Haggai 2:6-9 - What Is God's Plan for This Building? - January 26, 2020

Let’s cut right to the chase this morning: what’s the purpose of this building – both this church and the new addition? If you were involved with the planning at any stage of this project, then you probably remember that many people had many different hopes and dreams for this new addition. Many talked about how nice it would be to have a larger kitchen to serve snacks, soup suppers and potlucks. Some talked about how much we need more space for our growing numbers of Sunday school children. Others have looked forward to having a large multi-purpose space in which Bible classes can be taught, meals can be eaten, and fellowship can be had – all without constantly bumping elbows with one another. I’ve overheard many conversations about how people want to use our new addition. Many have great plans for this building. But what we want is the wrong question to ask; the real question is: what is God’s plan for this building?

To help us answer this question, we turn to the prophet Haggai. In this text God is speaking to the people of Israel roughly 500 years before Jesus would be born and about 90 years after the Temple had been destroyed and the people carried away to exile in Babylon. Now they were back, but Jerusalem was still in ruins, and so these people were also wondering: what is God’s plan for this temple? In response, God gave them three remarkable and unexpected promises.

First, he – referring to himself as the LORD of Armies, a title which indicates that all creatures in heaven and on earth are the LORD’s servants, who – whether they know it or not – carry out his will. This LORD of Armies says once again, in a little while, I myself will shake the heavens and the earth, the seas and the dry land. What is this “shaking”? “Shaking” refers to the political and social upheavals the LORD would bring about in order to carry out his plan of salvation. For example, the humbling of proud Egypt by the ten plagues (Exodus 7-12) and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea (Exodus 14:21-31) are described in the Psalms as a shaking of the heavens and the earth (Psalm 68:7ff; Psalm 77:18). Here, however, the LORD is not reminiscing about the past but is revealing his plans for the future. Long story short, the LORD through Haggai was foretelling how he would shake and shape the world politically and socially in preparation for the establishment of his NT Church – which would begin with the birth of his Son in Bethlehem and extend to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8; Luke 24:47).

Second, he says I will shake all the nations, and the desired of all the nations will come. What are the “desired of all the nations”? As Paul explained in our lesson from Ephesians, it’s not a “what” but a “who”? It’s you [who] were without hope and without God in the world…you who once were far away and now have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:12-13). The desired of the nations is every single person whom God knew and predestined before the creation of the world and who in time he calls and justifies and finally, on the Last Day, will glorify (Romans 8:29). In other words, here the LORD is predicting and promising that one day in the future – from Haggai’s perspective – he will call people from every nation and bring them together in one glorious Church. That day is today. You and I and are the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Third, he says the glory of this second house will be greater than that of the first one. “How could this possibly be true,” Haggai’s original listeners would have wondered. Solomon’s temple was a glorious wonder of the world, made with the finest materials available and constructed by the best craftsmen in the world. They were building this new temple with their own unskilled hands, they were always short on resources, and they were under constant threat of attack from enemies who didn’t want to see Israel reestablished. How could this new temple be greater? Many ways. 1) The OT temple was built of stone and wood and gold – dead material, no matter how precious; the NT Church is built of living stones, people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells (1 Peter 2:4-8). 2) In the OT, God’s dwelling was limited to one nation, the people of Israel; in the NT it includes members of every nation on earth (Revelation 14:6). 3) God’s OT people was mixed, consisting of both believers and unbelievers (1 Corinthians 10:1-5); the glory of the NT Church is that it is only composed of believers, those who have been washed, sanctified and justified through faith in Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:11). To people wondering what God’s plan for his OT temple was, he makes three promises: 1) he will “shake” the universe; 2) the desired of the nations – elect believers – will come to this new temple; and 3) the glory of this NT Church will far surpass that of the OT temple. The fact that God has fulfilled those promises is the only reason any of us are here today.

But that still doesn’t answer our question, does it? What is God’s plan for this church, this building here in McFarland, WI? God reveals his plan for this new temple in the last sentence of our text: For in this place I will provide peace, declares the LORD of Armies. Peace is what the OT temple was all about (1 Kings 8). Peace was why God commanded the Israelites to rebuild the temple. Peace is what God wanted to give his people through the temple. And the proclamation and distribution of peace is also what God plans to do with this church and this addition more than 2500 years later. That’s why we have pooled our energy, our effort and our resources to construct this building…so that God would come to us here and give us peace.

But what does that mean? How does God give us peace here? Perhaps the best way to answer that question is to give you some examples. You know that look brand new parents have? The look that is a mysterious combination of joy, sleeplessness, and of being completely overwhelmed at the reality that they now have to take 24/7/365 care of another human being; a human being who for years won’t be able to do anything for themselves? Yeah, you know that look. You probably remember seeing it on my face. And you parents, you probably remember tip-toeing into your baby’s room at least a dozen times those first few nights and placing your hand on their back and your ear by their mouth, just to make sure they’re still breathing. It’s terrifying to be responsible for a newborn baby. But then they bring their newborn here to God’s house to have them baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And they realize that as much as they love their child, God loves them even more, to the extent that he sent his only Son to die for that child. And you can see the peace of their heavenly Father’s promise of protection calm their terror-stricken hearts.

