Minor No.10 Haggai

The year 586 B.C. was a critical year for the Jews. It would have had the same effect in later years, as they looked back on it, as the year 1939 had, or has for many of us. The year when war broke out, when the Nazis determined to overrun this country.

Well, the Babylonians came down from the north, and they surrounded Jerusalem. The Babylonians were very fierce people indeed. And not only did they invade Jerusalem, they killed the women folk, they cut up the pregnant women, they tore down the walls, they destroyed much of the temple, and they carted the Jews off by their thousands, back to Babylonia.

It had all been predicted before, and yet when it happened, it came almost as a surprise to those who hadn't taken heed of the prophetic word. But happier times were to dawn, and some 60 years after that, coming down to roughly 530 B.C., the Jews came back, not all together, but a representative number. A little group had come prior to this particular year, but when Haggai starts to prophesy, there's about 50,000 Jews who have returned and taken up residence in Judah, and particularly in Jerusalem.

And it's to those 50,000 that Haggai particularly is asked to minister. Now, the interesting thing about Haggai is that we have very little information concerning him. I find it interesting that very often the Bible packs in a most important message and doesn't declare much about the author.

You get that in the New Testament, for instance, in the epistle to the Hebrews. And however determined you might be that Paul wrote the epistle to the Hebrews, you cannot prove it, as I cannot prove or disprove conclusively that he didn't write it. But it's left anonymous to a large extent for our conjecture as to who the author is.

Now, we know that a man called Haggai wrote this prophecy, but that's about all that we do know. It has been conjectured, and I think with a degree of reason, that Haggai was born on a festival day for reasons I disclosed in your notes, namely that Haggai has the idea, has the translation of the word festival. And the thought is that, as I say, he was born on a feast day.

If you were to meet someone called Haggai today, in the English language you'd call him Hillary. But Hillary has gone to a girl's name, so he would be rather perhaps badly named. But that's the nearest to an English rendering of the word Haggai, the importance of the name and its meaning is perhaps quite little.

But nonetheless, it's good to see this man who is going to proclaim a word to a people who are in great need. They're in great need of correction. And one of the unfortunate things about people today, I feel, in the neglect of the Old Testament, is that they miss some of the superlative lessons that are there for us to learn.

And one of the reasons is that we feel that these minor prophets are minor in the sense of being subsidiary, of being unimportant. Well, they may be minor in one sense that they are short, but they're major because they pack a very powerful message. And so Haggai has a lot to say to people who get very complacent.

He's a lot to say to people like me who are very concerned to understand more and more about the doctrine of God. Did you notice when I was reading how often I emphasized the Lord Almighty? And the idea there, if you push it back into the original and you try a longer translation, is that the Lord is the Lord of hosts. All the armies of heaven are under His sway.

And even more than that, on earth He exercises authority. There is this foolish notion that God's gone on vacation. Simply because He's not always seen to deliberately act immediately in a situation, the careless conclusion is drawn that God is not involved.

And Haggai will revolt against such an idea. And he will tell you that God is a very near God. That's what we mean by the word transcendent.

God is not distant. He is nigh. God is not aloof.

He is spectating on all that happens throughout the whole tale of human history. And Haggai brings this to the attention of these Jewish people who are back in Jerusalem and they're becoming somewhat careless. Do you get annoyed with a preacher? If you ever get annoyed with a preacher, then probably you're under a ministry.

And I'm not, by making this comment, suggesting my own, but I am applying this generally and to myself as a test. If a preacher sometimes annoys you, if he sometimes hurts you, then possibly it's good for you to be under that ministry. The old Puritans talked about being stretched before a ministry.

And a ministry that never bruises is a ministry that's probably doing harm. Haggai has to bruise people because there are certain things that need to be corrected. And thank God for a man who is prepared squarely to face the responsibilities that belong to ordinary people and show them when they fall short of those responsibilities and chastise them verbally for so doing.

