It’s Time to Trust God With the Future
It's Time March 2, 2025 Haggai 2:20-23 Notes
Do you worry about the future? Do you ever wonder if God is really in control when the world seems chaotic? Maybe you feel uncertain about your job, your health, or your family. Maybe you’re looking at the state of our nation or the world and wondering, “Where is this all going?”
The people of Israel in Haggai’s day had similar concerns. They were a small, struggling remnant in a land that once flourished under King David and Solomon. Their temple was in ruins, their enemies were strong, and they wondered if God’s promises to them were still true. But through Haggai, God gave them assurance that they could trust Him with the future.
In Haggai 2:20-23, God spoke through the prophet Haggai to assure Zerubbabel that he could trust God with the future of Israel. We can trust God with the future.
Audio
Good morning, church. Good morning ! We're concluding our series through the book of Haggai this morning. We've got just a few more verses in our eight-part series and I know some of you might have been thinking, Hey, it's only two chapters for eight weeks. Really?
Well, maybe you've understood now, as we've gone very carefully through it, just how full. This might be a little book, but it's a big book with God and He's really spoken to us over these past eight weeks. Today, we'll be concluding our series through the book of Haggai in a sermon that we've entitled, “It's Time to Trust God with the Future.” Our series theme comes from Haggai. It says, Haggai 1:2; 2:4-5 (ESV) “These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord…
Yet now be strong… Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord… My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.” The people of God were saying, ‘It's not time.
We don't feel like it's time.’ But God said, ‘Yes, it is time. It's time for you to be strong, do the work and be fearless and if you do that, I'll take care of your future. If you'll do your part, I'll do My part.’
We get confused sometimes. We want to do God's part, we can't do God's part. We want to be on the throne of our own lives. We want our own way, but God says, ‘If you'll follow Me, if you'll do things My way, I'll take care of your future.’
I believe that we can trust God with our future. Do you worry about tomorrow? Do you worry about things? Are you a worrywart? Are you someone who worries about things?
Are you a planner? I remember when I was working in the corporate world; we used to carry these things called “daytimers,” where you would do a daily entry on what you were working on. Inside, there was a little booklet called the five-year planner. I was one of those crazy guys who tried to come up with things for five years; I would write it down. But, what I came to understand was that you really can't control what's going to happen five years from now.
You don't know what God's going to do. We can aim at things, but it causes anxiety when we try to get in the place of God. I don't know what you're feeling today. Maybe you're worried about something that a doctor told you; you've got an appointment this week and you're worried about how that's going to work out. You might be worried about paying a bill that's due.
It is the first of the month, after all, and so you're trying to figure out how to pay your mortgage payment. You're worried about how that's going to go. Maybe you're worried about your teenager and how they're going to turn out; you're trying to figure out how to make them turn out well.
You can't. Only God can change the human heart. So, I would say to you today that you can trust God with your future; you can trust Him, because His plans will come to pass. That's where the people of Israel were in Haggai's day. They were just a small group, a small remnant of people that were
returning from Babylonian captivity. They'd come back and they were starting to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, but it didn't look like it did, with all the beauty and the greatness under King David, King Solomon and so forth. Now, it's a small place inside of this Persian kingdom. They had to be wondering, How's it all going to work out?
What's our future look like? But then, here comes the Lord, speaking through the prophet Haggai, to tell the people of Israel that they could be assured that their future was secure in His hands. I believe today, as we look at these final verses, it finishes on a huge hallelujah, if you will. The book of Haggai finishes with the best word possible, that you can trust God with your future.
So, as we look at the text today, I think we'll see three reasons why you can trust God with your future. Let's dig in. Haggai 2:20-23 (ESV) 20 The word of the LORD came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, 22 and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms.
I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders. And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother. 23 On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts.” This is God's word. We're looking for three reasons to trust God with our future. Here's the first:
1. Because God’s sovereign plans will prevail.
God's sovereign plans will prevail. We're going to look at those first couple of verses there. I want you to notice the two, “I'm about to” statements. God's got two “I'm about to” statements. Do you see them there? Now, here's one thing I want you to know about Gods “about to” and yours “about to.”
They're two different things. My “about to” means I'm going to do it right now. I'm about to do this right here; unless I'm talking to my wife and I say, “I'm about to.” It means I'm going to work on it sometime today.
She wants me to do it right now. But when God says “I'm about to,” we're not sure if His “about to” is the same as my “about to.” He tells Haggai the prophet, ‘I want you to tell Zerubbabel the governor of Judah.’ He's the governor under king Darius of Persia.
He's over Jerusalem. I've got a word for him and I want you to tell him My plans because I'm about to do some stuff. I've got some plans and My plans will prevail. I'm about to shake things up. I'm about to overthrow some things and shake up some things.
“I'm about to;” I want you to go tell him. Now let's “back up the bus” a little bit and see where we're at. Verse 20 tells you that this is the second time God spoke to Haggai on the same day. It's the 24th day of the month.
Now, what month was it? We have to back up a few verses and we find out it's the ninth month. It's the same day. So this is the second word on the same day. Now, the first word was to the priest.
He had questions for the priests and for the people. But this word, He wants Haggai to go get Zerubbabel and pull him off to the side.He has a special word for him. And he told Haggai, remember how I've been taking note that Haggai's a really good diary keeper. Every time God speaks to him, he puts the date down in his diary and he goes, this is the same day God spoke to me twice.
But the second time he said that He had a word for Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah. I want you to go and speak to him. And here's what I want you to tell him. I'm about to shake up heaven and earth. I'm about to cause an earthquake to all the world's kingdoms
and not just the world's kingdoms, but the heavenly kingdoms because there are spiritual realities in the unseen world that I'm about to shake loose. I'm about to shake it all up. I'm about to bring an earthquake to all creation. I'm about to do this.
Then, He gets very, very specific. Now, this 24th day of the month, if we look back, we find out it was the ninth month. That's the month of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, which would be the equivalent on our calendar of probably about December 18th. The second word was, in verse 21, “...I am about to shake the heavens and the earth.” This speaks of celestial as well as terrestrial realities. ‘I'm about to shake everything up that I've created.’
Then, He gets more specific, in verse 22, “and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms.” “Throne” is singular. “Of kingdoms” is plural. Now that bothered me a little bit.
I read that and I thought, Now, is that in the Hebrew original translation? Shouldn’t it have said “thrones” of “kingdoms?” because kingdoms would have thrones? There has never been, in the history of the world, one throne over all the kingdoms, has there? I was trying to think about that, but I think there has been in the sense that humanity took the throne that belonged to God
and so, all human kingdoms have really been under a rebellious throne, singular. ‘I'm about to overthrow the throne of all kingdoms.’ Another way you might look at it is that there's the sense in which Satan had stolen from humanity from the time he tempted Adam and Eve. And Jesus calls him, in the New Testament, calls him “the prince of the air;” he's a principality.
We see in the book of Daniel where Michael the Archangel did battle with a fallen one when he was coming to speak to Daniel. We see some things here that there's an unseen reality, there are principalities in the unseen world. God says that He is going to overthrow that; He is going to overthrow the throne of nations, all the authority of the unseen and the seen. He is about to turn it upside down. He gets more specific: ‘I'm going to shake it up, I'm going to overthrow, I'm about to destroy the strength of nations and of kingdoms.’
