Haggai 1:12–13

They considered their ways. They took it to heart. They knew the Lord had spoken, and that He was right, the rebuke well earned. Happy are all those who always act this way, who humble themselves and obey the Lord. The twelfth verse records a refreshing scene. They all united, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the remnant of the people. There was not one dissenting voice. They all obeyed the Lord and the words of the prophet.

Where the whole people of God fail, God continues in His sovereign grace with a remnant. This is true for Israel (e.g. Isa. 10:21; Rom. 9-11) and it is true for the church. A remnant is not just what is left over. It stands for what the whole people should have been, and it is a link with what God gave at the start.

Notice a principle the Scriptures affirm everywhere: the voice of the Lord goes together with the words of the prophet. (v. 12.) When God sends a messenger, He is pleased to identify Himself with His servant. So our blessed Lord said to His disciples, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." (John 13:20) Our passage says the same: "and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him." This is a solemn thing for the people of God, because the opposite is true as well. If someone the Lord has truly sent is refused, then the Lord Himself is refused in the person of His servant… This does not mean we should accept everyone who claims to be sent by God. The test is this: does he speak the words of God?

The obedience spoken of here was not mere outward compliance with the warnings they had received. It was the kind that comes from the word of God acting on the conscience. That is why the verse adds, "And the people feared the LORD." This is the sure sign of a real work in the hearts of this feeble remnant. Whether in sinners or saints, if the truth never reaches the conscience, nothing is gained, whatever visible effects the preaching may seem to have… On the other hand, fear of the Lord always rises in a soul whose conscience is exercised before God. That soul then grasps God's holy presence and owns His claims, and at the same time it does not forget its own failure and sin.

They did not begin to build again because the king's decree reached them. They began because they feared the LORD and did not fear the king's command, because they saw Him who is invisible (Hag. 1:12-13). God was no more to be feared under Darius than under Cyrus or Artaxerxes. The source of their weakness was that they had forgotten God. This shows the great grace of God in waking them up through Haggai.

Power comes not before obedience but after it. Some think we must wait for power in order to obey. It is not so; on obedience the Lord gives power… A right state of soul removes all difficulties and makes it possible for the Lord to take us up and use us as vessels of His will. So as soon as the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and feared the LORD, all was ready. The Lord stepped in at once and said, "I am with you." And He stirred up their spirit to do His purpose in building the temple.

What follows teaches us this. If the Lord disciplines, or if He speaks words of warning and correction, He does it only to remove every barrier to His people's blessing. He had watched the effect of the prophet's words. The moment the signs of repentance and self-judgment appeared, He sent them a message of comfort — "I am with you, declares the LORD."

When God sends a messenger, He is pleased to identify Himself with His servant... This is a solemn thing for the people of God, because the opposite is true too: if someone who is really sent by the Lord is refused, it is the Lord who is refused in the person of His servant... The Spirit of God, it seems, expands the description of the prophet — the LORD's messenger, with the LORD's message. This identifies him with his Lord. It gives the people certainty that his message is true.

It is very gracious, I think, to see how God provides with special care for a day of weakness. As far as I know, no earlier prophet ever carried the title "the LORD's messenger." Of the prophets after the captivity, Haggai's book is the shortest and the earliest. Yet he is the one given this unusual name of honour. Men would never have chosen him for it. Critics would call him the flattest in style, the plainest of all the prophets. He was the LORD's messenger for all that. He deals with the commonest things — their panelled houses, their sowing much, their bags with holes. They seem the most ordinary appeals. Yet he was the LORD's messenger.

"I am with you" is the saving principle for faith in the weakest possible day. And let me repeat it: what better did they have in the brightest day? Indeed, what else is so good as having the Lord with them? To have the most blessed servants would be a small thing if they did not have the Master Himself. This was the great safeguard and the unfailing source of supply and counsel when Israel came out of Egypt. How gracious to have His presence assured again after Babylon, when everything seemed gone and broken! The words were few, but they carried every help and blessing. They sank deep into devout hearts.

As we have seen, fear of their enemies kept the people from building the LORD's house. Now He gives the antidote... Nothing drives away fear like the assurance of the Lord's presence. But if it is comfort, it is also encouragement. It reminds the people that if the Lord called them forward into danger, He Himself was among them. He would go before them, as He had done in the wilderness, to show them the way.

And the place where power comes is most instructive. It is not before but after obedience... This would clear away the mistake often held, and sometimes spoken, that we must wait for power before we obey. It is not so; on obedience the Lord gives power. For example, the Lord said to the man with the withered arm, "Stretch out your hand." The man might have replied, "I have no power." Instead, in a spirit of obedience, he hurried to obey. He received strength, and was made whole.

They did not start building again because the king's decree reached them. They started because they feared the LORD and did not fear the king's command, seeing Him who is invisible. God was no more to be feared under Darius than under Cyrus or Artaxerxes. The source of their weakness was that they had forgotten God. This makes clear the great grace of God in waking them by the mouth of Haggai.