Haggai 2
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Good morning again. I failed to introduce myself if you're a guest with us. My name is Brandon Schaefer. I'm one of the associate pastors here. Glad that you're here with us this morning to worship, and I'll be the one bringing God's Word to us and preaching to us this morning as our senior pastor is out of town today. Have you ever worked hard at something? I mean like really, really devoted yourself to something, committed yourself all in, only to step back, maybe near the end of that project, maybe near the end of the time that you devoted to it, and you just kind of felt like, what was the point of all of that? I certainly have. I think that the time that jumps to the top of my mind when I think of something like that is when we lived overseas in Greece years ago and was trying to learn the foreign language of Greek so that we could communicate with people around us. After, I don't know, probably a year of living there and certainly months of intensive study, trying to master the language, trying to at least get a little bit of comfort with the language, the inevitable happened. I got a flat tire. Well, that meant you've got to
go either somewhere to buy the thing to air up the tire or take it, as I decided to do, to the local gas station. There's a whole bay of places to air up your tire right there. Well, I had swung by there before, and I realized that, oh, all these directions are in another language. They're in Greek, right? So I've got to learn how to manipulate this machine, so I need to go home and learn all that vocabulary. So I pull out my vocabulary book, the grammar book. Remember we've been there a year or so. We've been studying the language for a while. Surely I can do this. So I kind of master all the different language I think I'll need. You know, here's how you press a button. What's the word for button? You know, how do you turn the thing on? Okay, I've got that word as well. Get all the vocabulary I need. Put in all this time. Drive on this low tire to the gas station to put air. Lo and behold, it's not in Greek. It's in Italian. Why in the world is it in Italian in Greece? I have no clue, but the word that came to mind actually was to describe that situation was
how deflating, but I didn't, yeah, I didn't know if you'd catch it. So anyway, you've been there yourself, maybe, right? Maybe it was a thing at work. Maybe it's a thing at school. You gave your energy, your time, your heart. You were expecting something meaningful, something productive out of this. But what you ended up with felt, well, just kind of pointless, underwhelming at best. Well, that's exactly where God's people find themselves in Haggai chapter 2. They've returned from exile, and they finally picked up the tools to start rebuilding the temple. And for a moment, there's hope. For a moment, there's hope. They've been doing what they're supposed to be doing, but then the memories come flooding back in, memories of what Solomon's temple looked like, with all its gold, with all of its majesty, with the cloud of God's glory filling it. And now, all of a sudden, they're looking at the building in front of them, and they're thinking, wait, this thing is
nothing. What are we even doing? Well, they're doing the right thing. They've started the work that they've been told to do, and they're doing it, but it feels small, maybe even fragile in that moment, maybe even foolish. And into that disappointment and into that disillusionment that God's people must be feeling, God speaks to them. But what he says isn't just about stones and timber. It's not about rebuilding a structure. No, it's something far deeper. It's something that still speaks directly to us today. So we're jumping back into the book of Haggai this morning, as you can tell. That'll be on page 791 if you've got one of these red pew Bibles. If you don't have your own, there should be one right in front of you on the back of that pew or underneath the seat. Turn to page 791. You'll find where we are. We looked at this book a few weeks ago, but since this is a smaller and probably lesser known book in the Bible for many of us, we need to kind of catch ourselves back up on what in the world is going on here, especially if you missed chapter 1
a few weeks ago. So Haggai was a prophet whose ministry took place for just a few brief months, all the way back in 520 BC. So we know that it's that exact time because of these date markers that he gives throughout. So if you were to just kind of skim through, you'd see even in verse 1 of chapter 1 in the second year of Darius the king. So he's got different date markers like that, and we know from other sources and ancient historical documents that exactly when King Darius of Persia ruled. So we can narrow this down to the exact, not just year, but even the day that Haggai is talking about here. So he prophesied to these returned Israelite exiles in the city of Jerusalem, And they'd begun returning back to the land out of exile about 18 years prior, in 538 B.C.
But for centuries, those people had been warned that if they broke God's covenant, if they continued to sin against him, that he then would let the curses of the covenant fall on them. Those curses would be that they'd have the land destroyed, that the people would be removed, and that the temple would finally be crushed to pieces. The very place where God's presence dwelt among them was devastated, symbolizing that God's presence had been removed from his people as punishment for their obstinate and persistent sin against him.
But God also promised that he'd save a remnant, and he'd bring them back to the land to himself. And after 70 years, that's exactly what happened. The book of Ezra highlights this incredible journey back into the land, and through all the difficulties and the several-month journey to get there, they arrive back in Jerusalem, but only to find that city in shambles. But according to that book of Ezra, they started rebuilding the city, and even the temple eventually. But little by little, though, they ran into opposition. And for 16 years, by this point of Haggai, when the book of Haggai is written, for 16 years, the temple had not been touched. For that entire length of time, seemingly nothing was happening on the temple even though life for them was carrying on as normal and so as you'll remember back in chapter one of Haggai the Lord told the people through the prophet to prioritize what he prioritized why did he need to say that to them in the first place why would they need to hear that well it's because they were refusing and resisting the rebuilding of the
temple. They simply wouldn't do it. At the very best, they didn't understand what the temple was to represent. At the very worst, it just showed that they didn't think it was necessary to have God's temple and therefore his presence among them. And yet all the while, all the while, their lives are crumbling all around them. Well, the prophetic call comes in from Haggai to repent, to stop walking past the ruins of the temple every day and to actually set about rebuilding it. And miraculously, stunningly, they repent.
They do it. This almost never happens in the prophets. But here, they hear the word of God come to them through the prophet, they repent, and they immediately start rebuilding the temple. And that's where we pick up our story here in chapter 2. We're a month later in the timeline of Haggai here in chapter 2. And as you read through it, you can sense that the people are already, just one month later, being dragged down into some things, a whole host of issues that threaten to stop their work entirely. Self-doubt, comparison, fear, a sense of unworthiness, and finally wondering how in the world they're going to overcome the rulers of the kingdoms around them.
And here the Lord has a word for his people through the prophet Haggai. You remember the entire book is structured into one big little piece of oracles on either side with these statements of I am with you in the middle. And so that's right where we are here. So chapter 1 ended with this I am with you statement. Chapter 2 begins with another I am with you statement with some oracles on the end. The purpose in showing that and even in seeing that is that the whole focus of the book is the fact that God is with his people.
The message he's trying to communicate is that I am with you, so therefore go do the thing I'm telling you to do. And as we'll see here in chapter 2, it's just breaking that entire structure in half. We'll start with an I am with you statement, and then we'll move on into a few of the oracles that are connected to it. You see that really easy there in the text if you're looking at it. Chapter 2, verse 1, the first of those sections, and these break nicely and evenly with the ESV subheadings here. So verses 1 to 9, this is an oracle directed to the leaders and the people, just reminding them that God is with them.
And then he promises them something great to keep them at their obedience. And then that second section right there in verse 10 all the way through verse 19, that's a section that begins with this really interesting illustration, just a fascinating illustration that then ends with a very surprising promise. And then the last section of the chapter at the very end there beginning in verse 20, that section jumps way into the future, right? It takes their present situation and kind of casts their eyes forward all the way into the future and gives one more final surprising promise.
So we're going to read the chapter in chunks as we go through it, but taken all together, here's what Haggai wants his readers to understand, and here's what's going to be then our main idea for the sermon for the rest of this morning. In your obedience to the Lord, he will be glorified and will pour out his blessings. So obey him. In your obedience to the Lord, he will be glorified and will pour out his blessings on his people. So obey him. We've got three different points just aligning with those three different sections there.
They're really three different surprising promises within this chapter. Point number one is surprising promise of glory. It's verses 1 to 9. Point number 2, a surprising promise, a blessing. That's that second section, verses 10 to 19. And then point number 3, a surprising promise of a ruler. It's verses 20 to 23. Point number 1, a surprising promise of glory. Let's begin reading Haggai chapter 2. In the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.
Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you. declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit remains in your midst, fear not. 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. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.
And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts. So they're now a month into working on this temple, and the picture is becoming very, very clear, right? The word of the Lord comes to Haggai, and he says, who among you guys remembers the old temple? How is this one shaping up against the old one. Well, Haggai knows, the people know, and he knows that the people know as well. This one does not compare at all to the last one. And so what's the Lord do? Well, the Lord encourages them. Verses 4 and 5, right? He says, be strong. I'm with you. Don't fear. These are words of encouragement to God's people. Well, remember what's happening here, kind of in the context of Haggai. The nations around them had demanded that they stop building, had come to them, and by a threat of violence, it said, stop building. And the people had been disobedient to the Lord and actually listened to the nations and had stopped building. This had gone on for quite some time. And then just recently, they'd repented of that. They picked up the tools and started
working again. And yet, now they've got this whole task in front of them, this massive physical structure to rebuild. It's a monumental task. Obviously, they're thinking about giving up. why should we even continue? This is undoable. That's common to all of us, right? We're so prone to beginning the work that the Lord sets in front of us, maybe even having every intent of remaining faithful in it forever. And we are faithful in it for quite some time, but eventually our eyes and our hearts begin to wonder. We focus inward. We compare. And when we do that, we become weak. We become fearful. And worst of all, we forget that our God is with us.
