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When the Jews came back from Babylon!
Fred R. Coulter—November 25, 2023
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Let's come to Prov. 3; we've covered this, but here is what is so important that applies
- through all time
- every covenant with God
- every part of our lives
- every day
- in keeping the ways of God
It shows the whole process when you try this together with Heb. 10 about God writing into our heart and mind His laws and commandments.
This also becomes very important because God made us to incorporate these things into our mind and our ways of thinking rather than our own ways.
Proverbs 3:1: "My son, do not forget My Law, but let your heart keep My commandments."
That ties right in with Heb. 10; you add to that the Spirit of God with conversion, and that all ties it together, which shows exactly as Nolan brought out that the Word of God is one complete whole with many parts.
{Note message: Holy Day Timeline by Nolan Joseph}
Verse 2: "For they shall add length of days, and long life, and peace, to you. Do not let mercy and Truth forsake you..." (vs 2-3).
That's what we're seeing today, no mercy, no truth!
- What do we have?
- What does the world have?
- All the problems!
"…bind them around your neck; write them upon the tablet of your heart" (v 3).
This ties in together! God will write them into our heart and mind! But, what do we do to get them there? We have to:
- study
- think
- apply
- live
- work
All of those things are attached to it!
Verse 4: "And so you shall find favor…" That means grace!
What is the New Testament based upon? Grace, mercy and forgiveness! Also, too many people forget the other side of the coin, which is sin, death and the Lake of Fire!
Verse 4: "And so you shall find favor [grace] and good understanding in the sight of God... [that's what you want first] …and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart… [that's a full-time proposition for every one of us] …and lean not to your own understanding" (vs 4-5).
- Isn't that when we get in trouble? Yes!
- What happened to Cain? He leaned to his own understanding, and that was sin!
- What is it with religion today? Every single one that professes Christianity in the world leans to their own understanding!
Nothing demonstrates that any more than what we are experiencing every year with Christmas, New Year's, Lent, Easter.
When we lean to our own understanding, who do we invite in? Satan, the devil!
Verse 6: "In all your ways acknowledge Him [God] and He shall direct your paths."
That's what we want. We want God with His Spirit:
- to lead us
- to teach us.
- to help us do what we need to do
- to act the way we need to act
- to think the way we need to think
All of this is part of conversion leading to eternal life!
Verse 7: "Do not be wise in your own eyes…"
Isn't that what we have today? Everyone says:
- I think
- I believe
- I suppose
Today there is such confusion with all of the end time prophecies, because there are a multitude of false prophets out there who use part of the Bible and don't understand it and don't understand the Holy Days of God. You cannot understand the Plan of God or the Bible until you understand the Sabbath and Holy Days of God.
In what we're going to cover, I want you to write for our in-depth study: Scripturalism vs Judaism, because Judaism is leaning to your own understanding!
You will see, and there will be a lot of history in there, that we will cover in Haggai and Zechariah. that's important for us to understand. All of these things come together!
You also need the book: God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and His Holy Days.
Here's the conundrum in the world today. Everyone has been trained by the technology of many different forms and kinds have a very short attention span. Therefore, we want a summary.
But what God has for us requires diligent study. Not a summary, but a digging into many, many, many facts. As Nolan pointed out concerning the Passover, that one day is the focal point after the Sabbath—both days—and what Nolan brought out about the Passover: the Passover is the day that is filled with so much:
- teachings of men
- understanding of men
- rejecting of God
It is incredible! That's why we have the book: The Christian Passover.
These are thick books. These are to help you understand the Bible in depth. You cannot understand the completeness of the Word of God until you understand it in depth.
If someone asks you what the Passover is, you can summarize it: that pictures the death of Christ as shed blood and forgiveness of sin through the grace of God. That's like a subtitle!
- When did Christ come?
- How did He come?
- How did He die?
- How were the prophecies fulfilled?
- How have men twisted it?
- How have men taken the Passover ceremony and:
- changed it into the Lord's Supper?
- changed it into communion?
I'm going to show you one a little later on: what Kenneth Copeland has done to what he regards as communion, and it is satanic blasphemy! But we're living in a time when Satan is running wild.
