Haggai 2:1-9

God's House Will Become A House For All Nations, Filled With Glory (Haggai 2:1).

God's first promise springing from their obedience is that, in spite of unpromising beginnings, His House will attract all nations, so that His House will be filled with glory.

Haggai 2:1

‘In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of YHWH by Haggai the prophet, saying,

This was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The Day of Atonement would have been held on the tenth of the month (Leviticus 23:26, compare Leviticus 16) and then from the fifteenth to the twenty first day would be the Feast, followed on the twenty second day by a solemn rest (Leviticus 23:33). This was a time for celebration of the harvests of the past year, and especially for the summer fruits and vintage, and of prayer for the coming rains which would ensure a prosperous harvest in the coming year.

But from what has already been said there would be little cause for celebration. The harvests had been bad, and the rains had not been forthcoming. Thus to some extent at least the celebrations would have been muted. Furthermore their coming each day into the partial ruins of Jerusalem, and their seeing the altar of YHWH open to the skies, surrounded no doubt by the sheds in which the Temple vessels were stored, would remind them of the glories that had once been. Once on this site had stood the glorious Temple of Solomon. And now all that was there was the bare altar surrounded by its sheds.

True they had now determined to rebuild the Temple. But they were fully aware of what a meagre building it was going to be compared with the glory of King Solomon's, Temple, made even more glorious by its being an enhanced memory from the past (all who were still alive who could remember it had seen it as small children who must have been filled with awe at the site). Indeed when initially they had begun to build it when they first returned, the joy had been mixed with weeping precisely for this reason (Ezra 3:10). And Haggai was aware that things were no different now (Haggai 2:3). So it was in the light of these circumstances that Haggai gives his assuring words. Things are about to change.

Haggai 2:2

“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah,

And to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest,

And to the remnant of the people, saying,

Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory?

And how do you see it now?

Is it not in your eyes as nothing?”

Haggai is now told to speak to Zerubbabel, Joshua and ‘the remnant of the people' (those whose hearts are true) and encourage them.

The sense of discouragement that there was among the people comes out here. They were still feeling battered from their poor harvest, and now as they were planning their new building it was coming home to them, and especially to those who had seen the former Temple, what a poor thing it was going to be compared with the one that it was replacing.

But Haggai will have none of it. They must not look at what they are about to build, but must look ahead to what is going to result from it. For on the foundations of the Temple which they are about to build God will do such great things that all men will marvel. He will make it a House for all nations (Haggai 2:7), He will restore blessing to His people (Haggai 2:19), and He will raise up from the house of Zerubbabel the King Who is to rule over all, of Whom Zerubbabel himself is the guarantee (Haggai 2:20).

Haggai 2:4

“Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says YHWH,

And be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest;

And be strong, all you people of the land, says YHWH,

And work, for I am with you, says YHWH of hosts,

According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt,

And my Spirit abode among you, fear you not.”

They must not be discouraged but must be strong. Let them remember how God had made His covenant with them (‘cut with them', used of cutting a covenant) when they came out of Egypt, and how His Spirit had dwelled among them. So it would be again (compare Zechariah 4:6, ‘not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, says YHWH'). Thus they must not be afraid. For they must no longer see themselves as ‘Zerubbabel, Joshua and the remnant of the people' but as ‘Zerubbabel, Joshua and  the people of the land '. With the commitment to the rebuilding and completion of the Temple they are once again ‘the people of the land' in the eyes of YHWH. And it will all come about in His own good time.

Haggai probably has in mind here the words of God spoke to Joshua on the death of Moses, ‘Be strong and of a good courage, for you will cause this people to inherit the land --- only be strong and very courageous --- be strong and of a good courage, do not be afraid nor be dismayed, for YHWH your God is with you wherever you go' (Joshua 1:6; Joshua 1:9). There also ‘be strong' was repeated three times.

Haggai 2:6

For thus says YHWH of hosts: 

Yet once, it is a little while,

And I will shake the heavens, and the earth,

And the sea, and the dry land,

And I will shake all nations;

And the precious things of all nations shall come,

And I will fill this house with glory, says YHWH of hosts.

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says YHWH of hosts.

The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says YHWH of hosts,

And in this place will I give peace, says YHWH of hosts.”

And all the He is promising will come about because of His word. For He will ‘shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land, and He will shake the nations'. In other words in every aspect of creation, including the nations, He will exercise His divine power in the bringing about of His will.

Initially this shaking of the nations took place as one after another of the great empires collapsed (as Daniel brings out), but it would continue as the early church went out to the nations and established the Kingly Rule which would shake the Roman Empire to its core. And the Scripture regularly bring out that there will be a final shaking of the nations at the end of time.

The writer to the Hebrews, referring to these words, takes this a step further. He points out that things that can be shaken are clearly temporary and will therefore be removed, leaving the things that cannot be unshaken, which will remain, which he sees as the eternal Kingdom (Hebrews 12:26). For to him Mount Zion was now in Heaven, along with the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (and Temple), the innumerable company of angels, the general assembly of the church and the firstborn who are written in Heaven, and the spirits of just men made perfect. Thus he sees these words as fulfilled in the heavenly kingdom established by Jesus Christ.

And the result will be that the nations will bring their precious things and their treasures to YHWH, and He will fill His house with glory. After all, all the gold and the silver already really belonged to Him. Thus He promises that the latter glory of His House will be greater than the former, that is, the initial house that they will build. They are to see it as a seed that will develop into a huge tree. This promise that the treasures of the nations would be brought to YHWH is found regularly in Isaiah (Isaiah 18:7; Isaiah 60:5; Isaiah 60:16; Isaiah 61:6).

As often with God's promises the fulfilment of this came in stages:

· Firstly it literally happened in the building of Herod's Temple, to which indeed people from all nations did come, and to which many treasures and gifts were brought by both Jews and Gentiles, which unquestionably increased the glory of the House.

· The glory came even more to the Temple when the young baby was brought in Who was the future Messiah and of whom Simeon declared that He was ‘a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel' (Luke 2:38).

· But even moreso was the glory revealed His new Temple, Jesus Christ, Who would be destroyed and in three days would rise again, the Temple that had replaced the Temple of Herod (John 2:19; John 2:21).

· Then it was revealed in His new people who became the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16 and often), who would receive glory after glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

· And finally it was fulfilled in the new Temple in Heaven in all its heavenly splendour (regularly in Revelation), as those from many nations flocked into it as the riches of the nations (Revelation 21:24), a new Temple confirmed in Hebrews 12:22, compare Galatians 4:26.