Have you ever finished watching the evening news with all the violence and injustice in the world and in frustration asked, Why isn’t God doing something? Why do the wicked and the dishonest people prosper. Why do they get elected to the White House? Well, that is not a new feeling. A prophet named Habakkuk felt that way around 620 B.C. and wrote a book about it.

Habakkuk’s name means to “embrace” or “wrestle.” As is usually the case, his name has something to do with the message of the book. I think it relates to the fact that he was wrestling with a difficult issue. If God is good, then why is there evil in the world? And if there has to be evil, then why do the evil prosper? What is God doing in the world? We discussed a similar thought coming from the Israelites in Zephaniah 1:12. They said God did not do good or evil. They thought God was not involved and so continued in their sin. Habakkuk is one of the good guys. He fears God and does what is right, but it is getting him no where.

Warren Wiersbe entitles his book on Habakkuk as From Worry to Worship. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones calls his, “From Fear to Faith.” While Habakkuk begins by wondering or worrying about the world around him and God’s seeming indifference, he ends by worshipping God.¹ When he heard who was coming 3:16 says he trembled, but he certainly ends up expressing faith by the end of the book. What they are trying to capture in the titles of their books is the progression Habakkuk makes from questioning God to trusting God. So let’s look at how he made that progression.

Habakkuk’s Question
(1:2-4)

Habakkuk expresses the attitude that many righteous people have. He is ourtraged at the violence and injustice in his society. He lists six different problems. His list is repetitious, but it emphasizes just how bad things were. There was sin, wickedness, destruction and violence, no justice in the courts, and the wicked outnumbered the righteous. Does this sound like our society?

In verse 4 he says, "the law is ignored." God's word was no longer the standard. It is now illegal to have the 10 commandments hang on the wall in a public school, so I think things are even worse in America.

Habakkuk is preaching against it, but he is having little effect. Habakkuk raises a good question. Why does evil go unpunished? Why do the wicked prosper? Why doesn’t God do something?

Look back to verse 2. Habakkuk has been praying. Evidently, he has been praying for a long time because he says, “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And Thou wilt not hear?” He also thinks God is indifferent and inactive.

Some people think that men of faith never question God. They just sit and wait faithfully and patiently. But one thing we can learn from Habakkuk is that this is a misconception. Those who trust in God can and do question God.

God’s Answer
(1:5-11)

God is doing something. He is raising up a foreign nation, the Babylonians, to come and destroy Judah. He tells Habakkuk, “You would not believe if you were told.”² Why? Because they are really wicked. They were worse than the Jews.³ Verses 6-11 describe just how evil they are. The reason for this description is to show that they are so powerful, no one can stop them. They will certainly destroy Judah.

We see in verse 11 that they will be held guilty for their wickedness, but God is going to use them anyway.

Most of us have been praying for the evil in our society hoping for revival. What if God sent the Soviet Union or Sadam Hussein to conquer America, to instill communism or a dictatorship, imprison all the Christians, etc. What would you think about that answer? Would you say God didn’t answer your prayer?

This points us to another principle we can learn from Habakkuk. God doesn’t always give us the answers we want or expect. We usually have it in our mind how we want God to answer our prayers. When He does it differently, how do you respond?

What is Habakkuk’s response to the answer?

Habakkuk’s Response
(1:12-2:1)

If all we did was read verses 12-13a, it would look like Habakkuk accepted the answer and was content. But 13bf shows that although he accepts the answer, he doesn’t like the answer.

He began in verse 12 by claiming that God is eternal. I think the idea of immutability, that God does not change, is included here. The fact that God does not change is important because it means God keeps His promises and He has made promises to Israel. Habakkuk knows that God will not totally destroy Israel because of his covenantal promises. That is why he says, “We will not die.”

So, he believes God and trusts God, but he still doesn’t fully understand the answer. In 13b Habakkuk knows God hates evil and is amazed that God would use a nation even more wicked than Judah to punish Judah. After all, even though Judah has her problems, she is still better than the Babylonians. (At least that was true from man’s perspective. If you remember Amos, the whole point of Amos was that Israel was worse than all the rest of the nations because she knew better. She had been given the law while the Gentiles had not. The same would apply to Judah here. They weren’t better in God’s eyes.) And God’s answer indicates that things are going to get worse, not better.

Verse 16 When he says, they offer a sacrifice to their net. The "net" was the war machine or might of Babylon. The Babylonians thought it was their own strength which allowed them to be so successful (cf. 1:11). They gave no credit to God. Habakkuk wonders how God would allow them to continue like this. And he asks the question in verse 17.

What can we learn from this section?

When you are talking with someone who has just experienced a tragedy, don’t just tell them “God is good. He loves you and He will work things out for the best and quote Romans 8:28-29.” I think it is okay, maybe even necessary to cry with them, hurt with them, question with them. Help them work through the pain, not ignore it. Of course you don’t want to stay there indefinitely, but it is part of the process. Too often, Christians think the questioning part of the process is wrong. In fact Martin Lloyd-Jones makes that statement in his commentary on Habakkuk. He says, “There must be no querying, no questioning, no uncertainty about the goodness and the holiness and power of God.”⁴ I disagree. This is an impossible statement. People have feelings and questions. You either suppress them or express them.

There is a balance between self-pity, hopeless resignation and staying mad at God. As usual, the correct response is somewhere in the middle. I think it was Howard Hendricks whom I once heard say, “Humans only occasionally achieve balance as they are swinging from one extreme to the other.”

Habakkuk has received one answer, and he had more questions. Now 2:1 says he is going to expectantly wait for another answer from God. He is searching for understanding.

God’s Answer
(2:2-20)

Basically God's answer is this: Don't worry about the Babylonians, they will get theirs too.

He tells Habakkuk to write this down. What is about to happen is so certain, he should go ahead and record it.⁵ It may seem to tarry (vs 3) but it will happen.

When justice tarries, we have the feeling that it will never come, but God promises that it will. It is faith in God which makes us believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. It is “the light at the end of the tunnel” which helps us make it through. It is the pregnant lady’s knowledge that the pregnancy will finally end that helps her endure. It is the soldiers hope of escape or rescue that helps him endure as a prisoner of war. It is when there is no hope that people commit suicide.

In 2:4 we have a much quoted verse. God says, "the righteous will live by faith." Some translations have “faithfulness.” Both ideas are involved. You really can’t separate the two. Faith is what you believe. Faithfulness is acting according to what you believe. James deals with this principle in James 2.

You might say faith and faithfulness is not true and perhaps use the illustration of someone who “knows” that smoking is bad for them, but doesn’t stop. If you could really know their heart, you would find that they don’t think anything will happen to them. It is the same syndrome in which people think accidents only happen to other people.

What is the faith? It is trusting God for life. We saw this explained in Hosea.

What does faithfulness look like? It is faithfulness to God's law. It is following the moral standards of the 10 commandments which we can summarize as “loving God” and “loving one’s neighbor.” There were still righteous people in Judah. There is always a remnant and God always preserves them in the midst of his judgment. We see this point repeated in several of the prophets. This verse tells them and Habakkuk what they need to do.

2:5. Babylon is compared to a drunkard whose appetite for more wine is never satisfied. In fact, the Babylonians were famouse for their drunkeness. It was during one of their drinking parties that the Cyrus and the Persians were able to sneak into the city and defeat the Babylonians.⁶ The Babylonians were never content with the size of their empire. They tried to conquer more and more. Only a relationship with God can satisfy.

I think there is an important concept to think about in verses 4-5. The proud person puts himself first and goes out using and abusing others. In contrast the righteous have humility and put others before self and do things for the good of others.

Next, Habakkuk gives a series of "Woe" oracles to describe how bad Babylon is. But he doesn’t mention Babylon in these descriptions. He may have done that so that they would be taken more as a universal principle or description of evil. We can relate to many of the descriptions that he gives. There is a progression here. I think among the first four one sin leads to the next.

• Woe⁷ to the Proud 2:4-5
• Woe to the Greedy 2:6-8
• Woe to the Dishonest 2:9-11
• Woe to the Violent 2:12-14
• Woe to the Sensual 2:15-17
• Woe to the Idolater 2:18-20

The proud person thinks they deserve better. They want more. They will do anything to get it. the Sensual person is searching for fulfillment through experiences - mainly sexual. The Idolater looks to everything else but God to make life work. These characteristics certainly apply to the 20th century.

