We’ve finally come to the fourth and the last message of Haggai.
• This last message was delivered on the same day as the third. God spoke twice on this day.
• God speaks to address a need He sees. This time He came with a message specifically for the leader.
From the content of the message, we could guess that Zerubbabel was probably struggling to find the strength to go on, now a small nation surrounded by bigger and stronger neighbours. And God spoke.
We have seen, so far from this book that the remedy to discouragement is to hear the Word of God again.
• We need to hear the Word each time we feel down.
• In Chapter 1 we see that the spirit of the people was stirred by the Word of God.
• They were moved and motivated by the Spirit to do the work.
• They were sustained by the Word - God came with a second, and a third message, and now a fourth, for the leader.
To do the work of God for the long haul and complete the job, we need the Word from God. If we do not hear from Him, we will soon lose steam and die down.
• Think for a moment, when was the last time you did with enthusiasm, something for God, only to find that it lasted only for a short while?
• To start is easily, to persevere is another story altogether. Circumstances will change, problems mount, the initial enthusiasm dies down, and we got distracted by many other things.
In the Christian life, it’s not how you start but how you finish.
• A survey once showed that only 10% Christians who started serving in their early 20s were still in the ministry in their 60s. Most fall away from ministry due to discouragement, love for wealth and the things of this world, immorality and other reasons.
• Those who finish strong are the exceptions. Why? Because we are facing many strong odds – we are fighting against the devil, against our own flesh, and against the cares of this world.
It wasn’t easy for Zerubbabel. Under the circumstances, and in a leadership position, he felt the pressures and difficulties. Many probably would have quitted. God came with His timely message, specifically for him.
It is important that we hear Him. Encouragement will come from the Word of God.
• As children of God, we are equipped by God to deal with difficult times.
• God has the final word in every circumstance.
• We pray that we will always be inspired by the Word, to remain excited about the Word and be thrilled by what He says.
God wants Zerubbabel to look at what He WILL do. Look at the ‘I WILL…’
The first thing he needs to be reminded of is this: God Is in Control
How much of your life are you in control of?
• You can eat right and exercise well, but you cannot set the number of your days.
• When an illness strikes, you can do nothing to prevent it.
• Outcomes are not determined simply by the power of your own will.
We need to be reminded, and submit ourselves to the only One who is in control.
• Not just control, but absolute control of everything, including your life!
• Six times in this little paragraph God tells you He is in control. He says,
“I will shake the heavens and the earth;”
“I will overturn royal thrones,”
“I will shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms…”
“I will overthrow chariots and their drivers…”
“I will take you…” “I will make you like my signet ring… I have chosen you.”
• These are not foolish statements made by someone who likes to brag. They are promises made by the Sovereign God of the universe.
I want to share with you a passage I read 2 weeks ago - Acts 2:22-24
22 "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
Wicked men thought they had the upper hand when Jesus was crucified.
• They were in fact played out by God. Their plot was absorbed within God’s plan.
• 2:23 “This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose & foreknowledge.”
• You put Him to death, but God raised him from the dead! 2:24 says “it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
• Nothing can come against God’s set purpose and plan.
We can be shocked and discouraged by what wicked men are doing today.
• Or what the devil sets to do. Yet nothing evil can thwart God’s set purpose.
• God twists what is evil and causes the good to triumph. He has the final say.
• Therefore no discouragement or trouble in life can really have a hold on us, if we do not let it.
C. S. Lewis:“Our leisure, even our play, is a matter of serious concern. There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God.”
Why did Zerubbabel need to hear this?
• To prevent him from being overwhelmed by hopelessness, in the bleak situation.
• We are all susceptible to this, and can easily lose faith in God and doubt God’s control over all things.
• We react to such situations with fear and worry, and end result is that we will try to solve the problems on our own. We are afraid that unless we act, something awful will happen.
• We see that in Abraham, when he realised it was too late for him to have a child. He did it his own way. Eventually it broke up the family. Descendants of Ishmael and Isaac have become enemies till this day.
Haggai 1 tells us we cannot even control the simple things of life.
