- Background: Haggai –
- Israel Had Just Been Shaken W/70 Yrs Of Exile & Return To Devastated Land & droughts
- The Temple Was Being Rebuilt Sparking Joy & Sadness
- Joy = Being Rebuilt
- Sadness = Not To Past Glory
Malachi written years later when times were uneventful, filled with poverty, daily struggles to keep alive under the shadow of foreign domination. People wondered where was the God of their fathers who delivered & prospered them. Religious on the outside, they cheated in their religious duties, and their social relationships. Society was influenced by external cultures & marriages were infected with divorce and abuse. They wanted God’s love, but not his holiness.
Prophetic Messages Of Encouragement & Warning
- God is Holy God is Loving God is Coming
- -Shaking Nations points back to Sinai Ex 19:16-19 [giving of law, making a covenant]
- -Shaking Points to coming to God’s glory & Grace [Temple/God’s presence > Messiah]
- -Shaking points to ultimate Judgment coming to earth; Refiner’s Fire
- Day Of Lord = Day Of God’s Coming = Judgment & Deliverance
- Prophetic Perspective
What About Our Days?
- Economic, Political (middle east, east, Africa), Morality & Culture (work ethic, sexuality/marriage, crime, drugs, integrity, honesty ), Climate Change, Earthquakes, Tsunamis,
- Hebrews 12:26ff [persecuted Christians]
Practical Applications:
- Live by Grace
- Hold on to Jesus: Looking @ world can feed hopelessness & giving up & giving in
- Serve the Lord with reverence & godly fear
- Live focused on the New Earth
