We'll be looking again in the
book of Haggai. This time in Chapter 2. Haggai
Chapter 2. Haggai was sent to preach the
necessity of the Lord's worship. They had stopped building the
temple, as we heard in the first hour, the temple that Ezra had
began to erect when they came back from the captivity of Babylon.
Nehemiah successfully built the wall round about Jerusalem, and
they just stopped working on the temple. This was prophesied
by Jeremiah that 70 years would happen before the children of
Israel would start working again on the temple. And so some of
them had an attitude, well, the 70 years isn't up yet, so we're
not going to work on the temple. Haggai came to tell them it's
time to redo the temple. It's time to build it. Chapter
one, they restarted the temple and in chapter two, the Lord
comforts his people. And he starts out by saying,
who saw the first temple? Who among you saw the first temple
and its glory? Who saw? This was the Lord's
word. He was asking them. He was asking
them. And he, he says, in comparison, this one is nothing unto you,
isn't it? You've seen the first one. You've seen the immaculate
construction of the first temple. Now the second one to you is
nothing. That's why you're devaluing it. It's not as magnificent. Its splendor is not as what the
former one used to be. Then he tells them, he gives
them comfort by saying, fear ye not. I am the doer of it. I am the doer of the first temple.
and I'm the doer of the second temple. This is what his word
is to them. He tells them, I will shake the
heavens, the earth, the sea, the dry land, and all the nations,
and I will fill this temple, the one that they were doing,
the one that they were working on, I'm going to fill this one
with my glory. Then he tells them, all the silver
and gold, he's worried about money, that's not an issue either.
He says, all the silver and gold is mine. Everything belongs unto
the Lord. He said, build the temple. So
there's no excuse. And so they build the temple
and the Lord comforts his people by saying, fear not. Now let's
read here in Haggai chapter two, verse nine. The glory of this
ladder house shall be greater than of the former, saith the
Lord of hosts. And in this place will I give
peace, saith the Lord of hosts. And in the fourth and twentieth
month, day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius,
came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts. Ask now the priest concerning
the law, saying, If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his
garment, And with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine,
or oil, or any meat. Shall it be holy? The priest
answered and said, No. Then said Haggai, If one that
is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priest answered and said,
It shall be unclean. Then answered Haggai and said,
so is this people and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord.
And so is every work of their hands and that which they offer
there is unclean. And now I pray you. Consider
from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon
a stone in the temple of the Lord, since those days were when
one came to an heap of 20 measures, there were but 10. When one came
to the press fat or to draw out 50 vessels out of the press,
there were but 20. I smote you with blasting and
with mildew and with hail and all the labors of your hands,
yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord. Consider now from this
day and upward, from the four and 20th day of the ninth month,
even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid,
consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn, yea, is yet the
vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree
hath not brought forth from this day, Will I bless you? I've titled
this message, The Former and the Latter Glory. He says the
glory of this temple, this latter temple is going to surpass the
glory of the former temple. These workers were discouraged
because of the size of the temple. It was smaller in their eyes.
They could only go off of the physical. They were discouraged
because it was not as big. discouraged because it wasn't
as immaculate. You can imagine Solomon, the
time that he took in building everything, the architecture
and the skilled men that he brought in to overlay with gold and the
wood that they brought in, different things that they had. This was
just not as immaculate to the eye of the flesh as the first
one was. They were discouraged. And I
would remind us that discouraged sheep are only looking to what
their eye can see, not to Christ. If you're ever discouraged, It's
not because you're looking to his finished work. If I'm ever
discouraged, it's not because I'm looking to Christ alone.
It's because I'm looking to myself or I'm looking at my circumstances.
In mercy, he reveals their impotency. He said, can one bearing holy
flesh touch something and make it holy? They said, no. No, we
can't bear holy flesh and make something holy. And he says likewise
to him, one that is defiled by a corpse, does it not make everything
unclean that it touches? He said, yes. You remember under
the Levitical law that if a man, when he died, even if a man went
or a woman went into the tent after the man had died in the
tent, he became unclean. and he had to be put out for
seven days. And on the third day, he had
to wash himself and be cleansed of his impurity. And then the
seventh day, he was considered clean again. So this is what
he's talking about here. And we see the picture there
of us being unclean. And yet, because of the number
three, the triune Godhead, and the third day Christ was resurrected,
that was our sanctification, Christ alone. And it's the number
of completion being seven, the perfection of the Lord's finished
work. That's what it represents there. Failing to wash on the
third day and the seventh would mean exile. That means no worship.
