In Isaiah 44 and 45, God named Cyrus 125 years before he was born, and He said that Cyrus, His servant, would rebuild the temple. Cyrus was so impressed that he made an edict recorded in the first chapter of Ezra. We note Daniel 9:25 as the prophecy of the 70 weeks: there were 483 weeks (i.e., years) that would lead up to the coming of Messiah. So when the edict was given by our Artaxerxes to Nehemiah to rebuild the wall in the city in Nehemiah chapter two, the clock began ticking down to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So Haggai, of course, fits right in here. Chapter one, “Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, ‘I am with you, says the Lord.’ So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, a governor of Judah, in 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 they worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God on the 24th day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.”
Haggai 2:1-9, “In the seventh month on the 21st day of the month,…” This was on the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles. “… the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, speak now to his era of all the son of Joshua, the son of Jehoshaphat the high priest, and to the remnant of the people … who is left among you, who saw this temple in his former glory? Is this not in your eyes as nothing?”
What’s the problem? The problem was some of them had seen the glorious temple of Solomon in all of its majesty and its magnificence and its beauty. If you read Ezra chapter three, you’ll see that “the old men wept when they laid the foundation, because it was so small” and so insignificant.
But God says, “I’m with you.” And He says, “I’m going to fill this temple with greater glory than the former temple, and in this place, I will give peace, says the Lord of Hosts.” Now we know that in the course of time Herod came along and took this temple and added to it and made it magnificent. But that’s not what God was talking about.
You know, God is always full of surprises.
How would he bring greater glory into this temple than that of Solomon? And in a temple that people wept because it was too small came the glory of God in the form of an infant. And do you remember what Simeon said in Luke 2:29-32, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace according to Your word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people. A light to bring the revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
What does Haggai mention? I will fill it with glory and peace. What does Simeon mention? Very interesting — “Peace” and “Glory” in the little person of that infant.
The full lesson is here: https://basictraining.org/haggai/
Thanks to “The Bible Project” for a clip from their Haggai Overview.