God’s True Tabernacle

⁴⁴ “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses ^(A)to make it according to the pattern that he had seen, ^45 (B)which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, ^(C)whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the ^(D)days of David, ^46 (E)who found favor before God and ^(F)asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob. ^47 (G)But Solomon built Him a house.

⁴⁸ “However, ^(H)the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

¹⁶ And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make ^(A)My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” ¹⁷ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ^(B)“Zeal for Your house ^[a]has eaten Me up.”

¹⁸ So the Jews answered and said to Him, ^(C)“What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

¹⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, ^(D)“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

²⁰ Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

²¹ But He was speaking ^(E)of the temple of His body. ²² Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, ^(F)His disciples remembered that He had said this ^[b]to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

The Command to Build God’s House^(A)

1 In ^(B)the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by ^(C)Haggai the prophet to ^(D)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to ^(E)Joshua the son of ^(F)Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, ² “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” ’ ”

³ Then the word of the Lord ^(G)came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴ “Is it ^(H)time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this ^[a]temple to lie in ruins?” ⁵ Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(I)“Consider your ways!

⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! ⁸ Go up to the ^(L)mountains and bring wood and build the ^[b]temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. ^9 (M)“You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, ^(N)I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore ^(O)the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. ¹¹ For I ^(P)called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on ^(Q)all the labor of your hands.”

The People’s Obedience

^12 (R)Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the Lord. ¹³ Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, ^(S)“I am with you, says the Lord.” ¹⁴ So ^(T)the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, ^(U)governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; ^(V)and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, ¹⁵ on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.

The Coming Glory of God’s House

2 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came ^[c]by Haggai the prophet, saying: ² “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: ^3 (W)‘Who is left among you who saw this ^[d]temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, ^(X)is this not in your eyes as nothing? ⁴ Yet now ^(Y)be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the Lord; ‘and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts. ^5 (Z)‘According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so ^(AA)My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!’

⁶ “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ^(AB)‘Once more (it is a little while) ^(AC)I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; ⁷ and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to ^(AD)the ^[e]Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this ^[f]temple with ^(AE)glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. ⁸ ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. ^9 (AF)‘The glory of this latter ^[g]temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give ^(AG)peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

The People Are Defiled

¹⁰ On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Now, ^(AH)ask the priests concerning the law, saying, ¹² “If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?” ’ ”

Then the priests answered and said, “No.”

¹³ And Haggai said, “If one who is ^(AI)unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?”

So the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.”

¹⁴ Then Haggai answered and said, ^(AJ)“ ‘So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

Promised Blessing

¹⁵ ‘And now, carefully ^(AK)consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord— ¹⁶ since those days, ^(AL)when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. ^17 (AM)I struck you with blight and mildew and hail ^(AN)in all the labors of your hands; ^(AO)yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord. ¹⁸ ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from ^(AP)the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider it: ^19 (AQ)Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will ^(AR)bless you.’ ”

Zerubbabel Chosen as a Signet

²⁰ And again the word of the Lord came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, ²¹ “Speak to Zerubbabel, ^(AS)governor of Judah, saying:

²³ ‘In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the Lord, ^(AW)‘and will make you like a signet ring; for ^(AX)I have chosen you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

Hear the Heavenly Voice

²⁵ See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For ^(A)if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ^(B)“Yet once more I ^[a]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” ²⁷ Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the ^(C)removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we ^[b]may ^(D)serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

The Glory of the New Jerusalem

^22 (A)But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ^23 (B)The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine ^[a]in it, for the ^[b]glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. ^24 (C)And the nations ^[c]of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor ^[d]into it. ^25 (D)Its gates shall not be shut at all by day ^(E)(there shall be no night there). ^26 (F)And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into ^[e]it. ²⁷ But ^(G)there shall by no means enter it anything ^[f]that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s ^(H)Book of Life.