THE REWARD - Haggai 2: 18-19

THE REWARD

“From This Day Forward I will bless you”

Hag. 2: 18-19

SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2016, the Year of Our Lord

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

This past week I felt the Holy Spirit quicken to me the global shakings simultaneously appearing in the world.   There was the upheaval in Europe by the U.K. of the “British exit” (Brexit) from the European Union.  The referendum by the British voters riled global markets, including currencies, causing the British pound to fall to its lowest level in decades.  Prime Minister David Cameron, who supported the UK remaining in the EU, announced he would step down in October.  In this past week alone were 5 major floods including London; (2) Fires, (3) Famine, (4) Plague, (5) Sword, (6) Pestilence and (7) Wild Beasts.

We have been studying Haggai for the past month applying these scriptures to the present global shaking.  This past Tuesday, Prophetess Andrea McDougal also spoke of the prophet Haggai’s vision as a prophetic picture of this present time.  

Her scripture reference was Hag. 2:3: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

“This revelatory understanding of the end time was given to the prophet Haggai over 2,500 years ago.  As a messenger of the Lord, a window in the spirit was opened enough for Haggai to peer straight into the realm of the eternal Spirit.  In this vision Haggai was able to see the day and time when God would create a people for His name and pleasure---a glorious church who would show forth the stability and permanency of the Lord’s unwavering Kingdom.” (Carolyn Sissom – sermon notes 6/20/2010)

Hag. 2:18: “From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid.  Consider it.”

Following this statement, the prophet begins to announce the promised reward of Jehovah’s immediate blessings.  From “this day” they were to consider backward to the moment when the foundation of the sanctuary was laid.

The word “consider” used five times in this book reveals the principle of grace.  Only God can empower us to set our hearts back on His primary vision.  The consistent theme and message of Haggai is that the house of the Lord is to be built and finished.  In this ancient Messianic prophecy, the Lord Jesus Christ is portrayed as:

1. The Father’s house and temple (Col. 1:19; 2:9).
2. The altar of burnt offerings (Heb. 13:10).
3. The sure foundation 91 Cor. 3:11).

Over two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ defeated sin and Satan.  Jesus passed through the heavenlies and ascended His throne.  The Word forever settled in heaven is humanity’s new altar and sure foundation!  Since Jesus Christ’s exaltation, the full purpose and work of God has been postponed, not for fifteen years, but two millennia!  The Dark Ages have come and gone.  Though the Protestant Reformation began to restore the years (Joel 2:25), His house is still not finished.  The Church, which is His Body, is still maturing into that Glorious overcoming church.

We hear the words of this prophet.  The Holy Spirit has brought these words to life.  Are we those who can revive and carry the divine scheme, the holy enterprise, that the glory of God will cover the whole earth?  Let us go up to the mountain and bring wood (Hag. 1:8). Let us build and become the habitation of unshakeable peace and glory. 

Haggai was a brave preacher.  The seed was in the soil, not the barn.  In the middle of winter, no one would have dared to forecast the quality of next year’s harvest…no one except a real prophet.  The harvest had failed.  Up till now, the seed had been consumed or used for sowing. The prophet’s words had convinced the remnant to bring their offerings back into God’s house.  Haggai’s congregation had repaired the altar and repositioned their hearts; they were about to inherit the reward.

Hag. 2:19: “Is there any seed left in the barn? Until now the vine, and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.  “FROM THIS DAY ON I WILL BLESS YOU.”

Seed time is harvest time.  Haggai’s whole prophecy anticipates a global ingathering.  There can be no harvest while the seed is “yet in the barn.”  The American Church must repent.  We must look again to our example.  Jesus Christ is the Seed that left the “barn”---the bosom of the Father---and was planted in the earth (Jn. 1:14, 14).  The Messiah is the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, and the Seed of David.  The Bible is the story of the Word, the Seed:

1. The Seed comes ---Genesis to Malachi (Gen. 3:15)
2. The Seed dies---Matthew to John (Jn. 12:24)
3. The Seed lives---the Book of Acts (Acts 2:24)
4. The Seed speaks---Romans to Jude (Heb. 1:1)
5. The Seed reigns ---The Book of Revelation (Rev. 11:15).

The Feast of Tabernacles will be a street revival.  Just as we are seeing the spirit of anti-Christ riot in our streets, the members of the Church, the seed of the Kingdom will go into the streets to minister resurrection life.

