Haggai 2:3
Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
The word came in the seventh month on the twenty-first day through Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Josedech the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. It asks who is left that saw the former house in its first glory, how the present house looks now, and whether it looks as nothing in comparison. The question voices the grief of the aged Israelites, the returned exiles and the builders after the return from captivity as they viewed the new temple and even its foundation. The comparison regards Solomon's former temple, with the new house judged inferior in size, splendor, magnificence, expense and outward appearance.
Unlike the first house, the second did not match it in visible tokens of God's presence. Its lesser outward splendor was no reason for discouragement or mourning. The comparison was meant to prepare the people to work in faith assured that the Lord was with them.
The verse points beyond outward greatness to a greater glory to come, not from size, magnificence, expense or appearance but from God's presence through the promised coming of the Desire of nations. That greater glory came when Christ, God manifested in the flesh, taught and healed in the second temple. His presence made the latter house greater in glory than the first. When Israel rejected Him and He left the temple, its glory departed.
As teaching in parable about building a house for God, the passage shows what God endorses and what He condemns. Among its lessons, the verse calls for giving the Lord's house proper priority rather than leaving it as the last consideration.