Shaken to Desire the Glory of God

 Haggai 2:1-14

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying: 2 "Speak now 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: 3 'Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? 4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says the LORD; 'and be strong, 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. 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!'

6 "For thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the LORD of hosts. 8 'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of hosts. 9 The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts. 'And in this place I will give peace,' says the LORD of hosts."

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, saying, 11 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, 12 "If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?"'"

Then the priests answered and said, "No."

13 And Haggai said, "If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?"

So the priests answered and said, "It shall be unclean."

14 Then 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 what they offer there is unclean.

All will be shaken up to reveal the defilement of all nations and not just God’s people.  The narrative of Haggai begins with the word of the LORD telling the faithful remnant about how the temple had lost its former glory to encourage their restoration work in the strength of God Himself to enable their success to finish it against all odds and opposition.  He was with them in their work and is now with us in the work of building the house of the Lord Jesus Christ with us as the building blocks (1 Peter 2:4-5) for His glory to dwell in us.  His Spirit remained among them then but now remains within us (John 16:7) following Christ’s ascension back to heaven after He rose from death to life as a down payment and seal upon us as His own special chosen people (Ephesians 1:13-14).  We therefore join in hearing the Lord say, “do not fear!” because of the new eternal covenant (Hebrews 12:24, 13:20-21) in His everlastingly effective blood of the sacrifice of Himself as our High Priest who forever intercedes for us.  He promised then to shake heaven and earth along with all nations (Hebrews 12:26-27) as the way to draw all whom He calls to Himself as the Desire of All Nations.  Because of this promise we have a godly fear by grace and peace (Hebrews 12:28) in an unshakable kingdom hope to serve Him joyfully as foretold by Haggai long ago.  We also realize like they were told then that our holiness does not come by mere association with consecrated things nor do we make things holy by our touch; rather, our holiness and righteousness is found by dwelling in Christ because they are His alone.  Everything we make by our own hands, of ourselves, is unclean (Romans 3:20, 23) because we are sinners and only by abiding in the holiness of Christ can anything we touch become righteous because we are in union with Him.  We are clean only in Him.  That is the hope foreshadowed in these words to God’s people then which looked forward to the completion of these things in Jesus Christ our unshakable hope and Desire of All Nations in whose kingdom we now abide.  We have been shaken that we might awaken to desire His glory in an unshakable kingdom that remains of His righteousness and to move and breathe (Acts 17:28) and have our being in Him.  Praise God who does all things well (Mark 7:37)!