Haggai 2:6-9 Shadow of the Promise

I guess you must be a nursery favorite Cherish.

Maybe.

That's perfect.

It's good to have that time.

So we're gonna be in Haggai chapter 2 verses 6 through 9 for

today.

Haggai chapter 2 verses 6 through 9 for today.

Let's start us off with a prayer right now.

Lord God, I do want to just lift up all the hardship that this community is facing right

now, Lord, in this this time that death seems to be on everybody's mind, Lord.

God, I pray that as we think about this death that's happened

and the sadness that it brings with it, Lord, that we would see just sin

and we would focus upon your death upon the cross, Lord.

God, let us be quick to tell these people that are suffering about your gospel, let us not

hesitate, let us not be lax in this, Lord, but let us be prepared so that we can advance your kingdom, Lord,

so that people might know who you are, so that you might receive worship and glory and praise, Lord.

God, I do pray that as we read this text today that we would be encouraged in whatever hardship that we as individuals

are suffering and going through and, Lord, that we would come to each other as a community, as a Christian

church, Lord, and we would lean on one another and we love one another, Lord.

God, I just say these things in your name, Jesus Christ, amen.

Haggai chapter 2 verses 6 through 9.

Let us go ahead and read this text for us today.

Says Yahweh of hosts.

Says the Lord of hosts.

The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares Yahweh of

hosts.

The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says Yahweh of hosts, and in this place

I will give peace, declares Yahweh of hosts.

Let us go ahead and pray to Yahweh of hosts.

Lord, I thank you for this text, Lord.

God, I pray that as we read and consider this text, Lord, that we'd focus more firmly upon you,

that would encourage us, that it would revive our souls again today, Lord.

Yahweh of hosts, we know you hear these things, we know you feel all things, you know, we know that you're before all things and

that you're after all things, Lord.

God, receive all the glory from this text today and we say this in your name, Jesus Christ,

amen.

So let's quickly remind ourselves of what is going on in this text, the context here, and then we're gonna

read verse 5 and we're gonna make mention of something that was very pivotal and important for us to remember from last week's message

that's gonna carry on through the rest of this text.

So verses 1 through 9 is the second prophecy that Haggai is receiving for the people of

Israel, for the remnant, for Zerubbabel and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak and the son of Shattail.

Haggai being the prophet, he is giving this second prophecy to these people, these

individuals, and it's because they have begun the work on the temple 20 years past when they

should have begun this work and what's before them right now is a challenge, a difficulty.

They might see the skeleton of the building in front of them or they might just see the woodwork from cutting down the trees that need to be

used to harvest to build this temple.

They are looking at what's that before them and they're seeing what seems to be a mountain of hard

work and they're being discouraged.

And so this whole text from verses 1 through 9, chapter 2, verses 1 through 9, is for

Haggai to encourage, well from Yahweh of hosts, God himself, through Haggai the prophet, to encourage

the people in what's going on.

We'll talk a little bit about that here in a moment.

But last week we talked about how chapter 2, verse 5, and we

only went through one verse and I I think we could stay in that one verse for a couple more months if we wanted to, but this one

verse in verse 5 is imperative for us as the Christian Church to understand and to see and to read.

So let's read verse 5.

Here.

It says,.

Now some of your translations, as we made mention of last week, it might say as for the covenant that I made

with you or as for the promise that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt.

And what we did last week is we looked and we saw what the promise was in the Old Testament.

And I hope that we can remember what the promise was because we have explicit text in the New Testament that tells us what the promise

is.

The Old Testament we see in multitude of covenants and in different promises of God that there's this

future seed that is going to come that's going to bless all the nations.

It's going to bring about a forgiveness of sin and we're going to be made into a kingdom of priests.

In fact, let us go and read that text right now.

Exodus 19, verses 3 through 6.

Because why do we go there?

Why do we read this?

Exodus 19, 3 through 6 is because the people are to be encouraged by what is to

come.

The people are to be encouraged by the promise God has made.

The one that is Yahweh of hosts, the faithful God has made this promise.

And so they're to be encouraged by that.

They're to put their shoulders to the wheel and they're to work.

They're to put their head down.

