SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/2/2016 10:21 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Question 1—Holiness
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Haggai 2:11-12
Message of the verses: “11 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’Ask
now the priests for a ruling: 12 ’If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his
garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any
other food, will it become holy?’" And the priests answered,
"No."”
The first
thing I want to do is to give a quote from the John MacArthur study Bible which
covers verses 11-14 of Haggai chapter two.
I realize that this not will actually be a part of what we will be
looking at in our next SD from Haggai; I still think it is important for us to
quote it here. “To provide an analogy or
object lesson for the people two questions were asked of the priests relative
to ceremonial law. The first question
was intended to show that ceremonial cleanness cannot be transferred (v. 12),
while the second question showed that ceremonial uncleanness can be transferred
(V. 13). Haggai then applied the lesson
(V. 14). Even though the people had been
bringing their offerings while neglecting the rebuilding of the temple, their
offerings had not been acceptable. Their
sin had caused their sacrifices to be contaminated and ineffectual. And their good works, their offerings, could
not transmit cleanness. In other words,
sin is contagious, righteousness in not (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22; Hos. 6:6).” “22 Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.” “6
For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God
rather than burnt offerings.”
Now we move
onto what Dr. Wiersbe has to say about these verses we are looking at this
evening, and then I will give my comments too.
“When an animal was presented on the altar as a sacrifice, the meat was
considered holy; that is, it belonged to the Lord and was set apart to be used
only as He instructed.” Next quote:
“If a garment containing a piece of consecrated meat touches food,’
Haggai asked, ‘does the garment make the food holy?’ The priests replied, ‘No.’ Why? Because you can’t transmit holiness in
such a simple manner. Even though the
garment is holy (set apart) because of the sanctified meat, the holiness can’t
be imparted to other objects by garment.”
Now we look at an endnote from Dr. Wiersbe: “Whatever touched the altar became holy (Ex.
29:37), as well as whatever touched the sanctified vessels of the tabernacle
(30:28-29), but the ‘holiness’ of the objects that touched the altar or the
vessels couldn’t be transmitted to anything else.”
I want to
talk about the importance of the Law as Paul speaks of it in the book of
Galatians where He said that the Law was a school master that leads us to
Christ. I am not saying that the Law is
not important for when Paul writes to the Romans he states in the strongest
Greek terms about how important the Law is, for the Law teaches us of the
holiness of God, however we can never keep it and that is why Jesus Christ came
to earth as He kept the Law perfectly so that we do not have to in order to be
saved. Now back to what we are talking
about in Haggai. The way I see this is
that you can’t use the Law as kind of a magic wand that you wave over something
to make it holy. As John MacArthur
stated the problem with the Jewish exiles is that they thought they were
keeping the Law by offering their sacrifices, (where they were doing it I don’t
know), but they were neglecting what the Lord had commanded them to do, and
that was continue in building the temple.
I am
reminded of the story in the book of 1 Samuel where the Philistines were
fighting the Israelites and Israel was losing so they decided to bring the Ark
of the Covenant onto the battlefield, kind of like a good luck charm. The Philistines were very frightened when
they saw it, but they still won the battle and captured the Ark of the
Covenant. The way I see this and what
Haggai is writing about is that it all has to do with the heart, and their
heart was not right. When God tells you
to do something you must do it, just as Jonah.
4/2/2016 10:58 PM
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