So in this chapter, this last chapter of the book of Haggai, Haggai is second shortest of the Old Testament of the minor prophets, Obadiah being one chapter, Haggai being two. This is a wonderful little book. There's so much packed into it, so many words of promise, And the beautiful thing about Haggai is it's not a very difficult minor prophet. It doesn't get into huge, deep prophecy. So it's very easy and practical to understand what the Lord is wanting and seeking from His people. Haggai ministered right there in and around Nehemiah and Ezra when they returned from Babylon. And so he was called to go forth unto a people that had been freed but now were being disobedient. They had a charge while in captivity, when being released from Babylon, to go back and build the temple, but they failed. They got sluggish. They took their eyes off of what the Lord was wanting them to do and began building themselves houses. They began to make lavish homes, set up lavish bank accounts, they were more into the materialistic things of life, they were into the crops that they were growing, so the Lord had to punish them because they had not done as the Lord had commanded them. And so you can find all that in Haggai chapter 1 and how it brings all that there and Haggai sent to them and he tells them that they are against the Lord. But something curious happens in the latter part of chapter 1. They listen to the word of the prophet. They repent. One of the places where it's beautiful, because Haggai has a successful ministry out of the prophets. Men like Isaiah are told that you'll go to a people that are stiff-necked, and they won't listen to your word, but you're to preach anyway to them. But Haggai's ministry was a bit different. He preached, and the people responded, and they went back to doing as they were. Now, at the end here, we find a wonderful promise from our faithful God, a promise to Zerubbabel, but it really finds context in the life of the Messiah and His coming, the divine King, of Israel, the true king, the one who would fulfill that promise made to David, the Davidic covenant as we call it. The one where God tells David that there will always be one of your kindred on the throne. Now, of course, we know that that wasn't established and fulfilled in David because David couldn't keep it. He passed on. He was called to his people. Solomon went the same way, and then you had this lineage of kings that came and went. Almost like the high priests of Israel, it finds its conclusion in that of the great high priest, the eternal high priest, and then here, the great divine and eternal king of Israel. So Zerubbabel is the established leader over this fledgling nation that 20 years previously returned from the captivity in Babylon. The nation of Israel has not been liberated completely because we find them still under the governance of Babylon. The king of Babylon sent Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah and those men back with the remnant. to rebuild the temple and establish Jerusalem again, and they had certain consent from the king that they could do these things. But they were not free. Israel was not free. They were still under the yoke of Babylon. And in this, the Lord had recently allowed them to return and start building Jerusalem and the temple. And we find here the leader, Zerubbabel. standing as the leader of the people. He's the governor by the order of the Babylonian king. But he's not a king himself, but yet he's still their leader. And it's thought in many of the commentators that maybe here in these last few verses, he's reflecting upon what's going to happen to the nation. Are they going to survive the future years? Will the Lord preserve them? And so in this context of looking, as often leaders do, they look at the whole, the big picture, not just the narrow, but the whole, the bird's eye view of these things. And so maybe this is where the Lord said, I'll send a word to my servant, and I'll reaffirm that divinic covenant that I had with his relative, King David. What does the future hold for Israel? Well, if you look at the geographic location and when they went back to, it's just a small piece of land. You still have Babylon, which is the great nation. You have other nations that are starting to take form and starting to take root that will become even greater than Babylon itself. What about this little strip of land there in the Middle East? There were enemies at home and abroad. Very uncertain times for the nation. And in our own walk and service to the Lord, we can have the same sentiments as we begin to wonder what the future holds for ourselves in the church of Christ. We often lament at how much of dearth there is of men in this country, in this island, to preach the Word. And it often seems sometimes dark. What hope do we have? Discouragement can set in, but the Word of God settles for us the future reality of what we have before us. We know that in the absence of our Christ, of the Messiah, that He sits at the right hand of the Father. What? He maintains His church. It's not going to disappear. No matter how diminished it looks, no matter how small a number we come to, we know that He is still maintaining that which is His. We are only looking forward to when He will come again, to that second advent. That is where we differ here between us and those in Haggai's day. They were, of course, in this prophecy to Zerubbabel and those of the nation. What are they looking to? They're looking to the first coming of Christ. And so we're still in the