A Word for Today | Haggai 2:6-7
In my view, Haggai 2:6-7 provides the best biblical lens for perceiving God’s purpose in events like our present pandemic. People ask if God is judging us for our sins. The answer is that He might be and that we would deserve it. (In this case, we are in for a rougher ride, since I hear no national leaders calling for repentance of our many and glaring sins!). But one thing we can know is that God is shaking things up for the advancement of His kingdom. This was the message of Haggai to his troubled generation: “Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land” (Hag. 2:6). They had forgotten that God intervenes decisively in world history, casting down and raising up for the sake of His kingdom. God’s purpose in such calamities is guided by His mercy to those He is calling into His salvation: “so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory” (Hag. 2:7).
From a biblical perspective, Christians should assume that God in His grace causes great upheavals to forewarn the world of coming judgment and to motivate people in turning to Jesus for the forgiveness of sin. As Haggai told his generation, these world events occur for the sake of the gospel reign of Jesus Christ: God is disturbing our rebel peace, casting our secular-humanist empire back on its heels, and exposing the fragility of our false utopias. Christians will serve God well if we respond to the shaking that God is giving by pointing out to people that life without Christ provides no real stability or security. If God is shaking the ground, then He wants us to find a solid place to stand – the solid rock of faith in Jesus Christ.
We should especially notice that God told Haggai that the upheavals of history are designed to draw converts into the church. These believers are “the treasures of all nations” that God is bringing into His house (Hag. 2:7). This means that we should be looking for unexpected people to watch our livestream broadcasts or to start a spiritual conversation that may lead to a witness for Jesus Christ. It means that we should not resent the temporal problems brought on by our pandemic but look in faith to the spiritual benefit which far outweighs any loss. And we should remind ourselves that we belong to a kingdom not of this world and should be storing treasures in heaven rather than on earth.
Are we the ones God is shaking with our pandemic? If so, let us be like the wise man of Jesus’ parable who built his house on the rock rather than on sand. The writer of Hebrews takes this approach in interpreting Haggai’s prophecy: “This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken – that is, things that have been made – in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Heb. 12:27). Let us as believers, then, lay hold anew to the things that will endure – the things of Christ’s salvation and gospel work – being reminded in these troubled times that the earthly things that are lost were never going to remain. As Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” knowing that with Christ we will possess all things (Mt. 6:33).
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Phillips
