Kingdom Priority / Haggai 1:1-15

Introduction: Unpacking a Forgotten Prophet

Church, it is so good to see you this week. I hope you’re doing well. If you have been with us for the past two and a half months, we’ve been walking through the book of Exodus. But we are going to take a pause on Exodus. We finished up last week with chapter 15, and we hope to come back to it later in the year. For the next month, we want to crack open another book—one that I am going to guess many in this room may not be super familiar with. It is a prophetic book toward the end of your Old Testament, and I want to invite you to turn with me to the book of Haggai.

Now, some of you are thinking, “Excuse you. Bless you.” No, that’s not a sneeze; that’s Haggai! If you’re looking for it, it’s tucked in the back. You have to be careful—it’s a tiny book. It is usually that book with real clean, white pages stuck together in the back of your Bible because it has rarely been opened. But I love this book. I have had the privilege of teaching it in several other churches, but I’ve never been able to teach it here. So I am excited this next month to spend our time diving into it.

The book of Haggai is all about the issue of kingdom priority. It is going to show us what it means to live for God’s kingdom wholeheartedly, with everything that we have, and with the time we have left on this earth. Even though it is a small book—only two chapters and thirty-eight verses—and even though it was written over twenty-six hundred years ago, I believe if we really dig into it and allow it, it will point us directly to Jesus. It will recalibrate our hearts and our very lives so that we might live unto Him for His glory.

The Story Behind the Rebuilding

In order to understand this little book, we need some background history. Where we find ourselves in Haggai is about eight hundred years after the Exodus. Israel is now a divided kingdom. After leaving Egypt, they moved into the Promised Land and set up shop. David eventually ruled as king, followed by Solomon. When Solomon died, the kingdom split in half into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, right in and surrounding Jerusalem.

Following the Exodus, God gave them the Mosaic Covenant and told them plainly: “I am your God. I bought you; I purchased you. If you decide to forsake Me and run after idols, it’s not going to go well with you. It will only lead to your captivity again.” God called that shot eight hundred years earlier, and that is exactly what happened.

Eight hundred years later, this divided kingdom began running after idols. Sure enough, in 722 BC, the Assyrians swept in, knocked out the Northern Kingdom, and took them captive. Judah and Jerusalem remained for a time, but about a hundred and thirty years later, in 586 BC, the Babylonians arrived, having defeated Assyria. They conquered the Southern Kingdom of Judah and absolutely ransacked Jerusalem. They took Solomon’s glorious temple and reduced it to rubble. They destroyed everything—it was right after this that they lost the Ark of the Covenant, never to recover it. Then they hauled the people nine hundred miles away into captivity.

Think about that. That is the equivalent of a foreign army marching into Fresno County and marching everyone all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico. God help us if we had to live out there! They held them nine hundred miles away in Babylon for fifty years. They were captives once again, unable to worship God freely. Less than a thousand years after the Exodus from Egypt, they were right back in chains.

Then, fifty years later, Persia came in and conquered the Babylonians. It was like a giant game of king of the hill. But Persia was far more religiously tolerant. They said, “We have no problem with you worshiping your God. You are free to go back to Jerusalem. We will still rule over you, but you can return.” They received freedom to walk those nine hundred miles back home and rebuild what had been lost fifty years earlier.

Out of all the Jews in captivity, only about 50,000 took up the offer to return. The vast majority chose to stay; they had acclimated to Persian culture and thought, “This seems pretty good, so we’ll just stay here.” If you want to read about those who stayed, read the book of Esther. But the 50,000 who returned came back to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding three major areas of life:

• The prophets Haggai and Zechariah focus on the rebuilding of the temple.
• The book of Nehemiah focuses on the rebuilding of the city and its walls.
• The book of Ezra focuses on the rebuilding of the people.

When they arrived, the first priority was the temple. The temple represented the name and fame of God. For fifty years, God’s house had been in ruins. Rebuilding it was priority number one so that God’s name would be exalted. They went to work and laid the foundation—the very foundation that King Herod would later expand.