2:16-17 show that their time for judgment would come too.

Habakkuk's Prayer of Praise
(3:1-19)

In chapter one Habakkuk was low. He was despairing because of the evil around him. In chapter two he goes up to the watchtower to wait for the second answer. Now, in chapter three, we see him praising God and the last phrase of the book is “and makes me walk on my high places.” The book is Habakkuk’s steady progression upwards (spiritually) towards God.

Habakkuk now understands and offers a prayer of praise because God is in control.

• He pleads for mercy in the midst of the judgment (1-2).
  He is afraid of what is coming. He knows it will be awful. Undoubtedly he will suffer too. Maybe personally, but at least through witnessing the death and destruction of those around him.
• He praises God's majesty and power (3-15).
• He promises to wait on the Lord (16-19).
  What is coming is frightening, but he commits himself to wait and trust in God.

At the beginning of the book I mentioned that Habakkuk’s name meant “embrace” or “wrestle.” We’ve see him wrestle with the tough questions, but what is his final response? To embrace God and trust in Him.

PRINCIPLES:

(1) God sometimes seems to be inactive, but He is involved. 1:12 showed that the Babylonians were under God’s control, and He was using them to achieve His purposes.

(2) God is holy. In 1:13 Habakkuk said that God could not approve evil. This should be a sobering thought to us as we struggle with temptations, sins, bad habits (which is a euphemism for sins), etc.

(3) God hears and answers prayers.

(4) God sometimes gives unexpected answers to our prayers. When we pray, we usually have in our minds the way we want God to answer. When He answers differently, we think He hasn’t answered at all.

(5) God is Just and God is Good. He will judge the wicked and he is concerned for the righteous.

(6) The righteous live by faith and faithfulness. This means we really believe that God is Good and God is just. And we live accordingly. What are some situations where you might need to do that?

• In your church? Instead of changing churches when things don’t go your way or there are problems, perhaps you need be faithful to that church and try to minister to them. That may not be the best option, but it needs to be considered.
• In your Marriage? If a person is having troubles in marriage the current way of dealing with it is to get a divorce. But the righteous and correct way to deal with the problem is to remain faithful to the spouse and work it out. Even if it is never worked out, you remain faithful to the spouse. (Eg. Hosea.)

In summary, I think the message of Habakkuk is very comforting to us because we live in a wicked society. We can look back at what Habakkuk wrote, see that it came true, that God really is in control, that God did protect the righteous even though they went to Babylon (eg. Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego) and He eventually brought them back to the land. Therefore, my faith in God can be bolstered by the prophecy and historical events that show God’s word is true.

As I’ve said before, prophecy is not just gee whiz information designed to tell us what is going to happen in the future. It is good for my heart because it helps me see that God is in control and God is going to preserve His people. It brings comfort for now and hope for the future.

1 Wiersbe, From Worry to Worship, p. 8.

2 Some people take this to mean that the Babylonians were not a major power at that time and therefore Habakkuk was written earlier during Assyrian prominence. But the phrase “you won’t believe it ...” probably just refers to the fact that it is amazing that God would use such a wicked nation. Therefore, although the book does not give the date directly, we can assume the date is some time before the Chaldeans (1:6) invaded Jerusalem in 605 BC, and some time after the Chaldeans became famous as an oppressive world power. That would place the writing of the book somewhere between 605 and 625 BC.

3 This is really only true as man sees things. The message of Amos 1-3 is that God thinks Israel is worse than the surrounding nations because Israel had special revelation and should have known better. Their sins, however, did not look as bad as those of the surrounding nations.

4 Lloyd-Jones, From Fear to Faith, p. 50.

5 Nobody is sure what this phrase, “that the one who reads it may run” means. It could mean, write it big “on a sign” so someone hurrying by could read it. It could mean - write it simply so someone reading it fast could understand. It might mean - write it down so those who read it can run tell others. One might think it is saying - write it down so those who read it may flee the Babylonians. But we know from Jeremiah that they were not supposed to flee the Babylonians. Those who fled, died. Those who stayed and took their discipline, lived. Anyway, this is just another one of those inscrutable sayings. Maybe it just means - write it down so that, when the time comes, you will know that the judgment is from God, not just fate.

6 F.C. Cook, editor, The Holy Bible with Commentary, VI, 665. Cited from “An Exposition of Habakkuk,” Gordon Rasmussen, DTS Thesis, 1956. p. 47.

7 Not technically a woe. The word is hinneh which means “look” not hoy which means “alas.”

Introduction

A. The Name

The name of the book is named after the prophet, Haggai, whose name means “festive” or “festival.” Many believe the name was given because Haggai was born on or near a festival day. Some suggest that his name is related to the celebration of the prophetic hope concerning the temple and the glory of God. While the first suggestion is more probable, it is interesting to note that Haggai's ministry began on a new moon festival day and the book records the festivities which will be enjoyed when Yahweh rules in the Day of the Lord.¹

B. The Date

Haggai is the most precisely dated book of the Bible, with the dates of each sermon given to the exact day. The accuracy with which he records these dates suggests that he might have kept a journal. The beginning of Darius' reign is well established at 522 BC. Each of the four messages took place in the second year of his reign which would be 520 BC.

C. Historical Background.

Up to this point in our study of the minor prophets we’ve been talking about how the Israelites didn’t obey the commands in Deuteronomy 28-30, so God was going to punish them. The prophets all came and warned of coming destruction of Israel by Assyria and Babylon. God would use Assyria to destroy the northern nation - Israel, and Babylon to destroy the southern nation - Judah. Those were all pre-exilic prophets telling of the coming exile. Now we are jumping over exile (when Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel wrote) to the post-exilic prophets. They wrote after the exile.

The Jews had been in captivity in Babylon for 70 years (Jer. 25:11f.) They were first deported in 606 BC. and the final destruction of the temple was in 586. When the Persians defeated the Babylonians in 539, Darius took over and changed the foreign policy concerning captive peoples. In 538 he decreed that the Jews could return to their homeland and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1-3).

After an initial stage of construction on the foundation (Ezra 3:8-13), opposition from without and within stopped the work for a period of 14 years. With the work on the temple halted, the people began to pursue their own selfish interests and once again began to experience the discipline of God upon their lives (Hag. 1:7-11).

God used Haggai and Zechariah to get the leaders and the people to once again focus on the work of God. Through the leading of God, the ministry of the prophets, the decree and the funding of Darius I, and the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest, the rebuilding of the temple was resumed and completed in 516 BC., exactly 70 years after its destruction.²

Does anyone know the significance of being in captivity for 70 years?

If you will remember, as part of the law, God told the people to let the land rest every seventh year. Did they do it? No. They were in the land 490 years and never observed the Sabbath year for the land. How many Sabbath years did they miss? Seventy. So God made up for it by taking all the Sabbath years at one time.

606 first invasion / 586 final invasion and destruction of the temple

536 first return / 516 temple finished

Either way you figure it (from the people or the temple) you have 70 years of captivity. You would almost think God was in control. The point is this: We can do it the easy way or the hard way, but either way, God will get His way. That's why it is important for me to have my priorities right and put obedience to God first.

How do you know if you have your priorities straight? And if you don't, What do you do about it? I think Haggai can give us some help in determining the answers to these questions.

Message Statement: Misplaced priorities in our lives can be diagnosed and treated.

Transition: So now that we understand how Haggai fits into the history of Israel, what is the Purpose of Haggai? It was to get the people to rebuild the temple - to get the people to resume construction on the temple. How does he do that? He preaches four sermons to the people which we could outline as follows:

In Haggai's first sermon he rebukes them for having their priorities all wrong. Then we see the response of the people.

Misplaced priorities can be diagnosed.

The Message of Conviction:
The Rebuke

The Diagnosis of the Problem (1:1-6)

“In the second year of Darius.” The reference to a Gentile king shows that they are in the time of the Gentiles. They are under Persian rule. This would have been a reminder and a rebuke to the Israelites. The date is August 29, 520 B.C. Haggai speaks to Zerubbabel, the governor, and Joshua, the High Priest. Zerubbabel was in the line of David, but not king, because they are in the time of the Gentiles.

We are immediately introduced to the theme which is the rebuilding of the temple. The people were saying that it is not time to rebuild the temple. They have delayed the building process 14 years.

Notice he says “This people ...” Why? This is a term of distancing. If I go home tonight and Lori says, “Do you know what Your son did today?” You can bet that I am not going to be happy with what I am about to hear. But if she says, “Do you know what Our son did ...?” Then I'm probably going to be proud.

