Fri.’s Devo - Rebuilding the Temple

Read: Haggai 1;1-2:23; Revelation 11:1-19; Psalm 139:1-24; Proverbs 30:15-16
Haggai prophesied during the time when Judah was in exile in Babylon which had been taken over by the Persians. King Darius, the Persian king had given Ezra permission and funds to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. They had gone back and begun rebuilding the temple but had come against great opposition by Sanballat and his friends, so they had stopped building. Instead, they started concentrating on building their own houses. God was explaining to them that the reason why they are working so hard and getting so little in return is that they have it backwards. If they would complete His Temple first then He would help them build their own houses with his blessing.
Surprisingly, the people headed Haggai’s prophesies and repented and obeyed. Zerubbabel, the governor or Jerusalem and Joshua, the son of the high priest, Jehozadak were stirred by the words of Haggai and they stirred up the people to being building again.
Haggai came back to encourage them that although the new temple looked nothing like the old grand one, they were doing the Lord’s will. It wasn’t the physical temple that was so important, it was the fact that he was going to fill this temple with his Holy Spirit and that would make the temple great. From the day that they put in the foundation to build the temple God started blessing them personally. Next, God was going to shatter the kingdoms that oppressed them and set them free. He would use Zerubbabel from the tribe of Judah to do this. Zerubbabel was a type of Jesus who would one day shatter every kingdom and bring God’s kingdom to earth.
In Revelation, we read that during the Tribulation, the temple of Jerusalem will be given back to the Jews for a time. Then the ungodly Gentiles will take it over. God will raise up two extraordinary witnesses just like Zerubbabel and Joshua were in their day. These two will be his witnesses and do miraculous things like the ones that Moses and Elijah did. They will be martyred and their bodies left unburied to be gawked at and their death celebrated. After three and a half days, they will come back to life and ascend to the heavens while the world looks on.
These two witnesses are all throughout the Bible. We see them in Enoch and Elijah, the two angels that met Abraham on their way to destroy Sodom, the two angels on the ark of the covenant, the two angels that came to tell Mary that she would bear the Messiah in her womb, and Gabriel and Michael. The Bible is layered so one thing stands for many things. We will understand more and more as we get closer to the day.
After the two witnesses are resurrected God will immediately send an earthquake where 7,000 will be killed. The survivors will have the fear of God fall on them. This is the second woe.
The seventh trumpet sounds and we get a glimpse of what is going on in heaven. The 24 elders fall on their faces worshipping God giving thanks for God’s victory over His enemies on the earth. They are thankful that now God is taking over the earth. Then God’s temple in heaven is opened and the glory of his tabernacle is seen.
Lord give us clarity as to what we are to be doing today. Help us to be fruitful in your work.