"The God Of Wrath And Kindness" - Haggai 2:20-23

Pastor Brian, Last episode of the book of Haggai.

Transcript

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As we transition to the preaching of the word, I'm going to ask you to stand with me. Turn in your Bibles to Haggai chapter 2. We're going to look at the last portion of Haggai today. Haggai chapter 2, if you can stand with me in reverence for God's word. Haggai chapter 2, starting in verse 20. The word of the Lord says, Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the twenty fourth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations, and I will overthrow the chariots and their riders and the horses and their riders. They will go down, every one by the sword of another. On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, Zerebbabel, son of Sheeltiel, my servant, declares the Lord, and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. May God bless the reading of his word. Please be seated. Father, as we dive into this, we ask you to bless us. To bless us all with the truth of what you would have. Father, may we be a people who receive your word in such a way that we apply it, that we would be doers first and foremost in our worship, second in our application in our practical lives. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Right now, you and I may look around at the world and we may be kind of maybe shaken a bit, to use the phrase from this passage. Kind of seems as though the leaders of our modern society are either, I don't know, unsure how to move forward, have you noticed that? Or they're doing things that may surprise the whole world. I mean, we have so much fighting going on. We have fighting in the Middle East with Israel and Gaza and Lebanon and America and Iran. We still have the conflict going on with Russia and Ukraine. So many other things. The world is concerned, right, when you watch the news or hear of things. Talks of World War III are constant and regular. If you were to do a quick internet search, maybe you have, in regards to these wars and conflicts, you're going to see all kinds of awful photos of destruction. You will actually see nations reaching out with their perceived tools that they think will be able to help and stop all of this and the bloodshed with their peace deals. Many other internet sites show you what this means for the rest of the world, both financially and militarily. They go that route. I've heard that searches in regards to nuclear blast radiuses and the fallout from the blast, they've risen significantly over the last handful of years. People are nervous. They're nervous that our current world leaders may not be able to do what world leaders did a handful of decades ago, and that's to settle it down. And there's good reason for this. Setting aside the quality of world leaders for today, what we know is that the majority of our leaders of this world are not leading from a position of biblical faithfulness or fidelity. So, in reality, what else would we expect? What else would we expect? Now, why do I start with that? Where am I going? Are you thinking to yourself, oh boy, here it goes? It's going to be one of those, this is what's going on in our world, therefore, we're going to try to tie it to scriptures and prophecy and all that. Is it going to be one of those sermons? Hopefully not. Here at Prairie Baptist, we seek to let the text of Scripture drive what we preach. We simply seek to expose the text and not let the culture or current affairs or events spearhead our worship. And so my point, in beginning with thinking of wars and conflicts and things going on, is twofold, really. One is just to encourage us all, we need to always recognize God is sovereign. He is sovereign over each and everything that goes on in our world. Do you know this? Do you trust this? Cannot live in fear. We live in trust. God is in control over each and every, as we say, molecule of the earth. There's not one atom scientifically that moves without his sovereign permission. Therefore, the Bible calls us to fear God alone. And so we can look back and go, what's a nuclear blast to the Lord of the universe? Nothing. So there's that. But secondly, and this really drives at our text for today, and especially our first point, and that's this there is not one single king, not one leader, not one president, not one prime minister or supreme leader or even oligarchy that will be able to withstand the shaking and quaking of the Lord's sovereign overthrow of all the rulers of the earth when that day comes. Not one. Therefore, the first point for today. There will be a terrible day for the earthly powers coming. One of the things that we notice, or we need to notice, in the last message from Haggai to the people, is that there is no command. There's no command here for them to go and do and be. In the first message in chapter 1, we have the charge to rebuild the temple. It's kind of a two-message almost in the first chapter. We have the need for repentance given. So build the temple, repent. In verse 5, the Lord says, Consider your ways, my people. In the second message to them, in the beginning of the second chapter, again, the Lord speaks through Haggai and He says, Take courage, don't fear, as they survey the new temple. In the third message, in verses 10 to 19, we see the Lord telling Haggai to ask the priest a couple questions. And then multiple times he commands again the people, consider your ways, what's going on? And in this, he promises to bless them as they remain faithful in the work. So there's always something that he's given them to do. But here in the last message, here in