Haggai 1-2

“And I will shake all the nations; … and I will fill this house with glory” (2:7).  Haggai the prophet urged the returned Jewish exiles to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.   As long as they were focused on their own survival, they wouldn’t prosper (1:5-6).  God declared that this new Temple (which seemed like “nothing in comparison” to the old, 2:3) was going to be something extraordinary.  God’s purposes went far beyond Jerusalem, to “the nations.”

Judah’s inhabitants had a choice: to be part of this world-shaking, glorious project, or to focus on themselves.  “My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!” (2:5).