Look, there in verse 5, Haggai puts in juxtaposition here the two different realities, that the Lord is with them, and yet somehow they're fearful. How is that even possible? How could God's people be fearful when they've just been told that the Lord is with them? Well, too often we do the same thing, right? We start well enough. We have plans. We have zeal for faithfulness. But before too long, something comes along and trips us up, right?
Maybe it's a conflict with a loved one. Maybe you run into a health scare. Maybe it's a financial hardship. Maybe you just had a bad day. And suddenly we act as though the work that the Lord has given us is now impossible. Like we just can't do it. In our fickle hearts, we think that somehow the situation has changed such that God does not any longer intend for us to do that work. Brothers and sisters, the answer to your heart in those situations is the same answer that God's people needed to hear back in Haggai's day.
You need to be reminded of the Lord's presence with you. His presence with you is sufficient. So here in this text, the Lord doesn't sheepishly suggest, well, I'm going to give you my presence for now, and then later on I'll give you what you really need. This is not going to be enough for you, so hopefully this will hold you over until I can get to the real thing. No, no, no, he does not do that at all. No, the remedy here is to tell them to stop trying to assess their situation with worldly eyes and to look at the situation with spiritual ones.
Friends, we need to do the same thing. At times, you simply need to stop listening to the soundtrack of defeat in your own head and the soundtrack of what your sin has caused in your own head and instead start listening to the promises that the Lord has made about his presence among his people. Keep working. Your God is with you. All the way back at the very beginning of this section, if you look back in verse 1, and it's just like with all of these oracles, it's dated, right? It's got a particular date marker on it. This one happens to be at the end of the seventh month or near the end of the seventh month, which would have been near the end of the Feast of Tabernacles. Well, that yearly feast for the Jews had several different things that it did, but one of its key and primary components was that it reminded them, it commemorated the Israelites' journey through the wilderness once they'd come out of Egypt in the Exodus. So on that date, when this oracle's given, they would have already had their minds kind of
thinking about the Exodus just by virtue of being in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles. And so verse 5 is very relevant for them. The Lord appeals to that time when they came out of Egypt in the Exodus and says, hey, you remember that time when I brought you out and I made a covenant with you that I would be with you, I'm still with you. But it's actually more than that. Now the Lord goes further. He's given another promise, and a surprising one at that. Look at verse 6.
The Lord says He's going to shake things, right? He's going to divinely act, is what that actually means. He's going to act in such a way that all of creation, heavens and earth, sea and dry land, he's describing all of creation, will see and know that he's doing this. This is cosmic language. It's cosmic imagery. It will be unavoidable, something that just cannot be missed. It's going to be something that all of creation would notice. So that's verse 6. Verse 7, though, he's going to do the same thing. He's going to shake, but he's going to shake the nations in particular. And that action, then, it says, is going to yield up treasures. It's going to bring forth treasures from the nation for the people of God. Well, that actually happens in the book of Ezra.
The nations around them end up paying for, if you were to go read the book of Ezra, they end up paying for the rebuilding of the temple. This is per King Darius. He says, yes, they should rebuild it and we'll pay for everything that they need. So it's a fulfillment of this prophecy right then and there. And it shouldn't come as a surprise. Actually, look at verse 8. All the wealth of the universe is the Lord's. The gold is mine, the silver is mine. That's what he's saying there. It's all mine. So when he says he's going to bring in the treasures of the nations to fill his temple and to adorn it with some type of material glory, the people then are meant to see the Lord has all power to provide. Whatever resources his people need, his resources are more than sufficient for that work. He's able to provide for them. So as their hearts have begun doubting, thinking there's no way we're going to pull this off, there's no way we're going to be able to finish the structure here in front of us, the Lord graciously reminds them not only of his presence, but even of his limitless provision for them. But here's the
surprise. Here's the real surprise in this whole section. Look at verse 9. He says, the latter glory will be greater than the former, and then in that more glorious place, the Lord's going to give peace. What in the world? All the people can see in front of them at that moment is this structure that's maybe half built, right? It's surrounded still by ruins, and the Lord says in that place there's going to be a greater glory, and through that place there's going to be peace? How?
