2 MAY
His surpassing glory
‘For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.’ Haggai 2:6–7
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: Exodus 3:10–13
The Jews, on their return from the captivity, met with many discouragements in their attempts to rebuild the temple—not only from the opposition and arts of their enemies, who prevailed for a time to compel them to desist from their work, but from the comparison which some of the old men were led to make between the magnificence of the first temple and the expectation they formed of the utmost they should be able to perform in the building of the second (verse 3 compared with Ezra 3:12–13). In these circumstances the prophets Haggai and Zechariah were sent to animate the people by a promise that, mean and poor as the second temple might appear compared with the first, the glory of the latter house should be greater than that of the former. Had this depended upon a profusion of silver and gold, the Lord could have provided it. But the glory spoken of was of a different kind and would be abundantly verified by the personal appearance of the Messiah. His presence in the second temple would confer honour and glory upon it far surpassing the external pomp of the temple of Solomon, and would be attended with greater consequences than when he appeared on Mount Sinai. Then he only shook the earth, but under the latter temple he would shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, to introduce the Messiah who should thus fill the house with his glory.
FOR MEDITATION: ‘I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp’ (Revelation 21:22–23, NIV).
SERMON SERIES: MESSIAH, NO. 3 [2/5], HAGGAI 2:6–7
Milo 