“Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD.” – Haggai 1:8
With these words the prophet Haggai initiates the building of a new temple in Jerusalem. The original was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. Those living in or around Jerusalem were then taken as captives to live in Babylon. But now (after Babylon’s fall at the hands of Persia), Israelites have made their way back home, and God feels that it’s time for his house to be rebuilt. In general, the prophets have little to say about the temple that is positive. The corruption of the priesthood in charge of the temple runs so deep that the prophets have little love for it. But Haggai speaks on God’s behalf to insist on its central importance to Jerusalem.
The citizens have houses of their own while the old temple is still rubble. In fairness, times are tough for these Judeans and Haggai acknowledges the drought that makes daily bread hard to come by. These people aren’t trying to be unfaithful; they’re just trying to scrape by and building a new temple isn’t exactly at the forefront of people’s minds. Without belittling these hardships, the prophet awakens the people to their need to attend to the presence of God in their midst. That’s what the temple was always designed for: the intersection of heaven and earth, the place where God and his people will experience each other’s presence in the most intentional way. We humans need a sacred space where God can find us more easily, and the weekly grind of tasks, traffic, grocery shopping, etc. probably isn’t it. So scraping by isn’t enough. It’s time to rebuild that sacred space.
And rebuild it they do. “And the LORD stirred up the spirit of the people, and they came and worked on the house of the LORD.” (1:14) When God stirs the human heart, it is stirred toward greater intimacy with him. There is no promise here that, once the temple is rebuilt, the drought will end and crops will abound. God is not holding the rains hostage until he gets what he wants. Whether the drought will end sooner or later, the new temple has no bearing on it. This new pursuit of sacred space, of divine encounter, is the end, not the means. Even if crops are lacking, the presence of God will not be.
The New Testament enjoys using the language of the temple. The first two chapters of John’s Gospel describe Jesus himself as the new temple, the true intersection of heaven and earth, the one in whom we really encounter God. And then Ephesians 2 says, “You are members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone; in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”
Suddenly the gathered and worshipping community is the temple, the place where God has come to dwell. To be the people of God is not to be those who have the most answers and make the fewest mistakes. To be the people of God is to be constantly awake to his presence, always seeking out space that amplifies that presence, whether in a church building or some other sacred space. It is simply in God’s nature to give his presence to us. Let us not allow it to pass us by.
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