The Glory of the Latter Temple

Bible News Prophecy

Haggai 2 and the Temple of God. The Temple Institute quoted Haggai 2:9 in a May 2026 newsletter--is that related to a 'third' temple or really the second?   Did Zerubbabel help build a temple that was greater in glory than the temple Solomon built? Were all the verses in Haggai 2:2-9 fulfilled? When did God shake the heaven and earth, the sea and dry land, as in verse 6? Is the glory of the latter temple greater than the glory of the first, as in the beginning of verse 9? Has the Lord of Hosts yet given peace in the place of the latter temple as in the end of verse 9? Did all the nations come to the Desire of All Nations, as in verse 7?   Would you like to be part of the work being done by the temple of God, whose temple you are if you are a real Christian? What is that work? Are there parallels today related to the second temple and the work of the Philadelphian remnant of the Church of God?   The time is short. The final phase of the work is being supported right now by a small number of those called by God. Don’t despise small things. Watch this video as Dr. Thiel shines the light of Biblical truth on the “Glory of the Latter Day Temple of Haggai 2” and discusses some of the highlights of the work being done right now by Zerubbabel.  Read the full article to this video titled “Haggai: The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former; COGwriter: Any parallels to the old WCG and Ambassador Auditorium?” at URL https://www.cogwriter.com/news/wcg-news/haggai-the-glory-of-this-latter-temple-shall-be-greater-than-the-former/

Transcript

00:04Greetings, friends. This is Steve Dupuy for the Bible News Prophecy Program with Dr. Bob Thiel,

00:09bringing you news and analysis of world events in light of Bible prophecy.

00:14Dr. Thiel, did the Temple Institute cite Haggai 2?

00:19Yes. In its newsletter yesterday, the Temple Institute had quotes from the second chapter

00:26of the book of Haggai. And basically, it starts off with the glory of this last house shall be

00:32greater than the first. Then it mentions that Zerubbabel from the house of David and the high

00:37priest Joshua consult the prophet Haggai, who instructs them to waste no time in rebuilding

00:44the holy temple. Now, the Temple Institute is interested in actually building a massive third

00:49temple in Jerusalem. Was that what Haggai was prophesying about?

00:55Not at all. He was actually talking about what was called the second temple. Now, before we get in

01:01the meaning of this stuff from Haggai, the Apostle Paul told Christians in 1 Corinthians 3.16,

01:09don't you know you're the temple of God? And in 2 Corinthians 6.16, he says,

01:17So, in the end times, by the way, it needs to be pointed out, a Jewish temple cannot be the

01:23temple

01:23of God. Now, that being said, many of us were part of the old Worldwide Church of God. They had

01:30over

01:30150,000 congregants, had a very fancy building in Pasadena that some actually considered to be

01:38a beautiful temple. The old church was impressive. It was wealthy. Its magnificent headquarters was the

01:45envy of many, even outside of the church, and even had the number one religious telecast for a short

01:52period of time in the United States. It was a pretty impressive accomplishment for a church that only

01:58made up about two-tenths of one percent of the world's population. Now, we see a much smaller church

02:05from people scattered amongst scores of groups. Well, has God forsaken the Church of God, or has

02:13this type of thing happened in the past? Well, there's a lot of similarities to the past. Consider

02:19that the first temple in the Old Testament was essentially what you would call a headquarters

02:24work. King David saw a need. He wanted to build a temple to God, but he was prevented from doing

02:31so.

02:31But he was allowed to use the wealth of Israel to collect the building materials for it,

02:36though his son Solomon actually ended up building it. And that temple was magnificent, and it was

02:43completely covered with gold, which is actually sort of similar. There's a lot of gold in the old

02:48Ambassador College, the Worldwide Church of God.

02:52So are you comparing the grandeur of the headquarters church of the Old Worldwide Church of God

02:57to the grandeur of the headquarters work of the first temple built by David's son Solomon?

03:04Absolutely. Now, consider, by the way, that the second Old Testament temple was different.

03:10First of all, there was a call to find out which of the children of Israel would be faithful to

03:14do

03:15the work of rebuilding it. We read in Ezra chapter 1. Basically, they were told to begin again,

03:20even without as much support or finances.