They're to be, I think you could say they're all to be a bunch of chad roonies and start

working, right?

They're to do that.

They're to get this temple work done because they're past the due date, right?

They're past when they should have done it.

Exodus 19, verses 3 through 6 says this,

So now then, if you will indeed listen to my voice and keep my

covenant, then you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for

all the earth is mine.

And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests

and a holy nation.

These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

Haggai chapter 2 makes reference of this specific promise.

That God had raised up these Egyptians in such a way that he was going to cut them down, release the

captives, to magnify himself, and to say, look Israel, there is a day that you are going to

be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

And not only a holy nation, but who is the possessor of this holy nation?

God.

It's God's kingdom that is being spoken of in there.

It's not just an earthly kingdom.

It's not one that can be shaken.

It is the everlasting kingdom of God that is being spoken of in that text.

And so for Haggai, here in chapter 2, verses 6 through 9, and verse 5 specifically,

which is going to anchor this message today, is that we need to understand that

this is the promise that is being spoken of.

This is the promise that you will be a great kingdom one day.

Now why would it be important for Haggai, the prophet, why would it be important for him to speak this

word of Yahweh, this word of the Lord, to them saying, remember the promise, remember this, think about the promise and go

to work.

Think about that.

Well, have you ever been in the midst of a dark room?

I did this yesterday.

So last night I was trying to make sure this building was heated today.

And as I was doing so, I had all the lights off and I was walking around doing dumb things, filling the heaters, just making sure that things were working.

And I realized I was in a dark room and I knew the lights were over there.

And I was like, I can't see anything.

This is, it's pitch black, right?

And instead of pulling out my phone and using it as a light to walk forward, I just tried to walk forward.

And I fell behind those chairs in the backs of that wall.

I hit it and fell forward.

I'm not even kidding you.

It was bad.

And I'm happy no one saw me.

This was at 9, 10 o 'clock last night.

And I shouldn't even be telling you that, right?

I fell and hit myself really hard and I got really mad at myself, right?

Today, Chad and I were down in the dungeon, the basement, and I was showing him this thing of the heat.

And the reason that him and I didn't hit anything was because at the end of the hallway we could see the light out there.

We saw the light and we knew how to continue on in the darkness.

The way that I would have avoided that, being in this dark room, is if I had had a light in the back room on and I could have seen a little

thing in front of me.

So what this is happening in the day of Israel is that they're in this darkness, they're in this day that is in a

shadow of Christ, a shadow of Christ, a promise of what is to come.

And for them to continue on in this shadow phase is they've got to look for the promise.

They've got to look ahead and see that light that's around the corner that's about to happen.

Now I want you to think about this for a moment.

Why would that help them in this work?

Why would it help them to know what is great is to come is going to be better than what they have right now?

This week, I was telling Marilyn yesterday at the funeral that I think her husband would have been really

proud of me.

At work, I had really messed up a chainsaw pretty good.

We were cutting through some roofing material and I was doing a horizontal cut to myself on the backside of a 2x4

and I couldn't see what was on the backside of it.

And there was a whole bunch of copper wiring that I ran the saw side -by -side on, not against it, but

side -by -side on it and it wrapped the sprocket and it killed the saw immediately.

And so we were out of saw.

We'd already done a whole bunch of saw work.

We were done with it so it was okay.

It wasn't a big problem.

But I take it home and I have to take apart this whole saw to fix it, right?

And I'm not kidding you.

I took it apart and I set it down and I just walked away from it.

I was discouraged.

It was a mess.

It had been running for hours.

It was dirty.

It was grimy.

I knew the mountain of work for me that day was hours upon hours of cleaning the saw.

I was not excited for it.

I walked away from it, right?

Well, I should have taken it to Andy is what she says, right?

Should have taken it to a Chad -like figure like Andy and he would have gotten it done.

Andy knows what he's doing when it comes to saws, right?

If you don't know, Andy retired as a logger.

So, he has more saw experience than anybody in this room I would imagine.

Now, this saw though, what encouraged me through to finish

cleaning this saw was that I...

This is a new saw.

This is a brand spanking new top -of -the -line saw.

