Okay. Shalom, everyone, once again. Shalom. It's good to be able to gather together and to be around Yeshua, the Messiah, and to open the Bible, to learn from the Scriptures. And I think it is a real blessing, a real privilege for us to do so, and to have an open Bible. We have liberties that many people do not have, and we have to be so thankful to the Lord for that. And to have this assurance that soon, and very soon, the Lord is coming. He is going to take us to be with Him in glory, and we will not go through those exercises that we go here in this world.

But He left us here for a reason, and the many lessons that He teaches us from His Word. And of course, the book that we are studying, and we perhaps will conclude this book today, is the Hebrew prophet Haggai. And I would like you please to turn to the Tanakh, to the Old Testament, to the prophet Haggai. And today, we are going to deal with the second half of the second chapter. You and I have been going through this prophet for a few weeks together, and I think it was incredibly interesting how Haggai, what he said to the Jewish believers who came back from Bavail, what he said to them was so appropriate for us in this time.

And as we have been praying, and as we have been praying and thinking about it in some of the announcements that we heard, and the needs that we have, we realize that God is speaking to us. And God is speaking to His people because He loves them. He loved Israel. He loved the Jewish people who came back from Babylon after 70 years. He wanted the best for them. You know, God has so much for us. He has so much for us. But we, and the people of God, are the ones that often neglect to appreciate and to enjoy what God has for us. And every one of us will admit before the Lord, "Lord, I know that there are things in my life that I need to correct and to judge.

And Lord, I know the reason that I'm not growing spiritually, that I'm not feeling the sense of Thy presence is because sin came into my life and I dishonored Thee." And therefore, I sense as if it were, there is no blessings from the Lord. And the passage that we are going to read today really deals with these practical things that Judah had experienced and God had to speak to them, the God of Israel. And so Haggai is now in the second chapter receiving from Jehovah, from the God of Israel, a third and fourth message in which he is going to communicate. The third message is given to the whole nation, to the whole Judah and Benjamin who returned.

And the fourth message is given specifically to one man by the name of Zerub Avel. So let's read that passage. And we begin today in Haggai chapter 2 and verse 10. And in the fourth and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, ask now the priests concerning the law, the Torah, saying, If one bear holy flesh, in Hebrew basar kodesh, in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or potage, or wine, or oil, or oil, or any o'chel, or ma'achal, food, shall it be holy?

And the priests answered and said, no. Verse 13. Then said Haggai, if one that is unclean by a dead body touches any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, it shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said, so is this people. And so is this nation before me, saith the Lord. And so is every work of their hands. And that which they offer, there is unclean. And now I pray you, consider. Remember in Hebrew, consider. Have it, place it in your heart, he said. Consider your hearts. From this day and upward. From before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord.

Since those days were, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. And then he continued. And when one came to a press fit to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, but there were only twenty. I smote you with blessing, and with mildew, and with hail, and with all the labors of your hands. Yet ye turn not to me, saith the Lord. Consider now from this day and upward from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month. Even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid. Consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn?

Yea, as yet the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree has not brought forth. From this day I will bless you. Now in verse 20. And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, Speak unto Zubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth. And I will overthrow the throne of the kingdoms. And I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen. And I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them. And the horses and the riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.

In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I will take thee, O Zubbabel, my servant, the son of Sha'altiel, saith the Lord, and I will make thee a signet. For I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. And he closed that book, that short message that Haggai received from the Lord to speak to the nation, to the people of Judah who came back from Babylon. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, what we read today, from verse 10 to the end of the chapter, to verse 23, in these verses that we have read, actually there are two messages that God is giving Haggai to speak. Number one, to speak to the priests and through them to the nation.

Number two, to speak specifically to the men, to this governor of Yehudah, governor of Judah, by the name of Zubbabel. Let's just move on a little bit and see the important lessons that we learn here from these verses. First of all, just as a reminder, that when Haggai was preaching as a prophet among our Jewish people of old, it was about 520 BC, when in the second year of King Darius. The Judah came already after the 70 years to the land of Judah, to Jerusalem. There had been already 70 years Babylon, about 50,000 Jewish people came from Babel, Babylon, to Judah, and they began to build the temple. The second year of the reign of Darius, we call it Darius, and they began to build the temple.

But you know, they started, if you remember, only with the foundation. And then they got discouraged, they had opposition from the Samaritans. We read it in Ezra chapter 3 and 4. And they stopped for 15 years to build the house of the Lord. And while this time passed by, because of the opposition, time passed by, and these Jewish people no longer had an interest in building the house of the Lord. And so 15 years passed by, and again, the word of the Lord now came through Haggai. This is the first chapter that we have had. And he told them, listen, you're building your homes, you're building your houses, but the house of the Lord is not built.

