Haggai 1:9-11, When God Pulls the Plug

Book of Haggai judgment Old Testament
/ By Randall Johnson

How do we know when we are under God’s judgment? God told Israel they should have figured it out from the downturn they were experiencing, but this was because they were told in their covenant with Yahweh that failure to keep covenant would result in judgments of varying severity. Nevertheless, Yahweh specifically told Israel through the prophet Haggai that what they were experiencing was from Him, was a judgment from Him.

⁹“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares Yahweh Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. ¹⁰Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. ¹¹I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.” (Haggai 1:9-11)

We are not Israel and are not under a covenant with God that specifies the judgments that will come for disobedience. How do we know whether the bad things happening to our country, or our community, or us individually, are a judgment from God or not? Three ways:

A recognized prophet may tell us that we are being judged. A person proven to be a genuine prophet of God can communicate God’s view to us that we either are or are not under judgment.
The Lord may tell us personally that what we are experiencing is individual discipline or judgment.
Addressing our misbehavior and seeing circumstances improve could tell us that what we were experiencing was divine judgment.

That a church may experience discipline or judgment from Christ is apparent from Revelation 2 and 3, where the prophet John communicates to each of seven churches an evaluation by Jesus that either commends or condemns their behavior and/or heart. A discipline Jesus mentions is removal of the church’s candlestick or lampstand, but what this entails exactly is not specified. Persecution is not judgment from Christ, nor a sign of his disfavor, but rather a sign of Christlikeness in the church. Jesus speaks of “fighting against” a church that needs correction, but again, what that entails is not specified. A judgment of striking dead those who participate in immoral idolatry is mentioned, a repaying for each one’s deeds. Spitting us out of his mouth is another judgment not specifically described.

Perhaps the best thing to do rather than search out whether we are under God’s judgment is to look at the evaluations Christ makes of the churches in Asia in Revelation 2 and 3, and see if we are guilty of any failures. Then correct our failures, repent, and find forgiveness from Him. If circumstances improve then perhaps we were under judgment that has now been removed.

About the Author Randall Johnson

A full-time pastor since 1979, Randall originally graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary (ThM) in 1979 and from Reformed Theological Seminary (DMin) in 1998. He is married with four grown children and a pile of epic grandchildren.

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