And I was thinking about how it was running the day before when I had started it doing a daily rig

check.

And I realized, okay, I can make it run better.

I can make it runs run even cleaner, smoother.

I can grease everything and it'll be great.

It's going to be great when I'm done with this.

And so, I started working on it and I found myself as I was getting closer and closer to the end.

I was getting more and more excited just to start this saw up.

And so, when it was all the way clean and it was running and I had greased every part of it and I started it up, it sounded

10 times better than what it did earlier the other day.

And that's what encouraged me to clean this saw, right?

And we do this all the time with our work.

When we have a hard project before us and we have to build something, we think about the end result that will bring

about what we want, what we're desiring.

And so, what we see here is that Haggai is saying to the people is, look to the promise.

Look and remember this.

Remember what God has promised to our forefathers in the Egypt in the desert in this time in this way.

Remember that God is not done with this promise.

What is coming, according to verse 8 or according to verse 9, the latter glory of this

house will be greater than the former.

So, you have people in this day that remember what the last temple looked like.

According to verses 1 through 4, they remember what it looks like and they see what it is now and they're getting

discouraged at what it looks like now.

And God is saying, no, you don't understand Israel.

The next temple is going to be greater than the former.

You have a great end goal ahead of you.

Get to work.

Now, this is even more significant when we understand what's going on in this text.

What was that promise again to the people in Egypt?

That you're gonna be a kingdom, a nation of priests, a holy nation for God's own possession.

What is another promise in the Old Testament?

That the seed will come, crush the head of the serpent.

What is another promise?

That through the seed of Abraham, he is going to bring all the nations unto himself.

That his seed is going to be as innumerable as the star.

Promise after promise after promise.

And what is that speaking of every single time?

Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ.

And so, this temple that's before them, though it be a physical

temple, it is a shadow.

Now, let's think about this analogy for another second.

Imagine if you were at the end of a hallway, and you saw a light that was shining on the opposite

side, and somebody was standing around the corner, and you can see the shadow of them project out.

If it was a certain individual that is characteristic in certain ways, you could say, that looks like I

know who that is.

I know whose shadow that is from around this corner.

What happens if you followed that shadow around the corner?

And when I say follow, I mean you are on, your face is on the ground, and you start at the head of that shadow, and you go

where?

Where does it take you to?

It takes you to the feet.

These shadows take you to the feet of Jesus Christ every single time.

Colossians chapter 1 verses 19 through 20, no Colossians

chapter 2 verses 17, it says that all these things were a shadow, but the substance belongs to Christ.

So we see that all these temples are pointing us to Jesus, even in this way.

But what we need to talk about now, is there's some difficult and interesting language that takes place here in verses

6 through 9.

Verse 6, it says, for thus says Yahweh of hosts, this is the term that Haggai has used several times, that it has a

title of significance to who God is.

I believe this is the sixth time it is used here in this whole book.

Out of the fourteen times it's going to be used, and many times it says it here in this text in verses 6 through 9, thus says

Yahweh of hosts, once more, in a little while, I'm going to shake the heavens and the earth and the sea

also in the dry land.

That's a, that's an interesting text.

That is an interesting text.

If I was to tell you that I got into a fight with somebody, and we really locked horns,

does that mean I had horns on my head?

Does that mean that we are head -butting each other?

Does that mean that we were in a significant fight?

Means I was in a significant fight, right?

What happens if I said I knocked his socks off?

What do you think?

That his socks were laying on the ground?

Or do you think I won the fight?

I won the fight, right?

This language in here, there's a couple things that we need to take note of in this.

When it says that God is going to shake the heavens and the earth and the sea also in the dry land,

we need to, we need to be careful when we interpret any text, right?

Amen to that.

We need to be careful with it.

And how do we interpret text?

We do this by a principle called harmoneutics.

We all have harmoneutics.

It's the way, the way that we go about interpreting the Bible, interpreting anything we read,

really.

And one of the principle harmoneutics that I apply, that I would encourage you to apply, are two things.

One is that you should always see Christ in the text.

You should always go about looking for Jesus Christ in the text.

And why do I say that?

Because Jesus says so.

John chapter 5, he says, all these scriptures teach of me.