This is chapter 1, verses 3, 4, 5, and 6, and so on. And he told them, consider your ways. Put it in your heart and see what you are doing, where you are standing. So, immediately, they had heard the word of the Lord, they started to build the house of the Lord. And when the house was starting to build, then the second message, chapter 2, verses 1 to 9, the second message came through Haggai to the people of Israel. This time, it was the 1 and 20th day of the month. It was a bit later. It was about a month and something later on. And as they were building and they're working, the older people who saw the Temple of Solomon years ago, before they were taken captive to Babel, they were discouraged because they look at this, and what do they see?

A few bricks, a few blocks, a few stones, if you will, a few trees, a wood put together, if you will. And they look and they remember the time when Shlomo HaMelech built the Temple. And they look back and they said, "What a great Temple we had!" They look here and they said, "Look at this! What's the use? Look how small it is! Look how insignificant!" Apparently, they perhaps said so much, they began to discourage everybody else. And they were the elderly, they should have encouraged everybody else, but they instead, at that time, this particular message, the second message was to those elderly, to encourage them to continue to work, to continue to build.

Doesn't matter that Solomon's Temple was great, there will be a greater, the Shekinah glory is yet going to be in the latter Temple that God is going to build. And so he encouraged them, and he tell them, "Listen," and you remember, we talked about it in our last session together, he said that, "I will shake the nations, and the desire of all the nations to come, and I will fill this house with glory," says the Lord of hosts, chapter 2 and verse 7. He's promising them, "Don't look at my new Temple, don't be discouraged with the little things that are being done, be encouraged, because I am going to fill this Temple with my glory." And you remember we said last time, that the desire of all nations, "Chemdat kol agoyim" in Hebrew, it doesn't mean that it is the Messiah at all, because the nations do not want the Messiah.

Nobody wants the Messiah. The Messiah was rejected when he was here. He is still despised and rejected of men. But the desire of all the nations is the wealth that they have had, the riches that they have had, the choicest things that they have had, and God says, "Listen, I am going to get the choicest things in the future day, and I am going to place it in this Temple." As he said to them, "The silver is mine," verse 8. "The gold is mine," says the Lord of hosts. He says, "Listen, don't you think that one day those nations who would have all these desires, one day they are going to come to Jerusalem, and they are going to bring all the riches and the wealth that they have had to the Temple." And of course, he is speaking about that he is going to make peace there, make shalom there.

And we know that he applied this to the work of the Messiah. When a Messiah would come and will make peace, first of all, when he died on the tree, he gave us peace in our hearts for believers. But when he is going to come the second time, he is going to establish a Messianic Kingdom, a kingdom that will be established and he will rule and reign in the Temple in Jerusalem. So now, look. In the next verses, this is the third message that God is giving now. The third message is very important for these people as well. And you know why he is giving them this message?

Because as they were building, apparently, you know, brothers and sisters, you and I are very much the same. As we are building the house of the Lord, for us, of course, I am always mentioning, it is not the bricks and the mortar. The house of the Lord has nothing to do with building like this. The house of the Lord is the body of Messiah, is living souls, brothers and sisters who have accepted Yeshua the Messiah as their Lord and Savior. And as we are sharing the Gospel, and as we are serving the Lord, and serving our brothers and sisters, we are building the spiritual house of the Lord.

But you know, when we are building the house of the Lord, you and I have to confess, just the same problem that Israel had then, the Judah had there, is that sin coming into our lives, and sometimes we build, but we build with a weakness, with a lack of spiritual energy. We do it in the power of our own flesh. It's become no longer the work of God, but it become my work, your work. No longer the care for the house of the Lord, but it become it's my house. It's my building. It's my energy. It is my work. And we start to be like this, and we all have to admit that, and I'm the first one to admit that, that it's become my job, and not the work of the Lord.

It's not become anymore that which God have intended. We're doing it with the energy of the flesh, and sin come in, and there's no power. There's no blessing. There's no results in the labor that we put. And look what he's telling them there. Look, in our verses, first of all, look at the date. In verse 10, the date of Haggai's third message is, look at this, it says in verse 10, in the four-and-twentieth day of the ninth month. You notice that? In the second year of Darius. So, it's still in the second year of Darius, but it's no longer in the sixth month, but it is now in the ninth month.

If you would just go back to verse 1 of chapter 2, it says in the seventh month. And if you go back to chapter 1 and verse 1, it says in the second year of Darius, the king, in the sixth month. So, from the sixth month to the seventh month to the ninth month, it's only about three to four months that Haggai actually was sharing the word with his brethren, the Hebrew brethren, the Jewish brethren. Only about four months. And now the date is now no longer the sixth month, no longer the seventh month, but it is the ninth month of the second year of the reign of Darius.