He addresses the people in verse 4. They are living in paneled houses. Paneling had to be imported from Lebanon. There are no trees around Jerusalem. So it was expensive. This is what they were spending their money on. You see on our chart that the first section of Haggai is labeled as one of conviction. In verse 5 he says, “Consider your ways!” What is Haggai trying to convict them of?

Answer: misplaced priorities. That was the problem. They were not putting God first. They were only concerned with their own comforts.

What was the result of the misplaced priorities? What were the symptoms?

First symptom: Dissatisfaction (1:6)

They were experiencing very unsatisfying lives.

• You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but don't become drunk - maybe this refers to people who try to deal with life's problems by eating too much. It doesn't work. All you do is gain too much weight. I think this is an illustration of seeking life and happiness through pleasure.
• You put on clothing, but no one is warm enough - Perhaps we could change this for our culture to say, “You buy new clothes, but the styles change.” Perhaps this is indicative of seeking life through praise.
• You earn money and put it in a purse with holes - I think most of us can identify with this. Do you run out of money before you run out of month? To compensate for this do you work so much that you don't have time for God or family? Seeking life through possessions.

I was reading a book called Honest to God, by Bill Hybels. In it he talks about the Money monster. He says a 1967 poll of college freshmen found that most thought it more important to have a meaningful philosophy of life than to be well-off financially. But in 1986 in a similar poll, 80% said it was more important to be well-off financially. Things changed a lot in 20 years. We all know the story of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-30 who could not give up his wealth and politely refused eternal life. We shake our heads in disbelief, but most Americans move 14 times in their lives as promotions lead them from one place to another. Consequently, children grow up learning that more money is more important than developing long term relationships. Later on, when discussions turn to college, the dialogue focuses on which professions pay the most rather than what would suit the young person's motivated abilities. The message we instill in them is that more money will make up for lack of job fulfillment. Money itself will fulfill us. But it doesn't and we now have a society full of dissatisfied people.

Haggai condemned them for living in their paneled houses. We can see that they had become consumed with earthly things. The question we need to ask is - have we?

Even though this book was written 2500 years ago, it is very applicable for today. Haggai says, “Consider your ways.” We need to consider our ways. We need to evaluate our lives and see if we are guilty of these things. We need to ask ourselves, Am I dissatisfied with my life? Do I buy lotto tickets thinking that winning the lotto would solve all my problems? Do I wish for a better paying job? Do I wish I lived in a bigger and nicer house? Do I wish I had a new car? Something like a new car or house appeals to all three categories we mentioned earlier - possessions, pleasure and praise (or more specifically - prestige). It is amazing how much effort we put into these areas thinking that they will satisfy us, but they never do.

Interjection: Reminder to Start Building the Temple 7-11

Sandwiched in between the description of the two symptoms is a reminder to resume the construction of the temple. Haggai tells them to consider their ways and to get to work. And he gives us the motivation.

There are two reasons:

1. To please the Lord and

2. To Glorify God

This shows us what our proper priorities are supposed to be - to please God and to glorify God.

There is a temple imagery in the Bible that I think we need to be aware of:

• In the OT the purpose of the tabernacle and the temple was so God could dwell among the people and they could see His glory.
• When you come to the NT you see that the Word became flesh and “tabernacled” among us.... and we beheld his glory (Jn 1:14).
• Today the Believer's body is the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16) and what is the purpose? What are we supposed to do? Glorify God 1 Cor. 6:19-20.

1 Cor. 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (RSV)

• Every time there is a reference to the temple there is glory (1 Pet 2:5, 12).
• What is the point? How does this apply to us? You and I are now the physical - visible representation of the character and person of God on earth. We need to glorify God. This is the significance of the temple imagery in the Bible. I am continually amazed at the continuity I see as I study the Bible.

That is why they need to rebuild the temple - so God can dwell among them.

Now Haggai returns to his Rebuke for their misplaced priorities. We saw that the first symptom of misplaced priorities was dissatisfaction. What is the second symptom?

The Second Symptom: Discipline (1:9-11)

1:9 “You bring it home and God blows it away.” This is God’s active role in blocking our attempts to find life without Him. How might God do this to us? Cause us to have car problems or medical bills that take away our money? Why is He doing this to them? Because His temple is lying desolate. The old rules about blessing and cursing are still in effect, and since they had their priorities all wrong, God was beginning to bring down curses on them. They were trying to find happiness in things and God was not going to let them. You might compare Hosea 2:5-7.

I can identify with this. When we first arrived at seminary, we had quite a lot in our savings account. But school tuition, bills and many trips to the doctor for the kids' ear infections wiped us out the first year. I was really mad at God. I thought He was unfair. I thought He owed me because, after all, I had given up a good paying Air Force career to serve Him full time. I was blaming God. I think God deliberately took away our money so we would not depend on it. I don’t know if it was discipline (which is possible because of my attitude) or just the taking away of all my crutches. He kept me in sales related jobs where the income was very uncertain because He wanted me to learn to depend on Him. He has met all our needs and I have learned to trust Him. I'm sure I'm not totally cured, but I can say that I have much more peace about finances than two years ago.

1:11 - Who is the source of the national disaster? God. Some people have a difficult time believing that God causes earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts, etc. This doesn't say He let it happen. It says He called for it.

I think this drought is related to the blessings and cursings of the covenant of Deuteronomy 28: - 30: where God said He would cause drought if they turned from Him.

I think this raises a question. Sometimes people are in disaster and someone may say, “This is terrible, lets bail them out.” Another might be a “Job's friend” type of theologian and say, “Let them suffer, they must deserve it.” First we need to be aware that all disaster is not discipline from God. But sometimes it might be. I think we need to be aware that this might be true, but we must be careful not to let that become an excuse for not helping people. We also need to ask the question if a nation's poverty and starvation is the result of being caught up in some pagan idolatry. Take Somalia for example. What is our role supposed to be? Is our role to just feed them so they can continue in their perversion. The answer is to minister to their physical needs and try to lead them back to God. This is one reason we shouldn't contribute to organizations that just send food to starving people. Send your money to organizations which use food as a means to spread the Word.

Again, we need to examine our lives and see if we might be experiencing God's discipline. It is sometimes difficult to tell, because not all sickness or calamity is the result of sin in our lives. It may just be the result of living in a fallen world. But it sometimes is directed at us.

APPLICATION: So far we have seen two symptoms or results of misplaced priorities: Dissatisfaction and Discipline. The things of this world do not satisfy. If we try to find happiness in them and not in God , we won't. And not only will we be dissatisfied, we will also get the discipline of God.

Transition: Now that we know how to determine if we have misplaced priorities, how do we treat the problem?

The Treatment: The response of the people

I took a class called “Spiritual Life,” and in it we are discussing as you might have guessed, how to be Spiritual. A person might be able to place out of first year Greek, but nobody skips this class because we all need help here.

Several times the professor was asked how we can overcome this or that problem and several times he gave the same answer. He said we need four things - The Word of God, The Worship of God, The Spirit of God and the People of God. I had been studying Haggai in preparation for this lesson, and the last time he said that, it hit me that his four steps fit this next passage like a glove. So lets look at 1:12-14.

The Word of God

In verse 12 we see that they understand the origin and the authority of the message. They recognized that it was from God. Then we see the obedience of the people (12a). We see the process of the revelation of God through Haggai to the people. They recognized this and obeyed.

Knowing and Understanding the Word is the foundation of the process. It is through the Word that we learn about God. It is how we learn what His will is for us. AND it is important that we OBEY the Word.

The Worship of God

Next we see the reverence of the people. Notice that obedience precedes reverence. A change of heart always precedes acceptable worship. Haggai emphasizes this again in the third sermon. Also compare Micah 6:6-8

We also see that the people experience the presence of the Lord (vs 13). Their obedience and worship allow God to have fellowship with them.

What is worship? When you read the Word and see the omnipotence of God, the sovereignty of God, the goodness of God, that should stir something within you. You should want to respond to God. Worship reminds us that we're addressing the Holy Majestic God and that prevents us from reducing prayer to a wish list. When you do respond by confessing your weakness and sinfulness, singing His praises, praying, etc., that opens the way for God to have fellowship with you.

