Haggai 1:7

"Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Consider your house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah."

Haggai 1:7, except for the words "now, therefore" is identical with Haggai 1:5. The order which the prophet here gave the people was to go at once to the mountains and cut timber that would be needed in rebuilding the Temple, and to get on with the job! Nothing is indicated by this regarding the stone which was also required, because the rubble ruins of the devastated city and Temple provided all they needed.

"I will take pleasure ... I will be glorified ..." God always takes pleasure and is glorified when his people obey his word; and the reconstruction of the ruined Temple was clearly a project included in the will of God. It was God's spirit that stirred up Cyrus to command it; and it was the same which launched the burning words of Haggai against the indifferent laziness of the returned exiles. How could that rude pile of stone and timber glorify God? It was God's promise that the ancient covenant with Abraham still existed, despite the chosen people's having broken it and having been repudiated by their God and removed from many of their ancient privileges. It was the visible promise of God Himself that, in time, the Messiah would appear. It meant that Judah, unlike the northern Israel, would never disappear until God's purpose relative to their Messiah was accomplished. Such indeed did glorify the God of heaven and earth.