Fulfillment? Build the kingdom! 4th prophetic period (Haggai - ministry era 538-516 B.C.) 

Haggai 1:5. Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. 6. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." 9. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house."

The work of the 'Kingdom' has changed - it is no longer rebuilding a temple, although lots of ambitious preachers and churches will still use this text to get their people to build bigger and more elaborate buildings. While the structure of the "house" has changed, the emphasis and warning of Haggai's prophecy is still as applicable today as it was 2500 years ago.

'Keeping up with the Joneses' has redefined Western-world Christianity. The excesses of present day capitalism and the clingings of Calvinism's work-ethic-produced prosperity has created a delusion of fulfillment that is as wrong today as it was for the returning Jews during King Darius' glory days of the Persian Empire.

The diasporic Jews had learned to enjoy and replicate a lifestyle in Persia that they had not known - ever. They were now free to take the extravagance of Persian culture and transplant it into their old ancestral homeland. Persia embodied a luxury and culture that even Alexander (the Great) would covet two hundred years later.

But the trappings of a luxurious culture provided no real lasting fulfillment...they discovered that. Alexander would plunge himself into it and never recover.

Building the Kingdom, for the past twenty centuries, has been by the spreading of the Spirit all over the world, not the spreading of a culture. It is not the increase of "meat nor drink" - the tangible things of life, "but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17) that is the work of, and response to, building the Kingdom of God.

It took twenty-three days for the Jews in Palestine in the 6th Century B.C. to refocus their attention to rebuilding the temple. We can change our focus today. What do you consider to be the proof of God's blessing? My bet is on "righteousness, peace and joy..." One can experience that whether in a Third World Country or one of the richest countries on earth.

The blessings of God are color-blind and without regard to geo-political considerations. "For God so loved the world..." He keeps on blessing and blessing; unfortunately many who call themselves by His name are chasing fool's gold rather than eternity.

You can't buy, live in, dress up in, or drive fulfillment. Fulfillment only comes with His Kingdom and it's available everywhere to everyone. That's the great equality of God.