Middletown transcript., 1899-09-09
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
aEssoN xl, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, SEPT. 10.

and twentieth day of the month, came the
word Of the Lord by the prophet Haggai,
saying" Our last lesson said that the
enemies OF God and of the Jews caused
the work on the temple to cease till the
second year of Darius, but that then God
raised up Haggai and Zechariah to en-
courage the people to resume the work
(Ez. tv, "a; v, u. It is also written In
Ez- v, 5, that although the enemies again
sought to cause the work to cease the eye
of their God was upon the Jews, and this
time He did not suffer the enemies to tri-
umph. In this short prophecy Of 38 verses
the expressions, Thus saith the Lord, or
The word of the Lord came, or their
equivalent, are found 25 times, marvellous.
ly emphasizing the truth that this is all
the Lords doing.
3. Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son
of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to
Joshua, the son of Josedach, the high
priest, and to tho residue of the people,
saying" It was not for Haggai to ask,
How will they receive it? or, What will they
think of me? He had only to preach the
preaching that God babe him Jonah lii, 81
and trust God, who gave him the message
to manage His own affairs. Itswould be
well for all preachers to act thus: Meceive
the message from God, deliver .it in His
name In the power Of the Spirit and be
sure that 1t will not return to Him void,
but accomplish His pleasure and prosper
in that whereto He sends it lisa. ", H.
his would give great quietness In service
because Of confidence In God lisa. Xxx, Is:
xxxii, ~.
3. "Who Is left among you that saw
this house in her first glory and how do ye
see 1t nowf Is 1t not in your eyes In COM
parison Of 1t as nothing?" The contrast
between the first temple and the present
condition Of things was SO great that the
elders who had seen the first house could
not refrain from weeping (Ez. Iii, 12,
13). Things did look very discouraging,
and when we look only at what our eyes
see we will be very apt to be either over
much puffed up or cast down. 1t Is only
as we see God alone and believe His word,
regardless of feelings or circumstances,
that we can ever be established and not
discouraged QI Chron. Xxx, 90; lisa. vii, 8;
Rom. iv, 1920.
4. "Yet now be strong o Zerubbabcl,
saith the Lord, and be strong, o Joshua,
son of Josedech, the high priest, and be
strong all ye people Of the land, saith the
Lord, and work, for am with you, saith
the Lord of Hosts A most remarkable
verse trulyl Three times saith the Lord"
and three times 'tbe strong" because of
the Lords presence. The "yet" with
which tho verse begins takes US to Hab
LII, IL, IS, where we hear the prophet say
ing, Though vines, olives, figs, focks and
herds all fail, yet l will rejoice In the
Lord; or to Ps. lxxiii, %, 23, where the
writer, though despising himself because
he felt like poor, ignorant beast, said,
Nevertheless, am continually with Thee;
Thou hast holden me by my right hand.
8. According to the word that cove
nanted with you when ye came out of
Egypt, SO My Spirit remaineth among
you; fear ye not" Not our faithfulness,
but His, Is the only ground of comfort
He abideth faithful, He cannot deny Him
self QI Tim. ii, 18). David, in his last
hours found no comfort In himself or In
his life which he had lived, but said, Yet
hath He made with me an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure
for this is all my salvation and all my de-
sire CI Sam. xiii, 81. The love Of the
Spirit (Rom. XIV, S0) is one of our greatest
comforts, though not spoken of as much
as the love of the Father or the Son.
There is bodpdless comfort in our Lords
assurance, Because I live ye shall live
also" (John xiv, 19), assuring us that
however weak and unworthy In ourselves
He is our life, His faithfulness our
strength.
6. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
Yet once, it is little while, and will
shake the heavens, and the earth, and the
sea, and the dry land" In verse 81 this
shaking is again mentioned. From Joel
fiji, 16, and Heb xii, 90, and their contexts
we conclude that whatever germinant 40
complishments these words may already
have had the fulhllment of them is yet fu- |
ture and associated with the day Of the
Lord and the coming OF Christ In glory.
] think IL probable that the "little while"
Of this verse was that which He referred |
to In John xvi, 1919, but one will say
how could He say little while or quickly |
(Rev. xii, Z, 10, 20) when He knew IL |
would be perhaps Q, 600 years or moref |
According to II Pet. iii, 8, our Lord has |
not been gone two days yet, and IL He |
comes back ON the third day that win In
deed be quickly.
z. "And win shake all nations, and |
the desire Of all nations shall come, and I |
viii I'LL this house with glory saith sthe |
Lord Of Hosts. We know that our Lord |
came to the temple and taught In the tenn
pie when He was here In humiliation, and |
the disciples Cat least three of them) beheld |
His glory (John /, 40, but the temple was
not filed with glory, neither did He shake |
all nations. But In the day Of the Lords I
vengeance and the time Of recompense for |
the controversy Of Zion His indignation |
shall be upon all nations Elsa. xxxiv, Q, 81. |
8. "The silver Is mine, and the gold as |
mine, saith the Lord Of Hosts. " They |
were not therefore to be perplexed about |
the necessary funds, for He who owns the |
silver and the gold had ordered the work |
to be done, and He would provide. Even
Darius had been led to decree that OF the |
kings goods expenses should be given
unto these men and of bullocks, rams, I
lambs, wheat, salt, wine and oil, that
which they have need Of day by day with
is always the kingdom of God and His |
righteousness, we may be sure that all the
necessary funds and wherewithal for His /
work win certainly be forthcoming as |
needed
o. "The glory of this latter house shall
be greater than of the former, saith the |
Lord Of Hosts, and in this place will give
peace, saith the Lord of Hosts" The tenn
pie of Solomon was filed with the glory Of
the Lord, but we do not read that this
temple of the restoration was, or Herod's
temple, though to the latter Christ came
In humiliation and on two occasions
cieansed it, but the temple that Is yet to,
be shall see His glory, and Jerusalem shall;
be called Jehovah h-shammah, the Lord lei
there (Ezek. xiii, 81; Xviii, 85). Chrise
Is now the peace Of every believer (Eph. H.
Il; Rom. ', u. but when he shail kis
upon the throne Of David OF ths. increase /
Of His government and peace there shalll
be no end lisa ix. 9. y.