The Chosen King
Notes
Transcript
The other night, the kids went to bed early, and Vanessa was resting as she was sick and so I turned on ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary on the 1998 Home Run Record Chase called “Long Gone Summer.” As a kid growing up in a suburb of Chicago - I remember this season pretty well. It was the season that I became a baseball fan. I remember on the nights when I would go to sleep before the game was over I would wake up and ask my dad “Did Sammy Sosa hit another home run?” We had, and I might still have somewhere, newspaper clippings of stories on Sosa hitting home runs in the 50s and 60s. But as exciting as this was for me as a kid… there’s a lot of history behind this that I had no idea of as a kid - that as an adult helps to better understand the story.
The 30 for 30 explains how McGwire had a few pretty hot seasons and then had a few pretty bad seasons got traded to St. Louis and wasn’t expected to stay. At some point they were expecting the HR chase to be between Ken Griffey Jr and McGwire rather than Sosa. They go on to explain and cover the Babe Ruth Record, and some of the drama behind Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth’s record in 1961 - and I know that a few of you may even remember that event…yet during that season Sosa hits 66 HRs and McGwire hits 71. But then a few years later Barry Bonds hit 73, and then Aaron Judge in 2022 hits 62 home runs… without the use of PEDs.
And I know that for some of you sports illustrations cause your eyes to roll back but I mention all of this to show that understanding the history of this event helps to understand the event itself. The same with our text today… but in even in a greater because this is way more important than baseball - but yet I know that sometimes history, like sports illustrations can cause some of your eyes to roll back as well.
This morning we look at the last 4 verses of the book of Haggai. This is final of four sermons that the Lord has spoken through the prophet Haggai. This final sermon comes on the same day as the previous word. The 24th day of the 9th month. Which corresponds to December 18, 520 B.C. Yet there is something different about this message compared to the previous ones. The audience.
In the first three sermons Haggai was told to speak to Zerubbabel, the governor, Joshua the high priest - which later expands to all the people. In the second sermon, those two and then to all of the people. In the third, he asks a question of the priests - which then extends to all of the people. And now here in this final sermon the Lord speaks just to Zerubbabel.
We’re going to look at this final sermon in three different parts. First we’ll look back into a little bit more of the history.
For the sake of alliteration because I’m trying to be a good baptist preacher… we’ll call it
The Story… then The Shaking… and then finally the Signet.
The Story
The Story
Even though Zerubbabel is mentioned 5 times in the book of Haggai. I’ve not previously addressed who he is. He’s the governor of Judah, as we see in the text. We also see that he is the son of Shealtiel. His name means the Descendent of Babel, which makes sense as he was born during the Babylonian captivity.
However, there’s a bit more to his history than that.
The more significant part of this is who he grandfather is. Though not mentioned in Haggai, we learn from 1 Chron. 3:17 that his grandfather is Jeconiah. Now here’s where it gets confusing Jeconiah has three names… Jeconiah, Jehoiachin and Coniah.
Conveniently, Zerubbabel only has one name.
17 and the sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son,
Jeconiah is the final king before the Babylonian captivity. He was king for a whopping 3 months as we learn from 2 Kings 24:8-9. And as we see in verse 9 he was an awful king… like most of the kings in Israel and Judah’s history.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
9 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
And so three months into his reign, Nebuchadnezzar takes over. Consider how evil he had to have been to in three months be removed from the throne and compared to the evil that his father had done. To look back at the baseball illustration this is like the steroid scandal that followed the record breaking of the Ancient Near East - seeing the sin is important to the story overall.
Jehioachin gets thrown in prison. His uncle Zedekiah becomes “king”. But prior to all of this Jeconiah is told this:
30 Thus says the Lord: “Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”
In short, he will not have a kingly successor. The dynasty ends with Jeconiah.
