Let's direct our attention this
evening to the book of Haggai chapter 2. Haggai chapter 2. Now, the reason that I had Brother
Stan read Psalm 46 is because of verse 4 and 5. As you know, Haggai was a prophet
to the returning remnant of Judah, returning from the Babylonian
captivity, commissioned under the leadership of two men, one
named Zerubbabel, the other one named Joshua. Zerubbabel was
the governor. He was appointed governor. He
was of the line of King David. He was of the tribe of Judah,
Zerubbabel was. And then the other one was a
man named Joshua, the high priest. And so you have Zerubbabel, the
governor, even though he didn't sit on the throne of David, he's
a representative, he's a type of Christ, our king. Christ,
who is the governor of this universe, the governor of his church. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. Isaiah prophesied that. That
was stated long before Isaiah, but he kinda coined it there.
and then joshua the high priest he's a type of christ the high
priest our great high priest brother alan preached on that
last sunday evening what a message that priesthood of christ i told
him every time i hear a message on the priesthood of christ out
of my my heart's just lifted and then high guy the prophet
he's he's uh... the prophet of god he has the
word of god but he's also a type of christ our prophet he spoke
of christ so this is all about christ And you remember Haggai
was the prophet to that returning remnant. They were commissioned
under Zerubbabel and Joshua to rebuild the temple. But they
had problems just like we all have. We're sinners. Some of
us are sinners saved by grace. Some are sinners still lost in
their sins. And they had lost sight of the
reason. They've lost sight of the very foundation of what they
were doing, why they even existed as a nation. And I thought about
this in Psalm 46, let me just read these two verses again to
you, where he talks about there is a river, the streams whereof
shall make glad the city of God. Now, one of the things, after
they rebuilt the temple, they were to rebuild the city of God,
Jerusalem, that's the physical city. We know the city of God
eternally and spiritually is the church, the heavenly Jerusalem. And it says, the holy place of
the tabernacles of the Most High, where God dwells. And he says,
God is in the midst of her and she shall not be moved. You know,
that cannot be talking about that physical temple there, and
this isn't, because it was moved. In fact, our Lord said it would
be moved. He said, you're gonna see all
these beautiful, this beautiful architecture that you're so impressed,
you're gonna see that come down. And it was moved. But the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ that he built with his own work, his
own hands, his own blood, he said, the gates of hell will
not prevail against it. And he says, he shall help her
in that right early. Earlier than sometimes we even
know. God's right on time with his help. But I thought about
that, that river. That river is Christ. That's
what Haggai's talking about here in the last few verses of Haggai. That river is Christ. I think
about the river of God's grace by which we're saved unto the
end. I think about the river of his
blood, that precious crimson stream that runs from Genesis
to Revelation in his word, that runs from eternity past to eternity
future in the mind and purpose of God as he views us in Christ,
chose us in Christ. justified us in Christ, redeemed
us by the blood of Christ, regenerates us by the Holy Spirit in Christ. I think about the river of the
water of life, His Word itself that we feed upon. And here Haggai
the prophet gives his fourth and final message to one man. He'd spoken to to the people
in general in the first three messages, but here it's a little
different. His message is unlike the others because it was addressed
to one man, this man Zerubbabel, this one who was a type of Christ. He says in verse 20, look at
it with me, Haggai 2 and verse 20. And again, the word of the
Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the
month, saying, now this is the same day as the third message.
A little bit later on, but he addresses Zerubbabel. Verse 21,
speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake
the heavens and the earth. He'd said that before, hadn't
he? Said that in the second message that he had to the people. You
want to shake the heavens and the earth? Verse 22, I will overthrow
the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms
of the heathen. That was in Psalm 46 also. How
many times he mentioned there, I'm going to break down the heathen. That's unbelievers. He says,
I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them.
Their war machines won't do any good against the power of God.