And you notice what it says, that again it says that the word of the Lord came to Haggai. It's so precious. You notice every time in the prophet Haggai, how many times he used that expression, came the word of the Lord. You know, somebody told me years ago, it says, you know, how do you know it is the word of the Lord? It doesn't say that God really spoke. Well, listen, every time the Bible say the word of the Lord, it is the word of the Lord indeed. God is speaking. He using his servants, yes. Haggai is only a channel, only an avenue and only a messenger.

Nothing more. But he's a tool in the hand of God. You and I, we are only messengers. That's all what we are. We are saved by grace. We are serving God by grace. We are only channels, but it is the word of the Lord. That's what happened here. And God is speaking. And so what does he say now? Look what he's saying through the prophet Haggai. In verses 11 now, to verse 14, he teaches them, and you and I as well, principles from the law of God, from the Torah. You know, we often talk about the Torah. I speak often to my Jewish brethren, and I tell them about the scripture, Isaiah also, Jeremiah, the book of Psalms, the prophet.

And so, well, it's not the Torah. What's the Torah said? The Torah is, well, listen, Torah is just as valid as the prophet, just as valid as the Psalm, Tehillim, is just the word of the Lord the same. There is no inequality between them. It is the totality of Dvar Elohim, the word of the Lord. That's why we call it in Hebrew, the Tanach, Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim, the law, the prophets, the writing. All the scripture is given by inspiration of God, and profitable for encouragement, for correction, for instruction, including the Torah, as well as the Brita Hadashah, the new covenant, which we are studying and reading as well.

And so, look what he's telling them. He says, listen, you are the priests. He's saying to them, and in verse 11 on, he's challenging them, and giving them principles, that we, they, as well as you and I, need to learn. And look what he's telling them in verse 11. The Lord asks the priests about the Torah. He says, thus says the Lord. Again notice, thus says the Lord of hosts. Ask now the priests concerning the Torah. Say. So you go to the priests of Judah. Here they came from Babylon, and here they are right now functioning as priests. And you ask them, I want to ask them a question.

Do they know the law? What does the law teach? And he wants to kind of challenge them, to show them from the Torah, that there is a reason why blessings do not come. Even though, right now, they are still doing the work. They are building the house now. You remember? Because we have already studied, in the first nine verses of Haggai chapter 2, that they were already doing the work of the Lord. Though there was discouragement, they were building the house, but, they were doing the work, but they expected immediate blessings to come, and they didn't seem to come right away. So he is telling them now, in these verses, notice he is telling them two questions, he is asking them, in verses 12 and 13.

One of them is, one way, the other one is the reverse question. And look what he does. First of all, first question, question number one, is in verse 12. If one bear holy flesh, in the skirts of his garment, the Hebrew word for holy flesh, is basar kodesh. Basar kodesh means, it's a sacrifice, flesh, basar is meat, kodesh, sanctified, set apart. Holy flesh means, it's a sacrifice, that the priest will hold in his hand, and he will attach us to his skirt. For example, if a priest will take a sacrifice to offer upon the altar, he will take a lamb, well he will not hold the lamb this way, far away from his body, he will hold the lamb close to his body, touching his garment, his skirt, the garments, the gowns that he would have, and he would carry it to the altar.

And then he will have to perform the order in sacrifice, he will have to kill the lamb, pour the blood, lay the lamb on the altar. The consuming of that lamb, will be by God. And so, what we see here, he's telling them, you know, here is a person holding the basar kodesh, the sacrifice, the holy flesh in his skirt of his garment, and with his skirt, notice this verse 12, with his skirt, do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any food. And then he asked the question, if you hold the sacrifice in your hand, and that sacrifice is devoted to God, it's set apart, kadosh, kodesh, and you're going to offer this, and you're going to bring it, but he touched the skirt, and your skirt is going to touch bread, going to touch, as it says here, other things such as pottage, and wine, or oil, or any kind of food.

He asked the question, will that bread become holy? Will that pottage become holy? Will that wine become holy? Will that oil, or any food will become holy? Because you take the sacrifice, the sacrifice will touch your skirt, the skirt will start touching this bread, will that bread become holy? Well, the priest immediately gave an answer, and you notice what they said, and the priest answered, and they said, no, no, it's not possible. It's not possible that one will have a sacrifice, or even live a life that is holy, you cannot pass your personal devotion, and holy living to somebody else, by virtue of touching him or her.

It's not possible. In fact, what he is teaching us here, that holiness is not transferable. You cannot make somebody set apart, because you are set apart, or your life is set apart, or your faithfulness to God is that which is for the Lord, but you cannot give it to somebody. It has to be an individual exercise. That's the lesson, beloved brothers and sisters, that we all learn here, and they all needed to learn, and the priest gave him an answer. The answer is clearly, no, it is not possible, to transfer holiness, by touching somebody. Now, sometimes people think, you know, you might go to all kind of groups and churches, church groups and so on, they believe that if they are going to have some water, and they are going to sprinkle that holy water, and somebody is going to become holy.