So because Jesus Christ says that, I read this text and I say, how does this teach me about Jesus?

Because he says it does.

Number two, the New Testament, the progressive revelation, the new sheds light

on the old, okay?

If I think that the Old Testament says something, but the New Testament says otherwise, which one is correct?

The New Testament is correct every single time.

So did you know that Haggai chapter 2 verse 6 is actually quoted for us in the New Testament, and tells us what that

meaning of this text is?

And because it tells us of how this text is, is how we need to read this text, and it drastically

heightens what this meaning of Haggai chapter 2 verse 6 through 9 means.

I'm gonna encourage you to go to Hebrews chapter 12,

Hebrews chapter 12, and we might read this text several times a day to be honest with you.

Haggai chapter 12 verse 25 through 29.

Haggai chapter 12 verses 25 through 29.

Remember, if the New Testament says what it means, what does it mean?

Whatever the New Testament says it is.

Doesn't matter what you think your opinion of the text is, if the New Testament dictates the way that we read the Old, that's

how we must read it.

Haggai, or Hebrews chapter 12 verse 25 through 29.

See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking.

For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much

less will we escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven.

What is that verse speaking of?

Speaking about the warning judgments to the nation of Egypt when Israel was released from them, from

captivity.

Why do we say that?

Because verse 26 says, and yet his his voice shook the earth then.

When is that then?

Exodus 19, where that promise was spoken about.

Exodus 19, I believe it's verse 18, it says that Yahweh shook the whole mountain that

Moses was standing on.

It says, and his voice shook the earth then, prior, but now he has promised.

That word promise again is used here for us.

He has now promised, saying, yet once more I will

shake not only the earth but also the heavens.

That is a direct quotation from the Greek Septuagint of the book of Haggai chapter 2 verse 6.

Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.

Now this expression, yet once more, indicates the removing of those things which can be

shaken as of created things.

So that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore since we are receiving, or we have received a kingdom which cannot be

shaken, let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God

an acceptable service with reference and awe.

Brothers and sisters, which kingdom has, how many kingdoms can you think of off the top of your head that has been generated

from man's thought, from his conquering of land, and him establishing it from where?

Earth.

What kingdom is the one that is unshakable?

The one that God has created from heaven.

It is an unshakable kingdom.

So when we read here in Haggai chapter 2 verse 6 through 9, and in verse 6 it

says that Yahweh is going to shake the heavens and the earth, what is it speaking of?

It's speaking of created kingdoms that cannot last, ones that will rise and fall,

because we have inherited a kingdom that is unshakable.

Because Christ, the Heavenly One, is our King.

Now it says, and I will shake the nations.

What is the purpose here in verse 7 of Haggai chapter 2?

What is the purpose of shaking these nations?

What is the purpose of shaking heaven, earth, sea, and dry land?

What is the purpose of this that is being spoken of here in Haggai chapter 2?

I will shake all the nations and they will come, or they will come with the

desirable things of all the nations.

Now why is it that we can say that this absolutely is applied in Hebrews chapter 12?

Because Hebrews chapter 12 applies it in such a way, first of all, and second of all, did the second temple, and I ask you this

quite literally, the second temple that the people's hands were working on, the ones that were mingled with man, that they

built this structure up, and that's where the presence of God dwelt 2 ,500 years ago.

Did that temple ever have an earthquake that brought about nations to bring gold

silver to it?

No, it did not.

No, it did not.

So that's not the meaning of this text.

It did not have that.

That never took place.

Let us keep on reading this and you'll understand the significance of this in here in just a moment.

Why is the heavens and earth shaken?

So that nations will come and desirable things of all the nations, and what is the result of the shaking

of the nations and bringing nations to this this temple, this house of Yahweh?

What is the purpose of it?

I will fill my house with glory.

It's to magnify who God is, is the reason for this.

It is to fill God's house with glorious things.

It's to make Him look better and more magnificent because He is deserving of what?

All glory and praise.

So the result of the shaking is glory, the purpose is to bring about nations, and the shaking is

speaking of, according to Hebrews chapter 12, of created things, kingdoms.

Verse 8 says, the silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares Yahweh of hosts.