And the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by
the sword of his brother. And in that day, saith the Lord
of hosts, God who's invincible, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel,
my servant, the son of Shealtiel, with, saith the Lord, and will
make thee as a signet For I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of
hosts." I've entitled this message, Christ, Jehovah's Signet. Jehovah's Signet. Zerubbabel,
the governor, appointed by a heathen king, but ultimately appointed
by the sovereign God of the universe. For it is God who put it in the
heart of that king to appoint this man to be governor of Judah. That heathen king didn't know
who Zerubbabel was by his heritage, that he was from the line of
David, the tribe of Judah. That meant nothing, I'm sure,
to this heathen king of that heathen empire that ruled over
the people of Judah. And yet in the plan and the purpose
and the power of God, this man, this specific man for this specific
purpose was appointed to be governor of Judah. And he was commissioned
to lead the people in laying the foundation of the second
temple. As I said, along with Joshua, the high priest, they
oversaw the construction of it. And here is this fourth message
delivered on the same day as the third. And like the second
message, it speaks of the future. Do you notice the pattern there?
The first message Haggai had was to the present day concerning
what this thing is all about, what their existence as a nation
was all about. It was about the glory of God.
in his promise of salvation for sinners in Christ who is to come. And then in his second message
he spoke of the future. He spoke of the coming Messiah
who would shake the heavens and the earth. And then in his third
message he spoke to their present day. and told them to consider,
to set their heart to knowing the reality of the gospel. That's
what he's talking about. The reality of how God saves
sinners. How God can be just and justify
the ungodly. Most churches today don't even
deal with it. They don't even ask that question, let alone
answer it, and yet it's the fundamental heart of the gospel. Think about
that. I'll never forget when I first
heard that issue even raised by Brother Mahan from this very
pulpit. He's preaching from the book of Isaiah, chapter 45. And
he talked about how people pray to a God that cannot save. And
I never heard a message like that. In my mind, especially
back then, I was so confused. I thought every God had a little
salvation in them. But they prayed to a God that
cannot save. One God was just as good as another
to me. And then he showed there how God identified himself in
verses 21, 22 as a just God and a Savior. And I never noticed
that phrase before. And I said, that's something
I've never read in my studies of world religions, of denominations,
I've never confronted that issue. A just God and a Savior, that's
what Haggai's message, you know, that's what that temple was all
about. Job asked that question, how can a sinner be clean? His friends asked that question,
how can man born of woman be clean? How can God be just and
justify a sinner? And that's what that third message
was about. So he concludes it now with another message of the
future. And this message speaks of the
greater and more glorious spiritual Israel as redeemed and under
the headship of the future Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells
them, your existence is about the future. Your existence is
not about a piece of real estate called Palestine. Your existence
is not about an earthly temple and an earthly priesthood. Your
very existence as a nation is about the glory of God that will
shine forth in eternity forever and ever and ever and will never
change, never grow old, never be broken. as it is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. All the promises of God are in
Him, yea, and in Him, amen, to the praise of the glory of His
grace. This is their reason, this was their reason at that
time for being as a nation. to be the instruments through
which God, through whom God would send the Messiah, and as promised
to Abraham before this nation was even formed, bless all nations. Remember he told Abraham in Genesis
12, in thee all nations will be blessed, how? He says, by
saving his elect people by his grace through the Lord Jesus
Christ, his elect people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. And you know something that's
really important to note here, and I want you to see this. Turn
over to Jeremiah chapter 22 with me. This man's irrevable. And the reason I think, I believe
this is so important for us to see is because God's promises of
eternal salvation by Christ to send the Messiah in was never
conditioned never suspended upon the power or the goodness or
anything in the nation Israel. Not at all. They were a rebellious
people and I'll tell you this much too, this ought to give
us some comfort now. When we talk about God helping
us right early, none of God's promises to us as far as our
eternal salvation and glory is conditioned on us. It's all by
the power of His grace. It's all conditioned on Christ.
And one of the things that proves this, you see, an important fact
to note about this man Zerubbabel is that he himself, he was the
grandson of a king named Jeconiah. He was the king of Judah when
Nebuchadnezzar came down 70 years before and destroyed the country.
And Jeconiah was a wicked king. He was an evil king. He was the
rightful king. He was one, he was the son of
Jehoiakim, and they were of the line of Judah, the tribe of David. Sometimes he's called in the
scripture Coniah, not Jeconiah, but Coniah, but it's the same
one. He was very disobedient. And through the prophet Jeremiah,
God cursed Jeconiah and his line. I want you to see that. Look at Jeremiah 22, look at
verse 28. This is the prophet Jeremiah
concerning this king. He said, is this man Coniah?