But as soon as the foundation was in place, the neighboring Samaritans began persecuting them. They did not want the Jews rebuilding, so they wrote letters to the king of Persia, warning, “These people serve only one God. If they rebuild this temple, they will revolt against you. You must stop them, and if you don’t, we will.”

The book of Ezra tells us that Israel grew afraid. Persecution set in, life became difficult, and they stopped building. They turned away from building God’s house, abandoned it, and started building their own houses instead. For the next fifteen years, they poured their energy into constructing fine homes all around Jerusalem, while God’s temple lay in ruins.

The Four Messages of Haggai

That is the exact scene into which Haggai steps. God sends the prophet Haggai with four distinct messages for the people, and that is how we will divide our next four weeks:

1. Kingdom Priority: God did not redeem you so you could build your own kingdom; He freed you so you would invest in His.
2. Kingdom Perspective: Speaking to the older generation who remembered Solomon’s glorious temple and were stuck looking in the rearview mirror, pleading with them to move forward in faith.
3. Kingdom Purity: Reminding them that the work they are called to must be done in holiness and reverence before God.
4. Kingdom Promise: A message of hope declaring that this physical structure points to an eternal reality—to the Messiah who would ransom His people through His own blood.

Today, we dive into the first message: kingdom priority.

“Is It Time?” — Calling Out the Excuse

After fifteen years of silence and neglected work, Haggai arrives.

Haggai 1:1 (NASB)

In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,

Verse one gives us precise details that are easy to skim over. We are told this took place in the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month. With many biblical books, we have general date ranges, but Haggai gives us the exact day: August 29, 520 BC.

We also meet the two key leaders: Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua, the high priest. Zerubbabel is the political leader. Before the captivity, his family was in line for the throne of Judah. Now, sixty years later, he is not a king under Persian rule, but a governor. If you read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, Zerubbabel is right there in the lineage of the Messiah. Alongside him is Joshua, the spiritual leader who mediates between God and the people.

In verse two, the Lord reveals His perspective on their fifteen-year excuse.

Haggai 1:2 (NASB)

’Thus says the LORD of hosts, ’This people says, ‘The time has not come, [even] the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.’‘’

Notice what God calls them. He doesn’t say, “My people” or “My beloved.” He says, “These people.”

This happens in my house about six out of seven days. I’ll walk in from work, and my wife will be standing there with our youngest daughter, saying, “Do you know what your daughter did?” Whenever my name is left alone in the parenting equation, it’s a tip-off that something rebellious happened! God does the same thing here: “These people say the time has not yet come.”

Ezra tells us that because of Samaritan opposition, kingdom work had become hard. The Jews were mocked and threatened, so they quit. Their interpretation of suffering was, “Well, it must not be God’s will. God wants me to be happy and comfortable. If it’s this difficult, it must not be the right time. We’ll just wait fifteen years for things to calm down.”

Look at how the Lord responds in verses three and four.

Haggai 1:3-4 (NASB)

Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ‘Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house [lies] desolate?’

Notice the thick divine sarcasm. “Oh, so it’s not time to rebuild My house, but it is plenty of time for you to live in paneled houses while My house lies in ruins?”

God is not anti-house. He didn’t expect them to sleep out in the open fields while working on the temple. The key word is paneled. Verse eight reveals that this paneling was wood—specifically cedar.

To a Jewish reader, that detail immediately jumps off the page. Israel is not a woodworking culture; it is a stone-building culture. Stone is everywhere. Even today in Jerusalem, city regulations require buildings near the Temple Mount to use local white limestone. The only native trees are small acacia bushes. To get cedar paneling, you had to travel all the way north across the border into Phoenicia and Lebanon. You had to expend massive amounts of labor, time, and financial resources to cut it down, transport it nine hundred miles, and fashion it into your home.

