Haggai chapters 1-2 (part 2)

Second message, and again I think I can summarize this but ask for a comment or two. So verses 12 to 15, this is a message all about power. Now we love this and I've said it already but then Zerubbabel, here's the leadership and the leadership has not only listened to the word of God but they are leading God's people in obedience to it.

So Zerubbabel and Joshua with all the remnant of the people, good when God's shepherds, leadership in the assembly lead the people of God. They obeyed the voice of the Lord. How long? 23 days later, they all obeyed the voice of the Lord because, verse 12, they were fearful of the Lord himself.

Not afraid of him, not scared of him but they held him in reverence and they did not want to do anything that would cause him grief. God has spoken. I will be obedient to it and this immediate response and isn't God gracious to us? He says, I'm with you.

He says, I'm going to empower you and you might want to say something about the fact that the Lord is with us too in this day, isn't he? And he's with us in a number of different ways by the way, not just where two or three are, there am I. The Lord is with us in a number of different ways but what a message of power and encouragement. The Lord is with us especially in our obedience. So anything about that second message? They obeyed the Lord their God and the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him and then we read he's the Lord's messenger and the Lord's message.

So it wasn't just because Haggai was Haggai. He was bringing divine truth before them and that needed to be obeyed. So we listen to ministry, we should be listening for what the Lord is saying to our hearts, not because John Megan is saying it or Dan Rudge or Frank or whoever.

It's because it's the Lord's word and we need to obey it. Absolutely and that was the Thessalonians, wasn't it? You received the word as it is in truth, the word of God. It's not the word of men, it's the word of God and that was what the Thessalonians recognized.

Just look at that please because William's raised it and I'm glad he has. Verse 13, the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people. So the man and his message were all one and when Haggai was speaking, God was speaking.

Now listen to this, this is the way that I like to think about it. Jehovah's representative bringing Jehovah's revelation. I'll put it like this, Jehovah's agent bringing Haggai's agenda.

No, Jehovah's agent bringing Haggai Jehovah's agenda, not Haggai's, Jehovah's agenda. He's bringing the word of God. It's sad, isn't it, that sometimes we can have brethren on our platforms and they're representatives of the Lord.

That's what they are. They're speaking on behalf of him but sadly very often they have their own agenda to press and our agendas should be according to the word of God. Not just some sort of soapbox that I've got but an agenda that is according to the book.

That comes back to the idea too of the presence of the Lord. Just to say something, we need to be careful that we don't use that as a carte blanche statement as well to do whatever we want. Because we can presume on that.

The whole reason they were dislocated was because of disobedience and God did withdraw his presence. Yes, he did. One of the factors too that frequently we see in the world around us, Brother Dan, is this.

That we do have a man and with the man there is a message. But the message is very disconnected from the man, i.e. morally. The man can live whatever way he wants.

The man can sin whatever way he wants. The man can do whatever despicable thing he wants. This man is intrinsically linked to the message and with the link to the message in the purity and in the power of a representative of Jehovah he stands forth.

Therefore the people take the message. Absolutely. And we have exactly the same thing, don't we, in Ezra himself.

And this will be our next Bible reading. But you remember what Ezra 7 verse 10 says. Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and then to teach in Israel the statutes and the judgments.

So Ezra exemplified the word of God before he actually lectured and taught the word of God. And we're going to find in Nehemiah chapter 8, bring the book, bring the book. Now I challenge all of you young folks.

We seek to do and we seek to be obedient to and practice in the assembly what is according to the book. I say to all of you young people, you should be challenging your overseers. You should be challenging your shepherds.

You say, we do this on a Sunday morning. Amen. We do this on a Sunday evening.

You say, why do we do this? And your overseers should be coming to you saying, bring the book. I'll show you in the book. We seek to be obedient, don't we, to the word of God.

That's the only mantra we've got. That's all we've got. The word of God.

Could you comment, brother, on the last phrase there, verse 12? Okay, they obeyed, but then we read, and the people did fear before the Lord. What is meant by fearing before the Lord and what's its relevance today? Yeah, so I mentioned that, but maybe your ears were closed, brother William. That's okay.

So it's not about being afraid of the Lord in any way, shape, or form. And interesting that godliness marks the house, 1 Timothy 3. I would suggest to you that the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament is the equivalent, essentially, of godliness in the New. So you've got this idea of the fear of the Lord.