same situation where we're looking towards something, but now we're looking toward the second coming. And we can have great confidence in our Christian life and labors because Christ will return. We know that He says here, what a glorious promise and a faithful God we have. He promises Zerubbabel that there will be one that will come who will be his servant and will be his signet, the one that is chosen. And not even the kingdoms or the thrones of the world will be able to stop it. And so, can we not have the same confidence? Can we not have the same hope that though Christ is there in heaven, He still will return again? And that God has made a promise that He will come again. Christ Himself says that. I will return again. And that's what we look to, that's what we hope in. And I'm sure after these words that were shared with him, that his confidence was grown, his faith was strengthened. In God's Word, we find him establishing his kingdom with Christ as his head and he's establishing these things and not even the gates of hell will have power over them. And so that's what we draw our confidence from. No earthly power can overcome his kingdom. This is where we place our confidence in God who has established his mediator and his kingdom. That is where we hold firm. So two things today, as we look at these short few verses, first, it's guaranteed to happen. And then second, it will be the return of the King. And so the first one will deal with the first three verses, 20 through 22. Very simple, nothing deep or dark. But he says in verse 20, And again the word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the fourth and twentieth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them. And the horses and the riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. And so we find in this that this prophecy, of course, is not something that Haggai has dreamed up. It's not something that the king of Babylon has sent to them for Haggai to tell the people or herald from Babylon. This is not some strange or random person. This is the Word of the Lord. It says so in verse 20. And again, the Word of the Lord came unto Haggai. And this is a very familiar phrase if you read through these two chapters. It's used over and over again, especially in chapter 1. Thus speaketh the Lord, in verse 2. Then came the word of the Lord, verse 3. Verse 5. Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts. It's establishing it that it's God's word. It's not the mere words of mortals. It's not some smart, intelligent man who can discern the times. It's the Lord's Word. And so we know what is being spoken is sure and faithful. And He has the power, of course, to make those things come to fruition. He has infinite power and authority. And He can make such promises. Men cannot make such promises. The king of Babylon couldn't make such promises. He didn't know whether he was going to live to see the morning of the next day, or the next week, or if one of his sons or daughters or wives was going to rise up and smite him. But the Lord doesn't have that. He has foreordained all things to take place, established it before the world came into creation. And He's also established the end. So we know the second coming will take place also. It's a bit trite, but one example, one illustration I have is among one of the groups that we were affiliated with very early on is one of the men, it was a very simple thing, but he said, you know, I can have great faith in God because I know what the end of the book says. You can just turn back there to Revelation and see what's going to happen. We have those words. the words of God. This is why He calls Himself in that last book of the Scriptures, the New Testament, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning letter of the Greek alphabet and the end, because He's established in the beginning and established the end, and He's done all these things, and He's worked it all out. Now, of course, this Word given and established is looking beyond the physical nation of Israel. And we know that, as we spoke of in the introduction, that like with King David, he was given a promise that his throne, there would always be one of his lineage to sit on that throne. We know that it's not physical that this was manifested in or fulfilled, because as far as I understand it, there's no one that claims the throne of David today. I don't even know if any of the Jews can trace their roots back to that, to David himself. But yet we have Christ who came, who was of that lineage, and who now sits at the right hand of the Father. And what a wonderful thing is that. Now we see also in this, this is His Word and it's establishing it. Well, with this we see that He will establish His kingdom and He will bring His Messiah into the world. And there's not anything any of the nations or earthly powers could do to stand in His way. What do we see here? The language bears this out to us. In verse 21 and in 22, we see He says, I will shake the heavens and the earth, and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. This word shake in Hebrew refers to political upheavals. to great changes and constant oscillating and moving. And he's speaking directly about those kingdoms and leaders. And what this refers to is the coming in the future there that will be those nations of Macedonia and Greece. There will then be a Greek civil war among those generals of Alexander the Great, and then the Roman Empire that will come about. And we see all these come, they form and they move about and they