Promises to Trust

All right, Haggai chapter two. Yeah, you know what? Just

gonna come right out and say it. Most people find

this to be a confusing bit of scripture. That's fine,

we're gonna work through that. And I'm going to give

you a few handles. This is going to be a

little bit of a longer windup to help give you

some handles so that when we read this whole chapter together,

you'll already be getting at understanding what it's about. Here's

the first handle I want to give is just like

this analogy. As my kids were growing up, sometimes when

we had plans like plane tickets or going to a

concert or a ballet or something like that, we would

print out the ticket and we'd put it on the refrigerator.

Just as kind of a reminder, right? That's a, hey,

that's something to put your eyes on. That is something

that's coming. That's something really specific that no matter what's

going on right now, you kind of look up at

the refrigerator and go, ah, but that. And it's kind

of like a word affixed, right? It's a declaration to trust.

Here's something that's coming. And I want to use that

for what we see in Haggai. Because over and over again,

we see this sort of thing that gets declared. Declares

the Lord of hosts. Something, something declares the Lord of hosts.

You see it throughout this whole chapter as well, the

whole book. You see it at the very end. It's

kind of the last word of the book. Right? Declares

the Lord of hosts. Here's a declaration to trust. A

promise to trust. To trust. Helpful. Because I think that

when things are pretty shaky. And things were definitely shaky

for these folks. We're probably accustomed to hearing. Maybe even

accustomed to saying. Just trust the Lord. Okay. Not trying

to back off of that message. But. It does seem

to be a little bit light on how. For what?

What do I, like in what way trust him? Kind

of reminds me of the dietary advice. Eat food. Not

too much. Okay, great. Where do I go from here?

Maybe as a somewhat skeptical person this morning, you would

say that you're not a person who is eager to

hear in the midst of shaky times, trust the Lord.

Maybe it's partly because that platitude does seem kind of

disconnected from any promises specifically. Today I hope to expound

on some of the specifics from Haggai chapter 2 and

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

other places in scripture that your heart might even, as

a skeptic, reach out and trust the Lord very specifically.

Declares the Lord of hosts. This book is full of

promises and pronouncements. In the midst of shaky times. What

I mean shaky times. I mean if you were here

with Haggai 1. You know. Things are looking up. They have.

Put God first. Remember. They're doing this with zeal. They're

moving forward in obedience. But. The temple that they've started

working on. Or restarted working on. It's really kind of

emptied out. It's pretty lame. Furthermore, here's something to know

about their leader, Zerubbabel. Remember that guy? He's the grandson

of King Jeconiah. That sounds good. He's the grandson of

a king. The last Davidic king of Israel? He's the

last king to sit on the throne and here his

grandson is our leader? He's the governor. Well, that is

until you know what God said to Jeconiah. Jeremiah chapter 22.

Jeremiah 22 · chapter mention

God curses Jeconiah. Says, you know, you were like a

signet ring Your whole line, you can see this, he's

clearly talking about the whole Davidic line. So you were

like a signet ring. But from now on, I have

ripped you off my finger. No more. And now his

grandson is our leader. Do we even like this? Seems

like God is done with this line. Hmm. That's read

Haggai chapter 2 and while we do I just encourage

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

you to listen for how despite how shaky things look

the kinds of things that God is asking them to

trust him in the promises to trust let's read Haggai

2 and let me just ask you to stand if

you can for the reading of God's word Haggai 2.

In the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month,

so this would be about one month after their temple

work had restarted, the word of the Lord came by

the hand of Haggai, the prophet. Speak now to Zerubbabel,

the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and Joshua, the

son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant

of the people, and say, 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? Yet now, be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord.

Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehoshaphat, 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. 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, 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. On the 24th day of the ninth month,

so this is now about three months after they had

restarted the temple work. In the second year of Darius,

the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, ask the priest about

the law. If someone carries holy meat in the fold

of his garment and touches his fold with his fold

bread or stew or wine or oil or any kind

of food, does it become holy? The priest answered and said, no.

Then Haggai said, somebody who is unclean by contact with

a dead body touches any of these, does it become unclean?