The Body of Christ lays waste while the American Church builds bigger barns.  We must declare Jesus Christ is Lord of all in the heavenlies as a witness to principalities and powers by means of prophetic worship and intercession.  It must be preached in the darkest corners of the earth by means of Kingdom evangelism.  We have been commanded and commissioned to replicate His word and ministry of reconciliation, not just to prophesy to each other.

Jesus Christ shall see His Seed, the travail of His soul (Jn. 17: 20-24) conform to His image.  This was the joy set before Him.  The Father glorified His name in Jesus Christ.  He will do it again in the house of enduring peace (Jn. 12:28).  As mature ambassadors of the New Covenant, His sons have been apprehended to reproduce His name and nature.

Until now, Jehovah’s vine, like Jerusalem’s unfinished temple has laid waste.  The restored Church, the Body of Christ, the house of the Lord, is designated by the prophet to be the Lord’s:

1. Vine.
2. Fig tree.
3. Pomegranate.
4. Olive tree

First the restored Church is His vine.  The grapes were gathered with shouts of joy, put into baskets, and carried to the winepress.  Jesus Christ is the true Vine.  The new wine is found in the cluster of His Body. 

Zech. 8:12: “The seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit…”

Second the restored Church is his fig tree.  Yes, I know the fig  is an emblem of God’s Holy nation, Israel.  The Kingdom of God, the Church, inclusive of redeemed Israel is now the Lord’s Holy nation.  The fig tree’s blossoms appear before the leaves.  Until the Church participates in the vision of completing His House, our figs will fall from the tree.  We must be transformed from being “naughty figs” to His “first ripe” figs. 

Mic. 4:4: “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it.”

Third, the restored Church is His pomegranate.  It is a tall bush rather than a tree.  Its foliage is dark green with crimson flowers; its fruit is red when ripe.  God’s remnant are the upright, the righteous, filled with His life and rising up to serve His purpose.

As the pomegranate, we are:

1. Priests marked by the fruit of the Spirit.
2. The first fruit of His land.
3. Ornaments which beautify His temple.
4. Those who have the mind of Christ (So. 4:3)
5. The people of His pleasure (So. 4:13).
6.  Those who drink the wine of His Kingdom (so. 8:2).

So. 7:12: “Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appears, and the pomegranates bud…”

Fourth, the restored Church is his olive tree. Emblematic of God’s people, the olive tree provides a picture if vigor, strength, and prosperity.

The berry of the olive tree was pressed to yield illuminating oil, a symbol for the Holy Spirit.  The remnant church is a Spirit-filled people of prayer and praise.  We have gone to Gethsemane, which means “olive-press.”  Those who have surrendered to do the will of the Father are:

1. Messengers of peace and good news.
2. Anointed according to divine pattern.
3. Living ones who trust the Lord.
4. The children at His table.
5. A people of beauty and glory.
6. Sons of oil.

“From this Day I will bless you.”  Jehovah foreordained this providence for His people.  He is a faithful God, willing to forgive.  Haggai’s prophecy, like a legal document, was dated.  From “this day,” the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, 520 B.C., God will bless Judah! 

God’s church will be brought from the barn and raised up to live in His sight, partakers of resurrection life.  The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now quickens a people for His name.  Like John, we have been carried away in Spirit to behold the Bride, the Lamb’s wife. 

The remnant repaired the altar and offered the Lord their whole heart that His house might be completed.  Judah had been restored as His vine and pomegranate, His fig and olive trees. 

The remnant knelt before their Maker, realigned to receive His word and will.  Haggai’s word changed their heart.  The manifest presence of the Lord was with His people.  He had turned to show them pity and mercy, and fill His house with glory and peace.  From the day we give Him our whole heart, He will bless us. (Deut 15:10).

Mal. 3:10: “…I will…throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

The altar (heart) repair had produced obedience’s reward.  The purity of unshakeable peace is expressed in whole-hearted devotion to the Lord.  At His feet lay dismantled thrones and every other crown.  The throne of the United Kingdom just fell this week.

 Pure worshipers who allow Him to fully cleanse His temple will be given the right to share His authority and wear His ring.

The Lord is moving across the “Word/kosmos” with a scourge of small cords in His hand (Jn. 2:15).  We are in the day of overturning.  He will remove out of His Kingdom all things that offend.  He is purging our souls of all things by which we are offended. 

The Head of the House, the Lord of the harvest, the Host of the Feast is tipping the tables again.

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries Church

www.eastgateministries.com

Scripture from NIV and KJV.  I entered into the labors of Kelly Varner (1949-2009) – Unshakeable Peace----Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Rev. Varner.