Now let's turn our attention
to the book of Haggai chapter 2. Haggai or Haggai or however you
want to pronounce it. Either way would be fine, but
it means the same thing. It means festive or festival
of the Lord. But chapter 2. I've entitled
this message, The Desire of All Nations. the desire of all nations
and I took that title from verse seven where the Lord in a blessed
promise reminds Haggai and the people of of Judah to whom he's
prophesying he said I will shake all nations and the desire of
all nations shall come the desire of all nations now Let's begin
reading in verse 1. As you know, right here, they
had gotten back to their homeland and they had begun to do work
upon the temple. They laid the foundation, we
read about that in Ezra chapter 3, and then because they were
so disappointed, they stopped and they left it They left it
alone for 15 to 16 months, and then Haggai came with that first
message, called them to repentance, and they began to rebuild the
temple again. And then here it is a month later,
in verse 1, it says, In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth
day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai,
saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor
of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedek, the high priest,
and to the residue of the people saying, who is left among you
that saw this house in her first glory?" Referring to the Temple
of Solomon, that beautiful, grandiose, majestic building that's Solomon,
and it must have been something to see. And he says, who's left
among you? that saw the temple of the Lord
in its first glory. And how do you see it now? Now, I think that's something
you ought to underscore in your Bible. How do you see it now? Because that's the question of
questions concerning this issue of the glory of God and the salvation
of sinners. That's what that temple stood
for now. How do you see it now? You know, it's common for people
today that when you talk about salvation, or if someone is saved,
to reach back into their past, sometimes way back into their
past when they were young, and as they would say, make a decision
for Jesus, or walk an aisle and get baptized. And that's not
the issue of salvation. That's not salvation. I know
where to publicly confess Christ. The New Testament way is through
believer's baptism. That's the first public confession
and identification with Christ. But the question of questions
for any of us about salvation and about our relationship with
Jesus Christ is how do we see it now? That's the issue, today. Am I looking to Christ today? Is he my hope today? Is he my
solid rock today? Is he my foundation, my heart,
my head today? That's the issue. So you can
think about days of yore and bask in them and smile and all
of that, but how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in
comparison as nothing? Now he's identifying their assessment
of things. They're building. Here it is
a month later. Remember, the work on the temple
had stopped, they were stirred back up to start building again,
and here it is a month later and it's stopped again. Why?
Because they became so discouraged over the look of it, the sight
of it. The present temple, this what
they were building today in their day, it just seems so plain and
so small compared to the beauty and greatness of Solomon's temple. Remember that's what we read
back here in verse 12 of Ezra chapter 3. Many of the priests
and the Levites and the chief of the fathers who were ancient
men that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house
was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. They wept
with a loud voice. Remember last time I told you
in light of Haggai's name that this should have been such a
festive occasion. They should have been so eager
to build the temple as they were commanded by God, but they weren't. They were so discouraged. They,
as one old writer said, one of the old inspired writers said,
don't despise the day of small things. They despised the day
of small things. That's what they were doing.
And you know one thing, you know, back in chapter one, when Haggai
preached that message and they were brought to repentance, this
kind of shows that their repentance was not a true Holy Spirit heart
conviction. It was a legal repentance. That
is, just a repentance of natural conscience. A sinner feeling
bad, so to speak, and changing his outward behavior. But, you
see, only God can change the heart. And that shows you one
thing about legal repentance. It can only last so long. Here,
it didn't even last a month in some of them. And they wept for
the days of yore. I've often heard people talk
about in reading the Old Testament, they'll go back to things like
the parting of the Red Sea and say, oh, if we could just see
the Red Sea parted, wouldn't that be glorious? Or they'll
go back to the days when God rained fire and brimstone down
on Sodom and Gomorrah. Oh, if we could just see God's
judgment against sin in that way, wouldn't that be glorious?