Now, absolutely, when we read this text, it is true that all creation is God's.

He is the owner of these things.

He is Lord of these things.

He is King of these things.

He is supreme and preeminence of these things.

He owns all things.

There is not a thing that you think of that God does not own.

God owns it all.

But what is this speaking of?

Silver is mine, gold is mine.

Why is it that God says here to the prophet Haggai to tell the people of Israel, the remnant, Zerubbabel,

Joshua, that He is going to make this latter house better than the former,

and that this house is going to be filled with glory after He shakes the nations,

and that by doing so it's going to bring about silver and gold.

Verse 9, the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says Yahweh

of hosts.

And in this place I will give peace, declares Yahweh of hosts.

Now the next question I have to ask, did any physical temple

in Israel, in Jerusalem, over 2 ,000 years ago, whether it be the first temple or the second temple, and this text is talking about

building the second temple, did the second temple ever bring about peace?

This is an interesting question, is it not?

What is peace?

Maybe that's a good place to start.

What is peace?

Peace is not just tranquility.

It's not just inner harmony like this world would want to sell to you.

Peace, according to the New Testament, is that the wrath of God abides upon us.

Peace is what Christ did for us on the cross.

Peace is paying the penalty of our sin.

That is what peace is, is that we can stand before a holy just God that should annihilate us, but since His

Son paid the price 2 ,000 years ago, we can stand before Him justified, holy and blameless.

Not because of anything that you and I have done, but because solely what Christ has done.

That is peace.

Now why do I say that that is peace?

Why do I say that that's peace?

Colossians chapter 1.

You can turn here if you'd like, or you don't have to, we'll just be here shortly.

Colossians chapter 1, we will read

verse 17 through 20.

Excuse me, no, we'll read verse, oh sorry, I was in the wrong text here.

Colossians chapter 1, verse 19 through 21.

For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made

peace through the blood of His cross, through Him,

whether things on earth or things in heaven.

And although you were formerly alienated, and enemies in mind, and in evil deeds, but now He reconciled you

in the body of His flesh through death, in order that you to present you before Him holy, and

blameless, and beyond reproach.

Brothers and sisters, did any physical work of any person's hand in the last thousands of years ever bring

about any peace other than Jesus Christ?

Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Hebrews chapter 10, verse 4.

It says that when the Old Testament priests offered animals, that none of them

ever took away sins.

What brings about peace?

The blood of the perfect Lamb, Jesus Christ.

So when we go back to Haggai chapter 2, and we see in here again, let's read verse 9.

The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says Yahweh of hosts.

And in this place I will give peace, declares Yahweh of hosts.

What temple is being spoken of in here?

John chapter 1, verse 14.

Verse 1, to begin with, it says in the beginning was God, or in the beginning was the Word, and

the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In verse 14 it says that the Word became flesh, and tabernacled

amongst you.

Dwelt amongst you.

Tabernacle is an expression of the Old Testament temple.

Now what does Jesus say in John chapter, I believe it's John chapter 4, or no, John chapter 2,

excuse me.

John chapter 2, verse 19.

He says to the Jews, Jesus, destroy this house, and I'll raise it

again on the third day.

Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again on the third day.

What is Jesus speaking of?

The perfect temple.

Hebrews chapter 2.

We've read this several times, and we've loved it here in the Bible study, in Hebrews.

What is the main word that is used over and over and over again in the book of Hebrews?

Better.

Hebrews chapter 3, excuse me, Hebrews chapter 3, verses 1 through 6, I believe it is, and we'll

just make a rough quotation of this.

It says that Moses was a builder of his house, but Christ is the builder of the better house,

sanctuary, God's temple.

Jesus is the builder of the new, heavenly, better

temple.

So how is this, in Haggai chapter 2, verse 9, how is the glory of the latter going to be better than the

former?

It's because the shadow never was the substance.

The shadow brought you to where?

To the feet of the substance.

The shadow was a shadow of peace.

The shadow was the shadow of the reality.

The shadow was the shadow of the true sacrifice, the true priest, the

better temple.

It brought you to the very foot of Jesus Christ.

