The Temple of God

A long time had elapsed since the return from Babylon permitted by Cyrus, but work on restoring the temple had long since ceased. Haggai’s task was to rouse the people so that the work would be started (Haggai ch 1).

When God saw that the people were failing to rebuild His temple, He sent Haggai the prophet to pass the message to Zerubabbel, son of Shealtiel, Governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadek, the high priest. The people were busy making themselves good houses, yet God’s house remained in ruins. We sometimes fail to work for God in favour of our own work, buying new cars, renovating our houses, storing up our own treasures and such like.

Prophet Haggai was telling the people to obey what God was saying. At first, the Jews ignored what the prophet was saying, resulting in the withholding of dew and the infliction of a drought by God. The same can apply to us if we resist God’s message; God can use nature to suit His desires (Haggai 1:10,11). God wants us to go out and preach. We must leave the comfort of our homes and do God’s work. But he needs us to have a clean heart; this is our clean temple, so that our bodies must be renewed and cleansed spiritually. The apostle Paul reminds us that we are the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16). We must agree to be rebuilt so that God’s spirit dwells in us. Do not resist. Let go and let God dwell in us.

Haggai 1:12 shows that the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai. Because they accepted that the Lord their God had sent him, the people feared the Lord. Praise God.

God can raise up someone within our ecclesias to help us preach the word of God and do some work or duties worldwide. The Lord stirred up Zerrubabel, Joshua, Haggai and other people and they began working on the house of God the Almighty. The Jews had taken so long to start God’s work because they intermarried with other peoples, not Jews. We must not intermix with strangers especially in marriage. The people of the world can defile us, since our God dwells in us and walks in us. We are His people. God still says ‘I am with you’. He wants to shine on you, He wants to glorify you, to sanctify you, because He says, “I am still with you”.

Bro Benjamin Makuti (Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe)