What Are You Attending to? Part II
Chapter 2:1 This begins the second oracle
Verse 3 The Lord is asking if there is any one old enough to remember what the Temple used to look like.
• But of course, it is nothing now because the people don’t have the resources they did with the first Temple.
Verse 4 The Lord again encourages them. He just needed them to see and admit there was a problem.
• In the midst of the struggle they will face, to finish the Temple, and still live life, the Lord will strengthen and encourage them with His spirit.
Verse 5 The Lord also reminds them of the Covenant He made with them when they came out of Egypt.
• The Lord is saying, just because things have been difficult does not mean that I have left you.
• The Lord ends this by saying do not fear! The people needed to be courageous.
Verse 6 In answer to the problem that the new Temple is too small and doesn’t measure up God begins to answer. He will begin a shaking in the heavens and on earth.
Verse 7 The Lord is also reminding them that He is Lord over all nations and that all nations will be a part of the future kingdom.
• So, if the people remain strong and work, the Lord will pay for it.
o He will shake the nations, and they will bring the wealth and resources to pay for the Temple.
o Ezra 6:8 tells us that the Lord uses the wealth of the Persians to rebuild the Temple in that era.
• This is also a dual fulfillment passage. In their day, in Christ, in the future Kingdom, and first fruits now.
Verse 8 He then reminds the people all the wealth, all they the things that value, are already His.
Verse 9 Then the Lord promises that the glory of this house will be greater than the former Temple.
• This is also a prophetic statement about the future kingdom and even the coming of Jesus.
Verse 11 The Lord is now dealing with an issue that was a spiritual one involving the priests’ leadership.
Verse 12 This is a question about whether or not sanctity, consecration, is transferable.
• But there is no biblical evidence of such regulations regarding meat.
o The Lord appears to be calling into question a Jewish tradition.
Verse 13 This is a biblical issue as seen in the books of Leviticus and Numbers.
Verse 14 The Lord now makes an accusation to the people. What they do and what the offer, is defiled.
• They were paying more attention to their own traditions, than they were to God’s law.
Verse 15 The Lord is restoring their ability to worship and be made right before the Lord.
Verses 16-17 The Lord is reminding them that the difficulties they were facing were Him.
Verses 18-19 These two verses are a promise. He is reminding them that they have little right now.
• Now that that have repented and turned back to His ways, the blessings are going to start coming.
• The Lord wants them to pay attention to this so they preserve a witness.