It's about holding him with such regard and respect and reverence, holding him in such high regard that I do not want to do anything in my life and in my behavior that brings him any kind of distress or upset. I want to be obedient to the word of God. So they were fearful before him.

I did a little search on that expression just in the Psalms, and it's very revealing. The fear of the Lord will affect us in worship, in service, in instruction, in purity, in fellowship, in favor, and protection. Very good.

If you removed all those things out of an assembly, what are you left with? We need the fear of the Lord. So I'll just close that out, please. But you'll notice the Lord says, and this is the thrust of the message, I am with you, saith the Lord.

We know the gathering presence of the Lord Jesus, don't we? And we're very thankful for that. He is with us. But that's not his only presence we have.

Hebrews 13, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So we have his strengthening presence. So we're not just his gathering presence.

We have his strengthening presence. We have his comforting presence. What about Matthew 28, for example? Lo, I am with you always.

His empowering presence in our service and so on. We have the Lord working with us, and that's a tremendous encouragement to us. Just look at verse 14 as well, stirring up the spirit.

So we've already had that, haven't we, in the book of Ezra? It was the obedience, I take it, the obedience of the people of God, which allowed the spirit of God to energize them and to stir up their spirit for the work. Right, let's move on. So verses 1 to 9. We've got about 25 minutes left, I think.

Verses 1 to 9, and I do want to spend probably the majority of the time that we've got left on this third message. This is what I call a message of promise. So verses 1 to 9, and this is now almost a month later.

The Lord has said, I'm with you. They've gone up to the mountain. They've collected their wood.

They have started to build. But of course, there is always the danger, isn't there? An ever-present danger of being discouraged in the Lord's work. Doesn't take long, does it? A few days, maybe hours.

A few days, a few weeks. This time it was a month, and I just wonder whether there's a bit of discouragement, and therefore the people of God need this message of promise. There was a small mess of apparent results, maybe little outward display, but this merit message was going to encourage them that what they were doing might look small, might look insignificant.

Maybe much hasn't happened to the footprint and to the raising of, but they are part of a great work, and they're part of a work that's going to glorify God, and he's going to take delight in. So keep laboring, keep laboring in the work. Now let me just divide for you verses 1 to 9. I think that in the first three verses, there's a reference to the past.

So he's going to speak about the grandeur that attached itself to this house in the past. So which of you saw this house in her first glory? And he's going to show them that, of course, what they were working on now was just another phase of that same house. So verses 1 to 3, he talks about the past and the grandeur that belonged to this house in the past.

That was Solomon's temple. Then verses 4 and 5, the grace that the Lord was showing them now in the present. So he says to them, be strong, Zerubbabel.

Be strong, Joshua. And there's just a little development from the end of chapter 1. I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I've spoken. You've got the word of God.

And my spirit remaineth among you. So grandeur in the past, grace in the present. But then verses 6 to 9, aren't these wonderful verses? Glory in the future.

Glory belongs to this house. I'm going to shake the Gentile order. I'm going to shake the nations.

And he says, the desire of all nations is going to come to this house. I'm going to fill it with glory. That will encourage you.

That'll encourage you to get working, won't it, on the house. Because there is a grand and glorious person who's coming to this house. And for that reason, get working.

So a message of promise, John. So with regard to this, as you have mentioned, one of the things that comes out so frequently in this prophecy is just the fact of the Lord of hosts. So in light of the fact that there was the opposition that arose as soon as they started working again, Brother Dan, Tadanai appears onto the scene.

He's riding back to the province, across the river, and he's going to question again the work that's going on. And the Lord, in a very particular way, He reveals Himself just personally to meet their need. It's a thing that happens in the lives of the patriarchs, Abraham.

Sometimes the Lord appears, and the way that the Lord appears just meets the need, just at the particular time. Seven churches. Church is the same.

Jehovah of armies. So don't be afraid of Tadanai. Don't be afraid of the enemies.

Don't be afraid of the things around. It is the Lord of armies who is strengthening your hands. I am with you.

My spirit remaineth among you. Go and further the work of God. So can you give us a personal application of that? You said the churches.

Take that into the assembly realm then. The Lord of hosts. Give us some practical... Well, what I was thinking about in relation to the seven churches is the Lord Jesus always presented Himself to that church in a way that would meet the particular need of that local assembly.

So whatever the condition of that assembly was, the Lord Jesus was able to present Himself in a way which was able to meet that need. So what we're learning is that the person of Christ, and of course the all-powerful Savior that He is, prophet, priest, and king, and all of this, what we're learning is that there are resources in Him, and there are resources in God's right hand to meet us in our assemblies in our every single, several need. But hosts speak of multitudes, right? Yeah.

