Consider My Ways - Haggai 2

0:54Zerubbabel. Right? Zerubbabel and Jeshua, or Joshua. You'll see it both ways. Zerubbabel was the governor. Joshua was the high priest. Who else is around at this time? Haggai and Zechariah. Right. So we've got multiple leaders. We've got a civil leader. We've got the high priest leader. And then we've got two prophets that come. And what's the issue of this time period? They've come back from. Exile. They need to build the temple. And they start, sorry, excuse me. They start almost right away.

1:40You remember, they build the altar right away. They start to offer sacrifices on it. They lay the foundation of the temple. Do you remember what happens when they lay the foundation of the temple? The weeping, right? Because some people are excited that the foundation has been laid. Some people are devastated because they remember the old temple and its glory. Well, then, what happens after that? After they lay the foundation, they stop, right? The opposition from the people scares them. They're dissuaded. And they're not faithful to keep building the temple. And that lasts for 17 years. So it takes like 20 years for the temple to finish, to finish being built. So Haggai comes, and it has been 17 years that this foundation has been laid, but the temple hasn't been built yet. And Haggai comes because he is going to give them a message from the Lord telling them to finish building this temple.

2:41Then what happens? What did we study last week? Then they start, right? He comes, and Zechariah will come too. And through the influence of both of those prophets, the people will build the temple, and the Lord will be pleased. We read last time, this is Haggai 1, verse 30. 13. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message. I am with you, declares the Lord. And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehosadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the 24th day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. Remember, all of these things are happening within one year. It's the seventh month, and then it'll be the ninth month, and then it'll be the eleventh month. All of Haggai, the whole book of Haggai, all of his prophecies come within this very short time period.

3:41So, any questions about Haggai so far before we pray and get started? Okay, let's pray. Dear God, we pray that you'd bless our study. We pray that we could get excited about learning this material, this material that we may have read over ten times before and not understood or not paid attention to. I pray, Lord, that we would pay attention to it. We know that everything you recorded in Scripture is profitable and valuable for us, and we get to see the way you worked, the way you worked through your people, and the way you glorified yourself.

4:22I pray, Lord, that you would help us even tonight as we study this. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, Haggai. 2, verse 1, in the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Speak now. So remember, he's being really obvious with us, more obvious than we get in some other passages of Scripture, that this is God's word, but it's coming to specific people through Haggai. So the prophet is just a conduit. The Lord is speaking through him to, we'll see in verse 2, who he's talking to. Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehosadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people.

5:11So who are the three groups he's talking to? The three, I don't know how you say that. Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the rest of the people, right? The remnant of the people, the people who came back, who are living in the land. Speaking to all of them and say, verse 3, who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?

5:38So it's been about a month, right? He was in the sixth month, and now he's in the seventh month. They've started to rebuild. And probably the first thing that the people are noticing, if they had seen the old temple, which remember, these would be old men and women, maybe 70 or 80 years old now, who would have remembered what. The old temple looked like? Well, God speaks through the prophet to say, okay, who is among you that remembers what the old temple looked like in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? And so it's like God is anticipating the fact that they are very discouraged about this, and you would be too, right? If the temple is where you worship, if the temple is the temple of the God that you love, the place where your relationship with him is, and it used to be grand and glorious and beautiful as built by Solomon, and now you're like stacking stones on top of other stones and it's not looking as great, you would be devastated. And God knows that. He says, is it not as nothing in your eyes? And so maybe the people were tempted to just stop building. And they're thinking, there's no way that this temple is going to be as grand and wonderful as Solomon's temple. Maybe they need some encouragement. So look at verse 4.

7:05Yet now, be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, the son of Jehosadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts. According to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. So he's giving them this encouraging message. Message. Maybe people were harassing them. Maybe they were just discouraged because the temple looks silly to them now or something like that. But he's saying, be strong. And he says it to each of the people that he's talking to, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the remnant of the people. Be strong, be strong, be strong. All you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts. According to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, my spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. So God is saying, You're still my people. I'm still with you. You can be strong. You don't have to fear. Just like the promise that I gave your forefathers all the way back when they were coming out of Egypt, Israel is still my people. I'm with you. You don't need to be afraid. Keep building. Work. Fear not.