03:25So then, the second Old Temple of Haggai would now be compared to the present day?

03:33Yeah. Now, consider, I'm going to read Ezra 1 verse 5, that those whose spirit God moved among his

03:41people, they went to do the work. It says,

03:55Now, that suggests that not all of God's people responded to support God's work at the time.

04:03Additionally, this temple was not physically as impressive as the first one.

04:09Actually, when the foundation of the second temple were laid, those who saw the magnificence of the

04:14first temple, they didn't rejoice, they wept. This temple, though, seemed to be very important to God.

04:22Now, it should be mentioned that those who hadn't seen the former temple were actually rejoiced when

04:27the new temple was begun. Anyway, but the Bible teaches that there was a lull in the construction due to

04:34opposition. Even though King Darius the Mede eliminated the official opposition, they

04:40admonished the people to be diligent about rebuilding the temple in Ezra 6, many people weren't

04:46diligent. Apparently, many decided it was not the time to rebuild it. And we read about that in

04:53Haggai. Haggai chapter 1, starting in verse 1, it says,

05:22Though they seemed to think it was, for the next couple of verses, it was time to take care of

05:26themselves. They didn't see a fancy temple, apparently didn't seem need to support the work

05:33of God at that time. But God felt otherwise. Furthermore, God had to tell the people to do

05:40the work of rebuilding. In Haggai 1, picking up verse 5, it says,

05:45Now therefore, says the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. You've sown much, you bring in little.

05:51You eat, you don't have enough. You drink, you cannot fill with drink. You clothe yourself,

05:55but no one's warm. He who earns wages, earns wages to be put in a bag with holes. Thus says

06:01the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the temple

06:06that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord. Now, this building of this temple,

06:14even though it was directed by headquarters, involved a lot more of the regular people

06:18directly than the first temple did. Now, 2 Chronicles tells us that the old temple was

06:24magnificent and glorious, yet many people felt the comparison that this new temple was nothing.

06:32But what did God say about that? Well, this is what the Temple Institute quoted,

06:36Haggai 2, verse 9. The glory of this latter temple should be greater than the former.

06:43Now, remember, you know, God doesn't think the same way humans think. You read that in Isaiah 55,

06:50verse 8 and 9. This temple was not more glorious because it was as elaborate or wealthy. It may have

06:58been more glorious because it represented the work of God under adversity. By the way, once the work

07:04was finished, God promised to provide blessings to his people in Haggai 2, verse 19.

07:11It's interesting to me that the latter work is represented as being completed by common people.

07:18What else did Haggai have to say?

07:20In Haggai, we see that someone who saw the old temple and only had a remnant to lead the work

07:28of God

07:28at the end. We go to Haggai chapter 2, starting in verse 2.

07:34Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Jelateel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jehoshadak,

07:41the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying,

07:46Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory?

07:51And how do you see it now? In comparison to it, is it not in your eyes as nothing?

07:56Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord. Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehoshadak, the high

08:02priest, and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord. And the work, for I am

08:08with you, says the Lord of hosts. My spirit remains among you, don't fear. Once more, I'll shake

08:16heaven and earth, that's verse 6, and the sea and the dry land, that's verse 7, I'll shake all the

08:21nations, and they shall come to the desire of all nations, and I'll fill this temple with glory,

08:25says the Lord of hosts. Verse 9. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,

08:32says the Lord of hosts. And in this place, I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts.

08:38Well, still, how do you know Haggai 2 relates to this end time?

08:43Because verse 6, talking about the shaking of heaven and earth, is mentioned in Revelation 16.

08:48Plus, all nations didn't come yet, which is supposed to happen according to Zechariah 14.

08:53And the time of peace was not fulfilled really at the time of Haggai either.

08:57There are also parallels with the Laodiceans about not accepting biblical hierarchy,

09:03as well as not being hot about the work. Many have to see large things. You know, my question is,

09:11to Christians, do you despise small things, or do you rejoice in the work that God is doing?

09:17So I want to go to Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 4, starting in verse 6.

09:24He answered and said, This is the word of the Lord of Zerubbabel, not by might, not by power,

09:30but by my spirits, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel,

09:35you'll become a plain. He'll bring forth the capstone, which shouts of grace to it.