They think that they are strong, they think that their armies, their chariots and their calvary are strong. By the way, for centuries, really all the way up to even World War I, did you know that they were still fighting with calvary? They were still using horses, even into World War I. Even in World War II, the Poles tried to fight Germany on horseback. It didn't go too well. But up until then, chariots and horsemen was the highest tech you could be. That's the strongest you could be, if you had a lot of chariots, a lot of calvary and you had armor and these things.
Chariots would be like a modern day tank. He's saying, ‘I'm going to overthrow that which nations rely on. I'm going to destroy their strength, the strength of their armies.’ Now what's His strategy for doing it? Is God just going to smite the whole thing?
No. He says, ‘Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to let them destroy each other.’ Do you see that? Notice that in verse 22 he says, “...And the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother.” He's done that before.
You can read an account of that in the book of Judges, with Gideon when he came in with the lamps and the jars and they turned on each other in their confusion. There's other places that that happened in the Bible. He's done that before. Really, that's always what sin does. The sinful structures, kingdoms and culture of this world is ultimately self destructive and will implode.
He says, ‘I'm going to let that happen. I'm going to let them turn on each other. I'm going to overthrow and I'm going to destroy their strength.The way it's going to work itself out, is they're going to kill each other, they're going to destroy each other.’ He tells Haggai, ‘I want you to go tell Zerubbabel.’ Do you remember what Zerubbabel’s name means?
He's the governor. You remember what his name means? It means “seed of Babylon, born in Babylon;” that's what his name means. Zerubbabel means “born in Babylon.”
But we read later in this passage, inverse 23, that he's the son of Shealtiel and Shealtiel is the son of Jehoiachin, who was the king that Nebuchadnezzar took as captive and brought him with that first group of exiles to Babylon. He was the last one. Jehoiachin was his grandfather. So here's Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, grandson of Jehoiachin.
His grandfather sat on David's throne. But now, here's Zerubbabel. He's born in Babylon, he's born in exile. He's supposed to be royalty, but he's not. This is a good word to him.
I want you to get him off to the side, and I want you to tell Zerubbabel (who feels about this big) I know that it doesn’t look too good, but I'm about to turn it all upside down. I'm about to turn everything upside down and I'm about to shake things up. You can trust My plans. Now, here's the thing: I want you to know and I don't know if you believe this or not.
I want to say this and I want to hear if you think you believe it - God's plans for you are better than your plans for you. Now, do you believe that?
Now, do you believe it every day? Because some of us are planners, and here's how we plan. We think, Now, God, can we talk for a minute?
This is my calendar for this week. These bills are due this week and I have these appointments. Could You bless my plans, Lord?
You know you're praying that way. Sounds to me like you don't believe that His plans are better than your plans. You might believe it, but you don't believe it. Now, I want you to think about it a little further. Wouldn't it be better to say, ‘God, this looks like what's on my calendar.
But, if You want to shake things up, if You want to turn things upside down, You're God and I'm not. I want Your plans to prevail in my house, in my life, in my marriage and with my kids, because Your plans for me are better than my plans for me.’ Do you believe that? It starts with declaring it and then acting on it. Then, when things don't go according to your plans, you know, God, I know I'm okay.
I can't figure out how I'm okay right now. But I know that You're still in control because You love me and You have what's best in mind for me. Your plans are better than my plans. I want you to just really think about that and work that out.
It says in Proverbs 19:21 (NLT) “You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” You can make your plans. I can almost see God up in heaven. I don't think He does it in a mean way, but I think maybe He laughs every once in a while and thinks, Look at what Gary's planning. Can you believe what Gary's planning right now?
If only he knew how much better it's going to be. He's planning for it to be that big, but I'm planning for it to be this big. Every year for the past few years, it's been a thing that we put into our calendar
and if God allows it, we'll do it again in June. We've already paid the deposit on the beach house. We're planning. God might decide we can't go there. He might wash the beach away.
I don't know what He might do, but every year in June, the Combs Clan go on our beach vacay. We take our kids, their spouses and our ten grandchildren, and we rent a big old house, and we spend the whole week at the beach making memories.
It's important to get your family together and do that, isn't it? One of the things we do is we build sandcastles. That's the kind of family we are. We go on vacation and work our heads off at the beach. We don't just build one sandcastle, we build sand “cities.”
Our kids and our grandkids are involved now. We build these things; we build them, but they never survive. We build intricately and build bridges. Then, each grandchild says, “I live in this one right here.” They'll go around and point.
”Which one do you live in?” “I live in this one.” I tell them, “The surf's going to hit that one first. Are you sure you want to live in that one?”
“Yeah, Papa. I've put more sand here.” We plan it out. Now, we have to watch out for the toddlers on the beach. They're like “Godzilla” coming through sometimes.
But, our main problem is that the surf comes up and back every day. So, I usually go out with some of the older grandchildren early in the morning. We make the first run to the beach, when the sun first comes up, to see what survived. Some of it does and some of it doesn't. By the week's end,/p>
when we say, “goodbye,” to the beach, there's no evidence that we were ever there. You know, that's kind of what history's like. The ebb and flow of time comes and washes away. Man's plans are washed away, like sandcastles at the beach. But God's plans will prevail.
Whose plans are you trying to follow today? You can trust God that His sovereign plans will prevail. Here's the second reason that you can trust God with the future:
2. Because God’s servants receive His unshakable kingdom.
If you're a believer in Jesus, you belong to Him and you've been brought into an unshakable kingdom, the kingdom of God. You've received an unshakable kingdom. So, when God does all this shaking, you're part of a kingdom that cannot be unshaken. Let's unpack how we got there. In our text, we're at verse 23.
We're on the last verse of the book of Haggai. He says, 23 “On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts.” “On that day,” what day? Well, it would be the day that He's about to do those other things: I am about to shake. I'm about to overthrow.
I'm about to destroy and overthrow. On the day that I do that, that'll be the day that I do this next thing I'm about to do.’ ‘The day I do this next thing,’ which he says, ‘here's what I'm going to do:’ “I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,”
Unusual language. I'm going to take you, Zerubbabel. Where's He going to take him? That's not what He means by “take.”
It reminds me of the kind of language I use as a pastor. For 33 years, I've been doing weddings. I kind of know a lot of this stuff by heart: “Do you “take” this woman to be your wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward? Do you “take” this
man to be your wedded husband?” That's this kind of language; to take as your own. It's like “marriage” language. It's “covenantal” language. Zerubbabel, I know who you are.
I know your daddy. I know your granddaddy, Jehoiachin. I rejected him. I rejected Jehoiakim. It put in jeopardy all the messianic prophecies of the Bible because it was prophesied from early on.
If you go back to Genesis, the first place that we have a Christ Messiah prophecy is in Genesis chapter three, where he says ‘the seed of the woman.’ By the way, women don't have seed. So it's like the virgin birth language right there.
”He will bruise your heel (speaking of Satan) but you will crush his head.” So he's speaking of one that's going to be born to a woman that's coming sometime in the future. Then He tells Jacob to prophesy over Judah, his son and prophesies that his tribe is a lion and that the scepter won't depart from him. I could just keep working through it. There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament and Jesus fulfilled everyone.
One of the things He promised David was that one of his sons would sit on his throne forever. There will be an eternal kingdom. But here's a problem.
Jehoiakin got carried off into exile and lost the throne to the point where he lost his throne. So, this is what he's saying,
‘I know you, Zerubbabel and I know you think you lost everything, but I'm about to take you.’ It's the kind of language He used when He called David. Look at 2 Samuel 7:8 (NIV) “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says:
I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. It’s the same kind of language he used when he called David, 2 Samuel 7:8 ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel.” He says for Haggai to go and tell Zerubbabel I'm going to take him as my servant.