8:20Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like any other passages of scripture you remember? Joshua, right? I think that's a pretty common one. Joshua 1:6. We'll turn there because I'm going to turn to another place, anyways. You can just listen. Joshua 1, verse 6. He says a similar thing, starting in verse 5: No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. That's Joshua. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded you. And so it does sound really familiar. He's telling them, Be strong, do what I say, follow my word, be strong, don't fear, be courageous. Are there any other passages that this sounds familiar to?

9:29All right, turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 28. This is a neat one. 1 Chronicles chapter 28. He's talking about the temple. Look at verse 19. All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the Lord all the work to be done according to the plan. That's for the temple. Verse 20. Then David said to Solomon his son, so you remember, David wanted to build the house. And what did God tell David? No, you're a man of blood.

10:18But then he says, I'm going to build you a house, the family line of David. But Solomon is the one who gets to build the temple. So verse 20, David said to Solomon, his son, be strong and courageous. And do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. And so he tells him the same thing about that first temple. You remember they were traveling around with the tabernacle, more like a tent, less like a building. And David says, I want, I just built this big house for myself. I want to put the Holy of Holies into a temple, not a tent.

11:03And God says, no, Solomon's going to do it. Well, now David is giving Solomon this charge to be strong and build this very first temple. Well, now that temple's been destroyed, and some people are standing there who remember that this old temple, and God is giving them the exact same message. This time through his prophet, from the hand of the lips of God himself, he's giving him the same message that Solomon received through David, to be strong, to finish this temple, just like they finished the old temple, and make sure they do it. Okay, verse 6.

11:41Here's where it gets a little tricky. This is Haggai 2, verse 6. We're back in our text. Verse 6. For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.

12:29All right. I know that some of you zoned out. I'm actually just going to read that one more time. And I want you to see if you can figure out what's going on. See if you can figure out what's going on. It takes a few times to read it. Verse 6. For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once more in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place, I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts. So, first off, what do you notice? It's repeated over and over and over. Lord of hosts, Lord of hosts, Lord of hosts. He's the one who's in charge. We talked about this name last time.

13:22He's the powerful God, the Lord of armies. So, what do you think he's talking about? Yes, he's definitely talking about the future, right? He's telling Zerubbabel and the others to not be discouraged. He's saying, You may have seen this old temple. You may have seen the old temple. You may be discouraged, but I want you to work hard and know that in a little while I am going to shake everything, and treasure is going to come in.

13:56And this temple is going to be more glorious than it was before. It's a little tricky for us to picture, right? Is there a temple right now? No. Okay, so that's one issue that we're already dealing with. Some people think that when he's saying he's going to shake, you see it, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. You get this picture: everything shaking. Everything is shaking. And some people think that that's like shaking out your pockets because he talks about bringing in the treasure. And so maybe he's saying he's going to shake out the whole earth to bring the treasure. He says the gold is mine and the silver is mine. And they'll say, you see, what this is, is, and this is a fine interpretation if you take this. But they'll say that throughout the rest of the history of Israel, starting with this temple that Jerubbabel is building, the temple was able to. Keep growing. And if you remember your history, you remember that there is this figure named Herod the Great, who was the ancestor, immediate ancestor, of a lot of the Herods we see in the stories of the Gospels and Acts. But Herod the Great was a great architect, and he was really wealthy. And Israel was in the center of the world. It was a tiny little country, but it became rich on tolls, basically. Because if you wanted to go from Asia to Africa, you had to go through Israel. And so Herod started charging tolls. And Israel, money started pouring in. And this wasn't their money, right? It was the money of the nations. And so you can see how people take this interpretation, right? God's just said, I'm going to shake everywhere, and all this gold and silver is going to come in, and it's going to beautify this temple to where it's even more beautiful than Solomon's temple. And of course, by the time Jesus gets on the scene, this has actually been done, right? These tolls have come in, and the money has been put towards the temple. Herod spent a lot of money on the temple, even though he wasn't a Jew. And the temple was great and grand and glorious.