I congratulate Louis Paolo for what I heard him say last evening in terms of the judgment of God upon young people if they fail to respond to the gospel and they don't come to terms with God's moral standards and the offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ for all the sins that they have committed. A cutting message it needed to be preached, and he preached it very well with his Latin American temperament helping him excessively. Here is Haggai then, and he's got to bruise because he has to correct.

And the reason why he has to correct is because these old Jews, like you, like me, have got certain things completely out of perspective. Look at verse 3 of the first chapter. Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses while this house remains a ruin? The reference is reasonably easy to understand.

Back to Jerusalem have come these 50,000 people. And as I say, there was a small number who had preceded them returning from the bondage of Babylonia. Now, when they got back to Jerusalem, what did they discover? Well, the temple was in a mess.

It had been torn down. And when they saw the temple, they recognized that it was necessary to start to rebuild, and they did that. But then they put off what they ought to have done, and they settled for something that was of less importance.

The reason why they put it off? Well, maybe it was such a gigantic task. I mean, to build this tabernacle would be quite a problem for us, would it not? If somehow or other there was an earthquake and the whole thing was demolished and we had to repair it ourselves. Well, imagine a massive temple that has to be rebuilt.

Now, this was the challenge of these Jewish folk. And they started well, and then they lost their interest, and they turned somewhat humanly. We can understand it.

They returned to their own work and their own concerns to build their own homes, their own houses. And not only did they build them, but they ensured that they had the equivalent to central heating and wall-to-wall carpeting. Paneling your houses, says Haggai, while this house, the house of God, remains a ruin, that's wrong.

Your priorities are out of order. What would you say was the greatest problem that faces England at this time? Economically? Well, let me put it to you like this. Do you know when Reiner and I first came to Worthing, the church bought a house? Because they didn't have a manse at that time.

And the house cost six and a quarter thousand pounds, if memory serves me right. That same house was on the market just a week or so ago. And the asking price was 65,000 pounds.

And how long did I say? I've been here 14 years, so we've gone from 6,250 to 65,000 pounds. Now, what does that shout of? Inflation. If you'd have had six and a half thousand pounds in those days and you kept it in a stocking in your wardrobe.

And for 14 years you never touched your money. And you went down to the estate agent and you gave him the money that you got minus the stocking and asked for a house. He'd look at you and he'd say you couldn't even get a flatlet for that.

Inflation. Now that was exactly the problem that these Hebrews were suffering from. Look at verse 6. The latter part of verse 6. You put on clothes but you're not warm.

You earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it. Did your mother or father ever said to you that you've got a hole in your pocket as far as your pocket money was concerned? There was never enough. I got sixpence when I was a lad.

And it was never enough, although it did buy considerably more than it does today. In fact, sixpence doesn't exist today, does it? Now what was the reason why economically things were spiraling downwards? Well, it wasn't just a political problem. It was that, but it was more than that.

It was more than just an economic problem. It was twin to the spiritual deterioration that had set in in the hearts of the Hebrews who had settled for a lesser job when a major job of importance was left incomplete. The rebuilding of the temple.

Now you say, why did the Jews in the Old Testament get so hot under the collar? Well, the prophets get so warm about the idea of the temple. It's very hard for us to appreciate the significance of the temple in Old Testament days. Now there are reasons why it's hard for us.

But let's try and turn the clock back and think of ourselves in terms of Jews living in biblical times, in Old Testament times. What was the thing that held the nation together? Well, probably there were two things. First of all, there was the king, when they had a king, and his palace.

But even more important than the king's palace was the place next door. And next door to the king's palace was the temple. And when the Jews looked towards Jerusalem, they thought in terms of the temple, where there was the Holy of Holies, where God came down and communed with his people.

It was the headquarters of Judaism. All the promises of God seemed to take on a special significance for the pilgrims when they moved into that place where God came down and manifested himself to the priests and indeed to the prophets. It's very difficult for us to understand the significance of the temple to the Old Testament Jew.

