At a church I once pastored, people often talked about the glory days. A decade earlier, the church had been bursting at the seams. There were multiple services, a variety of programs, and lots of energy. But then the church split, not just once, but twice. The church was now a quarter of the size it had been. Some members had trouble not comparing everything the church was currently doing with the glory days of their past.

It had been a month since Haggai’s last message. Work on the Temple had begun. Volunteers were clearing the rubble and laying the foundation. Haggai 2 begins on the last full day of the Feast of Booths. Perhaps some older members of the community had been comparing the current Temple with the glory of Solomon’s Temple (v. 3). Solomon had paid skilled workers from other countries and paneled the inside of the building in gold. This new work might have looked small and pathetic in comparison.

The problem with nostalgia is that it can make you miss what God is doing in the present. When we remember the glory days, our memories tend to make them out as better than they actually were. Idolatry at the former Temple was part of the reason Israel ended up in exile. The Lord wanted to direct the people’s attention to the opportunity before them. The Lord promised, “I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory” (v. 7). The Lord will be with his people. The Temple will be a place that all nations will stream to. It will be a place of true peace (v. 9).

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