I'm going to choose him. I'm going to take him as my servant. Isaiah says this of the Messiah. Isaiah 40:2 is speaking of the coming Messiah. And this is God speaking of the coming Christ.
He says, Isaiah 42:1 (ESV) “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.” He calls him “my servant.” When Jesus came, He says, “I do what the Father says. Whatever I see the Father doing, I do it.”
“Whatever I hear him saying, I say it.” He was the perfect son and the perfect servant. He came not to be served, but to serve. He tells us, He says, “I'm God's servant.”
So, he's saying something here to Zerubbabel; “I'm going to take you as my servant, declares the Lord.” Notice the triple “declares the LORD” in verse 23; It opens with a “declares the LORD.
it does a midpoint D is in all caps,
so that's “Yahweh.” Declares the “Yahweh” of Heaven's armies. Declares the LORD of hosts. I'm going to do this. I choose you.
I take you as Mine. This is a great word. He's inviting him to be restored to his plans for the kingdom. He's going to shake everything up. But there's one kingdom that won't be shaken.
Now, Gary, how do you get at this? Well, the best way to understand the Old Testament is to read it through the lens of the New Testament. What does the New Testament say about what we're reading right now? Does it say anything about it? Well, it does.
Hebrews 12:26-28 (ESV) 26 “At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,
and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.” Here's what he says, as His servants, as His followers, we've become citizens of an unshakable kingdom. So no matter what kind of chaos you see on the news, no matter what we hear about what's going on in Ukraine, Russia, China, Korea and North Korea; whatever we hear on the news about the politics of things or whatever concerns we have about the economy, know this - that the ebb of time, we know, will wash it all away. It's all going to be shaken and overturned.
If you put your reliance there, you will be washed away with it. You will be carried away. By following the wrong king, the wrong throne, he's going to overturn all of that. But if you follow King Jesus, who's born into the line of Zerubbabel, into the line of David, if you follow Him, you've become part of an unshakable, eternal kingdom, and so we can give Him worship. On October 17, 1989, an earthquake, called the Loma Prieta earthquake, struck the San Francisco Bay.
It was a 6.9 magnitude and it caused widespread devastation; it destroyed almost every building in the area. Freeways collapsed, buildings crumbled, fires broke out. It was devastating. However, one of the city's most recognizable strengths/structures remained. It was the Transamerica Pyramid, one of the tallest buildings in the city.
It was designed to be earthquake proof, and it had a deep foundation and a flexible design that allowed it to absorb the seismic waves without collapsing. Even though the building, it was said, swayed over a foot back and forth, it took no damage other than the desks, papers and stuff flying everywhere inside the building, but the building continued to stand. It was structurally intact when other buildings were demolished. I don't know if it would have survived a 9.0 magnitude.
I do know of one thing that it won't survive. It won't survive the utter shaking, the “I'm about to: shaking, but it is kind of a symbol of an unshakable kingdom that God's building right now. Now, where's it at? Well, Jesus says it's at hand.
He says it's near. He says it's coming. How do you know where the kingdom of heaven is? It's wherever Christ is King.
Is He king of your life? Is He king of your house? Is He king of your family? Then, the kingdom has come to you. If you follow King Jesus, if you've made Him king of your life, you have become a citizen of the unshakable kingdom.
This is the promise and this is why we can trust in His future. It means that all of our interests are safe in Him. No good thing will be lost. It means that all of our exertions will be crowned with ultimate success.
All of our spiritual exertions, those things that we've done for Jesus will stand in the end. They will be unshakable. It means those people that we've talked to about Jesus, that have come to faith in Him, will join us. They say, “You can't take it with you,” but you can take people with you. You can take them with you by saying, ‘Hey, let me introduce you to Jesus’’
and they become a part of this unshakable kingdom. You can know that your reward is certain. You can trust in His future for you as you invest and depend on His kingdom. That leads to the third reason we can trust God with the future. We've got a few more words left in this wonderful book of Haggai. It leads to our third reason:
3. Because God’s promised King will reign.
Because God's promised king will reign. God is speaking with that triple declaration language right there. That is some powerful.
Three times, He says, “declares the LORD of hosts.” This is how I want you to say it to him and when you say this to him, I want you to say, “Oh, Zerubbabel.” That's some Old English right there; I'm glad the ESV included it.
If you look up the word, “O,” the first thing it says is that it's Old English. We don't say it like that anymore. So what does it mean?
I don't know. If my mama said, “Oh, Gary Wayne,” I was probably in trouble. But, the way God's saying it here, when I looked it up, it has the idea of adding dignity and specificity to it. I'm not talking to everybody right now; I'm talking to you.
I'm talking right to you. I know that you're the son of Shealtiel and I'm going to take you. I'm going to make you My servant.
Verse 23, “I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of hosts.” What are You going to do to me?
Are You going to take me and make me, create me into something else that I wasn't before? That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to make you. I'm going to restore something to you that you think you've lost forever. I'm going to make you like a signet ring. I'm going to put you on My right hand and make you like My signet ring. That's what I'm going to do for you,
Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel is just a little old governor. They've lost the kingdom.
He doesn't even have a Hebrew name. He's got a Babylonian name; he was born in Babylon. I have chosen you. I've chosen you, Zerubbabel.
Now remember what I told you about how Zerubbabel was born in Babylon and his father's name was Shealtiel and Shealtiel never sat on a throne? His father never sat on a throne,but his grandfather, Jehoiachin, did sit on a throne before Babylon came and Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Jerusalem and carried him off into Exile. To the point where Jeremiah, the prophet who was writing during that time, some seventy years before Haggai actually writes this about Jehoiachin, the grandfather of Zerubbabel. Jeremiah 22:24 (NLT) “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “I will abandon you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off.
They had Jeremiah's writings that Zerubbabel heard growing up; what Jeremiah wrote about his granddaddy. You know what? We were supposed to be in the line of David; we were supposed to be in the line that the Messiah comes in. God took the ring off.
Now, we're nothing. I don't even have a Jewish name. I'm a nobody, but God says, ‘You know what, Zerubbabel? Here's the final word from Haggai that I want just for you.’
See, God's a personal God. He's got a word for you. He says, ‘I'm going to take you and I'm going to make you the signet ring on my right hand. I took it off your grandfather, but I'm restoring to your line all the promises that I gave to David.’
How about that? Man, that had to be encouraging. Don't you imagine that was encouraging to Zerubbabel? He had to be wondering what this means. Of course, I wonder what He means by
”On that day” and “about to,” because the truth is, Zerubbabel kind of disappears from the pages of biblical history. We don't know what came of him. Some have suggested he passed away about 10 years after this, about 510 B.C.
We don't know what came of him. I'm sure he was encouraged by this. God's putting the ring back on; He's taking Zerubbabel and He saying, ‘I'm putting you back on my finger.’ Now, what's a signet ring? A signet ring had the seal of the king, so that if he was sending a message by an ambassador, they would roll up the scroll, tie it off and the king would put a wax seal on it. He would press his ring into it and it was not to be opened until it was given to the person it belonged to.
They would look and they'd say, ‘That's from the king; you break the seal.’ Kings would often wear the signet ring on their right hand. Sometimes they would wear it around their neck on a necklace so that they could use it.
Sometimes, a king would give it to somebody and he would say, ‘Here, you take my signet ring; whoever was the bearer of the ring moved with the king's authority. God says to Zerubbabel, ‘I'm going to give you authority. I'm going to give you My signet ring. You're going to be on My right hand.’