How is that possible, Lord? Well, it's a promise that pushes the minds and the hearts of God's people beyond what they can actually see. The temple would be more glorious, yes. But it wouldn't be that temple. It would be the temple of the Lord Jesus himself. That latter glory, as Haggai calls it, would finally be seen only as Jesus comes to save his people from their sin. That's how we would see the latter glory. And it's only as he does that that there would be peace.
Look, these people here in chapter 2, they were struggling to be faithful. They were people in the midst of a work, but they were needing encouragement to keep doing that work, to keep at their obedience to the Lord. They needed to be reminded that their obedience finally would glorify the Lord. Putting those stones back in place, one stone at a time, it wasn't just rebuilding a structure. They weren't just building a physical building. No, it was the symbolic work of displaying to the nations and everyone that God has all power and that he would be glorified.
And eventually that spectacular glory would be known to all as the Lord would give peace only through Jesus. And what was the people's role in all of this? What was their role? What were they to do? Their role was simply to keep doing the work that the Lord had called them to do. Friends, do the work the Lord has called you to do. Keep working. The Lord will be glorified in your work as a Christian.
Well, if the work that they're doing is going to bring glory to the Lord, what does that say about the people themselves? right is there something they need to know about themselves well that's what Haggai addresses next so point number two a surprising blessing or surprising promise of blessing you know if you've studied communication or maybe you had a speech class or public speaking class some type of uh opportunity where you had to stand in front of people and deliver an address you know that you're supposed to use illustrations right and what's the point of illustrations Well, illustrations illustrate.
They make something clearer, so you can be teaching something, but then you give an illustration to help people understand it, to drive it home a little more deeply for them. And there's a whole bunch of different types of illustrations, right? You've got funny ones, you've got jokes, you've got serious ones, sad ones, you've got poetic ones, you've got a whole host of different types of illustrations. But the point with all of them is that they're to drive something home. Well, we're about to see an illustration that is just spot on here in chapter 2.
So beginning in verse 10, let's pick it up there and let's read through that section. On the 24th day of the ninth month, on the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ask the priest about the law. If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy? The priest answered and said, No. Then Haggai said, If someone who is unclean by contact with a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?
The priest answered and said, It does become unclean. Then Haggai answered and said, So it is with this people and with this nation before me, declares the Lord. And so with every work of their hands and what they offer there is unclean. Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail.
Yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. Consider from this day onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider. 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. Here we are in another oracle. It's two months later after the first one in this chapter. And it begins with this really interesting illustration.
Haggai goes to the priests and he asks them about holiness and uncleanness from the law. You can see it there, verse 12. If something holy touches something else, does that thing become holy? Does holiness transfer like that? And the answer, no, it doesn't. And then verse 13, kind of the opposite of that. Well, what if something unclean touches something else? Does it transfer? Does uncleanness transfer? Yes, it does. Haggai, why are you asking us this? This is really obvious stuff. Why are you asking? Well, verse 14 kind of drops the bomb on them.
He says, so it is with this people and their work. they're unclean and everything they touch and do becomes unclean. It's a devastating reality for them. But it makes sense, right? Even in our world, we understand that disease spreads. Sickness is contagious. Those things are hard to keep in check. They just naturally find their way out. But why were they unclean? Why were they in particular unclean? Well, the rest of the passage sheds light on that. Verse 15 says, before stone was placed upon stone, in other words, before you set out to rebuild the temple, while you were still in your disobedience, right? Their disobedience there wasn't just an oversight. It wasn't just kind of omitting something they should be doing. No, Haggai's making the point here that it made them unclean. That's why it's appropriate there when he uses in verse 13 this illustration of a dead body. There are lots of different things within the law that can make someone unclean, not just dead bodies, but it's perfect that he says a dead
body because in some ways we're meant to imagine the ruins of the temple in the middle of the city as a decaying skeleton, right? It's just kind of oozing out. It's nasty, wicked contaminants all over the people. Everything about their lives is now unclean because that temple is decaying right in front of them. But how does Haggai use the illustration then? Why is he saying this? Look back at verse 15. This is a little tricky in here because we're trying to figure out the timing of this. He's jumping back and forth between time frames. So watch this. You look down at your Bible and you can see this. Verse 15, he says, consider from today onward, but then remember before you started rebuilding. What was it like? So now he's jumping back into the past, right? It's like he caught himself mid-thought. Consider from today onward, but remember, what was it like first?