Remember the series I gave on Church At Home, Satan Out of the Closet? Look at what is happening everywhere. God doesn't have to do a thing because His Laws are there.
- when you keep them, He blesses you
- when you break them and you don't repent, you receive the automatic penalty that comes
What is the first penalty that happens? You're blinded! Why? Because:
- you put your own way ahead of God's way
- you put your own thoughts ahead of God's thoughts
That's why what we have produced in the Christian Biblical Church of God has been:
- to guard the Truth
- to protect the Truth
in every detail possible! This is why it's important that you have these books. It's important:
- that you read them
- that you study them
- that you understand
- what is right according to the Word of God
- why the traditions of men are wrong
Today, you ask any Jew which day is the Passover? 15th!
- How did they come to that when the Bible says the 14th?
- Why did that happen?
- What did they add to it?
If you want to know what they added to it, watch Jonathan Cahn when he does his Passover. That is nothing but traditions of men that reject Christ, and Jonathan Cahn does not know the New Testament. He does not understand the Holy Days the way that they should be. He says that it's all right to keep Sunday if you want to. He is a highly intellectual, persuasive prophet of Baal!
- How many false prophets are out there?
- What did Jesus say? Many, many, many!
I'll give you an example of what many means. You go to Dan. 12 and he says at the end, 'Many shall go to and fro.' You look at it. Time of the end. Look at the travel that we have. Everybody travels by many different means. Walking is antiquated, unless you want a little exercise. Now they have:
- electric scooters
- electric bikes
- bicycles
- motorcycles
- cars: small cars, big cars, trucks
- buses
- planes
- rockets
Everybody's going to and fro!
Even here in the little town of Hollister, they've tried to develop it that we have traffic jams like Los Angeles.
That word many, what does it mean? When it says there will be many false prophets… You go online, on YouTube. Go on these religious channels. You do it on television. You do it on your smart phone. You do it on your computer.
Everyone's got an idea how prophecy is coming to pass. They don't know the timing because they reject the Sabbath and Holy Days. You need the series, and you need to set your mind to get these books that I've mentioned, and to use those as study materials to help you understand the depths of things that God wants you to know.
The one which covers prophecy the most accurate of any that is out there is the one that we have done: Daniel/Revelation!
- it's got messages to go with it
- it's got charts to go with it
- it has the Calculated Hebrew Calendar
How many of those in Orthodox Christianity even have a clue as to what that is? The first thing they'll say, and the Jews would agree, 'Oh, that's for the Jews!'
Why? What did Paul write? The Jews need to learn this. And the Jews need to quit coming and acting as though that they know everything about the New Testament when you don't know a single thing about the New Testament.
Paul writes that 'if you are Abraham's seed,' not Jewish, Abraham's seed, 'then you are heirs to the promise,' whether Greek or Jew, male or female. You are all the seed of Abraham!
So, if any of you out there are infatuated by what some Jews are saying, you better get your antenna up, and you better get your nose into the Bible, because the deception of Satan is going to be absolute in such a powerful way!
I'll talk about that a little bit; that IF we don't really get in, know and understand to the very depths that we can possibly come to of what God is teaching us in His Word, THEN there will be some who will believe false doctrine and fall away. That's why it's important.
When the Jews came back from Babylon: There will be certain parallels that we will see happening today and what's going on.
News of the day:
Let's look at a little news before we get to that. Let's understand, Satan is working overtime. In California, what they're going to do now is have the teachers teach in the schools children how to recognize fake news.
So what they decide is fake news is anything against their sins and anything against the Democrat party and anything of morality out of the Bible. All of that's going to be fake news.
And in addition to that, that's what they will do in the classroom and after the classroom, they're going to have Satan Clubs with fun and games and everything really nice.
Now, you watch all of the advertisements and you see how they're very hypnotic and very demonic—animals talking, people flying, appearing, disappearing—all of this is demonic.
