Haggai’s message is quite simple: It’s time to get off your butts and build God’s house!
Now, this may seem to run a little contrary to some of the things we saw earlier, where the author seems to suggest that everyone was getting distracted with the building project that God didn’t want. If God didn’t want a house in the first place, why is He so passionate about this one? I think the answer lies in beginning of the prophet:
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house.’ ”
Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
The issue doesn’t appear to be the status of a house made with cedar and gold. It STILL appears to be the state of the people’s hearts. God seems to be a little concerned with where their priorities lie. They’ve had no problem returning home and building their own paneled homes. But for some reason, it’s still “not time” to build the LORD’s house.
Haggai clearly tells them: The time has come. Let’s get moving.
But Haggai is also interested in dealing with the emotional state that is hamstringing the process. Haggai is well aware that part of the problem with this building project is that the Temple being restored is no match for the glory of the Temple that Solomon established in all of his wealth and imperial might. Haggai tells them that the magnificence of the building is not where the significance lies. Instead, it is the Glory that dwells within it. And that Glory is not going to be harnessed or diminished by the level of opulence they install.
On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: “Speak to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
Haggai closes his prophecy by reminding the people how important it will be to stay pure at this stage of rebuilding their homeland. It is much more difficult to spread goodness and light than it is to spread darkness and trouble. After utilizing a metaphor built around clean and unclean articles and temple worship, Haggai assures the people that if they will persevere in the project that God has for them, they will find everything they truly need in Him.
The message of Haggai is yet another prophet that continues to speak to us today. He speaks about priorities and whether or not we happen to be more concerned with our own agendas than with God’s. He speaks to us about what truly matters: the opulence of our church buildings? The impressive nature of our Bible knowledge? The academic credentials we place after our names?
God is able to dwell in the humblest of temples.
In fact, He seems to prefer it.
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