God’s time has not come

It is written, “This is what the Lord of armies says: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”’” (v 2). (1) The name “the Lord of armies” was a name frequently used by the three prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi (more than 90 times in total). This name means “the commander of all the armies of Israel” (1 Sam. 17:45) and “the commander of the heavenly army” (1 Kings 22:19), and it demonstrates the almighty power of God. Haggai is seeking to proclaim the word of God with authority received from God. (2) The Lord does not call Israel “My people,” but calls them “this people.” The reason is that Israel is in sin (ref. Hosea 1:9). (3) The sin of the people is that they are saying, “The time has not come, the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.” Why did the people of Israel postpone the construction of the temple? Various reasons can be considered. (1) There were opposition and interference from the Samaritans and the surrounding peoples. The people may have thought, “If it is God’s will for us to begin building the temple now, then the circumstances should open up. Therefore, it would be better to wait until the situation changes.” (2) Or perhaps they thought, “We have only recently returned from exile, so we must give top priority to stabilizing our lives. We are doing all we can just to secure our daily bread, and we have no room to provide labor for the construction of the temple.” (3) Furthermore, they may have insisted, “Where will the construction costs come from? We do not have the means. Even if we force ourselves to build it, compared with Solomon’s temple, it will be meager. Therefore, it would be better to wait until we have more ability.”

Endless excuses

The nature of sinners is to think more about the reasons why something cannot be done than the reasons why it can be done. Like the people of Israel at that time, we also make excuses for our failures and create reasons to postpone. However, no good results come from such indecisiveness and a postponing attitude. Jesus said to His disciples, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white for harvest” (John 4:35). Now, let us lift up the eyes of faith, look at the fields that are ready, and go out for the harvest.