And if you are going to put your hand on somebody, and this person is going to become holy, listen, if you are going to put your hand on somebody, and your hand is dirty, you are going to only transfer dirt to somebody else. It doesn't work. It's not making somebody, internally, right with God. The lesson is very practical. And so many times, we fail by not realizing, that each and every individual is responsible before the Lord, by His grace, with all the sins that creep into our life, to seek to live a life that is pleasing to God, so we might be an encouragement to somebody, but holy devotion, obedient life for the Lord is an individual.

That's why we often say, that God do not have grandchildren. He only have children. Why? As many as receive Him, to them He gave the right to be called the children of God, even to them who believe on His name. Our children are not becoming saints of God, because their parents are believers. We might influence, to the best of our ability, we should be an influence, we should be aiding and helping, but one cannot become set apart holy to the Lord, because his father or mother or somebody touched him. Holiness, it's not transferable. That's the lesson that we learn here. And that's the lesson that they needed to learn.

Look at the next question, in the next verse, in verse 13. Here's the second question. Then said Haggai, if one that is unclean, now is the reverse, one is unclean by a dead body, touches any of these, meaning the bread, the potage, the wine, the oil or the meat and so on, the food. If he touches this, shall it be unclean? And look at the answer. And the priest answered and said, it shall be unclean. You notice what he says here? While holiness is not transferable, uncleanness is transferable. In other words, you know, I've yet to see, you know, my wife's parents, Irene's parents, raised in a farm, they had many fruits.

And I remember one thing was vivid. And when I coming back from, coming to Israel, going to work a little bit on the farm, with Irene's mom and dad, I remember how many times Irene and her mom used to take the rotten apples away from the bushel, or to take out the rotten plums, or the rotten nectarine, or the rotten peaches, or even the rotten cherries out. Why? Well, I tell you why. You take a rotten apple, and you put it in a bushel of apple, all the good hard apples, would not make the rotten apple hard and good. The opposite will happen. Exactly the opposite will happen.

You will put the rotten apple in a bushel, and you will see, it wouldn't take too long in the second one, the one to touch it in the third one, and the fourth one, and the fifth one, and the sixth one. And soon enough, the whole bushel will be rotten. It reminds me of the verse that we often read in 1 Corinthians. If you remember, if you turn there for a second, please, to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, you remember, the apostle Paul is dealing with the Messiah who became our Passover. And you notice what he said? He says in verse 6, you are glorying. It's not good, he's saying to the believers at Corinth, because they were glorying.

Oh, they did this, and they've done that, and they're not doing this. They're not doing this. Like I do that often. Like you may do that as well. We're thinking so much that we are so great. And we are doing this, and we have done this. He says, listen, you are glorying. He says, it's not good. Don't you know that the little leaven leavened the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven that he may be a new lump. As ye are. Notice he says, you are unleavened. You are the children of God. You are already positionally unleavened. You belong to the Lord. Positionally. But practically.

He's saying to them. He burned the leaven out. He says, you are already unleavened. Why you want this in your life? And then he said, for even the Messiah, our Pesach, is sacrificed for us. He said the Messiah have given himself for us. He has died for us. He has died for us. And therefore, he has set you apart and he positioned you. He gave you a standing that is unleavened standing, clean and pure before God. But how is it practically? And we know, you see, that's why God is speaking to them like he speaks to us. He's saying, you know, what about us? What about me?

Each one of us have to say. And oh, how much the Lord can deal with us as well and can tell us the things that creep into our lives. And that's why he asked them these two questions. Question number one. Can holiness be transferable? The answer by the priest on the basis of the law? No. Can uncleanness be transferable? The answer by the priest on the basis of the Torah? Yes. Yes. Can. It is transferable. And that's why now, beloved brothers and sisters, he's challenging. Now he's moving, shifting. To ask the priest a question and he's speaking now about the whole people of Judah. And you know, apparently, there was a disobedience there that has stopped them to build the house of the Lord for 15 years earlier.

And then later on, they were awakened to build the house of the Lord. But you see, even when we build the house of the Lord, we have to build the house of the Lord with a proper attitude, with a heart that is desiring to please the Lord. And that's what he's telling them. And now notice, you remember, by the way, when King Saul, in chapter 15 of 1 Samuel, offered sacrifice. And when Samuel came to him, King Saul blamed the people of Israel there. And you know what King Saul said? Well, the people, they could not wait and so on. And I did offer these sacrifices. He should have not offered sacrifices.

He was a king. He was not a priest. And you notice what God said through Samuel to Saul, the first king of Israel. He says, Samuel said unto him, "Has the Lord great delight in burnt offering and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?" And then he continued and he said, "Behold, to obey is better than to sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is a sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected thee for being king." 1 Samuel 15 verses 22 and 23. You see, that's what God wants from us.

