Keeping Covenant

“Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord.  Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt.  My Spirit remains in your midst.  Fear not.  For thus says the Lord of hosts:  Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.  And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.  The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.  The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.  And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.” –Haggai 2:4b-9 (ESV).

The date of the events written about by the prophet Haggai is given in the first verse:  “In the second year of Darius the king in the sixth month, on the first day of the month.”  From secular history we learn that King Darius I of Persia succeeded Cambyses, son of King Cyrus.  Cyrus the Great ruled from 559-530 B. C. and his son Cambyses from 530-522 B. C.  Then came Darius I whose rule was from 522 -486 B. C.  Also important to this historical period, Cyrus the Great captured Babylon in 538 B. C.  The Jews who had been captured and many taken into exile to Babylon were allowed to return to their homeland when King Cyrus came into power.  A major task of the returnees, under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah, was to restore the temple in Jerusalem that had been ransacked and neglected.  But when Haggai came upon the scene in 520 B. C., the work had hit a stalemate.  The people needed to be rallied, and that was Haggai’s purpose.  So from about August to mid-December in the year 520 B. C., the word of the Lord came to Haggai and he wrote to encourage the workers to restore God’s house, which was one of the major aspects at that time of renewing God’s covenant with the Israelites.  Haggai makes much use of “thus says the Lord,” “declares the Lord,” and “voice of the Lord God”—indicating the divine authority by which he wrote and the basis of the covenant renewal..  King Darius not only allowed the Jews to work on this project, but he gave support to the rebuilding as noted in Ezra 5-6.  The work proceeded and the project of restoration was completed in 515 B. C.

The book of Haggai not only emphasizes that the message is from God Himself through His prophet Haggai, but it emphasizes another great truth about God:  He is sovereign.  In the short book of 38 verses, “the Lord of hosts” is used 14 times.  Haggai makes it very clear that God gives divine commands, controls the fortunes of the people and nations, directs the forces of nature, motivates people to action, and establishes and deposes kingdoms.  Another important truth from Haggai is that the people must work together.  Yesterday we looked at five, even six, imperatives for God’s followers as seen in Deuteronomy 10:12-17.  In Haggai, the imperatives to work are to gather materials: “”Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house” (1:7); “Be strong and work…work for I am with you” (2:4).  The people are reminded that when the work is finished, the temple will bring joy to them and will be pleasing to the Lord.  I recall with joy in the years of my husband’s pastoral ministry, and also in the years when he served as director of missions, the congregations had projects of building, expanding or enhancing the places of worship or some entity of church plants—or, relative to the association, a facility for a camp and later a new associational office complex.  When people worked together to accomplish these aims, believing they were led by the Lord to make the improvements, the completion brought much joy and celebration and greatly enhanced worship and ministry. 

Can we apply these principles set forth by Haggai toward rebuilding our national government?  Haggai clearly noted that the Lord would “shake all nations” (2:7).  He also declares that wealth is the Lord’s (2:8).  Renewing our covenant with the Lord as a nation can be the means of our nation’s restoration.  Pray that God will hear and answer this prayer for our nation’s renewal.