You couldn't worship the Lord anymore, so there was no remission
of sin. Cast out. And in mercy, he tells them in
verse 14, everything, everything that their hand touched. So it's
every work of their hands that which they offer there is unclean. Every work of the hands of men
and women is unclean. And he put a period beside that,
didn't he? Put a period beside that to let us know there's nothing
more to be said on that subject. That is the end of that subject.
Everything we touch with our hands, everything we do with
our hands, every work that we work is unclean in the eyes of
God. I was speaking to someone recently
and they were talking about how that they have Bible studies
several days a week. And I can't remember if it's
in the morning or in the evening or whatever. But I think one
time he said, we have a Bible study at 6 a.m. before work.
And I thought, man, there's no way I'd go to that. But I made
this statement. It's his righteousness. That
was his righteousness, what they were doing in this Bible study,
how they were coming together. And look what we're doing for
God. Look what we're discovering, we're finding new things. And
I told him, I said, you know, the scripture says the stars
are not even pure in his sight. According to Job, he says, huh,
I've never heard that before. See men will take anything and
they'll make a work out of it, but not realize that even the
stars are not pure in the Lord's eyes. Nothing that these hands
can do is good. There's nothing good, nothing.
And this is what he's telling them. Everything that God does,
he sees as good, and everything we do, God sees as bad. It's that simple. There's no hope in that, is there?
Everything that he does is good, and everything that we do is
bad in his sight. So what is our hope? Well, he's
going to have to do it all in salvation, isn't he? There's
our hope. There's where the gospel comes in. Good news is the gospel
where he says, I will bless you. And then he tells them why, if
you look at the very Last verse, the very last sentence, I have
chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts. There it is. There's hope. Everything I'm going to touch
is bad and everything that he does is good. He must be the
one that gives the blessing because all I can produce is cursing
then. If I touch something, I defile it. If I do something, I've cursed
it. But yet everything he touches, he makes clean, doesn't he? Reminded
that one time the Lord decided to heal a blind man and in doing
so he made spittle. He made, he spit upon the ground
and he made spittle with the mud and he anointed the man's
eyes. And that man saw under the Levitical law, that should
have made the man unclean, but not his spit. Everything about
him was perfect. Everything about him was perfect.
And he's the only one in death, in death that didn't bring a
curse, but brought life. but brought a blessing, but brought
hope. Every other death was a dead
corpse. Was this anyone bearing it? You
were unclean, not with him. Not touching him, you became
alive. This is the message here. The
Lord must do it. Now here we have this former
and latter glory revealed. We have the first temple built
by Solomon, which is worship according to the law of Moses.
Everything in that first temple hinged upon the law of Moses.
It hinged upon the first covenant. It hinged upon the covenant of
works. Do and live. If you do this,
I will do that. That was the covenant with Moses.
And that was the covenant with the Lord's people. Aren't you
glad that the covenant of grace is eternal? that it's everlasting. See, the covenant of works didn't
exist until time happened. And God gave the covenant of
works in time, but the covenant of grace is forever. It's forever
lasting. It's always been. That's where our hope lies, is
we've always been found in Christ. Now, as I begin to process that,
I have to scratch my head and say, I just don't understand
that. And I have to throw up my hands and say, these things are too
high. They're too wonderful. I can't attain to them. I don't
understand it, but I believe that that's what he says. So
that's what is the truth. First glory is the temple built
by Solomon. It was magnificent in size. It
was magnificent in detail. It was complicated in configuration.
It was immaculate, is extravagant to man's eyes. And worship was
abundantly intricate in detail, very intricate what they had
to do. This was the first, this was the former glory that the
Lord had revealed to his people. I want to say this before we
turn, I'm going to have us turn here in just a second to somewheres,
but we love the Lord's law. Did you know that? We do. And
do you know why? Why do the Lord's people love
the law? It can't bring salvation. No, but it can show us that we're
dead dog sinners. And it's the only thing that
showed us that we are dead dog sinners. That's what the Lord
used as the measuring tape, if you will. He called it the line.