And it's this area that we fail so much. Obedience is better than sacrifice. It's like a witchcraft when there's rebellion in our own hearts. And how we can see it in our own life, in our own hearts, is that rebel in us. That's why Paul said in Galatians, "The flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh." And there is constantly fighting between these two natures that we have. That's the lesson, beloved brothers and sisters. This old nature is rebel. He wants his own way. That's why we're struggling, constantly fighting. And that's what he's saying to Israel. And now look what he's saying.

He's shifting from the question to the priests, to the whole nation that came there. Look what he's saying now, in the next verse, verse 14. Haggai 2:14, "Then answered Haggai and said, "So is this people, and so is this nation before me," says the Lord. "And so is every work of their hands, and that which they offer, there is unclean." You see? Now you see, he asked a question from the priests who knew the law. They knew it all. You see, they knew the letter of the law, the Torah. But in practice, you look at the nation. That's speaking to us. If we don't speak about Judah, Haggai spoke to Judah, but all the epistles that God gave Shaul, Paul, to teach the assembly, the body of Messiah, is lessons that exactly apply to us today, what applied to the people of Haggai, the people of Israel, the people of Judah, in the 520 BC.

The same thought. He's saying to them, "Look at the Lord says to Haggai, so are these people, and so is this nation. Before me," says the Lord, "and so is every work of their hands," he said, "and that which they offer is unclean." Because apparently, things crept in. And they were building. And even prior to before that, when they were not building, apparently the rituals continue on, but the heart was not there. And that's, isn't it, beloved brothers and sisters, applied to us, do you feel it sometime in your own heart? The rituals are there, but the heart is often not goes along with it.

And what God wants, He wants both. See, some of our Jewish people that we talk to them, they often quote this passage in 1 Samuel chapter 15, "Has the Lord desire sacrifices rather than obedience?" Obedience is better than sacrifice. They say, "You see, Gideon, we don't need sacrifices anymore." Because God says that He doesn't want sacrifices, He wants obedience. And we are trying to obey, we don't need the sacrifices. That does not say, the passage does not say, that God did not establish the sacrificial system. The passage does not say that God did not establish the fact that the sacrifices are pointing to the Messiah, pointing to the Messiah, and that the Messiah will be the ultimate sacrifice.

But what God wants, He wants the sacrifice which will give us positional standing before Him, but He wants to come along with it, the practice, the day-by-day living for the Lord. And that's where we need the instruction. That's why it is very important for us to apply. And so He said, "So is this people, so is this nation." Before Me says the Lord, "So is every work of their hands." Verse 14, "And that which they offer, there is unclean." You see, it becomes unclean. Why? Because sin is transferable. Uncleanness is transferable. You might bring something, but it's become transferable because the heart, there was disobedience, there was that which was not honoring to the Lord.

And therefore He said, "All what they bring now become unclean." And so that's the two lessons we have in verses 11 and 12 and 13 and 14. How all these speak of the people of Judah. The people are the nation, the work all become unclean. Their offering was unclean. And therefore there was no fruit that came out in their lives because of the way and how they have been doing what they were doing. Look at the next verse. In verse 15 on now, "The Lord is calling His people to consider the result." Look at the result of this kind of thing. In verse 15 now to 19. In verse 15 He says, "And now I pray you consider from this day, here is now, and look upwards, which means actually backwards, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord." He says, "Look back from here now, where you are now, you are building right now, but if you take your time now here when you are building, and go back even before you began to put one stone upon another." He takes them to the time when they just arrived to Jerusalem, before they even began to build the temple.

In verse 16 He says, "Since those days were, when one came into a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to a press fit, for to draw fifty vessels out of the press, there were only twenty." Look back in your life. You see, He's saying to them, "Look, a person came to take a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten measures. They were supposed to yield a lot of fruit, but only half of it came." In the same verse, when He went to the press fit, where they were pressing the oil press, and the wine press, instead of coming to get fifty vessels, or fifty bottles, they only got twenty." Well, why?

"God, you told us that if we are going to work, and to build the house, there will be a lot of fruit coming up. You're going to bless us." By the way, that's a blessing that God had promised in the law for those who follow Him. He promised a blessing to the people of Israel, and a blessing to the people of Judah. But they look back, or they look before them, what do they see? Instead of twenty measures, ten measures. Instead of fifty bottles, twenty bottles. It seemed like that there is no growth, no yielding of the fruit that they have anticipated. And that is what God is trying to tell these Jewish brethren.

And that's what God is trying to tell us as well. There is no fruit. There is no yielding of growth. It's because things creep into our lives, and we can do the work of the Lord without self-judgment. Without the heart in it. Without affection for God, God's words, God's people. Without self-judgment. Everybody wrong, and I'm right. Everybody bad, and I'm good. God reminding this to these Jewish brethren, as much as He's reminding this to us. Have you sat in your own home when you get discouraged and disappointed, and looked at everybody else, and could say every bad thing about other people, and couldn't find something bad about yourself?