Zerubbabel had to be thinking, What does this mean? As far as we know, other than it being very, very encouraging to him in these words, we know that there was this constant overthrow of these kingdoms. Probably, he saw a little bit of it, but maybe Zerubbabel didn't see any of it, because we know Persia gets overthrown by Alexander the Great. Then, he dies and his four generals are divided into four lands.
Then, the Romans come in and take it over. So, there is this overthrow, and it's still happening to this day. Zerubbabel didn't see all of that. What did Zerubbabel see?
I don't think he saw much of it, but God gave him a word. ‘I don't know if you'll see everything that God has for you, dearly beloved, until the day He calls us home on that day. Verse 23,
”On that day…” Surely this day is ultimately an eschatological day, an “end times” day, a day when King Jesus will return the One who really wears the signet ring on the Father's right hand. The One who has the authority of the Father. Jesus says in Matthew 28:18, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.”
We see Zechariah, who's the prophet right after Haggai, right during the same time period. He prophesies of this coming Messiah, and Matthew quotes it. In Matthew 21, he quotes Zechariah, Matthew 21:4-5 (ESV), This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
So here He comes; here comes King Jesus. So, 500 years later, with this temple they've rebuilt, here comes King Jesus riding a donkey down to the Eastern Gate.He comes in and He walks around this very temple that they're rebuilding right here in the book of Haggai. So, the glory of the second temple is greater than the former, not because of its wealth, but because the King is coming into it. This King has a seal.
He seals us. It says in Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV) 13 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” So, when you receive Christ, you receive this unshakable kingdom, but you also receive the Holy Spirit, Who seals your soul for your redemption unto His return.
He's also like a guarantee. Did you see this language? He's like a deposit, guaranteeing that everything that belongs to Jesus is yours. He has sealed you, believer, with this. He's saying to Shealtiel, this language; He's saying to Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel is a “Christological type.”
He's a foreshadowing of Jesus. He's telling Zerubbabel actually everything He's going to give to Jesus, Who is in the line of Zerubbabel. I said that Zerubbabel’s name disappears from the pages of the Bible. Well, it does in the Old Testament, until you get over to Matthew. Then, he shows up again In Matthew chapter 1: 12, in the lineage of Jesus
and again over in Luke 3:27 in the lineage of Jesus. So, we see the fulfillment of what God was telling Zerubbabel. His name appears once again over here as it regards Jesus. Some years ago, in 2018, my wife and I were invited to the National Prayer breakfast in Washington D.C. You have to get a personal invitation; it has to be embossed and has to have a signature from the President.
There's a lot of details to it; it's a whole package. When you show up, you have to go through a secret service check in. You have to show that you have the invitation. If you show up without the invitation, they won't let you in. Not only that, you have to show ID that you're that person.
Then, they give you name badges and all kinds of things so you can get in and out of all the things. It's not just a breakfast, it's three days of meetings. It was really wonderful. Unfortunately, I got the flu on the way there and I can't remember much of it. My wife thought that we really should go home because I was getting really sick. But, I was staying here for the whole thing.
We did; it was quite an honor. We got to meet some fantastic people from around the world that were there, that believe in Jesus. We couldn't have gotten in without the invitation. We couldn't have gotten in without the Presidential seal that was embossed on the invitation.
The same is true of you and I when it comes to this unshakable kingdom that Jesus is King over. There's only one way to get into that and that is to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, as the payment for your sins, as the One who is going to overturn all the world's kingdoms. It will all be replaced with His everlasting kingdom. The new heavens and the new earth will come on that day. Will you be part of that?
If you make that decision, you can trust God with your future. His plans for you are better than your plans for you. Do you believe that? Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, we want You to be King of our lives. We want to be part of Your unshakable kingdom. I pray for that person, first of all, that came in today and they've never given their life to you. I pray for you, my friend, right where you are.
You could receive Him as your Lord and Savior right now; prayer is just expressing your faith. You could be praying silently or even aloud with me right now. Pray like this, if it's your desire, “Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I've been trying to be on the throne of my life and control my own life, but I give up.
I surrender. I want You to be on the throne. I believe You came and that You died on the cross for my sins and that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. I believe that. Would You come and take control of my life?
I surrender the throne of my heart to You. I want You to be my Lord and my Savior. Forgive me of my sins and make me a child of God. I want to follow You all the days of my life. I want to be a citizen of that unshakable kingdom.”
Others are here and you've received Jesus and you're a citizen, you're a servant, but you still worry. You still worry about things. Would you just confess that to the Lord right now and say, “Lord, forgive me.
I believe, Lord, help me with my unbelief. Lord, help me. I'm worried about this and I just want to turn my worries into prayers right now.
I just lift it up to You, Lord. This thing that's before me right now that I'm thinking about, I surrender it to You. I hand it over to You, King Jesus. I trust that Your plans for me are better than my plans for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
I want to read this quote to you. I forgot to read it. This is from Matthew Henry,
“Our Lord Jesus is the Signet on God's right hand, for all power is given to him, and derived from him. By him, and in him, all the promises of God are yes and amen.” Every promise in the Bible, if you have Jesus, it's yes and Amen.
Audio
Good morning, church. So good to see all of you this morning. We made quite a mess already. This is good. This is good.
We're having church together. And this is our last Sunday of this series called It's Time. And we're going to finish strong. I pray today, finishing up the book of Haggai next week. I pray that you'll be able to come back.
We're starting a new series on the Sermon on the Mount. We're going to be there for several weeks together and I believe the Lord's really going to bless us through that series and teach us a lot. It's one of the most. It's the big one, if you will, one of the most powerful sermons that Christ ever preaches. And so it's going to be fun to go week by week through that.
And so let's finish well today, though, in the book of Haggai, finishing up chapter two and the end of Haggai. I want to remind you that the reason we titled this whole series Its Time is based on chapter one and part of chapter two where God says, these people say, the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord yet. Now be strong, work, for I am with you, declares the Lord. My spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.
So be strong, do the work, be fearless. That's been what we've been on about for eight weeks now. We're in our eighth week. And God, I believe today in his final word to the people of Haggai. And now his final word to us in this series is be strong and trust me with your future.
Learn that it's time for you to trust me with what's coming. And I know this confidently. I ask this question almost, it's almost sort of rhetorical, if you will, for me to say, hey, do you ever worry about the future? Some of you maybe are at a point now where you're like, you know what? I'm not so worried about that anymore.
Praise God for you. I think maybe that happens late in life to some people. I'm not sure. But most of us are pretty concerned about the future, at least on some levels. We're maybe worry is not the right word, but you're at times anxious about what's coming.
Maybe you are worried about things. Do you ever wonder if God is really in control of the chaos around you? Do you ever wonder if he's really a part of what's happening in your life? Maybe you think on a grand scale, I'm sure God is doing something. I'm sure, that he's purposing things and manipulating things in such a way that his kingdom will come and all that.
But does he care about what's going on in my personal life? I mean, there's billions of people on the earth. Is God really interested in what's going on with me? Do you trust him with your future? Maybe for some of us it's easy to say, I trust God with the future, whatever that means.
But what about my purpose, my future? I think that's the greater question. Do you feel uncertain at times about how you're doing as a husband, as a wife, how you're doing as a father or mother, how you're doing in your job, how's your health, what's going on in your family? Do these things concern you? A lot of people are super concerned right now about the state of our nation.
Maybe we've been. I would argue that we've been concerned about that since the beginning of our nation. All right, so that's just kind of the nature of being a citizen of any nation is you're going to have ups and downs and you're going to have concerns, new ones today than you had yesterday. And maybe at times you're worried, maybe you're uncertain. The people in Haggai's day are experiencing all of that and maybe tenfold some of what you're experiencing.