Now then, here's another one talking about how the stranger will rise above us, I would suggest that you be very wise and before the election next year that you store up some food, some clothing, some water, and different things because:
- What's going to happen when all of these millions of illegal aliens no longer have any government support?
- How are they going to eat? What are they going to do?
- How many stores and buildings will they attack and burn down?
During the election that is coming up:
- How many Antifa will be out there destroying cars, intimidating people?
So a word to the wise, store up some things so when these developments happen, you will be prepared.
Then they're always talking now about the war in the Middle East. They're saying that this war will lead probably to peace. What does the prophecy show? It shows that very thing!
Another very interesting thing happened, the son of the founder of Hamas went to the UN to denounce his father. Now you may not think of how important that is, but no son goes and publicly denounces his father! He said that 'IF you don't get rid of Hamas, it will be everywhere in the world.'
*****
Now when the Jews were carried off into Babylon because of their sins, we find in 2-Chron. 36 and 2-Kings 25 everything that was listed that was taken from the temple area to go to Babylon. The Ark was not there. The Ark was not taken to Babylon!
A lot of people say that it's hidden someplace under Jerusalem. Well, they've looked under Jerusalem and they haven't found it. I don't think they're going to find it. If they do 'find it,' it will be a fake!
When the Jews came back out of Babylon, no mention of the Ark was made. As we have seen, when the Philistines took the Ark, what happened to them? They were plagued with mice and hemorrhoids! It was so bad that they sent it back on to Israel.
Then when David was trying to move the Ark from Kirjath Jearim up to his house where he had a special little tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant. Uzzah touched the Ark that they were taking in a cart and he was struck dead.
If the Ark is on the earth, which nation is being plagued with hemorrhoids and mice? None! Rev. 11:19 says the Ark of the Covenant is in heaven. So, what did God do? We can only surmise it wasn't on the earth!
It wasn't carried to Babylon! It wasn't brought back from Babylon and:
- it's not in Ethiopia
- it's not in South Africa
- it's not under the Vatican
Why? Because none of them are plagued with mice and hemorrhoids!
That might be it not be such a bad idea for the Vatican. Maybe that would help them learn a thing or two. But nevertheless:
- Who's going to believe Rev. 11;19?
- Will the Jews believe it? No, because they don't believe in Revelation!
- Will the Catholics believe it? No, because they
- like to have the mystery that they have it someplace, but we don't know where it is.
When the Jews came back out of Babylon, it's not listed! What's the most important thing concerning the temple? The Ark of the Covenant!
That was what was put into the Holy of Holies by Solomon in the first temple. So, let's come to Ezra 1 and see the beginning of the Jews coming back out of Babylon and remember that when they came back with Ezra there were only 43,000 that came.
Ezra 1—and the date of this is 536B.C.; that means that's 566 years before the crucifixion of Christ.
Ezra:1:1: "And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia…"
We read some of the prophecies in Isaiah talking about that God would raise up Cyrus.
"…that the Word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might he fulfilled…" (v 1).
Remember, this prophecy is always being fulfilled all the time. From individual lives to families to communities to cities to counties to states to countries, because in Jer. 18 it says that God judges all the nations all the time.
- Was that not a prophecy?
- Is that not being fulfilled? Yes indeed!
"…so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 'Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, "The LORD God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth…. [all of those that he knew of, but we'll have to see how this fits in] …And He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah"'" (vs 1-2).
How did he know that? Don't you suppose that he had a one of the priests that were there in Persia had a copy of the prophecy of Isaiah, which had Cyrus name in it?
Remember who took over to rule under King Ahasuerus, but Mordecai! They brought in all the teachings of the commandments of God and many of the heathen turned to becoming Jews. You can read that; so he knew it.
Verse 3: "Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel—He is the God Who is in Jerusalem."
So that right there tells you that Cyrus knew an awful lot.
Verse 4: "'And whoever remains in any place where he resides, let the men of his place help him with silver and with gold and with goods and with animals, besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.' And the chiefs of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God had stirred up…" (vs 4-5).