Have you sat like that? I have. Everybody is bad. Everybody is wrong. Had they been like me, everything would have been fine, you see. And then you realize what they think about you. Where are you there? Are you right with the Lord? Are you self-judging yourself? And you say, truth of the matter, Lord, you know my heart. You know the pride that comes in. You know that the sin that is so easily beset us. He wrote this to the Hebrews. And the sin which does so easily beset us. Let us run the race. Looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, despised the shame.

Endured the cross, despising the shame. And He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He says, look to the Lord and see the example in His life. And you'll see where we are. And so He's telling them now in the next verse, notice that in verse 16 we read, and now look at verse 17. I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, and in all the labors of your hand. Yet ye turn not to me, sayest the Lord. See, sometimes God gives us discipline. He smite us. What does that mean? They were His children. They were His people. The Jewish people.

They are a beloved nation that He loved so much and He brought from Babylon brought them back to the land. They are His people. Our relationship with the Lord will never change when it's come to our position and standing with Him. If God is going to deal with us according to what we deserve, none of us will be saved. none of us will be eternally belong to Him. But thank God that with His children, He deals differently. All the discipline that He gives us is that maybe we'll wake up and realize that our Father loves us so much, and He cares for us so much.

He wants the best for us. He doesn't want anything. He's not against us. But sometimes we feel like that. Sometimes we feel about God. You know what? You know, there are certain things that I so much want in my life and I don't get to it. And you feel like God is against us. But the Bible teaches, God before us, who can be against us? He does spare not His own Son, but deliver Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him give us all things? So every time God correct us, He correct us in view of the fact that He want a restoration.

He wanted a son and a daughter that have the affection for Him, for Yeshua the Messiah, to love Him, to love Him, not because, you know what, beloved brothers and sisters, love relationship is expensive. You don't buy it with money. You don't buy it with power. You buy it out of the heart of God. God placed in our own heart to love somebody. God's love for us is not depend upon how faithful we are, because He will not change His love for us because He loved us knowing who we are and who we were. His love is unchangeable. The Greek word agapeo, for God so loved the world, it's unconditional love.

When He says, I have loved you with everlasting love to Israel, He didn't say to them, I love you with everlasting love only when you are obedient. No, He loved Israel in spite of Israel. He, Christ the Messiah loved the church in spite of the church. But He sometimes needs to correct us and to speak to us. And here He does it. He says, Listen, I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, and all your labors, the labor of your hand, yet ye turn not to me, saith the Lord. You know, it's so sad when a child does not appreciate the message that his parents convey to him, or to her.

You know how it is. Sometimes, we don't respond to God. He sent a message to us, and we don't respond. He disciplined us here and there, and we don't respond. He wants a response from the heart of the children of God. And that's what He's saying to them. Look, I have disciplined you. I smote you with blasting. I with mildew, and with hail, and all your labors. It seems to be like there was no fruit. And yet, instead of getting the message, it says here, but you didn't turn to me. It's said to see Christians, believers in Yeshua, that get disappointed, and then seems to leave, and go astray.

And God tells them a message. Listen, there's a reason why I've allowed you this in your life. Because I love you. And instead of turning around, and coming back to God, and telling God, thank you for the challenge, for the lesson, what they do, they turn away from the Lord. And they get further, and further, and further for Him. You know, the prodigal son of Luke 15, it took a great lesson to teach him, to come back to the Father. When you start to eat pig food, and you start to eat food that remind you of what you had when you were at your father's place, then you start to wake up.

Thank God that he woke up. And he said, I will go to my father. I will arrive. I will tell him, Father, I've sinned against you and before God. And I'm willing to be a servant. Don't make me child your son. And you remember the father said, no, my son of return, he gave him the ring on his finger, shoes on his feet, garment he put, clothes him. And he says, and he killed the fattest calf. And he says, this my son was lost, and he's found. He never stopped to be a child of the father, even though he was in the pig pen, eating pig food.

He always was a son of the father. But the father's heart was aching all along, longing to see his son returning to him. Here you can see the God of Israel, the God of Judah saying, I have disciplined you. I wanted you to turn back to me, but you didn't. And it took a while. Of course, at the end they have, but here there was a time that they didn't turn to him. And so now, beloved brothers and sisters, look at this. In verses 18 and 19, again, you notice how many times he used the word consider? So many times. We have about five times in the book of Haggai, the book of Haggai in his short message, four messages, five times he used the word simu alev avchem.