And the priest answered and said, it does become unclean.

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. What they

offer there is unclean. Now consider, from this day onward,

which is a Hebrew word that can also mean backwards,

onward or forward or backwards. How do things stack? Consider

how things stack from this day. Before stone was placed

upon stone in the temple of the Lord, how did

you fare? When one came to a heap of 20 measures,

there were but 10. When one came to the wine

vat to draw 50 measures, there were but 20. 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. Consider. Consider. From

this day onward, from the 24th day of the ninth month,

since the day the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, right,

since you've been working on this, consider, is 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. Then the word of

the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the

24th day of the month, same day. 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'm about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms and

of the nations, overthrow the chariots, their riders. and their

horses and their riders shall go down. Everyone by the

sword of his brother 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've chosen you.

Declares the Lord of hosts. This is the word of

the Lord. Haggai 2.

You know, there are some passages of scripture when you

read them, they're just plain on their face. Not hard

to understand. Some you kind of have to drill down

a little bit. Some you have to kind of widen out.

And some, like Haggai 2, you need to flip around.

You need to see all of the things that Haggai

is referring to and all of the things that get

referred to in Haggai in order to understand, what does

this mean for us? What it means is that despite

how shaky things look, there are ways that God is

calling us to trust him. this is divided pretty cleanly

into three specific pieces. Let's put it this way. Here

are three promises God is asking all his people, not

just the people of Haggai's day, asking all his people

to trust. Here's the first one. Promise number one. God

is moving us toward glory. God is moving us toward

glory where do I get that well I get that

from verses one through nine but also from and you

might even put turn there and put your finger in

there right now also from Hebrews chapter 12 I'm getting

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

that from Haggai 2 1 through 9 and Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

12 which we'll look at in a moment But just

look at verses one through nine. Here we are, we're

a month, verse one, we're a month into the restart

on this build, right? The foundations were laid a few

years ago, then that got put on pause, a little

bit of controversy. Now they've restarted, they've been at it

for a month. In verses two through three, God approaches

them about to say, who here is old enough to

remember what things were like? Because now it looks pretty empty,

doesn't it? Pretty rinky-dink. I mean, this is the temple.

This is the place where God and man are meant

to meet. And it's emptied out of all the instruments

of worship. It's emptied out of all its glory. This

is pretty shaky indeed. And here's how God responds to that. Say,

I know. I know what it looks like. I know

how bad the circumstances seem in your work. This work

that I've called you to. This worship that I've called

you to build. This people that I've called you to lead.

I know what it looks like. But here's what I

want you to do. He says it three times. Verses

four through five. Be strong. Be strong. Be strong. Work

for I am with you. Don't be afraid. Do you

ever get discouraged? Just me and you. Yeah, I'll never

give anything away. I'm just going to go out on

a limb and suppose that you all like me get

discouraged and that you like me would like to know.

That God's message to you in that discouragement as you're

about the work that he's called you to in the

obedience that you mean to walk in.

And that his word to you would be, wouldn't it

be great if his word to you was, fear not,

keep at it, be strong, be strong, be strong. That

was his word to them. Wouldn't it be nice if

that was his word to us? We'll see about that.

He goes on in verses 6 through 9 to tell

us what this instruction, this imperative, this command, this direction

that he's given us, fear not, keep at it, be strong,

be strong, be strong. What is it based on? And

he says in verses 6 through 9, because... Yet once more,

and I'm about to shake heaven and earth and the

sea and the dry land. I'm going to shake the nations.

I'm going to bring, it's like he's going to turn

the world upside down and shake it until everything that's

valuable comes into the place where God and man meet.

All the gold is mine. All the silver is mine. Listen,

I'm taking you towards glory and the glory is going

to be greater than than anything you've seen before. Well,

what's God doing? He's making a promise. He's making a

promise by painting a picture. It's like, boom, like the

ticket on the fridge. Hey, keep your eyes on this.