What happened then? Well, he answers that question in verses 16 and 17. Nothing produced as it should. That's what it was like. Nothing went the way it should. It's all the curses that we talked about in chapter one. They had fallen on God's people. The Lord was bringing a drought on them. He was letting all of creation fall into ruin because they'd let the temple fall into ruin. And the crushing reality of this, the crushing point the Lord is trying to drive home is that he did all of that in order to bring them to repentance, but they didn't repent. You see that in verse 17?
He says, I meant to bring you to repentance, to bring you back to me, but you didn't, at least not for a while. So that whole section there, that's in the past. Now they have repented, they have started rebuilding, and we've saw that at the end of chapter 1 and even here at the beginning of chapter 2. So then he picks it back up in the present moment in verse 18. And he says, okay, now that the foundation of the temple is laid, consider, right, my little past aside, you know, done, now come back here, consider. And then you get to verse 19. Is the seed yet in the barn? What does he mean by that? Is it the seed yet in the barn? Well, there's a handful of possibilities for what it means, but the most likely one is this, that the oracle here, again, because of these dated markers we know it was given in the month of December that meant that all of their crops would have been sown by that point already they're already in the ground this then is a reference to the harvest that's yet to come later next summer the following summer so
when he says is the seed yet in the barn he's asking has the crop yet made it into the barn well no it's in the ground germinating you can't see anything yet because it's it's growing invisibly in the ground or maybe with just tiny shoots coming up, but there's no crop yet. That's what is meant by that question in verse 19. They haven't yielded anything yet because it wasn't time for them to yield anything yet. But stop there for just one moment. Remember where we are. They've just been reminded of how things went for them in their disobedience, right? That crops did not produce the way that they should. So when this question is asked, is the seed yet in the barn?
Has the harvest come? You can imagine what goes through their heads, right? Is our next harvest going to be like the last one, right? We're going to expect a bumper crop, but we get very little instead. Maybe it's a source of worry and anxiety for them as they hear this question. Every time they felt in the past that they should have rightly expected a harvest to be plentiful, it was but a fraction of that and they didn't know why in their sin they didn't understand why that was happening but now they do the lord has told them this is why that happened these verses make it clear your uncleanness had spread your sin had contaminated your wickedness had caused those harvests like that and so you get to this point this question in verse 19 and the lord says have the crops come in yet? You can imagine them going, no, they haven't. And now I see that because of my wickedness, this next crop's probably going to be the same way. It's probably going to be just like all the others, a harvest that's not at all what I expect, not at all what I hope for.
After all, I'm unclean. You've just shown that to me, Lord. I'm unclean. You can feel the tension then of verse 19. And it's precisely here that the Lord shows, instead of judgment, mercy. It's there that he says, no, no, no, no. Yes, you deserve for the crops to go like that, absolutely. But instead, I will bless you. Look, it's obvious from the initial illustration of that passage that the people hadn't changed. They cannot change their situation. What is unclean cannot make itself holy. That's the point of that illustration. So it's not like the people somehow made themselves holy and therefore the Lord had to bless them. No, that's not what's happened. No, the people are still unclean, but the Lord in his mercy has chosen to bless them. They've now become obedient.
The word of the Lord had come to them through Haggai. They've responded to the word by repenting and now obeying it. And now the Lord, at the end of that, says, I will bless you. Friends, our lives parallel that situation almost down to a T. Most of us, maybe none of us in here, are farmers. You're not living off the crops around us. That's not what I mean. But you do live in a world where your work and your relationships and your day-to-day lives are deeply affected by your own sin.
You can't always trace out a direct line from your sin to why certain situations unfold the way that God's people could hear, but nevertheless, your sin has an effect on your life. When the people in Haggai's day repented, when they trusted the Lord, when they began doing the work that he set out for them to do, though they were unclean and though they could never unchange that on their own, he blessed them. They didn't earn it. They didn't deserve it. And yet, to show his love and his mercy, he blessed his people.
