Your Kingdom Come

  

© 2010 Tony Garland

I.  The Context

A.  Babylonian Captivity – throne of David cast down.

B.  Remnant of Jews have returned to Jerusalem – God is encouraging them through the prophet Haggai .

C.  Last recorded revelation through Haggai – God reveals the eventual overthrow of the Gentile nations and His choice of a ruler in the line of Zerubbabel.

D.  Today, we’ll be exploring part of the “The Lord’s Prayer” found here in Haggai.

II.  Haggai 2:20-23

A.  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, Every one 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."

III.  The Lord’s Prayer

A.  The events prophesied by Haggai inform an important phrase found within the prayer which Jesus taught His disciples — perhaps the most famous prayer in history.

B.  Although this well-known prayer is often called “The Lord’s Prayer,” it is actually a prayer to be prayed by all the disciples of Jesus and contains numerous important principles for believers of all ages.

C.  Matthew 6:9-13
"In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as [it is] in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

D.  This model prayer, taught by Jesus, betrays an aspect of routine petition. (I use the term “routine” here not in the sense of bland or boring, but in the sense of frequent or regular.) Notice the daily aspect of this prayer: “Give us this day or daily bread.”

E.  The prayer includes numerous elements which are to be a concern of believers almost every day.

1.  God’s provision for our food.

2.  Our need of continual forgiveness before God.

3.  Our need to continually forgive those who need our forgiveness.

4.  Our need of ongoing protection from temptation.

F.  Interestingly, amidst all these petitions on behalf of the believer, we find an appeal to God to accomplish that which He has already promised:

1.  “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as [it is] in heaven.”

G.  Within this small, but pregnant phrase, we find some interesting, even provocative elements:

IV.  Future fulfillment

A.  Not withstanding having the King in their midst and the repeated preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the disciples that the “kingdom” was “near” or “at hand” (e.g., Mat. 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; Mark 1:11; Luke 10:9-11), believers are to look for a future fulfillment of this aspect of the ministry of Jesus.

B.  Luke 19:11-12 – As He approached Jerusalem, Jesus taught a parable concerning a certain Nobleman

1.  Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. Therefore He said: "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

2.  This parable revealed that the nobleman, representing Jesus:

a)  Is absent for a lengthy period.

b)  His authority is rejected during his absence.

(1)  “His citizens” send a delegation in His absence to deliver the message, “We will not have this man to reign over us!” (Luke 19:14).

c)  Receives the kingdom while absent

(1)  The kingdom is not conferred by His citizens. It is not “of this world”
(a)  John 18:36
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."
(2)  We learn from the book of Daniel that the kingdom is conferred upon Jesus by God the Father, but only after the Gentile kingdoms have held sway over the earth for an extended period — during the absence of the nobleman -- and their evil nature has fully manifested in the savage rule of a final king known by various names within Scripture: the “beast” or “Antichrist”.
(a)  Daniel 7:13-14
Following his vision of the overthrow of the Beast, Daniel ". . . was watching in the night visions, And behold, [One] like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom [the one] Which shall not be destroyed.

C.  Luke 21 – Jesus also indicated that His kingdom did not accompany His first advent.

1.  Instead, at His rejection, the time characterized by the dispersion of the Jews and the continued dominance of Gentile rule would continue.

a)  Luke 21:24
And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

2.  Identified the signs that would accompany the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

a)  Luke 21:31
So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

b)  “These things” . . . what things?

(1)  Signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars (Luke 21:25)
(2)  On earth, the distress of nations, perplexity (Luke 21:25)
(3)  Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth (Luke 21:26)
(4)  Powers of the heavens will be shaken (Luke 21:26)

3.  Clearly, these signs did not attend His first advent.

D.  Signs after the arrival of the kingdom

1.  “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”

2.  The eventual manifestation of God’s kingdom is undeniably geopolitical.

a)  The “geo” in “geo-political” is related to the Greek word for “earth” or “land” (gē).

b)  The same word which is rendered here as “earth.”

c)  God’s ultimate reign will be known by this sign: His will is done on earth – within a specified geography.

3.  The notorious and obvious rejection and violation of His will upon the earth today is a clear sign that His kingdom has not yet come – certainly not in the sense which Jesus taught believers to intercede for.

4.  Unsurprisingly, these principles taught by the offspring of Zerubbabel find confirmation in the words of Haggai some 5 centuries earlier.

V.  Exposition

A.  “Again the word of the LORD came to Haggai” (Hag. 2:20)

1.  This word of the LORD came on the same day as the previous passage, but is set apart as an additional revelation in order to highlight its different topic and time of fulfillment.

