No, this is not a birth announcement. It’s just the continuation of the Bible Reading Guide I wrote for my son.
Haggai
All of the prophets you’ve been reading so far were written before Israel and Judah were carried into captivity or while they were still in exile. But the last three prophets were all written after the people came back to the land from Babylon. The historical context of each of these books is thus important. Haggai is short and has a simple message: get to work building the temple! You may remember that he and Zechariah were both mentioned in Ezra 5 and 6. Both of these prophets were trying to get the people to finish building the second temple. The main way that Haggai motivates them is by promising them, in chapter 2, that one day the temple, and the people, and the ruler are going to be so much better.
Zechariah
As I said, Zechariah also is telling the people to finish the temple. But he does this mainly by relating visions that he has seen and oracles that God has given him. Frankly, this book is hard to understand. It may be the most difficult book in the whole Bible. With only a few words, I don’t think I can be all that helpful to you. But I ‘ll try to summarize it this way: in chapters 1-6, the messages are all positive for Judah—God is going to do good things for his people, including rebuilding the temple, cleansing them of their sin, and sending the Messiah. In chapters 7-8, he tells the people to be obedient so they will be blessed. The last six chapters are tough, but keep your eyes open for verses that talk about the Messiah. Many of these were already fulfilled in the New Testament and are quoted there, so you may recognize them. Finally, read chapter 14 slowly. This is such a very, very good chapter that talks about the future kingdom that God is going to establish. Hopefully Jesus will come soon and do all these things!