take and conquer, and then what happens? They go right back down and there's another nation that takes over. Now, will this take place on Zerubbabel's day? We would have to say no, and the language bears that out. The grammar bears it out that it's in the not too far distant future. Now, we don't know Zerubbabel's age. It is believed among the commentators that he was an older man, and I would imagine him being a leader or being sent to be a governor, he would have to be somewhat of age. He wouldn't be a 20 or a 25-year-old. He would be well-established and well-thought and wise, and so He wouldn't be able to see these days coming. He wouldn't be able to see the rise of the Macedonian Empire or Alexander the Great. So it's talking about those days in the future, those days that will be coming. And so, the future tense is used here in the Hebrew, not the present. So it's looking down the road to something, not in his present day. Now by this shaking, we will find nations will be overthrown. And this means like taking a bowl and shaking the contents out, flipping it over. It's the turnabout or over. It's very vivid in its definition there in the Hebrew. So these nations will be turned upside down and changed and turned. And we see in the language too, what do we see here? The thrones and armies in verse 22. Well, a throne in language or in grammar is often the symbol of monarchy, the leader of the nation, the king or queen. So that's the leaders. And so within the leaders, what is their strength often? It's the armies. And so he's not left those out. That represents their power. And he'll not only use other means, he will use themselves to bring this about. It says at the end of verse 22, and every one by the sword of his brother. So there'll be civil wars, and this is a reference there to the Greek Civil War after the death of Alexander the Great. And so these things will come about, but it'll be a shifting and sifting of those nations, the Gentile powers. But what we see in this is despite these things and these great nations and leaders and armies, that they can't stop the Messiah being born. Even Herod himself couldn't do that. The wise men came and told them of the prophecy of the Messiah being born, the King, And he was not very happy about that. He was jealous. And so he tried to find the young lad to kill him. And what did he do? He rounded up all those two years and under and started to slaughter them in the hopes of catching this young child. And so even in all that great death and destruction and murder, the Messiah is still born and he's kept safe by the Lord. And what a wonderful thing it is, because God has established these things, and He's told us in His Word that He would do it. And He did it. That's His sovereignty. The beauty of it. And this should give us great confidence, as it did Zerubbabel. So in this, also, we see the coming King, but we see His kingdom will be established. No matter what happens to the nation of Israel at this point, or going forward, or even what happens to the temple, Earlier in this chapter, as it was read, there was a controversy as they started to build again. The older generation, there had been some that had saw the glory of Solomon's temple. They were upset because this new temple was not going to meet that glory. And the Lord has to remind them and says, it's not you or some stones or how you lay those stones. I will be the one that glorifies this house. It will be me. And so, Even that temple would eventually turn into that great temple in Christ's day. But then what happened after 70 AD? The Romans razed it to the ground and it stands no longer. But there was something greater coming. There was a spiritual kingdom that was going to be established. This is the church. And of course, the beauty of this also is it's universal. It's not just one people or one nation or one tongue. It is a group of people spread throughout all the world. Nations can't raise armies against it because it's not confined to physical borders or physical locations besides the churches that we meet in. Its leader, its king, sits in the highest of heavens He can't be got to by physical men, or by weapons, or nuclear bombs, or airplanes, or any of that. Governments cannot stop its spread. They try to. They raise laws against it. They try to bar its people from worshiping together. They try to keep out the Word of God. And what happens? It still goes forth. It still claims those whom it is to claim. The gospel goes forth and the sheep hear His voice and they come forward despite what the oversight is. And even the spiritual cannot overcome this. Not even the gates of hell, not even Satan and his angels can overcome his church or his kingdom. Now in this, we find, as I spoke of earlier in the introduction, that Zerubbabel and the people of Israel in this day were looking toward the first coming of Christ. And so what do we learn from this? What can we draw from this ourself? Well, it's a future promise, and so we have the same future promise. It's not the birth of Christ that we look to. It's His return. It's that promise He made to His disciples. Turn with me to John 14, verse 3. John 14, verse 3, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again. and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also." And that's a wonderful phrase there. I will come again. I will. He is divine and He is God as He said He is. This has the same promise as it does to Zerubbabel on that day. I will come. I will do this. And we know that He will, no matter how