verses 20 to 23, the Lord says four times something like, I will, or I'm going to. The Lord is going to do something great. He's telling them that he and he alone is going to do this great thing. They are not called to act in this. They're not called to do this one thing, and then the Lord will. No, this future blessing is completely of the Lord's doing by the exertion of his power. I will do this, the Lord says. And this should thrill us, by the way. Whenever we see something like this in Scripture, we can be assured the outcome is going to be great. It'll promote the Lord's own glory, and it will always be for his people's good. So what is it that he says he's going to do? First, as our first point leads us to see in verses 21 to 22, the Lord says, I'm going to shake the earth, I'm going to shake the heavens, I'm going to overthrow all nations, all earthly kingdoms. It's all coming down. Now, if you can recall, Haggai has already spoken of some quaking and shaking of this sort, this destructive stirring up of the people of the world in the beginning of chapter 2, earlier in this chapter, in verses 6 to 80, kind of essentially says very similar language, same thing. But at the time, the implication in the context is that the prophet is primarily pointing us to the coming of Jesus the Savior. If you can recall in that passage. He says, the desire of the nations. But this time, he is more pointing them to the encouraging words about the overthrow of earthly powers. And that should encourage us too. I mean, think about it. We should be thrilled because we look around and what do we see? We see evil. Evil kingdoms and nations overall. And that's what it is. We live in a fallen world. We see nation attacking nation, and we're not even quite sure why sometimes. Or at least in our context, maybe it doesn't seem to make sense. Or maybe in this way, even in our country for many, many years, we've seen this sharp rise in immorality. And we read through Haggai and we come to this passage and we say, Yes, I want this. Come, Lord Jesus. Shake it up. And so we read this passage, and the Christian is thrilled because this kind of perversion and evil is one day going to be overthrown. Praise God. We look at the nations around the world that are at odds with Christianity, and we're excited about the beauty of the Lord's power listed out here. And so it leads us to actually be encouraged as we look at the nations and maybe we begin to remember some history. Think of it this way, as we've seen in history and even since the cross, there's nations, kingdoms, empires, rulers, leaders, they're all fragile. Their governance is futile if it's not of the Lord. And so we rejoice as we look at this, we're like, yeah, he's gonna do it. I mean, think of it this way: the nations of old are here one day and gone the next. Who remembers that much about the Ottoman Empire? When you think Ottoman, what do you think? That little thing you put in front of your chair or your couch, right? Not that. There was an Ottoman Empire, and by most historical accounts, it lasted longer than the Roman Empire did. And did you know that empire was still around in the early 1900s? Doesn't matter though, does it? They're gone. What's the largest empire to ever be on the face of the earth? And I promise this isn't just going to be a history lesson, I'm going somewhere with this. The largest empire, if we're talking about contiguous empirical rule, then you would have answered it's the Mongolian Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries. An empire that lasted only about a couple hundred years, really. Who remembers them like they do maybe the Romans or Greeks or Egyptians? My point is that even today, all these nations, all nations are subject to the rise and fall of society which is all under the sovereign hand of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. What a great promise for the nation of the people of God to hear about. Think about it. Zerebbable the governor, the political leader of Judah, would have been just blown away and staunchly encouraged by these very words. His kingdom. What's his kingdom consisting of right now? What have we read about? His kingdom, if you will, I'm using kingdom language, his kingdom is pretty small. It's broke in multiple ways. It's in disrepair. They don't have all that much to be thrilled about when they look around at their circumstances from a temporal point of view. But what does that matter when the Lord of angel armies says this and he says, I'm on your side. I'm gonna shake it all up one day, don't worry. Praise be to God. God has promised to smite all the nations of the earth one day when he returns in glory. Brothers and sisters, even for today, for us today, there is coming a kingdom. There is a grand and glorious kingdom that is coming one day. Do you know this? One day the Lord will come and he will establish this perfect, glorious kingdom. He's gonna wipe out all the chariots that come up against him. All the tanks, all the missiles, all the rockets, drones, whatever else man can conceive of, all will fall utterly short, and they will fail to thwart the plan of God, no matter the scientific advancements that us humans make. Just remember what AI stands for: artificial intelligence. God is vividly real, and He is wisdom and knowledge. He doesn't merely have it, He is intelligence. He will wipe out all nations no matter what they come up with. This is a great promise for Zerubabel and the people back then. And it really should be a strong encouragement for us today. Even those who love America. So many times you see many people consumed with earthly mindsets, even in the