Sermon for MHBC (9 May 2021). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays. Also available as a podcast here or by searching “Monument Heights Baptist Church” in your favorite podcast app.
I love the prayer of confession from the Book of Common Prayer. Of course, it is the most famous prayer of confession in the English language. Listen to just a couple of lines—and remember these lines were said multiple times a day for centuries.
Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.
That prayer of confession may sound unusual or harsh to our modern ears, but I think it’s vital that we recover that language.
The unique claim of Christianity, this thing we call the gospel, is not that we somehow clean ourselves up so that God would be pleased by us. No, the unique claim is that God does through Christ what we could never do for ourselves. God chooses, according to his own good pleasure and in his unilateral sovereignty, to set a people apart for himself. And he made that determination long before the foundation of the world.
God has chosen his Church to be holy in Christ. The way God does this is through something theologians have called “The Great Exchange.” In God’s free and uninhibited will, he has chosen, without any aid from human beings, to redeem a people for himself.
He does this first with Israel. He had made the promises earlier to Abram and his descendants, but when he frees Israel from slavery in Egypt he says to them:
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Exod 19:4–6).
The NT picks up this passage in 1 Peter and applies it to the Church, so we can see the trajectory of how God is redeeming a people as his own.
I want us to fix that deeply in our minds. For one reason, this will strengthen our evangelistic witness. The prevalent belief today is that all religions are essentially the same. Love other people, do charitable things, and you’ll enjoy the bliss of the afterlife. Christians need to be absolutely clear that the gospel, the good news, is an announcement about what God has done in Christ. It is not something we have done. It is not something we contribute to. And in that way, it is unlike any other religion in the world. Really, I think one of the most important things we can do for Christian witness is to be clear about the gospel. It is not, “Do better” or “Be more religious.” It is “Christ died for our sins.” There is an exchange.
Another reason I want you to fix this in your mind is that this is your identity in Christ. You are chosen by God, called to be part of his Church, and set apart for holiness.
The final reason I want you to fix this is your mind is because this should lead us to celebrate the power and goodness of God.
So today we are wrapping up this series in Haggai. Haggai has called the people to prioritize worship of the one true God. They’ve been neglecting this and the evidence of this neglect is found in the fact that they have not built the temple.
They will complete the temple, but what’s fascinating about this final section is that it doesn’t really focus on the completion of the temple. Its primary concern is the action of God to make unholy people holy, to bless them, and to secure their redemption. What we see in this passage is a series of reversals, where the Lord unilaterally decides to reverse curses, bless, and redeem his people. And all of that tells us that what Haggai is writing about is only a shadow of the real thing. He’s only pointing to what God will do in Christ.
Let’s take a look at our passage. Begin in v. 10: On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, 11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Ask the priests about the law.
Then we have two questions. First question in v. 12: ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?’” The priests answered and said, “No.” So can indirect contact with something holy make something holy? The answer is no.
Second question in v. 13: Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?” The priests answered and said, “It does become unclean.” So does contact with uncleanness produce further uncleanness? The answer is yes. Holiness can’t be obtained through indirect contact and uncleanliness permeates all objects.
These seem like riddles, but Haggai applies them to the people of Judah. Verse 14: Then Haggai answered and said, “So is it with this people, and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands. And what they offer there is unclean.
So here’s the problem: God looks at the people and he sees uncleanness. They aren’t holy. And everything they do and touch is unholy. This is an important point of application. I’ve heard, for example, from too many well-meaning pastors that if we just followed the Ten Commandments we would be so much better off. Let me be clear. The Ten Commandments are not the gospel. They are the law. The law can only expose sin and condemn. It cannot save. So even the best efforts under the law become sinful. Paul says in Romans, “Whatever is not done from faith is sin” (Rom 14:23).
Let’s go back to that modern claim that all religions are the same. The claim is that our actions can be pleasing to God or make us righteous before God. But Haggai points out a problem. Proximity to holiness doesn’t make something holy and uncleanliness happens too easily.
And what are the results of this uncleanness? Blessing is withheld. The people are cursed.
Start in v. 15: Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16 how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.
All of this is consistent with what God told his people. They are struggling. They are not experiencing abundance. Their crops were struck by the Lord, but they did not turn to Lord.[1] Notice how God is in control. He is sovereign. And notice how he uses discipline. Throughout Scripture discipline is intended to bring his people back to him. In fact, discipline confirms election. And what we see in the NT, like in Hebrews, is that discipline is for the good of God’s people and for the glory of God. Far from being a harsh god, who loses his temper, God sovereignly orchestrates all things for the redemption of his people and for his own glory.
And what we see next is that in spite of the people’s failures, God is going to act to bless them. Look at vv. 18–19: Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.
Don’t miss this contrast. All the essential crops have failed to produce. But there’s a contrast. “From this day on I will bless you.”
