The Holy and the Defiled
Haggai 2:10-14
18th September 2020
Three days after Haggai's fourth prophecy, he brought his fifth. It begins, unusually, as a dialogue:
Haggai 2v10-14
On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word
of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai:
"This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Ask the priests what the law says:
If a person carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and that fold
touches some bread or stew, some wine, olive oil or other food, does it become
consecrated?'"
The priests answered, "No."
Then Haggai said, "If a person defiled by contact with a dead body touches one of
these things, does it become defiled?"
"Yes," the priests replied, "it becomes defiled."
Then Haggai said, "'So it is with this people and this nation in my sight,' declares
the Lord. 'Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled.'"
All Haggai's prophecies are challenging, but the others are at least easy to understand. This one is more obscure. I think what it means is this:
- If a holy thing touches an unholy thing, it doesn't make the unholy thing holy.
- If an unholy thing touches a holy thing, it does make the holy thing unholy.
Since all Haggai's prophecies relate to God's instruction to His people to get on with the job of building the new temple, we can reasonably assume this prophecy is also about that. I think God is saying that the existence of His temple in Jerusalem, in the midst of His people, doesn't make them holy, but their attitude, laziness and procrastination makes the temple unholy.
If an unholy people attend a holy building, the building doesn't make them holy, it makes the building unholy.
In the same way, if sinful Christians meet together as church - the New Testament temple - their meeting does not make them holy. Instead, their sin makes their meeting unholy.
As the Lord says through the prophet Haggai, "So it is with this people and this nation in my sight. Whatever they do and whatever they offer there is defiled."
Although this prophecy is difficult to understand, it's very important for us. We Christians should get our hearts and lives right before we meet together as church. We need to repent of our bad attitudes and, in particular, our laziness, procrastination and love of comfort and safety. These negative attitudes defile us.
We must return wholeheartedly to the work of rebuilding God's house. That is our purpose in life.