Or they want to go back to some day of some great miracle. Well,
my friend, do you realize that we're living in the most glorious
time of the church that ever was? You know why? Because the
Lord Jesus Christ has come and done his great work on the cross
of Calvary. We live in the days looking back
to the center, the heart, the crux of redemptive history. Christ
has come in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son. We have the completed, fulfilled
Word of God right here in our hands. Do you realize that? Do
you know that's better than the Red Sea? If you stood on the
banks of the Red Sea and watched that water split in two, this
right here, what we have, in the testimony of God, in the
completed revelation concerning the glory of God in Christ, is
much, much better. Peter said it this way, he said,
we have even a more sure word of prophecy, talking about the
scriptures. And I'll never forget when the
Lord, in speaking in that parable of the rich man and Lazarus,
and remember what the rich man said in hell, he lifted up his
eyes and he said, send Lazarus back to warn my brothers so they
won't end up where I am. And he said, if they see one
risen from the dead, they'll believe. And the Lord told him,
he said, though they see one risen from the dead, they still
won't believe. You know what he said? He said,
they have Moses and the prophet. They have the writings of God.
They have the word of God. We have the completed revelation
of God right here. We look back upon the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ, and there's nothing more glorious.
You can build a thousand temples on a thousand hills out of the
whitest marble and the purest gold, and it doesn't even begin
to match the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
and the redemption that He accomplished on Calvary's tree through the
shedding of His blood." If you looked at Christ on the cross,
that was an awful sight. To the physical eye, that was
an awful sight. He was so marred, His visage
was so marred that He didn't even look like a man, the scripture
says. It was not a glorious sight to the physical eye. But that
sight of him on that cross crying, it's finished! So far outshines the glory of
that beautiful temple Solomon built that we can't even describe
it with exponential numbers. And that's not just poetry. In
Christ we see the glory of God. as both a just God and a Savior. God putting away our sins through
the death of His Son. God establishing righteousness. God in human flesh establishing
righteousness whereby a sinner like you and like me can stand
before Him whole and complete and accepted. There's no glory
like that. See, that's the issue. How do
you see it now? There are people today who are looking for them
to rebuild a physical temple. They believe that's God's glory.
My friend Christ is the temple, and His church is His temple.
He said that in Matthew 24, in Mark 13, in Luke 21. He said,
these things will be destroyed. These things that you're... Remember
when the disciple come out and said, Lord, look how beautiful
this is. He said, they're not so beautiful, they're gonna be
destroyed. They're just passing things. That's all they are. How do you see it now? That's
the issue. The gospel message of God's revelation,
the very righteousness of God in Christ, there's nothing more
glorious than that. And here's the thing, folks.
If you're a believer tonight, you've really only seen a small
part of it through a glass darkly. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we shall see him as he is, we'll be made like
him. Look at verse 4. He says now, he says, Yet now
be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord, and be strong, O Joshua,
son of Josedek, the high priest, and be strong, all ye people
of the land, saith the Lord, and work. Now how's a weak, poor,
impotent sinner going to be strong? And I want you to notice again
there how he keeps talking about Zerubbabel, he keeps talking
about Joshua the high priest, and then Haggai is the one, the
prophet doing the speaking. What do we have there? We have
Zerubbabel, the type of Christ, our king. Now again, he wasn't
king of Jerusalem, but he was the governor, and he was from
the tribe of Judah. And so in essence, that scepter
is still going through. God is working His will even
though the nation is under a foreign government at this time. And
that's a time period, you know, when it says the scepter will
not depart from Judah until Shiloh come. So here's the rebbeble. That's Christ our King. He's
a type. And there's Joshua. He's a type
of Christ, our great high priest. And then Haggai the prophet,
he's a type of Christ our prophet. So what's he showing them here?
How do you see it now? This is all about Christ now. I'm not just talking about this
scripture here is all about Christ. I'm talking about what they were
doing back then was to be all about Christ. and they're building
that return to their land and building their temple, all of
that. It was all to be about God's promise made to Abraham,
not to give them a piece of real estate that's going to burn up
in the last days, but to send them a Savior. To send them one
who is God in human flesh, in whom dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. And that's what that temple represented
and typified in all of its grandeur and glory, even to the very center
heart of it. The holiest of all, the holy
of holies. The Ark of the Covenant, the
mercy seat that is not here now, but it's still that temple. And
that's what it is to reflect. And that's what the lesson was
all about. And then the temple of his church. Christ said, upon
this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell will not
prevail against it. So he says, be strong, be strong. How are they going to be strong?