That's Jeconiah, that's Zerubbabel's grandfather. Is he a despised
broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no
pleasure? Wherefore, or for this reason,
are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into a land
which they know not. That was the Babylonian captivity.
He said, oh, earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus
saith the Lord, write ye this man childless, a man that shall
not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper
sitting upon the throne of David and ruling anymore in Judah. That was Zerubbabel's grandfather
to whom that curse was spoken. that Jeconi, that Zerubbabel,
both from the tribe of David. But did not God promise that
the scepter would not depart from Judah until Shiloh come?
Did not God make a covenant with the house of David as recorded
in the book of 2 Samuel chapter 7, we call it the royal covenant?
And the answer is yes. But this promise that God made
about that scepter which would not depart from Judah until Shiloh
comes, Shiloh being peace, meaning Christ the Prince of Peace, would
not come from this cursed line of Jeconiah. Even through Zerubbabel,
the only way that that promise was going to be fulfilled would
be by the virgin birth of Christ who came through Mary. She too
was of the line of David. He could not be born of man.
It wasn't conditioned on man, wasn't even conditioned on David.
As glorious as David, wasn't conditioned on Solomon, wasn't
conditioned on Jeconiah, not even Zerubbabel. And this proves
that this prophecy cannot be speaking, this prophecy here
in Haggai chapter two and verse 20 now, it cannot be speaking
of Zerubbabel personally but only of Zerubbabel as a representative,
as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the line of David, which would
be fulfilled in Christ, that virgin-born Savior, who was not
born of man. The throne of David was gone,
and yet Christ, our greater David, Our greater Solomon, one greater
than Solomon, he ascended to the throne, the line of a spiritual
throne, of a spiritual nature, of an eternal nature. And that's
what he's talking about here. What's he doing? What's this
prophet doing? He's pointing these people to Christ. as their
king, as their priest, as their prophet. He's pointing them to
the glory of God that should shine forth in that temple that
shows a sinner in need of mercy, in need of grace, how God can
be just and justify the ungodly. Look at verse 21. He says, Speak
to Zerubbabel, governor of Judas, saying, I will shake the heavens
and the earth. Haggai 2 and verse 21. I will
shake the heavens and the earth. He had spoken of that back in
chapter 2 and verse 7, in verse 6 and 7, where he said, for thus
saith the Lord of hosts, yet once it is a little while and
I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the
dry land. And I will shake all nations and the desire of all
nations shall come. That desire of all nations is
Christ. For all desires of all men are unfulfilled except as
they are met in Christ. And he said, I'll fill this house
with glory, saith the Lord. What was he talking about? Well,
that shaking of the heavens and the earth, that refers to the
overthrow of Satan's kingdom and his power of heathen idolatry
and all that opposes Christ and his blessed gospel. This shaking
is God intervening and interjecting himself into the world, into
human history. The entrance of God in human
flesh into the sinful realm of man for what purpose? to redeem
His people from their sins. For in the fullness of the time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law. This shaking of the
heavens and the earth means the abolishment of the old covenant,
the Old Testament, and the establishment of the new. It means the removing
of something that was not stable and eternal and permanent, something
that could be shaken, like an earthly temple, an earthly earthly
nation and the bringing in of something that cannot be shaken
you remember we read about that over in Hebrews chapter 12 where
he spoke of that where where the Apostle Paul in the book
of Hebrews quotes from Haggai chapter 2 when he speaks this
way listen to this he says see that you refuse not him that
speaketh and For if they escaped who refused him that spoke on
earth, talking about Moses, much more, if they escaped not who
refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven, the authority
of Jesus Christ. He says, whose voice then shook
the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, yet once more I shake
not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once
more signified the removing of those things that are shaken,
all that old covenant and all those elements, as of things
that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. You see that? His church cannot
be shaken. It's the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the church of the living God. Back here, this shaking
of the heavens and the earth with trouble and vexation, with
darkness and evil, with sickness and disease, with wars and rumors
of wars. He spoke of that. With drought
and pestilence, the Lord God gathers His elect to Himself
out of that whole mess. And the Lord Jesus Christ calls
His ransomed ones from afar, and He brings them near, near
unto Himself. Look at Haggai 2 and verse 22.
