If you would, take out your Bibles and turn to the book of Haggai. We're going to be completing that study today in Haggai chapter 2, verses 20 through 23. Just a reminder, for those who have been asking, next week we'll begin a study in the book of 2 Timothy in the morning and continue our series of 2 Kings in the evening. But as we conclude the little book, 2 I want to remind you that this book, as we've looked at it, has had tremendous implications for calling believers to serve the Lord in the places where they have called them, and sometimes to particular works, as he did in those days, to have them rebuild the temple. But he also reminded us that just as our hands and feet are important in this, perhaps even more important is the attitude of our heart. And yet here, in this last few verses, is encouragement for those who might be discouraged. for those who may think their work is insignificant, or for those who are just struggling to see, in their small place in the kingdom, what God is doing. Follow along as I read this last of Haggai's prophecies. It occurs on the same day as the previous section of scripture, that is, on December 18th, 520 BC. Hear these words. 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 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, everyone, 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 Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of Hosts. If you're like me, when I first read those words this week, I thought, how in the world is this going to apply to us today? But it sure does. Let's bow briefly in prayer. Lord, this is your word. Your spirit can use this word to apply to our hearts and our minds, to change us and to mold us and shape us, for your word shall stand forever. Father, I pray that anything that is said here, done here, thought here, that is not consistent with your word, like the other things of this world, might pass away, never to be heard from again. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Perhaps you've heard these little phrases like, Get a piece of the rock. Or, perhaps, you can count on us. Or, one of the ones that seems to be more common, we are there for you. These, of course, are insurance company slogans. We get those things in our emails and texts, particularly after a hurricane or tropical storm blows through. And they remind us that there's somehow we can take stock in them because hopefully we paid our bills. And then if circumstances are correct, they might assist us or help us get through the other side. And it's true. There are times when storms come, when our faith seems weak, when our health fails, when relationships fall apart, that we are shaken to the core And we seem to have no guarantees. But here in this passage, we're reminded of the advantages of being in God's unshakable kingdom. In him, we have a rock, and we have a promise, and we have a savior that shall never fail. follow along as I, first of all, look at the section on shaking, so we're gonna look at the shaking of the cosmos in verses 20 to 22, and then when we look at the last verse, we'll look at the seal amidst the shaking. First of all, a reminder of this shaking. You see, this was not the first time in Haggai that he references the shaking. Just earlier in chapter 2, verses 6 and 7, Haggai had prophesied this just two months before. He has said in verse six, for thus says the Lord of Hosts, yet once more in a little while I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land and I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts. Here's a review of that October prophecy. First of all, everything will be shaken. Notice what it says, the heavens and the earth, the dry land and the sea, basically everything that you see, everything that you've experienced in all of creation will be shaken. And then he specifically notes this, every single nation will be shaken. He doesn't say that there's going to be a few that will be exceptions. You know, sometimes we like to say in our country that America is an exceptional country. Well, in God's eyes, it's just like all the other countries. It's one country that will come to judgment like everything else, and there will come a time when this country is shaken just like every other nation before them. Some of them don't exist anymore. We know perhaps some of those nations as we study biblical history, some of them are gone. They don't exist anymore, but all the nations of the earth will be shaken. Thirdly, in that section, there's a connection here, if you remember as we went through this a few weeks ago. It says here, I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in. Now, of course, that word treasures is actually a singular term that means desire. It can also mean treasure, but notice it's a singular thing. The desire of all the nations will come in. I tend to think that this is actually a reference to Christ coming. He is the precious treasure of all the nations, for he alone is the one that can not only fulfill our desires of eternal life, but he is the one who is precious to all the nations. And then the last thing is a connection to the glory of the temple. Notice what it said, I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. And of course, we understand that this is a reference both to the filling of the temple in Old Testament times, the tabernacle and the temple first, the tabernacle made by Moses and the people, and then the temple made by Solomon. When God came and he filled the temple, God was the temple's glory. In fact, when his glory came and filled the temple, it was filled to such a degree that the workers could not carry out their tasks. And so when he's saying that the temple will once again be filled with glory, what is he referring to first and foremost? His presence. in Jesus Christ. And you know Jesus even