B.  “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah . . .” (Hag. 2:21)

1.  To understand the significance of this title, we need to review the genealogy of Jesus recorded in the first chapter of Matthew

a)  Shealtiel and Zerubbabel are in the kingly line of David leading to Jesus (Mat. 1:12).

b)  [Read Matthew 1 with ‘king’ where appropriate and illustrate discontinuity.]

c)  Ezekiel’s prophesy concerning the last king of Judah – overthrown at the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon

(1)  Ezekiel 21:9-27 "Son of man, prophesy and say, 'Thus says the LORD!' Say: 'A sword, a sword is sharpened And also polished! Sharpened to make a dreadful slaughter, Polished to flash like lightning! . . . It despises the scepter of My Son, [As it does] all wood. . . . For it will be against My people, Against all the princes of Israel. . . . And what if [the sword] despises even the scepter? [The scepter] shall be no [more]," says the Lord GOD. . . . 'Now to you, O profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity [shall] end, 'thus says the Lord GOD: "Remove the turban, and take off the crown; Nothing [shall remain] the same. Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted. Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no [longer], Until He comes whose right it is, And I will give it [to Him]."'

2.  An important key which refutes all “kingdom now” theology or the notion that the kingdom is to be understood in entirely a spiritual manner

a)  Proves that the “times of the Gentiles”, a period characterized by God’s rejection of a ruler exercising righteous rule upon the throne of David, began at the overthrow of the Davidic throne at the time of the Babylonian captivity.

b)  Jesus explained that this time, due to Israel’s continued disobedience and rejection of Messiah, was to be extended and that the evidenced of its continuation was to be seen in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD followed by the ongoing dispersion of the Jews.

c)  Jesus refers to this period as the “times of the Gentiles” and told us it would include the trampling of Jerusalem by Gentiles: non-Jewish nations.

d)  Here we see an important tie between the “times of the Gentiles” (ethnōn), and the “throne of the ... Gentile kingdoms”, the phrase before us in Haggai.

C.  “I will shake heaven and earth”

1.  A “merism” -- a figure of speech by which several parts are listed in order to denote the whole. As in Genesis 1:1, this essentially means “all things”.

2.  This refers to the final Day of the Lord wherein the God-rejecting nations of the earth will encounter severe judgment as related earlier in verse 6.

a)  “For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations...” (Hag. 2:6-7a).

3.  I would refer you to the recording on the website from two sessions ago wherein we elaborated on this truth.

D.  “I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms.” (Hag. 2:22)

1.  “Overthrow” is a Hebrew word which is used to describe turning a dish upside down in order to wipe it clean and dump out its unwanted contents (2K. 21:13).

2.  Interestingly, “throne” is in the singular: “the throne [singular] of kingdoms [plural]”

a)  Here we see God’s perspective on the varied attempts at human rule throughout geography and history.

b)  As varied as they may be in location, effectiveness, and morality, they are essentially collapsed into a single affront to God’s righteous rule.

(1)  The psalmist wrote (Psalms 2:1-2)
Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, [saying], "Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us."
(2)  Notice they are kings (plural), yet they speak with one voice “against the LORD and against His Anointed.”

3.  This unified representation of ungodly rule stretching throughout history is also seen in several other passages.

a)  Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream

(1)  When the stone, representing the kingdom of Messiah, struck the image representing major Gentile kingdoms (Daniel 2:35):
Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

b)  Revelation 13:2
Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like [the feet of] a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.

(1)  As human kingdoms fall, making way for the next, their aspects are carried forward to influence that which arises next. Thus, there remains a continued thread of beast-like rejection of God which is common to all, manifesting sometimes in one way, other times in another, but always manifesting.

c)  Luke 4:5-7
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for [this] has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. "Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."

(1)  Jesus never contested Satan’s claim to possess “all the kingdoms of the world.”
(2)  It is this single God-rejecting rule of varied places and times which God here pledges to overthrow in favor of the King He has chosen.

4.  Notice these are “Gentile kingdoms”.

a)  The ascendency and prevalence of these kingdoms constitutes the “times of the Gentiles” which Jesus spoke of. They are one and the same as the varied metals in the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2 and the various beasts in Daniel’s vision of Daniel 7.

E.  “I will overthrow the chariots and those who ride in them; the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.” (Hag. 2:22)

1.  The Bible is replete with cautions to the people of God not to trust in the arm of the flesh – here represented by resources of superior advantage in warfare: horses and chariots.

a)  Psalms 20:7
Some [
trust] in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

2.  Yet Israel – like the Gentile nations – continued to turn to Egypt for help instead of the living God.

a)  Isaiah 31:1
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, [
And] rely on horses, Who trust in chariots because [they are] many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, Nor seek the LORD!

