Haggai 2:10-19 - Remember This Day
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
At the end of the 1983 college basketball season, Duke lost by 43 points in the ACC tournament. The program was in disarray and many thought that Coach K’s career was over. How could he keep his job after such a poor performance?
At dinner, which was at Denny’s that night (notice it wasn’t at a fancy and upscale restaurant after a whooping like they just took!), someone raised his glass up and said, “Here’s to forgetting about tonight.” Coach K stopped him and ordered him to put his glass down. Then he raised his own glass and said, “Here’s to never forgetting about tonight.”
Despite all of the rumors of him losing his job, Coach K ended up keeping his job.
The following season, when the team arrived on October 15 for the first practice, the scoreboard over the court read 109–66. This was the final score of the tournament loss to Virginia in the game that ended their previous season. Players recounted that Coach K wanted them to never forget how it felt to get beat so thoroughly and to use it as fuel to give their best every day from that day on.
Moving forward in time to a much worse day in our nations history, September 11, 2001, we had one of the worst events in our nation’s history as two planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York, one into the Pentagon, and another into a field in PA. Since that horrific event, the phrase, ‘Never Forget,’ has been spoken time and time again.
We all have certain dates that we remember. Some of these dates are remembered for good things such as the birth of a child or a marriage, and some are for bad things such as 9/11.
In the book of Haggai, we discussed his attention to dates during the first sermon in our series. We mentioned that he gives 5 distinct dates in this two chapter book. That is because the Lord wants the people to remember dates. And the Lord certainly wants the people to remember this day that we are about to hear about. This is an important day because it is a day of blessing.
Prayer
Today we will see three things that you should remember… The first is…
I. You Should Remember the Day (10)
I. You Should Remember the Day (10)
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet,
Now we are around another month since the last Word of the Lord came. If you recall, the initial word of the Lord came on the first day of the sixth month. Our last sermon covered the word that came in the seventh month on the 21st day of the month. And now we are on the 24th day of the ninth month. So we are almost 4 months from the initial word of the Lord. And the people have been working for almost 3 months now.
We are about to hear yet anther word of the Lord coming through the prophet Haggai. As we will see in a moment, this word of the Lord is a reminder to the people to remember this particular day.
As we discussed in the introduction, dates are extremely important. And remembrance is very important. We will see throughout this message from the Lord that He calls them to remember what it was like to be out of fellowship with Him. God understands how easily we forget Him. He understands how simple we truly are.
Consider Israel in the book of Exodus. They are delivered from Egypt but end up at the Red Sea with the Egyptians starting to chase them down. What is Israel’s response to seeing the army of Pharoah?
They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?
Can’t you feel the impressive faith that they have in the Lord there? I think not!
They just saw the Lord miraculously get them out of Egypt after sending 10 plagues and now they are completely hopeless.
But we know what happens next right, Church?
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
This was certainly another day of remembrance for Israel.
But what about you, my friends? Do you have a day of remembrance?
I pray that the first day that comes into your mind is the day you were saved!
I understand that some of us may not remember an exact moment of time, although most of us probably should. But there should be at least a time period where you remember a radical change in your life. You went from wanting what you wanted to wanting what the Lord wanted. You went from going your own way to seeking what way the Lord had for you. You were born again. You were made new.
That day of salvation is something that you need to remember time and time again. When things get tough, remember that day. When all hope seems lost, remember that day. When you run out of energy and don’t feel like you can go any further, remember that day.
Remember that day because it reminds you of who you are in Christ. You are an adopted son or daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
My friends, we should always remember the day - the day our life changed forever!
Next you should…
Scripture References: Exodus 14:11, Exodus 14:21-22
II. You Should Remember the Distress (11-18)
II. You Should Remember the Distress (11-18)
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law: ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’ ” The priests answered and said, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.”
These verses seem a bit confusing at first, but it is actually simple in principle. First off, the Lord is asking the priests these questions. He asks them these questions because they were the interpreters of the Law. Their job was to interpret the law for the people of God.
And the first question asked here is in regard to the holy meat. The holy meat remaining after a sacrifice was carried in the fold of the garment of the priest. This was likely regarding a fellowship offering as spoken of in Leviticus 7:15-16:
And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten.