That's what he uses as the scale. And you and I are found wanton
on every aspect of it. Therefore, we love his law. It
shows us that salvation's all by grace. We need a substitute. Without the law of God, we would
never see those things. That's why the Lord's people
loves his law. Turn with me to Exodus 23. This
is where the Lord gave the law to Moses. The children of Israel
had traveled across to Mount Sinai. They had just came across
the Red Sea, as you know, and Lord's brought them to Mount
Sinai. He had given Moses the Ten Commandments
and some of the other laws and ordinances, thereby revealing
his holiness unto them. Now, I find it amazing that they
had seen the Red Sea parted and they had saw all the wonders
of Egypt and how extravagant, amazing that would have been
just to human eye. They didn't even have technology.
So nobody even made up that stuff before. Everything that happened
would have happened by nature. And they saw hell fall from the
sky that was on fire. They saw darkness that you could
feel, but it didn't touch where they were. They saw the death
angel kill the firstborn of Pharaoh. They saw all these things of
the Lord's hand. So they knew that God was holy. Look in verse
20 of chapter 23 of Exodus. Behold, I send an angel before
thee. The Lord's speaking to Moses here, and he says, I send
an angel before thee to keep thee in the way and to bring
thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him and obey
his voice. Provoke him not, for he will
not pardon your transgressions. For my name is in him. What is the Lord's name? What
did he mean by his name? Well, Psalm tells us in 119,
holy and reverent is his name. His name is holy and holy is
his name. No pardon can be found for transgression
of the law because of this, no excuse. The Lord's not gonna
allow a man in front of him to say, well, I did this and I did
this good. No, there's no excuse. There's nothing good that we
produce and there's no excuse for it. You need a substitute. Wages of sin is death. Aren't
you glad he didn't put a period on that? Wages of sin is death,
period. And didn't say anything else
about it. No, he kept going, didn't he? But, I love the interjections
of the Lord's gospel. The word but. Ages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord. What mercy there is in Him revealing
His holiness to His people. What mercy there is in revealing
that we are sinners and He is the Savior, not giving us what
we deserve. What mercy. We could have lived our entire
life. I had this thought when I was studying this. I could
have lived my entire life. going through motions, doing
this and doing that, and never knowing the sovereign God of
this universe, thinking that I did, thinking that I knew who
he was, thinking that I was preaching. I was a pastor in false religion.
Y'all know that. I thought I knew who God was.
I really, but some of you are in false religion. You really
believe what you believe was the truth with everything that
you were. It took God to condescend by his gospel and kick down that
door and rip out that heart of stone and give you a heart of
flesh that cries out, Lord, I will put my hand over my mouth. I
thought, I heard with the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes have
seen the King. I had no idea this was who you
are. This is what the Lord's law reveals. He's other than we are. Other. I'll turn over a couple pages
to Exodus 24. Let's read a few verses here.
The Lord said unto Moses, come up unto the Lord thou and Aaron
and Nadad and Abihu and the 70 of the elders of Israel and worship
ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near. but they shall not come nigh,
neither shall the people go up with him. Moses came and told
the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments, and
all the people answered with one voice and said, all the words
which the Lord hath said will we do. And Moses wrote all the
words of the Lord and rose up early in the morning and built
an altar under the hill and 12 pillars according to the 12 tribes
of Israel. And he sent young men, the children of Israel,
which offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings
of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood
and put it in basins, half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of
the people. And they said, all that the Lord has said, will
we do and be obedient. Moses took the blood and sprinkled
it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which
the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words. He said, Bring the seventy men
and the two others with you. He said, But none of you can
come nigh unto me but Moses. Only Moses can come nigh unto
me. This is us seeing the holiness of the Lord. If those other men
would have came, do we know what would have happened to them?
The Lord would have killed them. As a matter of fact, he said, when
you see the fire on top of the mountain, don't come near it.