We can see this. God's Spirit can work with people to help them do what they need to do without them necessarily being converted, because it says:
"…Whose spirit God has stirred up, arose to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem and all of those who were among them made their hands strong and vessels of silver with gold, with goods, with animals, with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. And Cyrus the king brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord" (vs 5-7).
Very important, no Ark of the Covenant is mentioned:
- no mention of the Ark going into captivity.
- no mention of the Ark coming out of captivity
when Cyrus said to 'Give them everything that came out of the temple and let them take it with them to go to Jerusalem.' So, they brought it. We won't go through all of that.
This decree by Cyrus was made in his first year. Then he made Darius—who is also Cyrus' cousin, but was also king of the Medes—to be ruler over Jerusalem.
So, this is what we find here in the second year of Darius. Why I'm bringing this out is because we will see that God is fulfilling the prophecies that He gave before they went into exile, that they would come back and God would be with them and build the temple and things could go on from there.
Haggai 1:1: "In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the Word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying."
Then human nature sets in. Here they come back, and they're happy to be there, but they didn't do what they were supposed to do.
Verse 2: "Thus the LORD of hosts speaks, saying, 'This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built."'"
What they wanted to do is take care of their own house, build their own things, and then build the House of God later. Well, God didn't want that. He wanted them to work to build that house first and then they could build their houses, probably some of them at the same time, could do both.
Verse 4: "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your finished houses, and shall this My house lie waste?'
He says this several times, v 5: "And now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Consider your ways."—amend your ways! This is something that we should do all the time, consider our ways!
Verse 6: "ou have sown much, but bring in little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you dress, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes"—sounds like a little inflation like we have today!
- everybody's leaving God
- inflation is rising
- we have idiots running the country
- we have satanists in the deep bureau of the bureaucracy
- we have satanists on the judiciary
That's why the country's coming to a collapse, just like the founder said, 'If the people are not
moral, this constitution will not work.' That's where we are today!
Verse 7: Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Consider your ways.
Verse 9: 'You looked for much, and behold, it came to little!…."
Here's what happens if you don't take care of what God wants you to take care of:
Verse 9: "'You looked for much, and behold, it came to little! And when you brought it home, then I blew on it. Why?' says the LORD of hosts. 'Because of My house that is waste, and you, each man runs to his own house.'"
What we think that is important is not what God thinks that is important. Unless we're on God's side and not leaning to our own understanding, it's not going to work out. Here they are, just like we read in Prov. 3: 'lean to your own understanding.' I got to take care of my house first. Is God capable of taking care of you? Yes, he is!
Verse 10: "Therefore, the heavens above you have held back the dew, and the earth has held back its fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the grain, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground brings forth, and upon men, and upon livestock, and upon all the labor of your hands" (vs 10-11).
Doesn't that cover about everything that they were doing? When God is dealing with us, we need to yield to God so we can do what he wants us to do. So here's what they did.
Verse 12: "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 feared before the LORD."
When we come to God, and this is what it is with us, think about us now. We can learn a spiritual lesson, which is this. Those of us who have God's Spirit, what did Jesus say of the Spirit of God if we love Him and keep His commandments and keep His Word?
He said that WE—the Father and the Son—will make OUR abode or dwelling place with them! So, we have the Spirit of God within us.
Now let's draw another little parallel here. The Jews here were to build a temple in Jerusalem. Now let's see a spiritual parallel. This is a lesson for us that:
- we need to yield to God
- we need to do the will of God
- we need to constantly put forth the effort to grow, to overcome, and so forth
1-Corinthians 3:4—because they were saying: "When someone says, 'I am of Paul,' and another one says, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not carnal? Who then is Paul?…." (vs 4-5).
Think about that. Think about how Paul looked upon himself. You find that Paul always put the people of God first, not himself. That's what all of us who are teachers and elders and ministers need to do, to feed the flock of God, God's way!
Verse 5: "Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? They are but ministers through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one."
The way that each one of us believes is with God's Spirit. Just like it talks about God stirring up the spirit of the people back in Haggai, God gives us His Spirit so that we can grow and overcome. Now we'll see why.
Verse 6: "I planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore, neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters; for it is God Who gives the increase" (vs 6-7).