You're thinking about something slightly different here. Yeah. I was just thinking of there's angelic involvement, there's angelic witness, there's the angels that are watching.

All of those things also, what we're doing is being witnessed by the hosts. Yeah. So just to develop that little phrase, the Lord of hosts, and what Frank says is absolutely right.

It's a phrase, and again for young people, just have a look at the phrase. It only starts to appear, doesn't it, in the first book of Samuel, but we'll run through these post-exilic books 14 times in Haggai, numerous other times in Zechariah. And the point is this, when God's people are at their smallest and most vulnerable, it would seem, and when there are these mighty Gentile powers, because this is the time of the Gentiles, the Lord says, I'm the Lord of armies, and that's what it means.

Every army belongs to me. So you don't need anyone else, do you? He will strengthen God's people and he will strengthen their hand. You can render it like this, not just the armies that belong to the Lord, but the Lord who himself is an army.

I like that too. We don't need anyone besides him. He can muster up all kinds of armies.

And I understand what you're saying about the angelic hosts. I'm very interested, of course, she has power on her head because of the angels and so on. So certainly angelic hosts are interested in the gathering of the assembly, but we have an almighty, omnipotent God who is ready to meet our need.

So that is the character of God that is offset against Gentile powers, Gentile world powers, right? The times of the Gentiles. In this time of remnant testimony, we're back to chapter two, the first three verses now, this house is in comparison as nothing. It is a fact that remnant testimony during the times of the Gentiles, that's from Nebuchadnezzar all the way through to the end of the tribulation is remnant in character and it is relatively small.

Now, is that cause for us to get all down in the mouth? We don't attend a mega church where massive buildings and all kinds of programs going on all at the one time. No, no. While we recognize reality, yet we are to be resolute, verse four, be strong.

And then again, be strong three times over, be strong, be resolute in carrying on testimony for God. That's our responsibility. And behind it all, we have a sovereign God who overrules.

So in Revelation one, it's the Lord God almighty, right? And the Lord Jesus as the son of man overseeing the church. That's kind of what I was thinking. In other words, we're looking at correlations, right? And so here's these Gentiles and they're looking and they're mocking, okay? Here's a heavenly host and we're looking and sometimes we get discouraged because we say, nobody's coming in, nobody's watching, nobody's seeing.

No, there's a host and they're not only watching, they're learning. And from that, just to encourage. Because of the angels.

And brother William, I would almost go as far as to say this, if something is very large and very popular in this day, be very wary. Exactly. Be very wary because generally speaking, those things that are small or those things that are genuine, those things that are real spiritual and belong to the Lord and he's working in them.

Very often they're small. You think about the days of Elijah and you think about the remnant in Elijah's day and so on. Now, sorry, we need to move on, but just have a look at this, please.

So this grandeur that is in the past, who saw this house, verse three, who saw this house in her first glory or in her former glory, her former distinction. In your eyes, in comparison, maybe it's as nothing, but I think these older folks, and that was 50 years ago when Solomon's temple was destroyed. So maybe there were some here in their 60s, 70s, 80s, I don't know.

They remember that temple. I don't think they're criticizing this temple, but they keenly felt the comparison, right? Where is the gold? Where is the visible presence of God? There's no glory cloud here. There's no arc here.

So I think there may be feeling something of that, but it was somewhat impossible to revert to that first glory. But God says the latter glory, the latter glory of this house is even going to be greater, absolutely greater. So grace in the present, he says, be strong.

Verse number four, he says, I want you to be strong, all the people of the land. I'm with you. We've spoken about that a good deal, but then look at this.

According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. So this is God's grace to them in the present. Not only was God himself with them, but he says, you've got my word.

He says, I am with you as I promised. Now, I wonder if this goes right back to Exodus and maybe to Exodus 29, I will dwell among the children of Israel. I will be their God.

So here's another parallel with our Exodus. God said on that occasion, I will be with you. He covenanted with him.

Now, his word has not passed away. His word hasn't failed. And so he says, I am still with you.

And he says, not just am I with you and don't forget, my word has declared that. But he says, my spirit remains among you. And I wonder if that refers to the prophetic office, particularly the Haggai and Zechariah raised up by the spirit of God and the spirit of God was with them through that prophetic office, but not exclusively.