church. We're unfortunately clinging to that which is temporary, trying desperately to figure out maybe what this means or what that is, and how could it affect me, and how could it affect my stuff? Maybe you hear people today asking, what does this mean now that Russia has acted in aggression again? Uh-oh. What about prophecy? Isn't Iran somewhere in there? What does it mean for the world or the end of the world? What do I do? What am I going to do about? I say, let us who are in Christ be in the cutting edge of society, and let us just be the voice of reason and of peace and of hope, and let us focus in on the eternal promises of what is coming instead of trying to guess the future and be overwhelmed with trepidation because of it. It's easy to get there. I mean, we try to look at what's going on in the Middle East and then think of the future in light of it. We've got to flip that on its head. Let's focus in on what is coming for us in the return of the Lord and let that inform how we live for today. You've undoubtedly heard it said before, something like that person is so heavenly minded, they're no earthly good. What a dumb statement that is. That's a biblical word, by the way, I can say that. The Bible teaches us that those who are heavenly minded are in fact the only ones of any good use. Because they're focusing on heavenly things and heavenly promises. When we focus in on the promises of our Lord as he says he's gonna come and crush kingdoms and nations, we become a blessing to those near us. Not just touting, like, you're gonna be crushed, ha! Not that. But I love you, I care about you. This is all gonna go away. Love to Christ. Let us always allow the future promises to be the truth that informs how we live for today. Always. That's the comforting promise of the Lord through Haggai to the people, and especially the leader. He's essentially saying to them, don't worry about those kingdoms, those leaders. It doesn't matter. I will overthrow them when the time comes. The thrones of the earth will dissolve under the weight of the Lord's glory and his presence and his judgment. And there will be this heavenly, perfect, and glorious kingdom, this glorious throne, the throne of the rule of the King of kings. And he will rule with perfect justice, perfect equity, perfect peace, and perfect power. For those of the earth, for those kings in their ungodly and immoral kingdoms, the day in which the Lord returns will be truly terrible. They will be shaking as the earth is shaken. And this overthrow will not take years. It's not going to take losses on both sides. It will be a one-sided, complete and final overthrow of all the kingdoms, all the nations of the earth, along with their rulers and followers, and not even the very gates of hell will stand a chance against a great God and king of all. As in the days of old, as it says here, the rider, the horse, the chariot, they're all going to go down before this great God and king. As Haggai speaks of the overthrow and the chariots and the rulers, no doubt, I would say the people who are listening to this message would have automatically had their minds go back to something. You know what I'm talking about? The Exodus. The Exodus. It's very similar language. Very similar. What did the Lord do in that day? Well, let's hear. Listen to the song of Moses and the people from Exodus chapter 15. It says, Then Moses and the sons of Israel sing this song to the Lord. What a psalm. And said, I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he is hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will extol him. The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army, he is cast into the sea, and the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy, and in the greatness of your excellence you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send forth your burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff. Is that your God? Or have you created something else? This is God. And he's promising basically the same thing in Haggai that he's already accomplished. But this time it will be a worldwide thing. And so the people heard this and no doubt had their minds go back. And they rejoiced. They remembered that story of old, the told of the Lord's sovereign and mighty hand and defeating the enemy. And now they're being told the Lord's going to do it again. This time it's going to be over all nations, all kings, all rulers, all enemies of his? What nation on the earth is not an enemy of his right now? What nation on the earth has God as its king? God as its leader, God as its president, God as its prime minister. It will be a complete and total annihilation of that which is evil and against him. Which includes any human government that is not in line with his word. But as the people are hearing this, I think they're just overwhelmed with assurance and comfort. They're small. They're an insignificant people. They're just starting out again as a nation after they've come back. The nations around them, they're powerful. They're strong. They're wealthy in comparison. God's people have had a rough go of it since they returned. But here the Lord says, I, I will overthrow them all. The Israelites won't have to lift a finger. I mean, they couldn't do it anyway. We as his people, we can't accomplish any of this. It's God Himself, by the exertion of His own will and power, who will overthrow them all. Praise God! What a mighty and gracious God we serve. In light of this, I do want to give a quick biblical warning to those who aren't his today. This passage is glorious, but it is promising something frightening to those who are not in Christ. There is