Here's something specifically that I've told you. What you've been

working at told you to work out and you're discouraged

despite what you see I'm telling you be strong I'm

moving you towards glory I know you've been at work

with your hands but don't stop because I'm coming in

with my hands that's that is a promise to trust

for them But what about us? Well, I told you

Hebrews chapter 12 is where we look to see what

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

about us. You can flip there if you want. What

I'm going to do is just sort of bound through

this chapter. But this is what the author of Hebrews

says to us as Christians. He says, to start with

verse one, for example, hey, lay aside every weight and

sin that so easily entangles. Doesn't that sound like be strong?

He says in verse three, or continuing in verse one,

run with endurance, right? Be strong. Verse three, don't grow weary.

Verse 12, lift up your drooping hands and strengthen your

weak knees. Be strong. Don't be afraid. Keep at it.

And then he gets to verse 26. And he says,

because now he has promised, quote, and he quotes Haggai

Haggai 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. It's like, this is for you. Yet once more,

and I will shake not only the earth, but also

the heavens. He says, and this phrase, yet once more.

He's talking about, he indicates the removal of things that

are shaken, that is, that have been made in order

that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. He's saying,

don't stop. I know you've been at work with your hands,

but God's hands are coming and he is going to

shake everything and all that is valuable will end up

in the place where God and man meet and it's

for you. Don't be afraid. Don't stop working. Be strong.

You've already inherited this kingdom, he says. This is not

something that you're detached from. It's like this is a

kingdom that in Christ you have already inherited. And when

he shakes the things that can be shaken, the things

that cannot be shaken will be left. And it will

be everything that's valuable. And you will be with him.

There's how the story ends. God is saying, this is

a declaration for you to trust. This is a promise

for you to trust. This is in similar circumstances, in

a similar way. for similar reasons, be strong, be strong,

be strong. I am taking you towards glory. I know

what it looks like right now. And you might say like,

I mean, As a skeptical person, you might say, well,

I don't know that this weird temple stuff has anything

to do with me. In fact, I'm not even sure.

I'm not sure that this is a promise to trust

so much as it is sort of a delusion to distract.

These Christians, they're just always talking about some coming glory.

Is this a promise I can trust? Well, first of all,

as far as this temple stuff is concerned, you gotta

see that God has been expanding his people's understanding of

his work and his promises all along. Even who his

people are. He says, look, the people who are my

people are not just those who are the children of Abraham,

but are the children of Abraham's faith. I have opened

up this family to all who will trust in me.

The work of my son. And where God and man meet,

my temple, Jesus shows up and says, here's the temple.

This is where God and man meet. And when you've

torn it down, I will raise it up in three

days and God and man will meet in me. God

has been expanding his people's understanding all along. Secondly, consider this.

This promise doesn't distract us. This isn't a delusion that

distracts us from current circumstances. This is a promise that

pushes us into circumstances. That's the command behind this promise.

Don't be afraid. Don't stop working at this. Be strong.

There's nothing distracting about that. It's galvanizing. It's focusing. Lastly,

I would say this. Delusions. Delusions are things that people

believe without evidence. This promise is based on all kinds

of evidence. The center of which is the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead. That body, which he claimed

was the true temple. See, there were people who followed

him all over the place because... He declared his Messiahship

through word and through miracles. But then when he died,

they scattered. They were afraid to even say they ever

even knew him. And they were ready to go back

to fishing. Until he rose from the dead and appeared

to them. And then they spent their entire lives. In fact,

they spent their deaths. declaring to the world who he is,

what he's done. See, the evidence is this, and what

this promise is based on is this, the resurrection of

Jesus Christ, because if Jesus did not rise from the dead,

then this glory we're talking about is a delusion. But

if he did, then it's the only thing to base

your life and eternity on. Him and his promises. That's

the first promise God is asking us to trust. And

he's moving us toward glory. So be strong. Don't be afraid.

Keep at work. Here's the second promise God is asking

all of his people to trust him in. And it's this,

that blessing is in God's hands. Blessing is in God's hands.

Why do I say that? Remember last week as we

were looking at Haggai chapter one and we were talking

about prosperity theology, right? And God had said to the

people like, hey, I have kept blessing from you. And

now I'm calling you to this. You're like, okay, well,

now we're expecting that blessing is going to follow. And

how is that different than prosperity theology? And Haggai chapter

two is actually the most developed debunking of prosperity theology

in all the Bible if you understand this parable. God

gives them a parable by way of a pop quiz.

