Building God’s House

Haggai 1:2-12

GOLDEN TEXT: “Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.”—Hebrews 10:24,25

THE NARRATIVE of the building and the rebuilding of the temple, as mere matters of history, would be of little importance and interest to us were it not, also, for the fact of its typical character. In the light of the teachings of the apostles we see that the antitype of that temple is the one true church of the living God, whose names are written in heaven (I Cor. 3:16,17; Luke 10:20; Heb.12:23)—that it is a spiritual temple built up with living stones, of which Jesus Christ is, Himself, the chief cornerstone, the sure foundation.

But while the church glorified with Christ, the Head, will be the temple complete and glorious, it is in a less complete sense regarded as the temple of God now, and the various members as its builders, all having something to do in building each other up in the most holy faith, and thus contributing to the structure of the temple or church as a whole.

This work of building up the church is very clearly set forth in the building of the typical temple; and the rebuilding of the temple after the captivity in Babylon is suggestive of the rebuilding of the church after the long captivity in Mystic Babylon—release from which is generally know as the Great Reformation. And truly there has been a great reformation of the church since the dark ages of bondage under Papacy. The work of reformation has gone steadily forward, and, like that of the typical temple, in the midst of great opposition.—See Ezra 4:11-24; 5:3-5; Neh. 4:7-23; and compare Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II, chapter ix, Vol. III, chapter iv.

Having been hindered in the great work of rebuilding the temple, Israel gradually became indifferent. As a consequence of this growing indifference to the house of the Lord, God’s favor was measurably withdrawn from them and they were visited with drought and threatened with famine.

In all that what an illustration we have of the great reformation work which began in the sixteenth century with the preaching of Luther and his contemporaries. We recall that the one great work accomplished at that time was the laying again of the foundation doctrine of “justification by faith” in the one “continual” sacrifice of Christ, in contradistinction to the papal dogma of “the mass,” which had set aside the “continual.” (Dan. 11:31) Thus again Christ Jesus became the recognized foundation of His temple, which is the church.

But, as in the type, when the foundation was laid they began to grow weary in well-doing and weary of contending against opposition, and so, with a few exceptions, abandoned the work, and spiritual drought and famine followed. Protestantism ceased to be a protest against the iniquitous system that gave it birth, and for a time made no further progress.

By and by the message of the Lord was impressed upon some faithful souls, who still longed to see the completion of the temple of God, to arise again and build, to clear away the rubbish of false doctrine and establish the faith of the church in the truth—that they might be living representatives of the truth, not error, and thus be recognized of God as living stones in His temple.

And not only so, but it is also written that “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Hag. 2:9) That this was not said with reference to the temple of Zerubbabal, which did not excel nor equal the former temple, is manifest, and therefore the expression must be regarded as a prophecy of the antitypical temple of God—the glorified church.

And when His glory fills the true temple, and the blessings of His Kingdom begin to be experienced, He will, indeed be, as the prophet expressed it, “The desire of all nations,” for it is also written that He is the “Prince of Peace” and that “He shall speak peace unto the nations.” (Hag. 2:9; Zech. 9:10), and that “in this place [by means of His temple] will I give peace, saith the Lord.”

The shaking of all nations—the heavens (the present ecclesiastical powers) and the earth (the whole civil organization of human society), the sea (the lawless elements) and the dry land (the more settled, law-abiding of mankind)—progresses. Thank God, the things to be removed are the unsatisfactory things of the present order, and that which is to remain is the Kingdom of righteousness and peace, under Christ, the Prince of peace, whose glorious reign, when fully inaugurated and manifested, will be “the desire of all nations.”

QUESTIONS:

What is the antitype of the building of the literal temple of God in the days of Israel?

Is there any sense in which the church is regarded as the temple of God while still in the flesh?

What is meant by the expression, “The glory of the latter house shall be greater than of the former”?—Hag. 2:9

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