a mighty terribleness coming for you. If you're not a child of God, a follower of Jesus Christ. There is a powerful and swift judgment coming for the nations and leaders of the earth one day that says, On that day the Lord will crush all the governments, all leaders, all nations, which includes its peoples. And he will do this by the power that is his and his alone. If you are not his today, do not let this be the day that comes as a terrible dawning of your destruction and devastation. Instead, as John Piper once said, let it be the dawning of indestructible joy. Because the terribleness of that Day will surpass any suffering, any hardship, any fearful thing, anything that you and I can ever conceive of as devastating. That day for those who are identified as all in with the nations and leaders of the earth will be utterly horrendous. I mean, live in this country with patriotism, yes, sir. Absolutely. But never let this be your identity. Never align yourself and who you are with the world systems and structures. Let your identity be that of what? Christ's follower. Christ's worshiper. He's my king. Let the cry of your heart and the association of your life be first and foremost as somebody who is in Christ, as Paul always says. This kind of life reveals that you are bound by the kindness of God. This leads us to our second point, the kindness of God toward his people. Let's talk about that some more. Look again at verse 23. On that day, on that same day, think about this, on the same day, the same time that the Lord shows off his mighty and holy judgment on the nations of men, he also shows off his mighty and holy grace toward the legion of saints that are called by his name. On that day, on that day when the Lord returns, things are going to be shaken up, shaken up mightier than ever before. But that shaking for the people of God is going to be the kind of shaking that just spurs us on for worship with tear-filled awe and reverence for the Lord of hosts who has returned and the judging king is come. Praise God. To understand this verse really and what it's saying more clearly, I feel like we need to go back a bit. Let's go back to 2 Chronicles. And we see there the Davidic line falling apart. The Davidic line is the line of David that's to bring forth the Messiah. Listen to 2 Chronicles 36, 8 through 10. This is on the heels of Jehoiakim, the Judean king who has acted wickedly before the Lord, and so it is the Lord himself who removes him. And this is 2 Chronicles. It says, Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the books of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoichin, his son, became king in his place. Jehoichin was eight years old when he became king. What could go wrong? And he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. So that's the historical account. Now listen please to the words of Jeremiah the prophet, who was actually ministering during this time. Jeremiah chapter 22, verses 24 to 30. We're going to be all over the Bible a little bit in this one. He says, As I live, declares the Lord, even though Caniah, same guy, okay, same the son, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, yet I will pull you off, and I will give you over into the hands of those who are seeking your life, yes, into the hands of those whom you dread, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. I will hurl you and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born, and there you will die. But as for the land to which they desire to return, they will not return to it. Is this man Caniah a despised shattered jar, or is he an undesirable vessel? Why has he and his descendants been hurled out and cast into the land that they had not known? O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord, write this man down, childless, a man who will not prosper in his days, for no man of his descendants will prosper. Here it is, sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah. So that's the background to this statement in verse 23. Jehoiakim is wicked, and he's evil, and he dies off by God's hand. Jehoichin or Kaniah, his son, takes over. Both are in the Davidic line at this point. Remember, the Messiah is coming. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, will be coming through that line one day. The people have some hope. They're waiting for him, as was promised by the Lord to his servant years before, David. But as we see in Jeremiah, the Lord is sick of them. He's done with them. He says he will remove them like one pulls off a signet ring. What that means is no more authority, no more leadership over the people, no more stamp of approval, no more anointing. And the Lord even goes on to say basically that that line is broken now. And I have broken it. Cursed are his descendants. They will not reign from the throne of David going forward. This is a really big deal in Scripture, by the way. No Messiah through David. Think of the implications. And so we see here today, in our passage, the Lord using Zerubbabel's name to reinstate the signet picture of authority and power. And if we read the Bible's lineage, what we find is something that absolutely fascinates our minds and just magnifies his grace. If we look back into Zerubbabel's lineage, what we see is that he is in fact the grandson of Jehoiche. We see his dad, his shield-hill here listed out, and that his grandfather is Jehoichein, great-grandfather Jehoiakim. So what gives? I thought the Lord cursed that lineage and said, no more to them. No more to them being in the line of the Messiah. Well, here's one of the real beauties of the scriptures. In a move that only God can do, in a move