WEDNESDAY, 13 January, 2021 “Anticipation”

Scroll down to see and play Audio.

Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends on this Wednesday January 13.

ANTICIPATION is a significant emotion which can be either wonderful or dreadful, have you experienced both in your lifetime? An engaged couple looks forward to their wedding day with great anticipation, as does a pregnant woman anticipating the birth of her child. But soldiers being sent to battle, or firefighters responding to a multiple alarm fire anticipate the horror into which they are going with very different emotions. The world is looking at America, in these days, with a wide range of mixed emotions as they anticipate the ‘transfer of power’ in the inauguration of a newly elected President.

As you look ahead to the rest of 2021, I wonder what you anticipate in your life, your family, your city or your part of our world? Frequently God speaks to us with words about the future, and He calls us to anticipate what He sees is coming, with confidence that HE reigns sovereign over it all. Today would you join me in Haggai chapter 2 in the Bible as we consider a time very similar to ours in history? You’ll recall construction has rebegun on the Temple in Jerusalem with more than 50,000 Jewish captives having returned from Babylon.

Yesterday we saw God promised the people that HE was among them and therefore they should engage the work with confidence that He was protecting them, providing for them, and guiding them in this massive project, that not only would build a building, but would re-establish worship of Holy, Almighty God in Jerusalem, as the central focus of their nation. May I ask us all an important question here? What would you say is the central focus of your society, the defining cultural trait of the people among whom you live? For Israel it was to be their relationship with God and the unique centrality of their worship of Him!

Look at the next important message God sent through Haggai to the people: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and dry land. I will shake all the nations, and what is desired by all nations will come and I will fill this house with glory’, says the LORD Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house‘, says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace, declare the LORD Almighty.” (Haggai 2:6-9)

Wow! What do you think God meant, and has it been fulfilled yet in history? Down through history God has done many things which have ‘shaken’ the whole world. The global flood in Genesis 6; the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19; the rescue of 1 million Hebrew slaves from Egyptian bondage in their exodus (Exodus 12&14); the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by king Nebuchadnezzar in 585bc; the return of 50,000 exiles from Babylon 50 years later in 516bc; and many more such events which resulted in changing world history.

But do you see God is saying this event will not only shake the world but it is ‘…desired by all the nations…’! Can you think of any one thing which has been desired by all nations in the world, through all generations? God refers to it in the last words of what He said through Haggai: “And in this place I will grant PEACE…”

Do you remember what the angels announced to the shepherds that ‘Christmas night’? “Glory to God in the highest and on earth PEACE to men on whom His favor rests.” (Luke 2:14) From the days of Adam and Eve, every generation of people, in every place in the world has longed for, fought for, desperately sought peace! God was promising that HE was going to send the long anticipated PEACE! Do you see how and when? What is PEACE? Would you agree it is the absence of fear, or anger or frustration or conflict or jealousy or envy or anything which robs us of contentment? Peace is a state of the heart that Jesus promised, do you remember? “PEACE I leave with you, My peace I give you. Not as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid…In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have overcome the world.” (John 14:27,33)

Through Mr. Haggai, God was making a huge announcement: God was sending One who could bring peace to every person in the world, every family, every city! That peace begins deep in the heart, and then it moves out into relationships, business dealings, leadership and into every segment of society. JESUS makes that peace possible BECAUSE of the transformation of the heart and mind that ONLY Jesus can bring as He delivers us from our bondage to sin and sin condemnation! Remember Romans 12:1,2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this evil world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good and pleasing and perfect will.”

But there’s more my friends, here in God’s message through Haggai. God’s reference to the silver and gold suggests two things. First that God has an unlimited supply of those precious metals and everything else which would be needed to build the new Temple. Also, that God knows many people think gold and silver is what will bring them personal, family and even national peace, but wealth will never bring peace. Peace is not a commodity for sale or earning. Peace is a gift of God that only comes through the miracle of God’s salvation and transformation work in your life by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Finally, notice God’s promise that this new Temple, even though smaller and less impressive than the first great Temple, would actually be much greater than that first Temple king Solomon had built! Now that is quite a statement, and it caused the people to scratch their heads in amazement. How could it be? The answer is not the building, the answer is what would take place IN that building! Haggai had said: “The GLORY of this present house will be greater than the GLORY of the former house’, says the LORD Almighty.” GLORY is measured not by the cost of construction of the building, nor its resale value. Nor the beauty of the building or the number of people who visit it, nor even how famous it becomes around the world. The GLORY is about what takes place in the building which brings God and humanity to an encounter.

That occurred when Jesus walked into this Temple 500 years later, when Jesus taught the people in this Temple, when Jesus did miracles in this Temple. But the greatest GLORY of all was when the Temple veil was torn top to bottom, and the Most Holy Place was opened by God Himself, inviting any and every person in the world into a direct, personal, sin-forgiven relationship with God!

Do you remember when that event happened? Yes… at the precise moment Jesus Christ hung on the cross, and had paid the full atonement price for all human sin, and He declared “It is finished”! (John 19:30; Matt. 27:50-54) In that moment PEACE on earth was finally possible for everyone, everyone and for all time! Peace with God. Peace with ourselves. Peace with each other. True and lasting peace. The kind of peace that is in heaven! And it’s only possible because of what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, accomplished in His full payment of the sin price, which makes forgiveness by God and PEACE with God possible for anyone, anywhere, anytime they are alive on earth! Have you had the life changing encounter for which Jesus died, that transforms you from a hell bound guilty sinner to a redeemed, born again, adopted son or daughter of Almighty God, and have you received God’s Holy Spirit who is delighted to give you God’s everlasting PEACE permanently!?

Now we have no reason to believe the people working on the Temple project that day, when Haggai spoke these words, had any way of understanding what I have just explained to you! And for 500 years, people in Jerusalem thought about it, and debated those words… until finally Jesus came and HE explained that HE was what God was talking about through Haggai, and HE made that PEACE possible, and He accomplished the promise as God’s GLORY came to that place like never before!

So, here we are 2500 years since Mr. Haggai spoke those words. That Temple they were building that day was destroyed by the Roman army in 70ad. On that spot, has been built the Islamic ‘Dome of the Rock’, completed in the year 692. But it’s not about a building…it’s about a PEACE bringing Person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It’s about the PEACE that is gained through deliverance from personal sin and PEACE given by God into a personal life, and the assurance of eternity with God in His presence! That is the great miracle of God that you and I can live in each day, and every day as we bring GLORY to God through our relationship with Him and enjoy the PEACE that He promised, found only in Jesus! Do you agree, my friends?

Now yes, I have a great song for us to worship with, “It is Well with my Soul”, that’s peace my friends. It’s sung by one of my favorite worshipers, Mr. Wintley Phipps. In his intro to the song Mr. Phipps will give you this statement: “It is in the quiet crucible, of your personal, private sufferings, that your noblest dreams are born, and God’s greatest gifts are given, in compensation for what you’ve been through.” Now you may need to ponder that a while, and I ask you, as you worship…do you have peace deep in your soul? God given peace…let’s worship!

Today’s Scripture is Haggai 2:6-9.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).

Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.