Pop quiz has two questions. He says, all right, you

guys have been working on this for about three months.

That's what he says in verse 10, right? What's the

timeline on this? It says, sorry, pages. 24th day of

the ninth month. So they've been at the rebuild for

about three months. And he says, let's quiz the priest

about the law. I have a point I'm trying to make.

Here's question number one, verse 12. You have some holy meat, right?

Here is a sanctified offering to the Lord. This is holy.

And if that comes in contact with anything, does the

holiness spread? Does it sanctify other things? And the priest

is like, no, that's not how that works. God's like,

all right. Question number two, verse 13. What if you're

unclean and you touch things? Does the defilement spread? And

the priest is like, yes, that's how that works. God's like, great.

I'm glad you get the basics. But here's the point

I'm making. Verse 14. So it is with these people.

He says... when it comes to this idea of uncleanness,

this work that you guys have been about, this temple work,

I'm not saying it's bad. You've done this in obedience.

You've done this with zeal. And yet you've been a

rebellious people. And so everything that you've touched has been contaminated.

But furthermore, right? So he's like, that's that side of things.

Here's the other side of things. It's like, it's like this.

This work, this temple work, this obedience, this zeal, as

good as it is, it doesn't make you blessed. It

doesn't make you sanctified. You can't sanctify yourself. You can't

bless yourself. Your obedience doesn't. Your zeal doesn't bless you.

Your work doesn't bless you. I do. You want the proof?

So here's the proof. Verses 15 through 19. It says, consider.

When the temple foundations went down. And all that has

transpired up until the point that you guys started doing

this in zeal and obedience, you've been doing it the

right way. Don't get me wrong. You guys have been

doing it the right way. But the whole time between

that time and the time that you guys started in

your obedience, how were things shaken out? You went to

go draw 50 measures of wine. There's only 20 in there.

You went to go get grain and there wasn't enough

So I was withholding blessing. But here's the kicker. But

then you started in your obedience. Then you started in

your zeal. And how have things been from that point

till now in these three months? Have things changed? No,

they haven't, not at all. Because your obedience... doesn't bless you.

I do. Yeah, I respond to your rebellion. Of course,

I'm a father who responds to the rebellion of his children. Yes,

I respond to your obedience. I'm a father who responds

to the obedience of his children. But my blessings aren't

a set of items in a moral vending machine. You

don't control me. You don't control blessing, right? You don't just, oh,

I'm putting in this much obedience. I'm putting in this

much repentance and outcomes. You know, I'll select this one

and outcomes this blessing. My blessings are in my hand. See,

prosperity theology and certain types of legalism too. which are

just two sides of the same coin. They take God's promises,

and then they take God out of them. Or they

take God's warnings, and then they take God out of them.

As if, you know, it's just, the universe sort of

operates on a matter of Christian karma. Yeah. Sure, prosperity

theology usually leans positive and legalism sort of leans negative.

But two sides of the same coin. As if we

could manipulate God by our obedience. And God's saying, it

doesn't work like that. I am the living God. I decide.

Of course I respond to your rebellion. And of course

I respond to your obedience. But it's on my terms.

It's my prerogative. I think probably our hearts lean towards

this idea of a moral vending machine because we prefer

to operate from a framework of control. We like to

think that we're in control of the universe, our universe

at least. But listen, consider, as it says, consider As

God proves that he runs the universe according to his

own wise liberty and not our mechanistic rules. We will

either be scrambling around to figure out what exactly we

did to arrive at this trial. Or we'll smugly be

working as hard as we can to pat ourselves on

the back for the blessing we must have earned. But

if the executor of God's blessings is God, if he

determines the when and the where and the how and

the how much of all his blessings, if blessings are

in his hand, isn't that truly so much better? Even

if I like the idea of control because he is

wise and good and I'm not much of either. But

is it any wonder that the one who died for

me knows better how to bless than I do? I

would so much rather have for blessings to be in

the hand of my good savior than in a moral

vending machine that I'm trying to figure out how to

manipulate with my obedience. Because, oh, the timing of my shepherd.