So at the start of this sermon from Haggai, it’s likely the case that Zerubbabel, and others are thinking… “well the temple is rebuilt, it’s not as nice as we would like but it’s there - and God has promised that he will be with us and that he would do something remarkable with the temple - and God has promised to bless us … but there’s still something not right. What about the promise to David? in 2 Samuel 7 David is promised in verses 13 and 16 that his throne will be established forever. David is promised a dynasty.
So at the background of this text for this morning we have the Davidic Covenant standing at odds with the Curse pronounced on Jeconiah.
And thus the question becomes for us, and for Zerubbabel and all the people will be - how will God remain faithful to his promise to David when he has told Jeconiah that he will be punished for his wickedness?
That question is answered at least in part with our text today.
The Shaking
The Shaking
Final Sermon
The final of Haggai’s sermons. Given the same day as the previous one.
Similar language to 2:6 in 2:21. In verse 6, we read the Lord telling Zerubbabel, Joshua and the people that “he will shake the earth.” And thus again that language is used - or shaking the earth. A cataclysmic event. And if you recall a few weeks make I make the connected between the earth shaking at Jesus death, the earth shaking at Jesus’ resurrection, and the statement in Hebrews 12 concerning the inevitable shaking of the earth at the 2nd coming of Christ.
The latter glory of this temple is connected to the overthrowing of kingdoms.
The content of verse 22 sound sit with an appropriate fear.
The way that the KJV displays this text… or at least the software that I was reading the KJV in…
I will shake the heavens and the earth
I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms
I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms and the nations
I will overthrow the chariots and their riders
Note the first person there…
The Lord of hosts is not only actively declaring war here, but he is also actively proclaiming his own victory. And this is by no means foreign or isolated to this text… as we’ve been studying the Pentateuch in Sunday School we’ve seen that God is a warrior, Exodus 15. And in the conquest of Canaan the Lord declared that he is fighting on behalf of the people.
23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
Now we should be very cautious to not assume that pride themselves on immorality are nations that God is going to protect.
There are many religions that have a doctrine of holy war that will find themselves trampled underfoot on the day of wrath.
22 - consider how this would sound to a person who is currently under the reign of another nation. They were back in the land. They had the temple but they did not have their own kingdom. They were under Persian rule - which they are reminded of each time they read the date in this book. The second year of Darius the King… Darius isn’t the king they were supposed to have… but the king they were supposed to have wasn’t supposed to do evil in the sight of the Lord.
But also how does that sound to us in America today? It’s not a 1:1 correlation. However, when we read that God will shake the heavens and the earth… overthrow the kingdoms, destroy the strength of the kingdoms and nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders…
There’s probably a sense in which we should be at least a little unsettled… Not because God is wrong to do so, but because we deserve to be part of that. God will gloriously triumph over his enemies. It will be to God’s glory that he judges sinners.
V23
On that day…
This language of on that day is commonly used in prophesy. Specifically prophesy concerning the end times. “On that day” often refer to the day of the Lord. Yet the language here connects us to verse 21 and verse 6. This would demonstrate that we can conclude that Zerubbabel did not see the remainder of this text come to pass in his day. But we need to yet discuss what he is being promised…
The Signet Ring
The Signet Ring
One of the most significant parts of this prophesy that is spoken to Zerubbabel is that he is told that he will be made like a signet ring.
A signet ring is a mark of royalty. The function of the signet ring is that it was a seal. In this case it had become a ring that they would wear. We see signets elsewhere in the Old Testament. One example is in the instance with Judah and Tamar in Genesis 38 - which I will speak of vaguely - Judah pledges “his signet and his cord and his staff” for Tamar’s… services. Thus at the end of the narrative that signet implicates Judah for his wickedness, when he seeks to accuse Tamar. (I’m being vague because of the children in the room, most of you are familiar with this story - for those of you who aren’t come see me after - or read Genesis 38.)
Another instance we see of a signet ring in Genesis is when Pharaoh gives Joseph his signet ring. This is in Genesis 42 and it demonstrates that Joseph speaks on behalf of Pharaoh.
