The Warrior King

20 The word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 21 ‘Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah: I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overturn chariots and their riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by his brother’s sword. 23 On that day’ – this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies – ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant’ – this is the Lord’s declaration – ‘and make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you.’ This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies.

Haggai 2:20-23

Introduction

This week three of our own were in bad car accidents. A grandmother, and a young adult, were admitted to hospital. Our lives are so full of turmoil.

What do you hold onto when your world shakes?

This morning Haggai turns our eyes to the end of time. A day when the whole world shakes. Here is what we will find. Believers have an assurance. We will be safe. And that future assurance means we can have present peace. Because we know our Lord holds us in the palm of His hand.

We have been walking verse by verse through Haggai. In 536 BC Cyrus of Persia issued a decree. The Jewish exiles could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. About fifty thousand returned. They laid the foundation with great celebration. Then opposition stopped the work. Sixteen years passed. The temple site sat silent.

In Haggai chapter one we heard God confront their neglect. They panelled their own houses while His house lay in ruins. They worked, but the hole in their pocket never filled. Yet even in that rebuke, God gave assurance. I am with you. And He stirred their spirits to begin rebuilding.

Then from chapter two, fresh discouragement set in. The new temple seemed so small. But God encouraged them with a breathtaking promise. I will fill this house with glory. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.

Last week we reached the great turning point. God traced their defilement. He called them to consider. Then He declared, From this day on I will bless you. The drought ended. The harvest began. The seed sprouted in the soil.

Now this morning the prophet’s gaze lifts from the harvest to the horizon of history. The God who promised to bless His people on a specific day has, on that very same day, another word. And it is terrifying. The day is coming when Jesus will shatter every enemy and seal His people forever.

Two points. First, the Day the Divine Warrior shatters every enemy. Second, the Day the Divine King seals every believer.

Listen closely. The text is not polite. It is not tame. Because the Lord of Armies is marching.

The Day the Divine Warrior shatters every enemy

Have you noticed the repetition of dating in the book of Haggai? This oracle comes on the very day God promised to bless His people’s work in Haggai 2:10-19. Now God talks of judgment on the nations. By the Lord’s divine calendar, a Day of reckoning is inevitably coming.

Have you noticed the repetition of the title the Lord of Armies in the book of Haggai? The Lord commands His heavenly host. And with them, He will unleash havoc on all His foes.

On that Day of havoc, in verse 21, the Divine Warrior will shake the heavens and the earth. And, in verse 22, overturn royal thrones. He will destroy the power of the Gentile kingdoms. Chariots and their riders will be overturned. Horses and their riders will fall. They will fall each by his brother’s sword.

This Day of the Lord is when God breaks into history, culminating in cataclysmic destruction. All things brought to their appointed end. Their final conclusion under His judgment. History is heading towards a certain end. The Day of the Lord is the door through which time enters eternity.

No one knows when this day will happen. Nor can we. God has not revealed the date. But we are 2,540 years closer than when Haggai prophesied. His promised Day is all the nearer.

What will it be like? The text tells us. The sky unravels. This cosmic chaos lifts us out of world history, and puts us on an eschatological trajectory. Thrones crash. This isn’t a localised skirmish, but a world wide war. Entire empires end. Chariots careen. As the world’s war machine is wrecked. And soldiers turn swords on comrades. Complete confusion leading to self-destruction.

The Old Testament prophets foresaw this terrifying Day.

Zechariah wrote that the nations will gather against Jerusalem for battle. The holy city will be captured. Houses will be looted. And then the Lord will go out to fight on the Day of Battle. That is exactly the movement Haggai gives us. The nations rage. Then the Divine Warrior takes to battlefield earth, toppling thrones.

Joel saw the Lord roaring from Zion. Thundering from Jerusalem. The heavens and the earth are shaking. A terrible and dreadful Day. A Day of divine destruction. Divine vengeance. When the Lord makes His voice heard in the presence of His army. And those who carry out His command are powerful. The shaking Haggai announces is the very cosmic upheaval Joel saw. The Lord of Armies advances with His heavenly host and none can stand before Him.

Jeremiah said that the Day belongs to the Lord, the God of Armies. It is a Day of vengeance. Jeremiah describes a gruesome sacrifice. The sword will devour and be satisfied. It will drink its fill of blood because it is a sacrifice to the Lord, the God of Armies. When Haggai’s chariots overturn and riders fall by their own brother’s sword, we are staring into that same Day.