The Spirit of God (vs 14)

The word Spirit with a capital “S” is not in the text. It actually says “Lord” but Romans 8:16 tells us that it is the Spirit of God that communicates with our spirit. So, when it says “the Lord stirred up the spirit...” it was the Holy Spirit that did it. Therefore, If I obey and I show reverence, then I am in the position for the Spirit of God to lead in my life. Then I am going to produce fruit. We see in 14a that the Spirit of God motivated them.

• Was that true in the OT? The Spirit of the Lord was dispensed temporarily in the OT for special projects to carry on the work of the Lord. He was given to the prophets during their ministries. He was given to the kings during their reigns. So it was true in the OT.
• Is this true in the NT? Eph 5: shows us the same principles. Remember, Eph 5:18 says be controlled by the Spirit. Everything changes when the Spirit of God is in control -

1. church life - speaking to one another in spiritual psalms and hymns and spiritual songs . . .
2. marriage life - 5:22-33 . . .
3. parenting 6:1-4 . . .
4. work relationships 6:4f . . .

So the Spirit of God is the one who gives us the motivation and the power to do God's will. We can’t do it without the Holy Spirit. Paul talks about this in Romans 7-8. He had a new nature or disposition as a Christian and he wanted to do what was right, but he couldn’t. Paul uses the word “I” 24 times in Romans 7:15-25 as he discusses his failure, but in chapter 8 he uses the word “Spirit” 13 times as he discusses victorious living. Our natural tendency is to try to do it on our own, but we can’t. Victory only comes when we depend on the Spirit to do it.

Finally we see the end result - they worked (14b). What is the secret to doing the work of God? The Spirit of God.

The People of God

Notice also what 14b says, “and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.” Notice the plural. “They” worked together. The Christian life is not to be lived in isolation. We cannot do it on our own. We need the community of fellow believers for support and accountability, etc. That is why the author of Hebrews said not to neglect assembling together (Heb 10:25).

There was an elder in a former church of mine who moved away, looked for another Bible Church, and when they couldn't find one, decided to listen to tapes every Sunday instead. That didn't last long before he lost interest and finally totally forsook spiritual things. Now he doesn't even go to church and he is back in the same town, where the same Bible Church is.

Contrast that with what we experience in church, when, during the praise and prayer time, people give examples of how others in the church helped them during the week. It is a testimony to how God uses the people of God to support one another and help keep you in the faith.

That is the treatment for having misplaced priorities. If we study and obey the Word that naturally leads to a worshipful attitude. God can then have fellowship with us and the Spirit can motivate and empower us to do the work of God. But we can't do the work by ourselves. We need the community of God's people to do the work together.

Conclusion: Misplaced priorities in our lives can be diagnosed through recognizing dissatisfaction with life and discipline from God and treated through knowledge of the Word, the Worship of God, the Spirit of God and community with the People of God. The result will be a satisfying life involved in doing the work of God.

The Message of Courage
(2:1-9)

After they got their priorities straight and resumed the work of God, Haggai continued to preach to them. It wasn't enough that they got back to work. He wanted to make sure that they were doing the work with the right motives. Motivation is everything. In 1Co 3:12 we see that the believer's works will be evaluated. I'm convinced that it is our motivation that will determine if our works are classified as wood, hay and stubble or gold, silver and precious stones. So let's see how Haggai motivates them.

Improper motivation

Ezra 3:8-13 gives us the background to this.

Haggai starts off by comparing the temple with the temple that Solomon built. Why do you think he did this? Would that be motivating? Solomon's temple was an awesome sight.

Perhaps God doesn't want them to be motivated by wrong reasons such as pride. If they were out to set a Guinness book of world records temple, that would be motivational in itself. But they would have been building the temple for themselves and their own glory and not for God. But this was not an option because they did not have those kinds of resources. This was a group of people who had just returned from exile and they had very little wealth. Especially since we know that God had been causing a drought and probably other disciplinary actions. So he asks how many of them remembered the former temple. It's been 70 years so only those over 80 probably remembered. There were probably a few that remembered, and what would they have said? “This temple ain't nothing like Solomon's temple.” That wouldn't have been very encouraging, so Haggai says in vs 4, “Take courage...all you people of the land.”³

He is about to tell them why they should take courage, but first he has to tell them what not to base their courage on. So we can see a principle:

Principle: Comparison is wrong

We need to just do our best with the talents and resources we have and not compare ourselves or our fruit to others.

When I think about my best friend at seminary who has a photographic memory, an uncanny ability with languages, over 1000 verses memorized, I can feel pretty inadequate and want to give up or think I’ll never be a good teacher or professor. But I have to just remember that I need to be faithful and do my best and God will use me. He glories in weakness because it glorifies Him when all of us normal people accomplish great things.

Proper Motivation

Let's go back to the phrase, “Take courage...” If their motivation is not the fact that they are going to build an awesome temple, then what is the motivation? What brings them courage?

The Promise of His Presence (2:1-5)

“. . . for I am with you” (vs 4) - This phrase goes back to Ex 19:4-6; 29:45; 33:12f, and Isa 63:11-14. In those passages you have God promising Moses that He would be with the Israelites. The Isaiah passage says it was the Spirit of God in their midst that protected and provided for them. What did God do before Nebuchadnezzar came in to take over Jerusalem? The glory of the Lord left the temple (Ezek 10:18-19). When Israel goes into captivity the Lord asks, “Where's the Holy Spirit now?”

But now God is back and the presence of the Lord should give them courage. Thus he says in verse 5, “Do not fear!”

What is the secret to doing the work of God? It is the presence of God. Like we talked about in the last section, it is the Spirit of God..

This is the same motivation we have in the New Testament. Matt 28:20 says, “Make disciples of all nations... for I am with you to the end of the age.”

This is the same principle we see in Rom 7-8 where Paul talks about failure to do the work of God in chapter 7 because he is trying to do it with his own power. But in chapter 8 he succeeds because he draws on the Spirit’s power.

Amazing continuity!

Principle Courage comes from knowing that God is present (2:1-4) cf. Heb 13:5-6

The Promise of His Peace (2:6-9)

The second reason that they were to have courage was because God promises that He will bring peace. This section promises that the temple will be made more glorious in the future and that there will be peace. This could be a reference to the temple that Herod built and the peace that Christ made on the cross (Eph 2:14), or it could refer to the world peace that God will bring to the millennial temple. It may refer to both. You must remember that the OT prophet didn’t know there was a gap between the first and second coming.

What phrase stands out most in these verses? “Lord of Hosts” or Lord of Armies might be another way of looking at it. The phrase is found 285 times in the Bible. 91 of these occurrences are in post-exilic prophets. This phrase pictures God as a divine warrior, king and judge. The emphasis of the post-exilic prophets was to give the Israelites hope for the future so their messages showed how God was in control of the situation.

Verse 7 - “They will come . . .” - Do you remember the movie Field of Dreams and the famous phrase, “if you build it they will come?” That's just what Haggai is telling them. “If they build the temple now, in the future the nations will come . . .”⁴

Here's what God is going to do - God is going to shake up the world and use whatever falls out (which is everything) to rebuild the temple and fill it with glory. The future temple will put Solomon's to shame. cf. verse 9 “The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former.”

He also says in this place I will give peace. Would this be a comforting and encouraging message to Israel? Ask any Jew today. If they could rebuild the temple and have peace in the land, would they be happy? I heard two men on the radio talk show, “Point of View,” talking about all the preparations the Jews are making for the rebuilding of the temple and reinstitution of the sacrificial system. They said that no Jew will be happy until the temple is rebuilt. That is their symbol of national sovereignty.

So the promise of God's presence and peace are given as encouragement to the people.

Principle: The remedy for a discouraged heart is to see the divine perspective (2:6-7)

The promise of His presence and His peace bring courage. Prophecy is not just gee whiz information. It is supposed to establish my heart. It should purify my life. It shows me over and over again that God is in control. It doesn't just tell me the future, but in light of the future it tells me how to live today and that I can have hope.

____________________

This book is a prophetic book so let's talk prophecy for a minute.