Same principle in the book of Haggai. You do what God wants and God will bless you! Same thing today. You do what God wants and God will bless you. He's with you! He is in you! Let's see how important that is.
Verse 8: "Now, he who plants and he who waters are one, but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor."
God deals with each one of us individually. Now think about that for just a minute. That God is dealing with each one of us that have the Spirit of God individually. Think about this: In Him we live and move and have our being and everything that there is comes from God! All of the things that we have, even which other people have made and put together that we can use like everything in this room and everything in your home and whatever, it all has to come from God. So, God is the One Who does the blessing.
Notice what Paul says of himself and Apollos; Verse 9: "For we are God's fellow workers; and you are God's husbandry, even God's building." That's quite a statement!
Verse 10: "As a wise architect, according to the grace of God that was given to me, I have laid the foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each one take heed how he builds upon it."
So again, it comes right back to what we read in Haggai 4. Whatever those people were doing that was not in accord with the will of God, there was no blessing. But He said, 'If you come and do what I want you to do, there will be a blessing.' Same way here, only we are not building, a physical temple.
Let's see how God looks upon us and what we need to realize that God is doing with us. So you have to be careful how you build on it.
Verse 11: "For no one is able to lay any other foundation besides that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if anyone builds upon this foundation…" (vs 11-12). All of us are responsible to God:
- how we think
- how we live
- what we do
- the quality of the way that we do it
- Do we completely rely on God?
- Do we completely love God with all our heart, mind, and soul in being?
- Do we do those things that please God?
or
- Are we out there serving ourselves?
The whole lesson of the Church that we have at this time is that whenever you get focused in on glorifying the leaders and men, and the leaders and teachers are not serving the brethren, disaster happens! Did that not happen? Yes!
Verse 12: "Now, if anyone builds upon this foundation gold…"
What is gold? Gold is the most precious of everything that there is!
That's what was used to overlay the Ark of the Covenant. They had the vessels of gold and vessels of silver and precious stones. So there's a parallel here that Paul is drawing for spiritually
"…gold, silver, precious stone…" (v 12).
- some become sloppy
- some become oh-hum
- some become minimalist
'What is the minimum amount that I can do to enter into the Kingdom of God? I want to have as much of me as I can.'
Well, the opposite is true! You need to have as much of Christ in you and God the Father in you so that you can develop the gold, the silver, and the precious stone!
Whenever you mix in the teachings of men and thoughts of men and leaning to your own understanding and saying that you're doing it for God, what do you build?
"…wood, hay, or stubble" (v 12).
Some wood is pretty strong and takes a lot to burn. But hay, poof, and stubble can blow up in certain circumstances all by itself.
I remember going out of Hollister, there was this great nice hay field, alfalfa, really grew good. So they mowed it, they dried it, they put it into the bundles, and then they stacked it right alongside the road. And that was the last time they ever stacked it alongside the road, because someone came with a bottle of gasoline and a wick in it, probably a cloth, lit the cloth threw it over and all of the hay was burned up. The owner came in the morning and all of that work, all of that time, all of the labor, all of the cutting and drying and putting it into the big bales of hay, stacked them up, okay, gone! All that was left was just the wire that was twisted and turned in the ashes!
So, I've always remembered that because that gives me the impetus to understand you can't do it your way! Does that not answer the question? When the Church came to the great trial, which was like the great fire!
- What happened? They just left!
- Where did they go?
- What happened to them? They couldn't endure the trial!
We cannot determine for ourselves the degree of the trial that will come upon us, but every trial that comes upon us is for us to build the character. So, the question becomes:
- Are we thankful to God that these things come so we can grow in grace and knowledge and overcome?
- Are we willing to build gold, silver, and precious stone rather than wood, hay, and stubble?
Let's see why:
Verse 13: "The work of each one shall be manifested; for the day of trial will declare it."
We all have that, every one of us, and I know that when you get into those dark days and you're all alone and there's nobody else but you and your wife and your family and maybe a couple of brethren that are faithful, those are deep and dark days.
- What do we do?
