Evience from Haggai 1:3-4

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/23/2016 11:46 PM

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:  Evidence

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Haggai 1:3-4

            Message of the verses:  “3 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?"”

            We have to believe that these Jewish people knew that God was then one in the background arranging everything in order to get the temple rebuilt as it was clear in the Scriptures.  Let us look at a couple of them:  “22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia-in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah-the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 23  "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ’The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!’"”  Now the very next book following 2 Chronicles is the book of Ezra and the first two verses in Ezra are exactly the same as the last two verses in 2 Chronicles.  I want also to look at some verses from the 44^th chapter of Isaiah.  “28 “It is I who says of Cyrus, ’He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ’She will be built,’ And of the temple, ’Your foundation will be laid’" (Isa. 44:28).”  Now remember this was written by Isaiah around 200 years before this took place.  Isaiah 45:1-5 says “1 Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: 2  "I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. 3  "I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. 4 “For the sake of Jacob My servant, And Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor Though you have not known Me.”  We can be sure that Israel knew these different Scripture verses.

            13 “I have aroused him in righteousness And I will make all his ways smooth; He will build My city and will let My exiles go free, Without any payment or reward," says the LORD of hosts (Isaiah 45:13).”

            Now as we look at all of these verses and the fact that Cyrus did allow the Jews to live then why were they not obeying the Lord and working on the temple?  One reason may be that, as we have said in many of our earlier Spiritual Diaries was that when you look at some of the prophecies we know at this time that some referred to the end times and some referred to the times when Haggai lived.  Another reason mentioned in our last SD was that they were under persecution from the nations around them as none of them wanted to see the Jews back in their land, and none of them wanted a temple built.  You can see that today as Israel was back in their land and it was made a nation on May 5, 1948, and then in  1967 the Jews got sovereign control of Jerusalem where the temple is to be built, and the Dome of the Rock, the second highest Islamic build sits right where the temple should be, so there is no temple there as yet, but Scripture promises it will be built for it has to be there during the tribulation period for the Antichrist to desolate it.

            Dr. Wiersbe adds another reason why it was not done:  “Perhaps some of the scribes studied Jeremiah’s promise about the seventy years of captivity (25:1-14) and decided that the allotted time hadn’t yet ended.  Only fifty years had transpired since the temple had been destroyed in 586, said the experts, so the Jews would have to wait another twenty years for the prophecy to be fulfilled.  God took them at their word, and the work stopped for sixteen years. 
The temple was completed in 515, so the scholars got their seventy years accounted for!”  Now what I read about this was that the 70 years began in 605 BC when Nebuchadnezzar first deported some of the Jews from Israel, including Daniel.

Dr. Wiersbe writes the following endnote on this subject:  “However, it’s difficult to think that God’s servants would wait for sixteen years before urging the people to get back to work rebuilding God’s house.  Did Haggai and Zechariah arrive in Judah much later, sent by God to get the work going again?  Or do their books record only the success of their ministry?  They may have been urging the people all along to return to the task for which they had been released from bondage.  Ezra doesn’t mention them in his book until 5:1.  It’s likely that God permitted His people to suffer sixteen years of discipline and disappointment to prepare them for the words of His prophets.  It’s a good illustration of the truth of Matthew 6:33.”  “"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

3/24/2016 12:15 AM