Take Courage

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’” (Haggai 2:1-9 ESV). Perhaps the Book of Haggai is not on your regular reading list. Today we will begin to look at a few of the passages in this prophetic book. The book of Haggai is Narrative History and Prophetic Oracle. The prophet Haggai wrote it approximately 520 B.C. Haggai is among the most carefully and precisely dated books in the entire Bible. It is a post-exilic book, meaning it was written after (post) the captivity (exile) in Babylon. Key personalities are Haggai, Zerubbabel, and Joshua. The purpose of this book was that Haggai was called by God to encourage the people to finish the construction of the temple in Jerusalem. The construction had ceased because of opposition and because the neighboring countries, and the Jews were frightened. He encouraged them to take courage.

Abraham Lincoln knew that he needed to free the slaves in the Confederate South. He had the power, he knew it was right, and he had even written the document, but it lay on his desk, waiting for a military victory to turn the tide of the war, giving him and the people courage to believe that his words could effectively do all they would say. In our reading today, Haggai asks no less of the returned exiles here. Be strong, he tells the governor and high priest. Take courage, all you people, and rebuild God’s house. If God opened the captors’ doors so you could return to Jerusalem, then build! Do it with full and confident hearts, despite all opposition and every uncertainty about the future. For Lincoln, the Union’s victory at Antietam in 1862 was the courage-making event. Soon after, the President published the Emancipation Proclamation, and history turned a corner. God turned a corner when Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. Take courage!