Because of this being a holy sacrifice unto the Lord, the garment was made holy because of the meat directly touching it.
Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy, and when any of its blood is splashed on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place.
Yet, we see in verse 12 the following:
‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’ ” The priests answered and said, “No.”
So in essence, this garment was holy because it touched the holy meat that was sacrificed the Lord. However, the garment could not pass on its holiness to others.
So what was the point of this first question? What God wanted Israel to know was that although they were set apart as a holy people unto Him as we see in Exodus 19:6, not everything they did was considered holy. God was holy and He made the people holy. But their ability to do things acceptable unto the Lord required obedience to Him. They needed to be working as the Spirit of the Lord was in their midst in order to do things acceptable to the Lord. When they did things apart from the Lord, it was not holy or acceptable unto Him.
Then comes His second question:
Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.”
Now God asks the opposite type of question through Haggai. Although the Israelites did not have the ability to manufacture holiness on their own, defilement was their specialty! If they were disobedient to the Lord, everything they touched became unclean. All of the work that they did apart from the Lord was considered unclean. It was as if they had touched a dead body and then entered the camp of Israel. This was one of the worse forms of defilement for Israel under the Law. Touching a dead body was a reminder of death. And death was a reminder of the sin that come through Adam and Eve. Death was a reminder of disobedience. In fact, Numbers 19:11-21 prescribed a seven day period of uncleanness for a person who touched a dead body.
Moving forward to verse 14 Haggai continues with the word of the Lord by saying…
Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean.
The Lord asserts that Israel brings nothing to the table apart from the Lord. Everything that they offer is unclean. All of the works of their hands are naturally unclean.
And you know what brothers and sisters… the same is true for us today.
Anything that we do for the Lord that is not done in His Name and with His power in us is going to be burned up in eternity.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
My friends, the Lord will test what you do while you are on earth. If it is built on a solid foundation - namely Jesus Christ - then your work will be like gold, silver, or precious stones. It will be tested by the refining fire of Christ and found to be eternally lasting. But doing things for your own glory, for recognition, for your own satisfaction, for selfish motives, and even for other people more than God - it will be like wood, hay, or straw before the refining fire of the Lord. There will be no reward for those deeds. They will manifested as false works unto the Lord to be burned up and never thought of again.
Haggai moves on to remind Israel of his first word to them in Haggai 1:6 and 1:10-11. Listen again to his word in the first chapter:
You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”
If you recall, during our first sermon we discussed God’s sovereign judgment upon Israel because of their disobedience. And now we see Him remind them of that again. He wants them to remember their distress. Listen to Him go into further detail…
Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider:
God calls them to consider from this day onward. This phrase consider from this day onward is very similar to His expression for them to consider their ways as we saw in Haggai 1:5,7. They need to think deeply about what He is reminding them about.
He reminds them to remember this day and to remember their former distress. He wants them to remember when they only had half of the harvest of grain that they expected. He wants them to remember when they only had 40% of what they expected when it came to the grape harvest. He wants them to remember the disease of their produce and the natural disasters that destroyed their produce.
God’s message here is that their disobedience came with consequences. It came with distress.
And He reminds them that they did not consider their distress as being due to their disobedience for quite some time. In fact, if you recall, Israel was allowed to go back and rebuild the temple in 537 BC by King Cyrus of Persia, but it was not until God sent a word through the prophet Haggai in 520 BC that they responded.
It was obvious that Israel had blamed their misfortune on other things instead of the God’s judgment and their disobedience. Maybe it was mother nature that was causing the problem. Maybe it was just bad luck.
Isn’t that what our world does today as well? They disobey God and make anti-Biblical decisions and refuse to repent even when things go poorly. They take a job that is immoral, and they wonder why things in their lives aren’t going well. They continue to have intimate relationships that aren’t holy and wonder why they keep ending bitterly. They drink too much and wonder why they can’t keep a job.
It can’t be their disobedience to the Lord that is leading to their problems… it must just be that life is hard. Or it must be that people are just out to get them. Or it must be due to some systemic issue in our society. Or it is due to the way their parents treated them growing up.