came in the flesh and walked in the temple, taught in the temple, was there praying in the temple. And of course, we also remember he overturned the tables in the temple. You know, all those things. God's glory in the person of Jesus Christ was there and the temple would be filled. But before all this takes place, there was a shaking of the nations in the time between the Testaments. as well as the prediction or prophecy of a shaking of all the nations before Christ comes back. God shakes everything. So, this is the review of verses 6 and 7, but he says it again here in this passage. In 21, he says, I'm about to shake the heavens and the earth. Now, I told my wife last night, it's a little unfortunate that our translation says, about to. It actually says, I am shaking. And it says in the next verse, it doesn't say about to destroy, it says I will do these things. So here is the reiteration of this October prophecy in December. First of all, it's specifically to Zerubbabel. In other words, what has taken place here is in the first section of this day, on the 24th day of the month, that he spoke to all the people. But evidently, the word of God came in a second time specifically to the person of Zerubbabel. And why Zerubbabel? Well, because he was the leader of the people. In fact, it was not only specifically to Zerubbabel, but to the governor of Judah. It's interesting that Haggai would use this phrase, or God would use this in Haggai's mouth and pen, He says, Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah. In other words, he's the one who has been chosen to lead this section of the nation of Persia, the kingdom of Persia at this time. And so here he is, the leader of the people, the one who is the leader of the temple rebuilding project, the one who has communicated back and forth with the government, with Darius and so forth. And here he is specifically talking to this individual. And then he goes on to describe the magnitude of this shaking. Notice what he says. First of all, he says, he's coming to shake the heavens and the earth. In other words, there are no boundaries of the shaking. It's not as if he's going to shake that nation over there, but this one over here, he's going to spare. He's not going to compare the nations, say this one is better than the other, because they're all wicked nations. Back we're told that everyone according to scripture is sinful. And of course every nation is corrupted by sin. So we're reminded there's no boundary of this shaking. Next he says, the throne of kingdoms will be overturned. In other words, the power of these kingdoms The illustration here is kind of interesting because, again, it doesn't say thrones of the kingdoms. It actually says throne of the kingdoms. This bears to mind that even the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself, his throne will be overturned and destroyed. And therefore, all the nations that fall in line with wickedness and evil and sin For of course they do, they will be overturned or destroyed. Then he says this, not only the throne of the kingdoms, but he says the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. Not just the symbol of power, not just those who are in authority, not just perhaps even Satan himself, but the actual strength of these kingdoms. What makes a kingdom strong? Well, you can answer that question in many ways. Some people think it's military might. Some people think it's economic might. Some people think it's some political program of some sort. We know from scripture that what makes a kingdom strong is their submission to the God of heaven and earth. But here it says, the strength of these kingdoms is to be exterminated. And notice the specific things here. both military might, that is the chariots and the riders. If you know anything about the chariots, they were the tanks of the day. Today we might say that they're something else because tanks are a little more outdated than they used to be. Maybe they were the jets of the carrying missiles of today, something like that. This is the military might. And he says, I'm going to overturn all of the military might of all the nations of the earth. And if that wasn't enough, he goes on to say, will also be the horses and their riders. Now, in those days, who were the ones that rode the horses? Yes, there were some crack units of horsemanship and, of course, cavalry and so forth, but these were the officers. These were the ones who had the ability to lead the troops. These are the ones who had the intelligence reports. These are the ones who had all of the ability to lead the troops, and they would do this. They would actually turn on each other. What a shaking. Everything will be in upheaval. And he says he will do this. It doesn't tell us when he's going to do this. It doesn't tell us exactly how in this section. It says, I will, shaking all these things, I will uproot and overturn every nation, every ruler, every power, all military personnel, and so forth. Shaking. You know, when we think of shaking, what do you think of when God shakes everything? Maybe you're thinking about an earthquake. A brief article from CNN yesterday, Saturday, August 17, 2024, they reported that a volcano has erupted following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck off Russia's east coast, spurting a column of ash miles into the air, according to state-run media. I'll pronounce these wrong, I'm sure. The Shiveluk volcano is around 280 miles from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a coastal city with a population of about 180,000 that lies in Russia's eastern region of Kamchatka. According to visual evaluations, the ash column is rising as high as 5 miles above the sea level. adding that the volcano has released a gush of lava. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake's epicenter was about 55 miles from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at a depth of about 30 miles. No major damage, quote, was caused by the earthquake. Buildings are now being examined for potential damage, with special attention paid to social facilities. The Russian Emergencies Ministry did not issue a tsunami warning due to the tremor, however. Earlier, the U.S. Tsunami Warning System had warned that hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible within 186 miles of the epicenter along the coast of Russia. How many of you knew that there was a major volcanic explosion in the world yesterday? How many of you knew that there was a 7.0 earthquake that is closer to Alaska than to Moscow? It is, after all, according to my risk board, it is Kamchatka, which is closer to Alaska than the eastern sections of Russia. And yet here, this is just a minuscule shaking of the Earth. If you remember from 1980 and the explosion of Mount St. Helens, you knew how it interrupted an entire state, an entire ecosystem. so that we understand even differently how quickly things can be regrowing and all those things. Science learns so much from it. But this is just a microcosm. God says he's going to shake every single nation, every single power. So what does this mean to us? Our trust must not be in this world. This world is not permanent. These worldly things will pass away. Scripture is very clear about that. The world is passing away. If this time period shows us anything, we know that leaders are vulnerable. They will age. They will die or be at risk of death. They will rise. They will fall. They don't know everything. And if we place our hope in leaders, in material things, in the world around us, we're going to be sorely disappointed when the shaking of God comes. Because God will shake the heavens and the earth. And we could, like some commentary writers, describe that perhaps this shaking was the shaking of the Persian Empire by the Greeks who would just within 20 years would begin instituting a series of defeats that would, a series of victories over Persia that would in the end lead about 150 years later to a man you might recognize, Alexander the Great, who marched across the world and really kind of made the Greek Empire a well-known entity worldwide, but then the Greeks were destroyed and the Romans came. There were great shakings in that time period, but yet it's nothing compared to the shaking that will take place when Christ returns. So if we can't place our hope in the kingdoms of this world, if we can't place our hope in the world itself or anything in it, what can we place our hope in? Well, verse 23 gives us a hint. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Sheol, Teal, declares the Lord and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. You might think, what in the world? Zerubbabel is a hard name to pronounce anyway. First of all, notice what it says here. It uses this term declaration. declares the Lord of hosts. It's interesting, in Hebrew, this is an interesting phrase. This isn't where it's a normal verb, it's like a declaration, or even in some contexts, a whispering of the Lord. In other words, it's a statement, it's something that he has said, and because he has said it, of course, when the Lord speaks, that means it is true, it'll happen, it's unchangeable, all those things. It's a declaration of the Lord of hosts. So notice that term, Lord of hosts. This is used by Haggai 14 times in just two chapters. In fact, it's probably used more frequently than almost any other book of the Bible. And it's used most extensively in the prophets. This term for Lord of hosts, often people think of hosts being the heavenly stars and so forth. The word hosts here is like warriors. the Lord of armies. Yes, it could be the heavenly host, that is the forces of heaven and earth, angels and angelic beings that God has created. He is the Lord of all those things. But the point here is God is speaking here to Zerubbabel and the people of God who have returned from exile. They're a small remnant people. They're under the authority of another nation. They are afraid to rebuild this temple because of all the opposition that's been in place for 15 years. Now they're rebuilding the temple and he's reminding them, I'm the God of hosts. I'm the true power of heaven and earth. I will be the one who will get rid of all other powers. They will be under my foot. And it signifies this power of God. So this declaration, like the other declarations here in this book, is a declaration from a position of divine power on heaven and earth. He's the creator. He's provided for them. He makes the world run. You know, he is actively involved in the world. So he is speaking from a position of power and this is his edict. The edict of the Lord of Hosts is this. I will take you, Zerubbabel. It's interesting, he takes the, he uses the word take or seize. He's gonna grab Zerubbabel. And then he says this, I will appoint you or make you. The third action verb that he says regarding Zerubbabel is this, I chose you. Now if you look at the history, of Zerubbabel. You know that it's interesting how he comes to be in the line of David and all those other things. We're going to mention that a little bit in a moment. But he's specifically directing this to Zerubbabel to remind Zerubbabel that he has a plan He is in charge, he is sovereign over all things, and whatever Zerubbabel thinks about the present, when he looks at the opposition, when he looks at the sins of the people, and when he looks at God's judgment for sin, both on the people around him and on the people of God for their sin, and as he looks at the insignificant temple in light of the glory of the temple of the past, And as they look at the circumstances, which have begged some people to say, you know, we can't