But what grace. And we still have the same thing, don't we? We have the presence of the Lord. We have the word of God.

We have the spirit of God. What else could we possibly need in this day of small things, comparatively speaking? Good. So we'll move on.

Verses six to nine. Now, this is the big one, right? The glory that is coming in the future. Now, I'll be interested and we'll just spend a little bit of time here and then maybe I'll summarize the last two messages.

But a bit of time here in these lovely, lovely verses, the glory in the future that is belonging to this project. So the idea is work now, work today in light of a glorious future. Isn't that what we're all doing? Yes.

You say, why did I waste my time working in the assembly and things that are so small? It seems and not much. Why would I waste my time today in light of a glorious future and in light of future blessing and reward? So talk to me, brethren, please, about this is six to nine. We've got the shaking of the heavens and the earth.

We've got the desire of all nations that shall come the house that's going to be filled with glory, the desirable things of the nation. So the silver's mine, the gold is mine. And just look at this nine and don't forget this.

It's the latter glory of this house. So it's not so much the latter house, but it's the latter glory of this house. It's going to be greater than even the former Solomon's temple was glorious, but the latter glory of this house will be even greater.

So comments on these verses, please. So you have led this then to the incarnation of the Lord Jesus. And I think there's a valid thing there.

But don't you think, Brother Dan, in its interpretation, it goes, it goes to the future, the manifestation of the Lord Jesus. These words are actually picked up in the book of Hebrews. Yes.

And Hebrews chapter 12. There's going to be a shaking and all of that thing. That's right.

But the writer to the Hebrews tells us we receiving a kingdom, which cannot be shaken, an unshakable kingdom. So we have been introduced now presently into the reality of what is going to come in the future. The manifestation of this in the future will be linked to the manifestation of the desire of all nations, the Lord Jesus himself.

So I think I've been misrepresented. Hang on. I think I've been misrepresented from that.

I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't actually thinking about the incarnation. Oh, I see. I see.

So I don't know where that came from. Sorry. I know that some commentators would suggest that when Christ came to the temple and thinking about Herod's temple.

So remember the temples, you remember your Solomon's temple, you've got Zerubbabel's temple. This is what we often refer to as Zerubbabel's temple, but that temple was greatly expanded and beautified, glorified, if you like by Herod, the great. And sometimes we think about the Lord whom you seek suddenly will come to his temple.

Now, absolutely true. The Lord Jesus came to that temple and there is a person who's glorious, who came to that temple and in a sense in himself filled that temple with glory. But I don't see that here.

Actually, I see that ultimately there's a future glory here. And I think we've got Ezekiel's temple in view. We've got a millennial reign in view here.

And of course, this glory is after the shaking. Now I need to just expand this. Sorry, William, I know you want to come in, but let me just expand this.

So when you're in Hebrews 12 and you've got this unshakable kingdom, and by the way, we have already approached to an unshakable kingdom. So we've come into the good of the spiritual blessing of what cannot be shaken. Isn't that wonderful? And there is an eternal city, by the way, and there are angels gathered in festive array and the spirits of just men made perfect.

These things we've already come to in a spiritual sense and we'll know them all in reality in a day to come. But God is going to shake the order of the nations that you can see that because it's the same thing lower down. This will help me lower on.

Look at verse twenty three. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms in relation to the shaking of the heavens and the earth. I think this is the tribulation.

So God is going to shake the earth. He's going to shake the heavens, especially during the tribulation. And he's going to shake that Gentile order in order that he might establish his order.

Realize this order. Realize his purpose. And this order will take in Ezekiel's temple.

Yes. And the branch will build that temple. And there's a king coming to that temple.

And we're on to Zerubbabel. Anyway, that's that's very important. Hang on, hang on.

I know, but I love to do this to you. Back to what John was saying, Hebrews chapter twelve, where this is quoted. Yeah.

There's a little word added in there in Hebrews chapter twelve, the little word more yet once more. Correct. Right.

Correct. It is a little while and I will shake. So, yes, I take it.

The first occurrence of the shaking. Yes. Was Mount Sinai.

Absolutely. Yeah. That's Hebrews twelve.

That whole mountain was shaking. Yes. Establishing a covenant with Israel.

Yes. Yet once more. Yes.

So Israel still has a future. And this mechanism is still going to be involved, as you've been bringing out the shaking, the heavens celestial, the earth, the sea and the dry land terrestrial. I will shake all nations politically.