If you were to go outside right now, and you were to see the sun shining upon this church, and you see it

overcasting a shadow on the lawn out here, you follow that shadow and it brings you to the actual

substance of the church, brings you to the building.

These temples were that shadow to bring you to Christ.

Now why, why, how does this work?

How, how were the people then therefore saved?

They were saved by having faith into what was to come in the promise of the seed, the Messiah, Jesus the

Christ that was coming.

That's how they were saved.

So when we see this, so let's, let's now look at this.

What, what is all that's been talked about in here?

We have a promise that's been made in verse 5 that's referencing Exodus 19.

We have a shaking of heavens and earth.

The New Testament tells us what that means.

The shaking of the heavens and the earth is to bring about an unshakable kingdom,

an unshakable kingdom.

What's the promise in verse 5?

It's that there's going to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation unto God for His own possession,

His own ownership.

What else takes place in this kingdom, in this promise?

Nations will be shook, desirable things of the nations will come to them.

There will be silver and gold, and this house will be far, far better than the

former, and there's going to be peace in this house.

There is too many New Testament and Old Testament references that we can read right now.

I want to just take you through a couple.

So we've read our Hebrews chapter 12 verse 25 through 29 with God shaking.

Why is it to be shaken?

There's several New Testament texts that talk about how God's church is building is what?

Consistent of both Jew and Gentile.

That's all peoples, all nations, all nations.

What's Paul's command to go unto the nations?

Romans 1, it says there's no distinction between Jew or Gentile, no distinction between Jew or Greek.

The gospel is the same gospel unto all.

It's the power of unto salvation.

It's no different unto the Jew, and it's no different unto the Greek.

It's the same gospel message that is saved year after year, and I'm talking about even before the cross.

The gospel is the only means of salvation.

This promise in their day is the substance that we have today.

So we see that all nations have come to this.

What about silver and gold?

Pastor, we're not silver and gold.

What are you talking about in there?

Let's turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 3, verse

This text in here is talking specifically about building a building, building a

house.

1st Corinthians chapter 3, verses 4 through 17.

This is a healthy text that we could spend many, many, many months in.

This is Paul, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth.

So then neither to the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth.

Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own

labor.

For we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field, God's building.

What is that?

God's sanctuary, the temple, God's building.

According to the grace of God, which was given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation and

another one is building upon it.

But each man must be careful how he builds on it.

For no one can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Christ

Jesus.

Immediately my mind takes me to Matthew chapter 7 that Jesus says to build upon

him the rock.

All other build upon sand and they fall.

Let's keep on reading in here.

Now if anyone builds on a foundation with what?

With gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw,

each man's work will become evident.

For the day will indicate it because it will be revealed with fire and fire itself will test the quality of each man's

work.

And if any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.

If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss.

But he himself will be saved yet is through fire.

Do you not know you are a sanctuary of God

and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

If any man destroys the sanctuary of God, God will destroy him.

For the sanctuary of God is holy and that is what you are.

The latter glory of this house will be better than the former.

Did you not just hear this text church?

You are the sanctuary, a dwelling place

of the Holy Spirit.

We build with what?

Silver and gold, wood, hay, and straw.

This text here in Corinthians is a letter sent to a Jewish church?

No, a Gentile nation, a Gentile church, a

church, a sanctuary that is consistent of all the nations.

When you look at Haggai chapter 2, what is another thing that it says?

The latter will be better than the former.

We obviously know that Jesus Christ is the better as the whole book of Hebrews has taught us.

It will bring about peace.

We just read from Colossians 1 .20 that through the blood of Jesus Christ we receive peace.

How then does this glorify God?

This is a great one for us to consider throughout the rest of our day.

John chapter 12, verse 27 through 28, when Christ is speaking about his own crucifixion, he says to the Father,

Father, glorify.

Let me turn to it so I don't misquote it here.

Speaking about his own crucifixion.

It says here in verse, John chapter 12, verse 27 through 28,.

Now my soul has been come dismayed, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour.

Before this purpose I came to this hour.

Father, glorify your name.

This is in the very week that Christ would die.

What about the promise?

Well, we read last week, and we won't read it again today, but Galatians chapter 1, verse, or Galatians chapter 3,

verse 16 through 19, it teaches us that the seed is Christ.