build it right now because we have to worry about our poverty, or we have to worry about this or that. And as they ponder whether or not this is really important in the scheme of things, God is reminding Zerubbabel and all of us that at this time in history, with a small remnant of people, building a temple with materials that did not seem to equate the glory of the past, under another nation's authority, God is still in charge. And so then he says this, what is he gonna appoint or make Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel to be? like a signet ring or like a seal. In fact, I think it's important here, I've mistitled the sermon this morning. It should not say a seal amidst the shaking. It should say the seal amidst the shaking. That's the Hebrew, it's very literal there, the seal. This is the seal of the Lord of hosts. He's saying to Zerubbabel, I'm gonna make you or appoint you as the seal. Now, first of all, there is a messianic foreshadowing here, because notice what he's called Zerubbabel, my servant. This of course reminds the reader and reminds those who are faithful to the scriptures of the Old Testament in the days of Zerubbabel of the words of Isaiah regarding the servant of God, calling the Messiah who is to come my servant. Here he's not saying necessarily that Zerubbabel is the Messiah, but he's drawing attention to those who would serve the Lord in the line of the Messiah. There are messianic foreshadows here. And then here is, again, the signet, or in some places that word is translated seal. It's the seal of the Davidic reminder. You see, when he talks about this seal, you kind of have to go back a little bit to Jeremiah chapter 22, verse 24. In Jeremiah 22, 24, I think it's written on the insert of your bulletin, it says this, as I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah, who's also known as Jehoiachin, by the way, Though Kunaniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you shall die. And then I put there for you the history of the Old Testament that describes how this prophecy came place in 2 Kings. In fact, there on your bulletin, I think it's 2 Kings 24, verses 11 through 13. What happened? Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to the city, that's Jerusalem, while his servants were besieging it, and Jehoiachin, otherwise known as Coniah, the king of Judah, gave himself up to the king of Babylon himself and his mother. And his servants and his officials and his palace officers, the king of Babylon, took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign, carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon, king of Israel, had made, as the Lord had foretold." Now what is this that God is saying about this signet or seal? Jeremiah is told by God to say these words to Jehoiachin as he's about to be carried off into exile to remind him that being the king of Judah in the line of David, he is that seal according to the promise of 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Corinthians 11. That promise, the seal is the promise of God's word that there will be a king from the line of David to rule on the throne forever. The seal is that promise. And so when he says, though you are a seal, yet I'm going to tear you off to Jeconiah back in Jeremiah, it's a reminder of what happened in history. Despite the fact that Judah was God's people. Despite the fact that they had a Davidic ruler on the line, according to that promise, he took that ruler, he tore him from his hand, threw him off to Babylon, and in fact, this individual, the grandson of Josiah, good King Josiah, this grandson had no heirs and his line ended. To some, They might have thought it would threaten the line. Of course, we know that others were put in place, particularly an uncle here, one of Josiah's other sons. He becomes known as Zedekiah. He's the last king of Judah, so there's still a line of David on the throne. But what happens to them in exile? In fact, Zerubbabel was not of the line of Jehoiachin, king of Judah. In fact, he was of another descendant or heir to the throne from David. And he was adopted by the princely line coming from another line of David here. He comes in and he is someone that comes in seemingly in a strange situation. So when he says, I chose you, he's saying to Zerubbabel, don't think that you haven't arisen to power even as the governor of Judah without my plan being in place. It's because I have a promise. And that promise is the line that comes now through you. not through Jehoiachin, not through some other line of David, but now through your line, that seal, that promise for my people is guaranteed and you are living proof of it. There was discipline in that line. Some kings were removed, some were taken off into exile, others were killed. But now there is restoration of David's line pronounced. God is reminding the people, I haven't given up on you. The seal is still there. My word is still true. You are my living seal that the Christ, the Messiah is coming. Now about these seals. I remember when we were looking to adopt internationally, it's been many years now, it didn't work out for us. And I remember having to get all the paperwork together. We were adopting or hoping to adopt from a country which didn't have quite all the benefits of those countries who were kind of favorite adopted status countries of one sort or another. So we had to get all this paperwork done. And one of the things we had to do is we had to get a lot of things notarized. But even beyond that, and I don't even remember the term for that, Jennifer probably remembers it, we had to get the next one above the notary. In fact, we had to, in that time we were living in Tennessee, at that time we had to go through the office in Nashville of the state guy who was the overseer who had notarized the notaries. And so we had