In the process of Biblical revelation, here is something we can see from Haggai:

• They know about the former glory of Solomon's temple.
• They know about the present glory - in Haggai's time - and it's not very glorious.
• They know about a future glory.
• What don't they know? They don't know when all this is going to happen. They don't know if God is going to use this temple that they are building, expand it and fill it with glory or if this one will be destroyed in the future and a new one will be built. Haggai wants to get them to rebuild it because he sees the fulfillment of God's promises as imminent. As far as they know, the temple they are building is the one that is going to be expanded and made more glorious than Solomon's.
• What do we know? We know that Haggai's temple was indeed expanded. But it wasn't by God, it was by Herod who rebuilt the temple. Because of Israel's response, Jesus said not one stone will be left upon another until all things are fulfilled. So we know that God's promise to Haggai hasn't been fulfilled yet.
• From this we can take two options:
• The first is that God is a liar or
• Second, God will fulfill it in the future.
• But from Haggai's point of view it was imminent. From the disciples' point of view it was imminent. That's why they asked if it was at this time that Jesus was going to restore the kingdom. Imminency is always in view. We can never presume on the timing of God.
• There is another interesting thing to think about. Just how imminent was the kingdom when Jesus came? Would this prophecy have been fulfilled if the Jews had accepted Jesus as the Messiah
• Who was responsible for the building project going on at the time of Herod? Herod was and he used the money of the Gentiles. Guess what is said here in (vs 7) and in the book of Zechariah about the ultimate temple. The finances of the world would build that temple. And Herod's temple was said to be more glorious than Solomon's. God was ready for the nation of Israel to accept Jesus as the Messiah. This prophecy would have been fulfilled if they had accepted Him at His first coming.

______________________

Message of Cleanliness
(2:10-19)

Defilement (2:10-14)

Haggai now asks the people a question which the priests are supposed to answer.

If a priest is carrying something holy and he touches something unholy, like a corpse, does that make the corpse holy? The answer is no.

If the person who is unclean touches the priest, does that make the priest unclean? The answer is Yes.

What is the point?

Holiness does not come by contact. It is not transferable. But contact with unholiness does defile. Take sickness as an example. If you are healthy and your spouse has the flu, and you kiss them, will that make them well? Will it make you sick?

What is the only exception to this? Jesus - He touched lots of unclean people - lepers, the woman with the bleeding problem, corpses, etc. They did not make him unclean. Instead, He made them clean. He healed them. This should have been a big clue to the Jewish leaders, priests, etc. of His identity.

Haggai makes his conclusion in vs 14. The Israelites were guilty of this very thing. This is why chapter 2 follows chapter 1. The “holy” rituals that the people had been performing in the past were useless because, as we have already seen in chapter 1, there was no obedience. They did not have holy hearts.

Principle Holiness is not transferable (2:11-12)

Principle Sin contaminates everything one does (2:13-14)

You might say, “But I thought they had gotten their act together and were working on the temple?” They had but the next verse shows that Haggai is looking back to the time before they had resumed the work.

Dependency (2:15-19)

Haggai tells them to look at the past.⁵ When they were not obedient, God kept them from prospering and He smote them with wind, mildew and hail. Verses 15-17 show us that God disciplined them for their uncleanness. The reference to smiting with mildew, etc. is a fulfillment of the cursings of Deut 28:22. That's why it is so important to understand the section about the blessings and cursings of Deut 28-31 when studying the prophets. Haggai makes continued reference to that.

Why did God strike them with this discipline? What is the purpose of the discipline of God? Annihilation or Restoration? It says, “yet you did not come back to Me.” Restoration is the purpose. It is amazing the principles found in the OT.

APPLICATION: How does this principle of restoration apply to us?

What should our reason for discipline be with our children? Especially with older ones with whom you can reason. To drive them away from us? The goal of “tough love” is to bring restoration.

What should the reason for church discipline be? To permanently remove the person from the fellowship of the church? No - Matt 18: 15-20 shows that the purpose is to restore the brother.

What should the reason for marital separation be? Matt 19 is Jesus’ teaching on divorce. It follows an extended parable on forgiveness. Within the context of forgiveness Christ deals with the issue of divorce. He says if a someone gets divorced, they should not remarry. Why? Because there is no longer any chance of restoring the relationship.

2:18-19 “From this day onward” - What is significant about “This day?” It says, “from the day when the temple of the Lord was founded...” They had begun the rebuilding of the temple. They hadn't finished it. They had just started, but what does God say? The blessing is already starting.

When does God's discipline start? It usually doesn't strike immediately. He allowed the Israelites to skip Sabbath years for 490 years and become very corrupt before He sent them to Babylon.

When does God's blessing start? Immediately when we turn to Him. He is so gracious.

If you decide to have devotions every morning for a week and are looking for the results - for God's blessing - that is a wrong motive. But if you start having devotions every day from here on out without worrying about the blessing, because you want to obey and worship God, when did God start blessing you? The day you started.

Where does the idea of dependency fit in to all this?

If you are depending on material things for happiness, God will take them away (vs 17) This is the same thing we saw in 1:6 and 9 in our discussion about dissatisfaction and discipline, but if you are depending on God for happiness, He will bless you and bring all the material things you need. I think motivation is important.

Does this book motivate you on how you should serve God?

He says it is important to have a clean life in vs. 12-14 and pure motives in 15-19. If you aren't doing it from a pure heart, it is wasted. I wonder how many good sacrifices are spoiled by bad hands and impure motives.

What do we do before we go teach or preach or whatever our ministry is? Do we examine our motives? Are we preaching for the money? Most aren't but a few of the televangelists might be. Again, those are easily recognized wrong motives. But, are we teaching for the praise of others which will temporarily fill that void in our life that our spouse doesn't fill? That he or she can really never “fill” - that void that only God can fill, but which we are not allowing Him to fill.

Principle: Disobedience brings discipline, while obedience guarantees blessing (2:15-19)

Message of Consummation
(2:20-23)

This last section looks to the future when God will do two things:

2:20-22 God will overthrow the nations. Has this ever happened? Not yet. So this must be referring to the end of the tribulation.

Principle God is sovereign over the nations and kingdoms of this world. (2:20-22)

2:23. This is a very disputed passage. It says, “On that day” which seems from the context to be referring to the same day that we just talked about - the end of the tribulation. At that time Zerubbabel will be made “like a signet ring.” Zerubbabel was in the direct line of David and should have been qualified to be the king. But if you go back to Jer 22:24, you see that Coniah (or Jehoiachin) the son of Jehoiakim was cursed and none of his descendants were allowed to sit on the throne. Zerubbabel was a great grandson of Coniah, so he was disqualified too.⁶ Some people think this means that Zerubbabel will co-reign with Christ. But so will we, so I don't think that is such a revolutionary conclusion.

Another idea is that Zerubbabel is like a signet ring. He is the governor and the symbol of authority. He is the symbol that God is going to fulfill His promise to David and restore the kingdom. But he is not actually sitting on the throne because Israel is not an independent nation. The signet ring had been taken away and given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.

Principle The covenants of the Lord are guaranteed to be fulfilled (2:23)⁷

Summary

(1) We saw that Haggai rebuked them for having misplaced priorities and he pointed out the results which were dissatisfaction with the things of this world and discipline from God.

(2) Their response was to obey God's message and resume the work on the temple. Their obedience (repentance/confession) cleared their conscience (we might say) so that they could worship God and brought the Spirit's enablement on them so they could do the work of God.

(3) Their courage and motivation was to come from the promise of God's presence and His peace. This is the peace of mind that comes from knowing that God is in control.

(4) Haggai also dealt with the issues of living clean and godly lives so they would not defile their work and sacrifices. He also urged them to depend on God for life.

(5) And finally, Haggai gave them hope for the future by revealing that God was going to destroy their enemies and establish His kingdom with them, His chosen people.

Principles from Haggai

1. The work of the Lord should never be procrastinated (1:3)

2. Misplaced priorities hinder the work of God (1:4,9)

3. The goal of God’s work is His glory and pleasure. (1:8)

4. God sometimes uses natural disasters for spiritual discipline (1:6,10,11)

5. Obedience and reverence are prerequisites for spiritual blessing (1:12-14)

6. It is never too late to start obeying God (1:12-15)

7. Courage comes from knowing that God is present (2:1-4)

8. The remedy for a discouraged heart is to see the divine perspective (2:6-7)

9. Everything belongs to and is under the control of the Lord (2:7-8)

10. Holiness is not transferable (2:11-12)

11. Sin contaminates everything one does (2:13-14)

12. Disobedience brings discipline, while obedience guarantees blessing (2:15-19)

13. God is sovereign over the nations and kingdoms of this world. (2:20-22)

14. The covenants of the Lord are guaranteed to be fulfilled (2:23)

1 Mark Bailey, Class notes. 1992.

2 Bailey, Class notes p. 3.

3 Notice the phrase, "people of the land." Did the discipline of God in the OT abrogate the promise of the land to Israel? No! If it did not cancel the land promise in the OT, then I must find some passage in the NT that cancels the land promise to Israel or I must expect what? -- That God will give the land to Israel. Some try to say that the church has replaced Israel and the promises God made to Israel will be fulfilled with the church. But in order to do this, many of these passages must be spiritualized and not taken literally. This is one of those passages that causes me to think there is a definite future for Israel. It causes me to be a pre-millennial dispensationalist. Sometime in the future God will fulfill his promise to Israel. That has to be in the Millennium. It sure hasn't been fulfilled yet.

