Haggai 2:10-23

What’s Happening?

God’s people are rebuilding their nation and temple 70 years after they were destroyed. For two months God’s people have been preparing to rebuild their temple (Haggai 2:10). And today, the first stone will be laid in a special ceremony (Haggai 2:18). But before Haggai arrived, the priests who were supposed to lead the rebuilding effort only built the altar. Then they stopped. That made sense to them because as priests they knew the greatest threat to experiencing God’s life-giving presence in their land was the impurity of God’s people. And the altar was where impure people could become pure. But Haggai says the decision to stop rebuilding the temple is precisely why God’s life-giving presence has eluded them (Haggai 2:17).

To Haggai, the temple was like a corpse. The unbuilt temple itself was impure. So its decay contaminated all their attempts at purity and so polluted their land (Haggai 2:10-14). This is why all their previous efforts to rebuild the temple were marked by plague and disease (Haggai 2:15-17). No matter how well-intended their altar was, it could not reverse the contagious impurity of a temple in decay. But now that the first stone is being laid, God promises that pollution will be a thing of the past (Haggai 2:18). God’s life-giving presence will be with his people once again, and he will bless them with all they need (Haggai 2:19).

On the same day the ceremonial first stone is laid, Haggai gives a prophecy to Zerubbabel, the current governor of God’s people (Haggai 2:20-21). On Zerubbabel’s behalf, God will destroy any nation that threatens God’s people (Haggai 2:22). God has chosen Zerubbabel to be his king; the symbol and arbiter of his royal authority on the earth (Haggai 2:23). With the temple’s foundation stone laid, God’s presence with them, and God’s king on his throne, God’s people can be confident that God will continue to bless them.

Where is the Gospel?

Ultimately, Jesus is the first stone of God’s new temple (1 Peter 2:7-8). And since Jesus is the first stone of a new and better temple, that means that Jesus has restored the altar where impure people can become pure (Acts 4:11; Ephesians 2:20). A sacrifice can now be offered to fully purify his people and allow them to enter his life-giving presence. With a new temple and restored altar, we would expect a new sacrifice to purify God’s people. And instead of offering an animal, Jesus offers himself (1 John 2:2). Jesus is not only our temple but also our altar and our sacrifice. That means that Jesus is the ultimate way to enter into the life-giving presence of God (Acts 4:12). 

But since Jesus is the first stone of a new temple, he also represents an ongoing building project yet to be finished. God’s purity and life won’t be in a temple made with stones but in a building made up of people. We are part of God’s ongoing building project. God intends to build a living temple out of us where the power, authority, and presence of God lives (Ephesians 2:21-22). Wherever we go, so does God’s presence. Wherever we go, so does God’s ability to give life and push back decay.

Jesus is God’s King who rules over all the earth (Ephesians 1:20-21). In fact, Zerubbabel is one of his royal ancestors. And even though he died as our sacrifice, Jesus has risen from the dead to a throne in heaven. This makes Jesus our temple, altar, sacrifice, and King. And since all that is true, God’s people can be confident that through Jesus, we are part of a new living temple that will inevitably bring blessing and life into the world. 

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the God who purifies his people. And may you see Jesus as the first stone of a new temple he is building through us.