to go to him and get some paperwork. Now we thought, one day we thought, well, we'll just travel over there. So we went over there and we went there and we didn't have the right stuff we needed or the right timing and all that stuff. And it just became a burden to get all this paperwork done. And then to find out even above and beyond that, we had to submit office or paperwork to the federal government. even above the state level, and we had to get things approved to send off to the country of which we hope to adopt. But that seal, what does that seal represent? An authorized promise verifying the facts of what has taken place. When that seal was affixed to those documents, that individual was certifying the veracity and the verification of those documents. And without that paperwork, they would not accept the idea of adoption. And of course, if you've adopted a child, you know you have to do things, you gotta have to get things notarized, you have to get court records, you have to do all those things. But until you get those seals, the document isn't considered valid. And so here, Zerubbabel is declared as that seal, that living document, that God's word was staying in place regarding the coming Savior. So restoration is pronounced, the line of David is provided through the seal of the Messianic line in the person of Zerubbabel, and this was God's seal that was unchangeable and non-negotiable. And then we are reminded, Scripture interprets scripture. Did you know that this passage about the unshakable or the shaking of the kingdoms is quoted in the New Testament? It's in Hebrews chapter 12. If you look at the bottom of your bulletin, it says this, at that time, this is the time he's described a time of Mount Sinai and Moses getting the law. His, that is God's voice, shook the earth. But now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken. That is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. So what do we learn about Haggai here? First of all, that God is going to shake everything. We can't depend on things in this world. But secondly, there is one thing that we can depend on. No, it's not an insurance company. No, it's not a government or a politician. No, it's not our bank. No, it's not some human wisdom or some relative that you've placed all your stock in to help you in times of need. That person's important and God bless them. But the one thing that we can take our stock in is that we have an unshakable kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. God promised even when it looked like the kingdom was in shatters, even when it looked like the remnant was small, even when the foundation of the temple was scorned, even by the elders who were helping build that temple when they thought of the old one in the past. In all of this, God reminded them, I have not ended my promise. This is the kingdom that matters. Not the kingdoms of this world, as much as we're tempted to believe those things, but the kingdom of God is an unshakable kingdom. You see, sometimes we're puzzled by good old Zerubbabel. He seems like such a minor character. In fact, if you're like me, you often put the Bs in the wrong place and misspell his name. I'd hate to be the one to put it on a birth certificate. This character is only mentioned a few times. It's mentioned in Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and in genealogies, the genealogy of Jesus. In history, he disappears. We don't know what happened to the guy. After Haggai and Zechariah and the pages of history, he falls off the map. We never hear from him again. We're not sure what happened to him. Yet in this prophecy, he is encouraged to look at the bigger picture and so must we. Zerubbabel, you're a part of the unshakable kingdom of God. lest you think that your work is futile, lest you think that it's not important, lest you think that it doesn't matter in the overall scheme of things, this is just something I've got to do for this time period. Remember that what you're doing in obedience to me is a part of the unshakable kingdom of the universe. And then when we look at that on this side of the cross, we're reminded that this unshakable kingdom is a kingdom ruled by King Jesus. And King Jesus is right now at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He is ruling in sovereignty. He knows what's going on. He's in charge. He's in control. Though the whole world seems to be turned topsy-turvy and everyone seems to be out of their minds, God is still in control. He has not given up, his promise is still true, and his king still sits on the throne. He is the seal amidst the shaking. Don't let the news media get you all worked up thinking the end of the world is coming if you don't do or vote a certain way. Don't let the media make you think that all the things that are going on makes you so that you are fearful and so terribly upset that the least little thing is going to cause you problems. Why is it that we as Christians, not in a stoic fashion, But in an optimistic fashion, understand that there is something good coming later. It's because God's kingdom will not fail. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church of God. By God's grace, this seal amidst the shaking is our guarantee in Christ that kingdom will not fall. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for your promise. We thank you for, in the midst of what seems an insignificant people, an insignificant place, and an insignificant building project, you remind us that you're the God of the universe, with all the power of the hosts of heaven behind you. Your plan has not failed, and your Savior has come. And Lord, we long for the day when he shall return and all the nations shall be shaken to the core, that Jesus might put all his enemies under his feet. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.