It can’t be their sin - because they are the victim.
But my friends, we are not the victim… we are the perpetrators!
We are sinners. We are prone to wander. We are prone to disobey.
We need to remember the consequences of our sins and remember our distress and appreciate God taking us out of the mire of sin and cleansing us by His blood.
Only when we truly repent and turn from our sins and believe in Jesus Christ can we be truly saved. And this requires us to admit that we are sinners - admit that we are actually the problem. And then we need to believe and put our faith in Jesus - the sinless Son of God Who died on the cross and rose three days later for the sins of the world - namely those who would put their trust in Him.
Remember your distress my friends. Remember what it was like to live without Christ.
Some of you may still be in distress.
You are suffering the consequences of unrepentant sin. You continue to live life the way you want to live it, but it turns out not to be nearly as fulfilling as what it seemed it would be.
Repent my friends. Turn toward Christ. He is amazing. Remember your distress and repent. And then you will be able to remember the day you were saved. And you will be able to remember the…
Scripture References: Leviticus 7:15-16, Leviticus 6:27, Exodus 19:6, Numbers 19:11-21, 1 Corinthians 3:12-13, Haggai 1:5-11
III. You Should Remember the Declaration (19)
III. You Should Remember the Declaration (19)
Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.”
God expects a negative answer to his rhetorical question at the beginning of verse 19. The people of Israel certainly would have already planted the seed for the following year’s crop at the time of this message from Haggai. They had nothing to show for their work thus far because the crop still had to grow. But God has news for the people.
He says: But from this day on I will bless you.
What an amazing promise given to Israel. God had reminded the people to remember their distress. He reminded them that they only had a 50% return on their work for the grain harvest and only a 40% return on their work for their grape harvest.
But things were going to change now because He was going to bless them. And they were to remember this day. This was a day of remembrance for the people of Israel. No longer were they adversaries of God in disobedience. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, no longer were they called ‘these people.’ No, they were ‘His people.’ The Lord of hosts - the Lord of angel armies was for them and with them!
My friends, if we are in Christ there is a declaration upon us as well. It is a promise of eternal life. It is a promise of salvation.
Listen to 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
We were in distress my friends. We were in the darkness. But He has called us and lifted us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light! What an amazing promise of blessing that we have. Remember that day where He lifted you out of sin and made new you by washing you clean by His blood.
Remember that day that He washed your sins away.
Know that He is there and from that day on, His blessing of eternal life is upon you. Yet the blessing that we have is much greater than the blessing that Israel was given. Not because of any deficiency of God but because of the deficiency of man. Israel would not always continue in obedience and in AD 70, God judged them yet again by the destruction of the temple.
But for us, our promise of blessing is eternal. We are blessed with eternal life.
God promises to continue fighting alongside us and through us every step of the way. When we experience adversity in this life we can look to the Scriptures and remember His declaration and promise over us:
Like in Romans 8:31:
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
God is stronger than all. What do we have to fear? And hear John discuss how great Jesus is as well in 1 John 4:4:
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
The One in us is greater than Satan. Jesus Christ overcame death and sin on the cross. He is above all. And finally, remember His declaration on the cross my friends…
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
The very last thing that Jesus said on the cross was, “It is finished.”
Such a fitting response to His victory over sin and death isn’t it?
That same declaration is spoken over us who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb.
It is finished.
Scripture References: 1 Peter 2:9, Romans 8:31, 1 John 4:4, John 19:30
Conclusion:
As we come to a close, I pray that you remember the day you were saved. Remember what it was like to experience new life in Christ. Remember what it was like to have the chains of sin removed from you.
Also, remember what it was like before Christ. Remember the hopelessness you experienced. Remember the depth of sin that you were saved from.
And finally, remember the declaration that Christ has spoken over you. It is finished. If you are in Christ, you are saved and protected by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This life may still be very difficult at times. But take heart brothers and sisters - He Who is you is greater than he who is in the world.
Prayer
If you are not saved thus far, I pray that today is a day that you can remember. I pray that you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and repent of your sins. I pray that you will be able to look back upon this very day as the day to remember.