God is saying: “You have spent countless hours, boundless energy, and vast resources tricking out your own homes to protect your comfort and build your temporary kingdom. Meanwhile, My house—which represents an eternal kingdom—lies in shambles, making My name a laughingstock among the nations.”

The Root Issue: An Idol of the Heart

Let me call a timeout for clarity. God is not condemning wealth here, nor is He condemning having nice things. Scripture never condemns wealth itself; it condemns the love of wealth.

1 Timothy 6:10 (NASB)

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

In the church, we must avoid two equal errors. We do not preach a prosperity gospel that claims coming to Jesus will make you wealthy and physically comfortable. Nor do we preach a poverty gospel that claims holiness means being homeless, naked, and eating locusts like John the Baptist.

This is not a wealth issue, nor is it a time issue. They all had the same fifteen years. And it is certainly not a laziness issue. People often complain about younger generations, saying millennials or young people are lazy and undisciplined. After fifteen years in college ministry, I can tell you the issue is rarely a lack of discipline. The issue is that people are disciplined in the wrong areas. They are committed to the wrong things.

The issue in Haggai 1 is priority, and priority is always a matter of the heart.

Matthew 6:21 (NASB)

for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What our hands do is always driven by what our hearts love. God was telling His people: “You care more about your name than My name. You are more invested in your kingdom than Mine. I redeemed you and brought you out of captivity for far more than this.”

Sowing Much, Reaping Little: The Discipline of God

In verse five, God calls a timeout and invites them to evaluate their lives. “Let’s take an assessment. How has your self-focused living worked out for you over the last fifteen years?”

Haggai 1:6 (NASB)

‘You have sown much, but harvest little; [you] eat, but [there is] not [enough] to be satisfied; [you] drink, but [there is] not [enough] to become drunk; [you] put on clothing, but no one is warm [enough]; and he who earns, earns wages [to put] into a purse with holes.’

He points to their daily existence: “You planted crops with high expectations, but harvested almost nothing. The wheat crop failed to feed you, the vineyards failed to satisfy you, and the flax failed to clothe you. You put your hard-earned wages into pockets full of holes.”

Why did their efforts yield so little? God gives the answer in verse nine.

Haggai 1:9 (NASB)

‘[You] look for much, but behold, [it comes] to little; when you bring [it] home, I blow it [away]. Why?’ declares the LORD of hosts, ’Because of My house which [lies] desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.

God says, “You looked for much, and when you brought it home, I blew it away.”

Who blew it away? God did. God Himself stood behind their frustration. Why? Because His house lay in ruins while every one of them ran to care for their own house. While they were entirely committed to themselves, God was committed to frustrating their self-centered pursuits.

Now, another theological clarification is necessary: not all suffering is the direct result of personal sin. When tragedy strikes, our fallen human tendency is to ask, “What did I do wrong? Is God punishing me?”

Jesus answered that exact mindset when asked about the man born blind. Biblically, suffering enters our lives through three avenues:

1. Sometimes, our own sinful choices bring painful collateral consequences, and God uses it as loving discipline.
2. Sometimes, we suffer because of the sins of others against us.
3. Most often, we suffer simply because we live in a Genesis 3 fallen world where bodies break down, disease strikes, and tragedy occurs.

In Haggai’s day, however, their suffering was directly tied to covenant disobedience. A thousand years earlier in Deuteronomy 28, God explicitly warned Israel that if they turned to idols, the heavens would become like brass and the rains would be withheld.

Haggai 1:10-11 (NASB)

’Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. ‘I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.’

God orchestrated a drought across the entire land because, like a faithful Father, He refuses to let His children drift into the delusion that life revolves around themselves. He disciplines them to lead them back to repentance.

Simply put: the worst thing you can do with your life is to be totally consumed with your own life.

That sounds like an oxymoron in a culture obsessed with the American Dream and the pursuit of personal happiness. But God’s economy is entirely upside down from the world’s thinking.