He says, I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. You know,
now this verse is simply saying just one thing, that God cannot
be defeated. He's going to overthrow the throne
of kingdoms. There's no kingdom that can go
against him and stop him. He said, I'll destroy the strength
of the kingdoms of the heathen, whatever strength they have.
I will overthrow the chariots of those that ride in them, whatever
war machines they have. The horses, the horse was a symbol
of war and power. I will overthrow all the horses,
and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his
brother." What's he talking about his brother there? He's talking
about fallen mankind in opposition to Christ. They're in the same
boat. They don't even know it. They
hate each other. They don't know it, but they're going to kill
each other off. And it's all by the sovereign power and judgment
of God upon sin. He cannot be defeated. I think
about that when I think about our Savior on the cross. You
know, sometimes when we read Isaiah 53, that great prophetic
passage of the suffering servant who defeats sin upon the cross
of Calvary, that's what he does. He defeats Satan, he defeats
sin, he defeats the curse of the law by giving himself under
the justice of his father for our sins charged to him. And
he puts an end to it. I love that passage in Daniel
9 that I quote quite often, how he made an end of sin, he finished
the transgression, brings in everlasting righteousness. You
know that the three verses before Isaiah 53 really go along with
that prophecy in Isaiah 52. And listen to what it says in
verse 13 of Isaiah 52. This is kind of like the prologue
to Isaiah 53. And it says, behold, my servant
shall deal prudently. Literally, that means my servant,
God's servant, that's Christ, the servant of the Father, he
shall prosper. That means he's not going to
be defeated. Christ did not die for any sinner in vain. You hear what I'm saying? He
did not die for any sinner in vain. Those for whom he died
shall be saved. He says it over in verse 11 of
chapter 53, right after he says, the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand, look at verse 11, he shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Just like that
woman who has that healthy baby after nine months. And that healthy
baby, she's satisfied. She's pleased. That's the way
our Lord is out of the birth pains of his death. So look at
Isaiah 52, 13. Behold, my servant shall prosper.
He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Based on what? Just the fact that he's God?
No. Now that's enough. Now think about this. I want
you to think about this. He is exalted and extolled as
God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. He's very God
of very God. But that's not what this is talking
about. This is talking about his exaltation and his being
extolled based upon his prospering. based upon the accomplishment
of his work. And you'll find a good commentary
on that to find out what it means in John 17. You don't have to
turn there. The high priestly prayer. What
did he say? He said, Father, now the hour has come. Glorify
thou me with the glory that I had before the world began. You see
what he's saying? He said, all power. He's talking
about power that was given to him. He had all power as God,
but this was a given power. What's he talking about? He's
talking about as mediator. He's talking about as the savior
of his people. He's talking about as the servant
of the father. And you know what he said? He
said, the reason for his prayer to exalt him in the glory, he
said, I finished the work which you gave me to do. That's what
Isaiah 52 is talking about here. Verse 14 says, as many as were
stonied at thee. Some commentators say that should
be astonished. I like the word of stonied. Because
it means it's like he turned them to stone. That's how taken
aback they are. They can't move. All they can
do is just stand still and just admire his glory. His visage
was so marred more than any man. That is his features. It says,
in his form more than the sons of men, his suffering cannot
be described. So, listen to it, verse 15. For that reason, because of that,
he shall sprinkle many nations. Sprinkle, what does that mean?
Well, when we think of sprinkling, what do you think of? Think of
the sprinkling of the blood. What's he talking about, sprinkling
many nations? He's talking about shedding his blood for his people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. He's talking
about the application also of it to our consciences when we're
born again by the spirit under the preaching of the gospel.
That's when our consciences are sprinkled from dead works, legal
works, to serve the living God, to look to Christ. The king shall
shut their mouths at him, and that which had not been told
them shall they see, and that which they had not heard shall
they consider. Haggai 2.22, that's what he's talking about. He's
not going to fail. Now, verse 23, he says, in that
day saith the Lord of hosts, there's that term again, that
identifies the invincible God, the Lord of a great army, Jehovah.
He says, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, The son of Shealtiel. Now let me show you something
about Zerubbabel here. First of all, he's called the
servant of the Lord. And that's exactly what he was.
