Haggai 2:6-9, Shaken Nations and Glorious Temple

The Israelites were concerned about their limited resources and ability to build a temple as glorious as Solomon’s. Yahweh reassured them that He was with them in the building of the Temple and pleased with their work. But He makes a prediction concerning the future that should help the remnant of Israel see that this is a step toward a greater glory.

⁶ “This is what Yahweh Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. ⁷ I will shake all nations, and the riches desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says Yahweh Almighty. ⁸ ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares Yahweh Almighty. ⁹ ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says Yahweh Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares Yahweh Almighty.” (Haggai 2:6-9)

Yahweh had mentioned His covenant that He made with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt, a covenant He made with them at Mt. Zion, where, according to Exodus 19:16 “there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast” that shook the whole mountain. Like that shaking, Yahweh says, He will shake the heavens and the earth “once more” and shake “all the nations” so that they bring Israel all the riches nations desire and make this house, the temple, one of extraordinary glory.

All the silver and gold belongs to Yahweh and He will claim ownership to the nations to make it His possession and use it to make this temple even greater than the glory of Solomon’s temple. All the nations will be at peace with Israel, a peace Yahweh will grant His sacred place.

“In a little while” this will happen, He says, but it has yet to happen. We have seen partial fulfillment of it with the renovation King Herod did on the temple in Jesus’ day, but the nations were not at peace with Israel. She was a client of Rome. A partial fulfillment will happen when the antichrist makes a seven-year covenant with Israel and she rebuilds the temple. But it will end with antichrist’s desecration of that temple and conquering of Israel. The fulfillment of this awaits the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth when all nations will be at peace with Israel after the defeat of their king, the antichrist. The temple described in Ezekiel 40-48 will be built. Yahweh’s glory will fill it and Israel’s long-awaited glory will have come.