16:16You remember some of the scenes, right? When the disciples would turn to Jesus and say, Look at what great stones. And some of those are still there on the foundation, not on the actual temple, but on the temple mount. And they, You say the same. If you went there today, you would say the exact same thing. Wow, look at those stones. I mean, they are huge. How did they get them there? That would be probably your first thought.

16:42So all of this wealth came in, and it did make this big, grand temple. But then that temple was destroyed almost immediately. What I think he's actually saying, and when we hear this language, that everything is going to be shaken. The heavens and the earth will shake, the sea and the dry land. I think that is end times language. We see that throughout scripture, that it is this upheaval of all that we know. It's not just earthquakes here.

17:14It's the sea being shaken. It's the heavens being shaken. This is a cataclysmic event. And I think this is the end of times. And I think God is saying that at the end, when I rebuild this temple, it's going to be greater than it ever was at the beginning. So look again at verse 7. I will shake all nations so that the treasures of all nations shall come in. And I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. Maybe that's the glory of everything being covered in gold or something like that. Or maybe he's saying, When this temple is glorious again, I'm going to bring my glory in. You remember, God's glory dwelt in the temple in the period of the kings. Verse 8: The silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace. So there's going to be peace in this temple. And you have this idea that it's actually all one temple.

18:33I know that sounds a little funny, but each time they build the temple, it's always in the same spot. It always does the same thing. And God seems to be referring to it as just one temple, this temple. And Solomon's temple had one kind of glory. Zerebbabel's temple is going to have almost no glory. Herod's temple is going to have some glory. But when God builds it, when we read about this in other places of scripture, it's going to be very glorious, and God's glory is going to enter back into the temple. Okay?

19:05So I think this is an end times event where God is going to fill this temple. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60. We see this event. If this is what Haggai is talking about, or what God is talking about through the hand of Haggai, we see this event in Isaiah 60. Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, in thick darkness the peoples. But the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you, and nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes, verse 4, all around, and see, they all gather together. They come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. Then you shall see and be radiant. Your heart shall thrill and exult because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you. The wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you. Young camels of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you. The rams of Nebaoth shall minister to you. They shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will beautify my beautiful house.

20:42So this is a clearly end times passage where he is talking about this same thing. All the wealth is going to come in, and he is going to use it to beautify his house. Look down at Isaiah 60, verse 20. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself. For the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended. Your people shall all be righteous. They shall possess the land forever. The branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. So there's going to be a day when the temple is glorified and the people are there. They are thrilling and exulting because God is bringing in these riches from all the nations. It is beautifying the temple, and it's going to stay that way forever. There's going to be no more days of mourning. They're going to dwell in the land forever, and it's never going to end. I think that's what he's talking about in Haggai chapter 2. Let's go back to Haggai 2.

21:39That was the first vision. We have three visions to go through tonight. Or maybe not visions, but three messages, three sermons from God through Haggai. Verse 10. On the 24th day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the words of the Lord, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet. So this is now the ninth month. We did six, and then that's when they started to build again. Seventh was the message we just read. Now it's the ninth month. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ask the priests about the law. If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment and touches with his fold bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind of food, does it become holy?

22:32Can you picture that? He's got holy meat, sanctified, set-apart meat for a sacrifice. He's carrying it around in his garment. And if the garment touches some other food, does that other food suddenly become holy? Just because this one was sanctified and set apart to the priests? The priest answered and said, no. Then Haggai said, if someone who is unclean, by contact with a dead body, touches any of these, does it become unclean? The priest answered and said, it does become unclean. So the opposite of truth is truth. So if they have this holy meat and it touches something else, that other thing doesn't become holy. But if they're holding one of those pieces of food and it comes into contact with something defiled, does it then become defiled? And the answer is yes.

