CXIX
Haggai 2:13, 14—“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.
“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.”
The prophet makes the priests witness against themselves and the people. This was a powerful means of forcing home the truth.
It is clear from verse 12 that the mere bearing of a holy thing did not enable the bearer to communicate consecration.
But the priests owned that the touch of an unclean person did communicate uncleanness.
What a picture! An unclean person making everything unclean wherever he laid his hand! He could not move without spreading defilement on all sides.
Such were the erring people of Haggai’s day in the judgment of their God, and he never judges too severely.
Such are sinful men at this day.
I. THE TERRIBLE UNCLEANNESS. Here we keep to our text.
For a New Testament exposition, read Titus 1:15.
1. Common things are polluted by men of unclean nature.
Nothing is common or unclean naturally; for every creature of God is good. (1 Tim. 4:4.) But in divers ways the things of ordinary life are made to be unclean,—
By making gods of them, saying, “What shall we eat?” &c.
By gluttony, drunkenness, &c.
By excess in the use of them.
By excess in the keeping of them. A miser’s goods are accursed.
By ingratitude concerning them. Then they remain unblessed.
2. Holy things are polluted by men of unclean nature.
They use the gospel as an excuse for sin.
They offer prayer in solemn mockery.
They make praise into a musical performance.
They turn the sacraments into hypocrisy or worse.
There is nothing so holy but that sin can defile it.
3. Good works are polluted when they come from evil men: “so is every work of their hands.”
They can be charitable for ostentation.
They can be religious to be seen of men.
They can be sternly righteous in order to be revenged.
They can be humble to gain their ends.
4.Sacrifices are polluted when offered by unclean men: “and that which they offer there is unclean.”
Their public thanksgivings are a falsehood.
Their solemn fasts are a mere comedy.
What a wretched condition is he in who even in his holiest acts is defiling everything! He may well pause and humble himself before God, for the more he does in his present state the more does he defile.
Sin has cast a serpent’s trail over the whole universe, making the creation itself subject to vanity. What does man touch which he does not degrade and pollute? Here is a wide field for thought, and abundant cause for humiliation.
Spurgeon, C. H. (2009). My Sermon notes & 2: Genesis to Malachi (Vol. 1, pp. 362–363). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
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