- Do we go forward?
or
- Do we accuse God
or
- Do we look at it as that's what happens?
You get beyond the trial by overcoming! But it's going to be tried by fire!
"…because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall prove what kind of work each one's is" (v 14).
That's what it's for. Just like those back there coming back from Babylon, they were happy to be there, but they were so happy they were going to build their own home.
God says your own home isn't going to be worth anything unless you build My house first! So likewise, we have the same principle. If we are growing and overcoming and putting God first and His way first in everything that we do, He will be with us and He will bless us. He'll see us through the trials.
We'll be able to overcome. God will be with us to accomplish what He wants us to do.
Verse 14: "If the work that anyone has built endures, he shall receive a reward. If the work of anyone is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet, as through fire" (vs 14-15). God is going to have to do that. So He says this:
Verse 16—the key, here's the parallel right here: "Don't you understand that you are God's Temple, and that the Spirit of God is dwelling in you? If anyone defiles the Temple of God, God shall destroy him because the temple of God is Holy, which temple you are" (vs 16-17).
Verse 18: "Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks himself to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, so that he may be wise in God's sight. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God…" (vs 18-19).
Now let's come back here to the book of Haggai and let's see what happened. So just like God works with us, within us, God worked with them to give them the Spirit of understanding and willingness to work.
Now then, notice how quickly these things come together.
Haggai 1:1: "In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month…"
Haggai 2:1: "In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month…."
- What's the 21st day of the 7th month? Twenty-first day of the seventh month is the beginning of the Last Great Day!
- What does Tabernacles picture? Living with God! Where? Eventually a New Jerusalem!
The first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, "…the Word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying, 'Now speak to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, "Who is left among you who saw this temple in her first glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison, is it not in your eyes as nothing?"'" (vs 1-3). It was small, and they had no Ark!
Verse 4: "'Yet, now be strong, O Zerubbabel,' says the LORD. 'And be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong all you people of the land,' says the LORD, 'and work; for I am with you,' says the LORD of hosts."
Now then we see something very interesting that takes place. We find this all the way through the writings, especially the prophets. There will be a prophecy concerning one thing and then boom, something about Christ and the overall Plan of God is put in. We'll see it right here. That projects clear forward to the end of the age in which we're living today. So there's a connection between Haggai and what we're doing today.
Verse 5: "'According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.' For thus says the LORD of hosts..." (vs 5-6).
Now notice how far forward this projects, clear to the return of Christ.
Verse 6: "For thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Once again—it is yet a little while—I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come…'" (vs 6-7).
What is the desire of all nations? Peace and security! That can only come through Christ returning to the earth.
"'.…and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD of hosts" (v 7).
The house that He will build will be…
Isaiah 4—we covered this during the Feast of Tabernacles, but let's look at it again because this helps us understand that when Christ returns and the tabernacle is going to be in Jerusalem, there won't be any human beings there.
It will be Jesus Christ, all the patriarchs, all of the prophets, and all of the apostles, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc.
Isaiah 4:5[transcriber's correction]: "And the LORD will create over every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night."
Stop and think, how did God bring His presence to the children of Israel coming out of Egypt? A pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day! So here over Jerusalem is going to be this great tabernacle, which will be the greatest thing on earth at that time, and it isn't going to be built with the hands of men or with the materials of men. It's going to be built by God for the spirit sons of God and for all of those that will be right there around the Throne of God on earth.
"…for over all the glory shall be a canopy. And there shall be a tabernacle for shade by day from the heat, and for refuge, and for shelter from storm and rain" (5-6). So, there we have it!
- we have the first temple that was destroyed
- we have the second temple which they're going to be building here in Haggai
- that's after they come out of Babylon
- then we have conversion with us
Each one of us are a Temple of God, and He's working with us!
- we have His Spirit
- we're growing
- we're overcoming
- we're using the Spirit of God and doing what we need to
Back to Haggai 2, here we have it. This is a projection forward right in the middle of the instructions of what they were to do in building the second temple, but this is of the return of Christ and all the saints.