Amos wrote, Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. Like Haggai Amos anticipated some spectacular cosmological event. But both prophets warn that the Day will be filled with fear, and dreadful terror.

The word overturn is the same word used for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The same word used for the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea. Throughout Scripture, God specialises in overthrowing the proud and rescuing the humble. Cities of sin, chariots of empire. He overturns them all.

In the immediate context, this oracle takes aim at the Persian superpower dominating over Israel. Within a generation, Persia would stagger. Greece and then Rome would rise and fall. Each toppled throne is a down payment on the final Day. But the ultimate shaking of heaven and earth still awaits. We read Haggai knowing that every empire since has been a dress rehearsal for the final act to come.

Consider the military might of the world. The United States spends 15 trillion Rand on its military. Every year. China spends 7 trillion Rand. But on that Day, every military machine will be useless, every army helpless. What the Divine Warrior did to Sodom, Gomorrah, Pharaoh, and Egypt He will do to every military power. Whether horses and chariots or drones and aircraft carriers.

The Divine Warrior is coming. And He comes to overthrow the world. He comes to tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God. He shakes the heavens. He shatters the earth. He dismantles every rebellion. He crushes every enemy. He will not be stopped.

Application

So what do we do with a Day like this? I have two words. One for the nations, one for your own soul.

First, every empire that trusts in horses and chariots, in fighter jets and drones, in trillion-dollar budgets and iron domes. Every power that raises its fist against heaven is standing on ground that is about to shake. The Divine Warrior will not negotiate with superpowers. He does not fear their war colleges or nuclear arsenals. He speaks. And chariots overturn. He breathes. And riders fall. So let no Christian pin their final hope on any political party, any army, any economic system. They are straw before the divine flame. They are clay before the seal. So let us be wise. Pray. And engage as citizens. But do not fear, and do not be surprised. Not even a nation that wraps itself in the name of God will be spared from the shaking to come. God will not be a mascot for any empire. His Kingdom will not rise through the gradual triumph of Christian politics. But through the catastrophic return of the King. A shaking is coming. And when it comes, only God’s Kingdom will be left standing.

Second, a word to your soul. If something inside you trembles. Because you know you are not right with God. The thought of the Divine Warrior approaching makes you shake inside. Good. It is a mercy of God intended to wake you up.

Here is the gospel that will not shake. When the Divine Warrior returns, His robe will be stained with the judgment of His enemies. But before that Day comes, He wore a different robe, one soaked in His own blood, poured out for you on the cross. He took the shaking you deserve. The Warrior became the Lamb. And that means that now, anyone hidden in Him can face the coming Day without fear. So flee to Him. Not tomorrow. Not when you have more certainty. Now. While the Rider extends mercy, take shelter in His blood. Bow the knee. Call on His name. Let the terror of Haggai drive you to the tenderness of Jesus. Whoever comes to Jesus will never be cast out.

The Day brings destruction. But it also brings a sealing. The Divine Warrior comes to overthrow the world. But the Divine King comes to seal His own.

The Day the Divine King seals every believer

There is an Old Testament covenant puzzle this text invites us to solve. A puzzle of a cursed king. A powerless governor. And a signet ring.

The first piece of the puzzle is a cursed king. Zerubbabel is the grandson of Jeconiah, also called Coniah. A king whom God rejected. The prophet Jeremiah had pronounced a plain, public curse on him. A curse that seemed to lock the door on David’s line forever. Even if you, Coniah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would tear you off. Record this man as if childless. None of his descendants will succeed in sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.

The second piece of the puzzle is a powerless governor. Zerubbabel is not even a king. He is a governor. A petty official in a backwater province of the Persian Empire. The Persians are the superpower. Humanly speaking, invincible. They shake the world. Not the other way around. The returned exiles are a tiny remnant, impoverished and struggling merely to survive. They have no army. No influence. No throne. Humanly speaking, there is no more hope for David’s throne. Persia dominates. David’s line is powerless. The promises to David seem buried under Persian rubble.

The third piece of the puzzle is a signet ring. Verse 23 reads, On that day I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel. My servant. And make you like my signet ring. What is a signet ring? In the ancient Near East, a signet ring is not jewellery. It is authority. When a king pressed his ring into soft clay, the impression bore his image and carried his legal power. To possess the signet ring was to act with the king’s full authority. It was the most intimate symbol of delegation and trust. The king’s identity. The king’s signature. The king’s power. And the king’s unbreakable decree. To be made the Lord’s signet ring is to be installed as His chosen king, bearing His own authority to rule on His behalf.

