Sealed in Hope
Haggai: Restoring the Home • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Haggai 2:20-23
The world is upside down -
The world is upside down -
Political upheaval, returning to the world tensions of the cold war…
Personal upheaval, surgery, cancer, financial worries
On a round planet spinning on its axis, someone is always upside down.
A word to Zerubbabel, a word to God’s people… Though the nations are shaken, know that you are secure, chosen by the Lord.
God Works
God Works
What God is doing
What God is doing
The Shaking of the heavens and earth: this is the Lord’s Working
Coming judgment, upheaval of the broken world systems, tilling the land so that new growth can happen
The unfolding of history -
Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans…
Jerusalem was then, and is now, surrounded on every side by her enemies, and seemed small and unable to stand
I am about to shake, overthrow, destroy
The previous messages were a call to action, getting the people to take up the work that God had given them
In this message who is at Work. God, and God alone.
Monergism - there is one work - God’s work of salvation.
God is not absent, but is always working, even when we cannot see it
God is not absent, but is always working, even when we cannot see it
Providence is read backwards, but he gives us hints ahead of time
God resigns/God reigns - this difference is one letter, one small reminder, that is the difference between being overwhelmed and being renewed in hope.
God has not resigned, but is working, even now, in the course of human events, to bring about his good plan.
God Wins
God Wins
I will overthrow the nations, I will have the victory
I will overthrow the nations, I will have the victory
Seen in Egypt - as Pharaoh’s army pursued Israel in the Red Sea, the Lord released the waters, and horse and rider thrown into the sea, utterly defeating Pharaoh and delivering God’s people.
Seen in Midian - the story of Gideon and his 300 men, when they blew their trumpets the Midians turned on each other in the frenzy of war, every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army; brother taking up arms against brother
What was Israel called to do?
Exodus 14:13 “And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.”
2 Chronicles 20:17 “You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf…”
Zerubbabel did not restore the glory to the kingdom, he did not see this victory that God had promised. Did God fail? No.
There must be another: Zerubbabel is listed in the genealogy of Jesus, the promise was pointing to Christ.
Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promised victory
Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promised victory
The victory of Christ
He is the eternal King of David’s line
He is the one who defeated the enemy of sin and death
He is the one who has overcome the world
What are we called to do?
Receive the gift by faith, stand firm and see what the Lord is doing
Our salvation, our hope, is not in our own ability, but in what God has accomplished for us in Christ.
God Seals
God Seals
God’s promise to Zerubbabel:
I will take you and make you a signet ring
A special promise to Zerubbabel -
His grandfather, Jeconiah, in the prophet Jeremiah 22:24 we read that he was cast off as a ring
God promised to set Zerubbabel as a signet ring, a seal
The signet ring -
The signet ring -
Bearing the identity, the seal, the name of the king. Official documents were marked with the seal, set in wax, to show this belonged to the king
Impressed with the image or name of the king
Signifying the authority of the king
Sealed, preserved, by the power of the king
The signet ring was kept close, worn on the finger or around the neck, close to the heart
God promises to take and set Zerubbabel as a seal
Song of Solomon 8:6 “6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.”
Because He has been chosen
Because He has been chosen
Not because of Zerubbabel’s ability, faithfulness, or commitment - but purely out of grace
We are chosen by God, before the foundation of the world, not because of what God sees in us, but because he has set his love upon us.
Sealed in Hope
Though we were cast off in sin, God has taken us to himself, claimed us as his own, through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ
We are sealed by the Spirit
2 Cor 1:11 He has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee
The sealing
We bearing His image - growing more and more in the image of Christ by the power of his spirit working in us.
We are given authority of the gospel - to preach the good news as ambassadors of God’s kingdom, to release the captive, to offer forgiveness and grace, to lead others to know God’s goodness and truth.
We are kept unto salvation - He has sealed us, like in Rev 7 - so that we may come through persecution, the shaking of the heavens and earth, the judgment of the nations, standing firm in our faith.
A Word of Hope
A Word of Hope
Is the world shaken, turned upside down? Look to the promise of God in Jesus Christ -
He is working even when you cannot see it
He is victorious, His will cannot be defeated
He sets you as a seal upon his heart - keeps you to the very end.