Friends, the Lord does the same to us today. You and I will never change our standing before God on our own. That's not what our obedience is about. Our standing before the Lord is not about us getting there on our own. No, Jesus has purchased that for us. But because we're united to him by faith, obedience is expected. us. And the Lord has given us work to do. As a Christian, there's a whole bunch of different types of work that we do as Christians. You evangelize the lost. You proclaim the gospel. You love your family. You love others in this church. You give sacrificially to the work of ministry. You actually go do the work of ministry. Day by day, just seeking to grow in holiness through the ordinary means of grace. There are a ton of things that the Lord has given you as a Christian to go do in terms of your Christian work. Friends, are you being faithful to Him in that work?
The Lord will bless you when you are faithfully obeying Him. That's the promise of this scripture. Those blessings may not be in worldly terms. In fact, they rarely are in worldly terms. May not even be in ways that you can see immediately. But you can trust that our Lord desires to pour out every spiritual blessing on us. Friend, keep working. The Lord will bless you when you were obedient to him. So Haggai's told the people of the Lord's promise of a greater glory, a promise of blessing. There's one more thing that he's going to tell him. So point number three, The promise of a ruler.
Let's pick back up in chapter 2, verse 20. 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'm about to shake the heavens and the earth and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I'm 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 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. Very sharp turn of events here that Haggai closes with. So after encouraging the people to keep at the work by promising them a blessing, he's now promising them of a ruler that's yet to come. And yet, remember where they are. The Davidic kingdom was in shambles. There's no crown. There's
no throne. The people had just been forcibly removed. The temple had been destroyed. But here the Lord takes the minds of the people and kind of casts them into the future with this vision. Look at verse 21. Let's see what's going on here. Look at verse 21. The Lord says he's going to shake the heavens and the earth. It's that same language that he'd already used earlier in the chapter. So it's that cosmic divine act. All of creation is going to be affected by this. But unlike the other time where the shaking resulted in the nations being plundered for the sake of the temple, this time the shaking is bringing about judgment and destruction. You know, verse 22.
I will overthrow kingdoms. I will destroy the strength. I will overthrow chariots. And then horses and riders will go down. A wonderful just kind of head nod to what happens in the exodus. So in Exodus 15, all the chariots and all the riders of Pharaoh went down into the depths. The same phrase here. So this isn't just people falling down. This is a sign of judgment. They're going down to destruction. This whole thing, all of 21-22, it's about judgment on God's enemies. But the promise is one more twist. They would have expected, any good Jew would have expected judgment on God's enemies. That's not really a surprise. Of course, God is going to win in the and he's going to judge his enemies. No, the really interesting surprise comes in verse 23.
On that day, it begins. Well, on that day is meaning that at some point in the future, the Lord's going to act decisively on this certain day. And on that day, what's he going to do? Well, he's going to take Zerubbabel, his servant. He's going to make him a signet ring because he's chosen him. That's incredible. If you don't get the imagery, we're going to walk through it here in just a second, but that promise is astounding what he's just said. It's completely unexpected. Think about it. Just a few months prior, Zerubbabel was one of the few named leaders of this entire group of returned exiles who was acting, how? In blatant defiance of God's Word.
Just a few months prior, Zerubbabel was leading the charge to have them defy God's Word. He was responsible to lead the people to follow the Lord, but instead he's leading them to disobey the Lord. At best, he's just a really, really bad leader. At worst, it's probably fair for us to wonder, was he actually working intentionally against God? But now the Lord calls him out and says, he'll be his servant. He's actually going to make him a signet ring. What is meant by a signet ring? I don't think any of you have a signet ring. I don't have a signet ring. I don't know what that means in terms of today, but a signet ring essentially was a symbol or a ring that would have symbolized the possession of and in the enjoyment of a deep relationship.
That's how it's used in the Song of Solomon when the bride speaks to her beloved and says, I want to be the signet ring on your heart. I want to be the signet ring on your arm. I want to have that type of deep and cherished relationship between us. So Zerubbabel here and being called the signet ring is being called the symbol of God's love and God's power. He's a treasured possession for God. That's what's happening. This is loaded language. Well, it's crucial that we see the other layer behind all of this. Just a few generations prior to this, through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord had said, look, if King Jehoiachin, who happened to be the next to last king of Judah, if King Jehoiachin were the signet ring on my right hand, I'd rip him off and give him to the people who were seeking his life. That's the judgment that's coming on you, Judah. And that's exactly what happened. Judah, shortly after that, is banished into exile, and the promise of a ruler just seems to evaporate in that moment. Jehoiachin is the signet ring that's tossed to the side.