that shows God's amazing grace and kindness to us, we see the curse being reversed. God chooses to show off his mighty grace here. With that in mind, that's Zerubbabel's past. Let's go forward now in Zerubbabel's lineage. And this answers a lot for us today. Matthew chapter 1. Matthew records for us Jesus' lineage, and about two-thirds of the way through, we see in verse 12 something, I call it fantastically gracious. It says there, after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah, another version of Jehoiacunner Kaniah, he became the father of Sheelteel and Sheelteel the father of Zrabbabel. This is Jesus' lineage through Joseph, his earthly father. This is beautiful. No mere human could conceive of or draft a plan like this. And so here's what we are to see. God, through Haggai, tells the people in his day that through the restored line of Zerubabel, we're going to see the old curse of the Davidic lineage reversed in a small way, as he then goes on to point us to the Messiah, who's going to reverse the curse in a grand and universe-shaking kind of way, as he comes to the earth and he goes to the cross, crushes the enemy, creates a bride, a church, and promises a day in which he's going to come and retrieve her, and thereby magnifying the reversal of the curse before the entirety of the universe as he crushes wickedness. On that day, that day, this will become a perfect and fulfilled reality as Jesus, who is the great and mighty King on David's throne, who is who is overall, comes to both reclaim his people and destroy the nation. I love the Bible. Interestingly, after this passage, Zerebble is not really heard from again in Scripture, other than Matthew 1. He disappears, if you will, after this is spoken. So maybe we can. Some people would read this and say, okay, well, God failed. His promises aren't reigning true. I mean, come on, the Lord said Zerebbabel would be like his signet ring of authority and power. What gives? Well, as I've already alluded to, this passage, I don't think, is directly speaking of Zerebbabel being the authoritative power and destroyer of nations. Yes, he is called God's servant here, and he did some neat things in history. In the immediate sense, he's called God's servant in this way. It's a powerful blessing on his life and his family. But again, as scripture does, it points us to the Messiah. Zerubbabel is a faithful servant overall, but ultimately he is being used symbolically to speak of the one true king who was to come and reign in and through that Davidic line again. The signet ring, by the way, is a mark of true and ultimate authority. Back in the days before the Exodus, remember Joseph? He's in Egypt and he's given the authority over all the nations under the headship of Pharaoh in Genesis 42. Pharaoh does what? Takes off his signet ring, places it on Joseph's hand, and tells him, Pretty much all power is given to you, only I'm going to be above you. Again, so many. I wish we had time to get into all these messianic foreshadowings of the life of Joseph, and there's just one of them. I mean, Jesus is the greater Joseph, but he's the greater savior of his people with full and absolute authority. And so what we have to see here, what we're blessed to see here, is a messianic prophecy of Christ to come. And we see that Jesus really is the signet on the Father's hand. He is the holy and righteous one who will enact God's purposes and rule. He is the authority of God in the flesh, now reigning on high. Jesus is the delight of the Father. He is the one whom the Father is well pleased, says multiple times in the New Testament. Listen to how Jesus is described in Colossians 1. I hope you hear this and I hope you've read this a thousand times. It says he, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church. He is a beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him I say, whether things on the earth or things in heaven. Again, Jesus is the signet ring on the hand of the Father. He's the authority. And here as Haggai 2.23 says, God has chosen him and set him aside for this. Listen to Isaiah 42.1. It says, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. You see how it all points to the Messiah, both before the time of Haggai and through the prophecies of Haggai, and then of course fulfilled in the life and victory of Jesus the Christ? I mean, to me, it is thrilling to see the Bible come alive like this. Who could do this? Who could draft a book like this? That has all these connections. Only God. In this small, short passage tucked away in the minor prophets, we have the theme of what we call biblical theology just exploding off of the pages. A theme that displays the glory of God as the continuity of the scriptures comes alive and is seen in just rich and great detail. I mean, God cut off the line of David for a while. You know what that would have meant for us? Oh good. There is no line for the Messiah to come from. This is devastating for people. No savior, no salvation, no Messiah to come, no eternal king to rule and reign. Devastation. But then in an act of beauty and of grace, the Lord reverses the curse. He appoints the rubbable to be the link in the broken chain. He links them up once again to the messianic line and therefore the possibility of true and lasting salvation. Think of the famous Christmas passage, Isaiah 11:1. Promises that this will happen. It says a shoot from David's line will sprout forth. First in Zerubable, and then ultimately, and much more importantly, in Jesus the Godman. I mean, the Bible is just wonderful. I hope you read it like this. Isn't God's kindness to these adulterous people just amazing? Isn't