And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, - Haggai 1:14 (ESV)

Haggai ministered during the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon/Persia when the people had had enough time to rebuild the Temple but instead had become complacent in their worship and were focused on resuming regular life with homes, fields, and their own business in general.  Haggai says that the people should stop delaying rebuilding the Temple and recognize that their failure to prioritize Yahweh is what led them to exile in the first place. 

The Big Idea of Haggai

I have taught the big idea of Haggai as the following: Yahweh's House Will House Yahweh's Presence. Yahweh’s rebuke of the people moves them to begin work on the temple As we read through the book, we discover that this is no pet project for Yahweh. Instead, the temple is intended to serve as a crucial component in Yahweh’s future plans for Israel. 

An Outline of Haggai

1:1-15: Stop Delaying the Rebuild

In the opening section of Haggai, we learn that Yahweh is displeased by the people because they are prioritizing their personal wealth and property while the Temple remains a pile of rubble. Yahweh informs them that he is the reason they are not succeeding financially. They are cut off from blessing due to their disobedience. In response, the people begin work on the Temple, led by the governor and high priest, both of whose spirits were stirred up by Yahweh to do the work. 

2:1-9: Yahweh's House Will Be Great

In the first section of chapter two, Yahweh encourages the governor of Israel, Zerubbabel, that he will fill the temple with glory and will give it peace. He describes a great day where nations come to the temple and Yahweh shakes the whole earth. 

2:10-19: Yahweh Will Restore Purity

In the middle of chapter two, Yahweh speaks again through Haggai to tell the people that he has made them clean and will lift the curse that he placed on them due to their sin. Whereas they had experienced hardship and lack of success, now Yahweh will bless them and treat them as those who are ceremonially clean. 

2:20-23: Yahweh Will Center Power in Israel

As Haggai concludes, Yahweh again speaks through Haggai to Zerubbabel. Yahweh assures Zerubbabel that he will overthrow and destroy foreign kingdoms and their power. He will take Zerubbabel and make him like a signet ring, or a representative of Yahweh’s power in the earth. 

Benefits of Haggai

It could be easy to relegate Haggai to a category of irrelevance for us. The issues in Haggai seem far away and with little parallel to our time. However, that is less true than we might think.

The initial problem Haggai addresses is always relevant, and that is the issue of priorities. The people were emphasizing the wrong things in their lives, going about their business while ignoring the worship of Yahweh. The people had fallen into a practice of pursuing their own ends, going about their own lives, and functionally forgetting or ignoring what should have been the defining feature of their identities: Yahweh himself.

As we consider what the people were doing, is it not all too easy to do the same thing ourselves? How easily do we become distracted by secondary pursuits that slip into primary status? Our jobs, families, children, education, careers, hobbies, churches, friends, and crises can become what we live for instead of God. All of the things listed above merit our attention and many of them require it. The problem arises when important things take the place of the most important thing or when what is urgent blinds us to what is most important.

The people in Haggai’s time were in the process of resettling into life upon return from exile. There was plenty to do. Their entire lives, and even their society, had to be rebuilt. The economy was just getting up and going. Their homes and livelihoods were just getting settled. Life was beginning to bustle. And yet, for all the important things that needed to be done, Yahweh was slowly but surely being eclipsed behind the growing list of competing priorities.

Really, however, there can only ever be one true priority. We are used to speaking in terms of multiple priorities, but the term refers to that which is prior, that which comes before. In the specific, technical sense of the term, there can only be one priority, one controlling, formative principle or goal that is before and above everything else. Our hearts are not designed to serve multiple masters but only one (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13; Rom. 6:16). 

It is at this point that we can more easily see why Yahweh gave the people the message he did. He reminded them of what he is doing with the people and what his future plans are for Israel. When we consider the big idea, that Yahweh’s house will house Yahweh’s presence, we can see how this plan trumps all. Indeed, how could it not? What could be more important, more influential, more fundamental than this? The consequences and implications contained within Yahweh’s message to the people are revolutionary, and Yahweh knows it. That is why he tells them. For all the people were to be busy about doing, they could not forget what their life was to be about and where it was to be headed. And yet, that is what they were doing. And so we have the book of the prophet Haggai.

Can we not relate? How easily distracted we are from the eternal, infinite, soul-satisfying glory that is to come by the comparatively dim glories in the here and now! We too can forget like the people in Haggai’s day did. For us, we must remember that the Christ is coming back. He will return for his own and make all things new. We are called to live with that truth as the dominating, priority-setting principle. 

This does not mean that our jobs, families, children, careers, etc. are unimportant. The fact of Christ’s imminent return is the priority, but that does not make it the only important thing. Christ’s return gives context and sets all other important things in proportion. In this way, Christ’s glory is never eclipsed in our hearts as we live in the light of his return. Our destiny shapes the design of our lives, or it ought to. Too often, it does not. The message of Haggai is a reminder to us of these things. And that is how Haggai can help us to live for God through Christ.