He knows exactly where to take me, exactly when, in

what fields to graze, And when to move on. The touch.

The touch of my surgeon. I don't want to heal myself.

I want to go to the doctor who died for me.

I want the touch of the healer. Not some mechanistic

therapy rigmarole. that I've constructed out of Bible passages that

I think I'm gonna use to bless myself. He has

always been more generous. There's a promise that God wants

us to trust, and that's that blessing is in his hand.

There's a third promise. This is a big zag here

in this passage. The third promise is this. God redeems people.

God redeems people. I know that kind of sounds like a,

comes out of the blue, but so does God's message here.

I mean, here God is talking through Haggai to the

priests with this pop quiz and his explanation. It's just

exactly where blessings come from. And then Haggai's like, oh,

and another thing. God says to Zerubbabel, redemption. And where

do I get that? I get that from verses 20

through 23, but also from Jeremiah 22, and also from

Matthew chapter 1. I told you there was a lot

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

of flipping around. Let's just look at 20 through 23

right now. He says, verse 20, the word came a

second time on the same day. Verse 21, Zerubbabel, who's

the governor? He's not the king. The real king is

in Persia, which is already bad news enough. But not

only that, from Jeremiah 22, we know that this is

the cursed line. This is the line that had been promised,

now was cursed through Jeconiah. God says, I'm going to

rip off this you like a signet ring. You used

to be my mark. This whole line would have been

my mark of my work and my promises, and I'm

ripping it off. And now, here's his grandson. And he

says to the grandson, I'm going to shake heavens. I'm

going to shake the heavens. I'm going to shake the earth.

I'm going to shake kingdoms. I'm going to shake all

the armies of the kingdoms. Right? We heard this. And

when all that gets shaken, when your question is, what

about little old us? Here's my answer. Verse 23. Zerubbabel...

Son of Shealtiel, I'm going to make you like a

signet ring. It's back on, baby. I am remaking this line.

You will be the mark of my blessing. You will

be the mark of my people. You will be the

mark of my work. I have chosen you, declares the Lord.

Jeconiah looked like the end. Jeconiah looked like a broken line.

It has been remade and it will be restored, Zerubbabel,

from here on out. And you're like, how? Matthew chapter

one tells us. You can flip there if you want.

We're not gonna read the whole genealogy. But I'll just

point out. Verse 11. Verse 11. Josiah, the father of

Jeconiah and his brothers. Verse 12. And after the deportation

to Babylon, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was

the father of Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel, in whom the line

was remade, through his descendants comes Jesus, the Christ. Because

God redeems people. The line restored. In Christ, the Davidic

kingship established for all time. And not only has he

restored this line, but he's restored his people, and he

has restored all who come to faith in this one.

That's what the Bible says, that all who are in

Christ are a new creation. God redeems people. Even more

than redeeming someone like Zerubbabel is he's redeeming a lost

sinner who comes to faith in Christ and becomes a

completely new creation. That means that you can be redeemed.

Even you. Even you. That means that the one that

you've been praying for can be redeemed. Not out of reach.

I mean, Zerubbabel was in Babylon. And God said, I'm

bringing you home. Well, I was in Amsterdam. And God said,

I'm bringing you home. And what God is saying is like, look,

when things are shaky, trust me. Trust my promises. I

have some specific things I want you to know. These

are declarations to trust. I'm moving you towards glory so

be strong blessing is in my hand so come to

me come to me don't think you can manipulate this

this some through the some moral universe equation and I

redeem people I redeem people. So look to me. Let's

stand and pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I ask that you

would move us to trust your promises. Lord, as we

consider the things around us and the circumstances, of our lives,

our homes, maybe our health. We know what it looks

like and you know even better what it looks like. Lord,

I pray that you would move our eyes from those

things and you would put them on you, your character,

and specifically your promises. That we would lean forward into

those things That we would look up and see them posted.

And they would be central to our lives, our decisions,

and even our feelings, Lord. We'd be driven by these things.

In Jesus' name we ask these things. Amen.