God's enduring, long-suffering, loving kindness to you here today awesome? And just almost too much to bear. In the book of Job, in verse 13 of the 38th chapter, we read that the Lord will shake out the evil of the earth. Isn't that an awesome picture? You ever been to one of those Christmas tree farms, has a tree shaker? Those are kind of neat. They take your tree, they place it on a machine if you're not familiar, and it just shakes all the loose needles out of it. Cleans up the tree, makes it healthier, nicer to look at. You don't get all the needles in your house as you walk through. Well, on a great and grand scale, this is what the Lord is going to do to the world one day when he comes again. Listen to the full context of that passage in Job 38. It says, Have you ever in your life commanded the morning? Have you done that? It doesn't go well, by the way. Have you caused the dawn to know its place? That it might take hold of the ends of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it. The obvious answer is nobody could do such a thing. No one could wake up the sun. Hey son, where you at? No one says, dawn, it's time. We can change daylight savings time. That doesn't do anything, does it? Make us sleepy. The Lord alone causes the sun to rise, Psalm 19, causes it to set, causes it to be where it needs to be. The Lord is in charge. Same with the wicked. He is in charge of them. No man, no woman, no army, no nation can shake out the wicked from the earth. Only the Lord can do that. And that's precisely what is going to take place on the day the Lord decides to return. Evil will be shaken to its knees. The signet savior will come and the terrible kindness of God will appear. Evil will be no more. And although the rest of the world and its systems and structures, its rulers and authorities will be shaken into ruin and misery, the church, on the other hand, the bride of Christ, the true and chosen servant, that people can never be shaken. In fact, we are promised a future kingdom that can never be altered ever at all. As Psalm 62, Psalm 16, Isaiah 54, other passages speak of this in confident hope. We will never be shaken if we are of the Lord. Jesus, the mighty Messiah and eternal signet authority, will come and he will take us to our eternal home, and there forever we shall rest in him in his constant provision and glory. We shall be a gospel temple of the Lord's, as we reside together facing the true and lasting temple of God, which is none other than the Lamb Himself, slain yet reigning as the eternal king and lion of the tribe of Judah, son of David in the Messianic line, the one with all power and authority, the Lord of Lords, the King of kings, ruler of all. Because of this great and mighty Messiah who crushes nations and saves souls, we shall forever reside in an immovable, unshakable, eternal kingdom. We shall forever reign with the one who overthrows kings and establishes a final and heavenly rule and kingdom that is not of this world. Praise God for his constant and great kindness to us, even as he judges those who are opposed to him. In closing, I want to say this: the Lord, the word of the Lord, it came through the prophet to the people. And in this book, in Haggai, we see something amazing. We see the kindness of God being displayed as they come to repentance. We see newfound trust. We see diligence. The word of the Lord has been spoken to them and they respond. Well, here's the thing. The word of the Lord has been spoken over you from Haggai for the last four weeks. What's your response? Will you turn from sin and turn to the Lord? Will you do as they did and get to work for him? Will you commit yourself to him and his people daily? Do you want the blessing of the Lord? How are you going to respond to the message of Haggai? Forget about me. Even though I've attempted to preach it. What does God's word say? How are you going to respond? Please don't walk away. Either as a bobblehead, mm-hmm, yeah, great. And don't walk away going, yeah, okay, that was good in church, that's fine. Walk away changed. Beg him for his grace to transform you into his people that collectively serve him and worship him and come to repentance and are devoted to him and each other day by day. Work for him. Because we see what happens when we don't. Father, we thank you that you often call us to consider our ways. How gracious you are. You call us to consider our ways, to see where we are, to see where we're failing, to see where we're following. And yet you call us again and again to faithfulness by your grace, by your mercy. You even tell us that you will bless us as we follow you. You've chosen us for this. And so we ask you, Father, that we would be that faithful people, that faithful church, that that church that is like a city on a hill shining in its brilliance. Not because of us, but because of your work in and through us. Use us mightily for your purposes, we pray, Father. Cause us to be devoted to you in every aspect, every facet of life. And that this would play out in being devoted to one another all the more. We love you and we love each other. But we need to grow. And so we ask you that you would transform us in and through your word in this way. That you would do this for your glory. We want. The glory of the Lord, to be the cry of our hearts, the goal of our lives. And we thank you that you have revealed to us your Son. You have revealed to us the need for salvation, and that we get the privilege of being in a kingdom that cannot be shaken, even as we will one day watch the world be shaken to its knees. What a gracious God you are. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.