Haggai 2:6: "For thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Once again—it is yet a little while—I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I will shake all the nations; and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD of hosts" (vs 6-7).
There it is right there. So, all of those tie together. That's quite an amazing thing when you understand it.
Verse 8 is very important. What is it that you have that is your own?
Verse 8: "'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of hosts. 'The glory of this latter temple… [that's the one we read of in Isa. 4] … shall be greater than that of the former,' says the LORD of hosts. 'And in this place I will give peace,' says the LORD of hosts" (vs 8-9).
Where do you find that? You find that in Isa. 2 and Mal. 4.
Verse 10: "In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month… [so that's getting in just about where we are today] …in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Now ask the priests concerning the law, saying, 'If one carries Holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and touches his skirt to bread, or boiled food, or wine, or oil, or any food, will it also become Holy?'"' And the priests answered and said, 'No.'" (vs 10-12).
Those things only becoming Holy when they are directed to God!
Verse 13: "Then Haggai said, 'If one who is unclean by a dead body touches any of these, shall it also be unclean?' And the priests answered and said, 'It shall be unclean.'"
Here's the lesson talking about human nature: What is our human nature by itself?
Verse 14:"And Haggai answered and said, '"So is this people, and so is this nation before Me," says the LORD. "And so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.'"
Now this kind of goes back to what Nolan brought out in his message. What Cain did, he didn't bring what was right. Here again, you see what happens when people begin to do things their own way contrary to what God wants.,
Verse 15: "And now, I ask you, consider from this day and onward—from before the placing of a stone upon a stone in the temple of the LORD…. [so they were ready to start setting the cornerstone for the temple] …How that one came expecting a heap of twenty measures, and there were but ten; one came to the wine vat to draw off fifty measures from the winepress, and there were but twenty" (vs 15-16).
So, what he's saying here is, 'You do the work of building the temple, and don't get carried away with your own ways.' Because it won't produce what you want, and it won't produce what God wants.
Verse 17: "I struck you with blight and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labors of your hands; yet, you did not return to Me," says the LORD. "Now consider from this day and forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month…" (vs 17-18).
God gave this as a lesson: 'from this day forward, I'm going to bless you to build the temple, but you've got to remember you must do it My way.' (just paraphrasing there).
"…from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider this: is the seed still in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not brought forth. From this day forward I will bless you" (vs 18-19).
It's the same way with us. If we set our minds and our hearts to do what God wants, He will bless us. So we can learn some lessons out of all of this: when the Jews came back out of captivity from Babylon, and what are we to come out of today?
What is the world called today? It's called Babylon the Great! What did He say to His people?
'Come out of her, My people, so that you are not partakers of her plagues, And I will receive you.' This is what He's saying to them here. So we'll go ahead and conclude this by saying:
Look at how the Bible is put together and weaved together in such a way that everything fits in its place the way that God wants it. So, likewise with us and what God wants us to do. How we do it in our individual lives, the things we do together, collectively and so forth. They all matter! They all count!
- IF we come to God in that way,
- IF we understand His Word
- IF we apply ourselves with His Spirit, God will bless us and be with us
That's what's important!
All the other physical things around us amount to nothing really.
We'll look in the book of Zechariah next week and we will see some of these same things again. I hope that this will help us really understand how great that the Word of God is!
Scriptural References:
- Proverbs 3:1-7
- Ezra 1:1-7
- Haggai 1:1-2, 4-7, 9-12
- 1 Corinthians 3:4-19
- Haggai 1:1
- Haggai 2:1-6
- Isaiah 4:5-6
- Haggai 2:6-19
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Hebrews 10
- Daniel 12
- 2 Chronicles 36
- 2 Kings 25
- Revelation 11:9
- Jeremiah 18
- Isaiah 2
- Malachi 4
Also referenced:
In-Depth Studies by Fred R. Coulter:
- Scripturalism vs Judaism
- Daniel/ Revelation
Books by Fred R. Coulter:
- God's Plan for Mankind Revealed by His Sabbath and Holy Days
- The Christian Passover
Church At Home (churchathome.org):
Satan Out of the Closet
FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 11/29/23
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