I guess we forget the announcements, so you'll have to come back tonight to hear them. I just have one announcement and a couple things I want to talk about before the message. Hopefully they'll be an encouragement to you. We have a website that's up right now and running, and I hope that you'll use that as an evangelical tool to reach out to people. Where I was working, I gave out our website to a ton of people, and it's just a great touchpoint to talk with people, to tell your friends, especially those who aren't safe, We have a gospel message on there, our beliefs, messages. I hope that we will use every means we can to reach out to a lost and dying world. So, currently, it's leftbridgebaptist.com. It might be changed, but that's what we have right now in our trial month offer. The song we just sang was called Make Me a Blessing, and I pray that when you go out into your work this week that you will be a blessing to others. I pray that others will know you're a Christian, that you will stand up and tell them about the goodness of Christ in your life. I met two Mormons this weekend. I'm just trying to encourage you, I'm not bragging, but what a blessing it is to tell someone who is trying to work for their salvation about the free grace offered to them in Jesus Christ. I met a Mormon at the Bay And I tried to explain to her John 3.16, and I tried to explain to her Galatians 2.16. You need to be memorizing scripture, especially evangelical scriptures. I tried to explain to her, Miss, it's free grace that saves you. You will never meet God's righteous demands, only His Son can. And she couldn't understand it. And then the girl I was training last night at work, she's a Mormon, and I asked her to tell me about Mormonism, and yesterday I told her about Christ and what He's done in my life. I showed her that I love Christ supremely, but I'm not working for my salvation. I'm working because my salvation's been offered to me freely. And I've grabbed it, and Christ has made me a new creature in Christ. I showed her Titus 3.5. I showed her Galatians 2.16. I showed her Ephesians 2.8.9. I showed her John 3.16. I showed her in Romans how it's all through grace and through faith in Christ alone. I pray that you're a blessing out there. I pray that you don't just long for some days to sit and hear the Word, but I pray that it will energize you out. and to proclaim Isaiah 52 among the nations. How beautiful are the feet that proclaim good news, the peace and what is the news. Our God is reigning in Jesus Christ our Lord. And my final exhortation before we get into the Word is, I would encourage all of you to maybe bring a notepad and even just write down verses and the main points. I thought it would be a blessing for the families to sit around at lunch and to discuss the Word. It's so easy to forget. what we've just heard. If you go over at lunch, fathers especially, what were the main points of the sermon? Did you agree with them? What is practical? It's good to review these things. I hope that you're not forgetting Sunday morning's message by Sunday night, and I hope you're not forgetting Sunday night's message by Monday morning, because you'll be very weak, and we need to review these. In our sinful body, we forget things, and I would encourage you next week, or even this week, don't have to make copious notes, just write down the main things. Where is Christ? What are practical applications? What did the Word speak to you, fathers and mothers? How can you teach this to your children around the dinner table? Please open your Bible to Psalm 89. I'm going to read a few verses. Psalm 89. This is going to explain the context of what was going through Zerubbabel's mind and many of the faithful remnants. This is a psalm written regarding God's covenant with David. And it appears that God has forgotten His covenant with David. If you'll remember, as we've been tracing through Haggai, the people were sent into exile from Jerusalem in 586 BC because of their disobedience. And part of that exile was that the Babylonians came in under Nebuchadnezzar, and they utterly destroyed the temple. But not only that, they took the king of Jerusalem, or the king of Judah, they took him into exile. And it appeared that the everlasting covenant that God had made to David, we're going to read that next week in 2 Samuel 7, had been breached, it had been broken. He says, God told David, I will always have an heir of yours on the throne ruling over your people. And apparently when the Babylonians came in and demolished Jerusalem, they sacked it, they smashed the temple to bits, they took their king out. And they set up their own king there. And here is the lament of the psalmist, crying, Oh God, what happened to your eternal covenant? Have you forgotten your people? You promised that there would always be an heir, a son of David, reigning over your people in righteousness and truth. I'm not going to read the whole psalm, but I'm going to pick out some verses. Look at the way it starts. I will sing of the steadfast love. I like the way the ESV translates that. Steadfast love, that's a word that occurs hundreds of times in the Old Testament. It's the word hesed, and it's covenant love, God's unchanging love, God's love towards His people that cannot be broken. And when you see that, I will sing of the covenant love, the steadfast love of the Lord forever. With my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, steadfast, or covenant love, eternal, non-changing love. will be built up forever in the heavens. You will establish your faithfulness. You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one. I have sworn to David, my servant. I will establish your offspring forever, and I will build your throne for all generations. This is in 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17. God promised David an eternal throne, an eternal dynasty, an eternal kingdom. And here's the psalmist rejoicing in it. And he goes on for the next 30 or so verses, rejoicing in that eternal covenant. And now go to verse 38. But now... We've seen a couple of big but nows in Haggai. But now you have cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed. That's the king. You have renounced the covenant with Your servant. You have defiled His crown in the dust. You have breached all His walls. You have laid His strongholds in ruins. All who pass by plunder Him. He has become the scorn of His neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of His foes. You have made all His enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of