• They may work hard in the fields but that is no guarantee of a good harvest.
• They earn wages but there is no assurance that they can keep them.
• There is just one thing they can ‘control’ - they can control the one thing that mattered most in life – Haggai wants them to put their trust back in God.
• Seek Him and worship Him. This is what we can do!
Many things are beyond our ability to control, the one thing we do control is our response to God in the midst of them.
• We can blame God, attack God, and accuse Him, or we can simply trust that He alone, being the sovereign God, knows what He’s doing and why He’s doing it.
• God is in control. That is the response I must hold on to when things in my life are falling apart.
• No matter how discouraged you get; no matter how much you want to quit and give up; don’t ever forget that God is still in control.
He is the same supreme Ruler over every circumstance, every trial, every hurt, every wrong, every death, every loss, every pain, and every injustice we experience.
• When you doubt it, simply affirm again what the scriptures say, not what experience screams, nor what logic reasons.
• Submit to it, and embrace this quality about God.
• Don’t be bitter about the past. There is only good in God’s actions in your life.
The 2nd thing we noticed here: God tells us what He is going to do IN THE FUTURE.
• God always tell His people what He is going to do – that’s His promises.
• What is God’s promise? It is God telling us NOW what He will do in the future.
We see here God repeating His promises. Earlier in the 3rd message (Haggai 2:6-7):
6 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: `In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.
God Keeps His Promises
• So what did God say to Zerubbabel about the future?
We can lump these statements in verses 20-23 into two broad categories.
The first has to do with God establishing His Kingdom here on earth.
• God will enable Zerubbabel to establish the nation of Israel.
• But more than that, in a prophetic way God says He will in the last days establish His Kingdom on earth through Jesus Christ.
The second (v.23) has to do with God making Zerubbabel as His signet ring .
• In order words, through his bloodline, God will continue the royal line and bring in the King of Israel.
• Zerubbabel is the descendant of King David. When David was the king of Israel, God made a promise to him that the throne would never depart from his family. Zerubbabel belongs to the royal bloodline. Through him, God will bring in Jesus.
• Both Matthew and Luke trace the ancestry of Jesus Christ back to Zerubbabel (Matt 1:12; Luke 3:27).
• For the first time, God addresses Zerubbabel as “My servant Zerubbabel… my signet ring, I have chosen you.”
His Kingdom will be established. His King will come through Israel.
• God’s salvation plan is on track. Nothing has changed, despite Israel apparent failure. God is planning for the grand entry of His Son.
• Man sees only the present. God sees the future.
• Israel may have lost sight of it, but not God.
• Man may have become disillusioned with what is going on, but not God.
God’s plan for you has not changed.
God Is For YOU. God does everything for the sake of your salvation.
• We may not feel that way all the time, but the truth remains: God loves you and cares for you.
• He sent prophet after prophet to the people, not to punish them but to help them get back on the right track.
We need to broaden our perspective of God’s love for you.
• Sometimes we have a very limited understanding of His love. We make Him prove His love to us by giving us an easy, trouble-free life, by demanding good circumstances or lots of stuff. Otherwise we question His goodness.
• God is good to you beyond measure, and while we like to have an abundance of stuff and a good life God does not have to give you those things to prove His love for you. He might do it, but then again He might not.
If God had to give you those things to demonstrate that He’s on your side, then Paul’s writings reveal that God must have hated him. God must have hated John the Baptist and Peter and the rest of the disciples.
• Every one of them lived lives of great trial and hardship and needs, but every one of them was sold-out to Jesus, because they knew that God loves them.
• The question you need to ask this morning is not whether God is on your side, but whether you have made up your mind to be on God’s side.
• Will you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might? Will you love Him who first loved you?
• Will you choose to pay attention to the things of God and invest your life in His Kingdom?
The book of Haggai tells us God loves us too much to leave us the way we are.
• After considering their ways, God wanted the people to consider His ways.
• He is in control. He keeps His promises, and He is on your side.
• Trust the One who sits in the driver’s seat. He knows where He’s going with your life and He has promised that it’s going to be glorious – will you trust Him with it?
