Join us on this episode as we delve into the Old Testament’s pragmatic prophet Haggai, guided by the teachings of Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Discover how Haggai’s grounded and actionable approach emphasizes the importance of building one’s spiritual life on the enduring foundation of faith in Jesus Christ. Through practical teachings and historical contexts, we explore how Haggai’s message relates to modern believers and their daily walk with God.
00:00:03 Introduction to Haggai’s Practical Approach
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
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pragmatic, a man of action. Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, and all the words that you’ve just heard accurately describe the prophet Haggai, whose Old Testament book we’re beginning today. As our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, tells us, Haggai didn’t have his head in the clouds. He got right down to where the rubber meets the road. So climb aboard the Bible bus and find your seat for this very important and practical study. And while you do that, Let’s listen to a bit more from Dr. McGee’s introduction that we began in our last study. Now, you may recall that Dr. McGee was telling us there’s only one sin for which there’s no remedy, and that’s the sin of refusing to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Here’s Dr. McGee.
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God has a remedy for every other sin and for all sin. And he died for you. And I don’t care who you are listening today. You can argue with me until you’re blue in the face about whether you belong to the elect or not. Frankly, I’m not interested in that because you and I do not have The roll call of the elect, if we did, it would be a different story than we could concentrate on them. But God has not told us that because he died for the sins of the world. And every person ought to have an opportunity to accept the Lord Jesus Christ or reject him. And that’s the reason that we have put such a great emphasis upon this. Now, the great passage that we have on this is found in 1 Corinthians 3, 9, 15. And let me rapidly look at this. He says in verse 9, for we are laborers together with God. You’re God’s husband and you’re God’s building. Now, in other words, God is permitting you and me to put up a building. And here is the way it works. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now the foundation is down. Salvation is available. You have accepted Christ. That’s the foundation. But if any man build upon the foundation, now you can build upon it. What kind of building are you putting up, a chicken cup or a palace? If any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man’s work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. Now, you can build a wood, hay, and stubble. What happens to that which is built of wood, hay, and stubble? Well, fire consumes it. And you can build of gold and silver, precious stone. And what does fire do to them? Actually, they draw off the draws and reveal a pure goal. So that if any man’s work abide which he hath built thereon, he shall receive a reward. In other words, what kind of building material are you using today? Are you building a great big straw stack? There are a great many straw stacks today. They are very imposing looking to man today. But they are going to go up in smoke. It’s just one big poof and they’re gone. Now it says, if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. So you see, you’re going to be saved. I put it like this. They’re going to be people. They’ll come in the presence of God. They’re going to smell like they were bought at a fire sale. Now, this is called over in 2 Corinthians 5, 9 and 10. This is the judgment seat, the Bema of Christ. We must all appear there, all believers, not for salvation. You already have that or you wouldn’t be there. You’ll appear to see whether you’re going to receive a reward or not.
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There’s nothing more practical and more powerful for growing our faith and trust in the Lord than studying His Word. And that’s what Lena in Egypt recently shared with us. She wrote this, I listened to your message from 1 John about being a child of God, and it brought me to tears. For years I’ve carried the fear that maybe I’m not good enough for God, that I’ve failed too many times to be loved by Him. But through this teaching, it felt like God was speaking directly to me. I still struggle. I still fall. But now I understand. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about who I belong to. Please pray that I keep walking in this truth and do not go back to the lies. Thank you for reminding me that I am truly his child. What a beautiful request. Well, we’d love to hear from you. What are you learning through our studies together? You can send us a message through our app anytime or email us at BibleBus at TTB.org or send your letter by mail to Box 7100. Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C6B1 is the address to write. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for reminding us through your word and through stories like Lena’s that we’re your children. Not because that we’re perfect, but because you… are perfect and you have perfect love. And we ask that you would strengthen our faith as we study your word. And by your spirit, keep us walking in the light of who we are in Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Now we’re off to the Old Testament book of Haggai on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
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Now, friends, as we come to the little book of Haggai, We note in particular how important it would have been to have considered the historical books with the prophetic books. Now, there’s a little cluster of books that belong together. There is Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther. They are the historical books. They should go along with Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. And also the book of Daniel ought to be studied in there also, probably first. So that these books belong together and they constitute a unit, by the way. And these two men that we’re coming to now, the first two, Haggai and Zechariah, they prophesied at the same time. Their approach is altogether different. And yet they were encouraging the remnant that had returned back to Jerusalem and to the land. Now, the book that we were looking at last was the little book of Jude. Actually, that little book dealt with the apostates. It dealt with those that were called sensual. They did not have the Holy Spirit. They were not quite complete, yet this crowd always feels like they’re quite adequate. And if any one thing characterizes them, of course, it’s pride. They want to appear intellectual. That’s the highest part of them, of course. But the highest faculty, they know nothing about And