That's what he told the children of Israel. He said, don't come
nigh into it. If an ox or if one of your cattle touches the
mountain, it must surely be put to death. Must surely, why? Because God was on the mountain.
And the moment that he sees sin, The moment, it must be punished. It must be terminated. It must
be executed, done with. Justice must be satisfied. This
is what the Lord's law shows us. This covenant that he's given
them is a blood covenant, but it's a covenant of works. Do
this, sacrifice this. And all the ordinance that he
gives them, he commands them how they can worship God, but
still they could only worship afar off. None of these priests,
only one priest, the high priest went in once a year, didn't he?
Into the holiest of holies. That was just once a year. Nobody
else could go into the holy place of the Lord. They were not permitted.
They were not allowed. They would come and they would
worship afar off from the temple. They would come and they would
make their sacrifice under the Lord and their family would have
their feasts, these peace offerings that was given, the meat offerings
that we're giving, the transgression offerings that we're giving,
the sin offerings, there were five of them. They would have to stay
afar off. Priest was the one that had to
take the blood, didn't he? He's the one that had to sprinkle
it. He was the one that had to do the work. They brought it
and then the head of household would partake in all of this,
but they still had to worship afar off. They couldn't come
into the temple. This was the former glory that
the Lord give to them. They could still worship God,
but they didn't worship him in spirit and in truth, did they?
They didn't worship him in spirit and truth. Why not? Because it
was by the works of their hands unto him. Do we see that? It
was never meant to last forever. It was never meant to bring salvation. It was done as a token for them
to be able to worship God, done as a sign unto them to be able
to worship God. Keeping the law and these ordinances
does not bring holiness. If it brought holiness, there
would be no need for Christ, but it couldn't bring holiness,
could it? So they couldn't go into the holy place. Why? They
were not holy. They were not holy. These ordinances
could not make a man or a woman holy. It merely appeased the
wrath of God for a time, for a time, for a year. Men preach that keeping the law
brings us closer to God, but it's actually the opposite, pushes
us farther away from Him. It's iniquity, isn't it? Our
sin's what separates us from Him. We already heard that the
wages of sin is death. Everything about this law, everything
about these ordinances, everything about this worship was to point
them and to show us, to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Understand, brethren, without
the law, there is no knowledge of sin. Without the law, there
is no knowledge of sin. There is no need for a savior.
There is no need for a substitute. This is why we love God's law.
God's law was given in mercy. God's, it might sound contradictory,
but God's law was given by grace. Grace is getting what we don't
deserve. We didn't deserve to see God's law. We deserve to
go through this life and die in their sin, thinking that we
knew who God was, but in mercy, he gave the law to show us we
can't please him. We can't attain salvation by
what we do. That's why it's mercy and grace.
It exposes our wounds, exposes the death that we are, the rottenness,
the rottenness. The other day we got some apples
and I got a, you're the same as I am. Whenever you go to pick
an apple or pick any kind of fruit from a bowl, do you not
pick the one that you think looks the best to your eye? That's
what I did. I got this apple. I thought,
okay, this is a good looking apple to my eye. This is going
to taste fantastic. And I went to cut it and it was
rotten in the middle. I didn't bite into it, thankfully, but
it was rotten. Boy, the outside didn't look too bad. I actually
have never seen, I was looking it up, apparently a worm can
cause that, it burrows in and does all the whatever, but is
that not us by nature? We see each other. Boy, we look
shiny to each other. We look pretty. Some of us look
better than others, but we look good and we think that's how
God's gonna see us. Oh, no. What'd the Lord tell
the Pharisees? He said, you're whited sepulchers.
You bleached the outside, but inward, you're full of dead men's
bones. He looks down deep, doesn't he? Into the heart. This is what
the law shows is that we're rotten on the inside. It's not what
we do because it's all polluted. It's all bad. It's it's unclean. That's what Lord told Haggai
to tell the people. Everything you're touching, but
I've got good news for you. He said, I'm going to bless you
because I've chose you. There's hope. There's our hope.