The empire of the beast will be thrown down and the desire of all nation nations shall come. So I agree with you and your brother Dan. It will be millennial conditions as centered in the person of Christ.

Yes. And the benevolent rule that he will establish and bring in. And that links in there with the end of the book as well.

Right. I was going to say is that's very important because while we're spiritualizing these things, there is replacement theology. Absolutely.

That many people are imbibing. Yes. Even in assemblies.

And it's even being taught. Yes. In some assemblies.

Yeah. And so what we want to make clear is that reference in the book of Hebrews chapter 12 signifies in the context of that book that we have something better. Yes.

That still awaits. These promises have not been abrogated. They've not been set aside.

But what Haggai is writing, what we have is even greater. And this is a physical something that's going to happen. Please young people, God has a future for the nation of Israel.

Never, never deny that future. And Israel is not the church and the church is not Israel and all of that. And Israel has not been finished at all by God because of Calvary.

He has set that nation to one side whilst he has brought Gentiles and the nations primarily into the center of his purpose. And he is calling out to the nations of people for the glory of his name. But the church has not replaced the nation of Israel whatsoever.

The blessings that we have in Christ are far better. Yes. And far greater spiritual eternal blessings.

But once the church is gone, could be today. Israel is coming right back in center focus center stage, and they are going to be, make no mistake, the head of the nations in a day to come. Now, let me just talk about this because I'm starting to run out of time.

So I might talk to just the next 10 minutes, but I'll just ask for a comment on this. The desire of the nations shall come. Thank God for the desire of the nation.

So sorry, that's a singular, isn't it? Yeah. So, so here's the problem. Now you will find, do you want to develop that? You're doing a, you're doing a great job.

You will find in some, in some of your translations, possibly you will find that it says there, the desirable things of the nations shall come. Now there might be a dual thought there because the word desire is singular and shall come is plural. So it should read, or it could read like this, the desire of the nations, they shall come and I will fill this house with glory.

So there possibly is a dual thought. The desire of the nations is verse eight, the silver and the gold. And that is scriptural.

Of course, Zechariah chapter 14, Isaiah chapter 60, in that millennial reign, the nations will bring their treasures up to Jerusalem. That's absolutely scriptural. They'll bring their silver and they'll bring their gold.

And then perhaps I will fill this house with glory is developed in verse nine. The latter glory of this house shall be greater. And that's absolutely messianic.

It's absolutely Christ. However, the desire singular of the nations, they shall come. That plural there could be as a result of the fact that nations is plural.

And in actual fact, the word desire is used in the old Testament, not just of things and of the land. The word desire is used in the old Testament of people. Saul was the desire of the nation of Israel.

Daniel, I know it's in the plural there, but Daniel was greatly beloved. He was greatly desired. What I'm trying to say, and John, you can tell me whether I'm right.

What I'm trying to say is the language here is purposely and designedly ambiguous. So that is it possessions or is it a person? The answer is, is both is possessions and a person. And the desire of the nations ultimately is Christ.

And he will bring in his train. He will bring in his train. Well, the silver and gold of the nation.

So bring them all up to Jerusalem. So I like to see Christ through the Lord. Jesus has already been referred to as the desired one in the book of Daniel.

That's good. The man that's coming. He will not.

He will not give way to the desire of women. Yes. No, the desire of women in that context is the desire amongst Jewish women to be the one that will bear the Messiah.

Very nice. This is not so much the desire of women here. This is the desire of all nations.

There is something in every nation in the world. Even now, there is something presently that they're looking for someone to govern. Someone is required to take the reins of government and take control.

And this is the desire of the nations, which will be seen ultimately seen in the Lord Jesus in a future. So in his first coming, there was no beauty in him that we should desire. Rejected Christ, right? They rejected Christ.

But nevertheless, they're still looking for those blessings that he would bring in a millennial setting. Sure. Yeah.

So do you not have here that one is actually the result of the other? Yes. So that right. So that the desire of the nations coming is as a result of the glory of the house being fulfilled, right? In the how is that happening? Well, Ezekiel nine tells us that the glory of departed.

Yes, that's right. So here, how is the glory of the house going to be as he returns? Absolutely. So the last verse of the book of Ezekiel, Brother Frank, the glory of the house to come, the glory of Ezekiel's temple doesn't seem to manifest the same glory of Solomon's temple in gold, etc.

Yes. But the last verse of Ezekiel says the Lord is there. Yes.

