Haggai 2:10

His prophecy is carefully dated, and noting this we see it divides into four sections, though all were spoken in the second year of Darius... The third was on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (Hag. 2:10); the fourth, though distinct from the third, was given on the very same day (Hag. 2:20). God always recognises the validity of His own governmental actions. He had set Israel aside as a nation, and the times of the Gentiles had begun; so the dating is that of the ruling Gentile power and not that of the Jews.

The message in this section is addressed to the priests... Its object was to teach the nature of true separation to God, and that His blessing was connected with keeping it. This principle holds in every age, because it rests on the holiness of God Himself. (See Leviticus 11:44-45, and 1 Peter 1:16.) In Malachi we read that "the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts" (Mal. 2:7). For this reason Haggai was sent "on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month," two months after his last message, to ask the priests these questions about the law.

Of course the priests answered truly when they said "No." He who is holy imparts no holiness to anything else. "Then Haggai said, 'If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?'" This time the answer was just as precise: yes. He who is defiled passes on defilement... As with the unclean condition of a man, so the nation of Israel defiled whatever they took up. All works and offerings are unclean. There must be personal cleanness before one can act or offer aright.

It is necessary first of all to be clear about what is meant by a holy thing. It is that which is set apart for the service of God... So it was not something holy in itself, holy by its own nature. God is holy in that way, and such holiness must exclude evil, just as light excludes darkness. But a holy thing in Scripture is what is consecrated, set apart for God... And whatever was holy in this way had no power to sanctify other things.

The root of all failure with the remnant of that day, as with the people of God in this day, can be traced to a low moral condition. In other words, outward activity in the service of the Lord will not prosper unless a right moral condition goes with it.

The common notion is that you can cleanse the world by going into it and associating with it. Instead, you cannot fail to be defiled yourself... The notion of this day is that you can benefit or set right what is evil by association with it. That is a fallacy, and it must end in disappointment, if not in dragging you where you never intended to go. In itself the principle is nothing less than a giving up of God.

Still, we are allowed to see that however great the failure of God's people, if they repent and act in obedience to the word, they will be blessed. So, as soon as the remnant take up the work of the house, the LORD can say, "from this day on I will bless you."

Let us not think that the finest offerings we ever made, whether of praise and worship or of service, were marked by perfection. They were not... But we have a great High Priest who bears the iniquity of our holy things, and presents to God our defective worship or service in His own perfections.