But you know the name of one of Jehoiakim's sons? Shealtiel. That same Shealtiel, who was the father of Zerubbabel. So Zerubbabel's grandfather was the signet ring that was torn off, and Zerubbabel is the new signet ring that the Lord has chosen and has put back on. The Lord is proving faithful to his promise to David that he'd made centuries before. He's put back on the signet ring in Zerubbabel, and he's moving ahead with his promise to bless his people in all of the world through the house of David. Look, Zerubbabel's obedience in that moment of just beginning to rebuild, of leading the people to rebuild, and then God's choosing to pour out his love on him was just a foretaste of what would happen to someone else in Zerubbabel's line. About 500 years after this, a descendant of Zerubbabel would be born in Bethlehem, and his name would be Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, was also a son of Zerubbabel. And for all the
ways that Zerubbabel was meant to picture God's love and power, and for all the ways that he was meant to display the authority and his rule, he never finally did. Zerubbabel never sat on a throne. He never wore a crown. He never ruled over the kingdom with all of his enemies thoroughly defeated, but Jesus did. Look, if Zerubbabel is called my servant, Jesus is the suffering servant who came to ransom his people. If Zerubbabel is the signet ring, then Jesus is the beloved son of God whom the Father has given all things. If Zerubbabel is chosen by God here, Jesus is the chosen one of God, the one who the Father tells us to listen to. Look, all the things said of Zerubbabel here are finally, ultimately, completely, fully true in Jesus.
And it's not just the end of Haggai 2 that's pointing us here. All of the Bible is pointing us in that direction. It's pointing us to Jesus as the one who would rule as the glorious king of kings over the kingdom that God is establishing. And the good news that the Bible proclaims is that Jesus came to save sinners. He lived the life they should have. He died the death they should have. And then after rising from the grave and defeating sin and Satan and death, their enemies, he then turns around and offers to them forgiveness to those very same sinners, to us.
Friend, if that's you here today, if you're hearing that for the first time or maybe the 20th time, but you've not yet turned back to him, what are you waiting on? The king has done everything for you. All you have to do is repent. All you have to do is quit refusing that offer. Come to him in faith, and he will save you. Look, Zerubbabel was but one more in the long line of those who would eventually lead us to Jesus.
His role here in Haggai's day was pretty straightforward. Keep working. Just keep at it. The work he was to do would finally, in the end, point others to the coming ruler. His obedience to the work that the Lord had given him would remind people that one day the king is coming for his people. Friends, that's what we need to hear today as well. That's the word from the Lord that we need to heed as well. Keep working.
Trust that the work that the Lord has set in front of you to do today is good, is right, is necessary for you. Trust that in doing that work, we are pointing others to the king who rules over all things. And one day, his rule will be visible for all to see. So maybe you feel like the people in Haggai too. You're doing what is right. Maybe you're saying, yes, I'm doing that. I'm aiming every day to do the work the Lord has given me. But it just feels unimpressive. It feels small.
It feels at times even meaningless. It just doesn't seem to bear much fruit. You look at your life, your ministry, your parenting, your prayers, and on and on and on it goes. And you wonder, is this even making a difference? Look, that's exactly where the people were in Haggai too. That's exactly the same type of question they would have been asking them. And that's exactly where the Lord meets them with a promise. A promise that he would be with them. A promise that he would glorify himself through their obedience. A promise that he would shake the nations and fill his house with glory.
Not because their work was flashy, but because he is faithful. But the same is true today. The same is absolutely, completely true today. God is still in the business of glorifying himself through your obedience, through your ordinary, typical Christian obedience. And he's still blessing his people, not with immediate results always, sometimes, but always with his presence and ultimately with the glory that far outweighs your present struggles so don't lose heart be faithful keep working do the work the lord has given you to do today because in your obedience the lord will be glorified and he will pour out blessing on you let's pray our father in heaven we thank you and we give you praise today for this word god we thank you that you've given us things to do unclean though we are on our own you desire for us to do work that
would point others to your glory god thank you for blessing the very work of our hands we pray that you would give us wisdom to know how to do it faithfully to how to do it well god we pray today that your spirit would cause us to not walk out of here and forget what we've heard and that your spirit would help us to obey it. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.