Obeyed the voice of the Lord their God.
The voice of the Lord
1. The Word of God in the mouth of His servants will not take effect till His authority be seen and acknowledged in it, and His servants looked on as coming in His name. They look on this message as “the voice of the Lord, and the words of Haggai.”
2. It will be a notable means to make the Word effectual, when beside the absolute authority of God, speaking in His Word, His interest in His people is considered and believed by them, and that He who speaks, reproves, and directs, is their confederate God, whom they should be loth to offend or disobey, so much the rather as His relation stands, notwithstanding their faults; for thus is the Lord named here, “The Lord their God.”
3. When God is seen speaking in His Word as a party to the sinner, and when His love is believed for all that, even in His reproving it will make the guilty and smitten sinner to stand in much awe, will both break and melt him, and will make him look on his former ways, wherein he hath lain secure, with much affrightment and horror; for the fruit of the former is, “And the people feared before the Lord.”
4. When the awe of God, speaking in His Word, in His majesty and goodness, hath had place in the heart, it will put men to give obedience in some measure to what is commanded; for the people, in this temper, “obeyed the voice of the Lord.”
5. It is a sweet and blessed like case, when men in power are patterns and encouragements unto others, in submitting to the Word of the Lord in the mouth of His servants, and when a people’s affliction doth not hinder their respect to the commandments, as is here marked.
6. It may encourage the servants of God to go on with their work, when they consider what a great blessing God can, and sometimes doth give to their endeavours beyond all probability; for here, by one sermon, all the people are set about a long-neglected work, in the midst of many difficulties. (George Hutcheson.)
Duty followed
I. Duty followed is obedience to the Divine voice. “The people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God,” etc. God has a voice to men.
1. His voice is revealed. He speaks to them in nature, history, the Bible; in these last days, specially, by His Son. The Divine voice is ascertainable. It can be distinguished from all other voices that fall on the ear of the human soul.
2. His voice is authoritative. Obedience to this voice is right, wise, urgent.
II. Duty followed secures the divine favour. “Then spake Haggai the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.” This promise means more than presence. He is with all; He fills the universe; He is with the evil and the good. It means to bless, to enlighten, guide, support, dignify, and make happy. God is always on the side of the dutiful.
III. Duty followed implies divine assistance What prompted these men who had so long neglected duty to set now in earnest about it? “The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel,” etc. Men will never give themselves to duty unless the Lord stirs them up. This He is constantly doing. By--
1. The admonitions of providence.
2. The dictates of conscience.
3. The preaching of the Gospel.
4. The strivings of the Spirit. (Homilist.)