They're not strong. He tells us to be strong, but
we're not strong. We're weak. Paul said even of
his greatest ministers, he said, we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, clay pots. You poke me, I hurt. You do too. We're weak. We're pitiful. So
what does it mean, be strong? Well, here it is. Look at the
last line of verse four. For I am with you, saith the
Lord of hosts. When the Bible tells believers
today to be strong, how does it say it? Be strong in the power
or in the might of the Lord. Our strength is not in ourselves.
Our power is not in ourselves. Our glory is not in ourselves.
Our worthiness is not in ourselves. It's in the Lord, the God of
the covenant, the God of all grace, the God of a great army
that cannot be defeated. Nothing can stop this because
he's the Lord of hosts. Be strong in the power and in
the might of the Lord. You see, the beauty of the temple
is not in the size of it, it's not in the materials of it, it's
not in the physical makeup of it, but the beauty of the temple
is right here. For I am with you, saith the
Lord of hosts, the presence of the Lord, which means His blessing,
His acceptance, His glory, His power on our behalf, all pictured
in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The glory of God in our
redemption. And notice their working here
was to be motivated by a fact already accomplished, not something
that they were earning. Their working was to be motivated
by something that's already accomplished. I'm with you, saith the Lord.
He didn't say, if you don't be strong and if you don't get to
work, I'm not gonna be with you. He said, be strong, be strong,
for I am with you. That's the way it is with God's
work. That's the way it is with God's operations. He doesn't
wait on man to do the work. He doesn't condition his glory
upon man. He's saying, you work, you obey,
because I'm already with you. The gospel is not do and live,
it's live and do. The gospel is salvation based
upon an accomplished work, already finished at the cross by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's already put away my sin.
He's already finished the transgression. He's already established all
the righteousness that God requires of me, I find complete in Him. It's an accomplished fact. Then
look at verse five. He says, according to the word
that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, So my
spirit remaineth among you, fear ye not. The continued presence
of the Lord was not wrapped up in this building they were building.
It was not conditioned on their goodness or their power, but
it was all wrapped up and conditioned upon a promise that God had made
all the way back. fulfilling it in their deliverance
from Egypt. And where did that promise begin?
It didn't even begin in Egypt. With the Hebrew children in Egypt,
it began with Abraham, 400 and some years before them. What
do you have here? You have a picture of the everlasting
covenant of grace. This is where it all comes from.
This is where it all comes to. It's all about Christ and His
glorious person and the glory and power of His finished work
on Calvary to bring forth righteousness by which God justifies His people. That's the conditions of the
covenant that He made with the Father before the world began.
God chose a people and gave them to Christ. God could not save. He could not forgive, He could
not justify or accept or bless any one of those people except
His law and justice be satisfied. And every time a sacrifice was
made in that temple, or every time a sacrifice was made before
that temple, that was the message that was being preached. That's
right. That's why we preach it over
and over again today, you see. You remember when it talked about
the daily sacrifice being cut off or being removed? Well, that daily sacrifice was
twice a day. And it pictured the fact that
God must be just when he justifies the ungodly, that a condition
must be met, his law must be satisfied in precept and penalty,
righteousness has to be established, and it's going to be established
by the Redeemer, the Lamb, the substitute, the surety. And that
message was preached twice a day then, through that sacrifice.
Every time a priest brought an offering, It was based upon that,
preaching out that message. It's all of grace. Look over
at the book of Zechariah. You're right there at it with
Haggai chapter two. Look over at Zechariah chapter
four. Here, the Lord is speaking to
Zerubbabel. Look at verse six. This is a messenger of God, the
angel of the Lord. And it says in verse six of Zechariah
chapter four, listen to this, it says, then he answered and
spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel.
Now you know he's the governor. Haggai is prophesying to Zerubbabel.