The law shows this, brethren. Our very best. And I mean our
very best effort. Our very best effort is worthy
of the most worst torment in hell. That's what it's worthy
of. That's what it would merit if
the Lord causes us to merit something with our works. The worst torment
in hell. It's because he's holy. It's
his name. Come not near to this mountain. He says, I'll kill
you. You'll be put to death if you come near to this mountain.
You cannot touch this mountain. So we need one who did touch
the mountain. Moses can touch it. Moses is
the law. God is holy. God's law is pure. God's law is good. Moses can
touch it. Should we flee to the law for
salvation? No, it can only bring death. It can only bring death
to humanity, to the Lord, to those who he reveals it to. To
everyone, everyone's under the law. The Lord has, that's what
the standard is. That's what men will be judged
by, is his law. The law came not to set us free,
but to reveal our inability to approach God. Now look with me
here in verse 12, chapter 24, verse 12. And the Lord said unto Moses,
come up unto me, come to me, come up to me in the mount and
be there and I will give thee tables of stone and the law and
commandments which I have written that thou mayest teach them.
Moses rose up and he ministered and his minister Joshua and Moses
went up to the mountain of God. Now, I would remind you that
Joshua's name is the exact same in Greek as Jesus. This is the Hebrew word for Jesus.
These are the two that can go into this mountain, Jesus Christ
and Moses, which is the law. These are the two, and this is
where they're going. Verse 14. And he said unto the elders,
tarry ye here for us until we come again to you. And behold,
Aaron and her are with you. If any man have any matter to
do, let him come unto them. And Moses went up into the mount
and a cloud covered the mount and the glory of the Lord abode
upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. In the seventh
day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud, and
the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire
on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
And Moses went into the midst of the cloud and got him up into
the mount, and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. He says that the sight of the
glory was like a devouring fire. That was the original glory that
the Lord revealed. This is the former glory that
he's mentioning in Haggai. This was what the temple was
built by Solomon all about. It's a devouring fire. Do you
remember all the sacrifices that those priests would bring or
they would perform? The sacrifices for the sin of
the people. What did he say? Roast it with fire. roast it,
it has to be utterly consumed by fire. This is what the law
demands, justice. It demands judgment. This is
what the law says to you and I, whenever we're seen, we're
exposed as naked, we're exposed as full of dead men's bones.
It says, justice must be satisfied. This is what the transgression
of the law demands, justice. Now for the next six chapters,
The Lord said, if you do this, I will do this. And he gives
him covenant after covenant. He gives him different things
to do, so to speak. And he gives him statutes. And
it was the covenant of works wherewith he would respond by
what the people did. If the people did well, he would
bless them. If they did bad, he would curse them. And he gives
them statutes and ordinances. And he tells the priests, you
have to wear this proper attire from the top of their head to
the bottom of their feet. Everything was so intricate in detail. Everything
must be done exactly as God commanded it. And when we arrive at chapter
32, Moses is coming down from the
mountain. We know that later on in the chapter. But at the
present moment, they don't see him up there or they don't see
him yet because he was delayed. When we get to 32, we find our
depravity. Moses was meeting with God. And
they saw the fire on top. The Israelites were at the base
of Mount Sinai. They saw the fire on top of this
mountain. They saw from afar off the glory
of the Lord. God was there. They had saw the
Red Sea been parted. They saw the plagues that were
in Egypt. As I've already mentioned, they saw all these things. And
yet when they see, when they see this holiness of God, when
they heard the rumble, of the mountain that it did quake and
they see the seriousness of it all. They do just what every
man does when they hear about the law. When every man hears
about what God demands, they do the exact same thing as what
the children of Israel did. They make a golden calf and they
name it Jehovah. It's exactly what they did. They
made a calf. They come to Aaron and they say,
make us a calf. Make this be our gods. Tell us
this be our God. Let us worship him. We're afraid
of this mountain. We must do something to help
God out. We have to. Let's make a calf. Aaron took the people's jewelry
and he fashioned it together and made a calf, didn't he? See, men will change the truth
of God into a lie and believe that it's something we produce.
But all that we can produce is false worship because we have
no righteousness. It takes Him by His Spirit to
cause us to worship. All we can do is present the
works of our hands. So Moses comes down and he sees the calf
and he sees the people naked. He sees everybody dancing around
and worshiping this calf. And he says, what happened, Aaron? Aaron said, well, I don't know.