many years take place between when He spoke these words and Him coming again. We know that it will be fulfilled because He is faithful to His Word. We also have, of course, you don't have to turn there, but in Acts chapter 1, we have the testimony of the angels to the disciples on that day He was carried up into heaven. They tell Him, why do you keep looking? He will return again. And so, we know that He will come. But despite Him being absent from us physically, we do know that He maintains His kingdom here, the universal church, those who are gathered in His name. We know that He is faithful and does not leave us to ourselves, that He labors among us and with us because there are enemies. Zerubbabel knew of those enemies, knew of the great demand that Babylon could all of a sudden put them under again, or even come and enslave them again. There's probably always that constant fear of that taking place. There are other nations, other countries around Israel that could do the same thing while they're in this condition. And so we have many enemies also, but yet He keeps us, and He hasn't forsaken us. He goes with us. and we can labor and live with that hope that He is there with us. Now, the second point tonight is the return of the king in verse 23. Since the nation of Israel's return from captivity, they have been led by Zerubbabel. Though merely a governor and not a king, Zerubbabel has a special purpose to play. This all leads to the special establishment of God's kingdom through Christ and the gospel. And so we see here in the return of the king, there's the coming leader. First, he's speaking directly to Zerubbabel, but Zerubbabel is a type. And a type is that manifestation, a physical manifestation of what is going to come. And of course, that is Christ. Christ is the anti-type. Now, Zerubbabel was not perfect. He was not the perfect representation of Christ. It was just a portion of his life that was going to establish something that Christ would come to do, to fulfill, same as David. And so, we see that he is the chosen Babylonian governor, he's not king, but this is the reestablishment of the promise of David. And so, let us turn to Jeremiah 22, verse 24, just one verse back in the book of Jeremiah. to show us how there was probably at this time a very downtrodden view of the Davidic covenant, that promise. They probably felt as if the promise was gone and not there for them, and so in verse 24, of Jeremiah. And as I live, saith the Lord, though Keniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence." And verse 25, "'And I will give thee unto the hand of them that seek thy life, and unto the hand of them whose face thou fearest, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.'" And so we find the same, very similar phrase, verse 23 back in Haggai, the signet upon my right hand. And Keniah the son of Jehoiakim, of course, is the lineage of David because he's king of Judah, it's established there. And so this is the Lord saying, you know what, I'm done with the sinfulness. But then we have him coming back in our text, verse 23, in that day, saith the Lord our host, I will take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shittil, saith the Lord, it will make thee a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts." And so he's giving back that promise and reestablishing it with Zerubbabel so that it is showing that this prophecy would be met in the line of David as he promised David, that it would come to fruition. And so though he's not a king, he is representative currently of the house of David. And we see Him also in the lineage of Christ. If you look, you don't have to turn there, Matthew 1, verse 12, Luke 3, verse 27, you'll find in the genealogy of Christ, you'll find Zerubbabel mentioned. So, that is the establishment of the divinic covenant again, and the reaffirming of it. And so, we find that in this, that often we need reaffirming, do we not? Dear friends, how often and quick do we forget the things that the Lord has promised and how often do we get discouraged and we falter and we forget that He's made these promises and that He has established these things and we can have confidence and faith in Him, the one that has the power to do these things and fulfill them. And so in this, with Zerubbabel, he ultimately is fulfilled in the Messiah, and that is the fulfillment of it, the conclusion of it, because Christ is the eternal King. We don't have to keep having kings, we don't have to have new kings, same as the high priests, which is wonderful, because He is all these things. He is eternal and never changing. Now, the character of this leader. We find that in our text, in our verse here. Zerubbabel is God's servant, he has said. He says, I will take thee, my servant. So he's looking to serve the Lord. He's leading the nation. He's served faithfully in this office. Now, of course, the difference here between Zerubbabel and Christ is Zerubbabel wasn't perfect. He didn't serve completely as he should have, as we find in chapter 1 of Haggai. He was lax in his leadership because the words of the Lord came to the people and to the leadership, not only of Zerubbabel, but also the high priest of the day in chapter 1, verse 1. And so they did not lead the people as they should. They did not keep them on task in obedience to the Lord and exhort them to live godly lives. So he was reproved in that. But when the word came and there was conviction, he repented and did that which was right. But the contrast here is Christ, of course, who stands perfectly