It spoke volumes. Now in the New Testament, I believe that what the temple in the Old Testament was to the Jews, the church of Jesus Christ, is to us. And by the church, I don't mean St. Paul's Cathedral, though I was quite near to that throughout this day.

By the church, I certainly don't mean the Vatican, for reasons I'm not going to explain at the moment, but most of you would be fully aware. By the church, I mean people like you and me, living stones who are part of God's temple, for the temple of God today is not made of bricks and mortar. It's made of people, not just British, but also Chinese, not just American, but also Russian.

Wherever there are those who name the name of Jesus Christ, they are part of the church of God. And the most important spiritual building in the world is the church. And what the church is today, in terms of the gathered community of God's children, so the temple represented in the Old Testament, the headquarters of Judaism.

And when the temple was neglected, it was an indication of spiritual neglect on the part of the Jews. As when you don't seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you are neglecting the temple of the living Lord Jesus Christ. For He asks us to make of prime importance in our lives, living for the gospel and the declaration of the gospel.

And so, if these Old Testament Jews are to be reprimanded by Haggai, because their priorities are askew, they're jumbled up, so God, I think, speaks to us today because His word is timeless. And He says, what about your priorities? What's the most important thing in your life? Campbell Morgan, on one occasion in one of his books, which is a record of his preaching, so he must have said this from Westminster Chapel, commented how some people think that just to have one objective is rather restrictive in life. You need more than one.

And Morgan says it just depends what that one thing is. And if it's big enough, then it'll occupy you throughout the whole of your life on this earth. This one thing I do, says the Apostle Paul.

And he talks in terms of his spiritual disciplines and his living for the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Haggai starts to preach and he gets a very favorable response. Perhaps it doesn't seem so immediately.

But actually, it's pretty quick. Because when you come down to the 13th verse, with Haggai promising that the Lord will be with the people, the reaction in verse 14 is that the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel. Now, I'm not going to take you into the Jewish calendar, but just accept it from me and I'll prove it to you afterwards that the reaction to Haggai's message was something like three weeks after he had initially preached it.

And the people got together. And under the leadership of a great man, Zerubbabel, they started to work. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty their God.

That's the end of verse 14. On the 24th day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. So, Zerubbabel took the lead.

And have you noticed how Haggai is able to promise the people, and the promise will be repeated in the next chapter, that the Lord is with them. I am with you, declares the Lord. Do this job and know my presence.

And what did Jesus say before he left his disciples, as recorded in Matthew's gospel, the 28th chapter and the final verse? Go out into all the world and preach the gospel, baptizing men and women in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And is there a full stop there? What happens? Jesus goes on to say, And lo, I am with you always. What were the disciples commissioned to do? What, my dear brother and sister, this evening are we commissioned to do? To build the temple.

Because you build as you preach. God uses words. Words set alight by the power of his Spirit.

And when your words become effective, and others respond to the gospel, so they are brought into the temple of the living God. And Jesus Christ says that when you engage in this ministry, I am with you. And however difficult it is, and it's certainly difficult in some parts of our country today.

I was with a brother from the east end of London. Some of you might know him. The pastor of the East London Tabernacle.

And I know something of the difficulties that that dear young minister goes through in living for Jesus and preaching his gospel there in the east end. I'd like you to remember him in your prayers. But the Lord says no matter how difficult things are, as we will discover later on as we're making our way through Haggai, he remains with those who engage in his work.

So first of all in this chapter, using a little bit of alliteration, you see a plea for priority. Get your priorities in order. This is what the people were to do.

Leave off what is secondary, though it's legitimate to live in a house that's hospitable and comfortable. There are things that are even more important than that. So get your priorities assembled right.

