God’s people could not know what the future would look like. They could not know when their circumstances would change. They were still under the rule of the Persian Empire, and they still did not have a Davidic king on the throne. But all they needed to know was, I am with you.
The Lord wants his people to obey with confidence and peace in him. He is with them, he is for them.
Where else does this divine promise find its focal point than in the person of Jesus Christ, our Immanuel? Christ gives himself freely to those who trust him. It is because of Christ alone that we can hear the words, I am with you,
and know of God's presence not only today, but throughout our lives. This promise is the great comfort of the Christian life, that Christ is God with us, now and always. The believer has that as a guarantee because of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus. What did he say when he hung on the cross? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you God not with me?
Infinitely worse than the pain of being nailed to a cross is being forsaken by his Father. Jesus endured forsakenness so that the Lord God could say to us sinners, I will never leave you or forsake you.
Both in life and in death he will be with us, in Christ.
13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’s message, “I am with you, declares the LORD.”