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Nehemiah 13:4-22,
Neglect of the temple
Haggai 1:1-2:9, Neglect of the temple
Revelation 12:1-12, The woman, the child, and the
dragon
Matthew 13:53-58, Rejection of Jesus at home
The Jewish exiles in Babylon had been allowed to return to the
Promised Land and encouraged to rebuild the temple by Cyrus, King
of
Persia, after he conquered Babylon (538 B.C.*). Darius became king of
the Persian Empire in 521 B. C.* and on the first day of the sixth
month (mid-August to mid-September) in 520 B.C.* Haggai, the prophet,
received and transmitted the word of God to Zerubbabel, the Jew who had
been appointed governor of Judah by the Persian king.
There had been no significant progress on the rebuilding of the
temple. The Lord asked Zerubbabel if he thought it was acceptable for
the people to live in fine houses while the house of the Lord (the
temple) was in ruins. The people of Judah should consider how
things
had been going lately. They sowed much but reaped little; they ate and
drank but weren’t satisfied. They clothed themselves but were never
warm. The wage-earners’ purses seem to have holes in them.
The Lord told them to start rebuilding the temple so that the Lord
could take pleasure in it and appear in his Glory. Those who had sought
much had received little, and when it had been brought home, God caused
it to be “blown” away, because the people of Judah had been pursuing
their own personal wellbeing and had neglected the Lord. Therefore the
Lord has withheld the dew and the fertility of the land, and there was
a drought of all yields of the plants and animals, and of the labors of
the people.
Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, and all the remnant of the
people obeyed the voice of the Lord and the words of Haggai. The people
feared the Lord (i.e., had the proper awe and respect for his power).
Then Haggai declared that the Lord was with them. The Lord stirred the
spirits of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the remnant of the people to
begin working on the temple on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth
month.
About a month later, the Lord told Haggai to tell Zerubbabel,
Joshua, and the remnant of the people to find those who had seen the
temple (Solomon’s Temple) in its former glory, to compare the glory of
the house of the Lord then with it now. It now appeard as nothing. But
the Lord encouraged Zerubbabel, Joshua and the remnant of the people to
take courage. The Lord would be with them as he was in the Exodus when
he brought them out of Egypt. God’s Spirit was abiding with them as he
had in the Exodus, and they need not fear. The Lord promised that he
would once more shake heaven and earth, and all the nations, so that
the treasures of all the nations would come in and fill God’s temple
with splendor. The Lord declared that all the gold and silver belongs
to him, and the splendor of the second temple would be greater than
Solomon’s Temple before its destruction, and the Lord would prosper
Judah.
Eliashib was a priest appointed to supervise the chambers of the
temple, where they stored the various materials and utensils for the
offerings and sacrifices, and the food for the Levites, singers and
gatekeepers. Nehemiah had returned to the Persian king Aartaxerxes in
433 B. C. ** (Nehemiah had been the Persian king’s cupbearer, his “wine
steward,” on leave to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem; Nehemiah
1:11b-2:8.) Later Nehemiah asked permission to return to Jerusalem, and
when he arrived he discovered some evil things done by Eliashib, during
Nehemiah’s absence. Eliashib had given Tobiah, an Ammonite, living
quarters in one of the chambers of the temple, in violation of
the Law
of Moses forbidding Ammonites from entering the temple (Nehemiah
13:1-2). Nehemiah had Tobiah’s furniture thrown out of the chamber, and
had the chamber (ritually) cleansed of the defilement. Then the vessels
and offering materials were returned to the chamber.
Nehemiah also discovered that the portions of the offerings that
belonged to the Levites had not been given to them, so the Levites and
singers who worked in the temple had gone to their fields (so they
could provide their own food). Nehemiah rebuked the temple officials
for allowing the house of God to be neglected. Nehemiah assembled the
temple staff, and the collection of tithes and offerings was resumed.
Nehemiah appointed faithful men from the priests and Levites to
supervise the distribution of the tithes to their fellow temple
workers.
Nehemiah also discovered that people of Judah were pressing wine
and harvesting on the Sabbath, and bringing food to market in Jerusalem
on the Sabbath. There were also Gentiles (Phoenician men from Tyre)
selling fish in Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Nehemiah confronted and
warned all these people and officials of Judah that they were violating
the Sabbath Law. He warned them that their ancestors had disobeyed
God’s Law and had incurred God’s wrath (resulting in Judah’s exile in
Babylon).
Nehemiah ordered the gates of the city locked at sundown on the eve
of the Sabbath, and not opened until after the Sabbath. So the
merchants had camped outside the gates several times, attempting to get
around the Sabbath restriction, but Nehemiah told them if they
continued to violate the Sabbath he would have them arrested. Nehemiah
had the Levites purify themselves and guard the gates to keep the
Sabbath holy.