09:40Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hand of Zerubbabel.

09:44I've laid the foundation of this temple. His hand shall also finish it.

09:48Then you'll know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you, for who has despised the day of

09:54small

09:54things? Now, in the past, some people thought Herbert Armstrong could have been Zerubbabel,

10:00but he died. He didn't finish the work. Before he died, he said the greatest work lies ahead.

10:05And since God says Zerubbabel is going to finish the work, that obviously is not Herbert W. Armstrong.

10:11But when somebody had been alive when that old temple was drowned, Zerubbabel essentially

10:18restored the work of the second temple. And end times Zerubbabel was doing the same praying

10:23for restoring the Philadelphia work.

10:27It's obvious to all that the work of God at this time appears smaller than it was before.

10:31But the work is to be spiritually strong one that reaches the world as faithful witness.

10:38Though it may be obvious that the work of God appears smaller than it was before,

10:44could you shed some more light on the work that is being done now?

10:48Well, in the Continuing Church of God, we're doing part of this Zerubbabel work by preparing

10:53for the short work that the Apostle Paul talked about in Romans 9.28.

10:58And we're also being involved in restoring all things that were to happen, as Jesus said,

11:03in Matthew 17.11. And Herbert Armstrong agreed needed to be done.

11:09Look, more than back in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, we need to support the work because it wasn't

11:17ended then. And it was Jesus said, blessed is the servant he finds so during when he comes.

11:24Now, as prophesied, though, a lot of people don't see what's going on.

11:29In the Continuing Church of God, we are leading what I call the final phase of the work.

11:34We've got literature in more languages.

11:35We have the largest radio presence in the Church of God that I know of.

11:40Yet, as prophesied, many won't believe it.

11:42And that's warned about, for example, in Acts 13, verse 41.

11:47It says, behold, you despisers, marvel and perish, for all work, a work in your days,

11:54a work which you will know by means believe, even though one will declare it to you.

12:00So my question to end-time Christians, will you believe?

12:04We've reached people in over 220 countries and territories.

12:10And other people say, oh, it won't happen unless we have more unity in the Church.

12:17And the problem with that, I got an email from somebody last week about that.

12:22As I said, well, you can't have unity unless you have the same organization,

12:26which means you have to agree on governance.

12:29And hierarchical Church governance, instead of responding, the person sent me a link to an article

12:34opposed to hierarchical Church governance, which means there's no way things are going to get together.

12:40And this guy is one of these people who thought Herbert Armstrong was Zerubbabel.

12:44But Herbert Armstrong said that God always carried out things through one man.

12:49And if I'm reading something, God chose one man, for example, Zerubbabel, Armstrong said.

12:54Then the Philadelphia heiress to take on new life and vitality, restoring truths have been lost.

13:01God always raises up one man and uses one man.

13:05It's what we've been doing in the continuing Church of God.

13:08And we've restored more than any other group in terms of governance.

13:11And Herbert Armstrong actually said that one of the reasons that God raised him up was to restore governance.

13:17And he said that it was governance of God was restored or established in the Philadelphia era of the Church.

13:25A lot of people don't want to believe that.

13:27You know, we shouldn't let naysayers, grumblers, accusers of brothers convince us that we can push aside proper hierarchical Church

13:35governance and still be a Philadelphian.

13:37It's the rejection of true Philadelphian hierarchical governance, which is why the flock is so scattered.

13:45And one of the reasons there's not the same physical temple and scope like the old worldwide Church of God

13:50is because what are Christians supposed to do?

13:54Second Corinthians 5.7, we're supposed to walk by faith, not by sight.

13:58Therefore, there's no major physical thing we saw in the last century.

14:02The issues are spiritual.

14:05And, you know, and that's part of why the glory of this latter temple would be greater than the former.

14:11And those are the things that we've been doing in the continuing Church of God.

14:16Thank you, Dr. Thiel.

14:17For more interviews with Dr. Thiel, in addition to written, as well as audio articles, visit our website at BibleNewsProphecy

14:24.net.

14:25This is Steve Dupuis for the Bible News Prophecy Program.

14:32You

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