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Haggai 2:10-14

10 In the four [arba] and twentieth [esriym] day of the ninth [tashiy`iy] month, in the second [shanayim] year [shaneh] of Darius [Dar`yavesh], came the word [dabar] of the LORD [Yahovah] by [yad] Haggai [Chaggay] the prophet [nabiy], saying [amar],
11 Thus saith [amar] the LORD [Yahovah] of hosts [tsaba]; Ask [sha'al] now the priests [kohen] concerning the law [towrah], saying [amar],
12 If one ['iysh] bear [nasa] holy [qodesh] flesh [basar] in the skirt [kanaph] of his garment [beged], and with his skirt [kanaph] do touch [naga] bread [lechem], or pottage [naziyd], or wine [yayin], or oil [shemen], or any meat [ma'akal], shall it be holy [qadash]? And the priests [kohen] answered [anah] and said [amar], No.
13 Then said [amar] Haggai [Chaggay], If one that is unclean [tame] by a dead body [nephesh] touch [naga] any of these, shall it be unclean [tame]? And the priests [kohen] answered [anah] and said [amar], It shall be unclean [tame].
14 Then answered [anah] Haggai [Chaggay], and said [amar], So is this people [am], and so is this nation [gowy] before [paniym] me, saith [na'um] the LORD [Yahovah]; and so is every work [ma`aseh] of their hands [yad]; and that which they offer [qarab] there is unclean [tame]. KJV-Interlinear

10 On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Haggai the prophet saying, 11 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Ask now the priests for a ruling: 12 'If a man carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and touches bread with this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?' 'And the priests answered and said,' No. ' 13 Then Haggai said, 'If one who is unclean from a corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?' And the priests answered and said, 'It will become unclean.' 14 Then Haggai answered and said, ''So is this people. And so is this nation before Me,' declares the LORD, 'and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. NASB

In the Bible there are several types of death. The first is physical death, of which we are all probably aware. The second type of death is sexual death. That quite simply is when the sexual functions of the body cease to operate in their original manner. You are of course still physically alive, but your sex drive is gone.

The third type of death is spiritual death. And of this, there are two types of spiritual death. In both you are still physically alive, but your spiritual functions, well, do not function.

The first spiritual death begins at physical birth. Everyone who is born alive is also born spiritually dead. One has to believe in Christ in order to receive a human spirit and gain spiritual life. All unbelievers are spiritually dead in that they do not have a human spirit. They are physically alive, but spiritually dead.

At some point in life the unbeliever becomes aware of God, and aware of their responsibilities to believe in Christ. Once a person reaches this age of responsibility then they risk the Lake of Fire if they die prior to believing in Christ. They actively reject Christ and thus remain spiritually dead.

Just as a side note. Anyone who is young or otherwise in a situation where they do not or cannot reach an age of responsibility, then if they die without ever having known the issues of Christ, then they are saved automatically. Children for example, will be saved automatically if they die. We studied this principle in our David study when he lost his first child by Bathsheba.

Now when a believer first believes in Christ, then he is automatically placed in fellowship, and is therefore clean. But when the believer commits a sin, he falls out of fellowship, becoming unclean as it were, and are spiritually dead. Believers are still physically alive, of course. They are still saved as believers, but they are out of fellowship and therefore spiritually dead, or they imitate the death of an unbeliever, and their spiritual life does not function even though they possess all of the spiritual mechanisms. They just are not working. Sometimes we call that being off line - to use computer terminology as our illustration. The computer is on and working, but the modem, or server, or router, or satellite link is disconnected such that you cannot communicate with anyone else.

Now Haggai calls on the priests and the people and asks them a couple of questions. This is to get their attention, and to make them recall the principles of salvation and fellowship, and therefore the spiritual life which God had defined.

The first question has to do with holy meat. When meat of a sacrificial animal has been offered to God in the proper manner of the sacrifice, then it becomes holy, or set apart from that which is unholy. It is offered in conformity with Gods prescribed method for sacrifice.

When that which is holy (Bible doctrine) is wrapped up in the clothing (the human soul) of the individual and in the proper format (fellowship, study, application, etc.) then that individual becomes holy.

When the individual who is holy, comes into contact with anything else, are those things made holy? And that answer is no. The individual cannot make anything which is unholy, holy. Only God can do that, but it has to be done in the context and within the rules that God has defined for the spiritual life.

Now the second question. When the clean (believer in fellowship) touches something unclean (sin), then the clean becomes unclean (out of fellowship). That should be easy to understand. As for the spiritual application, then the corpse is the dead thing which is rotten, decaying, lacks any life, stinks and so forth.

The spiritual life which is not functioning because of being out of fellowship becomes like that corpse. There is in effect no spiritual function. If there is no spiritual function then there is no spiritual growth. A dead thing cannot grow. A dead thing cannot produce, so a spiritually dead person (out of fellowship) when he engages in anything in life, produces no spiritual wealth. All that he does in dead works. Production of the dead. Production of the sin nature. Production while out of fellowship.

We used an example a long time ago, of two people helping the little old lady across the street. Both complete good deeds. The one who is in fellowship gains spiritual benefit from the deed. The latter who is out of fellowship does not, although he did the very same thing.

You can be the kindest person in the world, even in history, but if you are out of fellowship then you are in effect saying (in arrogance) to God, that your being nice is all you need, to gain His favor. That is a slap in Gods face when He demands fellowship status.

God sets out the rules for conduct. You and I do not.

Haggai had this latest communication from God just two months after the last communication. Now all of the feast celebrations have been concluded and the work pace on the rebuilding of the Temple has picked up a bit. They were all 'doing' good things for God. Still they have not learned their spiritual lesson.

'Doing' per se, is not what God wants. Bible doctrine in the soul is what God wants, combined with ones fellowship (recognition of ones failures - thus confession) and application of Gods principles of life, to life. This eliminates mans definition of good moral conduct.

The questions are now answered by the priests as well as the people. They know the rules of spiritual conduct, so there is no excuse.

Comply with Gods mandates and you will be holy (set apart from unholy). Ignore Gods rules, modify Gods rules, try to redefine Gods rules, tweak Gods rules just a little bit, compromise Gods rules for your own convenience, and you in effect shut down your spiritual life. You function like a corpse (though you are still alive), with all of its stench and decay. No life can come from a dead thing.

The people had just finished with the first two messages from Haggai. They had just finished with some of the more important feast celebrations. But now they were singing their song, 'We're working for God. We're working for God.' Ignore the Bible study and the confessions and all of that Bible class stuff. We're working for God.'

And so Haggai, now that he has confirmed their understanding of what God expects, will give them their evaluation. But that is for tomorrow's study.

Now is the time to post a prayer.

End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.

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