Saying, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord
of hosts. In other words, it's not gonna
be by your power or your might, Zerubbabel. This is the spirit
of God. He says in verse 7, Who art thou,
O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof
with shoutings crying, look at his song, grace, grace unto it. It's all of grace. You see that? It's not of, it's not of, See,
this whole thing is not conditioned on the power and the might and
the worthiness and the astuteness of these men. It's all upon Christ. And I'll tell you right now,
if there had not been a promise of a Redeemer, there'd be no
nation, there'd be no world. This world would have been snuffed
out when Adam fell. That's exactly right. Well here
it is, look back at Haggai chapter two, look at verse six, now here's
where it comes down to. This is where he's leading them
to now. Here's the message. This is what ought to stir them
up to rebuild that temple, no matter what it looks like as
far as comparing it to days of yore. And here's what he says,
look at this, see this is promise, now this is the promise. And
he says in verse six, he says, for thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the Lord of that invincible army that cannot be defeated, yet
once it is a little while and I will shake the heavens and
the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all
nations and the desire of all nations shall come. Who is that
desire of all nations? That's Christ. What's God saying
here? I'm gonna send a Redeemer. I'm
gonna send a Messiah. I'm gonna send a Savior. Daniel
spoke about him. I'm talking about him too. All
God's preachers do. And he says, and I will fill
this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver
is mine and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. You're
not given to me. That's what he's saying here.
This is not a matter of you giving God something and he gives you
something back. He said, it's mine. You know,
I hear these preachers today say, well, if you give God this,
he'll give you that. God says, no, sir, that's not the way it
is here. The gold's mine, the silver's mine. The wood that
you make that temple, that's mine. It's already mine. You're
not giving it to me. You don't add anything to God. He says in verse nine, the glory
of this latter house. Now, he's not talking about that
physical temple there. The latter house shall be greater
than of the former. You're disappointed because this
house you're building is not as grandiose as Solomon's temple,
but I'm telling you about a house that's gonna have a greater glory
than anything before it. And he says, saith the Lord of
hosts, and in this place will I give peace. Now that's how
you know he's not talking about that current temple, because
I'm gonna tell you something, there wasn't any peace there. He said, there I will give peace,
saith the Lord of hosts. That's his second message. Now
let me just say this, this is a prophecy of the coming of Christ. That's what that is. The beauty of the temple was
in what it pictured, in whom it pictured. In the coming of
Christ and the salvation of his people, the establishment of
his church, the true spiritual temple of the Lord, which had
a greater glory than anything that ever came before it or anything
that'll ever come after it. He says, I'm gonna shake the
heavens and the earth. I'm gonna shake all nations,
he says, this shaking. Over in verse 21, in his last
message, he talks about shaking. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor
of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth. God's
gonna shake it up. I was listening to Brother Tim
James on this passage, and he talked about being in an earthquake
when he was in Japan, when he was in, I don't know if he was
in the Army or the Navy, one of the two, But he said it shook
him out of his bed. And he said, here's what happens
during this shaking. What it is, is God takes something
that is movable and shakable and not substantive, not hard
and foundational, and he removes it out of the way. And he replaces
it with something that's immovable. A foundation, a rock that cannot
be moved. And he said when he was thrown
out of his bed then he grabbed hold of a tree and he said, then
the tree started shaking. He said, I learned a hard lesson.
He said, there's nothing unshakable in this earth. It's all going
to come down now. This shaking is God intervening
and interjecting himself into this world. It's the entrance,
listen, this shaking here is the entrance of God in human
flesh into the sinful realm of men. the Lord Jesus Christ coming
into this world. It's the abolishment of something
that is movable, the old covenant and all of its elements, and
the establishment of something that will last forever, the new
covenant, which is the establishment in time of the everlasting covenant
of grace. It's removing of something that's
not stable and bringing in of something that cannot be shaken.