He's a type of Christ in that sense. Christ is the servant
of Jehovah. We won't take time tonight to
turn to these verses. Isaiah 42, 1. We just read it
in Isaiah 52, 13. Behold my servant. Philippians
chapter 2. He took upon himself the form
of a servant. That's his commission. That means
all of salvation was conditioned upon him. That means the government
was put upon his shoulders. Our well-being as a saved people,
as a redeemed people, as a justified people, our well-being is upon
the shoulders and in the hands of the governor of this universe,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we're so secure
in Him. That's why we need to look to
Him. Our security, our assurance is not in looking to ourselves.
You say, well, have I done enough? The answer is no, you haven't.
When it comes to doing enough, what is enough? Think about that. Somebody said, well, I haven't
done enough for the Lord. I haven't either. None of us have. And
that's why that's a debt we'll never, never pay off. That's
a debt of love. It's not a legal debt. The point
of this whole thing and they're building the temple and their
testimony and the prophetic message, the gospel message is Christ
has done enough. He's done it all. He put away
my sins by the sacrifice of himself. He worked out a perfect righteousness
of everlasting value which can never be changed or destroyed,
never be blemished. And He is the Lord my righteousness.
How secure can I be? No more secure than that. That's
what this is taught. And He did all that as the servant
of the Lord. He did all of that. Zerubbabel,
as a servant of the Lord, he commissioned and oversaw the
building of the temple. Christ, as the servant of the
Lord, built the temple, his church, himself, and he built it upon
the ground of his own blood. He redeemed us with his own blood.
We're a redeemed people. Think about this. You know the
name Zerubbabel. You ever think about what that
name means? What a name, Zerubbabel. Well, if you cut it in half,
you've got Zerah, and then you've got Babel, and when you think
of Babel, you think of Babylon, don't you? Well, you know what
the name means? It means, literally, sown in
Babylon. It was a name given to him by
the Babylonians. And you say, well, that's a name
of ill repute. Sown in Babylon? Well, that's
where he was sown, evidently. Well, how could he be a type
of Christ there? Well, I'll tell you exactly how. Christ, in his
human nature, was sown That is, he became incarnate and was born
into this fallen, sinful, ruined, wretched world. That right? Yet he himself was sinless and
incorruptible. Christ himself in that way was
sown in Babylon. That's right. Where was he born? In Bethlehem. Amongst sinful human beings.
His mother was a sinful human being. Yet he contracted no sin
as he was not born of Adam. He was born as he was conceived
in her womb by the Spirit of God. And he was sown in Babylon. He identified with us in our
name and in our nature, yet without sin. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham. Who are
they? Sinners in need of salvation by grace. Now, it says here that
Zerubbabel, God's servant, was the son of Shealtiel. That was
his father. And the name Shealtiel means,
I have asked of God. And it has to do with the issue
of a gift. And my friend, Christ is the
gift of God to his people. The Bible says that God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. He gave. And that gift of Christ, Romans
chapter 8 and verse 32 speaks of that. That He that gave His
only Son, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things? The Bible says in Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 3 that we're blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. In other words, if you
have Christ, you have all that God has to give. All that God
has to give. As I said, Zerubbabel, he was
appointed to be the governor of Judah. He was of the Davidic
line by his grandfather, Jehoiakim and Jeconi. And he laid the foundation
of the Second Temple, that speaks of Christ. But now look here,
he says, he's the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make
thee as a signet. What is a signet? Well, it's
a seal. A seal. A seal that speaks of
identification. A seal that speaks of authority. It's a seal that speaks of immutability. There's a wonderful story, and
I can't get away without showing you this. Look over at Esther,
the book of Esther, with me. And it's Esther chapter 8. You know Esther, she was the
queen. She married the Persian king. She, like Daniel, was given
favor with the Babylonian kings and the Persian kings. Esther
was given favor with this Persian king. And you know the story
of Esther. We won't read it all. But there
was a man named Haman who was set on the destruction of the
Jews, and Esther interceded for her people, the Jews, with the
king. She, in essence, was a type of Christ in that way. And here
in the book of Esther, chapter 8, look at verse 3. It says,
And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his
feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman,
the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.