What about the cutting of this promise, the cutting of this covenant that's spoken of here in Haggai chapter 2?

Well, we saw that again.

Hebrews chapter 8, Christ is the better mediator of a better covenant.

Well, then how do we reconcile this with the promise that Israel was told in Exodus

19, I will make you a kingdom.

Priests of God, a holy nation.

I want to read from Revelation chapter 1.

Revelation chapter 1, verses 4 through 6.

John to the seven churches in Asia.

This is a Gentile area.

To the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you, and peace

from the one who is, and the one who was, and the one who is to come, and from the

seven spirits who were before his throne.

Now, I want you to pause right here and make mention, the one who is, and the one who was, and the one who is to come is God himself, and

that title is given to Jesus Christ all throughout this book.

It's speaking of Jesus.

Who do we receive peace from?

Jesus.

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the

kings of the earth, to him who loves us, and has released us from our sins by

his blood.

How do you receive peace?

Having faith in Jesus Christ, because he releases us from our sins by his blood.

Verse 6, and he has made us to be a kingdom.

Priests to his God and Father.

To him be the glory and the might forever

and ever.

Amen.

Brothers and sisters, when you read the book of Haggai, I hope you see the gospel in every single sentence, in every single

word.

I hope you see Jesus Christ in every single period that you have here.

Jesus the Christ was coming for these people.

They had faith in it.

Then what was the result of them having faith in this?

It was for them to continue to build this shadow.

Remember the promise, Israel.

Remember the promise, faithful remnant.

Go to work.

Build the temple, because the latter glory of this house will be far better than the before, the

former.

I want to read verse 9 again for us.

The latter glory of this house will be better, will be greater than the former, says Yahweh

of hosts.

And in this place, I will give peace, declares Yahweh of hosts.

Like I said, there is many, many texts that we could read in correlation with

these principles here that are talked about.

This is speaking about Jesus Christ and having faith in Him.

I'll finish maybe just by reading just one more text here.

I apologize, there's too many.

Like I said, I'm too excited not to read this text.

Ephesians chapter 2, we'll

just read, let's just read 11 to 22 right now, speaking about God's

building, God's temple, His holy sanctuary.

Therefore, remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcised by the so

-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands.

Remember that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the citizenship of Israel

and strangers to the covenants of promise.

And having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who formerly were far off, have been

brought near by the blood of Christ.

That is peace, brothers and sisters.

For He Himself is our peace, amen, who made both groups one and broke

down the dividing wall of partition by abolishing in His flesh the enmity of the law of commandments

contained in ordinances so that in Himself He might create the two into one new man -making

peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having

in Himself put to death the enmity.

And He came and preached good news, the gospel of peace, to you who were far away and peace to those who

were near.

And through Him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of

God's household.

Having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being

the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being joined together is growing into a holy

sanctuary in the Lord, holy temple, holy building

in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling place in the Spirit.

Brothers and sisters, when we see in here God shaking, God bringing all the nations,

God bringing about silver and gold, God bringing a better temple, God

bringing peace and God glorifying Himself, you better think the cross itself.

It's Jesus that has done this.

The latter glory of the sanctuary will be better than its former.

Brothers and sisters, let us pray, let us worship the God who has made the latter of

this glory better than the former.

Let us pray.

Oh Yahweh of hosts, Lord, Father of all souls and all of creation, Lord, I thank you

for this text here in Haggai chapter 2 and I thank you for the clarity that it is that points us to Jesus the Christ.

Lord, I pray that as we go through darkness and hardship, Lord, that we would see these shadows and it would

lead us to the feet of the hill of Calvary, Lord, that we would see our sin being paid for there completely and fully on

our behalf.

Jesus the Christ suffering in our place and that we would turn and repent and believe in that, Lord, and

that by doing this we would have peace and that, Lord, when we would look to our brothers and sisters who are at

the same feet being justified by the same God, man, that we would recognize each other as

members of your kingdom, God the King.

And Lord God, we say these things and we praise you today, Lord, as being the King of kings and the

Lord of lords, Lord, and we say this in the name that is above all other names, King Jesus.