John (probably the Apostle) had a vision of a woman, a child, and a
dragon. The woman was wearing a crown with twelve stars (the twelve
tribes of Israel; the twelve Apostles). She was pregnant and cried out
in labor-pains, preparing to deliver the Christ. John saw the great red
dragon (Satan), who had seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns.
With his tail he swept down a third of the stars (his angels; demons)
of heaven to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman, intending to
devour her child when it was born. The woman delivered a male child,
who “will rule the nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5; the
Messiah; compare Psalm 2:9). But the child was caught up to the throne
of God in heaven. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place
prepared for her by God, to be nourished for three and a half years.
In another vision, war arose in heaven. Michael, the archangel and
protector of Israel, fought against the dragon and his angels. The
dragon and his angels were defeated. They were expelled from heaven and
took residence on earth. A loud voice declared “Now the salvation and
the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ
have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down”
(Revelation 12:10). The brethren (of Christ) “have conquered [Satan],
by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus Christ), and by the word of their
testimony, for they loved not their own lives, even unto death”
(Revelation 12:11). Heaven rejoices that Satan has been conquered and
cast out, but Satan will still cause woe and evil on earth in his
wrath, because he knows that the time is short (before he and his
angels and all the wicked will be cast into eternal hell).
Jesus returned to Nazareth and taught in his home-town synagogue.
The people were amazed by his teaching, wondering how a son of a
carpenter, whose family they knew, had gotten such wisdom and power to
do miracles. They were offended by Jesus’ teachings. Jesus replied, “A
prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own
house” (Matthew 13:57). Because of their unbelief, Jesus did not do
many great miracles among them.
In an amazing demonstration of his faithfulness, power, and
providence, the Lord had fulfilled his promise to bring the exiles in
Babylon back to the Promised Land after seventy years (Jeremiah 29:10).
They not only returned from exile, but they had the authorization and
financing of the worldly king of Persia to rebuild the temple in
Jerusalem, and the king returned the sacred gold and silver vessels
which had been plundered by Judah’s conqueror, Nebuchadrezzar
(Nebuchadnezzar). What more could they expect?
But when they returned to the Promised Land they set about
reestablishing their homes and careers, instead of returning to worship
and devotion to God. Haggai, the prophet, received God’s word
confronting God’s people for having put their self-interest before
their thanksgiving, obedience and trust in the Lord. The people were
living in fine houses while the Lord’s house was neglected. The Lord
asked them to consider how things had been going for them lately. They
were working harder and harder for themselves and had less and less to
show for their labor, because the Lord was withholding his providence
and blessings from them.
The Lord told them to start rebuilding the temple so that God could
again show his favor toward them. The prophet faithfully transmitted
God’s word, and Zerubbabel and the people of God, listened, accepted
correction, and recommitted themselves to rebuilding the temple.
When they began acting in obedience to God’s will, the Lord began
to encourage them. Although the task before them was daunting, the Lord
promised to be with them and to help them accomplish what he had given
them to do. The Lord assured them that the result would exceed what
they could imagine.
After the completion of the temple, Zerubbabel, their leader, was
away in Babylon, where he was serving the king of Persia. When he
returned (in 433 B.C.) he found that Eliashib, the priest in charge of
the temple, had converted the large chamber intended for the storage of
the cereal offerings and tithes of grain, wine, oil, incense, given by
the people by God’s commandment for the Levites, singers, gatekeepers
and priests, into an apartment for Tobiah (an Ammonite who allied
himself with Sanballat, the Persian official in opposing Nehemiah and
the rebuilding of the wall and temple of Jerusalem; Nehemiah 2:10).
Nehemiah threw out Tobiah’s furniture, and then ritually cleansed the
chamber from defilement (sin; disobedience to God’s command forbidding
an Ammonite within the temple), and reestablished its temple function.
Nehemiah also found that Eliashib had withheld or did not collect,
the food offerings commanded by God for the support of the temple
staff: the Levites (assistants to the priests; temple servants)
singers, and gatekeepers. The result was that the temple staff found it
necessary to support themselves, and weren’t available to fulfill their
temple duties. Nehemiah rebuked the temple officials for allowing the
temple to be neglected. Nehemiah reassembled the temple staff and
appointed faithful people to oversee the temple duties and to
distribute the temple offerings for the support of the temple staff.