I got the earrings and threw them in the fire and they came
out like this. That's what he tells them. I mean, how dumb
did he think Moses was gonna be? But that's how men will do.
They'll lie, won't they? Now that's the second thing that
men do is they'll lie to cover it up. Well, it really isn't
that bad. It wasn't really me. It was the Lord made me do it. I mean, that's what he was saying.
God, if he threw it in a fire and it came out, who else was
responsible for it then? Well, that's what we do by nature,
isn't it? We blame God. First, we try to
please him, find out we can't, then we blame him. Well, it's
all your fault I am the way I am. That's what we do by nature.
That's our foolish pride and arrogance of our heart. Well,
Moses said, okay, judgment's come today and 3,000 died by
the sword. The Levites, the priests picked
up the sword and said, God said no, and slays 3,000 of them. This is what the former glory
of the Lord causes us to see, that he is holy and we are not.
We deserve death. We can only worship afar off
by this law. We can't come close to him. The
law can't bring us into the promised land, brethren. No matter how
much we do, it cannot bring us into the promised land. We need
Joshua to bring us into the promised land. Moses can't do it. This
is what the first temple represents, worship by works. Thank God for
the second temple. The second temple, the latter
glory, the latter glory. The second temple represents
the work of God alone. Remember, he said, you're defiled
and everything you touch is defiled. Everything you touch is corrupted. It's sin, it's polluted. But
he says, I'm going to bless you because I've chosen you. I'm
going to do the work. I'm going to do that. You can't
do it. I'm showing you, you can't do it. You can't please me. So
I'm going to do it. Look at Exodus 33. The latter glory of the Lord,
this temple, is the finished work of Christ. Remember, the two went into the
mountain together, Mount Sinai, Moses and Christ. Exodus 33, verse 17 tells us, the Lord said unto Moses, I will
do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found
grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. Boy, there's no
sweeter words that a sinner can hear than what he just said. When you say, Lord, save me,
he said, I'll do this thing that thou has spoken for thou has
found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. And he said,
I beseech thee. Moses said, Lord, I beseech thee,
show me your glory. And he said, I will make all
my goodness. The Lord said, I'll make all my goodness pass before
thee. I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will
be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. And he said, thou cannot see
my face for there shall no man see me and live. And Lord said,
behold, there is a place by me. Thou shalt stand upon a rock.
And it shall come to pass that while my glory passeth by, that
I will put thee in the cleft of the rock and will cover thee
with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away my hand
and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. How does one find grace in the
eyes of this holy God that we've been describing? Do you look
for it? Were you looking for grace when
you found it? Was I looking for grace? No. No, grace is bestowed. Grace is imparted. Otherwise
it wouldn't be grace. It would be a work, wouldn't
it? It has to be given freely of the Lord. It has to be found
in Christ alone. God is the doer of it. Well,
how do we know if we have found grace? The Lord said, there's
a place by me, the right hand of the father, it's nigh unto
him. He says, I'll put you in it. Not your law keeping. Not
what you've done, not what you're doing, not what you're gonna
do. That's polluted. He said, I am the doer of it.
I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock. I've prepared a
place for you by my choice, for my glory. I will show you my
hinder parts. What does that mean? It's finished
from the foundation of the world. It's always been done. His work
is finished. That's his hinder parts. It's
what he's already accomplished. What's behind him. We're made to see Christ. And
when you're made to see Christ, you wanna know the result of
that? Look in chapter 34. When we are made to see Christ, verse
29. Came to pass when Moses came
down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses'
hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses with snot,
that the skin of his face shone while he talked with them. And
when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold,
the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh
him. And Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the rulers
of the congregation returned unto him, and Moses talked with
them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh, and he gave
them in command all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount
Sinai. Until Moses had done speaking
with them, he put a veil on his face. And when Moses went in
before the Lord to speak with him, he took the veil off until
he came out. And he came out and spake to
the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children
of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face
shone. And Moses put the veil upon his
face again until he went in to speak with him." When we see
the glory of the Lord, is it not true that we want to hide
our face? veil our face. Why? Because he's holy and he's
good. Is that not what a bride does?