And then what? Well, then the Lord will bless you. Let's look into the second chapter. And if I were to summarize the second or third address, if you take the little comment I am with you as Haggai's second address, then you'd make this his third sermon, summary of his sermon.

To summarize what he had to say, we can conclude that as the people continue to be about the Lord's work, then he will prosper them. Now, they haven't known much prosperity heretofore. They were in Babylon, you remember, for the larger part of their lives, these captives who have now returned.

They've had great difficulty as far as harvests are concerned since they came back to Jerusalem. We discovered that in the opening verses, did we not? Verse 6, you've planted much but have harvested little. You eat but you never have enough.

Great difficulties in this area. But now if you read the first nine verses and indeed go on to the 17th right through to the 19th verse of the second chapter, the implication is of prosperity if they're involved in the Lord's service. Now, let's start.

I had a letter from someone in America the other day who got rather hot under the collar. They did so because of certain preaching that they had come under, not in America but in Europe. Actually, they'd been in the land of Spain.

And down on the coast of Spain where they were dwelling, they'd got into contact with a church. And from the description of the preacher, he could have been a twin of George Verver. You know George's emphasis on discipleship and forsaking all and so on.

I understand that this church is doing extremely well and there are many branch works. But the person who wrote to me, amongst other things that were to be shared in this lengthy letter I had, said how they could not tolerate the preacher preaching this business of self-denial. Because this lady who had spent quite some time in California had come under a particular teaching that said that God wants all his children to be literally rich, wealthy, healthy, and happy.

That is almost the summary of the creed of the church which is mushrooming not only in California but by my own experience of it also in Johannesburg and is beginning to make its mark in our country too. How on earth you can ever make these conclusions that God wants you perpetually while you're on this earth healthy, wealthy, and happy and square it with the Lord Jesus' words that unless a man forsakes everything and takes up his cross and follows me he cannot be my disciple. How you square that I just don't know.

But the longer I live the less shockable I become because sometimes I think maniacs are at work in the interpretation of scripture and they can prove that black is white and white is black. The Bible is not promising us undue prosperity throughout our lives or undue health throughout our lives but it does say that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness then there are certain blessings which are beyond the purchase power of the pound and of the dollar that are ours. The peace of God which passes understanding.

The joy of fulfillment in your life as you've lived it for the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is basically what Haggai is promising these people. The Lord is going to be with them and the Lord is going to reverse their fortunes.

What they have to do is rather difficult but nonetheless the Lord will help them. And so Haggai says in the name of God and repeats it several times verse 4 Be strong oh Zerubbabel Be strong oh Joshua Be strong all the people of the land for I am with you declares the Lord God Almighty and so forth. What is God going to do? He is going to act.

He is going to act on their behalf and as he acts on their behalf it will be for their spiritual well-being. The prophet is going to encourage them. Now if any people needed to be encouraged it was the Jews when they returned to Jerusalem.

You see they got this gigantic task to rebuild the temple. An immense thing. Immense proportions.

Haggai is probably an old man because verse 3 seems to indicate that he knew something of what the temple used to look like in the era following the reign of Solomon. Verse 3 Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? The people were discouraged you see. I mean God had said that he would bless the work that he would prosper them and yet it seems such a difficult task to do.

And sometimes my dear brother and sister I have to tell you that as far as building the temple today is concerned I get totally discouraged. I rarely read books on statistics because statistics just frighten me. And probably the reason why I always get statistics wrong when I quote them is because I have a sort of nervous ability to forget statistics.

Masses of people that need to be won for the Lord. Millions of people in China. Or the train coming back from London today crowded with people.

How many new gone? And yet Lord you want us to reach these men and women with the gospel. You want us to build a temple from these stones and yet they are so uncut. They are not in the right shape to be put into the building.

The work is so slow sometimes. And when the work gets slow when the work is slow you are despondent. And that is why the message of Haggai is so apposite so relevant today as it was in his day.

Be strong all you people because the Lord is with us. That is what he says. He is repeating it again.

