Dec 24th is a day for... 1) Consideration 2) Participation 3) Anticipation

1. Dec 24th
is a Day for…
Introduction:
Our subject matter concerns the rebuilding of a nation
and it’s land.
If Jerusalem had not been rebuilt by the apparently
defunct nation of Israel;
then, humanly speaking,
Christ could not have been born and died.
The history of the world,
The rise and fall of vast empires and
Mighty dynasties,
Depends on the history of the seed of Abraham-
because,
It is only through the seed of Abraham (Jesus Christ)
that any man can be blessed.
It is upon this ominous and momentous occasion
we read the details of God
breaking in on the affairs of man- in the book of Haggai.
This book is focused on only 3months in time, as we will
see,
and makes its crescendo on one particular day.

2. We must understand God’s calendar and April Fools
day.
Passover is the 14th day of the 1st month of the year.
April on our calendar is January for the Jews.
Exod 12:1-2
1) And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in
the land of Egypt, saying,
2) This month shall be unto you the beginning of
months: it shall be the first month of the year to
you.
April Fools’ Day,also called All Fools’ Day, dates back
to 1582, when France switched from the Julian
calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the
Council of Trent in 1563. People who were slow to get
the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new
year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate
it during the last week of March through April 1
became known as “April Fools”.
1Cor 3:18
18) Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you
seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool,
that he may be wise.

3. Five times in this book our attention is called to one
specific day: Dec 24th
Hag 2:10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth
month…
Hag 2:15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day…
Hag 2:18 Consider now from this day…
Hag 2:19 …from this day will I bless you.
Hag 2:20 And again the word of the LORD came unto
Haggai in the four and twentieth day…
Dec 24th is a day for…
I. Consideration- Hag 2:10-11
Hag 2:10-11
In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month,in the
second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by
Haggai the prophet, saying,
11 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests
concerning the law…

4. A. Consider the Commandments (law)
If you don’t know the law you will never be able to
consider it.
(Hag 2:11 “…Ask now the priest concerning the law”)
Eccl 12:13
13) Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God, and keep his commandments:for this is
the whole duty of man.
Knowledge of the law is no guarantee you will consider
it-
Rom 8:1-3
1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit.
2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
3) For what the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh:
(who walk not after the flesh)
B. Consider your consecration
Hag 2:12-14

5. 12 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? And the priests answered
and said, No
13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead
body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the
priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
14 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.
Sanctification is not merely a Sunday exercise; it is a
daily determined dedication.
C. Consider your conversation
Hag 2:3-4
3) Who is left among you that saw this house in her
first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your
eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
4) Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD;
and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high
priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the
LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of
hosts:
Deut 1:28

6. 28) Whither shall we go up? our brethren have
discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater
and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to
heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the
Anakims there.
Rom 13:11-14
11) And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time
to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer
than when we believed.
12) The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us
therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put
on the armour of light.
13) Let us walk honestly,as in the day; NOT in rioting
and drunkenness, not in chamberingand wantonness,
not in strife and envying.
14) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not
provision for the flesh,to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Dec. 24th is a day for Consideration
Dec 24th is a day for…
• Consideration
II. Participation- Hag 2:19
Hag 2:19

7. 19 Is the seed yet in the barn?
yea, as 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.
God will grow the field but we have to stock the barn.
Your Labor in the Devils field also gets God’s attention.
Hag 2:16
16 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of
twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to
the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press,
there were but twenty.
17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with
hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not
to me, saith the LORD.
Hag 1:9
9 Ye looked for much,and, lo, it came to little; and
when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why?
saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house
that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own
house.
Hag 1:2-8

8. 2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people
say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD'S
house should be built.
3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the
prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses,
and this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider
your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye
have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with
drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he
that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag
with holes.
7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consideryour ways.
8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the
house;and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be
glorified, saith the LORD.
Dec. 24th is a day to plan your Participation in God’s
work.
Dec 24th is a day for…
• Consideration
• Participation
III. Anticipation- Hag 2:20-23
Hag 2:20-23

9. 20 And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in
the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
21 Speak to Zerubbabel,governor of Judah, saying, I will
shake the heavens and the earth;
22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I
willdestroy the strength of the kingdoms of the
heathen; and I willoverthrow the chariots, and those
that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall
come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
23 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee,
O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith
the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have
chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.
Insider trading is allowed in preparation for eternity.
We know the end of the story.
Rom 8:17
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together.
2Tim 2:12
If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we
deny him, he also will deny us:
Rev 22:12

10. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with
me, to give every man according as his work shall
be.
Dec. 24th is a day to Anticipate the fulfilment of God’s
promises.
Conclusion:
We probably have never used this day as God ordained
it in 520 BC however, this is the time to start.
Dec. 24th is a day for…
Consideration
Participation
Anticipation