The LORD is reversing the curse. He will bless them. For what reason? No other reason than he had decided to long before time began. Do you see his goodness? Do you see his action according to his own good pleasure? Do you his sovereign power to carry out his intentions apart from any human aid?
So how is God going to bless the people? Well, there’s a second word to Haggai.
Look at vv. 20–21: The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, [notice from this point forward that the Lord is the subject of every action verb] I am about to shake the heavens and the earth,
Remember this cosmic language from last week. Shaking the heavens and the earth means something huge is about to happen. God is about to undo the natural order. He’s about to reverse the course of things.
Let’s keep going. Verse 22: and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother.
The sovereign Lord is going to exercise his authority and power over the entire world. Again, this is big stuff. Something that is going to affect the entire globe is about to happen.
There’s one final part of this. Verse 23: On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.
Now there’s a ton going on in this verse. First is the fact that Zerubbabel is going to be made like a signet. This is the Lord reversing a curse on Zerubbabel’s family. In Jeremiah, the Lord spoke this judgment on Zerubbabel’s grandfather.
Jer 22:24 As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off.
Jer 22:30 Thus says the Lord:
“Write this man down as childless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days,
for none of his offspring shall succeed
in sitting on the throne of David
and ruling again in Judah.”
But God is going to carry out his plan through Zerubbabel. He says, “He is going to make him like a signet ring,” which signifies power and authority. Add this to the fact that he calls him “my servant,” and this is essentially a promise of the Messiah or the Christ.
Now why Zerubbabel? Was he especially holy? God does not speak of Zerubbabel’s virtues or merits or his excellences. Look at the text. “I have chosen you.” In Haggai’s first word we saw that God determines by his own free will to bless the people. They didn’t earn it. Now we see in this second word that the Lord is going to bless Zerubbabel because he decided to.
John Calvin put it this way: “If, then, the reason be asked why God had so much exalted Zerubbabel, and bestowed on him favors so illustrious, it can be found in nothing else but in the goodness of God alone.”[2]
Everything in this passage is about God’s goodness and his sovereignty. Now there’s this promise to Zerubbabel, but just like we saw last week, the promise here is never quite fulfilled in Zerubbabel. He never becomes king. The nations aren’t rattled and overthrown. So, Haggai is only talking about shadows. At this point, we’re still looking for how God is going to make unholy people holy and how he’s going change the course of the world and how Zerubbabel is going to hold authority among the nations.
But again, all this is a shadow. The real substance is in Christ. In the opening chapter of the NT, we have Matthew giving us a long list of names. Many of us skip over those, but Matthew’s genealogy is very important and highly theological. He mentions Zerubbabel at a crucial juncture because he’s ultimately making this point: The fulfillment of this promise is Christ.
It is Christ is who is the appointed servant. It is Christ who will hold the authority over all nations. And it is Christ who will secure the righteousness of God’s people and stamp them as holy possessions of the one true God. I can’t emphasize this enough. The triune God determined to do this before the foundation of the world, which is why the lamb is spoken of as the one who was slayed before the foundation of the world.
Let me summarize the trajectory we’ve seen with a single line: God has chosen his Church to be holy in Christ.
Let me show that summary in two passages. God has exercised his uninhibited sovereignty to bring about his purposes—namely, to redeem his people and set them apart for holiness.
Let’s look at Ephesians 2:1–10:
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Now what should be our response to this? Humility. Awe. Our hearts should sing for joy over the powerful working of God to redeem his people. He is in the business of reversing curses. And the gospel is all about a God who is not obligated in any way to take action and it’s all about humans who are dead in the water, and yet, in his sovereign goodness, he chooses to redeem people. They do nothing to earn it. God graciously accomplishes it.
And how does he accomplish it? Through a great exchange. Christ, who is perfectly holy, absorbs our unholiness and he infuses us with his own holiness. It’s not indirect contact. The Holy Spirit dwells inside us. Paul says it this way in 2 Cor 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We’ve been talking about vision and mission. We are wondering how to reach our community. I don’t want us to miss the point. We are only along for the ride. This is God’s work. It’s always God’s work. He is good and sovereign and before this world was brought into being, God decided without any advice or input, according to his own good pleasure, to redeem his creation. This is a big God worth worshiping. Look at what he has done. And as we go out into this neighborhood and the neighborhoods we live in and to our friends and at restaurants and to our jobs and to our hobbies, we must be absolutely clear. The claim of Christianity is that the sovereign God has chosen unilaterally to make unholy people holy through the work of Jesus Christ. That is the gospel. It is not moralism or virtue or citizenship or ethics. It is God’s unimpeded action in Christ to make his Church holy.
[1] This is a fascinating and complex textual variant. The Hebrew appears corrupt. Consequently, most English translations simply follow the LXX. I think the LXX represents generally the meaning, but I have questions about the history of this variant.
[2] Commentary on passage