For I am with you declares the Lord God Almighty. And it is interesting to me that the Lord's promise is exactly the same as he gave to Moses. You remember Moses said when he was ordained to a specific ministry Lord if you don't go with us then I am not going one step forward.

And the Lord says I will be with you. My presence will go with you Moses and I will give you rest. And that is exactly what Haggai is promising the people in the name of the Lord.

Spiritual prosperity. And he promises it to you and to me. But not only was the inadequacy of resources creating problems for these people after all these were not days like the years when Solomon was king.

Then gold was so plentiful silver lost its value on the stock market. Can you believe that? Silver was as common as tinsel paper. And it was so easy to get all the necessary materials for the building of the temple.

There was Hiram a buddy of Solomon sending down large chunks of timber floating them down the coast of the sea so that Solomon could then get his men lower down in the coast bringing this timber to Jerusalem. The precious stones that were so necessary for the building of the temple and for the utensils they were there in abundant supply. But this is a day of lean times.

It is so very, very difficult. And as a result of this the people are getting depressed indeed. The resources are so inadequate.

And so God promises them that He will supply their need. Verse 8 The silver is mine and the gold is mine declares the Lord Almighty. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house.

Lord, you're joking. That's a little bit of hyperbole from God. You know what hyperbole is? It's sort of expressing something that's there's truth in it but you're sort of blowing it up a little out of proportion.

Lord, it's impossible. Do you know older friends can be very discouraging? Now I'll qualify what I'm saying in a moment. When you get to 60 or 70 I'm speaking academically not from experience you look back obviously over many decades and the possibility is and there's right to have a romance about the past the possibility is that you go back to great days 20 years ago, 30 years ago great men of God and whose ministry you sat great things that you're involved in and there's a tendency to say it's not like that today.

Not like that today. And that can be very discouraging for those who didn't live 40 or 50 years ago because they're that number of years younger than you are and there you are always harking back not saying that that applies to anyone here I'll exclude you all from this charge. This is the problem you see in Haggai's ministry there were those who were saying well we remember the former temple what that was like and now look at this it's an apology.

It's like a hut compared with Buckingham Palace. Well that might be alright but if you spend a long time building the hut then you're not very happy about the comment the hurtful comparison and God says look the glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house says the Lord Almighty. He's promising blessing He's promising success and He's promising this spiritual prosperity because the people are now prepared to get their priorities in order it always follows you know have your priorities in order and prosperity will come in terms of being successful in God's service in the way that He measures success which often is different from the way that we measure success God's going to be with these people He's going to be with them now and He's going to be with them in the future.