Mark 8:35-36 (NASB)

’For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ’For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

C. S. Lewis captured this wonderfully in The Weight of Glory:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

God tells Israel to consider their ways. Chasing self at the expense of His kingdom is like chasing the wind. Our greatest joy is found in Him, never apart from Him.

The Call to Repentance

What do you do when you find yourself in this dry, famished place—when your tether to the Lord has lengthened and you are exhausted from building your own kingdom?

The Lord gives the answer in verse eight.

Haggai 1:8 (NASB)

‘Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,’ says the LORD.

God says, “Go back to the hills of Lebanon, bring down the timber, and build My house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.”

He calls them to take the exact same energy, time, and resources they had poured into their own paneled homes and direct them toward His kingdom. That is what the Bible calls repentance. Repentance is realizing the futility of your direction, doing a complete 180-degree turn, and walking toward God.

Matthew 6:33 (NASB)

’But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Look at how the people respond in verse twelve.

Haggai 1:12 (NASB)

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the LORD.

Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the entire remnant of 50,000 people obeyed the voice of the Lord. That is nationwide repentance!

Notice how they obeyed: the people feared the Lord.

Church, do not miss this: the first act of repentance has nothing to do with your hands. Their first response was not grabbing shovels and running to Phoenicia. It was an inward posture of reverence. Because their idolatry began in the heart, repentance had to begin in the heart before it ever reached their hands.

Psalms 51:17 (NASB)

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

The Promise of God’s Presence and Renewed Purpose

The moment their hearts turned back in reverent worship, look at how God responded.

Haggai 1:13 (NASB)

Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, ’‘I am with you,’ declares the LORD.’

The Lord did not bring a list of grievances. He gave a promise: “I am with you.”

The moment your heart turns toward Him in repentance, God promises His abiding presence. That same promise frames the Great Commission.

Matthew 28:18-20 (NASB)

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ’All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’

Once the heart was secured, the hands were ready to follow.

Haggai 1:14-15 (NASB)

So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

The Lord stirred up the spirit of the leaders and the people. Motivated by grace, they returned to work on the house of the Lord on the twenty-fourth day of the month—just twenty-four days after Haggai first spoke. In less than a month, God completely transformed the hearts and trajectory of His people.

Living with Kingdom Priority

Why is this message recorded for us today?

As a church, we are building something right now, and it is far greater than any physical structure. Scripture tells us in the book of Acts that God does not dwell in temples made by human hands. We are building a spiritual house. God has redeemed us from the captivity of our sin through Jesus Christ, freeing us not to live for ourselves, but to invest in His eternal kingdom—to herald the gospel and build up the body of Christ.

Do you see the gospel in this story? Israel turned to idols and ended up in captivity. In due time, God’s grace intervened, redeemed them, and called them to serve the King who liberated them. That is our story. In Christ, we have been set free from our addictions, our selfishness, and our sin so that we might live for His eternal glory.

If you recognize kingdom drift in your own life today—if you realize you have been consumed with building your own kingdom while neglecting God’s—here are four practical steps:

1. Examine your heart: Take an honest look at your time, motives, and pursuits.
2. Repent inwardly: Address the worship of your heart before rushing into external activity.
3. Receive His grace: Rest in the promise that your Father welcomes you with open arms and pledges His presence.
4. Get to work: Let your hands follow your heart as you invest your life in the kingdom of God.

We were saved for something far greater than our own comfort. Let’s pray together toward that end.

Father, thank You for this message delivered through Haggai twenty-six hundred years ago that speaks straight into our lives today. I confess that on any given day, I am prone to kingdom drift. I am tempted to build my own name, my own comfort, and my own kingdom at the expense of Your glory and the spread of the gospel.

Lord, wherever we have drifted, use Your Word by the Holy Spirit to recalibrate our hearts. Remind us that the time we have left belongs to You. Give us hearts of genuine repentance and hands that follow in joyful obedience, all for the glory of Your great name. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.