Look over at Hebrews chapter 12. Paul's quoting this very
Passage in Hebrews chapter 12. He's quoting out of Haggai Look
at Hebrews chapter 12 and look at verse 25 It says in verse
25 of Hebrews 12 see that you refuse not him that speaketh
My friend this is the Lord of Glory speaking This is the God
of the universe. This is the God who controls
your very breath, speaking. He says, for if they escape not
who refused him to spake on earth, much more shall not we escape
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, comparing
Moses to Christ, whose voice then shook the earth. But now
he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth
only, but also the heaven. You see, when Moses gave that
old covenant, God shook the earth, but here he's gonna shake the
heavens and the earth. And he says in verse 27, he says,
In this word, yet once more signifieth the removing of those things
that are shaken, or may be shaken, as of that things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken remain. That's what
Haggai's talking about here. In other words, whatever he's
talking about in Haggai chapter two, it's the removal of something
that is perishable, shakable, destructible, and replacing it
with something that can never be broken, never be shaken. Now
that's not that second temple, because it's gone now. And he's not talking about the
rebuilding of another physical temple. He's talking about Christ
and the establishment of that great glorious temple himself
and his church, which can never be shaken. Look on, he says,
verse 28 of Hebrews 12, Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which
cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a
consuming fire. Go back to Haggai 2. How will all this be accomplished?
Christ will come. That's what he said in Hebrews
chapter 10, we don't make you turn there. Remember he talked
about, I come to do thy will, oh God, it's written in the book.
He taketh away the first, he shook it down to the, that he
may establish the second. And how did he do that? For by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified
for him. It's by his work on the cross. And you remember you
had a physical sign, if you will, or manifestation of that truth
when Christ actually died on that cross. What happened? The
earth moved. Darkness fell upon the face of the earth. Graves
were opened and many of his people arose just like Lazarus arose. Read about it in Matthew chapter
27. That was just a physical sign
of all that was really going on spiritually and eternally.
Right there. Well, speaking of Christ as the
temple of himself and of his church as his temple. Let me
just conclude with this. I wanna give you four things
just briefly now. I haven't finally got to the
meat of my message, so don't worry about that. This is four
things that I want you to see about Christ, the desire of all
nations. When it calls him the desire of all nations, it's not
that all nations will desire him. That's not what it means. Now, his people, God's elect
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation will desire
him. They will desire him. And they'll
be brought to desire him and believe in him. That's so. He
is that one who alone is the embodiment of all things that
fulfills the needs of every person whether they know it or not.
In this sense, he's the desire of all nations. Christ alone
is the fulfillment of all human desires concerning salvation
and eternity. It's only in Christ, crucified,
raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and accepted before
the Father, that a sinner can find righteousness with God,
forgiveness of all sins, and have peace of conscience that
flows from a well-grounded assurance of eternal life. You remember
we read in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, I think it's verse 10 and
11 there. He said this, he said, God hath
set the world in their hearts. What he's talking about there
literally is a sense of eternity. Every man and woman is born with
that sense of eternity. We know that this life is not
the end. Now, granted, many people go
through life denying that. But I want to tell you something.
I contend this. If there wasn't really a God, there'd be no atheism. Why do they have to deny God?
Because they know in their heart of hearts that there is a God.
They don't know him now. They worship an idol themselves. But every man has that sense
of eternity. And old Calvin, John Calvin, he called it the
God-shaped void that men try to fill in their lives, and they
all, by nature, we all, by nature, try to fill it the wrong way,
with materialism or immorality, pleasure-seeking, and even the
main one, false religion. But in that sense, every nation
desires these four things. First of all, all nations desire
a visible deity. A visible, a God they can see. They all desire that. Oh, if
I could just see God. Well, men by nature don't know,
but the only way they're going to see God is through Christ. He's the only one who can meet
that desire. Christ is. God in human flesh. The very image, Hebrews chapter
1 says, of the invisible God. His name shall be called Immanuel,
which being interpreted is what? God with us. He told his disciples,
if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. In him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. To reject and to deny Christ
is to go through your life with an unfulfilled desire. The desire
to see God. You want to see God? Look to
Christ. Look to Calvary. There's the glory of God right
there. Somebody said, oh, if I could have just seen that Ark
of the Covenant. Phooey on that. I'm serious now. We've got Christ! It had a glory before Christ
came, and it was important and needed. But it was just a picture. And we've often, I've heard the
analogy, and I've used it myself, about the wife whose husband
had been away on a long trip, maybe in the military, coming
home, All that time she'd been looking at pictures, opening
up her scrapbook and seeing pictures of their past, pictures of the
love of her heart. And here he comes and he stands
at the door. What's she going to do? Is she going to embrace
him or get out the scrapbook again? See? She's not even going
to think about that scrapbook. She's just going to throw her
arms around her husband, the love of her life. Secondly, all
nations desire an atonement, an appeasing sacrifice, a remedy
for sin. They know things aren't right.