They've been allowed to go back to their homeland, but they're under Persian rule. They're not even under their own rule. They don't know what's coming tomorrow. They don't know what will happen when they finally finish the things that God has called them to do. They don't really know what's next.
Their temple at this point, as we finish the book of Haggai is still just got the foundations laid. We actually don't in this book get to see them complete the work. But God gives them one final word that I think is more important than whether or not they get a roof on that building. He gives them a more important word. He gives them assurance that he's ahead of them, already working and that the steps are guided by his hand.
So we're going to be finishing these last few verses. Haggai, chapter two, where God spoke through the prophet Haggai to assure this kingly type, this governor named Zerubbabel to assure him that he can trust God. He speaks specifically to this man today. I think that's important. And the text is going to give us three reasons we can trust God with our future.
So let's read these handful of verses together. Haggai 2, verse 20 through the end. It says the word of the lord came a second time to Haggai on the 24th day of the month. Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I turned too many pages. Sticky Bible.
I'm about to shake the heavens and the earth and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I'm about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall go down, every one by the sword of his brother on that day. Hear this church on that day, declares the LORD of hosts. I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. God bless the reading of his word.
Amen. What a weird ending to the book, right? You're like, I don't know what to do with that. Well, that was fun for me this week. These last few verses going, we got to end with a banger here.
What am I supposed to do with this? And the more I studied, the more I kind of felt like God was really in this text with incredible promises, promises way beyond the people of this time. In fact, promises that we have not yet seen. Church. This is really a great word.
Through the prophet. So here's the first reason that God gives as to why we can trust him with our future. It's because God's sovereign plans will prevail. He will not fail. We just sang that together.
In fact, that verse is kind of repetitious. In fact, some of you in the room are like, why do we keep saying he won't, he won't, he won't. Maybe at times we need to just remind ourselves God is not going to fail. Because we need to hear that over and over again. Some mornings you wake up going, boy, I feel like a mess today.
I really hope God doesn't. I hope he doesn't fail. Good news. He doesn't have bad days. He's not like us.
He doesn't need sleep. Some of you didn't get enough rest right now and it shows. You didn't get enough sleep last night. That's all good. Hey, I see some smiling faces though.
You're putting on a good show. I didn't get quite enough last night either, but it's all good for some reason. At about 3:00am The Lord just said, hey, wake up and think about life for a little While I'm like, okay, I don't know why we're doing that, Lord. That's what I did this morning. His plans, God's sovereign will, it will prevail.
There's no failing. In fact, God is repetitive in the way he talks to his people here. And I want you to hear this. This morning, church, God says, I'm to shake up some stuff. I'm about to in the future.
Stuff's about to change. It comes in verse 20 saying, A second time God speaks. The reason it says this is this idea of again. So Sometime on the 24th day of Kislev, which is probably around December 18th, that's what Haggai dates this time. All right, that day, that morning, we got the message we got last week where he comes saying, hey, good news.
I on this day will bless you. And then sometime later that day, God shows up again and says, and I want to remind them of one more thing. Haggai, go tell them one more thing. And then they can. They can.
They can go on with their lives. In fact, the one more thing isn't for the first time, isn't for the whole people. Every other time, if you read through Haggai, every other time he says, tell Zerubbabel, tells Joshua, and then tell the people, bam, bam, bam here. He says, no, I want you to speak specifically to Zerubbabel. There's a lot of reasons for that.
First of all, he's the leader. But second of all, he's in the line of the Messiah and everything. This signet ring, this cool conversation. God is saying, I've got a bigger plan that you can't see. Nobody in this generation will see, but I've got a big plan coming.
This is amazing. My sovereign plans are going to prevail. I'm about to shake up the nations. He gives these powerful statements that I think would have encouraged Zerubbabel. He didn't get to see most of this happen, but it's got to be so thrilling to hear from God and just hear, I'm with you.
I'm going to bless you. I'm going to take care of you. You may not get to see the fruit of everything you put out there. Church, do you know this? There's a calling on your life as Christians to just cast seeds of the gospel.
There's a call on your life, he says, with the great commission, go and tell and make disciples and baptize them. This is all. And it's this idea of casting seeds and being a man or woman of God, but you don't always get to see the fruit of that. You might get a call 10 years from now from somebody that's like, hey man, that stuff you said to me a while back, it finally stuck. Well, praise God.
But sometimes you don't get that you'll be in glory one day and see Joe Schmo that you witnessed to and go, you made it, Hallelujah. But you may not get to see the fruit in this life. And there's a lot of things like that. You're putting in parents in the room, you're putting in work right now that you're not going to see the fruit of for a while. And at times it's going to look like this is not working right.
I think they're broke and I don't know how to fix them. I think they're busted. God sent, I need a factory default option on this, a factory reset. God, can we do it? But just keep putting in the best.
I think take this as an opinion, but I think it's true. The best thing you can do as a parent is perseverance. It's maybe the greatest gift you can possibly give to your kids is perseverance. Just be consistent day in and day out, even when it doesn't always look like it's working. If God has told you and guided you how to be a father or mother, continue in that.
Persevere and let the fruit come as God desires. It's up to him. His plans will prevail here. He tells the people of God who have just been put through the wringer for the last two generations of their history. He says, guess what?
All the brokenness around you, I'm about to shake it up. You don't need to worry about it. You don't need to worry about this. I will overthrow the kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of kingdoms.
Verse 22. I'm going to take care of the chariots and all this. Why does he say it that way? There's something you need to put yourself in the early. I mean, in fact, we don't even have to go back very far in history to find out that Calvary is the most effective thing on the battlefield for thousands of years.
You don't have to go back very far. I mean, go back to the civil war. And Calvary is still one of the most effective things on the whole battlefield. And God says, don't have. You don't have to worry about that anymore.
The most effective strategy of the enemy I will overthrow. So fear not. My plans will prevail. And how's he going to make it happen? Boy, this is tough.
This is tough language. In verse 22, he says, Every one of them by the sword of his brother. I'm going to cause the nations to just keep warring and destroying each other. And you might go, man, God is. He's wild.
Here, look. That's the story of mankind. Don't you understand that this is what has happened in our history as a human race? That one nation succeeds, one nation succeeds. But underneath it all, God has cut this straight through line of what he's doing through his people and through his son Jesus.
And that the Christian people, if you will, they stand outside of all of this. Yeah, I get it, Church. We're Americans in here. Some of you are very patriotic. Some of you served your nation and various things.
And we're on all different sides of how to believe and how to vote and all that. But I want you to understand something. God is reminding these people, and now reminding you that he has a plan for his people that has nothing to do with these nations. He's going to make them overthrow and overthrow. I'd like for us to be a good nation and do things justly and all of that.
And I'm going to vote according to that. But I'm not putting my. I'm not putting my faith in that stuff, not putting my hope in that mess. I'm putting my hope in the fact that God says, I'm going to take care of all these little. These things.
I got to tell you, Church, I'm just not that worried about World War Three. When I read news and stuff like that, it seems like everybody's very concerned about it, all right? And everything that's happened over the last couple of days, we're going to have World War Three. I've been hearing this my whole life. I've been hearing it my whole life.
World War Three is coming. We were at war for 20 years. And some of you went, I'm not worried about that. And here's why. God said, I will shake up the nations.
And all of it's mine. I created it all. And my purposes in all of this are so that more and more people would come to know me. Those are my purposes and plans in all this. Proverbs 19, it says, you can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail.
