“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house (v. 9).”

“Each of you is busy with his own house” means literally, “each of you was running to his own house.” If this was the case, then, it must have been a burden also for them to keep the Sabbath day holy by not working. Nehemiah who lived in the same post-exilic period records that they had this problem. In fact, it seemd that the same problem had existed throughout the whole history of Israel. God spoke, for instance, through Jeremiah as follows:

But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy by not doing any work on it, then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this city with their officials. … and this city will be inhabited forever (Jer 17:24-25).

The whole establishment of the nation of Israel depended upon this command—to keep the Sabbath day holy. But they did not, and the nation was destroyed. Here, there is a very important truth to learn. This command is about holiness, and without holiness, the kingdom that God intends to establish cannot stand. Holiness is a type of nature that can be only produced by separating something for God from its ordinary use. The assumption is that the whole human world with everything in it was defiled spiritually after the Fall of Man, and we cannot have holiness without consecration by the blood of a sacrifice. And in order to consecrate ourselves together with what we have, we need to have the temple for the presence of God with an altar upon which sacrifices are offered to him. During the time of Haggai, however, while the temple remained a ruin, they were running and working for their own houses. They were defiled without keeping the Sabbath day, and continued to be defiled with no place to consecrate themselves.

Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy (Ezek 20:12).

The people of Israel were chosen by God, and they are God’s people. Because God is holy, they need to be holy as well.

Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod 19:5-6).

The commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy is a sign for this covenant. Holiness is the most important nature of God’s people, and the essential qualification for priests. By not keeping the Sabbath day holy, they defile themselves, and thus become disqualified for serving as priests or God’s people. Their offerings will not be accepted because what they offer is unclean, and without the acceptance of their offerings, it would be impossible for them to be blessed. God did his best to bless them in the time of Haggai, but they did not receive as much as they wanted or expected. Thus, God said to them, “Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house.” They listened to him, repented, and feared God. They made a decision to build the temple.

Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: "I am with you," declares the Lord (Hag 1:13).

All of this has spiritual implications that can be applied to us Christians today. Do you have this temple in your life? Have you made a decision to build it? If you have, the first thing you need to do is to lay the foundation of it.