She veils her face. I'm not sure what the tradition
is in that. I probably should have looked it up. I'm sure there's
significance, but that's exactly what the Lord's people do. Lord,
don't look upon me until the time comes. Look upon Christ
alone. He's the one that's worthy. He's
the one that's holy. This is the former glory of the
Lord, His law. And this is the latter glory
at the same time, the finished work of Christ. Christ satisfying
the law's demands. Christ enduring the wrath of
God. Christ went into Mount Sinai
when the law went into Mount Sinai, but the law could not
bear our burden. The law could not bear our sin.
The law could not save or redeem. It could only show that we had
a need of those things. Joshua could. The Lord Jesus
Christ, our Joshua, went into that mountain, standing before
the Father, and the Father saw our sin upon Him and executed
His dear Son. This is what the latter The latter
tabernacle represents the latter glory. And how much greater does
it shine forth than the original? How much more glorious is it
to the Lord's people? Because it truly put away our
sin. It didn't just reveal what we are and allow us to worship
afar off, but he now says, come, take of the water of life freely.
He says, now enter into the holiest of holies, having obtained mercy
to find grace to help in the time of need. Christ entered as our high priest.
We couldn't enter into the holiest at all. We had to have a high
priest as well, didn't we? Christ entered by his own blood
and put away the sin of his people. And now God says, sit thou here
at my right hand to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know who's
seated in him? All his people. That nigh place, the cleft that
he spoke of. God is satisfied, redeeming all
those for whom he died back to perfect union with God. I love
the verse that says, now he ever liveth, ever means forever and
ever and ever, he ever liveth to make intercession for them. The only thing that the law could
whisper is justice, damnation, wrath, must be satisfied. Lord Jesus Christ, our interceder,
you know what he whispers? Grace, the blood, peace. He said, Lord said, I know my
thoughts of you. I know my thoughts to you, they're peace. They're
peaceful thoughts. There's no more wrath for the
people of the Lord. My little children, if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous, and he's the propitiation, the one that brought us back
to the father in perfect harmony, the propitiation for our sin,
what glory there is in his finished work. I want to turn to two more
places before we close. Second Corinthians three. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 7. But if the ministration Now he's
talking about the ministry of the law is what he's talking
about. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in
stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance, which glory was to be done away with, how shall
not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the
ministration of the condemnation be glory, much more does the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. The glory whereby we see in this
glorious gospel far surpasses the glory of the law. Do we know
why? because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness sake. Not only does Christ say justified,
not only does Christ say grace unto you, not only does Christ
say peace before the Father, but that's what the law says
now about the Lord's people. The law has nothing against the
Lord's people. The Lord has no quarrel with
His bride. He has no frustration with her. He has no anger towards her.
It's all good thoughts. Why? Because of what Christ accomplished. This is why the glory of this
latter glory is so much better. Those that were under the law
could not approach God, but now we can enter into the holiness
because it is finished by His own blood, His accomplished salvation. In closing, I want to go, I said
two more places, but I want to go back to our text and then
turn one more place. So back to Haggai chapter two, I don't
want to miss this. Haggai chapter two in verse three,
who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?
Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?
And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison
as nothing? Now understand, they're using
the same foundation. Christ did not come to manipulate
the law. He did not come to trick the
law. He did not come to deceive God in any way. He come to fulfill
the law. And he built this new glory on
the same foundation of God's holiness. No attribute of God
was compromised. So this is the same foundation
that was there before. And he says, who's left among
you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see
it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Nothing. Why did they consider
this temple to be less valuable? That's the question I want to
ask. Why did they consider this temple to be less valuable? The
answer is the same as men and women today. The glory of the
first temple was astronomical to the eyes of men. The glory
of the first temple was pleasing, pleasing to the eyes of men.