they’re not spiritual. They have neglected the spiritual altogether. You see, dead in trespasses and sins means there’s no spiritual communication between that individual and God. He’s dead to God and the things of God. And it’s only as the Holy Spirit comes in and makes the person a new creation. And that’s the reason that so many write in and say, well, I never knew what life was really about. I never really lived, though they were in sin and they thought they were living it up. You see, this crowd, they are off just a little. They’re not quite down to earth. They could be classified, I think, as psychotic and neurotic individuals. That’s what the psychiatrist would say today. And you know the difference between a psychotic and a neurotic. A psychotic is one who thinks two plus two equals five. Now, the neurotic, he knows that two plus two equals four, but he worries about it. That’s the difference between these two. Now, we’ve come to a book. That is such a change that brings us right back to earth and probably will shake us as no other book will in the scripture. And we are going to see there’s quite a contrast between Haggai and Zechariah, though they lived at the same time. Now, both of these men are mentioned in the little book of Ezra as having encouraged the remnant that returned under Ezra and Zerubbabel and Nehemiah encouraged them to rebuild first the temple and then the walls of the city. And I’m reading now Ezra, the fifth chapter, verse 1. Then the prophets Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedach, and began to build the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. And with them were the prophets of God helping them. So both Haggai and Zechariah are given to us in this historical book as the two prophets that encourage the people to rebuild the temple and also aided them in that. Now, when you go over to the sixth chapter of Ezra, again, you will find a reference to these men and how they helped there. In the 14th verse, it says, and the elders of the Jews builded And they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo. And they built it and finished it, that is, the temple, according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes and king of Persia. Now, we have this reference here that these prophets encouraged the people to build and they built and they carried out the commandment of God. But we’re going to find out from Haggai’s prophecy that they had a real problem before them. And it was rather difficult to encourage the people to rebuild. Now, actually, they rebuilt the temple, but it was in the presence of great difficulties, certain hardships and handicaps, and it seemed like they were coming at them at every hand. Now, from this and the brief references that he made to himself in his prophecy, very little is known about Haggai, but four things become apparent from what we have. Number one, he was self-effacing. That is, he exalted the Lord, and when he did, he took the same position of John the Baptist. He must increase, but I must decrease. Now, the second thing, he was God’s messenger. And he used the term, thus saith the Lord. That’s another thing that characterized this man’s message. And the third thing that we know about him, he not only rebuked the people, but he cheered and encouraged them in a very marvelous way. Now, number four, he not only preached, he practiced. And I like to say at times that I do the preaching and my wife does the practicing, and there’s a lot of truth in that, by the way. Now, the time that this man Haggai prophesied, we are told here in verse 1, in the second year of Darius, the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month. Now, we’re going to find he dates all of his prophecies, but it was in the second year of Darius. Now, that enables the historian to pinpoint the time of this prophet in profane history. And Hystaspis, the Darius that’s mentioned here, he began to reign in 521 B.C. And if this is the second year of his reign, it’s 520 B.C., And that is approximately the time that he began. And the very interesting thing is that you’ll note that these post-captivity prophets begin to date. their prophecy according to the reign of Gentile rulers. May I say that makes it very interesting because of the fact that the other prophets who prophesied before the captivity always tried to date their prophecy during the reign of either a king of Israel or a king of Judah or the kings of both. But now there’s no king there, of course, neither in the northern kingdom nor the southern kingdom. And so he dates his prophecy according to the Gentile king. In other words, that period of time that the Lord Jesus said that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Actually, that time had begun, had already begun. And now the dating is according to the times of the Gentiles. Now, that makes it very specific, you see. And I’ll say a word about that in just a moment. And his theme is the temple and the reconstruction and the refurbishing of the temple. That was the supreme passion of this prophet. He not only rebuked the people for their delay in rebuilding the temple, but he encouraged them and helped them in this enterprise. Now, this man Haggai, he constantly referred to the word of the Lord. You will notice that as we go through the little prophecy here. Verse 2, he says, Thus speaketh the Lord. And then verse 3, Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, and so on. You’ll find that all through this book. And he puts the emphasis there. Now, this man apparently willingly humbled himself that the Lord might be exalted. And the thing about Haggai is that he’s very practical. Nothing poetic about him. He’s prosaic. Frankly, he may bore you. I hope he won’t, but he may be very boring to you. He’s very simple. There’s nothing that will lift you to the heights actually here. In fact, he carried a measuring stick around with him. And he is the one who said that two plus two equals four. He measured everything. And he’s very practical. And I think that the prophecy of Haggai and the epistle of James have very much in common. Both of them put the emphasis upon the daily grind. They get right down to the nitty gritty. They get right down where the rubber meets the road. Both of them deal with nuts and bolts of this life. And they show that action is spiritual. A do-nothing attitude is wicked, according to both of them. Both place the yardstick down upon life. And work is the measure of life. Now, it’s one thing to say to the Lord, Lord, Lord, and call him Lord. It’s another thing to live like it. Remember, he says there’s going to be those in that day that are going to say to me, Lord, Lord, look what we did. And he said, well, I don’t even know you. They weren’t doing the will of God. They weren’t working for him at all. And you remember the Lord Jesus himself gave the parable about a man had two sons. One son, he says, go out and work in the field. The boy says, sure. My, he had