Haman had made a scheme to have all the Jews wiped out. And Esther
interceded with the king to put that away, don't do that. And
it says, then the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. I believe that's a picture of
God the father receiving his people in Christ. When he holds
out that scepter, we have a way into the presence of the king,
that golden scepter. So Esther arose and stood before
the king and said, if it pleased the king and if I have found
favor in his sight and the things seem right before the king and
I be pleasing in his eyes, see all of that is spiritually, typically
is fulfilled for us in Christ. And it says, let it be written
to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hamadathah
the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews, which are in
all the king's province. For how can I endure to see the
evil that shall come unto my people? Oh, how can I endure
to see the destruction of my kindred? We're the people of
Christ. We're his kindred. We're his
brethren. He calls us brethren. He's not ashamed to do it, too.
Verse 7, Then the king, Ahasuerus, said unto Esther, the queen,
and to Mordecai, the Jew, He said, behold, I have given Esther
the house of Haman and him they have hanged upon the gallows
because he laid his hand upon the Jews. Now look at verse eight.
If you want to learn what a signet is, this is it. Write ye also
for the Jews as it liketh you in the king's name and seal it
with the king's ring. That's the signet, the king's
ring. It had something on it, some kind of a symbol. And here's
what that symbol did. For the writing which is written
in the king's name, It's in the king's name. First of all, that
signet identified who this is. This is the king. When you saw
this signet, they would stamp it either in clay or in wax,
and when that signet was seen, when that sign was seen, this
is the king. And it was sealed with the king's
ring. This is the authority of the king. This is the king, and
it's his authority. And look, it made no man reverse. It cannot be changed. Now when
Haggai speaks of Zerubbabel as the king's signet, as the signet
of the Lord, Jehovah's signet, he's speaking of him as a time.
Who is Jehovah's signet? Christ is. Who identifies the
Godhead for us? Christ does. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete in
him. He told his disciples, if you've seen me, you've seen the
Father. He's the one who identifies how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. Who has the authority of the
Godhead? Christ does. You remember when
he finished the Sermon on the Mount, they were astonished at
his preaching, his word, because he spoke as one who had authority.
They didn't realize what authority he did have. He had such authority,
he could look at the storm and say, be still, and it would be
calmed. He had such authority that the
Roman army that represented the authority of Caesar had to fall
back just at two words that he spoke, I am. He had the authority
as he hung on that cross establishing the righteousness of God for
his people by which we're justified to say it's finished. Nobody
else could have done that. That thief couldn't have said
it's finished. Even though he was a sinner saved by grace.
Only Christ could say it's finished. And how do you know he had authority
to do that? The veil was rent from top to bottom. The way was
made clear by the blood of Christ. And then his word is immutable. It cannot be changed. He doesn't
repent. He's not a man that he should
repent. When he speaks, he speaks with authority. He speaks with
power. He is Jehovah's servant, the
signet, the seal of the covenant, the express image of the Father.
He is Jehovah's chosen one. He's the one who builds the house.
He's the one who holds it together. He's the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He's the author
and the finisher of our faith. It cannot change now. He's the
foundation stone upon which our salvation rests. He's the capstone
that completes the work of God. He's the cornerstone that holds
all things together. He's the mighty God manifest
in the flesh, the creator of all, the great I am, the prince
of peace. He's the redeemer of his people,
whose salvation he sealed with the blood of his cross. He's
the author of the Holy Bible, and he's sealed with a prophetic
capstone engraved with his own signet ring. He's the God of
gods. And throughout history, kings
and other governing authorities have made signet rings to proclaim
their authority. Doesn't even compare to Jehovah's
signet, the Lord Jesus Christ. He stamped his signet upon our
hearts when he sealed us with the Holy Spirit of power by bringing
us, giving us life and bringing us to faith in Christ. And the
last words of Haggai, he says, for I have chosen thee, saith
the Lord of hosts. That could also be translated,
for I am well pleased in you. And that's our Lord Jesus Christ. Twice the Lord proclaimed from
heaven in an audible voice, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased, hear ye him. And that's what we're about to
do when we take the Lord's table. We're acknowledging the pleasure
of the Father in the Son, but also showing forth our own pleasure
and satisfaction with all that He is and all that He accomplished
on Calvary.