The Future's So Bright You Need To Wear Shades Series

Haggai: The Best is Yet to Come

Haggai 2:20-23

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

10-29-23

Intro

As a professor at Moody Bible Institute, I often talk to students who are completely overwhelmed. They are taking classes, writing papers, reading books, and working (sometimes full-time), and many have families to take care of.

It’s easy to get down and discouraged when there doesn’t seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel and every day is the same as the last.

I get the joy of reminding them that this too shall pass. They are in an incredibly busy season right now but school will come to an end. They will graduate and will be able to read books because they want to not because they have to.

Some who graduate will already have jobs or internships lined up. Some wait until they graduate to get married or have children.

I always remind them that the future is so bright they need to wear shades! But it’s hard to see that in the midst of the academic grind.

Maybe you feel that way? In Greek mythology, the king of Corinth, Sisyphus, was cursed to spend every day rolling a huge stone up a hill only to watch it roll back down as he reached the top.

Maybe you feel like the walls are closing in. You can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Every day is the same thing and you are getting weary and worn out. The world just seems to be spinning too fast and you dream about getting off the ride.

You may be able to relate to the words of an article in the Atlantic Journal:

“The world is too big for us. Too much going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement. Try as you will, you get behind in the race…it’s an incessant strain to keep pace and you still lose your ground. Science empties its discoveries in you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political news is seen so rapidly you’re out of breath trying to keep pace with who’s in and who’s out. Everything is high pressure. Human nature can’t endure much more!”

This was written on June 16, 1833!

There is really nothing new under the sun.

This morning, we are going to listen in as Haggai encourages the Jewish people with a picture of a future that they can hardly imagine.

Turn with me to Haggai 2.

Prayer

Review

[ Show the Bible Project - Haggai end at 4:23]

This morning, we come to the last sermon, which was also preached on December 18, 520 BC. Yes, he preached two sermons on the same day. This is the day that the foundation of the Temple was completed. It was a day of celebration.

But the people are still discouraged. Jerusalem was not what it used to be. The Temple will be much less impressive than Solomon’s Temple. The promise of God’s presence seems to be lost. They look into the far future and it is murky and depressing.

God through the prophet Haggai has a word for them today. Well, actually the message is for Zerubbabel.

A Promised Day is Coming

"The word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month:  “Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.”

God addresses the political ruler Zerubbabel with the promise that he will shake the heavens and the earth. This is a Hebrew way of saying, “the universe.”

We’ve already seen this shaking motif in 2:6-8.

“Shaking” is a sign of His sovereignty and judgment. (Think of a snow globe) He will shake everything again when Jesus Christ returns to the earth.

This is not shaking to destroy but to reorder things to their rightful place.

As one pastor put it, “There will be a lot of shaking going on!”

God will overturn royal thrones. This word means total and instantaneous destruction by God’s unlimited power. It’s the same word used for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19.

He will shatter the power of the foreign nations. This word is the same one used to describe the complete destruction of the Canaanites at Jericho (Joshua 2).

He will overthrow chariots and drivers, horses, and their riders will fall.

Does anyone remember when this happened? That’s right, when God parted the Red Sea and the Israelites walked through on dry land but the Egyptians chasing them were all drowned in the depths of the water. (See Exodus 14)