I was noticing in chapter two of Haggai the amazing prophecies given to encourage God’s people after the Exile. Their entire country had been riven by civil war, then devastated and destroyed by foreign invaders and carried into exile because of sin. It must’ve seemed to them that they’d been abandoned by God. But now He wanted them to stir themselves up again, to realize they were still His people, He still had a purpose for them, and He wasn’t through with them.
We know, by hindsight of course, that it was necessary for them to build the second temple and continue to exist until Messiah could come and carry out His mission in the land of Israel. The word through Haggai obviously accomplished what God wanted; the people rose up and built the second temple, and Israel continued till shortly after Jesus’ time. But a close look at these prophecies gives us some real insight into what prophecy is like and how God works.
Prophecy is often so obscure and tough to decipher! We understand it much better from our present vantage point, but only by meditation and the help of the Holy Spirit. When these things were first proclaimed and written, no one would ever have imagined the way God would finally bring them to pass, and most today still don’t think He has!
In chapter 2:6-9 and 20-23, God says He is going to shake all nations before the Desire of all nations (an obvious reference to the Messiah) will come. He will shake the heavens and the earth, He will overturn kingdoms and kings, and shatter their power, He will cause the foreign powers around Israel to kill each other and be defeated, and He will make Zerubbabel, the Jewish governor at the time, His “signet ring,” because He has chosen Him. Moreover, the second temple which the Jews were building during this time was also to be more glorious than the first one built by Solomon.
Well, did any of this really happen? Only in a very mundane and localized sense, if you want to be honest. There were wars and conquests, and various kingdoms rose and fell, then Rome took over the region. Does that sound like the shaking of all nations? The second temple was built, to be sure. But it was smaller and less glorious than Solomon’s, not more so! Herod eventually expanded it, it’s true, but the very Shekinah, the tangible presence of God Himself had graced Solomon’s temple! How could anything top that?!
Today we understand that temple was more glorious because of the fact that Jesus walked there, Immanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh. We can appreciate this, but it certainly wasn’t something ordinary Jews would have understood to be the fulfillment of Haggai’s prophecy. A poor, itinerant rabbi walking around the temple complex – that made it more glorious than Solomon’s magnificent edifice?!
Another promise in Haggai’s prophecy was that God would grant peace in that greater temple. Now that’s a stretch! What peace? The temple was ruled for generations by hypocritical Sadducees and Pharisees, who got so far off track they were willing to kill God’s Son when He finally appeared. There was all sorts of corruption, and political and ecclesiastical intrigue going on for generations around that temple. When the Romans came, things got worse. Finally the Jews rebelled, and the Romans crushed them in their typically harsh way. In the last days of that struggle, there was famine, plague, butchery, blood running in the streets, thousands were crucified, the whole place was destroyed and the people scattered. God would grant peace?! How could anybody say such an outlandish thing!?
Well again, we Christians today understand it was spiritual peace, peace with God that the prophet predicted (Ro. 5:1). That makes sense to us. It’s believable, but only to believers! We believe, but most Jews do not. They say Messiah has not come, precisely because there was no peace and still is no peace in this whole wicked, tumultuous world. Only those of us who have experienced God’s shalom in Christ can say this was fulfilled, and even we must admit it came only invisibly, internally, and not in a way the world would understand.
So what’s my point? Biblical prophecy is amazing and supernatural, even spectacular. But at the same time, it can be hard to decipher, and is often fulfilled in ways we would never have imagined. What Haggai prophesied came to pass, but only those with eyes to see can perceive it. Sure, there were miracles and signs in the heavens, but there were also very mundane and ordinary things like politics and intrigue, a 90 mile trip on a donkey for a pregnant woman, and no room in the inn. God’s glory did fill the second temple, but it was concealed in the life of a young itinerant rabbi. God has granted peace; it’s just not visible outwardly. It’s spiritual peace in the hearts of believers.
These things prophesied by Haggai demonstrate the mystical and paradoxical ways of God. Christians interpret them as having already been fulfilled through Jesus Christ, and I believe that’s the best way to interpret them. But most Jews today would reject that completely, and many Christians are certain these prophecies will have a greater fulfillment in the future.
That may be, but the wise thing to do is to keep studying the scriptures and seeking insight from God, maintaining an attitude of humility. After all, the religious “experts” of Jesus’ day thought they knew all the answers, but they missed it completely when it came to prophecy! They rejected their Messiah when He came, and most of them still reject Him! They were unable to see the truth when He was standing right in front of them and so many refuse to see it when it’s written in black and white in a Book we all have access to!
The plans and ways of God have always been hidden and mysterious, and only those with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts that are willing to learn have ever perceived them, or ever will. God is at work all around us, and has been for millennia, but we frequently miss what He’s doing. Why is that? We are wise in our own conceits, sure we have the answers we need. Or we want something physical and visible, not the hidden treasures God grants. We so often have a completely misguided idea of how things should be or what’s important in life.
God mostly works in very quiet, hidden, and slow ways to accomplish things we’re not looking for, don’t understand, and don’t even recognize as important! He looks at the heart. His Kingdom is within, and what He values is often diametrically opposed to what we think matters. This chapter of Haggai opens a window into the ways of God!