Learning About God: His Priorities and His Blessings
Hope Center
Pastor BJ Wilmoth
August 13, 2014
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Learning About God: His Priorities and His Blessings
Haggai 2
I.
A CALL TO_______________
Haggai 2:1–5 (Second Oracle)
Haggai received another revelation from the Lord. He was directed to deliver a message to
Zerubbabel, Joshua and the remnant. The purpose of this oracle was to boost the morale of the builders
and strengthen them in their resolve to complete the task. Haggai accomplished his goal by assuring the
builders of divine blessing (2:3–5); and by sharing with them revelations of future glory (2:6–9).
A.
Present Discouragement (2:3)
The oracle begins with this question: “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory?”
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
The question presupposes that some were still living who had seen the first temple.
“The former glory” of the temple refers to the way that structure appeared just before the
destruction of Jerusalem.
To those who had seen the previous temple Haggai directed two questions: “How do you regard it
now? Is not such a one as nothing in your eyes?”
The people must have been discouraged with the work which was now taking place. Apparently some
were thinking that the present effort was ________________to the previous temple.
B.
Encouragement to ___________________(2:4)
The encouragement to steadfastness is emphasized by four techniques in the text.

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C.
First, encouragement is emphasized by direct address to Zerubbabel, Joshua and the people of
the land.
Second, the use of a threefold repetition of the imperative “be___________!”
Third, encouragement is emphasized by the use of an explanatory imperative: “_________!”
Finally, the encouragement is emphasized by a promise: “for I am with____________!”
Encouragement to __________________(2:5)
The Lord calls upon His people to “Fear not!”
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II.
Fear would be banished from the temple builders when they realized that the Lord was “with
the word which I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt.” The idea is that God
stands behind his covenant word.3
A second incentive to fearlessness is that “my Spirit is standing firm in your midst” (KJV;
RSV). God the Spirit would protect them from their adversaries and lead them in their work.
REVELATIONS OF FUTURE_______________:
Haggai 2:6–9
The “word that I covenanted with you” may be the object of the imperative “do” or “work” in the
previous verse. The intervening words would then be parenthetical.
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Learning About God: His Priorities and His Blessings
Hope Center
Pastor BJ Wilmoth
August 13, 2014
2
A major portion of Haggai’s second oracle is devoted to revelations of future glory. The passage has
messianic implications.
A. Preparations for the Messianic ___________-(2:6–7a)
“Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry
land.” This statement sets forth four great truths.
 First, the preparatory shaking would be a repetition of what had taken place previously.
 Second, the shaking would occur but once again.
 Third, the shaking would begin in a very short time: “it is a little while.”
 Fourth, the shaking would involve the entire universe: “the heavens, the earth, the sea and the
dry land.”
The Lord also announces that He would “shake all___________.”
B.
The _______________of Messiah (2:7b)
As a result of the great shaking, “the Desire of all nations shall come” (KJV).

C.
More recent English translations translate the noun as a plural: “the treasures of the nations
shall come.”
o
The idea is that converted ___________would bring their wealth to the temple of God.
Results of Messiah’s Coming (2:7b–9)
Three promises are attached to the coming of the Desire of all nations:
1.
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III.
The ________________of the house (2:7b–8).
The Lord promised that he would “fill this house with glory.”
o
The term “glory” can refer to material splendor (Gen 31:1; 1 Chr 29:12) or
to the personal presence of God (Ps 26:8; 1 Kgs 8:10–11).
The promise of glory for the temple is reinforced by means of a declaration. “The
silver is mine, and the gold is mine.” Some were discouraged because what they
were building was not as ornate as the temple their forefathers had known. They
should not, however, worry about the poor offerings which were being brought for
the temple project. Earth’s riches already belonged to the Lord. More important to
Him than silver and gold is the faithful, obedient and loving service of His people.
2.
The ______________glory of the house (2:9a).
 The Lord promised that “the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the
former.”
3.
Heavenly peace (2:9b).
A CALL TO_________________: Haggai 2:10–19
(Haggai’s Third Oracle)
The third oracle explains past calamities (vv. 11–17) and promises future prosperity (vv. 18–19).
Learning About God: His Priorities and His Blessings
Hope Center
Pastor BJ Wilmoth
August 13, 2014
A.
3
The _________of Defilement (2:11–13)
The hypothetical situation which Haggai posed was this: A person who had been offering sacrifice
accidentally gets some consecrated meat caught in the “wing of his garment,” i.e., in the border corner or
fold of the breast. This portion of the garment then accidentally brushes against some non-consecrated
food—“bread, pottage, wine, oil or any food.” The question then which the priests are asked to answer:
Would the holy meat impart holiness to the object accidentally touched? The priests answered the
prophet’s question with an emphatic “No!”
A second question makes the case that defilement is much more easy to transfer than holiness. “If one
unclean by reason of a corpse touch any of these things, shall it be unclean?” The priests answered this
question: “It shall be unclean.” Again they were correct.
B.
The Fact of Defilement (2:14)
“Thus is this people and thus is this nation before me.” Just what had defiled the nation? It was their
fifteen years or so of indifference regarding the work of the temple which had caused the defilement
(Baldwin).
In any case, just as in the case which Haggai posed to the priests, “everything they touch is defiled.”
“Every work of their hands” was unclean and even “that which they offer there,” i.e., on the altar.
C.
The _____________of Defilement (2:15–17)
Haggai now asked his auditors to “consider from this day and backward.”

