Bible 101: Lesson 35

Haggai

In 539 B.C., the kingdom of Babylon fell to the invading Medo-Persian Empire. A year later, King Cyrus issued a decree that the Jews taken into captivity 70 years ago be allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Interestingly, he was moved to do this by prophecies in Jeremiah which predicted the date of the downfall of Babylon, and one in Isaiah in which the prophet calls him by name almost 200 years before he came to power (Jer. 25:12, 29:10; Is. 44:28). So restoration work began on the temple, but the Jews faced strong opposition from neighboring peoples and the work was halted for sixteen years until God raised up Haggai and Zechariah to preach to the people. Haggai stressed the need to complete the reconstruction and explained that the recent bad harvests were a result of the temple still lying in ruins, keeping the land unclean. But he also stressed God’s support for the project and His plans to bring the Israelites a new prosperity.

The book of Haggai is a rebuttal to everyone who’s ever said, “God’s not interested in buildings - it’s people who make up the church”. Or “I can worship God better outdoors than in a church full of hypocrites.” Haggai makes it plain that, for what ever reason, God is interested in having His people gather together in sacred spaces to worship Him as a group, and in order to do that, someone must have the very ordinary task of actually building that space. There are times when the obedience God expects of us is very material, and the work of building the house of prayer is as important in God’s sight as going there to pray. Through the book of Haggai we come to understand that God regards all work as spiritual, whether we see it that way or not.

There are no Messianic prophecies in Haggai.