Man by nature knows things aren't right. The problem with man by
nature is he doesn't know how to set it right, put it right. He thinks he does. You know where
that's first pictured? The fact that man by nature knows
that something's wrong. You know where that's first pictured?
In Adam and Eve when they saw themselves naked and were ashamed.
They knew something was wrong. They knew something's got to
be done. And that's why they, in their
own self-righteousness, went and made their own fig leaf aprons. They didn't believe God. God
said, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall what? Surely
die. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of
sins. Every man by nature knows that they're sinners, that they're
imperfect. They know their deity or whatever
their idea of deity must be appeased. Something's got to be done to
make things right. Well, my friend, Christ is the
desire of all nations. He made peace by the blood of
his cross. It's through his blood and righteousness
alone that a sinner is made right before God. That's how sinners
are forgiven and justified and accepted and given life and eventually
glorified. And to go through life without
believing in and resting in Christ and submitting to him and his
righteousness alone is to go through your life with an unfulfilled
desire. All nations know that man must
be righteous to please God or to go to heaven. What man by
nature doesn't know is the standard of righteousness is too high
for him. You want to see righteousness, look to Christ. Here's the third
thing. All nations desire a divine revelation from their deity.
Men want to hear from God. Show me a sign, Lord. Just give
me a sign, any sign. I heard that guy on a movie the
other day talking like that. Just give me a sign. You know, all the tyrants and
all the conquerors of men in history, have acted claiming
that they heard from God? You know, even though Hitler
claimed to be God's agent on Earth, Every time a Muslim blows
up someplace, we've got a message from God. Everybody wants to
hear from God. They want to know the will of
God. They want to hear from a spokesman from God. Well, my friend, here
it is. Christ is the eternal Word of
God. You want to hear from God? Then
look to the Word made flesh. Look to that prophet who is the
last word, the beginning, the alpha and the omega, who is the
eternal word, who's with God and was God and is God, who is
the incarnate word, the living word, the preached word, the
written word. You want to hear from God? Here
it is. Get into this word and look for Christ. Because without
that, you'll go through life with an unfulfilled desire. And
then fourthly, all nations desire some promise and assurance of
immortality. How many books have been written
about people who have died and come back from the dead? I bet
we couldn't count them. See the light, step into the
light. No, don't go into the light.
I mean, I'm serious. People just want some assurance,
some promise that there's life beyond the grave. You know, that's
one of the things that separates us from animals. Animals have
a survival instinct, don't get me wrong, but they don't sit
around contemplating mortality or immortality. Your dog's not
there worrying about what's going to happen to him after he's dead.
He doesn't care, he doesn't have that sense, he's not human. The
man does, even as a natural man. Some hope that this life is not
all there is. There are people who deny it,
I know that. I've read many a time about an atheist who comes to
their deathbed and they just writhe in anguish over the thought
of non-existence and how futile it is. Well, my friend, if you wanna
talk about life after death, where you gonna go? Look to the
one who's risen from the dead. Who brings life and immortality
to light through the gospel, 2 Timothy chapter one, verses
eight through 10. Who is life and light. Sin demands my death. His righteousness
charged to me demands my eternal life. He gives life by his spirit to
the dead. That's the desire of all nations.
And to not see Christ is to go through this life with an unfulfilled
desire. Well, let me just read Psalm
27. You know part of it here. How do you see it now? David's on his deathbed. And he said, although my house
be not so with God, he's made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered in all things and sure for this is all my salvation.
And what else did he say? This is all my desire. Although
he make it not to grow is Christ all my desire. He's the desire
of all nations. Look at Psalm 27 verse one. The
Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked,
even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh,
they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired
of the Lord, and that will I seek after. That I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. That's what Haggai
wanted the people of Judah to see about that temple. Let this
be your desire, the beauty of the Lord, where's that? In Christ,
the one who accomplished redemption on my behalf in that day.