are imminent (e.g., Isa. 10:25; Amos 8:3) or distantly future (e.g. Isa. 29:17–18; 2:11) or even in the past (e.g. Isa. 63:18; 22:8). Haggai refers not so much to the shortness of the interval as to the vastness of the powers involved (Macgregor). God moves on toward the future, and those who love God know that they are always within a step of undreamed-of changes. They have seen so much of God’s working in the past: a word transforming a life, his power tumbling empires. Christians have even seen
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