His sword and You have not made Him stand in battle. You have made His splendor to cease and cast His throne to the ground. You have cut short the days of His youth. You have covered Him with shame. How long, O Lord, will You hide Yourself forever? How long will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short My time is. For what vanity You have created all the children of men? What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Lord, where is Your steadfast love of old, which by Your faithfulness You swore to David? Remember, O Lord, how Your servants are mocked. and how I bear in my heart the insult of all the nations with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your Anointed or your King." And how does the book end? Blessed be the Lord forever, Amen and Amen. That's the context of what the elect remnants were feeling in Jerusalem at the time, especially Zerubbabel. In these last three verses, we're going to look at two promises made to Zerubbabel. Today we're just going to look at one. I had originally anticipated on going through both of them, but after last week's marathon, I decided it would be wise for me to break the sermon up into two, and not put you to sleep today, and maybe leave you hungering for next week's message. I guarantee this, both promises point towards Jesus Christ, and we will, by God's grace, exalt the Son of God. Let's pray for that right now. Father, we with the psalmist cry out to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You we take refuge. Let us not be put to shame. Let not Your enemies exalt over Your people. Lord, we cry out this morning for Your blessing upon Your people. We cry out that Your Word would go forth with power. I pray, O Holy Spirit, that You would descend. I pray, O Lord, that I, with Paul, would be able to say that I came in weakness and fear and trembling, and my message and my speech were not with cunning words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that Your faith might not depend or rest on the wisdom of man, but on the power of God. And so we pray, Spirit, come. Would You lift high the name of Jesus Christ? May we fly high His banner of grace and of truth and His mercy and His justice and everything else He has accomplished through us by His perfect and sinless life and His death and His resurrection from death and how He is now reigning. Lord, Your people have come and we've had a toilsome week. Indeed, it seems like the nations have been reigning over us. Lord, remind us this morning that You alone are reigning. Lord, that one day You will dispel all of these wicked and earthly powers, and You will set up Your Kingdom among Your redeemed. And, O Lord, we long for that. Would You revive our longing? Would You give us strength to make it through, not only today, but this upcoming week, and the battles, and the temptations, and the snares that await every step we take, and how Satan would love to swallow us up? O Lord, revive us again, please. O Lord, speak something sweet to us. Let us cast all of our cares upon You, all of our anxieties. Help us to remember, Lord, You care for us, so much so that You sent Your Son into this world to die for us. O Lord, I pray, if any be among us who do not know You in truth, who do not know Your saving power, who do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, O Spirit, regenerate. you must do the work, Spirit. And you alone will receive all the glory, Triune God. Blessed morning, this morning, your word, through your servant, in Christ's name, Amen. Now you can turn to the book of Haggai. It's the third last book in the Old Testament, so you can, as usual, go to the separation of the Old and New Testaments. Three books back, Malachi, Zechariah, Haggai. He's one of the post-exilic prophets. In other words, he's writing to the Israelites after they had been taken into exile and brought back into the land. We're in chapter 2, and I'm just going to read the last three verses, 20 through 23. We saw a message for the priests last week, a message for the people, and in the next two weeks we're going to see a message for Zerubbabel, and by extension, of course, all of us. verse 20 of chapter 2. This is God's Word and not mine. The Word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the 24th day of the month. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall go down, every one of them, by the sword of his brother. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Sheolchiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts." Today we're going to look at the first promise. made to Zerubbabel, peace. The first thing that the Lord of Hosts promised Zerubbabel is peace. Or as we've read in verse 20 and 21 and 22, the destruction of Israel's oppressors. But I'm going to develop how the destruction of Israel's oppressors make for peace. As you recall, the second chapter is filled and packed with encouragement to God's people. No more rebuke. The people had repented because God's Spirit had brought revival to them. No longer were they under the chastising hand of God. Yes, the covenant curse was upon them to draw them back to His bosom and to draw them back to blessing. And by God's sweet grace and His sovereign grace, the people turned from their wicked ways. They turned from their hypocrisy and they turned their hearts and inclined their minds and feared the Lord and obeyed Him and loved Him. And God's blessing was issued upon them again. And we've seen two weeks ago that God encouraged them to rebuild the temple. On the day the foundation was being laid, He said, be strong, for I am with you. God's greatest covenant blessing to the people is, I am in your midst, I will be your God and you will be my people. Be strong, be strong in the Lord, fear not, I am with you. Work, be strong, fear not, God is with you. And then we saw that last week, God told them, to consider their past and to remember the reproach brought upon them, but also to remember that, by mercy, their sins had been forgiven. And we saw last week that the Prophet was already moving from past to future through present. We entitled last week's sermon, Past Cursing to Future Blessing through Present Obedience. And he said, consider the way things were. And I encourage you to consider your life before you came to Christ. Consider the wretchedness, and how vile you were, and the misery, and the dissatisfaction with everything, and how God's curse was abiding upon you. And to consider that, and remember that by God's forgiving mercy, you have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. And then God closed last week's message with their looking to the future. They are to be mindful now that God has promised them blessing. We see that in verse 18 and 19. Consider from this day onward, from the 24th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider, think, contemplate, is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have yielded nothing, but From this day on, I will bless you." God promises them a blessing. And where we ended, it appeared that it was just a physical, temporary blessing. He says, the seed is still in the ground. You do not see that the figs and the pomegranates and everything is still in the ground, but I'm going to bless it. The famine and the plague are going to be removed. I'm going to send forth my rain, as in the days of Elijah. I'm not going to withhold the dew. I'm not going to send blight and mildew. While the seed is yet there, walk by faith. The blessing has been made and it will come." And so we were left hanging, as one of the oracles delivered, leaves us with an ambiguous phrase, I will bless you. What does that mean? From the original context proceeding, it appears that the blessing is to be merely physical. That is, the famine and the plague that Yahweh had brought upon the land would be reversed. and that they would once again reap of the field, of their grapes, their figs, their pomegranates and olives. God is asking His people to trust Him. The blessing is made to them while the seed is yet in the ground. And so they, as we, must walk by faith and not by sight. Though they could not see the blessings, they were coming. For God does not, indeed God cannot make vain promises. He promised them covenantal cursings for their disobedience. They came. He promised them covenantal blessing for their obedience. It is about to come. Remember then, as one of our final points was, God's blessings come in His time. Brother and sister in Christ who are laboring, who are toiling, do not lose heart. Though you might not perceive or see God's blessings right now in the temporal, they will come. God's blessings are not, or His promises to bless are not made in vain. Lay up your treasures in heaven. And for those of you taking notes, write down Joshua 21, 45, where it says that not one of God's blessings failed, not one of His promises failed that He made to His people. However, as we saw in verse 20, Haggai had a second oracle. He ends the first one, I will bless you, and now he's going to elaborate a little bit further to Zerubbabel and to the people. a greater blessing. Not just a blessing on the land, but a blessing in their lives. It's more than a material blessing. The flow of the messages has moved them from past to present to future. To this point, however, the blessed future is close at hand and linked to the harvest. However, in the final three verses, Haggai takes the chronology one step further, and he's going to look in to the in-breaking of the end times, or the fancy word is eschaton. Hey guys, looking to the Day of the Lord, when the true blessing for God's people will come, when God will overthrow and vanquish their enemies, destroy them utterly, but at the same time bring in vindication and salvation for His people. Yes, there is a imminent blessing, but brothers and sisters, let us look forward to the further Hey guys, pointing them further on. Yes, it's nice to have the harvest come in, but something much greater than a good harvest is coming. Indeed, the day of the Lord is at hand. Israel's first promise then, made, is peace. Who is it addressed to? Zerubbabel. Look in verse 20, or 21, sorry. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah. If you were studying this a little more in depth, you'll notice that he forgets some words. If you were noticing, every time I've been reading these two chapters, it has always been, Zerubbabel, son of Sheolchiel, governor of Judah. Here, God is almost focusing on the fact that Zerubbabel is but a governor. You remember that the Israelites were under the authority of the Persian Empire. Darius was their king. Darius is ruling over the Jews. He had sent them back, yes, but Darius is still their legitimate king. They are under the oppression of the Persian Empire, and Zerubbabel, though in the line of David, is but a governor. Speak to Zerubbabel, not king over his people. Speak to Zerubbabel, lowly governor, lowly satrap, who is to come before Darius. He's nothing more than a premier, so to speak. He's been delegated his authority from a pagan. And we notice that it's not made to the king. Psalm 89, cry out. There's no king, O God. All we have is a governor. These were not the days of David. These were not the days where David had subjugated all the nations to the empire of Israel. These were not the days of Solomon, where the Queen of Sheba and all these other pagan nations brought in their wealth. And it came to them. And Israel was reigning under God amongst the nations. It's not like that. Israel is not reigning. Israel is being reigned over by pagans, by those who are worshipping idols. So, the first thing we note is that this appears to be depressing right now. Speak to Zerubbabel, the lowly governor, who cannot, of his own strength, deliver his people. I think God is highlighting the smallness of Zerubbabel here, because He's going to contrast it with the greatness of Himself. It's addressed to Zerubbabel, God's promised peace. Who's going to bring about this peace? Verse 21, "...Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I, the Lord of hosts, am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and I am about to overthrow the throne of kingdoms, I am about to destroy the strength of kingdoms of nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall go down, every one of them, by the sword of his brother." Who is it that brings about peace? Not Zerubbabel, not even David or Solomon. I think God is teaching them a lesson and us a lesson. God is the true King. God is the one who vanquishes His foes and His enemies. Not David's, not Solomon's, not Joshua's, but men and women who God uses. The first personal program is emphatic. It's emphasized. I, I, I, I. All these I's. God is saying, I'm going to do this, Sir Rubabal. God, Almighty God, is the only one who will bring about peace for His people. And it can't be more clear or plain from the text. As we saw before in the verse 6 of chapter 2, God's speaking about a shaking of the cosmos. And if you were to do your research, you would realize that there was a shaking when God appeared to the people at Sinai, when He made His covenant with Moses. When God appears, the earth shakes, the cosmos trembles. And when Haggai writes this, Zerubbabel's thinking, God is coming. God is going to make His appearance. He's going to make a scene. Because when God shows up, things tremble. Not just knees and not just hearts. The entire universe will tremble. God says, I'm coming and the universe is going to quake. But it's also associated with Yahweh in battle. Yes, when God shows up, the earth trembles, but the earth also trembles when God fights for His people. Haggai is drawing a lot from the book of Exodus. If you have lots of spare time, read Exodus and see how often Haggai is drawing from it. Yes, when God shows up at Sinai and makes the covenant with the people, the earth trembles. But, oh how it trembled when He destroyed Pharaoh and the oppressors of Israel. It trembled when Yahweh came and He destroyed the nations. who are reigning over His people. In the future, it becomes associated with the end times. The future day of the Lord, when the entire cosmos be renewed. And you can see that in Matthew 24. It's going to be this great shaking, not only of the nations, but the heavens and the earth. signaling the coming of God, Jesus Christ. And so, when the people are reading this, when you are reading this, be reminded, God is coming. God is going to appear, and God is going to appear to judge the nations. God is going to come, and He's going to judge all of Israel's enemies. Yes, that's ominous, and yes, that's severe, but to us who are in Christ, that is not so bad. We, with the elect remnant of Israel, are longing. I am longing. How long, O Lord? until you come? How long until these wicked pagans that blaspheme you night and day, who revile your holy name, how long are they going to mock your servants? How long are they going to blaspheme the worthy name of Jesus Christ? How long until you come and give them their due? Naturally speaking then, there's no way that Israel or any king of Israel, any leadership or governor or Zerubbabel, or anyone could ever change their pathetic state of affairs as they were subjugated to the nations. No. God Almighty is the only One who will bring in change. God Almighty is the only One who will bring in change to our lowly state of affairs. We think, God, we're living in a wicked, pagan nation. And some of us think a good Prime Minister or a good President will change. Only God's appearing, God's shaking things up will change our pathetic state of affairs. God is hinting at who the true King of Israel is. We're going to look at that next week. God is going to show up and He's going to show His strong right hand as He did in the days of Pharaoh. He's going to remind them who their King is. They had forgotten that God placed a King merely to represent His eternal dominion over the whole earth. there to remember that God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. So, it's spoken to Zerubbabel, the message is that God is going to bring peace through the destruction of his enemies. And that's my third point. How does God bring about peace? We have to understand peace biblically, not as a hippie would or that's all lovey-dovey. In the Old Testament, peace comes through judgment. peace comes through destroying, peace comes through death. And that's pointing forward to the New Testament counterpart of how peace truly came. We'll get there. From 2.6, chapter 2, verse 6, we remember that Haggai was using vocabulary associated with the Old Testament theme of Yahweh, or Jehovah, as the divine warrior, the Lord of hosts, the Lord who fights, Lord Sabaoth, The Lord who wages war against His enemies. Haggai is again using this divine warrior language. There's a song I love to sing. The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is mighty in battle. The Lord will bring about His intended purposes, because He is strong. We don't serve a pathetic God. We serve a warrior, a fighter, who doesn't help His people, but who fights on their behalf. And because God is a warrior, He will gain the victory. Here, Haggai is drawing back to the Exodus tradition, in which Israel's oppressive enemies are utterly defeated by the supernatural intervention of their Sovereign Lord. Did you notice that he's talking about there's going to be an overthrow of chariots and their riders? Does that bring to mind when the chariots were coming in and they're approaching the people as they're crossing the Red Sea? And what does Moses sing about? God utterly destroyed all of Pharaoh's chariots. That's probably equivalent to a tank today. The chariots were almost indestructible in that time. And God is going to destroy them and overthrow them. And Haggai is saying, look back to Exodus. God's going to do the same thing once again. He's going to shake things up. He's going to destroy them. Chariots are nothing to the Lord of battle, to the Lord who is a warrior. The destruction of the cosmos begins a process which will ultimately lead into the streaming of wealth into God's temple. We saw that in chapter 2, verse 6, 7, 8. God destroys the people, He plunders them. And now Haggai is going to expand upon that. In the Old Testament, whenever there was a war, they could defeat the kings, defeat the nations, and they would plunder them. That's what God's going to do when He shakes the nations up in Haggai 2, 6. Here, after He defeats them, not only is He going to take all their silver and gold, because it's His, He's actually going to put them under His throne. He's going to put them under His footstool. He's going to put His foot over them, and they're going to be subject to God. Not only is He plundering them. Hey guys, saying here, they're going to be ruled over by Me. They're not going to rule over My people. These powerful nations are going to be brought low, under My foot. The subjugation of the nations is promised. Israel was hoping for that, and God promises it. The Assyrians are nothing. The Persians, nothing. The Babylonians, nothing. Drop in the water. They're going to be brought into subjection to Yahweh. This is the conquering king motif. After utterly destroying and plundering the nations, the king would subjugate those under his reign. He would make them slaves. God promises that even these mighty kings will be nothing but slaves. Thus, God as Israel's conquering King will shake the nations in fierce judgment and one day subjugate them to Himself. I could not help but think, Philippians 2.8.9, one day, one day, every single knee will bow. Every single tongue will confess, not might or may, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Lord God. Yahweh. God is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Everyone, God's going to break their knees and they're going to be put under the foot of Jesus Christ. Psalm 110. As I was reading in my devotions, I couldn't help but notice, and I'm in Chronicles now, how God over and over and over promised His people rest, and how He typified rest and peace through a King. Before the Temple could be completed, and the Kingdom of God ushered in and established among His people, Israel's enemies needed first to be vanquished. You need to understand that. When David came to reign, first all the enemies needed to be destroyed, correct? Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 7. When I was at your house, Nathan, you'll remember that I said this is one of my favorite chapters. In the next two weeks, everyone else is going to see why this is one of my favorite chapters. 2 Samuel chapter 7. While you're turning there, it's not coincidence that we're reading through the book of Ruth right now. You need to understand that the book of Ruth is basically showing God's intent to bring about a King for His people. It ends with the lineage leading up to David. God is bringing a King to reign over His people, and that's what the book of Ruth is all about. God's promises to set up a kingdom through a man called David, and in the New Testament, God called Jesus Christ. We'll get there later. 2 Samuel 7 verse 1, Now when the king, this is David, lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent." Before the temple is to be built, there first must be peace. The people are told to rebuild the temple. That's what Haggai is all about. The prophet comes, build the temple, build the temple Haggai. And the people are thinking, but we need to have peace. Solomon didn't build the temple until peace came. Solomon was the son of David who reigned in peace. Oh God, how can we build the temple when there's no peace? When our enemies are reigning over us? 2 Samuel begins, your covenant promise to David begins that you brought peace to him. You brought rest to him. All the nations around them, you subjugated to David. How can we build your temple, God, when we're underneath the pagan Persians? Look in verse 10 and 11. God in His promise says, and I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over My people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you, that the Lord will make you a house. the Lord's promising them peace and rest from their surrounding enemies before the house is built. Turn to 1 Chronicles 17, just a few books up. I just want to emphasize this. The people are wanting peace, they're wanting rest from the persecution from their enemies. This is what Zerubbabel's thinking as he's laying the foundation, as they're building it up. God, what is your promise of rest? 1 Chronicles 17 verses 8 to 10. God promises him, I have been with you David wherever you have gone and I've cut off all your enemies before you. He's cut off all of your enemies before you David. And I will make for you a name like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. Again, and violent men shall waste them no more as formerly. Look in verse 21 now. And who is like your people? Israel, O God, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be His people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, in driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt. God makes His name present among the people as He drives out their enemies. This is a major theme. As you read through Kings and Chronicles, they're longing for rest under the king. There was no rest because there was no king. And so Zerubbabel, with the people, is crying out, God, what is going on here? And God says, I'm bringing rest to you. A greater rest than I ever brought to David or to Solomon. I subjugated the nations to them, but I'm going to subjugate a whole lot more to One who is coming, who is going to reign on my eternal throne. While you're in 1 Chronicles, let's look what He says to Solomon in verse 20, chapter 22, verse 7 to 10. 1 Chronicles 22, 7 to 10. David's charged to Solomon. David said to Solomon, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me saying, you have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne forever and ever." Verse 17, David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon, his son, saying, "'Is not the Lord your God with you?' Sounds like Haggai. And has He not given you peace on every side? For He has delivered the inhabitants of the land into My hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and His people. Now set your mind and heart to seek the Lord your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord your God, so that the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the name of the Lord." This is Haggai. This blows my mind. This isn't one of my points. The Word of God is perfect. It endures forever. This whole thing, it fits together. It's a puzzle. You don't just pick your verses out in the morning. It's whole. When you read Chronicles and you read Haggai, they fit together. They're linked. It's glorious. This isn't just man's word. God is weaving together a tapestry. And part of this tapestry is a King reigning over His people who brings His people peace. And how glorious it is. I can't wait. We're going to get there. Matthew 1, Luke 2. the great thread that holds the tapestry together, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Great High Priest. But basically, I just wanted to show you, before the temple was ever built, in David's time, in Solomon's time, God said, I give you rest, now build the temple. That's ringing in the ears of Zerubbabel and the people. God, where's the rest that we need from the surrounding enemies? before we build Your Temple, before You usher in Your Throne, Your reigning Grace, Your Kingdom. We need peace, God. We need peace. And thus we see that Yahweh's first promise to Zerubbabel is that God Himself, God Almighty, I, I, I, over and over is about to imminently usher in His Kingdom among His people through the destruction of their enemies. Now, if you were to read history books, you'll realize that this didn't come about. Actually, when you read the New Testament, the Jews were in a very similar situation. They weren't subjugated to the Persians, but they were to the Romans. And because this did not come to pass in Zerubbabel's time, or for hundreds of years after, this created a longing within the people. As we saw in Psalm 89, He cries out, where's your everlasting covenant? And how does it end? With praise and thanksgiving, with an eye to the future that God will not make void His covenant to David. Israel remained subjugated to the pagan powers. Yes, they built the Temple. But no, a king didn't come among them to rule over Israel and the nations. Peace from their oppressors had not yet come. Was Haggai mistaken? Did Haggai make a mistake, as some liberal scholars would think, that Haggai kind of got it right? It was enough just for him to build the temple? Did God make a mistake? Since Haggai is but his messenger, and God spoke through him, the clue is in verse 23. Three words, on that day. This is another way of saying, when the day of the Lord comes. As you're reading your Old Testament, I would encourage you to underline every single time you see, especially in the mind of prophets, the day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord spoke of two things, God coming to destroy the nations, and God coming to save His people. This is what Israel looked forward to. This was it for them. They were longing for the Day of the Lord, as are we. Haggai is totally relevant to us. This is not for Jews. in the time of 620 BC. This is for Christians in 2007. They were longing and longing and longing for the Lord to come in, bring in His reign through His Messiah, as predicted in Isaiah 7, 9, 11. They were waiting then, and hope was churning within them for Messiah to come and to bring peace. When Haggai's prophecy did not immediately come to pass, The people began to yearn again that God would visit them with salvation and peace, and that their enemies would be judged. Turn to Isaiah chapter 9 for a second. Glorious, glorious verses. It's just going to reiterate how God's going to bring about peace. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 3 through 6. I'm going to be reading these next week as well. Isaiah 9 and verse 3. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. Your people, they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. Haggai is probably picking up on this. Harvest, spoil, plunder. Verse 4. For the yoke of His burden, and the staff for His shoulder, the rod of His oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Look now in Isaiah chapter 11, verse 6 through 9. Remember, they're longing for peace. Peace is going to come through Messiah in Isaiah 9. Read what Isaiah says in chapter 11, verse 6. When Messiah comes, verses 1-5, we read in verse 6, the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and the little child shall lead them. The cow and bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." In this huge messianic section of Isaiah, peace is interlinked with the coming of the Son of David, Jesus Christ. The people are longing for peace. Peace brings salvation. This is exactly what we read. in the Gospels, in the first few chapters of Matthew and Luke, in the Gospel for the infancy narratives. The people were longing for peace. Next week we'll look at Matthew 1, this week turn to Luke 2. I hope your fingers don't hurt too much from flipping through the Bible. I love it. This is glorious stuff. This is God's Word and He's showing us the supremacy of His plan to bring about peace through His Son, Jesus Christ. Remember these passages in Isaiah 9 and 11 in Haggai. They're waiting, they're waiting for peace. Luke 2 and verse 25. Luke 2 and 25. Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout. Here it is, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. I like how the New Living Translation translates that verse. Simeon was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel from their enemies. Simeon's a righteous man. What is he waiting for? Messiah to bring in His realm and His reign of peace among His people. He's waiting for Messiah to come in and destroy the nations. Let's read that in verse 67. This is Zechariah's prophecy. When Christ comes, what does Zechariah talk about? The Messiah putting under His feet all of Israel's enemies. Luke 2, 67. And John's father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For He has visited and redeemed His people, and has reigned up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant, David. As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant. the oath that He swore to our Father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hands of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all our days." And He goes on and on and on. And in verse 79, that Messiah is going to guide the feet of His people into the way of peace. Messiah is going to come, And He's going to save them, His people, from the hand of their enemies, from the hands of those who hate them. And finally in Luke, look in verse 14 of chapter 2. This is the angelic proclamation or utterance. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those. with whom He is pleased. With the ushering in of Messiah comes peace. The hungering of the people in Haggai's time had carried over, and they were anticipating peace. Interesting though, that no historical records show that Jesus Christ vanquished the Romans, or Israel's physical enemies. So my question would be, has God's New Testament Word come void? Has it not been fulfilled? And I would argue, no. The people had expected Messiah to come in and to destroy their physical enemies, to rid them of the Romans. But I want to show you from some New Testament passages, the true enemies that Jesus Christ, the true oppressors Jesus Christ came to remove from His people. Jesus came to destroy our true oppressors. And I will summarize them as sin, death, and the devil. It's interesting, you don't have to turn there, but in Matthew 4, the very first thing that happens after Christ is anointed by the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission granted Him by the Father, what's the first thing we read about in Matthew chapter 4? He goes into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights to be what? Tempted or tested by who? The devil. The first thing Matthew wants to explain to the people of God in Matthew chapter 4, the very first mission Christ comes to do in Matthew, He's anointed, He's sent immediately by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested. And Matthew shows that Christ is victorious over Satan. Satan flees from Him. Yes, He'll come back another time. But Christ is supreme over Satan. Something David could never be. Something Solomon could never be. Something that no man could ever be. Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the works of the Romans or the works of wicked men. He came to destroy the works of Satan himself. And Matthew is showing us that Christ is supremely sovereign, even over Satan. Satan has nothing on Him. Turn in 1 Corinthians 15. I'm not going to get exhaustive on you, but I just want to show you some of the things that Christ came to dispel. He came to conquer. Satan He came to conquer. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 22. For as in Adam, all die. so also in Christ shall all be made alive." Christ came to destroy death. Jesus Christ came so that death would not hold sway over His people. All die in Adam, but they all are made alive in Christ. While you're in 1 Corinthians, turn to the very end and verse 50. He's going to elaborate how He destroyed I tell you this, brothers and sisters, flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. A great verse for Mormons, and Jews, and Muslims, and Catholics, and every sort of person trying to earn their salvation, flesh and blood does not inherit God's promise. If you sit here this morning trying to work for your salvation, this verse tells you, you cannot earn it. flesh and blood will never inherit what is spiritual. Verse 51, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. And I praise God for verse 57. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's not one mention of physical powers here, of Romans, or Assyrians, or Persians. Christ came to destroy something that held sway, had a greater weight of burden upon God's people. Not physical oppression. Your sin. that ushered in your death and your guilt and your condemnation has been swallowed up in the life that Jesus Christ brought in His sinless life, death and resurrection. That is why Jesus Christ came. Not to overthrow political powers, but to overthrow the very thing that would send you to hell. Your sin. The very thing that brings death, Christ will reverse. Christ will give us life and we shall be raised immortal on that day. thanks be to God who has given us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Two more, Colossians chapter 2. I just want you to know, maybe you know all this stuff, but I'm reminding you, why was Christ sent into the world to redeem His people? And how does He redeem them? More than obliterating physical enemies. Colossians 2, 14 and 15. I'm going to start in verse 12 because it ties in the resurrection. Having been buried with Christ in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead, and you who were dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Christ, having forgiven us our trespasses. How? By cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside by nailing it to the cross. Verse 15, Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them by His resurrection. This is who Christ came to destroy. The accusation against you, that was nailed to your account, that was on the doorpost of your soul, that said, you are a guilty, vile sinner, in the eyes of a holy God. Christ came to destroy that. And He did. And when Satan comes, and you're standing before God on judgment days, and He says, here is the account of Ryan Case, or of you. And this is what they've done wrong. I'm nailing it to their doorpost. God, look at what they have done! I will say, Jesus Christ came to destroy that. And actually, Satan, He has put you to shame. He has mocked you. When He rose from the dead, He cancelled out what was legally due to me. Hebrews chapter 2, our last one, I promise. As I'm reading this, I hope you're glorying in what Christ has done for you if you're a Christian here this morning. This should not be boring stuff. Woe be to us if we read this and are not brought to our knees and our hands aren't magnetically drawn towards heaven in praise and worship. Theology should never be dry. Though I read this in a monotone voice, I pray when you read this, you will see the supremacy of Christ's sacrifice. I hope I'm not the only one who glories in this and revels in this. Hebrews 2, again, verse 14 and 15. Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, Christ himself likewise partook of the same things, that through his death he might destroy the one who has power over death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." This is the slavery Christ came to set us free from. Not slavery to Darius. Not slavery to Romans. Not slavery to any man. But slavery to Satan. Slavery to the power that sin and death hold over us. Christ set us free from that. God's people say to that, Amen. That is what Christ came to do. In Haggai we see that God brings peace to the people through destroying their enemies. In the New Testament we see that Christ brings peace to His people by destroying His enemies. I did not turn to Isaiah 52. I was going to read it this morning. But Isaiah 52 talks about the destruction of Israel's enemies. And that the Lord is going to bear His holy arm before the eyes of all nations. And all nations are going to see the salvation of the Lord. That's Isaiah 52. And it's not coincidence that the Holy Spirit has Isaiah 53 after. Christ brings peace to His people by destroying His enemies. How, Christ, are You going to bring us peace? Isaiah 53. I could read the whole thing, but I'm going to read verse 10. Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush the servants. Yahweh has put His servant to grief. When His soul makes an offering for sin, He shall see His offspring. He shall prolong His days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Out of the anguish of His soul, He shall see and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall the righteous one, My servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities. That's how Christ brought peace to us. Isaiah 53 says, Christ was wounded for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was a chastisement that brought us peace. How glorious is Isaiah 53 to you? If Isaiah 53 is not glorious to you, I question if you're really a Christian. If you're not inwardly exalting right now in Isaiah 53 that Jesus Christ gave you peace because He was nailed to a cross that He did not deserve. His chastisement and His wounds and His stripes and everything He suffered and the forsaking of God brought us peace. And with His stripes we are healed. God promises peace. and the vanquishing of His enemies in Isaiah 52, God explains how He brings it for us in Isaiah 53. If you know people who are hungering for peace, show them to Christ. He's the only one who will ever bring peace. In Colossians 1.20, peace is made only through the blood of Christ's cross. Only through Christ's cross will there ever be peace. And another side point, before we close, another mystery I was thinking about in the New Covenant, that Christ's death brought another kind of peace. Peace not just between us and God, but peace between one another. And that's in Ephesians 2, 13 through 18. There's no more hostility between Jew and pagan. The Jews thought that by destroying the pagans, they would have peace. And in the wisdom of God, Christ comes and God saves pagans so that there will be peace. Oh, how high are His ways above ours! The Jews were thinking, destroy the pagans and then we'll have peace. God says, I'm going to send my Son to die for them so that Jew and Gentile will dwell together, the middle wall of partition obliterated by the cross of Christ. Amen. However, let us not forget. that though Christ brought peace in His first coming, the peace that Haggai was looking forward to will be brought in His second coming. Yes, we serve a Savior who came to suffer. The suffering servant came and brought us peace in His first coming. In the day of the Lord, there's two comings. The prophets didn't see that. They didn't see that Christ would come once to redeem God's people and set up the new covenant. They saw the second coming of the Lord. But that is still going to come. And Jesus Christ talked explicitly about that. And yes, Christ came in His first coming, that He may reconcile a sinful people, Jew and Gentile, to Holy God. But let us not forget that God's promises to destroy the nations physically are still binding. Christ is coming a second time. Couldn't help but think of Revelation 19. How is Christ depicted when He comes in, in Revelation 19? He's riding upon a horse, and His garment is dipped in the blood of His enemies. And out of His mouth comes a what? A sharp sword with which He will destroy all of God's enemies. Literally, this is going to happen. The conquering King of Revelation will destroy those who Do not believe in Him. Application time. Let us remember the context of this message to Haggai, uh, by Haggai. This is in the context of encouraging the people, and here's Zerubbabel, to build the temple. This is an encouragement to us to continue building the church. First, this reminds us that God has promised His people peace. and that He has brought spiritual peace to the sinful world through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. Do you have true peace here this morning? Can you, without waiver, say, having been justified by faith, I have peace with God? Can you say that this morning? In the first five books of the Old Testament, there was a different peace that Moses talked about. Not peace from enemies, but peace with God. This peace was only brought about by atonement, sacrifice for their sins. God promises peace, not just from worldly enemies, but enmity will be removed. Can you sit here this morning? and say, having been justified, because I have been saved through the blood of Christ by believing in His name, I have peace, true peace, with God. Christ came to give us peace, not as the world gives. Do you have peace here this morning? If you do not, trust in Christ this morning, and you will be given peace. It reminds us that peace costs much. Our peace with God and our peace with one another cost the Father, His Son's life. The Son had to shed His precious blood so that we could have peace with God. Peace is not cheap. Don't let anyone tell you anything different. Peace costs much. Christ shed His blood that we might have peace. with God the Father. Peace will cost the world much when Christ comes back a second time. That's my third point. Salvation and judgment must not be separated. The prophets saw the Day of the Lord as one thing. Judgment and salvation linked. Our salvation comes through judgment. Did you know that? When our sins were judged on Jesus Christ, you have peace, you have salvation only because judgment fell upon the Son of God as He hung on a cross and died for your sins. Fourthly, we are reminded that Christ is coming back. Read the Gospels over and over and over. Be ready, you do not know the day of coming back. The day of the Lord is quickly approaching. Haggai thought it was in his time, the Apostles in their time, and every generation since then, including ours, has been waiting for Christ to come back. Christ is coming back to judge the nations, and to destroy them, and to cast them, and their self, and their souls, and Satan, and his antichrists into the lake of eternal fire. We're so concerned about global warming. Oh, that Christ's church would be consumed with global warning. Warn this wicked globe that Christ is coming back. Tell them about His first coming and His offering of peace, but tell them about His second coming and that there will be no second chances when He comes. Fifthly, this reminds us indeed that all God's promises are what? Yes and Amen in Jesus Christ. God promises peace. God promises the destruction of His enemies. How does this come about, brother and sister? Through Jesus Christ. Sixthly, as I've been comforting you the last six weeks, God's people must be comforted. The Sovereign Lord of hosts is the Sovereign Lord of history. This will come about. Because God controls things, this day is coming. perhaps sooner than we may think. Oh, that God will bless the Word this morning. All praise to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Let's close in prayer and then we'll sing to Him. Father, I have tried my best to preach Your Word, but that is not enough. Jesus Christ, we know, That because You rose from the dead, You sent forth Your Spirit to quicken dead sinners to life. And You sent forth Your Spirit to indwell all whom You have redeemed. And Spirit, we pray that this message has struck our hearts. O Lord, that we would not leave here unchanged. How glorious, Lord, are the truths that point us to Christ, the One who purchased and brought us peace through the chastisement and severe lashing and His death on a tree. O Lord, that we would leave here rejoicing, singing to You a new song, telling the nations that our God reigns. I thank You, Lord, for Your Word, and I pray that it will continue to do its penetrating work in our hearts. O Lord, that many would hear this Word through us in this week, that many would see the free salvation offered through the costly death of Jesus Christ. Lord, hear now our prayers, hear our songs, hear our commitments. O Spirit, commit us to do Your will. Lord, we ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.