4 Some see this as a reference to Messiah because the Hebrew word is singular. However, the verb is plural and this is probably to be viewed as a collective noun referring to the nations. God has already said "I will come and I will shake all the nations." So that is probably the antecedent to the pronoun.

5 The word is translated as "onward" in the NASB, and it is a little confusing, but what Haggai is saying is from now on, understand this. When you were disobedient, in the past, God cursed you.

6 There is some speculation that the curse only extended to Jehoiachin’s son.

7 Principles from Bailey's class handouts, 1992.

Introduction

The temple was completed under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Haggai, and Zechariah in 516 B.C. But almost 100 years had passed, and whatever reforms had been instituted were being ignored and spiritual apathy had set in. The people were disregarding the priests and the temple, they were not bringing their tithes and offerings and there was intermarriage with foreigners and divorce taking place.

Malachi is sent to rebuke the people for their sin.

There are a couple of ways one could organize the material in Malachi. Some divide the book into three giant chiasms. (Ray Clendendon, Paper at ETS, Fall 94). Some focus on the seven rhetorical questions in the book. Although I think the chiasm works, for understanding the message of the book, I think it is better to focus on those questions which are designed to convict Israel of her spiritual indifference and cause the people to return to God.

The book begins with the statement by Malachi that God loves Israel (vs 1). The people respond with the question:

How Have You Loved Us?
(1:2-5)

This question is deplorable. They don’t know? Let’s look at how God had loved Israel.

God’s Love for Jacob (1:2)

God loved Jacob over Esau. When it says God “loved” Jacob, you could read it as saying God “chose” Jacob. The Hebrew word bh@a* (a*h@b), translated here as love, has more of an emphasis on choice or election than on emotion, although emotion is involved.

We usually think of love as some warm, fuzzy feeling that we have toward someone, but that is not true love. When I first told my wife that I loved her, she asked me what I meant by that. After all, it was only our third date. My answer was that it meant I was committed to that relationship. I had decided that she was the right one. I had made a choice, and I was going to do whatever was necessary to make the relationship work. I can’t say my decision was not based partly on emotion, but I had made it to my senior year in college without telling any of the other girls I had dated that I loved them. With Lori, I knew right away that she was the one. I remember the conscious decision of commitment.

In the same way, God had chosen Jacob and He was committed to building a relationship with Jacob. God didn’t have some warm fuzzy feeling for Jacob. God just decided that He would use Jacob and would do whatever it took to bring Jacob around to Him.

When did God choose Jacob? The choice took place in the womb, so Jacob certainly couldn’t have done anything to have deserved it. In fact, as you study the life of Jacob, he epitomizes the independent man trying to control his own destiny and live life without God. God worked on Jacob for many years before Jacob finally turned to God.

God’s Hatred for Esau (1:3-5)

In the same way that the word for love emphasized choice, the word “hate” emphasizes the idea of not being chosen or rejection more than an emotion like anger. Esau’s descendants epitomize those who despise God’s grace (just like Esau despised his birthright). Therefore God judged them. Edom’s downfall resulted in God’s glorification (vs 5) because it was a testimony to what happens to those who despise and reject God and mistreat God’s chosen people.

Application

Israel is our object lesson. If God’s choice of Israel made Israel God’s people, then His choice of us makes us His people. He has done the same with us. And we need to remember that God’s choice of us is not related to our behavior. It will cause severe emotional problems, such as legalism, guilt, identity crisis, etc. if we do not understand this.

This discussion on God’s love for Jacob and hatred for Esau is directly related to the doctrine of predestination. This passage clearly teaches that God chooses some for salvation and others for destruction, and it is through no merit or fault of the individual. At the same time, there are other passages which emphasize human responsibility. So, we have to keep these two ideas in balance.

The rest of the book shows their response to God’s love, choice of them, etc.

How Have We Despised Your Name?
(1:6-2:9)

They didn’t offer God the same respect they offered their fathers and masters. He uses a lesser-to-greater argument which shows how ridiculous this is. Jesus uses this same type of argument in Mat 7.

The Violation of the Covenant (1:6-14)

They sacrificed lambs with blemishes which was forbidden in the law. God was to get the best of the crop and flock. But they were giving second rate sacrifices. God was getting the leftovers. Would you serve leftovers to your boss if you invited him over for dinner? Would you give a broken present to someone as a wedding gift? No! It is amazing that we do this to God, when we wouldn’t dream of doing it to others. We don’t sacrifice anymore but we can relate it to giving of our money and time. Do you give the first part of every check to God? Or does He get what is left over at the end of the month?

1:9 - They want God to be gracious to them, but God will not “receive them kindly” until they change their ways. They are saying they have repented, but they have not changed their ways. If there is true repentance, there will be a change in behavior. This is the same message as Micah 6:6-8, Hosea 14:1f.

1:11 is eschatological. We see yet another reference to the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s kingdom.

Just a quick word search on “gentiles,” “peoples” and “nations” revealed the following verses which talk about the Gentiles eventually worshipping Yahweh. Isa 2:2, 2:4, 11:10, 42:6, 43:9, 49:6, 22, 60:3, Jer 3:17, 4:2, 16:19, Micah 4:1, 3, 5:7-8, Zeph 3:9, Zech 8:20-22, Mal 1:11, 14, 3:12

The Vindication of the Covenant (2:1-9)

2:1-9 shows God’s response as He keeps His part of the covenant and curses them accordingly. Mixed into this section is a condemnation of the priests who were not instructing the people correctly. They were showing partiality which must mean they were doing things for their own gain and they were causing others to stumble by not teaching correctly. (cf. Mat 18 )

For What Reason?
(2:10-16)

In 2:14 Malachi points out that God no longer accepts their offerings and the people want to know why. Therefore, they ask the question, “For what reason.” The reasons begin in 2:10.

Mixed Marriages (2:10-12)

This section shows that God did not accept their offerings because they were marrying foreign women. God was their father and the nation had a special unity which was being corrupted.

It was a direct violation of the covenant to marry foreigners, but they were doing it. One reason for the command not to marry foreigners would be to avoid introducing the worship of foreign gods into Israel. Solomon’s wives did that. Jezebel is another classic example. Verse 11 even describes the women as “daughters of a foreign god, so undoubtedly this is in view.

The main reason this was forbidden was because God had chosen Abraham and his offspring as the means of saving the world. In the Abrahamic covenant God said the nations would be blessed through the seed of Abraham. If everyone intermarried, there would be no distinct ethnic race left though whom God could fulfill his promise. It would be like America where most people are a mixture of several different nationalities and after only 200 years, few know their ancestry. The fact that most Jews are distinctly Jewish and know their lineage is a testimony to how God has set them apart as a distinct people.

In verse 12 Malachi requests that those guilty of intermarriage be “cut off.” Some might try to argue that this is exclusion from the community, but it most likely means that they should be killed. That is the normal meaning of the words. In other words, this was a serious offense. And death was the only solution to the problem. Notice what wasn’t the solution—divorce. In fact it is condemned in the next verses.

Divorce (2:13-16)

Verse 13 says they covered the altar with tears and looked sincere, but God would not accept their sacrifices because they were not sincere as illustrated by their actions.

They were getting divorced. Verses 14-16 show that marriage is a covenant witnessed by God and one that should never be broken.

It said in 2:13 that God could not accept their sacrifices. The reason is they were living in sin and the sacrifices were not offerings of repentance for their sin. I think these divorced men were coming to God with sacrifices because things weren’t going very good in their lives. They were experiencing discipline and they were trying to persuade God to stop. But they were just wooden rituals that meant nothing.

Do we just go to church, read the Bible and ignore our sin? Or are we sorry, desire to quit, and come to God in brokeness.