I hope this guides you today. I don't know what you're worried about. Maybe you're worried about these big things that are happening in our world. Maybe that's it. But I bet for a lot of you it's just little things in your life.
Just concerns about family, concerns about job. That's most of us. And I want you to hear something. You can make plans, but know that God's purposes will prevail. And the better choice is to get with what he's up to.
The better choice is to say, God, I don't know exactly if I'm where I should be and where you've guided me. Would you show me? It seems to me that you've given me an opportunity in this workplace, in this family. God, would you show me how you would like me to act in this moment in my generation? God, I just want to be faithful.
Where you've put me now, that is a good ask. That's a prayer I think God can't wait to answer. God, just show me where you want me so that I can be faithful. Pop up this picture real quick for me, Caleb. This is one of the many Combs family beach trips where we go down and make a big mess on the sea.
We had a pretty good setup that. Every time we do this, I just want you all to know, if this is you, I'm calling you out just because I got to. If when you're walking by something like this and you say to your little kids, hey, go stomp on all that. You're not my kind of people, all right? Like that.
Do you realize how much work that is? Go by and go, ooh, and come by and say, great job. But your kids becoming Godzilla? Not my cup of tea. Alright, Just food for thought.
But every year, guess what happens? Well, I could go back to that very spot on the beach right now. I guarantee you there's no sign, not even a tale that I ever did, that me and my brother and my son and my dad and all of us getting together, building this, my daughters. There's no show of it. Even if Godzilla child didn't show up.
God's waves are powerful, right? They're powerful. And we always like to build it in such a way that as the waves come in, they'll river through all of our castles. It's pretty cool, right? We have a lot of fun.
But his plans, his purposes, in the way that he guides the oceans, they always defeat these sandcastles. It made me think just as I was pondering what it means that his plans will prevail. What I'm showing you here is we can make all these cool things, right? We can do a lot of wonderful things in this life. But understand that if you're not for the kingdom of God, that some of this stuff's just not going to last.
Right? You can build wonderful things in this life. But understand this, this is not God's eternal kingdom. He's got a future plan. So all this stuff, it's not to say, hey, don't have nice things and nice houses and work hard and do these things for your kids.
It's not what I'm trying to say. But if that's your goal in life, got a small goal. Got a very small goal. It's not a God sized goal. A God sized goal is, I don't know what you want me to do in my generation, God, but I want to live up to it.
If you want to set, I don't know, 100 people free through my testimony, God, would you do it and show me how? If you want me to go anywhere, God, I will do it. Know that these sand castles we're building in this life, they're going to get washed by the waves. But there's some permanent stuff that we can be about, and I just want to be about it with you. God's plans will prevail.
You can trust him in this. And that's the good news. The good news of that point is when you're in line with what he's up to in your life, you can be confident that he will prevail. Here's the second reason. The second reason is this.
It's because God's servants receive his unshakable kingdom. His sovereign plans will prevail and his servants receive something unshakable, something that won't get washed away by waves. This is this final verse of our text for the whole series. He says on that day. Now I'm going to make an argument that that day has not fully happened.
I believe this is one of those many eschatological terms that God uses throughout his scripture. Here in the Hebrew, it's the word yom, which is sometimes even capitalized in the Bible. The idea here that all of these kingdoms will be destroyed and that his eternal kingdom will last. We haven't seen the end state of all that yet. And so here he's telling his people here early on, but don't worry, because you're mine.
This language church, I pray you can hear it for yourself today. Verse 23. When God shows up to Zerubbabel, whose name I want to remind you. Zerubbabel's name means born in Babylon, a horrible name for a Jewish King. It's a reminder to them that they suffered for 70 years because of disobedience to God.
His very name is a reminder of their brokenness. But to that man, God shows up and says, I'll take you, my servant, you're mine. This word. And don't make this weird, alright? Some of you are going to make this weird.
Don't make it weird. The idea of I will take you could even mean I will take you as my wife.
It should be beautiful language to you that God, he likes these terms, all right? So if it's weird to you, you need to get over this, all right? God likes to say to you, church, that you are the bride of Christ. He is telling Zerubbabel, I will take you as my own. I will make a vow to you, a covenant with you, that I will not break.
And that's what he's done now with his people, the church. You are the bride of Christ and you're meant to show off his glory to the world. This is the kind of language he likes to use. And it's so sweet for Zerubbabel to hear it because just two generations before him, his grandfather God says, I'm gonna, I'm done with you. Basically, I'm gonna read that verse here in a little while.
But he just moves on from his grandfather, Jehoiakim. So now for Zerubbabel to hear, you're mine, you're my servant. I'm making a vow to you. What? What incredible news that must have been to hear God's not done with us.
Praise him for it. In 2nd Samuel 7, this language is kind of used. It says, now then tell my servant David, this is what the Lord Almighty says. I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and I appointed you ruler over my people, Israel. He is saying something now to the great, great, great grandson.
However many generations have passed since David, he's now saying the same words. You're my servant and I will take you for myself. There's not a whole lot of times in the Bible that God says my servant. This is sweet language to him. It should be sweet language to you in Christ Jesus.
I want you to know something. Because of the Gospel, God now calls you my servant. It may not seem like an upgrade to you for him to go from the governor of Israel to now the servant of the Holy God, but that's a big promotion. It's way better to find out I'm not just a governor of a people who are under Persian rule, who are under the Thumb of a dictator. No, I got better news for you.
You're a servant of the Most High King. You're a servant of God Church. This is true of you today. You are a servant of the Holy God. And no matter where you go in this world and no matter where you're from, guess what?
Those brothers and sisters of ours in China and in Africa and in Europe and in Australia, they get to say along with you, we are servants of the Most High God. And this is a greater kingdom. It's an unshakeable one God is promising them. I'm about to move on from all of this stuff, and my eternal kingdom is coming, and my servants will get to receive it. This idea of servant is the idea of worshiper.
It's significant. It's the idea of coming up under and paying homage, if you will, to the Most High King. It's the same title he gives to King David and to the coming Messiah. Isaiah 42, it says, behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him.
He will bring forth justice to the nations. This is what we get to be a part of. I think it's rightful that we would end our season here in its time, with this big celebration and then also remind each other that we're a part of a bigger thing, a. A bigger mission of what God's doing in this city, in this nation, in this world, that we're just a little piece. And I really appreciate something that someone said recently to me.
He said the idea of what God's doing in your church right now must show that God really loves your church and has a plan to reach a certain piece of the harvest in Rocky Mount. There's some reason that he has not allowed us to fail. You know, we could have 20, 20. Did you know a ton of churches failed in that year? A ton in this very area.
All throughout eastern North Carolina, all throughout the world. This was a very hard season to stay in church and all of that. For some reason, we persevered. It didn't always look pretty. Those of you who were on that journey, there were some messy days.
God has persevered through us and with us. And it seems to me, in the new opportunities he's providing, he has intent in his heart to reach certain people in this city through us. That's an amazing thing to find out. God loves you and has a plan for you, specifically where he's put you. And it's part of this unshakable kingdom.
Hebrews 12 it says this very similar language. At that time his voice shook the earth. And now he has promised yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. This phrase yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence. There are things in this life that cannot be shaken. They're eternal things, image bearers of God. I think it's a big piece of what he's speaking to there. I'm going to share a little story with you about something that happened when I was 4 years old.
So I don't remember this. I found this on Google as I was trying to find out some ideas I had to illustrate this points. Don't think less of me. I don't remember this event at all. All right, but in 1989, when 4 year old Jonathan was not watching the news, on October 17th, this earthquake hit San Francisco.