The gold, as I mentioned before, and all the intricate details
and how magnificent it was. But the glory of the second temple
was less appealing because it was smaller. It seemed like foolishness. It was foolish in their eyes
to have such a small temple. laid unfinished for 70 years
because of it. But understand, this was the
temple that God chose that Christ would later preach in. This was
the temple. You remember whenever Christ
bowed his head upon Calvary's cross and he said these words,
it is finished. The scripture says, when he cried
with the loud voice, the veil in the temple was rent in twain
from top to bottom. This is that temple and that
is that veil. This temple that we're reading
about, that we're talking about. This is the latter glory that
he's referring to is this temple. It may not be immaculate in our
eyes, But oh, it's immaculate in God's eyes. It had a spiritual
meaning more deeper than the first one did. The first one
could only worship God afar up, but this second temple represents
the finished work of Christ alone. And to man's eyes, it's foolishness.
Is not the gospel considered foolishness among men? But yet
the Lord has shown the weak things to confound the strong, and the
base things to confound the wise. Men say it's foolishness, but
to the Lord's people, it's all our hope. This latter glory of
the Lord, this temple, it may be small in comparison. The Lord's
work to man is small. Men say, well, that's silly what
you believe in. No, it's all our hope, isn't
it? It's all our hope. This was where the Lord was going
to bring to pass all of his prophecies, this temple. This temple. was different than
the old temple, because no flesh got to glory in this temple.
After the Lord Jesus, this was the one when the work was finished,
everyone, the Lord sat down, the priest sat down. There was
no sitting down in the former glory, but there is in the latter
glory. The Lord sat down, therefore
it is finished. I like the thought that it's
100% finished. Didn't leave one thing to chance.
Didn't leave one thing to a percentage of you and I doing something.
It's not 99.9% finished and it's up to you to do the 0.1%. Aren't
you glad for that? I don't have to do anything.
Matter of fact, if I do, it's iniquity. It's 100%. And we use
examples of 110%. The other day, I was going about
talking with Bethany about that very thing. We were playing around.
I said, it's 100%. She said, 110. I said, 120. She said, it's
an infinity percent, Dad. And I said, well, you win. That's
what Christ did. That's what Christ did. 100%
finished. Last place I want to turn is
Galatians 3. Galatians 3 verse 10. For as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
that are written in the book of the law to do them, but that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. It is evident
for the just shall live by faith and the law is not of faith.
The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Former glory says do. The latter glory says done. The
former glory was the law, and it allowed men to worship afar
off, but this far surpasses that glory because we can enter into
the holiest of holies now by the blood of Christ alone. The
former temple has been ended. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. And he says, no man will come
to the Father, but by me. It's the only way to the Father.
He is the only way. We can't come by the law. They
that are under the law cannot please God. There's no more worship
in this old temple. The old glory has been fulfilled.
I love the thought that it was never diminished. Christ never
diminished the glory of that law. Think about that. He didn't
abase it or make it look bad. He upheld it. He upheld it with
his, and all those who were in him upheld it in him as well.
So it's ran its course. It's been fulfilled. Christ fulfilled
the law. That's why the law has ended.
It's been fulfilled. There's now just the latter glory
for Christ and his worshipers. He is the small temple in man's
eyes, the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become
the chief of the corner. He shall grow up as a tender tree,
the scripture says, root out of dry ground. They asked, is
this Joseph's son? Is this the carpenter's son?
He was God and they couldn't see him. This is the glorious
news of the gospel. He chooses to reveal it to us,
his people. This is how he shook the heavens
and the earth and the sea and the dry land. It may be insignificant
to man, but oh, it's all that we have. God is satisfied with him and
by his grace, his people worship Nye. Nye, I love that. When he said, I have a place
near me, we get to worship God close by. I know we do it through
the eyes of faith now, but we're right beside of him. There's
nothing that could harm us. We're right beside of him right
now. I never have like long distance relationships. Whenever me and
her were dating, every time I would go away for a time, it was grievous. And yet we're looking through
a glass darkly now of our Lord. Remember, it's already finished.
We're already one with Him, seated right beside Him. And now we
can worship nigh unto Him. Ephesians 2.13, but now in Jesus
Christ, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. And he says, when I see that
blood, I'll pass by you. You've been made nigh by that
same blood. Brethren, we get to rejoice in both the former
glory, being thankful that the Lord showed us what we are, and
the latter glory, showing us that Christ is all in salvation
and that it is truly finished. we're able to rest because of
that, aren't we? Amen.