In paraphrase Haggai was saying: Look back on the time before you began to rebuild the temple.
What was their condition like in the time “before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of
Yahweh?” (2:15).
Prior to the resumption of the temple work the situation of the remnant was desperate. “Through all that
time” one would come to “a heap” of sheaves which should have yielded twenty measures of grain. That
heap, however, only yielded about half what would normally be expected. The same was true of the
vintage. They came to the wine vat expecting to find fifty vessels, but found only twenty. The wine vat
was the receptacle into which flowed the juice forced from the grapes when trodden out by feet in the
wine press (2:16).
To explain these disappointing harvests, Haggai repeated what he said in his first oracle some four months
earlier (cf. 1:10–11). Yahweh declared: “I smote you with blasting, and with mildew and with hail.”
These disciplinary disasters had not moved the people to repent. “Yet you turned not to me” (2:17).
D.
Promises of _________________Prosperity (2:18–19)
Haggai calls upon the builders to “consider” (lit., set your heart) “from this day and backward.”

They should reflect on the period from the day Haggai was speaking back to the day “that the
foundations of The Lord's house were laid.”
o In the three months since the temple work had been resumed, no improvement in the
circumstances of the remnant had been experienced. “Is yet the seed in the barn?” Thus even
Learning About God: His Priorities and His Blessings
Hope Center
Pastor BJ Wilmoth
August 13, 2014
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while they were building the temple the builders had to worry about the adequacy of the food
supplies. If the situation was desperate back in August, it was even worse in December
(2:19a).
The Lord promises that the blessing would begin immediately. “From this day I will bless.” Thus the
workers needed to be patient. (2:19b).
IV.
A CALL TO_______________:
Haggai 2:20–23
(Haggai’s Fourth Oracle)
Two points are made in this final call for hope: the kingdoms of the world would be shaken (vv. 21–22);
and the kingdom of God would be unshaken (v. 23).
A.
World _______________ Shaken (2:21–22)
A new age would be introduced with a tumultuous shaking in the moral, spiritual, and physical universe
(2:21). The shaking would especially include the political world. “I will overthrow the throne of
kingdoms.”
Specifically The Lord announces: “I will overturn the chariot and its riders and the horses and their
riders,” i.e., symbols of the military weaponry by which the nations had risen to power (2:22a).
Though Yahweh would orchestrate these political upheavals, he would use others to accomplish his
purposes. Internal revolutions and invasions by other kingdoms are in view here. Heathen powers would
vanquish one another either in the panic that fell upon them or in the strife that would develop between
them.
B.
God’s Kingdom ________________(2:23)
“In that day” when the kingdoms of the world were being shaken, Yahweh declared: “I will take you, O
Zerubbabel.” The language implies special selection for a special mission. It also suggests that Zerubbabel
would experience divine protection during those tumultuous times. Zerubbabel is called “my servant.”
This is a title given in recognition of past faithfulness, but also in anticipation of grater usefulness in the
future.
The Lord promised to make Zerubbabel “as a signet.”

A signet was worn on the finger or on a cord fastened round the neck. A signet was equivalent to a
signature in a world where most people did not write. Thus Zerubbabel would be God’s signature,
his authoritative leader among the remnant.
Finally, Yahweh assured Zerubbabel: “I have chosen you.”

This is not to be taken as a personal assurance only to Zerubbabel; he did not rise to any special
prominence in the kingdoms of the world. The fulfillment must be looked for in Christ, who was a
descendant of Zerubbabel (Matt 1:12; Lk 3:27). Promises are often made in Scripture to
individuals which are accomplished only in their descendants.
As the Book of Haggai concludes the temple had not yet been completed. Substantial work, however, had
been done. Due to the motivational preaching of this grand old prophet the project was well on its way to
completion.