before God. He is the good and faithful servant, as we read in Philippians, who humbled himself even to death to purchase his people with his blood, and he left the glories of heaven to come here robed in the flesh to appear as in the first advent in his incarnation. And then in doing so, he kept the law perfectly. He didn't stray. He was tempted but did not stray. And so this is what we look to in Christ. This is his completion and fulfillment of the prophecy. Now, the leader's credentials. Zerubbabel is Israel's leader, he's chosen, in the latter part of this verse he says, "'I have chosen thee,' saith the Lord of hosts." So it's, "'My servant, and I have chosen thee, and I will make thee as a signet.'" And so he was the chosen leader, not only by the king of Babylon, but by God Himself. He had ordained that. But then we see that he's chosen as a special position, as a valued possession, which is what the word signet there means. It's a seal, a signet ring. Kings had these as a sign of their authority. They were precious. They were kept with them at all times. And these were a sign of their greatness and their leadership. An example of this is Joseph there before Pharaoh, when he's brought into Pharaoh's presence and established as the second in command of all of Egypt, he's given Pharaoh's ring as a sign of being valued and established and elevated. God the Father has established Christ at His right hand. He has elevated Him and brought Him to be that King, our divine King, the King of kings and Lord of lords. And so, this was established before the foundation of the world. He is given all authority as King and Judge. He will judge all men, great and small, on the great white throne there we read about in the latter chapters of Revelation. He's been given in love, in love He shows us favor and grace and mercy, and He's done this because He's bought us, and we're bought with a special price, not with just gold and silver. The Father's likeness, we see what insignia rings, there's always a crest or likeness, something to establish that this is the One who wears it and they're giving their permission or ratifying or setting something in motion and so this is the image of God is Christ Himself. He said in the New Testament what? We want to see the Father. He said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And so what does this mean for us after salvation? Well, the beautiful thing is the signet is an extension of the holder. What is Christ's image being done upon us? It's being impressed upon us. We're being molded. to be more and conform to His image, His thoughts and His words. And this should give us a great hope and faith and grow our love to Him because He's doing these things to us. But even more so, as we walk before Him and labor for His sake, what happens when your feet grow weary? What happens when you grow weary of doing goodness? and preaching the Word, the gospel, and bearing testimony, and you're sinking under great distress, remember that there is a guarantee that God gave, a promise, a prophecy, that He was going to bring His Son into the world, His only begotten Son, to be that King, the divine King. And He fulfilled that because He said, I will do this over and over again throughout the Old Testament. We read over and over and over again. that He established, I will do this, I will bring Him in as a babe, and He will grow and be my servant. He will be my likeness. He will be that which will be perfect and unblemished, and in doing so, He will be your sacrifice for your sins and guilt. And this should then give us good speed and should enliven us, because He's done this. And not only that, so we know that in these things, what? He's coming again. and that He maintains His kingdom while He's there in heaven and hasn't left us nor forsaken us. So when we do grow weary in these things, let us look to this. Let us think of these things and that we know that He's coming again because He said that He will come again. And so let that give us strength and vitality for the work. Confidence can sometimes be in short supply. As time marches on, things change so quickly. It is easy while we labor for the Lord to get discouraged. As I said earlier, we can look around us, we can look to the news, the newspaper, even on our phones or tablets, and very quickly become discouraged. We see what the government is doing, what laws they're passing. We see persecution throughout the world, and even in some of the nations that once claimed the name of Christian. Well, what then? Well, we know that we labor in dark days, but God's Word assures us that Christ our King reigns and will return. That's what we look to. As Rubabel and the nation of Israel look to his birth, we look to his second return, to the glorious return when the trumpets will blow and he'll appear in the sky and the work will be truly finished completely. If God promised Christ's first advent and fulfilled this promise, then there is no reason for us to doubt his second return. It's the same God. It's the same eternal God who says, I will do this and does it. It's not the fickleness of men. Oh, how we love to make promises. Oh, how we love to say we'll be there next week or the week after, and then something comes up or we don't make it. We have good intentions, but fall through. not with God. God says, and He will do. Not even hell and its demons can thwart Christ's return. Our King will return, and with this may the Lord grant you confidence in living and laboring for Him in the light of this truth. Amen.