The word lev in Hebrew is heart. God wants us to have a heart. Of course we have a heart. And we all have a heart. But where's our hearts? Where are our hearts? Where are our affection? Where's our love and our burden? Where is it? That's what he wants. In verse 18, consider. Again, he said, put it upon your heart. From this day, now look upward, look back, he says, from the 4th and 20th day of the 9th month, which is now, even from the day that the foundation of the temple was laid, in other words, go from now to this 9th month, all the way to the 6th month.

Consider. Look back. And look what happened over this time. Verse 19. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yeah. As yet the vine and the fig tree, and the pomegranate and the olive tree, has not brought forth. In other words, he is looking. He says, look, what happened? It didn't seem to develop the way it should have been. There was no yielding of the fruit that God had intended for the people of Israel. It's because of the way that they have conducted themselves. And that's why he's telling them again and again, consider your ways. Consider. See Moal Levavchem. Put it in your heart. Recognize it. See it.

Deal with it. Confess it before the Lord. Repent and turn to me. And then now he's giving them a promise because they look and they saw that there was no fruit. And in a sense, they were very discouraged. He just wanted to remind them. There was no fruit because of these two reasons that he gave them. There were sins. There were disobedience. You cannot transfer holiness, but you can transfer uncleanness. Therefore, seek to judge yourself and turn around. Turn to me. And then he tells them at the end of verse 19, From this day, I will bless you. From this day, I'm going to bless you.

You see, after all what he had just told them, the correction that they needed to be corrected, after all these lessons that he wanted to teach them, he doesn't leave them empty. He doesn't leave them hanging there. He wanted to encourage them and to move them forward in continuing to do the work of the Lord, the building of the house of the Lord. And he says, from now on, from this day, I will bless you. I will bless you. And he gave them a promise just to continue the word. Lord, you know, there is an encouraging verse in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, that the apostle Paul wrote to those Thessalonians.

And he said to them, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 13. Verse 13, he says, listen, and I'm reading. It says in verse 13, "But ye brethren, be not weary in well-doing." Don't stop in well-doing. Because God is still going to bless us one way or another. He says, "Brethren, be not weary in doing the right thing." 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 13, Shaul, Paul was writing to those believers at Thessalonica. And here the Lord is telling to the Jewish people, "From this day on, I will bless you." And he gives them a promise of blessing. And he concluded the third message here, that he had given to the people of Judah, that was actually giving in the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, on the 4th and 20th day of this month.

This is interesting, because this is the third message that he is speaking. It's only about three or four months have passed by. That's it. Message after message after message. And finally, let's just finish it up right now. The last message that he gave now is a message that he directed to Zerub Havel. And he let them hear, the rest of the people of Israel hear. And you and I hear this as well today. You and I should listen to the message to Zerub Havel. The message was directed to Zerub Havel. But it is applied for all the ears of the people of God to listen to.

Here is the promise of what he is intending to do for Judah, for Israel, for the nation of Israel in the future day. Again, quickly. Haggai chapter 2 and verse 20. The fourth message. And the word of the Lord came unto Haggai, again in the 4th and 20th day of the month saying. Notice it is in the same day. The fourth message that was given by the Lord through Haggai is in the same day. The fourth message is the third message. And then look, he is directing it to the man by the name of Zerub Havel. Verse 21. "Speak unto Zerub Havel, the governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth." He is speaking to Zerub Havel.

By the way, Zerub Havel in Hebrew is Zerah Bavel. Zerah is a seed. Bavel is in Babylon. And perhaps the name was given to him because he was taken or his family were taken to Bavel in 6 or 5 BC when all the Jewish people later on a couple more times were taken to Babylon. And the name Zerah Bavel, it is a seed that came out of Babylon. It is in Bavel where Zerub Havel was a Jewish man from among the people of Israel. And he was in Babylon. And he is speaking to Zerub Havel directly. You can find Zerub Havel mentioned in the book of Ezra.

In the book of Nehemiah. And Zerub Havel scattered to Babylon. Sown in Babylon. God was working in his heart and in his life. He was the leader of Judah to bring the people back to the land after the 70 years. And he is speaking to him. And he says, I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will shake the heavens and the earth. You remember we talked about it already in chapter 2, verses 6 to 9. Lehar'ish means to shake. It has to do with the tribulation period. When there will be the great tribulation. And God is going to shake everything. We read earlier if you remember in Revelation chapter 16.

The last judgment of God upon this world in the tribulation period. And he is saying to Zerub Havel, Zerub Havel, listen. I am yet going to come a day. There is coming a day. And I am going to shake the heavens. And I am going to shake the earth. He is taking him as far as the tribulation period. Beyond his time. Beyond the church age in which you and I live in. Beyond all the way to the final days before the kingdom will be established. And he is telling to Zerub Havel, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. And you notice very interesting in verse 22.