3.  The Gentile nations, in their rejection of God and having no knowledge of the “chariots of Israel” (2K. 2:12; 6:17; 13:14), can only fall back upon their weapons of warfare.

a)  Yet these will be of no avail in the day when God shakes the nations because of the confusion which God throws into the mix: they will be overthrown, “every one by the sword of his brother.”

b)  Those thought to be trusted allies will turn on each other, consuming one another by subterfuge, deception, and God-induced confusion (e.g., Rev. 17:16-17),

c)  This is the bitter “cup of stumbling” or “cup of drunkenness” wherein God has pledged that the nations will drink of His wrath (Zec. 12:2-3; Rev. 14:10; 18:6).

4.  No technology will deliver from the God-induced stupor which will plague the Gentile kingdoms of the end as they are led to their own destruction (Rev. 16:13-14).

F.  “I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and will make you like a signet ring”

1.  The signet ring was the device which kings and those in authority used to certify or “sign” documents.

2.  The imprint represented their full authority in their personal absence.

a)  It was by king Ahab’s signet ring that Jezebel’s sealed documents which authorized false testimony against Naboth leading to his death and the transfer of his vineyard into the hands of Ahab.

b)  It was king Darius’ seal which certified that Daniel must spend the night confined in the lion’s den.

3.  Here, God promises that Zerubbabel will exercise the full authority of God Himself. As we saw earlier, this seems to speak of the chosen offspring of Zerubbabel: Jesus Christ.1

VI.  Application – What have we Learned from Haggai?

A.  When will God’s Kingdom Come?

1.  After God shakes heaven and earth.

2.  When God eventually overthrows Gentile rule to install His chosen ruler on the throne of David (Luke 1:32; Mat. 25:31).

B.  How will God’s Kingdom Come?

1.  By direct intervention of God in judgment.

2.  Through the intercession of believers.

3.  Not through efforts to socially reform a rejecting world which Jesus taught would continue to say: “We will not have this man to reign over us!” (Luke 19:14).

4.  We are to be salt and light and uphold the principles of God in every venue of life (Mat. 5:13-15; Luke 14:34-35), but let us not be deceived concerning the ultimate manner in which God’s kingdom has been predicted to arrive!

C.  Why must God’s kingdom come?

1.  Son’s of Adam, tainted by the fall into sin, will never produce a lasting rule of righteousness.

2.  Human governments, some more righteous than others, have come and gone on the stage of history, but the stark pattern remains: those few governments which have shown periods of righteous rulership have proven to be, on the whole, short-lived, generally deteriorating into moral squalor.

a)  Even non-Christian observers, such as Benjamin Franklin have recognized such a pattern.

(1)  In 1787, when the Founding Fathers had hammered out the U.S. Constitution in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin told an inquiring woman what the gathering had produced, "A republic, madam, if you can keep it."
(2)  The British historian, Arnold Toynbee, who wrote a twelve-volume analysis of the rise and fall of civilizations, titled “A Study of History” obaserved that 19 of the world's 21 significant civilizations disappeared from the face of the earth - not from assault by outside forces, but from deterioration within the society.

3.  Can not the same be said today of areas of western Europe and even the United States which were once bastions of Christian influence in the world?

a)  Here in America, once among the greatest Christian nations in history:

(1)  Sin has been enshrined as a “civil right.”
(2)  Morality has been declared “unconstitutional.”
(3)  Sodomy, once a universally recognized perversion, is now afforded protection under the law.
(4)  Laws and beliefs which were accepted without challenge for nearly 200 years have recently been “discovered” by our brightest legal minds to be out-of-step with the intentions of the founders of our nation.

b)  In our time, it would appear, the devil often wears a black robe.

4.  It has become abundantly evident that “the American Experiment”, with its vaunted “balance of powers” is not equal to the task of restraining unrighteous rule.

5.  Human systems of government will vary in wisdom and quality, but none can withstand the sinful human condition once God’s principles are jettisoned.

6.  In these words of Haggai and subsequent parable of Jesus, we encounter this sober truth: while unredeemed people remain, God’s principles will always be jettisoned. Sometimes sooner, sometimes later.

7.  Ultimately, the form of government, as important as it may be, cannot deliver man from despotism — only spiritual birth and redemption, followed by the coming reign of God’s Perfect Man with His signet ring, will provide lasting relief from our dilemma.

8.  “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20)

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




1Although we should remember that Zerubbabel himself will be resurrected and serve in the government of Messiah Jesus, possibly occupying a position of great authority.