"Does The Lord's House Lie In Ruins?"

In 586 B.C., Judah was taken captive into Babylon (2 Kings 25:8-21; Jeremiah 52). At the time this captivity took place, Jerusalem was plundered by the conquering people and then burned (2 Kings 25:8-9; Nehemiah 1:3). After toiling for 70 years in captivity, a remnant of the people was allowed to return to the land. Upon their return, the Lord intended for His temple to be rebuilt. In fact, the Lord worked directly on the heart of King Cyrus to allow this to be done (Ezra 1:1-5).

However, once His people returned to the land, other things began to take higher priority over the task at hand. Because of this, the Lord sent the prophet Haggai to them with a message. In Haggai 1:1-15, the prophet commands the people from the Lord to begin their task of putting the Temple back together.

The message of Haggai has application for us today.

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets