who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Thank you, Cliff. So today, we are on our last passage from the Book of Haggai. If it feels like we only started last month, that's because we really did start only last month. But of course, this is a very short book in the scripture. So we have thus far seen, after the people of God heeded Haggai's warning, that is much easier to succumb to sin, uncleanliness, than it is to follow righteousness. The people were reminded that the economic and agricultural calamities were a direct result of God's loving discipline. However, they were told that because of their repentance, they would no longer experience God's loving heavy hand, but now would see blessing. That was the last verse where we left off. Dr. Alec Motier, in his commentary of Haggai, says the following of the passage that we're going to be studying today, and I thought it was worthwhile to quote it in whole. He says of the passage we'll be studying today, the final verses of his book reveal Haggai as the literary equivalent of an impressionist painter. He gives general tones an effect without elaborate detail. His colors are the thunderstorm and the earthquake, revolution, clashing armies, and civil conflict, as in a carefully composed picture, where every stroke is designed to lead the eye to what is central, So here, too, the focus is like a shaft of starlight illuminating one item. And what is that one item? As we will discover, a ring shining on a finger. The trajectory of the Book of Haggai ends from where it started. It was to Zerubbabel, David's descendant, that Haggai was sent to by God so that he can build him a house. But here, as we end, we shall see that it is God who will build him a house. When you read through this passage and consider it in the light of Israel's history, you may notice that there is a repetition, a parallel, and the biblical history rhymes in a way. It was in 2 Samuel, if you recall, that it was David who wanted to build a house for the Lord. But it was then that he learned that God was going to build a house for David. Let me go ahead and read that for us. It comes from 2 Samuel 7, verses 1 through 6 and 11, but I'll focus on the relevant parts. Now when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said, King David, said to Nathan the prophet, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, Go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, Go and tell my servant David. Thus says the Lord, Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. And dropping down to verse 11, he says, Moreover, The Lord declares, this is Nathan telling David, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. With this in mind, let us now turn our attention to our passage today. Would you please rise for the reading and hearing of God's holy word. And the following is from the book of Haggai chapter two, verses 20 to 23. Hear now the word of God. Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the 24th day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the thrones of the kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. And I will overthrow the chariots and their riders and the horses, and their riders will go down, every one by the sword of another, on that day. declares the Lord of armies. I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, my servant, declares the Lord. And I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of armies. This is the word of God. Amen. Please be seated. And join me, if you would, in prayer as we ask the Holy Spirit to illumine our minds and hearts Holy Spirit, be with us now as we continue to worship our great God. It was you, Holy One, that gave us a new life so that we may be able to not only understand, but also believe in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. Without you, we were unable to repent and believe. We confess, Holy Spirit, that it is no different today. Without your stirring and working within us, we are unable to genuinely repent of our sins and trust in the Lord. Would you help us to see the word of God today? Help us to understand, obey, and trust in our great God. In Christ's name we pray, amen. So in verse 20, we have recorded for us Haggai delivering a second oracle. It's on the 24th day of the month. Now it's only natural for us to refer back to chapter two in verse 10 and ascertain that it is also on the 24th day of the ninth month. So this second oracle that he's making reference to was delivered by Haggai on the same day that he said that God will bless his people, which is what we studied last. The oracle itself was originally addressed to Zerubbabel. Now if you recall, he was the assigned governor of the region of the Persian king. He was obviously one of the leaders of the returning community of exiles asked to repopulate and rebuild the torn down temple and eventually the city of God. But as we move forward in the text, we shall see why he is singled out, unlike the earliest oracle where both he and the high priest Joshua were the original recipients. The oracle itself uses apocalyptic language, and as such, points to a future date. Shaking of the heavens and of the earth is certainly apocalyptic language. Now, the prophecy appears to convey a time when God will overthrow the dominion of the nations. The military language is clear and familiar. chariots, horses, their riders, swords. However, there seems to be an element of cosmic proportions here that the heavens and the earth shall be impacted. Now, this type of language in the oracle has a messianic overtone. It is this very prophecy, this very prophecy that gives birth to the understanding of not only to the remnant community in Haggai's time, but also for all subsequent generations that when the Messiah was to be sent, the nations would be shaken and a final cosmic battle would ensue, which will end in the eternal reestablishment of the Davidic kingdom. descendant of David would take on the throne of God to rule. Now, if I were to ask you how did this kind of thinking impact the way a first century Jew expected the Messiah to be, it would be fair to say that he would be, they would say, a man of war. a military warrior? And frankly, that would be a fair answer, and that was the expectation, not just in the first century, but pretty much every century from this prophecy forward. Perhaps by understanding this prophecy, you and I can gain an insight as to how and why the Lord was treated by the leadership of Jerusalem, as well by his own disciples. One of the things that a majority of the leadership in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin, and the apostles had in common was that they were products of the predominant theological understanding of their time. And what was a common belief was that this Messiah who was prophesied about would be a liberator, a military liberator, a general, if you will. But he would be a divinely sent leader with great powers, miraculous powers, unlike any other leader before. Yes, someone even more competent than King David. Someone more skilled than the great General Joshua. And we can see that as early as the sixth chapter in the Gospel of John, that this is exactly what was anticipated. Now, before we read the passage, this is the passage about the Lord feeding the 5,000 men. There were people then that, there were more people than 5,000 back then, but John specifically records 5,000 men. Not the women and the children that were present. The reason why was because for any military campaign to be successful in the first century, you needed to feed your troops. Campaigns didn't really last very long. Once the food ran out, you went back home. I don't mean to make it that simplistic, but the point here is that he was able to feed 5,000 men, 5,000 soldiers out of thin air. Think about it. You could wage war for quite some time without having to quit. You could fortify yourself in a keep, a castle, a city wall, and not be starved out. You could starve out your enemy. When they saw this, they put two and two together. This was the guy. This was the guy from the prophecy. This is, if you will, that Zerubbabel from that book in Haggai. So we read in John 6.15 the following. Therefore, I'll start with 14. When the people saw the sign which he had performed, the feeding of the 5,000, they said, this is truly the prophet who has come into the world, and here it is. So Jesus aware that they intended to come and take him by force to make him king. withdrew again to the mountain by himself alone. The leaders, especially those that were zealots, expected this, as well as the Pharisees. When Jesus did not live up to their expectation, they ultimately said, we need to look elsewhere. Those that were in leadership understood this and were quick to eliminate him. because they were offended by his attacks upon them. They couldn't have him running around the countryside attacking their authority and the people believing in him at the same time to be the Messiah. This was a ginormous political mess. Do you remember on Holy Week they wanted to arrest him? the temple priests, the Sanhedrin, but they were afraid to do so because they feared the crowds revolting against them because they believed that this was the guy, going all the way back to the prophecy that we're reading about today in Haggai. Now, the apostles were no different. His disciples were no different. They were raised in the same cultural, historical, and theological milieu. They believed in Jesus to be the person of the prophecy from Haggai. Along with other prophecies, Jesus was the great Redeemer, who would bring about the kingdom of God and destroy, eliminate their enemies. However, they also shared in the belief that Jesus would be a military leader. There was no place in their theological construct, their theological paradigm. that the anointed one, the chosen one, would of all things die. And understandably so, right? Jesus prepared them for this, but they would not understand until the time after his resurrection. Last week, we started Sunday school. and the adult class is currently studying through the Book of Acts. It's an excellent study, and let me encourage you to take advantage by attending. You will be well, spiritually well-fed. Now, as it relates to our current concern, do you recall what the apostles asked Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, at the beginning of the Book of Acts? Is it now? Is it time now? In effect, they were asking, is it time now that you will shake up the heavens and the earth and the nations of the earth? Is it now that you will overthrow the power of the kingdoms of the nations? Is it now that you will eliminate them? They didn't understand that there was an interplay between the already and not yet. And what they needed was the Holy Spirit to help them put together and understand what the Lord had taught them. Being that this oracle was addressed as a rubble, it had implications for one of the three main offices in Judaic society, the office of king. In order for this to make a little better sense, we have to recognize that Zerubbabel's lineage has the pedigree of being from King David, God's chosen king, through whom was promised that a king would one day come to rule God's people and his would be an everlasting kingdom. At the first advent of our Lord, we recognize that the oracle has already been and is being fulfilled. The treasure of the nations is being taken up and used for the making up and adorning the temple of God, the church. And this is the already part, but there is the not yet. In verse 23, not only is Zerubbabel being addressed, he is part of the oracle itself. Did you see that? God has addressed him previously as governor, but now he calls him my servant. My servant was Isaiah's favorite term or title for whom? The Messiah. The word chosen reminds us of God's people and then progressively it was identified as the chosen one from among his people, the Lord Jesus ultimately. Now the likelihood that Haggai was making a specific reference to Zerubbabel, the person, would be sheer lunacy. The Persian Empire would have never tolerated a prophecy of one rising from their midst to rebel. Darius would have pounced on Jerusalem if he ever got word of a prophesied rebel in his midst. And he did that in other parts of his kingdom. Instead, we are to understand that the prophecy was being made to give hope. The prophecy was given so that they would have hope. was given so that they would have, the people would have hope that the messianic prophecy that would come only out of the house of David was intact. The prophecy was intact. as rubble was a descendant of David. Now we see this in those parts of scripture that we really enjoy reading, right? So and so begat so and so, and so and so begat so and so. Matthew chapter one, verses 12 and 13 are significant for our passage here today. I'll read that for us. Verse 12, after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel. And then it goes on to say Zerubbabel fathered so and so, that eventually it comes to Jesus himself. Now, this passage speaks of a signet ring. Now, a signet ring was representative of a throne and its authority and power. A signet ring was a symbol of and carried with it the authority, legitimacy and the power that of the sovereign who possessed that ring. The ring was so precious that it needed to be guarded against its theft and subsequently its misuse. Oftentimes it was put on a chain and worn around the neck or it was a ring that was put on a finger. You may recall when Jezebel wrote letters herself and used the king's signet ring. It was the first king's 21 eight states. She, Jezebel, she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal. And she sent the letters to the elders and the leaders who lived in the cities that are named. It's significant to point out that the King of Judah was himself, the King of Judah was considered himself as the signet ring of God. The seated king upon the throne in Jerusalem was the one who was identified to be God's chosen representative of his people. We see this in Jeremiah 22 in verse four, where it reads, as I live, declares the Lord, though Keniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand. There it is. It continues to say, yet I would tear you off. The kings were considered the signet ring as well. Now, this is happening when God ultimately, the Jeremiah passage, left the temple and then the Babylonian exile ensued. They came in, they sacked the city, and the exile period began. By the Lord identifying Zerubbabel as his signet ring, God is communicating something very powerful. Zerubbabel represents the resumption of the messianic line that was interrupted by the exile in Babylon. Zerubbabel would be no mere governor, but God is communicating that through Zerubbabel and his lineage that God is going to keep his promises for a future where his people would be vindicated, protected, and have her enemies destroyed. I don't know about you, but what a great message to hear if you're in that remnant community. God is not done with us. The Babylonian exile was not the end of God's relationship with his community of his chosen elect. When you consider the church, in the New Testament times, wherever it has been globally, it has had a myopic view of itself. She has seen herself in light of where she ministers. When the barbarians came in to sack Rome, she thought that God was done with them. When Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, the church thought that God was done with her. More recently, when Europe turned away from the gospel, the church thought God is done with us. We seem to have something like that going on here in the United States. We have seen that membership roles in Bible-believing churches decline, Sunday attendance in worship decline, and I have heard voices say, maybe you have as well. that if the church dies in the U.S., it's the end. God is done with us. But when the word spread of this oracle to the people, what relief and what joy the people of God must have experienced. Beloved, let's not, you and I, be myopic. God is not done with us. And not only that, he promised that he will never leave us. He said that he will be with us till the end when he returns. Our job is not to look around in Laurel or Maryland or in our country, or even around the world, to look for where the Holy Spirit is giving the increase. When we do this, we can go through emotional ups and downs. And during those times, think that, as the church has in the past, think that God is done with us. No, we are not called to look at numbers, at conversions or fruit, but we are called to be faithful, to do what God has called us to do and enjoy Him and the sweetness of the fellowship we have with one another in and through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, as we have noted, promises of a vindication and salvation in the eschaton were to be accomplished with the chosen one. We can see how the Zerubbabel of Haggai's time is but a foreshadowing, a type of the future Zerubbabel. Just as the governor was identified as the chosen of God, so would Jesus be identified as the anointed one, the chosen one of God. Just as the governor was tasked to spearhead the building of what? The temple. So would Jesus. But the last Zerubbabel. His temple would not be a physical one. It would be a spiritual one, not built with timber and stone, but with spiritual stones where God himself would reside, not just among his people, but in us. And he has already fulfilled this prophecy, not yet fully. The kingdom was inaugurated when Jesus came at his first advent. and will be consummated at his second. And finally, with the crosswork of Christ, his death, his resurrection, and defeat of Satan, the strong man who is now bound, he has already, in a way, shaken the spiritual powers of heaven and earth and taken choice treasure. That choice treasure is you and I from all the nations as was previously prophesied. And with that treasure, he is adorning his temple. We are the appointments that beautify the temple of God. That's how he sees you and I as treasure. But when he, the Lord, returns, the not yet of this prophecy will be fulfilled. For one day, for on that day, capital D, that he returns and shakes the powers that will be at that time, the scripture says of that day, this is how people will be responding, Revelation 6. then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Revelation 6, 15, and 16. So often, something seems fantastic, so improbable that we don't take it seriously or believe it can ever happen until it happens. The Holy Scriptures, which has never failed and will never fail, make this prophecy of the Lord's return and vengeance. The next time he will come, he will not be riding a donkey. A donkey symbolizes peace, bringing about peace. This he did by his crosswork. He brought about peace between us and God the Father. Instead, the next time, he will be riding a horse. This symbolizes war. And in his case, it's a war to bring about justice for his father. God's long suffering for sin will finally come to an end. Long suffering for God's people, you and I, will come to an end on that great day. And we shall enter into everlasting peace, everlasting joy. So do you know on that day which side you will be on? Will you be hiding? No begging that the mountains would fall upon you to escape the wrath of the Messiah. Or will you be in the security of his protection, in his loving arms? What a dramatic twist. The book of Haggai began with God's displeasure and anger with his people. By the end of the book, God informs his people that from that time forward, he would bless them, again, 219, by reinstating the Davidic line and all the promises that come with it. The people of God in Haggai's time lived with an unfulfilled future hope. We are blessed to live in a time where we have seen part of that future hope fulfilled in Christ, our Lord and our Savior. We are like them in a way, but we also, with a future hope, look We look to the future that has not yet been fulfilled, but that will be fulfilled when the Lord returns. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, for your word is truth. And we pray that if there are any amongst thus this day that don't know the answer to that question, Which side will I be on? That your Holy Spirit would help them to see and to understand. And we also pray that you would be gracious to them, that you would open their eyes, their spiritual eyes and ears, to see Christ and to see themselves in relation to Christ and their need for him. And to surrender themselves to trust in Jesus and Jesus alone for their salvation. So that they will not live in fear today or any other day. For upon that day, that great and terrible day of judgment, righteous judgment will be a day too late. And so we pray, Heavenly Father, that we would grow and that we would take comfort in knowing that you are not done with us and that you will never, ever be done with us. because you are with us and we are your temple and you reside in us. We ask that you would do these things for our good and your glory and in Jesus' name. Amen.