23:32So the sanctified meat can only become unsanctified, or even the normal food can only become defiled. It can't by contact become holy. Verse 14. Then Haggai answered and said, So it is with this people and with this nation before me, declares the Lord, and so with every work of their hands, and what they offer there is unclean. So he's saying, holiness is not contagious, but defilement is contagious. And if something defiled is touching other things, then those things become defiled. You can't offer that as a sacrifice anymore. He's saying, you're just like that, people of Israel.

24:20You were defiled. Look at verse 15. Now then, consider from this day onward. Before the stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord. So he's reminding them, you remember in chapter 1, that things were going very badly for them. They were in drought, they were in a famine, and God was just trying to get them to consider their ways and say, it's because you're so obsessed with dwelling in your own comfortable paneled houses and you haven't built the temple. And so the Lord has caused these things to come upon them. And now God is getting them to think back on this and saying, look, when that was happening, you were dirty. You were defiled. And so everything you touched was not being productive. Every time you went out to harvest something, you only got half as much as you should have gotten. Every time you went to the wine vats, you only got less than half of what you should have gotten. And it's because the Lord was acting. He was trying to get his people to get the picture. Look at verse 18.

25:47Consider from this day onward, from the 24th day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider. Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing, but from this day on, I will bless you. That's the second message. So at the beginning of Haggai, he had told them, look, all of these bad things are happening to you because you are not building the temple. Now God is saying, stop and pay attention before you just move on. Consider the fact that from when you laid the foundation and then stopped building, these things were bad and bad and bad and bad. And you kept being, there's drought and drought and drought. And consider, don't neglect the fact that the day you listened to me, that's when I started to bless you.

26:47Why do you think he's telling them that? I think so. I think he's setting up this pattern with them, right? He's reminding them, he's their God, and they need to obey. They need to listen. He's being gracious with them to say, don't miss this. Between when the foundation was laid and now, it was bad, but then right when you started obeying, now it's going to be good. From this day onward, I will bless you. How do we think about that?

27:31How do we think about that defilement for them? How do we apply these things? It's like we talked about last week, it's not quite the same for us, right? We've been completely forgiven, and we don't have this relationship with the land that God has given Israel, where God told them when they're in the land that he's going to control the weather and bless them or curse them, depending on how obedient they're being. So it's not quite the same. But I do think we have some parallels, right, in the Christian life. I think we have a similar idea at the Lord's table. You remember that in the New Testament, there are some churches that were doing it in an unworthy manner. And the apostles tell us to take it very seriously, to instead make sure we don't have grievances with our brothers, to go in and sort these things out before we approach the Lord. And I think that the spiritual principle can be applied to us just like it can to this Old Testament community, right?

28:30That we don't want to mix our time of worship with our sin. We want to try and have pure hearts for our fellowship with the Lord. And that's not saying that in your day-to-day walk with the Lord that you can't, while you're driving your car, you can't pray on the way to work because five minutes ago on the road you got angry at somebody and tried to cut them off or something like that. It's not saying you have to wait until the next morning when you can start again and do a devotional. That's not what I'm saying. But what I am saying is we want to eliminate sin as far as we can, as much as we know it. We want to run away from sin because of that hindrance to the fellowship that we have with the Lord, especially at the Lord's table.

29:23But no time for questions yet. Maybe at the end. We're going to look at the third message from Haggai. The word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the 24th day of the month. So, what does that mean? It's the same day, right? It's the same day. He's just saying it came again later. So he got one word from the Lord, and then later he's going to get another word from the Lord. This one's a tough one.

29:54Verse 21: Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth. And to overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations and overthrow their chariots and their riders, and the horses and their riders shall go down, everyone by the sword of his brother. So, again, you have this idea of this cataclysmic shaking, and all the nations are going to be turned over. All the nations are going to be overthrown by God Himself. Verse 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.

