Sermon Tone Analysis

! *From the Prophets to the Return of the Exiles*

*/In Biblical history, what was the exile?/*

·         Judah defeated in 586 BC by the Babylonians

·         Relocated in a foreign country

*/Why did the exile occur?/*

*/When did the exile end?/*

·         Persian Empire defeated the Babylonians in 538 BC.

·         Began to allow the Jews to return.

·         The three prophets who ministered to the returning Jews were Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

·         Our study today focuses on Haggai.

·         50,000 people returned from Babylon to Judah.

·         They settled near Jerusalem.

·         The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah describe the return and early days back in the Promised Land.

When the Jewish people first returned to their land

·         The once fertile lands were ruined.

·         They faced a series of natural disasters

 

Key verses from Haggai’s first sermon in the summer of 520 BC: \\ *Haggai 1:5 - 6 (NIV) \\ *5Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

6You have planted much, but have harvested little.

You eat, but never have enough.

You drink, but never have your fill.

You put on clothes, but are not warm.

You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

\\ *Haggai 1:9 (NIV) \\ *9“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little.

What you brought home, I blew away.

Why?” declares the LORD Almighty.

“Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.

*Haggai 1:14 (NIV) \\ *14So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people.

They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God,

\\ *Haggai 2:1-3*

1On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 2“Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people.

Ask them, 3‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory?

How does it look to you now?

Does it not seem to you like nothing?

*/When did Haggai give his second message?/*

October of 520 BC - the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, 11 days after the Day of Atonement.

*/What did the Temple represent to God’s people?/*

·         The promise of God’s presence.

·         Gave honor to God.

·         A place to worship God.

·         A reminder that God was to be the center of attention.

(Optional – have someone read Jeremiah 5:1-11) \\ \\

*/What segment of the returning exiles would remember what the former Temple looked like?/*

The work on the new Temple had only been going on for a month.

Ezra 3:12 shows a similar reaction.

*/ /*

 

! *Haggai 2:4-7*

4But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD.

‘Be strong, O Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work.

For I am with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty.

5‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt.

And my Spirit remains among you.

Do not fear.’

6“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

7I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.

*/In verse 4, a command is repeated three times.

What is that command?/*

*/What other command is given in verse 4?/*

*/What promise is offered from the Lord to enable the people to “be strong” and “work”?/*

*/Compare Haggai 2:7 with Hebrews 12:26./*

*/What is meant by “the desired of all nations”?/*

! *Haggai 2:8-9*

 8‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty.

9‘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 Almighty.”

*/What are some things that come to mind when you think of “God’s glory”, and “God’s peace”./*

*/ /*

*/Key words./*

*/·         /*Exile

*/·         /*Remnant

*/·         /*Temple

*/·         /*Restoration

*/·         /*Peace

*/·         /*Future Hope

*/ /*

*/One way that God’s grace is experienced is through restoration.

What are some of the things that God restores?/*

*/Why do we need the Lord to give us courage to do His work?/*

 

(Dividing into groups)

*/How can we go about putting God first in our families?/*

*/How can we go about putting God first in our community?/*

*/How can we go about putting God first in our country?/*

*/What difference could this make in out world?/*

 

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word?

What more can He say than to you He hath said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

\\ Optional passages

*Jeremiah 5:1-11 (NIV) \\ *1                      “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem,

       look around and consider,

       search through her squares.

If you can find but one person

       who deals honestly and seeks the truth,

       I will forgive this city.

2        Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’

       still they are swearing falsely.”

3        O LORD, do not your eyes look for truth?

You struck them, but they felt no pain;

       you crushed them, but they refused correction.

They made their faces harder than stone

       and refused to repent.

4        I thought, “These are only the poor;

       they are foolish,

     for they do not know the way of the LORD,

       the requirements of their God.