church will be filled with glory because of His precious people who live to glorify Him in all they do (1 Cor. 10.31).

This unimpressive temple was also a type of the incarnation of Jesus. He came as a Servant, humble and meek, unimpressive in His appearance (Is. 53.1). But He would be filled with all the precious chosen ones of the Lord as well as all the precious things of heaven and earth.

At the end of this chapter, God again refers to the day in which He “will shake heaven and earth”. Then Zerubbabel will be made like a signet ring—a seal and a sign of authority—of the LORD. But the governor would be dead by that time. He is here made a type of Christ, the King Who was to come, Who has all authority in heaven and earth and seals God’s covenant by His Spirit. Jesus, like Daniel’s stone (Dan. 2.44, 45), will advance His rule over all nations (vv. 21, 22), a rule of peace and glory (v. 9). 

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Who among you can remember the temple as it was before?
How glorious it was!
In comparison, it is nothing now, is it?
But take courage…for I AM with you…for I promised when you left Egypt 
that My Spirit would remain among you; so don’t be afraid” (Hag. 2.3-5 TLB).

“‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts.
‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Hag. 2.9).

“So I will comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem” (Is. 66.13).
“‘It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory…they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles…And it shall come to pass that…all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the LORD” (Is. 66.13, 18, 19, 23).

“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118.22, 23).

Jesus was preaching the gospel; and of course, this rankled the chief priest and scribes.

So, as was their usual custom, they began to ask Him some foolish (they thought ambitious and bright) questions. Then after much back and forth, Jesus said to them, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder” (Lk. 20.17, 18).

And as it turns out they knew He had spoken these words against them, so from that very hour they sought to lay hands on Him (Lk. 20.19). To destroy the Temple.

After Jesus had removed the moneychangers, and all those who were disobediently using God’s house for their own purposes, He said about the temple, and about Himself: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn. 2.19). And John clarified, just so we wouldn’t miss the point: “He was speaking of the temple of His body” (Jn. 2.21).

God’s Promise to us is not made of stone, like the first and second temple.
God’s Promise is Himself: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
No temple will last forever, no matter how well it’s built.

But the true Desire of all nations is where we will abide, forever.
“Abide in Me and I in you” (Jn. 15.4).
“If you abide in Me, 
and My words abide in you, 
ask what you desire, 
and it shall be done for you” (Jn. 15.7).
“As the Father loved Me, 
I also have loved you; 
abide in My love” (Jn. 15.9).

Come, Thou long expected Jesus, Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us; Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation, Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation, Joy of every longing heart.
(Charles Wesley, 1744)

Reflection
1. Jesus is what everyone wants, but most people don’t know that. What is our role in helping them find Him?

2. God looks on us as the “precious things” of the world. How should we respond to His seeing us this way?

3. In what sense are we as believers the temple of the Lord?

The house they were building should be filled with glory, very far beyond Solomon’s temple. This house shall be filled with glory of another nature. If we have silver and gold, we must serve and honor God with it, for the property is his. If we have not silver and gold, we must honor him with such as we have, and he will accept us. Let them be comforted that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, in what would be beyond all the glories of the first house, the presence of the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, personally, and in human nature. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Haggai 2.1-9

Pray Psalm 22.29-31.
Thank God that He has regarded you as precious and that, through Jesus, He has added you to the treasure trove of His temple, the Church. Pray that you may be ready and faithful as a witness today. Pray for the worldwide harvest of God’s precious souls.

Sing Psalm 22.29-31.
(Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
All the prosp’rous of the earth shall before His mercy fall;
bending low before His worth, hear them humbly on Him call.
Even those low in the grave He will by His mercy save.

Let the generations all witness to His saving grace;
let them to all nations call, “Bow before His holy face!”
Let the children of the earth hear of Jesus’ saving worth!

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

Other columns of interest this week: We continue reading excerpts from the book, Revived! in our Read Moore column. Why not listen in? Last week’s Crosfigell letter called us to make sure we have the right priorities. And in our ReVision series, “Pray for Your Church”, we pray for the work of one-anothering And new in our bookstore, our book, The Ongoing Work of Christ shows us how the book of Acts provides a template and footprint for all who take up the work of building Jesus’ Church.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.