30:46Does that sound familiar to any of you? Can you think of any other passages that that sounds like? This one's a little trickier. Let's turn over to Jeremiah 22. We are going to read about Zerubbabel's grandpa. The good king Josiah had several sons. All of them were wicked. They ruled at different times. One of them was named Jeconiah. Or he goes by other names as well. In this passage, he's going to be called Koniah. Look at Jeremiah 22, verse 24. As I live, declares the Lord, though Koniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off. So God is saying, Look, even if you were the signet ring, this precious, you guys remember what a signet ring is? The signet was something that a king could mark with wax to say, This is my letter. This is coming directly from me. No one else can forge this, and it can't be opened until it gets to the person that I send it to. Well, they think it was a ring because that was exceedingly valuable in the ancient world, right? We can just send emails, and we know it comes from the right email.

32:24Letters could have been forged, and without that mark, there was no guarantee it was from the king, and so he would have kept it right on his finger. So it was a very precious thing that he couldn't get rid of. And God is saying to Caniah, Jeconiah, Even if, though you were a signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off. Even though you would be valuable to me, I would tear you off. Verse 25, and give you into the hand of those who seek you, into the hand of those whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you shall die, but to the land which they will long to return. There they shall not return. Is this man Caniah a despised, broken pot, a vessel no one cares for? Why are he and his children hurled and cast into a land that they do not know? O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.

33:41So none of Caniah's, none of Jeconiah's descendants, he has been so wicked that none of, even though he is in the line of David, none of his descendants are going to be on the throne of David. Okay? And he is like a signet ring that the Lord has taken and hurled into the nations. So now we get back to what God says to Zerubbabel in Haggai 2.23. 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. So the tricky thing about this passage is that historically, we don't know much else about Zerubbabel. He seems to have kind of faded off the scene. And some people will try and kind of Stretch this into an interpretation saying when he's overthrowing the nations, he's talking about Persia. Eventually, Persia, the empire is going to go away. But then it seems like Zerubbabel didn't do anything after that. So, what is he talking about? And I think that he's talking about the end times again. I think that he's saying, Look, in that last day when I shake the kingdoms and all the nations are overthrown, Zerubbabel, you are going to be like a signet ring. You're going to be like something very precious and chosen. You're going to show my mark or something like that. So, either, this is my interpretation, I think Zerubbabel is going to be raised up again in the millennium. And we hear about David being raised up again in the millennium and maybe reigning under the Lord, so the Lord is going to reign on the throne in the millennium. Maybe David is there as an under-ruler, and maybe Zerubbabel is there too. That's my interpretation. You don't have to hold that. The most common Christian interpretation is to say that David and Zerubbabel were types of Christ, to say that here, when he says, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, that that's kind of like a code to be talking about Jesus. Zerubbabel is in the line of Jesus. His dad, Shealtiel, seems to be adopted into the kingly line, but he's of that rule. Line. And Zerubbabel is mentioned in the genealogy in Luke and in Matthew. Only Zerubbabel and his dad get that privilege to be in both. And it traces different paths to get there and different paths to get up to David. But they're in both. So some people say that Jesus is the son of Zerubbabel just as much as he is the son of David, which is true. And so they'll point at this verse and say that must be talking about Jesus. So either way, to leave you with a little bit of confusion, sorry about that.

36:36Either way, I think he's talking about the end of times. And he's telling Zerubbabel right now: be faithful. Do what I tell you to do. See this out. Because in the future, there's going to be this glorious time where at least your name is going to be remembered as this precious signet ring. Or even in person, you're going to be there. So live now in light of that future. As the young adults went through Isaiah, we've been done with it for a while now, but when they went through Isaiah, that was something that we kept seeing on almost every single chapter. God was expecting them to change something now because of something that was going to happen at the very end. I think that's what happened at the beginning of chapter 2. God is saying, look, be strong, finish this temple. I know it doesn't look like much to. To you, but someday it's going to be more than you can imagine. So you work hard now and you get it done, and you don't fear because I'm with you, and I put my name in this temple.

