Haggai: the desire of the nations

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Haggai Article: the desire of the nations Outline:

INTRODUCTION

Haggai?! Who has heard of an old testament prophet named Haggai, let alone read the book of the same name?

According to the exhaustive dictionary of bible names, Haggai means: "Festival of the Lord; festal; born of a festival day; [root: to keep a feast, with the idea of dancing; to dance; to leap with joy; to reel to and fro]; my solumn feast".

Jesus Christ, the red thread of the bible, is the desire of the nations in the book of Haggai.

Haggai 2
1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying,
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

“And I will shake all nations”

Acts 4
29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

In verse 31, the word “shaken” is the Greek word saleuó [Strong's #4531] and is translated “and stirred up” in:

Acts 17:13
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.

This same word is translated “shaken” in II Thessalonians.

II Thessalonians 2:2
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
So its not talking about being physically shaken, like in an earthquake, but they were psychologically “shaken” - moved, inspired, and awed by God's power.

“and the desire of all nations shall come:”

Acts 13 is just one of many records in the bible of many people called by God, people who had a true desire to learn about Jesus Christ, the son of God.

Matthew 1
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

The prophecy in Haggai 2:7 [written about 410 B.C.], of the coming messiah, Jesus Christ, the desire of the nations, was already fulfilled when Jesus Christ was born on Wednesday, September 11, 3 B.C.

Acts 13
42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.
43 Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed [became] bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

49 And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.
50 But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.
52 And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.

“44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.”

This city is Antioch [verse 14]. It was the third largest & most important city in the entire Roman empire. At its peak, it had about 500,000 people. In the first century, that number was still one or two hundred thousand according to some scholars' estimates.

The word “Antioch” is used 18 times in the bible, with 16 of those occurring in the book of Acts. The first usage is in Acts 6:5.

Acts 6:5
And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost [holy spirit], and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

A proselyte is a person who has been newly converted from another religion to Christianity, so this tells us that effective evangelism was going on in Antioch.

What did they preach that was so compelling that an entire city came out to hear it?

Acts 11
19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen traveled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.
20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.

Verse 20 says they were “preaching the Lord Jesus”, the desire of the nations, a prophecy from the book of Haggai that was fulfilled many centuries later, as recorded in the book of Acts.

We see the effects of the preaching of Jesus Christ just a few verses later.

Acts 11
25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul:
26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

The word “Christian” is a contraction that originally came from the words “Christ” & “in”, referencing Colossians 1.

Colossians 1:27
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

It is interesting to note a parallel between the first chapter of the book of Haggai in 410 BC and the people in Antioch in the first century.

In the first chapter of Haggai, the people had fancy homes, but neglected the temple, letting it rot in ruin. They were reaping what they had sewn in all categories of their lives. Then the word of the Lord came to Haggai, who taught the leaders and the people turned unto the Lord.

Acts 11:21
And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.

The people in Antioch believed the word of the Lord also, turning unto him.

Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Romans 10
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Luke 10:24
For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

John 12
14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt.

16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

So in the new testament, we see many confirmations of and the fulfillment of the prophecy in Haggai about Jesus Christ being the desire of the nations.

Matthew 5:6
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

“...and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts”

Acts 3:13
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

Romans 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

Romans 8:30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

The word “glory” is used 9 times in the book of Ephesians alone.

Ephesians 1
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

Ephesians 3
13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Ephesians 5:27
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

SUMMARY [Haggai 2:7]

And I will shake all nations – “shake” means to inspire awe and wonder, which was fulfilled in the book of Acts & throughout the new testament
And the desire of all nations shall come – this was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the book of Matthew, chapter one and elsewhere
and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts – this was fulfilled as well, starting on the day of Pentecost in 28A.D. when it was available for the very first time in the history of mankind to be born of incorruptible seed. Before and since then, God has glorified his son Jesus Christ. We, the body of Christ, have been glorified by God since the day of Pentecost, and will be glorified in the future as well.
Since all 3 prophesies in Haggai 2:7 have come to pass already, we know God's word is precise and trustworthy