It is timely that we study such a book as this for the times which have overtaken the people of God in many parts of the world are very similar to those in which the book is set. It deals with a time when, for various reasons, the zeal of the people of God had slackened and the work on the rebuilding of God's house had come to a stop. God's answer to the situation, as it ever is, was to send a preacher with His message. The preacher's name was Haggai. He was the first of three post-exile prophets sent to Israel. God's answer to the needs of His people is always supplied through His Word and that by the means of preaching. The people were saying before their return from exile: "We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long," Psalm 74:9. Note how those who have despised the ministry of God's Word will be brought to value it. Christ, the Living Word, is the repository of all of God's grace for His people. "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," Colossians 2:3. All the elect will ever need for their journey from the city of destruction to the Celestial city is found in Christ.