37:41I think he's saying the same thing to Zerubbabel. I think he's saying, keep being faithful now, there's this glorious future. And so when we're thinking about, okay, how do these things apply to us? I think we would say, well, we have to do the same thing, right? We learned in Colossians that since our lives are hidden with God on high, that we should then, right now, set our minds on the things that are above, right? And we're living our life now constantly looking forward to all of these promises that he's set up, constantly looking forward to all of these things that he's going to do in the end of times. And we live our lives now in light of that. That's what he's calling them to do here. And we can do the same thing. It's going to impact our life greatly, right, if we do that. If we're thinking about, number one, these amazing events that we read in this chapter, but also the rest of the end times things that we read in Revelation and other books, that's going to change the way we live now. We're going to be more sober-minded. We're even going to be more joyful and rejoice. So to close, one more application the author of Hebrews gives us. Look over at Hebrews chapter 12.

39:00The author of Hebrews knew this passage. Hebrews 12. And it seems like the author of Hebrews took that shaking to be in time shaking as well. So we can be confident in that. Hebrews 12, verse 25. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. All right, so he set up two different scenarios. Okay? There's a group of people that have been warned on earth, and then there's a group of people who have been warned from heaven. Verse 26. At that time, that's this first group, his voice shook the earth. What do you think that's talking about?

40:04I think it's Mount Sinai. God is speaking to them, giving them promises. They need to obey it. The earth is shaking in his presence. But now he has promised, see if this sounds familiar, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. That's our passage from Haggai. 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. So let's see if we can figure out what he's saying. He's saying, these people saw the earth shaken, and it was serious for them. They needed to obey.

40:50We need to obey, because there's going to come a time where the earth and the heavens are shaken. And he says that it's going to happen yet once more. And the author of Hebrews looks back at that story, looks back at that prophecy, and says, okay, if he's saying once more, that means it's going to be destroyed after that happens. Because there are things that can be shaken and there are things that can't be shaken. And so if he's going to shake the things that can be shaken one more time, that means that all that's going to be left are the things that can't be shaken. And so he gives us an application of this passage. Look, in verse 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, for our God is a consuming fire. Isn't that special that we get that application from the author of Hebrews of this passage that we read in Haggai?

41:50So just a quick review. I'll let you guys get out of here. In our chapter today, first he speaks to Zerebbabel and Joshua and the people. And he tells them to don't be discouraged. I know it doesn't look like a lot, but work now, because in the future, it's going to be glorious. So do what you need to do now. Work, I'm with you, and work now. Then he did another message to the people, and he said, Don't forget, while you're doing this, don't forget to pay attention and consider the fact that it went poorly with you when you were disobedient. And now that you're obedient, I will bless you. And then the third message was to Zerebbabel specifically, and was just this picture of a glorious future: that when those things get shaken, when those things are dealt with, God is going to raise up Zerubbabel as a signet ring when the Lord is reigning.

42:57Pray with me, Father. What a unique book that we just finished. It's a book that has some things that are hard for us to understand. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us. I pray, Lord, that if there are spots where we're confused about this short book of the Bible, that we wouldn't be content to just leave them fuzzy or to just forget about this little book. But instead, that we could, while it's still fresh on our minds, could come to it.

43:31And come to an understanding of what you're saying there so that we can learn about your character. Father, we learn that you are gentle and clear with your people, that you have expectations, and you graciously discipline us to help us meet those expectations or to follow your will. And I pray, Lord, that we would, that we would pay attention to your word. You're also clear that we are to look forward to the future and live today in light of that future. And I pray that we would do that as well. That as we tremble and are in awe of the majesty and the glory, that we will witness firsthand.

44:15I pray, Lord, that as the author of Hebrews says, that that would cause us to live with gratitude right now, that we would be grateful, that we are part of this kingdom that can't be shaken, that's not going to go away. And I also pray that it would make us want to be obedient like the people in Haggai's day, that we would be obedient and listen to your word out of reverence and awe. Thank you, God, for this prophet. Thank you for this time. Thank you, Lord, for this church. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.