God will overthrow the Antichrist. And all the kingdoms that he will rule over. You notice how interesting? He doesn't say the word Antichrist here. But notice what he said. And I will overthrow the throne. Singular. In Hebrew the word is Kiseh. Coming from the same word as a chel. I will overthrow the chel. The throne of kingdoms. Plural. One chair, many kingdoms. One throne, many kingdoms. One seat, many kingdoms. He is speaking about the future day. When there will be a man who will rise to rule this world. During the tribulation period. Specifically the second half of the tribulation. When this Antichrist, that wicked man.

Will rise up and he will seek to rule this world. And everyone will have to bow to his authority. In the middle of the tribulation. He will take his place in the temple. And he will claim to be God. And he will situate himself. And everyone will have to confess him. And to bow to him. To take the mark of the beast. Like we read in Revelation chapter 16. And the throne, singular. Of the kingdoms, plural. He is going to rule. One supreme man. We call him Antichrist. Counterfeit Mashiach. False Messiah. And I will overthrow the throne of the kingdom. And I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms.

Of the heathen. And I will overthrow the chariots. And those that ride in them. And the thrones and the riders shall come down. Every one by the sword of his brother. He takes us beloved brothers and sisters. To the tribulation period. Specifically to the end. Of the tribulation period. In which God will judge. The army of the Antichrist. And the Antichrist himself. The counterfeit Messiah. And he will judge him. And he will judge this world. That will gather against Judah. Against Israel. Seeking to destroy the nation of Israel. And you remember from the various passages. From the Bible. We have Old Testament and New Testament.

The Lord Yeshua said. There will be a tribulation. Such as never been before. And God will judge. These armies of the Antichrist. And the Antichrist himself. Who will gather to seek to destroy. The people of Israel. The people of Judah. And finally the last verse of this passage. By the way you should read Revelation 16. Verses 1 to 21. And Revelation 19. Verses 11 to 16. When the Messiah will come. And his second coming. To judge this world. In righteousness. And then we see. In the last verse. Of the prophet Haggai. Verse 23. In that day. The word that day. By Yom Ahu. That is immediately following the tribulation period. In that day.

In that day says. Jehovah of hosts. I will take you. O Zubbabel. My servant. The son of Sha'altiel. Says the Lord. And I will make you. I will make thee. A signet. In Hebrew. Chotam. A signet. For I have chosen thee. Sayest the Lord. Of hosts. I have chosen you. Zubbabel. I will take you. Zubbabel. As a signet. What is a signet? The Hebrew word is. Chotam. It comes from the word. Chotemet. It is actually. A mark of identification. It is a mark of identification. Of a royal individual. Who is actually. His bloodline. And his reign. His coming from the bloodline. Of the Messiah. Himself.

What we really have here. Is a promise of the future. When the Messiah. Will come. And reign. And rule. In this world. Zubbabel. Will have a place. In the future reign. Of the kingdom. Zubbabel. Will have. And if you beloved brothers. I am not going to read that. Right now. But if you carefully. Will read. The two genealogies. That found in Matthew 1. And in Luke 3. You will find out. That Zubbabel. Is in the line. Of Yeshua. HaMashiach. In Matthew 1. Verse 12. And in Luke 3. He's mentioned. That Zubbabel. Is coming. From the line. Of the Messiah. And that's the promise. That he's giving. Zubbabel. And as the Jewish people.

Listening to that. And as you and I. Listen to that. He gives a promise. That one day. He's coming. And he's going. To give a blessing. And he's going. To send the Messiah. To rule. To rule. And reign. Over. This world. What a precious truth. We learn here. From. The prophet. Haggai. It gives us. A hope. It gives us. A future promise. That none. Can reject. I'm going to close. With this verse. In Daniel. Chapter 2. And verse. 44. And 45. We read. And in. That day. Of these kings. Shall the God. Of heaven. Set up. A kingdom. Which shall. Never. Be destroyed. And the kingdom. Shall not be left.

To other people. But it shall. Break. In pieces. And consume. All the kingdoms. And it shall. Stand. Forever. For as much. As you saw. That the stone. Was cut. The stone. Without hands. And that it. Break. In pieces. The iron. The brass. The clay. The silver. The gold. The great. God. Has made. Known. To the king. What. Shall come. To pass. Hereafter. And the dream. Is certain. And the interpretation. The wrath. Is sure. A kingdom. Which shall. Never. Be. Destroyed. God said. To Daniel. To the people. Of Israel. What a wonderful future. Is still awaiting. Beloved brothers. So. The lesson. For us. Is let's continue.

To work. Let's build. The house. Of the Lord. Let us seek. To judge. Ourself. So we can live. In a way. That is pleasing. To the Lord. And when sin. Cramp. Into our life. And it does. Let us. Confess it. To the Lord. And seek. To forsake it. May the blood. Of Yeshua. The Messiah. God's son. Cleanses us. From all sin. Can you say. Amen to that.