And so with his presence, that's exactly what we're looking at. So we'll just sorry, but we'll just draw a conclusion at that point, because we've got five minutes left. I want to summarize the rest.

Isn't it interesting, Brother John, on that fact that Ezekiel's temple doesn't seem to have much gold, doesn't seem to have much silver? You say, well, they can't they can't be much glory. That's not the point. The Lord is the Lord is there, which is absolutely critical.

So just look then, please, when Christ comes and verse nine, the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former because Christ will be there. And look at this, please. Verse nine.

Then I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts. There's only one man. There's only one person who can ever bring peace to this earth.

He's the prince of peace and he's the person of Christ. Isaiah 11 is the verse that you want. So Isaiah 11, verse 10.

In that day, there shall be a root of Jesse. So you're thinking now about a king. You're thinking about a sovereign that's coming from David's line.

He shall stand as an ensign for the people and unto him shall the nations seek. So it's after the shaking. They'll be seeking and it'll be Christ.

Isaiah 11. They will seek to him. Now, I'm sorry that we've run out of time, but I did design it.

I designed it this way. So let me just summarize these last two messages. I'm very thankful for all the help of my brethren.

I've appreciated that. So when you come to verse 10 to verse 19, we said that this is a message about purity. Can I just point out that between verse nine and verse 10 of chapter two, Zechariah gives his first message.

Now, his first message is very brief. It's just the first part of Zechariah chapter one. And this is what he says, return to me.

That's the word through Zechariah from the Lord. Return to me and I'll return to you. And I think there's a little hint of that because what the Lord is saying is he's reminding them of the fact that they were unclean.

And why were they unclean? You say, we can't be unclean. We've come back to Jerusalem. We've reestablished the altar.

We are offering holy sacrifices on the altar. You say, we can't be unclean. And they thought that those sacrifices upon the altar perhaps had made them all holy as a people separated under the law.

But you see what the Lord says? He says, all your works actually are unclean. And he says, because you are not dedicating yourself to the service of my house, he says, you have become unclean. You might be offering at the altar holiness, but you've neglected the building of the house.

And that has contaminated your offerings. It's contaminated the works of your hands. We need to learn that lesson.

Some saints believe that if they attend the altar at the breaking of bread, forgive me for using that kind of language. But they believe if they go to the breaking of bread are sufficient for the week. You are neglecting the house.

Get to every gathering of the house. Defiling. Brother E.W. Rogers revered in England, great influence on Albert Leckie.

He believed that it was a sin not to be at every assembly gathering if you could be there. I understand that sometimes you have shift work. I understand that sometimes the cat has been sick.

I understand those things. But if you can get there and you don't get there, he said that was a sin. So uncleanness neglecting the house of the Lord.

And that's a message all about purity. And that uncleanness contaminated others, passed to others. Holiness couldn't.

And then just look at the very last statement. This is a message to the prince. So we've already spoken about this to a certain extent.

But verses 20 to 23, a message that's to Zerubbabel. And I take it that this message is for the encouragement, especially of Zerubbabel. Remember, please, that he was the governor of Judah.

He was in the royal line of David down through Jeconiah or Keniah, Jehoiakim. So he was in the line of David. But I take it that this statement here is a promise and an assurance to Zerubbabel that his work would be finished.

He says, Zerubbabel, you're going to be the signet ring. Now, that signet ring had the impression of the king or the monarch or his title upon it. And it was a symbol of great authority and power.

Do you remember that Pharaoh took the ring off his finger and he gave it to Joseph? He gave him tremendous authority. And I think what the Lord is saying here is this. He says, Zerubbabel, your hand has laid this foundation.

Your hand is going to finish it. Now, that's coming in the book of Zechariah, right? Chapter 4. So a tremendous encouragement to him that he would have the privilege of just finishing that work and that labor. But this goes far beyond Zerubbabel.

It goes far beyond Zerubbabel. He himself represented someone from the line of David who was far more glorious than him. And by the way, he will be a signet ring on the finger of Jehovah.

So there is someone coming who has ultimate power and ultimate authority that will sit on the throne of his glory. And Christ shall be a signet ring of Jehovah, even in that day. Well, that is a message to the prince.

But we better leave it there. And we trust God will bless his word to us. Thanks, brother.

It is interesting that Zerubbabel, the genealogies of the Lord Jesus, as given in Matthew and Luke, one for Mary, one for Joseph, come together in Zerubbabel. That's remarkable.