Sermon Synopsis
This sermon expounds Haggai 2:15–19, showing how God calls His people to careful self-examination, renewed alignment with His purposes, and trust in His sovereign promise to bless. The turning point is not human resolve but God’s declaration, grounded in obedience and a restored foundation. By contrasting decline with blessing, and neglect with renewal, the message urges believers to return to Christ as their firm foundation. From this day forward, blessing flows not from effort alone but from surrender to God’s will and presence.
Note: Due to a technical issue, the recording has no audio from approximately 22:14 to 22:32. After that, the audio is present but remains scratchy until the end of the message. Thank you for your understanding.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
From This Day Forward
Haggai 2:15–19
Introduction: The Significance of Small Beginnings
Good morning everyone. Please have your Bibles open to Haggai chapter 2.
Who would have thought that when seven saints first met to break bread at 108 Benulan Street on the 3rd of July 1864, that the flame of their torch of testimony would endure through the next 8,417 Sundays until this Lord’s Day? Praise God.
The far-reaching significance of God’s small beginnings is often lost to the short-sightedness of men’s minds.
Our title is taken from this passage of just five verses: “From This Day Forward.” This phrase is normally associated with making resolutions, making plans for change or improvement. It signifies that what comes hereafter will not be the same as what went before. It marks a milestone, a watershed event—a page is turned and a new chapter begins.
However, in the Bible this phrase means something quite different. When we encounter it here, it has to do with God’s determination, not man’s. It is about God’s declaration, not man’s resolve. It is about what God promises He will do, not what we plan to do.
This phrase, “from this day,” occurs three times within these five verses—twice with the word forward (verses 15, 18, and 19). Because of this unique concentration, it is best that we examine its implications for us today.
Let us read Haggai 2:15–19.
Overview: Three Stages of Spiritual Change
In this passage, we see three stages leading to a significant spiritual change in course and direction:
Let us begin with the first.
The Type of Consideration
What kind of consideration is in view here? It is a careful consideration.
God calls them to consider three times—once in verse 15 and twice in verse 18. This is not casual reflection; it is serious examination. This is a clarion call to consider carefully.
There is a difference between buying a $2 item at the wet market and a $2 million house in the property market. Can you see the difference in what is required by way of consideration?
This is not deliberation without decision. Often when people say, “I’ll think about it,” they end up doing nothing. It may take a long process to arrive at the point of decision, but once there, the decision itself takes only an instant—it happens at the speed of thought.
Careful consideration begins with serious reflection. If you persevere, it leads to realization. That realization becomes the basis of what the Bible calls repentance (metanoia)—a change of mind from what I used to think and believe about myself, to what God says in His Word that I should be thinking and believing.
The Time for Consideration
The time is now.
Verse 15 and verse 18 emphasize the present moment. If not now, then when? When we say later, it usually means never.
If procrastination is the robber of time, then consideration is the redeemer of time. Today is the most important day.
Very often, today is crucified between two thieves: yesterday’s regrets and tomorrow’s worries. It is easier to attend to the urgent than the important because of the tyranny of time. But the call here is not to keep in mind—it is to make up your mind. There is power in a made-up mind.
The Specific Day
The defining day here is the 24th day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev (December), in the second year of Darius—that is 520 BC.
We know from chapter 1 that this is exactly three months after the resumption of the rebuilding of the second temple. This is not an arbitrary date. What comes after will not be the same as what went before.
In Jerusalem, there is a street called 29th November Street. To us, it is just another day. But to Israelis, it marks 29 November 1947, when the UN resolution paved the way for the founding of the modern state of Israel.
Likewise, whether it concerns salvation, repentance, baptism, or obedience—when your decision is based on God’s declaration, you do not need to wait any longer.
“Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.”
The Things to Be Considered: Decline
The consideration here concerns decline, seen in two signs and symptoms.
(a) Deficiency
Verse 16 describes shortfall:
They were experiencing diminishing returns—only 50% of the grain and 40% of the wine. Supplies were dwindling. Leanness had become the new normal.
When expected results do not materialize, we must ask why. If nobody turns up for a meeting, we don’t just carry on—we find out what is wrong.
(b) Discrepancy
Verse 17 reveals a discrepancy between effort and outcome:
“I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail… yet you did not turn to Me.”
There was intense effort, but futile results. God says plainly, “I struck you.”
It is one thing to say, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” It is another when God Himself is against us.
Adverse circumstances can be:
To discern which, we must examine ourselves earnestly, honestly, and humbly—especially for sins of omission, which are often more deceptive than sins of commission.
“Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.” (Jeremiah 5:25)
After considering the situation, the question is not What shall we do? but What would God have us do?
The defining event is the laying of the foundation of the Lord’s temple.
This is not the same foundation laid in 536 BC (Ezra 3). That was 16 years earlier. The work had been halted, neglected, and weakened. Now the foundation must be laid again.
The Function of a Foundation
Structurally, a foundation:
Spiritually, a strong foundation is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
They must look to the Lord, their righteousness.
Two Aspects of the Foundation
(a) The Christian’s Solid Foundation
“Nevertheless, the solid foundation of God stands… The Lord knows those who are His.” (2 Timothy 2:19)
A Christian is one who is known and owned by Christ, and whose life shows a departure from iniquity.
Some believers are weak because of a faulty foundation. Others stagnate. Some must lay the foundations again—a tragic waste of time.
Your foundation determines how fast and how far you grow spiritually.
(b) The Church’s Sure Foundation
God lays in Zion a sure foundation, a precious cornerstone. The apostles apply this to the church. No other foundation can be laid but Jesus Christ.
The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.
There is no other salvation, no other foundation.
When tremors come, foundations are tested. Faulty foundations are not always visible—until cracks appear.
Verse 19 marks a dramatic change: from blight to blessing.
“From this day I will bless you.”
This is God’s declaration, not human determination.
The seed has been sown. Growth is happening beneath the surface. Faith must walk by trust, not sight.
True blessing is not merely favorable circumstances—it is God’s presence.
Twice in Haggai, God says, “I am with you.”
God blesses out of grace, not because obedience is a bargain, but because obedience is surrender.
As Oswald Chambers said:
“Never take your obedience as the reason God blesses you. Obedience is the outcome of being rightly related to God.”
Conclusion and Prayer
If you have been drifting, or standing still, the rudder that steers the ship back is repentance.
Put Christ first—front and center—and from this day forward, you will be blessed, because God has said it.
Let us pray:
Our Father, grant us a fresh spirit of worship—personally and corporately.
Grant us a renewed hunger for Your Word, a revived passion for prayer, and a deepened fellowship.
Make us a living stream, not a miry swamp.
Make us like a watered garden, raising foundations for many generations.
Amen.