SILVER & GOLD

The Coming Glory of God

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying: Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel, says the Lord; and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work; for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear! For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once more I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, says the Lord of hosts.

The People Are Defiled

On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, thus says the Lord of hosts: Now, ask the priests concerning the law, saying, If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy? Then the priests answered and said, “No.” And Haggai said: If one who is unclean because of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean? So, the priests answered and said, “It shall be unclean.” Then Haggai answered and said, so is this people, and so is this nation before Me, says the Lord, and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

Blessing Promised

And now, carefully consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the Lord since those days, when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me, ‘says the Lord. ¹Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid—consider it: Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.

Zerubbabel Chosen a Signet

And again, the word of the Lord came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying: I will shake heaven and earth. I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms. I will overthrow the chariots And those who ride in them; the horses and their riders shall come down, Everyone by the sword of his brother. In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the Lord, and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you, says the Lord of hosts. The signet ring was very important as it was used to place the official seal on documents and decrees of the King. If we backup a few years, we find in Jeremiah 22:24 “As surely as I live declares the LORD, even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. Jehoiachin’s sins could not be tolerated by God. With Zerubbabel God again finds confidence in the bloodline leading to the King of Kings. Zerubbabel plays an important role in the story of redemption. His historical contribution, his bloodline, and his foreshadowing of the coming salvation make Zerubbabel a herald of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Kingly Descendent of David

In 2 Samuel 7:12-16 God promised King David that one of his descendants would be the Messianic ruler of God’s kingdom. Fast forward about five hundred years and we find the royal line in precarious situation. In 2 Kings 24:15 we see Babylon took Jerusalem and captured King Jehoiachin, David’s offspring, taking him into captivity. Customarily the king of Babylon would kill Jehoiachin as a sign of victory. For some reason Jehoiachin was not killed, rather was imprisoned. After thirty-seven years of imprisonment, Jehoiachin is set free by the new king of Babylon. As we find in 2 Kings 25:27-30 King Jehoiachin was treated well, given a place of honor, and taken care of for the remainder of his life .

Jehoiachin’s son Shealtiel had a son named Zerubbabel. In this sequence we find undeniable proof that God would not let the Davidic line go extinct.  Zerubbabel’s blood carried not just the royalty of Israel, but the hope of the entire world. After King Cyrus allowed Israel to return to their homeland, Zerubbabel was given ruling authority. The prophet Zechariah proclaimed that God would use Zerubbabel to lay low the mountains (Zechariah 4:6-8), while the prophet Haggai, in Haggai 2:21-23, prophesies “Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am about to shake the heavens and the earth: I will overturn royal thrones and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn chariots and their riders; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother. On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts.” Zerubbabel carried the torch of God’s covenant. God was about to do a great work in Israel, that would affect all mankind, and He would use Zerubbabel to play a vital part. Many years later, when the promised King of kings was finally born, the Gospel writers provided the genealogies of both His biological mother and legal father, both of whom were descended from David and Zerubbabel (Matthew 1:12-13; Luke 3:27).

Leadership for the Exiles

God’s people had been dispersed throughout Babylon, and then Medo-Persia. Their captivity was the result of sin, their rebellion against the law of God. The bondage had separated them from the land, the city, and the temple that God had promised as a reward for obedience. God had a plan and raised up Zerubbabel to lead His people back to the Promised Land (Ezra 2:2; 3:1-2) back into their heritage as God’s people.

Similarly, all mankind has broken God’s law (Romans 3:9-20), has been banished from the land of paradise (Genesis 3:23-24), and has gone into the captivity of sin and Satan (John 8:34). are cut off from the presence and holiness of God. But in God’s perfect timing (Galatians 4:4) God sent the offspring of Zerubbabel, Jesus Christ, to free the captives (Luke 4:18), reassemble them as a people (1 Peter 2:10), and lead them as a conquering hero (Ephesians 4:8) away from the spiritual whoredom of Babylon (Revelation 17:4-6) and into the freedom of the true Jerusalem (Galatians 4:26; Hebrews 12:22).

Rebuilding the Temple

Zerubbabel’s principal mission was to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed (Ezra 3:8; 5:2; Haggai1:1-11). The temple was the dwelling place of God, the place of atonement for sin, and where men met with God. The new temple could never measure up to the glory of Solomon’s original temple (Ezra 3:12-13; Haggai 2:2-3), but God had a plan promising a better temple to come (Haggai 2:6-9), a glorious temple not made by human hands. Jesus would end animal sacrifice for sin through a once-and-for-all perfect sacrifice to atone for the sins of men by shedding His own blood (Hebrews 9:11-14). He became the perfect propitiation for our sin. Jesus, the Godman, the second Adam in His horrific sacrifice and glorious resurrection restored the original relationship of man with his Creator. Jesus replaced the earthly temple with a resurrected living temple. For all eternity, the earthly temple is done away with and is replaced by Jesus Himself, mediating God’s glory and God’s presence to us (Revelation 21:22).

