As the people of God returned to building the temple, a critical error crept in: they began to believe that because they were building something holy, it made them holy and entitled to God’s blessings. God had to correct their theological misunderstandings. For a third time He sent the prophet Haggai, this time to teach them that building holy temples does not make holy hearts and holy hands. First they had to humbly render their hearts to the Lord before they render their hands to His work. In this study we learn that only the gospel liberates us from the error of work’s-based righteousness, moving us toward grace-fuelled obedience. Haggai provides us with two illustrations and three applications:
Illustration 1: Holiness is not contagious (vv. 10-12)
Illustration 2: Evil is contagious (v. 13)
Application 1: God calls us to confess (v. 14)
Application2: God calls us to consider (vv. 15-17)
Application 3: God calls us to commit (vv. 18-19)