A signet ring had a unique insignia or icon that the royal person would use to demonstrate that an edict or law had been sent from them. In our world that is well versed in forgery and counterfeiting - this might seem a bit unreliable but we still have things like this - Something like a signature. Or a password, or a pin number. Or even an IP address for a computer.
And similar to those things there is a certainly ownership connected…You don’t have an IP address if you don’t have a computer.
And similarly, one doesn’t have a signet ring if they don’t have authority. And if they have some sort of ring it doesn’t mean anything if they don’t have authority.
But this signet ring has another Old Testament reference that is historically connected to this text.
A few verses before the curse that is pronounced upon Jeconiah that none of his descendents will sit up a throne the Lord says to him:
24 “As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off
The before the curse is pronounced the Lord uses this same language concerning a signet ring to tell Jeconiah that he is going to remove his crown and cast it off.
So to sum all of that up God is telling Zerubbabel two things:
This confirms Zerubbabel’s role as governor over Judah.
He has not abandoned his promise to David. He is going to be faithful to his promise that a descendant of David will remain on the throne and reign eternally.
But Zerubbabel never becomes king… so did Haggai’s prophecy fail? Well on the one hand the prophesy is not that Zerubabbel would become king. But rather that Zerubbabel bears this stamp or seal of the Lord. Through Zerubbabel the Lord of Hosts is still going to do something remarkable. And we see this in two places in the New Testament. In the genealogies of Jesus in Luke 3:27 and Matthew 1:12 we come across Zerubbabel’s name.
Zerubbabel is described as “my servant” and he is told that God has chosen him in verse 23. This language also is not unique to the book of Haggai. It is also used In Isaiah 42:1-4.
Matthew quotes this passage in Matthew 12:18-21
18 “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets;
20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory;
21 and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
Isaiah often uses the language of servant in prophesies about the Messiah. Thus this language of Chosen Servant leads us to anticipate Christ.
Jesus as the better Zerubbabel…
Zerubbabel builds the second temple.
Jesus builds his people into a better temple. (1 Cor. 3:16)
Zerubbabel would be the governor, the signet ring, who would be next in line to be king. He should be the king, but there is no kingdom because his grandpa messed it up. If we are to return to the baseball illustration again, and think of how those who broke records using PEDs had an asterisk next to their name Zerubbabel is almost like king* with an asterisk next to it.
King*
King*
Jesus is King
Jesus is King
And Jesus isn’t a king with an asterisk. Jesus is King.
(Rev. 1:5-6, 17:14, 19:16; 1 Tim. 6:13-15.)
On the cross, Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, cancelled the record of our debt by nailing it to his cross . Our redemption is caught up in our faith in Jesus, and the confession that Jesus is Lord - alongside that is us eagerly awaiting his second coming - where he will shake the earth once more. And in his death he
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
He is conquering. And he must reign until he has put all enemies under his footstool.
1 The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
His gospel is advancing. And the king will be victorious.
14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
And when the king comes and his kingdom is fully realized this kingdom will not be shaken.
God will shake the kingdoms of the earth - but look forward to the Kingdom that cannot be shaken. Hebrews 12:28-29
It’s an election year, which means that a lot of preachers will be shoehorning political points into texts and sermons - and whether they are right or wrong - I need to be clear, my political (and eschatalogical) perspective is this: Jesus is King and he is putting all his enemies under his footstool. A lot of people would argue that politics should never enter the pulpit - and while I see appropriate caution there the Bible is a political book. Jesus is King is a political statement. How we vote, how we live, how we worship, how we work, how we parent, all of those things are influenced by the declaration that Jesus is King. The confession that Jesus is king should not merely be an esoteric confession that changes nothing about our lives. Regardless of where you eschatology sits, and regardless of where you think the millennial reign of Christ lands - we must all agree that the King is going to conquer and that ought to give us hope.