Haggai 1…Full Chapter
Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.
The first chapter of Haggai exhorts the Israelites to get ready to rebuild the temple of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to us today to make our body the temple of the Holy Spirit by coming to Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. The five Scripture quotes below summarizes the first chapter of Haggai.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
(There is opposition to us being the temple of the Holy Spriit) “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Click here for a post on the “man of sin”.
Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
1 Corinthians 6:19,2 Thessalonians 2:4, 1 Corinthians 16:17, 2 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
- Today’s world prefers to live in a carnal house than to be the home of the Holy Spirit.
- Sowing in the flesh brings corruption and destruction but sowing to the Spirit brings eternal life.
- Reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ allows the temple of the Holy Spirit to be built.
Today’s world prefers to live in a carnal house than to be the home of the Holy Spirit. “In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest,” Haggai 1:1
Zerubbabel and Joshua were the two put in charge of rebuilding the temple in preparation of being freed from their captivity. Through the word of God, the prophet Haggai was preparing all of the Israelites for the rebuilding of the temple during their time of freedom. Their captivity began with Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the first temple, and lasted for seventy years. The book of Daniel was written during that seventy-year period of captivity.
“Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” Haggai 1:2
Under Darius, the Israelites were reluctant to prepare for their freedom and were not responsive to Haggai’s call to prepare to rebuild the temple of God. The Israelites said that their time of freedom had not come and was not the time to be discussing the rebuilding of the house of God. Today, Jesus Christ has come to tell us to prepare to build a house for the Holy Spirit, and our body is the house of the Holy Spirit. However, the masses in every city around the world are not responsive to that message. They do not believe in the remission of sin through Jesus Christ and that is the only way to build ourselves up in the Holy Spirit.
“Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!” Haggai 1:3-5
Haggai wanted the Israelites to prepare themselves by reconciling to God after being in captivity to a non-Jewish culture for seventy-years. Through the word of God, Haggai knew the time of freedom was near and was time to prepare to rebuild the temple of the Lord. The Israelites were becoming accustomed to living in captivity within the comfort of nice houses by worldly standards. While they were enjoying the comfort of their paneled houses, the temple of God was laying in ruins. Haggai let them know they must consider their ways and choose to prepare to rebuild the house of God and to leave their houses of worldly comfort.
Today, people prefer to live in the paneled house within themselves while their body lays in ruins as the house of God. Their paneled house is built by the thing which has power over physiology and forms their feelings, thoughts, words, and behaviors. It enables the image of the beast to live and speak through people in every city around the world. Their paneled house comes complete with luxuries of every type. They are empowered with uncanny knowledge, heightened intuition, physical and emotional comforts, sensual pleasures, extraordinary skills and talents, amazing physical abilities and feats, uncanny authority over others, etc. They have no desire to consider their worldly ways and to be rebuilt as the house of the Holy Spirit. Within their “paneled houses” they are conformed to the anti-Christian global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they say and do.
“You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.” Haggai 6
People everywhere are feeding on something which is not enough to nourish and grow the spirit to give life to the Holy Spirit. They are feeding on the thing which gives them what to think, feel, say, and do. To “sow much and bring in little” is to invest in the creature human being while not receiving any dividends in the Spirit. They eat what the global culture feeds them, but it is not enough to feed the spirit with the Bread of Life (Jesus Christ). They drink whatever the thing with power over physiology serves them, but they are not filled with the Water of Life (Jesus Christ). They wear the clothing of humanism, but the warmth of the Holy Spirit does not exist from one person to the next. The wages they earn are the wages of sin which brings death as the Holy Spirit falls through the holes of their spiritual money bag.
The verse above also describes the global economy under the rule of the United Nations (global government of the beast). One of their objectives is to implement “responsible consumption” by controlling what is produced. In other words, they tell manufacturers and food producers how much output is needed, and the population of the world is limited to consume only what is produced. The United Nations say their goal is to protect the planet from being over harvested relating to earth and ocean resources.
When it is said that wages go into a “bag with holes” we already know the framework of digital currency is here. In other words, people’s wages will never be seen by the wage earners but will just be credits in an account somewhere. Digital currency is a tool to monitor and control consumption. The Holy Spirit in Zachariah 8:10 says this, “… these days there were no wages for man nor any hire for beast; There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in; For I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor.” Click here for a post on that verse.
We can assess that those of this world prefers giving their body to the thing forming their thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors than to dedicate themselves as the home of the Holy Spirit. The diagnosis is that masses around the world are empty of belief in God, empty of Jesus Christ who puts sin in remission, and are empty of the Holy Spirit. They have nothing in the life of Holiness. We plan to welcome the remission of sin through Jesus Christ to make us the home of the Holy Spirit. We implement that plan by reconciling to God and accepting what Jesus Christ has done for us on the Cross to atone for sin. We know the plan is successful when we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us while evicting a life centered around the carnal flesh.