Some of you might remember this. It was a massive one. 6.9 causing widespread devastation all throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Freeways collapsed, buildings crumbled, there was fires everywhere. And strangely enough, you can pop this image up.
One building, this awkward looking building stood firm. No issues. It's called the Trans American Pyramid. It stood firm and the reason for that, and I don't have a clue why they built that, that's a weird looking thing just in the middle of that city. But they were up to something.
They designed that thing with earthquakes in mind. I know a lot of buildings do this nowadays, but this is, I guess one of the early ones designed this to absorb seismic waves without collapsing. This building, it was said, swayed over a foot during the earthquake. Can you imagine being at the top of that and going, oh my Lord. That have been terrifying.
That would have been terrifying. And yet it did not crumble, it did not fall. It absorbed this huge earthquake and even though it swayed, it stood firm. It didn't suffer severe damage. I think this is a powerful picture, if you will, one of many that I could have shared what God can be doing in his people.
What I mean by that is when you get, when you get your head around God's unshakable kingdom, you're kind of earthquake proof. It causes you to be able to smile when everybody else is devastated. It causes you to be able to have hope when everyone else is hopeless. It causes you to stand firm in a city where Everything else just exploded and fell and is on fire for you to go. Okay, but I mean, I kind of knew this stuff was coming, right?
Is your life quake proof? How do you even do that? How do you become an unshakable person? Well, you know, I could eat right, get more sleep and work out. Okay, but then what happens when one of the D days shows up?
This is what I. This is what I heard my dad saying this for many years, and I'm still in his terms. We have D days in our lives. Death, disease, divorce, disaster. These D days, they hit us all.
Why is that? Because sin is in the world and this world is broken. And there's hard times. What happens when the D days show up? Have your workouts been good enough for the D days?
Have you got enough sleep for the D days? None of us can. So how do you get unshakable? Well, that comes from seeing God for who he really is. That comes from saying, my life is not my own.
And that's a hard first step to say, I was made by God for his purposes, not my own. He's in charge. If his plans will prevail, that means just intuitively I have to say, then my plans may not prevail. If his plans will always last and always work out, unless mine are in tune with his, they're probably not going to happen. So now when I start to say, well, his plans are my plans, his kingdom is my kingdom, his business is my business.
I can be a plumber, I can be an electrician, I can work any field in this life, but I can line up and say, your kingdom is my kingdom. Wherever you have me, I'm about your business. And now suddenly when everybody else is going, I hear they're laying people off at work, they're laying people off at work, you go, okay, well, then I guess God's got something new in store for me. I know it's scary, and I know maybe you're even thinking, well, that's insane what you're saying, Jonathan. Is it really though?
If I'm about his business and I can believe he's got me doing what I'm doing right now for a purpose, and then that stops. Okay, God, well, what's next? What are we doing now? God, kids get this better than us adults. We get dumber as we get older in some ways, you know, like when stuff just doesn't go right for a kid, they may pout.
Some of your kids might really pout, you know, and every child does that. But, like, they move on pretty quickly. You ever noticed that? Like, hey, I. I thought we were going to keep doing this fun thing.
Dad, we're done with that today. Oh, man. But what are we doing tomorrow? You know, they're just always ready. Okay, what?
Next up, next up. And we, as adults get. Boy, we might get depressed for five years. Man, I can't believe I lost my job five years later. I'm like, I probably should move on.
Some of you are going through that right now. One of those D days.
I want you to understand something. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And his kingdom is unshakeable. And he wants you to be a part of it. He's designed you for something more.
Would you line up and say, okay, God, this is tough, what I'm going through right now, but you have a purpose in it. I don't know what you're up to, God, but would you show me? I just want to be faithful. I want to be faithful. In my generation, God's servants receive an unshakeable kingdom.
We can trust him with our future. Here's the third. And this was just too fun. Because God's promised king will reign. This is a good check for all of you in the room that are so.
Either so excited about how things are going in your nation right now or just so distraught about how things are going in your nation right now. I want you to know neither matter. They just don't. Sorry. I'm not sorry.
I'm lying to you. I shouldn't do that. I'm not sorry. Because no human that serves in our country is the king. And we're never going to have those kings until King Jesus comes and reigns.
We will never have a perfect government. We will never have a perfect king or president or any ruler. They're never going to be perfect. They're always going to be a mess. They're going to be broken.
People on every side are going to have things they just can't stand about them. I want you to know something that's going to keep happening until King Jesus comes. And the good news is you can be a part of an unshakable kingdom when you get behind the fact that God's promised king, King Jesus, will reign. He reigns now. I shouldn't even say will.
He will in a very obvious way soon, but he reigns now. Someday it will be obvious to everyone. The whole world will know, and every knee will bow. Revelation says God declares. Why am I even bringing this up?
You think we're here Talk, Jonathan, calm Down. All right, we're in verse 23 talking about Zerubbabel. What's that got to do with King Jesus? Because God is awesome. And he's sitting here saying some stuff that makes absolutely no sense in Haggai unless you look to the future.
He says to Zerubbabel, stuff that never happens to Zerubbabel. He says, I will make you like a signet ring. I will make you my servant. He calls him out by the name son of Shealtiel. He's saying, I'm recognizing your Davidic lineage and I'm going to make you a signet ring.
That's the thing that kings use to mark their letters, to mark their decrees. Guess what? Zerubbabel doesn't have and will never really have a signet ring that means anything. He is the ruler of diddly squat Persia, is in charge and he's going to die. Most writers of this day, if you go back and look at all we have is just extra biblical stuff on this Jewish tradition and various histories.
He's going to die just a few years after this and never see any for 500 years. Church, there are no kings. There's King Herod. He's a puppet king Herod comes during Jesus day. He's not even a Jew.
He's a puppet king that Roman stalls to try to keep the peace. And then King Jesus shows up. So he promises Zerubbabel something that no one will see for 500 years.
This messianic prophecy right here. To the people of God, I will make you a signet ring. I have chosen you. One day you're going to see my glory in this place, in this very temple that y'all been whining about and saying. It's too small, it's not what we remember.
Oh, this is way better. This is way better because King Jesus is about to walk the streets. You just don't see it yet. And it's really good news. I mentioned this earlier.
It's such good news personally to Zerubbabel. Look at Jeremiah, chapter 22. This is about his grandfather, Jehoiachin. It says, as surely as I live, says the Lord, I will abandon you, Jehoiakin, son of Jehoiakim, King of Judah. Even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull it off.
So when Zerubbabel hears this word, he's like, God's back. He's back in his people's lives. He's restoring his people because he said to my granddad, if you were A signet ring, I'd cast you out. I abandon you. And now to his grandson, I will make you like a signet ring.
I have chosen you for as good a news as that is to Haggai. And you're thinking, well, I don't really give a rip about Zerubbabel. That was two, three thousand years ago almost.
The word remains true to you when you say yes to Jesus Christ. These words I have chosen you become true for you when you say yes to the savior, the one who he makes a signet ring.
I have elected. I have chosen this wonderful last word to hear from the prophet. God is with you. He has chosen you. He's continuing his messianic line through you.
He says to this guy named born in Babylon, don't worry, still with you. I'm still going to keep bringing my messiah through your line. You might have thought it was over. It's not. I'm going to save.
I'm going to seek and I'm going to save. Although there were a lot of legends about what happened to Zerubbabel, the Bible, I have to admit, is completely silent about what happens to him next. But these hopeful promises are made true in Matthew and in the book of Luke. Five hundred years later, Jesus enters Jerusalem. Look at Matthew 21.