Or picture the families who have and will continue to gather here to say goodbye to a loved one who has passed away. Perhaps picture your own family gathering at your own eventual death. They will gather with tears in their eyes and grief weighing heavily on their hearts. But as they sit in this house, they will be reminded of Jesus’ promise that all who believe in him will live, even though they die (John 11:25). They will be reminded that those who die in faith are not really dead but only sleeping (Luke 8:52). They will be reminded that they don’t grieve as unbelievers who have no hope but as believers who look forward in hope to the grand family reunion in heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). And as they remember these things, something happens. Their burden of grief begins to be lifted. Joy and hope replace sadness. Their sorrow over their loss is matched and surpassed by hope for the future reunion to come. That’s the peace this place will offer. That’s the peace God brings here to grief stricken hearts.

A man no one recognizes walks into church at 9:01. He doesn’t say anything, doesn’t make eye contact, just comes in and sits down. He doesn’t really feel worthy to be in God’s house, not sure that he should be sitting with people like this, not after what he has done. He hopes no one recognizes him, but more than that, he hopes that no one rejects him. He knows that God should reject him, he’s been unfaithful, he’s a cheater, an adulterer. His wife of 20 years found out and left him. He hurt his children deeply. They no longer speak to him, much less look up to him or respect him. He destroyed his own life for a few hours of immoral pleasure. He sinned against that other woman, against his wife, his children, his family – but the heaviest burden he feels is knowledge that he has sinned against God. He cannot forgive himself and he certainly doesn’t expect God to forgive him either. But for some reason – a reason he can’t explain – he came to church this morning. And when the congregation stands and joins together in confessing their sins, this man readily join in. He was in 100% agreement that he was a poor, miserable sinner. And when the pastor turned around, he was expecting the worst – a scolding, a stern lecture – or at the very least of list of ways to correct the wrongs. And this man knows that if he hears that, he’s going to walk out those doors and never return – because he’s heard it all before, he’s tried it all before – and none of it works. But then the unimaginable happens. The pastor turns around and instead of launching into a lecture, he announces that as a called servant of Christ and by his authority, he forgives everyone’s sins – yes, including the sins of this stranger in the back (John 20:23). The strangest thing was that while he was hearing the voice of a mere man, he knew that the message was really God’s. And an immediate and inexpressible joy entered his heart. His wife hadn’t forgiven him, his children said they could never forgive him, heck, he couldn’t even forgive himself but here in this place…God forgave him. Because of the death of Jesus, God forgave him – forgave all of his sins, even his sin of adultery. And through the forgiveness of sins this sinful man received God’s peace.

I could go on and on, but those are a few examples of the sort of peace that God wants to give us here in this place. This is a place where God comes again and again and reads his love letter to us – a love letter we call the Bible. This is the place where God invites us to lay the burden of our sins on Jesus in confession and receive the peace of forgiveness in the absolution; the most unfair exchange ever made. This is the place where Jesus comes and offers himself, his own body and blood, to assure us that we are forgiven and we are his dear children, no matter what we have done. This is a place where we get a foretaste of the glory that is to come in heaven.

But this peace is far too precious to keep to ourselves. As Solomon dedicated the first temple in Jerusalem, he talked about how God wanted to use the temple as a light on a hill for everyone in this sin-darkened world. He talked about God’s goal that all the people of the earth would know that the Lord is God and there is no other (1 Kings 8:60). God wanted to grant peace not only to those who already believed, but also to those who had not yet believed. The temple was for both believers and unbelievers.

The peace that God provides in this place isn’t just for us, it’s for our unbelieving friends and family and neighbors too. God wants to use this building and this congregation to grant peace to the lost around us. God wants to use this building to breathe his forgiveness on those who can’t find forgiveness anywhere else, to proclaim the truth in a world filled with lies, to give joy and hope to sad and despairing people. May we never forget that! Yes, we built this addition to serve our own growing church family, but we also built it to serve those who have not yet found their place in God’s family. In fact, that’s part of the reason we built bigger than we needed right now – to serve those who have not yet found God’s peace. And – strange as it may sound – part of our prayer today is that this new addition would soon become too small – because if we start to feel crowded in worship, if five classrooms aren’t enough for all the children, if we start bumping elbows at every potluck – that will mean that this building and this congregation are fulfilling God’s purpose and plan.

In ages past, when a railroad company built a tunnel, they also cut small clefts into the tunnel on the sides of the track just in case someone was caught in the tunnel when a train came roaring through. They weren’t big. They weren’t comfortable. But in the moment that a train was bearing down on you and death seemed near, only one thing mattered: cling to the rock – and you will be safe! That’s what this building is – a cleft in the Rock in a world controlled by Satan, a train bearing down on us which would destroy us body and soul. To we who already believe, he says “Stay close to the Rock.” And to those who do not yet believe, he says “Cling to the Rock!” Jesus is the Rock. The wise man will build his life on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-27). The wise man will cling to Jesus as the source of peace in life and in death. God is here in this place to proclaim the Gospel of Christ crucified so that all may know the peace of his forgiveness and love. That’s the purpose of this building, the purpose of this congregation, the purpose of this addition.

We may have our own plans for this building – and that’s fine; but may we never forget God’s purpose for this building. May we come here regularly to receive God’s peace through the forgiveness of sin in Word and Sacrament. And may God continue to use us to carry out his mission of granting true, unchanging peace to people who don’t yet know it and desperately need it. In Jesus’ name. Amen.