Broken Bread
Daily Devotions from the Daily Light
by
Evan Hopkins
June 4
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former...and in this place will I give peace.--Hag. 2:9
The second Temple was not greater in architectural splendor, but in the fact that the glory of the Messiah was there. The first Temple was burned by the Chaldees, the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and the people carried captive to Babylon, and it was more than 50 years after that the foundation of the second house was laid. Jehovah would not manifest Himself in the same degree as He had before, to a people who were suffering the chastisement of their backslidings; and the house they had built Him was but a poor copy of the Temple that had perished. Yet it was this that the Lord promised through His servant the prophet, that this second Temple in its poverty should be more glorious than the first, because Christ, the Desire of all nations, should come to it. The Lord of hosts should fill it with glory. This teaches us that it is not the outward building--not the house, but the Presence that sanctifies the house, that constitutes its glory. "In this place will I give peace." It is His prerogative to bestow it.