Verse 15 is impossible to understand. The Hebrew literally says, “and not one he has made and reminder of spirit to him.”

The NASB reads “Not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit.” If this is a good translation, then it means that anyone who gets divorced is not in agreement with the Spirit of God. I’ve heard my pastor say that he has had men come to his office and say that God was leading them to get a divorce. That is not possible.

The NIV reads: “Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.”

In keeping with this section’s emphasis on unity (cf. 2:10), the NIV translation gives us another emphasis on maintaining national unity. We’ve already discussed this but it bears repeating: The Messiah was to be of the seed of Abraham. If the Israelites were divorcing their wives and intermarrying with foreigners, this would destroy God’s plan for the nation.

Verse 15 also says, “And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring.” What does that mean? I think he is referring to Abraham’s relations with Hagar. That was not God’s plan for raising a pure nation from which would come the Messiah. Look at the mess that has caused through the centuries. Perhaps Malachi is even saying, “See what happens when you go outside the nation for marriage.”

In verse 16 God says, “I hate divorce.” This is a strong statement. Pastors hate to preach on divorce because it strikes too close to home for so many in the church who have been divorced and people leave the church if they don’t agree with you.

How Have We Wearied Him?
(2:17-3:6)

The people doubt God’s justice in 2:17 because they couldn’t see justice coming to the wicked. The Persians were wicked and they were still in power, and certainly, there were Israelites who were wicked and not being punished. We can identify with these sentiments in our culture.

Malachi promises that God will judge the wicked. Mal 3:1 is a promise fulfilled by John the Baptist, and the reference to the Lord coming to His temple is also fulfilled by Jesus at his first advent. Verse 2 is a reference to the second advent when Jesus will come as the judge. Notice the imagery of smelter, purifier, refiner’s fire and fullers’ soap, etc. The emphasis is on the cleansing and purifying purpose of the second coming. (We mentioned in Zechariah that the Flying scroll’s purpose was to purify the land.)

3:6 - God’s immutability means He will keep His promises to Israel and will not totally destroy them.

How Shall We Return?
(3:7)

Israel needs to repent and return to God before He can restore them. But they ask how they are to return. He answered that question in the beginning of verse 7 when he said they had not kept His statutes. Return involves obedience. I think the following questions also answer that question.

How Have We Robbed Thee?
(3:8-12)

The Robbery (3:8-9)

One of the ways they were not keeping God’s statutes was by withholding their tithes and offerings. It says they were robbing God. This means that not giving is stealing!

The Remedy (3:10-12)

God says, If they would be generous in their giving, He would open the floodgates of heaven and blessing would overflow. He would provide all their needs and more. But they were not doing that.

The natural thing to do is spend all our money on ourselves and not leave any for God. When we do that there never seems to be enough.

Why is that? Because when we stop giving to God, it shows our priorities are wrong and we are trying to find happiness in things. Things never satisfy, but we spend all our money on them and even go in debt searching for happiness.

3:11 mentions a devourer. What is that? In that culture it was any pest that came along and ate the plants they were growing. In our day we might relate it to car problems, air conditioners and water heaters that go out, doctor bills, etc. God allows things to come along and use up our money to force us to return to Him.

If our priorities are right and we are seeking happiness in God, then we give to Him faithfully and gratefully, and we find satisfaction in life through relationship with Him. He provides our needs and it is enough.

The issue of giving is prevalent in Scripture. 2Co 8-9

• Giving is a manifestation of God’s grace (vs 1)
• Giving can be done in the midst of tough times (vs 2)
• Giving is a privilege (vs 4)
• Giving involves one’s self before one’s stuff (vs 5) [If I give myself, my wallet follows.]
• Giving is proof of one’s love (vs 8)
• God’s blessing is proportionate to one’s giving (9:6, 8)
• Giving should be voluntary and from a cheerful heart (9:7)
• Giving glorifies God before others as tangible testimony to the gospel (9:12)

Giving is other-centered. Not giving is self-centered. Here we have yet another prophet condemning the people for a lack of love.

What Have We Spoken Against Him?
(3:13-15)

Malachi condemns the people because their words had been harsh or hard against Yahweh. The word for “harsh” is the same one used to describe Pharaoh’s heart in Ex 7:13,22. They had become stubborn. Their question, “What have we spoken against Thee?” was not a searching, repentant question, it was a protest.

The Arrogance of the People (3:14-15)

What had they been saying? Verse 14 says they were tired of serving God for it brought no material prosperity, while those who ignored God were prospering and not suffering any discipline from God. They were playing religion for their own gain. They were putting themselves first and not God.

The Assurance of God (3:16-18)

God’s response is that He keeps a book of remembrance which means He does not forget those who fear and serve Him. “On that day” justice will come on the wicked, but the righteous would be spared. Over and over again we see the need to live faithfully now and look to the future for our reward. It goes against our basic nature to do that. It requires that we believe in something we can’t see. It takes faith. Our tendency is to want to get our reward now. We want to be appreciated for the what we do for others. It is unnatural to give anonymously. It is supernatural when we do so without second thoughts.

When he says “on that day,” he is talking about the Day of the Lord. This leads us into the next section.

The Day of the Lord
(4:1-6)

This Day of the Lord is the same day spoken of in Zephaniah 1:14 and Joel 2:31. Although it finds its partial fulfillment in every judgment of God on evil, the primary fulfillment will occur at the second coming of Christ.¹

Malachi emphasizes that God is concerned with both attitudes (the arrogant) and actions (the evildoers) and the judgment on both will be complete because “it will leave neither root nor branch.” The condemnation of the arrogant in 4:1 is directly aimed at the arrogant in 3:13. They were complaining that the evildoers were not getting their due, and God warns them that not only will the evildoers get it, so will they with their bad attitudes.

Some say that verse 3 indicates that the righteous will participate in the judgment, but I’m not sure that is required. It could be saying that the righteous will walk on the ashes that are left over from the judgment. The reason I say this is I believe the church will participate, but not OT believers. They are not resurrected until after the Tribulation and second advent.

Conclusion
(4:4-6)

The last three verses summarize Malachi’s message. Verse 4 exhorts the people to follow the law of Moses. If they had been, they would have been tithing, not intermarrying, not getting divorced, etc. Verses 5-6 give a promise for the future. Verse 5 promises that God would send Elijah the prophet to announce the arrival of Day of the Lord. Verse 6 says that his ministry will be to restore the hearts of the fathers (probably a reference to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) to the children (Israelites living when Elijah comes). If the children don’t respond, God would smite the land with a curse. This prophecy was partially fulfilled by John the Baptist who came to announce the Day of the Lord was at hand and to call the people to repentance. But the nation rejected Jesus and Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.

Notice what the last word of the OT is — “curse.” What a way to end. It leaves you hanging, anticipating, searching for resolution. And the resolution would come in the Messiah.

Summary

• God affirms love for Israel, but the first question shows the people’s skepticism and doubt that God loved them.
• The second question focuses on the neglect of priests and people who brought second rate sacrifices.
• The third question showed how their bad relationship with God carried over into the community through the practice of divorce and remarriage to foreigners.
• The fourth question showed that the people mistook God’s patience for lack of divine justice.
• The fifth question showed that their tithes and offerings were affected by their attitudes.
• The sixth question demonstrates their arrogance and shortsightedness in neglecting a God honoring lifestyle.
• The section on the Day of the Lord promises judgment will come on the wicked and salvation to the righteous.
• The conclusion exhorts them to obey the law and wait for Elijah who would announce the day of the lord.

Application

God’s grace is emphasized in the beginning of the book by his choice of Jacob. We too have been chosen by God. Just as Jacob did not deserve to be chosen, neither do we deserve to be chosen. When we don’t recognized that and think we do deserve it, that is arrogance, and it results in a lack of worship. Our sacrifices become second rate, our giving decreases, human relationships degenerate and we start comparing our material status in life with the ungodly people around us who prosper and we think we have wasted our lives being “devoted” to God. The fact is that we are not truly devoted to God. The reason we are not devoted is we don’t appreciate the grace of God.

The grace of God and the message of Malachi have an interesting parallel in the NT. In Titus 2:11-13 Paul says:

• Verse 11 - appreciate the grace of God
• Verse 12 - live godly lives
• Verse 13 - look forward to the coming of the Lord.
• The message of Malachi is definitely relevant today.

Chiastic Structure of Malachi

First Address:

Motivation - God’s Love 1:1-5

Situation - Failure to honor God 1:6-9

Change - Stop Vain offerings 1:10

Situation - Profaning God’s name 1:11-14

Motivation - God’s Discipline 2:1-9

Second Address:

Motivation - Spiritual Unity 2:10a

Situation - Faithless 2:10c-15b

Change - Be Faithful 2:15c-16

Situation - Hypocrisy and Injustice 2:17

Motivation - Coming Messiah 3:1-6

Third Address:

Change - Return 3:7-10b

Motivation - Future Blessing 3:10c-12

Situation - Rejection and Complacency 3:13-15

Motivation - Coming Day 3:16-21

Change - Remember Torah - 3:22-24

The third address switches pattern for surprise and emphasis. It is most prominent because there are two “change” elements and the changed order and because it is last. And there is the longest speech of Judah. Marked by inclusio - bWv .

Note the positive and negative motivations in the above motivation sections.

1 Duane M. Davidson, The Argument of Malachi, Masters Thesis, DTS, 1978.

If someone were to ask you, “What do you know about Abel?” how would you answer? Most of us would probably say the obvious: he was Cain’s brother and was murdered by Cain. However, would you be able to say much more than that? There is very little written about Abel in the Bible, and yet, there is much that we can learn from the story of Cain and Abel. This is a story of what is in a man’s heart and how that affects his life. As you look at Abel’s life, look to your own heart. Do you have a heart that is righteous and pleasing to God? Is your motivation for doing “spiritual things” right? How would you know if your motivation is wrong? Ponder these questions as you study the life of Abel and contrast his life with that of his brother.

“Lord, clear away the distractions and open my heart to hear what You have to say to me through Your Word. Show me my true heart motivation. Give me a heart like Abel’s, one that is right and pleasing to You.”

DAY 1: Introduction to Faith

Looking to God’s Word

Hebrews 11:1-3

1. Put verse 1 in your own words.

2. Who are the “men of old” in verse 2 and what does the author mean when he says, “by faith they gained approval”?

3. What is the difference (if any) between the faith of the Old Testament characters and the faith of believers after the death and resurrection of Christ?

4. What does verse 3 mean?

Looking Upward

5. How would you define “faith”?

6. What is the difference between positive thinking and Biblical faith?

Looking Deeper

James 2:14-20

• What is the relationship between faith and works?
   
• If you do not see good works in someone’s life, does that mean he does not have faith in Christ, or vice versa? Explain your answer.

Looking Reflectively

“Faith begins where man’s power ends.”¹ – George Mueller

“Faith is not simply one way to please God; it is the only way... No matter what else we may think, say, or do for or in the name of God, it is meaningless and worthless apart from faith.”²

How would you describe your faith in Christ? (Strong, wavering, small…)

How is faith evident in your life?

When is the last time you stepped out in faith?

What can you do to increase your faith? What step of faith can you take at this point in your life?

DAY 2: “By Faith, Abel…”

Looking to God’s Word

Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. (NASB)

1. What do you learn about Abel and his sacrifice from this verse?

2. Scripture does not tell us specifically why Abel’s sacrifice was more acceptable or “better” than Cain’s, but what are some possible implications from this verse as to why?

3. What does it mean that God “testified about his gifts”?

4. What does it mean that “through his faith, though he died, he still speaks”?

Looking Upward

5. What is the hardest thing for you to bring before the Lord as an offering or sacrifice?
(Your money, your time, your gifts, your talents, etc.?) Why?

6. How would you know if God is pleased with your offering or “sacrifice” to Him?

Looking Deeper

• Abel was a righteous man according to Hebrews 11:4. What is true of a righteous man according to Hebrews 10:38?
• How does Romans 14:22-23 relate to Abel and Cain’s story?

Looking Reflectively

Your heart attitude is more important than your outward actions.

• Do your outward actions reflect what is in your heart? If not, what needs to be done?
• What are you struggling with letting go of and offering to Him?
• Take some time to be honest with God and ask Him to show you if you are holding anything back from Him. Ask Him to show you where your faith is weak and to strengthen your faith.

DAY 3: The Offering

Looking to God’s Word

Genesis 4:1-5

1. What were the respective “vocations” of Cain and Abel?

2. How do their offerings differ and how did God’s response to their offerings differ?

3. We are not told specifically in this account why God had no regard for Cain’s offering. However, what insight does 1 John 3:11-12 give concerning these two brothers?

4. How did Cain respond to God’s lack of regard for his offering? What does that indicate about Cain’s heart?

Looking Upward

5. What does God’s response indicate about the way He views our “offerings”?

6. Give an example of someone doing a right action with a wrong attitude or motive.

Looking Deeper

• According to these passages, what is most important to God in relation to our sacrifice and offerings?

1 Samuel 15:22

Hosea 6:6

Micah 6:7-8

Looking Reflectively

God knows what is in our hearts. We cannot hide our true intentions and heart attitude from God.

• Is there something that you are offering to God with a wrong attitude or motive? If so, what should you do?

DAY 4: The Attitude

Even though the emphasis this week is on the character of Abel, the story would not be complete without also looking at the heart of Cain. So today and tomorrow our focus will be on Abel’s brother, Cain. Notice the contrast in the character of these two brothers.

Looking to God’s Word

Genesis 4:6-10

1. List the questions that God asked Cain.

2. What are some possible reasons why God questioned Cain when He obviously knew Cain’s heart and actions?

3. In verse 7, God told Cain that if he does not do well, “sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for you (NASB).” What does that mean?

4. How does James 1:14-15 relate to this? What is the process of sin?

Looking Upward

5. God exhorted Cain in Genesis 4:7 to master sin. How do we do that?

6. What would be some warning signs that your heart attitude is wrong toward God?

7. How and why does your heart attitude affect your countenance?

Looking Deeper

Ephesians 4:26-27

• How is it possible to be angry without sinning?
• What are some ways we “give the devil an opportunity” in relation to anger?

Looking Reflectively

To be honest, I have struggled with anger all my life. I have a volatile temper, and it doesn’t take much to get me angry at times. As I have yielded this area to Him, He has worked greatly in my life; and anger has become a rarity now, instead of the norm. However, my “old self” still rears its head from time to time, and anger arises before I realize it’s there. I speak before I think, and I wish I could take back words spoken in haste. Each time, I have to come before the Lord with a repentant heart and confess my sin. I am clearly reminded that sin is definitely crouching at the door, just waiting for the right opportunity to overtake me.

If you do not master sin, it will master you.

• Is there an area of vulnerability where sin is “crouching at the door,” waiting to attack you? If so, how are you handling it?
• How have you seen sin take you by surprise?
• What do you need to do to master sin in your life?

DAY 5: The Consequences

Looking to God’s Word

Genesis 4:9-16

1. What do Cain’s responses to God in verses 9 and 13 reveal about his heart attitude?

2. What is meant by the phrase in verse 10, “the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground”?

3. What was the price of Cain’s sin (Vv. 11-12) and why would this punishment be especially tough on Cain?

4. What do you learn about God from the narrative of Cain and Abel?

Looking Upward

5. Cain thought God was unfair to him by rejecting his sacrifice. Abel was murdered, even though he lived a pleasing life before God. That seems unfair. Are there any present situations in your life that you feel are unfair?

6. How does one keep a right perspective and attitude in an unfair situation?

Looking Deeper

• Hebrews 12:24 tells us that the “sprinkled blood” of Jesus” speaks better than the blood of Abel. What does that mean and why is it true?
   

Looking Reflectively

Life is not always fair, but God is.

“Those who worship God must have as their goal to please Him rather than letting envy and hatred ruin their lives.”³

• Is there anyone toward whom you have envy or jealousy or strong dislike? If so, take it to the Lord and confess it. Ask God to love that person through you.
• Meditate on Psalm 139:23-24. Ask Him to show you where you need to change in heart attitudes and motives.
• Does life seem unfair to you? He knows. Trust in His sovereignty.
• Take some time to praise Him for His attributes as evidenced in this narrative.
• Be on guard. Don’t be like Cain whose anger and jealousy ruined his life and fellowship with God. Follow the example of Abel, a man whose heart was right before God.

¹Bruce Barton, Dave Veerman and Linda Taylor, Life Application Bible Commentary: Hebrews (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 1997), 180.

² John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on Hebrews (Chicago: Moody Press, 1983), 289.

³ Thomas Constable, “Genesis” in The Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas L. Constable (CD-ROM), May 2004 Edition, 63.