See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
--Parallel verses:
Haggai 1:15-2:9
In the second year of King Darius, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
I think the context of the passage referenced in Hebrew from Haggai is important here, though it is a longer passage. Zerubbabel and Joshua had been called to start rebuilding the temple of God that was in ruins, along with some of the Jewish people. God came to them and communicated a few things: 1) He called on them to remember the past. The past sins of the Jewish people in turning away from their God and in sin falling into despicable practices of selfishness, lust, immorality, greed, theft and all kinds of evil. And to remember God’s judgment of this sin, by letting the temple be destroyed and not allowing those Jews to be around for the great work he was about to do through them to rebuild it.
2) He tells them to be strong, have courage, and stand firm in their faith. 3) God says to work. When we get a command to work from the God of the universe who works in amazing ways, it means to work very hard with a high excellence standard.
4) God says, “I am with you or ‘I AM’ is with you”. This should be the only statement they need, to help solidify their resolve for the above commands of “be strong” and “work hard”. God is all-powerful. He wants this temple built. He could do it by himself, but he chose to use these men and women.
We live in a world that craves pleasure, has a bloodlust to attack and kill the truth and people of the truth, is blinded by unbelief and chooses sin instead of relationship with a good God. No wonder it is so broken.
However, in the middle of living in a sinful and fallen world, those of us who follow Jesus in word and in deed can be strong and work with excellence, because the God of the universe is with us as we do his work!
We must heed the warning in Hebrews to not turn away from such an incredible God. If we do, we are taunting him and asking for his wrath to be poured out on us. Why? Because he created us for a wonderful purpose and he wants to see that great purpose fulfilled in us to transform our hearts to be loving like he is.
Lord, thank you for this warning and this passage in Haggai. May you be honored by my courage and hard work. And may I renew my resolve to complete the work you started in me by your Holy Spirit.