Sowing to the flesh brings corruption and destruction but sowing to the Spirit brings eternal life. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord.” Haggai 1:7-8
Tp “consider your ways” refers to acknowledging that we were living a life with a broken relationship with God and refusing to receive Jesus Christ for the remission of sin so that we can be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Once we acknowledge our sin against God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, then we can start gathering the supplies to build our body up as the house of the Holy Spirit. Those supplies include the Holy Bible and the Holy Spirit so that the Light of Jesus shines through us for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. God has pleasure and delights in those who have made the Lord Jesus the chief cornerstone of our soul, spirit, and mind. “…he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Galatians 6:8b
“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” Haggai 1:9-11
When a person is built up by the thing which forms thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors, it empties the soul and spirit of the Holy Spirit. They make a mockery of God, discard any need for the remission of sin through Jesus, and ridicules the presence of the Holy Spirit. They detest the people walking in Holiness. The thing forming thoughts and feelings enables the image of the beast to live and speak through people and the house meant to be the place of the Holy Spirit comes to very little. The Lord God blows the masses of people of the global culture of the beast away, like chaff in the wind. That is what the Seven Trumpets (Trumpets 1-4, Trumpet 5-6, Trumpet 7) and Seven Plagues are all about (global warming is the Fourth Plague). “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption…” Galatians 8:8a
“Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house” refers to our body as the house of the Holy Spirit being in ruins because people are focused on their own concerns. They are focused on their own needs, the needs of creation such as the planet and global culture, etc. They reject God the Creator. The book of the Revelation talks about the measurement of the Seven Churches which leads to the opening of the Seven Seals, the sounding of the Seven Trumpets, and the unleashing of the Seven Plagues. That is spoken about in Revelation 4. Today, the churches are not a light to the world because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is no longer there. They no longer ask people to consider their ways and to build up their body as the home of the Holy Spirit.
The “heaven above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit” refers to the Spirit not living in us and the fruit of the Holy Spirit not growing within our spirit. That is what happens when we choose to make our body the home of the thing forming thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors instead of dedicating ourselves as the home of the Holy Spirit.
“A drought on the land and on the mountains” refers to the whole world living without the Holy Spirit and rejecting the life of Holiness. Holiness comes by living for Jesus Christ. The land is living for the global culture of the United Nations through the thing which has power over physiology to give people what to think, feel, do, and say. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb…” Revelation 13:8 The “him” in the verse above refers to the beast which is the power behind the government of the beast and its global culture. The names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are those who live for God through Jesus Christ.
The drought is also “…on the grain and the new wine and the oil” referring to the absence of the testimony of Jesus Christ and the absence of the oil of the Holy Spirit in the world. The Lord Jesus is the “new wine” which is described like this, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 Belief in God through Jesus Christ brings the Holy Spirit into our life. There is a drought of that message in the world today.
There is also a drought on the “labor of your hands” referring to the prohibition of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus told us those days would come when He said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” John 9:4
We can assess that God takes pleasure in a body which sows to the Spirit. The diagnosis is that sowing to the carnal flesh corrupts the Spirit and brings drought and destruction. We plan to build our body through the Spirit while minimizing the seed which feeds into a carnal and fleshly lifestyle. We put that plan into practice by living for God through Jesus Christ and giving the Holy Spirit a place within our heart, mind, and soul. We know the plan is successful when we focus on a life of Holiness and put aside the offerings of the non-spiritual fleshly and carnal world.
Reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ allows the temple of the Holy Spirit to be built. “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the Lord.” Haggai 1:12
Obedience to God is to live in the will of God, which is to believe in His Son Jesus Christ to have eternal life, as quoted, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40
The Holy Spirit in us is the guarantee of our inheritance of eternal life, as quoted, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance…” Ephesians 1:13-14 The Holy Spirit is also the one who makes our body His house.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.” Psalms 111:10 The fer of the Lord is the beginning of dedicating our body as the home of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ who remits our sin.
“Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the Lord.” Haggai 1:13 The Lord Jesus Christ will be with us always through the Holy Spirit who resides within our spirit and soul, “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:25-26-27 “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
“So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.” Haggai 1:14-15
The spirit of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the people was stirred up to work on the house of the Lord God. Today, that would be like the spirit of church leaders and all the people being stirred up to make their body the house of the Holy spirit. From the time the Lord Jesus Christ walked on this earth, up to the 1940’s, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was spread around the world. That was a time of the global outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In the USA, it is said that there is a church on every street corner, and I can attest that is practically true. For anyone who argues about whether America is founded on the Holy Bible, there is only one question to ask them, “If not, then where did all of the churches come from?”
Today, the Gospel of Christ has been tossed from the churches and there has been a great falling away from God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Click here for a post on the “man of sin” and the great falling away. That great falling away happened after WW2 when the United Nations was established which brought the thing which forms what people think, feel, do, and say. That is described in Daniel 8. Today, the image of the beast lives and speaks through people in every city around the world by the thing giving them what to think and feel. They are conformed to the anti-Christian global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they say and do.
We can assess that obedience to the word of God will bring us to His Son Jesus Christ in preparation to be built up as the house of the Holy Spirit. The diagnosis is that rebellion against God will not allow our body to be built up by the Holy Spirit because of rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We plan to work on our body as the house of God by living for Jesus Christ who sanctifies our spirit. We implement that plan by believing in our heart that Jesus Christ lives and confessing with our mouth that He is Lord. We know the success of that plan by the fruits of Holiness blossoming from our spirit as the corrupt and carnal spirit is pruned.
“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11
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