Nehemiah also found that in his absence the people had been allowed
to work at harvesting and buying and selling on the Sabbath, and
Gentile tradesmen had been allowed to conduct business in Jerusalem on
the Sabbath, in violation of God’s law. Nehemiah gave all these
laborers, merchants and Jewish officials warning that they were
violating God’s command, and told them to remember that it was
disobedience of God’s word had resulted in Judah’s exile in Babylon.
Nehemiah ordered the city gates locked at the beginning of the
Sabbath (at sundown on Friday) and not opened again until after the
Sabbath. The merchants attempted to get around Nehemiah’s restrictions
by setting up shop outside the walls of the city, so Nehemiah warned
them that if they persisted he would have them arrested, and he
consecrated Levites to guard the gates on the Sabbath.
In John’s vision, the woman represents Israel, who gave birth to
the child, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The woman is also the Church,
which is the “New Israel,” the “New Jerusalem.” The dragon, Satan,
attempted to devour the child (by Jesus’ crucifixion), but Jesus
escaped by his resurrection from physical death, and his ascension into
heaven. God has prepared a place of nurture for his people, his Church,
in the “wilderness” of this world during a period of tribulation and
persecution. Jesus will return in power and glory and he will rule over
all nations with the “rod of iron” of absolute authority (Matthew
25:31-46; 28:18).
Satan has no power or allies in God’s kingdom in heaven. He was
defeated at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and that victory was
demonstrated by Jesus’ resurrection. Satan still reigns in this world
for a short time before Jesus returns of the Day of Judgment, but he
doesn’t have power over truly “born–again” (John 3:3; 5-8)
Christians,
disciples of Jesus Christ who trust and obey Jesus, and who have been
received gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Only Jesus “baptizes” with
the Holy Spirit (John 1:32-34) only his disciples who trust and obey
him (John 14:15-17). The Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee that one
is in Christ and has eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians
1:13-14; Romans 8:9b, 11, 15-16). It is possible for one to know with
certainty whether or not one has received the gift of the indwelling
Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2).
The people of Jesus’ hometown were unwilling to accept Jesus’
teaching and trust and obey him, because they thought they knew all
about him, and they were offended by his authority and teaching. Jesus
did not do many miracles among them because they refused to trust and
obey him.
These texts speak loudly to the Church and to America today. Are we
working harder and harder, with less and less to show for it? Have we
neglected the house of the Lord while we’ve pursued career, success,
house, family, possessions and pleasure? Have our spiritual leaders
been faithful to proclaim God’s word fully and accurately, confronting
us where we have fallen short and calling us to repentance and
obedience? Are we willing to be confronted and corrected by God's word?
Have we been choosing faithful and godly civil leaders?
Zerubbabel prefigures and illustrates the Christ who leads us out
of “exile” in “Babylon.” He illustrates the Second Coming of Christ.
Jesus has promised to return on the Day of Judgment. In a sense Jesus
is away in a “distant” land. When he returns, will he find that those
who have been leaders in the Church have allowed enemies of the Church
to take up residence in it? Have they allowed Church resources to be
used to be diverted from God’s will to enrich themselves or to pursue
their own goals? Have we allowed the secular world to intrude and
defile the Church and the “Day of Worship and Rest?” Just because we
are under the “New Covenant” of grace through faith in Jesus Ephesians
2:8-9) doesn’t mean that keeping the Day of Worship and Rest no longer
applies; we are only exempt from the Covenant of Law as long as we’re
obeying the indwelling Holy Spirit of Christ within us (Romans 8:1-9).
We’re in the midst of spiritual war, and the only safe place to be
is in Christ by his indwelling Holy Spirit, in the midst of this
“wilderness.”
In many instances the Church in our time is a lot like Nazareth at
the time of Jesus’ physical ministry on earth. People “know” so much
which is “worldly” knowledge about Jesus that they can’t trust and obey
him and refuse to accept correction by Jesus’ word and teaching. I find
that nominal “Christians” are the hardest people to witness to. As a
result, they haven’t experienced the real, spiritual knowledge of a
personal relationship with Jesus through his indwelling Holy Spirit,
and they miss the spiritual healing and spiritual nurture they could be
receiving.
Is Jesus your Lord? Are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you trusting and
obeying Jesus? Have you received the indwelling Holy Spirit since you
first truly believed (Acts 19:2)? Are you making disciples of Jesus
Christ and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands (Matthew
28:18-20)? Do you know with certainty where you will spend eternity (1
John 5:11-13; Ephesians 1:13-14)?
*The Oxford Annotated
Bible, Revised Standard Version, Ed. by
Herbert G. May and Bruce M. Metzger, Haggai 1.1-15a n., p.1145, New
York, Oxford University Press, 1962.
**ibid, Nehemiah 13:6n, p. 601
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