Verse you can never read these numbers in the NIV Verse 6 This is what the Lord Almighty says in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth the sea and the dry land I will shake all nations and the desire of all nations will come and I will fill this house with glory says the Lord Almighty I will I will I will God is not on holiday God is utterly in control and as He was in control in those years 560 BC so He is in control in the year 2000 working out His purposes even if there seems to be evidence to the contrary and God can provide resources for His church because the silver is His and the gold is His Isaiah makes an even stronger declaration as I was reading very early on this morning Isaiah chapter 60 and onwards don't turn to it now but it's a good chapter if you want a blessing if you're feeling a little discouraged turn to it later on in the day Isaiah 60 you know the story of the of the doulos the doulos used to be called the MV Franca and it was owned by Italians it came on the market it's a good time to buy a ship if you're thinking of buying a ship then buy one now because they're at rock bottom prices nobody wants ships these days when I was in Cape Town I just looked from a just below table top mountain over in the harbour and I remember 14 years ago when I'd been in Cape Town how the harbour was so full of shipping but it's not now there's a slump in shipping and these folk who owned the MV Franca they wanted to sell it and there weren't many who were after it but OM wanted it and the interesting thing was and I was in India at the time when the deal was clinched the interesting thing was that ultimately the Italian folks who owned the ship got as excited if not more so for OM to get it than OM did and you had the crazy notion of OM selling back to the owners of what was MV Franca the stainless steel and the silver cutlery and the luxurious furnishings so that the owners could give OM more money to add to the money that they got so that they could buy the ship I don't know whether you worked the logic of all that out but I'm not too sure I know it myself but you got the gist the silver is mine and the gold is mine declares the Lord Almighty do you folks remember five years ago was it six years ago time races on so much when that building came on the market and I well recall our elders then thinking in terms of raising the finance whether we ought to have contingency plans with the bank to secure the money that we were going to bid for the building when we didn't have any money amounting to that then we came together and we prayed spent a day in prayer and fasting and then on the Sunday we had ten thousand pounds more than we actually needed for that building can even now remember the tears in Jim Skinner's eyes as he came to tell me what the amount of that offering was on a Sunday the silver is mine and the gold is mine prosperity that follows getting your priorities in order God will use the person who is prepared to be disciplined for God controls the world of finance the world of materialism is still under the sovereign sway of the Lord and the Lord who caused in Nehemiah's day Artaxerxes to give materials for the rebuilding of the temple is still our God today and He can deliver what is necessary for His church to continue the work of the evangel and provide the necessary finance and everything else that is required so that's the promise God's going to be with them now He's going to be with them in the future remarkable things are going to happen in this temple and Haggai as I was trying to explain last Sunday morning can't conceivably see it all you know you have a distinct advantage over the Old Testament writers because you know the end of the story it's just like reading a novel and you've got to the last chapter but they never did do you ever have a sneak look at the end of the book just to see who did it if it was Agatha Christie my wife is a real fan of Agatha Christie can't understand it never read an Agatha Christie in my life but Rowena she knows them all off by heart well at least she's read them all and you've been at the back of the book Haggai wasn't he was sort of trembling in anticipation of what God was going to do this is why you get prophecies telescoped together in the Old Testament and it's not too easy to disentangle and put one here and one there and therefore folk who get very very determined in their understanding of prophecy and say we must have got it all right we've got the charts all right I was brought up on charts were some of you brought up on charts can still remember these big charts that the pastor used to put up in our church back home in Sheffield some of them scare me to death because they had beasts coming out and I was only a lad of about 12 coming out of the Mediterranean and so on and so forth there was one chart called God's plan for the ages I did feel even at 12 that to get God's plan for the ages on one chart of three foot by one foot was rather an ambitious thing to have done but here is a prophet and in a trembling fashion he realises that something marvellous is going to happen to this temple and indeed it did ultimately it's completed by Herod Herod, a non-Jew pours masses, millions in terms of today's finance into the temple and when the disciples look at the temple they talk about the magnificence of its splendour I give you the reference you can check it for yourself later on I'm running out of time and you remember how Jesus says that He is greater than the temple because all that the temple stood for the visual aid of the temple becomes real in our Lord Jesus Christ He is the Lord who suddenly comes to the temple and the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ and the peace that flows from Him is the fulfilment, I believe in large measure not completely, but in large measure of what Haggai sees and preaches on the streets of Jerusalem as he encourages these people to believe that spiritual prosperity will belong to the Jews but let's rush on what about the last bit? well verse 10 right through to verse 19 will, in effect make clear what you already know about the parable of the bad apple and the good apple you ask Mr. Brown Jr. at the end of