It says, this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden, that this Jesus is coming. And Paul says in Ephesians, and you who also were included in Christ, when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of his glory. So now, church, I hope you can hear this today when you say yes to the Lord Jesus, you've been sealed. Jesus is given the signet ring. And now by the power of him and by the promise of the Holy Spirit, he is saying, I've now sealed you my possession for all eternity.
Well, hallelujah. Some of you got some humdrum faces. I want to encourage you for just a second. If you said yes to Jesus, I got great news for you. Eternity is in store.
Quit living. So sad. What are you bummed about, like? Oh, man, I'm facing some d days. I got you.
They're tough, they're awful. But eternity's a really long Time. And God is really good, and he really loves you, and he's really done a whole lot in your life, even in the D days. I want you to hear this. Even in the D days.
He's doing incredible work in your life. Sometimes he allows them because he wants to change you. He wants to move you. His goal for you is not status quo. You know, God, I think, hates status quo above all things, just hates it.
There's crazy stories throughout the Bible where God just doesn't want to do the same thing twice. He just. He likes to be original. Don't strike the rock this time. Speak to it.
Oh, Moses, you done busted that up now. You don't even get to go in the Promised land, man. He doesn't do a lot of encores. He's an original kind of God, and he doesn't want you to remain the same. Why?
Because he has an interest in you looking more like his son, Jesus every day. Oh, man, I'm facing some tough times right now. Could be some reasons. But even if it's your own stupidity that got you there, God can still use it.
You were sealed. I found out again and again, anytime I have to make an official document that you got to have these. Like, if you need a passport or you need some kind of official kind of documentation, you have to have a birth certificate that has a raised seal. Isn't that interesting that they really don't. They don't accept it unless it's got this embossed engraving on it where somebody took a stamp at some governmental issuing, governmental agency.
Embossed stamp, you know, and so when you go to get these, any kind of official thing, when I joined the army or when I tried to get my passport, they don't. For whatever reason, they don't believe I am who I am without some documents. It's interesting. I promise you, I am Jonathan Combs. I promise you this.
How do we know? Cool picture. That's great. We don't believe you, right? They need to find out that I was born in Roanoke, Virginia, to Robin and Gary Combs, and they need this nice little stamp on it.
Without that, I can't just submit it. Why am I telling you this? Well, this wonderful thing has happened to you. When you say yes to Jesus Christ, he says here in Ephesians, and it's not the only place. He says, a deposit's been made.
You've got a stamp now. He says, a seal. What is that seal? The Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God, who raised Christ Jesus from the Dead is now sealed, stamped on your life.
What? If y'all can't walk out of here today with at least a partial smile on your face, then I've messed up. I mean, good grief. I pray you would walk out today and just say, the promised seal of the Holy Spirit is on my life. I don't have to live as I once did.
I am changed. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. If we can't, you know, we can get in here and celebrate the wonders of what God is doing through his people and his church, but there's a greater wonder. He has fully changed your life. You don't have to be what you once were in sin.
You have been sealed by the promised Holy Spirit, so live accordingly. Put a smile on your face, celebrate. Let people know, tomorrow at your workplace, I am saved and sealed by grace. And go, you are drunk. That's what some people might say to you if you've not been living that way.
Say, I promise you I'm not.
God has made an issue an embossed stamp, an official raised seal on your life, and it should show the reason I share this piece with you. This picture with you is. Some of you are walking around saying, I'm Jonathan Combs, you know, but. And they don't believe you because they haven't seen the stamp. Some of you are walking around saying, I'm a Christian.
I'll walk with Jesus. Really, we don't see the evidence. Where's the fruit? Where's the stamp?
We can trust God with the future because Jesus is on the throne and we can live differently as a result. The chaos of this world, I get it. Sometimes it gets to you, but it shouldn't shake you like it does. If it does, it shouldn't. We're part of an unshakable kingdom that we can't really see.
We kind of see it today, you know, in this place. Look around you. This is the unshakable kingdom. People from every nation and tribe and tongue and color, and God loves all that. Why?
Because God's an original kind of God. That's why your neighbor looks a little different than you. Some of them look kind of wild. You know, look around the room, go, oh, and if you haven't met the guy that you think looks wild, go meet him today. You know, you might have a great story to tell.
God just is an original, and he likes to make all this stuff, and he's made us a part of an unshakable kingdom that really can't be seen until the People of God, get together and we can trust him with our future. His kingdom's already established. His promises are secured and they're sealed in you. They're sealed in you. I want to end with this quote from Matthew Henry.
One of my favorite parts of the study was reading from him this week. And he said, our Lord Jesus is the signet on God's right hand. For all power is given to him and derived from him by him and in him. All the promises of God are yea and amen. Praise God that we serve a Jesus.
We serve a Lord Jesus like this. Who is that signet ring? The promise to you today, Church, is that God is going to win. He's already set it in motion. In fact, the crazy thing is he's standing outside of time, space and matter, all of which he's created.
And he's already seen it all happen. He knows how it's going down. He knows what your goofy butt's going to do tomorrow. He's already familiar with it. The question is, will you trust him with it?
I want to be a part of your kingdom. I want to be under the King. Then you have nothing to fear. His plans will prevail and you've received an unshakable kingdom and King Jesus is and will reign. Let's pray now together.
Church. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your good grace to us that in all of our celebration this morning, we have to admit the thing we celebrate most of all is the fact that King Jesus, you reign in our lives and you reign in this world and you have set us free from the chaos of this life. Yes, there's still dark days, tough times. God, we admit some of us in the room, we're right in the middle of some of them right now. Every car in our driveway is broke right now.
God, we've lost jobs, we've had sickness, there's disaster. Some of us are facing that today. God, I just, I lay that today at your feet though, and say, God, you say you're going to shake up the nations and all this, but we can be a part of something unshakable. God, for those people in the room right now that feel so anxious, so worried about things, would you remind them in this moment and give them a sense of peace, that they are part of an unshakable kingdom and that the chaos of this life will one day pass. But even in the midst of it right now, they can be quake proof.
God, I pray you would remind them of that, that they are loved, they are Saved, they are healed. That you've sealed them with the promise. Holy Spirit, I pray that would so fill their lives today. God, we thank you for who you are to us. I pray that with our church you would do more than just the miraculous things that we've seen over the last 10 years.
And I'm grateful for those things, God, for the marriages that you've restored in this place, for the kids we've seen grow up and follow Christ in this place. For the baptisms, for the life change, for the people who have found more and more ways to serve you with their talent. God, in this church, I'm thankful for that nearly decade of just great things you've done through our people. But God, I'm asking, would you allow us to reach more? Would you allow us your unshakable kingdom to bring more people into your fold?
Help us, God, to know where and when and how to cast seed the seed of the gospel. And that, God, you will cause it to bear fruit in the lives of many. You bring our friends and our family in this place, we get to see life change in our very home. God, would you do these things? We ask boldly in Jesus name.
Your plans will prevail. We know it. We believe it. I'm asking God, would you make the plans you have in my personal life prevail, Help me to see them and follow you. God, with your church, would you make us have kingdom purpose?
Not man made, not some kind of single church. No, much bigger. Help us to have kingdom purpose. We're in this place, in this city. Those of you who are part of Eastgate Church and Rocky Mount, we're here for a reason.
God, would you show us and guide us to your purpose and help us to not miss an opportunity to praise your name and lift it high. We ask all these things in Jesus name. Amen.