You've Got To Hear This!!!

"'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the Lord Almighty. 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord." - Haggai 2:8-9

Seems like your typical Old Testament verse right; a prophet speaking on Israel and God's dealings with them, right? Wrong! Yes, Haggai is speaking to Judah's leader (Zerubbabel, a.k.a. my first child's name, boy or girl) and their high priest (Joshua). But, in case you didn't know, pretty much everything in the Old Testament is a picture of something else; the nation of Israel that God saved from slavery is us, coming out of Egypt represents us coming out of our sin, the rock that gives water in the desert is Christ, etc. So how does that apply here? Well, buckle your seat belts, because I, personally, was blown away by this.

First, some background. The people here have returned from captivity in Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar had burnt down the original temple built by Solomon and the people are now constructing a new one. However, this new temple cannot compare in glory to Solomon's temple, which was the most glorious building constructed to that day, and maybe ever. Some of the older folk that are watching the new temple being built had actually seen the old temple, in all its glory, and are now mourning over what the new temple is. In their minds, their disobedience to God has cost them big time; they have lost their original temple forever and will never be able to replace its splendor. However, God comes in and speaks the verse above. Good, now you're caught up.

So God basically says, "You know what, all the gold and silver that filled the old temple (and there was A LOT of it), that was mine anyway." Then God tells them that the glory of this new temple will be greater than the former one. It won't just equal it, but it will be GREATER. Why? Well that's a darn good question. And that question is answered by one thing. What temple do you think Jesus walked in to when He came to Earth? That's right, this new temple. So if the gold and silver are all God's anyways, what we are seeing is that what makes this new temple so much greater is who is in it. But remember, all this Old Testament stuff is a picture of something else as well.

When we mess up, when we think we have forfeited what God can do in our lives by the sinful choices we have made, it is NOT the end. What makes the temple (us) great is not what we do, but rather who we allow to work inside us. When we make sinful choices, we forfeit something of God in our lives. But when we repent and allow Jesus to work inside of us, that new temple becomes even GREATER than the old. So if you've ever felt like you lost something in your life due to poor decisions, when you repent before God and allow Jesus to work in your life, you don't have to worry about what you've lost in the presence of God and can never recover, because "the glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house." This shows how unbelievable his mercy and grace are, and how much He loves us.

I, personally, really needed to hear this last night. And big ups to my padre for coming through in the clutch, even though he probably had no idea what it meant to me at the moment. As my struggle seems to just, at times, drag on and on, getting better and better before taking a turn for the worst due to mistakes I make, I think about what God is trying to do in my life and wonder if I will ever have true peace again. I wonder where I would be right now if I hadn't made certain decisions. And I wonder if everything will ever be completely "normal" again. But God states that He hasn't given up on me and He isn't sitting up-stairs thinking, "Boy, I can't do much in this kids life after the mistakes he's made; I had great plans, but now he's gonna have to deal with a little less because he messed up big time." No, I'm allowing Jesus to enter into my life, and God promises the results are going to be even greater!