the lounge here what would happen if in the green grocer's shop where he works so hard they had a bad apple in one box of good apples wouldn't it be nice if all the good ones ganged up and made the bad one good but it doesn't happen badness is contagious goodness is not and this is basically the lesson here I'm not going to the parable because it would take me too long you can work it out from the notes that I've given you and also from what from your own conclusions from the reasoning in Haggai's statements one of the things you see that is difficult is that the Jewish people have returned from exile in one sense they're bad apples they've got sin that was the reason why they were in Babylon in the first instance and now they're putting their hands to the temple and yet they're unclean hands there's no way that they can of themselves become holy and sanctified and perfectly qualified to minister in the building of the temple and it seems absolutely hopeless and then the Lord says the latter part of verse 19 from this day on I will bless you now you'll have to work the reasoning of all that out but basically it's this that spiritual prosperity and spiritual cleanliness will never come to the Jew as a result of his own initiative he can never make himself holy he can never make himself clean he can never make himself in line for God's blessings because God's blessings depend not on what you do but on what he wills I find it incredible sometimes I speak, God knows with honesty even if it sounds a little pious I find it incredible that God would ever use me in terms of declaring his word I heard Martin Lloyd-Jones who certainly had no reason to say this but I understand what he meant when he commented he'd never go across the road to hear himself preach and I would say the same but the remarkable thing is that God, because of his mercy and his grace, he does use people he cleanses them from their sins and he sets them to a task to do for himself and this is what Haggai is implying the holiness that is necessary the people can't get it not in and of themselves but because God is merciful he'll cleanse them from their sins and he'll use them in the work of temple building as he'll use you in the work of building his temple having cleansed you from your iniquities and now the final comment from the 20th verse to the 23rd here is the 4th or the 5th sermon depending how you rated the one sentence comment made at the end of chapter 1 and this little address is to, not to a lot of people but just to one person whose name is rather difficult for us to get our tongues around Zerubbabel now why is Zerubbabel particularly a recipient of a word from the Lord? well because of his great faithfulness isn't it the case often that enthusiasm is something that one person gets and then as a result they manage to bring with them a whole army of people you always go for the prominent person in the classroom I could tell you that as a school teacher whenever a classroom of boys or girls came into my room I'd try and work out who I thought was the obvious leader and I would give direct attention first of all to them because I knew that I got to get them under my control to survive and here is the man who's got things moving in the grace of God, Zerubbabel and God is going to bless this man in a very significant way tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I will shake the heavens and the earth in the purposes of God, Zerubbabel will have a place to a part to play I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of foreign kingdoms and so on verse 23 on that day declares the Lord Almighty I will take you my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and I will make you like my signet ring for I've chosen you what did a signet ring in those days indicate? well it indicated vicarious authority the signet ring of the king was so important it had his stump it had his crest it would be used in the sealing of letters and says God you are to me like a signet ring Zerubbabel and I will bring to fruition the purposes that I have for you and I will never forget you I never forget Rowena even though I sometimes seven eight thousand miles away not only because she's etched in my mind and I have a photograph in my wallet but I've got the ring that she gave me never forget and so God says to Zerubbabel you won't be forgotten if you turned over to the fourth chapter is it of Zechariah you discover that Zerubbabel the man who got the Jews moving in the business of temple building is going to be used by the Lord for the completion of the temple at least at that phase of its construction verse six so he said to me this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel this is Zechariah speaking to this great man not by might nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord almighty what are you almighty mountain before Zerubbabel you will become level ground then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of God bless it God bless it all the problems the mountainous problems they will be level to the ground Zerubbabel will be successful he will complete the work of temple building and he did it after four and a half years knocking three years of the time that it took Solomon to put up the first temple but there's a future fulfillment of all this Zerubbabel my servant I will remember you when I overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of foreign kingdoms I will overthrow chariots and their drivers horses and their riders will fall each by the sword of his brother Haggai is now centuries ahead he may not understand this himself but in the purposes of God and through the miracle of prophecy he's centuries ahead and Zerubbabel will not be forgotten even in the centuries that are to come and you will work out from the reference I gave you and you can take the parallel reference in Matthew's gospel that Zerubbabel is an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ and the purposes of God are fulfilled through our Lord Jesus and ultimately will be brought to absolute fulfillment as he shakes the heavens and the earth and he brings in his eternal kingdom and his rule the visible rule of Christ which shall know no end well