Protecting the Purity of God’s People

In Ezra 4, we see that the inhabitants of their land while absent in captivity offered to help with the temple project. Israel began work on the temple, but Zerubbabel discerned that incorporating these people would bring sin into the camp. Such incorporation would have put Israel into an alliance with the very idolatry, paganism and false doctrine that had gotten them exiled in the first place. In expelling them, Zerubbabel protected the people of God from spiritual and moral compromise.    

Jesus faced similar issues as the Shepherd who drove away the wolves. The Body of Christ is not much different than it has been historically, with onslaught of religions, teachers, cults, and sects that try to claim an alliance with Christianity. The huge difference is the speed at which information travels, both good and evil. Regardless of all, Jesus will build His Ecclesia and hell will not prevail. You may wonder why God just doesn’t just make everything right. The answer is that He could, but it would be a deviation from His plan. His ways are not ours and we must learn, as did Christ, obedience through what we suffer. If Father God had He wanted to run things on earth He would not have given us the keys of the Kingdom.

When we read about Zerubbabel in the Old Testament its not just a history lesson; we’re seeing a progression of God’s plan for mankind, which reaches its climax in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Zerubbabel, descendant of David (as was Christ to be), brings back the rebellious exiles, establishes the temple where the sacrifice is made to reconcile God and man, and protects His people until the end. This is a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ would do in the Propitiation or Atonement for sin in order to reconcile all the was lost by sin in the first Adam. In 1 Corinthians 15:45 we are reminded that Adam became a living soul and Jesus, the Godman, a lifegiving spirit.

Though not a Christophany or pre-incarnate visitation of Christ, nevertheless in Zerubbabel we have a clear foreshadowing of Christ with indisputable parallels of the purposes of God. The providential purpose of God never changes. His patience and mercy toward His creation, mankind, is far beyond our human comprehension. His call to us throughout time has been constant and He has and does move heaven and earth to secure His creation. Only an omniscient God could orchestrate events and players in the greatest unimaginable, unfolding plan ever devised. The entire Bible is the unfolding revelation of God’s Divine plan of redemption through Jesus Christ. God’s inerrant written word is final, it is the written plan for His Creation and will not change. We take the word of God and in a sense are living new chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. Current day Apostles, and yes they exist, receive blueprints for regions and nations. Prophets bring clarity and direction through the Rhema of Holy Spirit to encourage, warn, and edify the body of Christ, Evangels spread the Gospel to the lost, Teachers help the body understand, and Pastors protect and feed the body. As you can readily see, it takes all of the five ministry gifts under orchestration and assistance of Holy Spirit to build the Kingdom of God.

Let’s return to Haggai 2:6-9. This is Millennial Prophecy. God establishes His Sovereignty. Yes, the silver and the gold are His; all is His. Those that recalled the temple built by Solomon wept because there was no way for Zerubbabel’s structure to ever compare with the former. Recall the prophesy is Millennial and this is where we are headed because it depicts the messianic rule when the glory of God shall be manifested and Christ shall rule the earth with the scepter of David. What happened was that Jesus Christ became the true temple as we see in John 2:19 and we therefore are incorporated into the same. Christ in us the hope of Glory is how we transcended into Christ the temple not built with hands. This has been carried on through the spread of the kingdom of God among the nations of the earth. We will reach completion at the end of the age; not, however, by the erection of a new and much more glorious temple in Jerusalem, but in the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God upon the new earth, after the overthrow of all the principalities and powers of the world that are hostile to God. This holy city will have the glory of God but no temple because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. Into this holy city of God will the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor.

Present Application

I chose the account of Zerubbabel from many similar parts of the Divine orchestration because of the parallels we find ourselves in today. The escalation of evil seems unparalleled and is because we are pressing on the Millennium at warp speed. Satan knows his end is near and with desperation wants to take as many of God’s creation as possible. Doom and gloom engulf us as well as filth and corruption that has surfaced everywhere and Satan is delighted over all the souls he has led astray. But in Psalm 2, a second coming of Christ prophecy, we find God sits in the heaven and laughs at the foolishness of men and their succumbing to the lies of Satan. Satan is not omniscient, or he would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. Satan’s end is near and he is pulling out all the stops. I encourage you today because as dark as it may seem to be getting the Light and the Glory is on the horizon.

God is moving heaven and earth to bring us into His presence, but we were given free will. The decision is ultimately ours. In my nation, of the United States of America, God raised up a Cyrus in Donald Trump. He was not supposed to win the Presidency, but God intervened. Trump began setting captives free and establishing the freedom and liberty that are hallmarks of the Kingdom and basis of our nation. Our nation has shed more blood around the world than any other, fed and cared for millions and has sent missionaries to all the nations. Evil illegally prevailed in the 2020 elections and has threatened the last bastion of freedom. Don’t give up! All is going to change before our very eyes. Evil sycophantic politicians and the global cabal financing their work will be captured and justice administered. Vengeance is God’s and it is coming. Saints, we have a promise that He will never leave us or forsake us.

How do I know this? If for nothing else the Great and perhaps final Harvest has yet to take place. The Godhead doesn’t want to lose any and has great mercy and patience. The ball is in your court – whose report will you believe? This is life and death, heaven and hell. We have not lost, rather we have won. If you have not asked for the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, do it immediately. Intercede with the saints. Stand and see the salvation of God. Be blessed!!!