a testimony meeting and he told how the Lord had saved him and how he’s called to the mission field. He was going out to work, but he never did go. He never really did anything. The other boy, he said, no, Dad, I’m not going. He was out of the will of God. But time went on, and he saw that he’d made a big mistake. And finally, he said, Dad, I’m going to go out there. And he didn’t have a testimony meeting. He didn’t have a lot of palaver over it. He didn’t make a big deal of doing God’s will. He just went out and did what his dad told him to do. And the Lord Jesus asked the very searching question, Which one of them you think really did God’s will? That’s a question the Lord asks. It’s pretty easy to answer, friend. Now, Haggai is the man who says you’re going to have to go out and go to work if you’re going to serve the Lord. Now, he’s so practical in that, that very frankly, a great many today are going to turn away from it. I can’t find anywhere where he ever had a church banquet. He never put on one of those. He never spent time doing the easy things. He said, you’re going to need to go to work. And he’s going to emphasize that. And that’s something that’s very important. Now, Zachariah, now he’s different. Zachariah was poetic. He was visionary. And he had his head in the clouds. He didn’t have his feet on the ground. But Haggai was pragmatic. He had both feet on the ground. You see, both of these men need to go together. The man of action and the dreamer need to walk together. The poet and the pragmatic individual need to go together. It’s very important that they do. And so over the little book of Haggai you can write, “‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.'” That’s 1 Corinthians 15, 58, and that is a good picture of this book that you have here, and it makes it a rather remarkable book. Now, I’ve already given you some of the background in Ezra of this little book of Haggai, a prophesied to the remnant that had returned, and especially when they got discouraged, which they did. Now, as I said, that Haggai and Zechariah, they approach it from two different viewpoints. One from the practical viewpoint and the other from the very poetic viewpoint. This man, Zechariah, my, he had visions. If you want an example of what I mean, he saw a woman coming through the air and she was in a bushel basket. Now, here in Southern California, all the cults and isms and schisms and schisms, they’ve all had women play a prominent part in their ritual, their service, and in their public image that they give. But I never yet have heard one of them that had a woman floating through the air in a bushel basket. Zachariah went and won better. And he would really go over in Southern California. But Haggai wouldn’t go over in Southern California. He’s too pragmatic. Somebody says, we’re going to call a prayer meeting in order that we might be able to build a temple. And Haggai said, look, all right, if you’re going to have a prayer meeting, you have it at night when we can’t work. Because in the morning, at daylight, I want you to bring your hammer and saw and come out here. We’re going to build a temple. And you know, a lot of people don’t like that. Prayer meetings, a lot easier for them because it enables them not to do anything. And I don’t think I’m minimizing prayer. I’m not. But there are a great many people who pray and don’t do anything. They are not like the man… that Bishop, I forget now, Bishop Muzan, I guess it was down in Georgia many years ago. He says, when a man prays for a corn crop, God expects him to say amen with a hole. That is something that is needed today. Now, we are going to find something else about this man that makes him quite remarkable. He dates his messages. He actually, in a compass of three months and 14 days, according to the calendar, he delivered five messages. and each one given on a specific date. And we’ll get them as we go along. You have the first one given on September the 1st, 520. Now, don’t tell me how I know that. We’ll talk about that next time. The second one he gave on September the 24th, 520. gave on October the 21st, 520. And then he gave the fourth message on December the 24th, 520. And then the fifth message he gave on December the 24th, 520. Now, somebody said to me a long time ago, and I’d never thought of it, they said, why in the world did he give two messages on December the 24th? Well, I said, I suppose the reason is that the next day is Christmas. He wanted to be home with his family for Christmas. The party turned and walked away from me because they didn’t think that’s an adequate answer. Well, that means I just don’t have the answer, my friend. Now, we’re going to save until next time these dates that are given here. But I’ll read now the first verse. In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, there’s the date, by the way, came the word of the Lord. He starts off with that, the word of the Lord, by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel here means sown in Babylon. And we are going to be dealing with this. By the way, Zerubbabel was born in captivity down in Babylon. And actually, it’s a heathen name, by the way. But he represented the government. He is in the line of David. He was the son of Sheol, Tiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest. And so we have here the head of the government and the head of the religion, both represented here. And God sends this message to the leaders first. Now we’re going to see next time what that message is. Friends, it’s going to be so practical, it’s going to shake you. This is without doubt, to my judgment, most amazing book in that connection that we have in the Word of God. So until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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What verse should be written over your life? Well, for Haggai, Dr. McGee believed it was 1 Corinthians 15, 58, which again says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Thank you for watching. Or download your free copy available in our digital book called Briefing the Bible at ttb.org. Or call 1-865-BIBLE and we’ll put an abridged paperback copy in the mail. The second suggestion is to pray with us. Every day thousands of listeners, staff, and volunteers like me pray for Through the Bible as it goes out in over 250 languages around the world. Our group is called the World Prayer Team, and we’d love to have you join us as you sign up over at ttb.org. There’s more of this great study of Haggai next time. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll save you a seat on the Bible bus as it rolls along.
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Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. Sin had left the prison safe. He washed it white as snow.
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Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire Word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know Him yet?