Now hear what God says. Zerubbabel, you are not a figurehead. You are not a placeholder. I am making you like my signet ring. You will bear My authority. You will act in My name. You will carry My power. The curse upon Jeconiah’s line is not the final word. My grace is. My choosing is. Zerubbabel himself never sat on a throne. Yet the promise was true, pointing to a greater Son who would. What God pulled off with one hand, He reattaches with the other. Judgment dismantled. Grace rebuilds.

And this is the hinge. The ground of it all. God says, For I have chosen you. The verb, chosen, is deliberate. It is sovereign. It is unconditional. God chose Abraham from Ur. God chose Israel from all nations. God chose David from the sheepfold. And now God chooses Zerubbabel. Not because he deserves it. Not because the line earned it. Not because Persia permits it. Because God is gracious. Because God keeps covenant. Because God’s purposes cannot be defeated by a curse or an empire. Not by Jeconiah’s unfaithfulness. Not by Babylon’s conquest. Not by Persia’s dominance. God chooses. And what God chooses, no power in heaven or on earth can reverse.

So here is the contribution this point makes to the argument. Despite impossible odds, the Day is coming when the Lord will sovereignly enthrone His Davidic King. The curse cannot stop Him. Persia cannot stop Him. History cannot stop Him.

Application

Believers, what does this mean for you? The ultimate King this signet-ring promise points to is Jesus. And He is coming as the Divine Warrior and the Divine King. He chooses. He saves. He seals. What He promises, He performs. What He begins, He completes. Great assurance flows from this.

Are you a new convert? Your faith still tender. Your steps unsteady. You wonder if you can endure. Hear this. God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. Your salvation does not rest on the strength of your grip on Him. It rests on the strength of His grip on you. The same God who took Zerubbabel from a cursed line and made him His signet ring has set His seal on you. You have been marked with the promised Holy Spirit. The down payment of your inheritance. You may feel small. But you bear the King’s authority as His adopted child. Rest in Him.

Are you a believer walks with Christ? You wonder if your labour is in vain. Remember this. What He begins, He completes. Zerubbabel did not receive the signet ring because he was powerful. He received it because God chose him. Not your faithfulness. Not your strength. His. The King is crowned at the right hand of God. He intercedes for you. Every promise God has whispered in His Word, every work He has started in your soul, every battle against indwelling sin, He will bring them all to completion. Look to the risen Christ, God’s true Signet Ring, the exact imprint of His nature. He holds all authority in heaven and on earth. He will finish the good work. He will present you blameless before His presence with great joy. Trust in Him.

Are you a mature saint? Our King is coming. He has placed His seal upon you, and entrusted you with His gospel. Authorised to represent His kingdom. Through the proclamation of the gospel. To speak His Word with His authority. You have been sealed. Not for passivity, but for faithful stewardship until He returns. Pour out your life in service. The chaos that terrifies the world does not threaten your security. So serve with boldness. Endure with hope. The King has chosen you. He has saved you. He has sealed you. And He is coming to be glorified in His saints. Great assurance.

Conclusion

This week three of our own were in bad car accidents. A grandmother, and a young adult, were admitted to hospital. Turmoil has visited our church family. It shakes us.

But we have seen what Haggai sees. Our little shakings point to the ultimate shaking. And an unshakeable King who holds us fast.

When creation begins to unravel at the end of days, believers can have quiet assurance. We will be safe. That future assurance gives us present peace. Because we know our Lord holds us in the palm of His hand.

We have seen two realities this morning.

First, the Day the Divine Warrior shatters every enemy. The sky will unravel. Thrones will crash. Chariots will overturn. Every empire that raised its fist against heaven will be reduced to dust. If you are not hidden in Christ, that Day is pure terror. Flee to the Warrior who became the Lamb, before the shaking begins.

Second, the Day the Divine King seals every believer. The curse could not stop Him. The empire could not stop Him. Zerubbabel received a promise his life could not contain, and Jesus fulfilled it perfectly. If you are in Christ, that Day is your sealing. You bear His authority. You carry His name. No power in heaven or on earth can reverse it. Rest in the King who chose you, saved you, and sealed you forever.

The hand that holds the signet ring is the same hand that holds the palm of your life. That hand is pierced with nail marks. And it will never let you go. This is the power you can build your eternity on. Not something you grasp. But the One who grasps you.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.