The last of four messages

Brother Zeke Rivera closed his four-message series in Haggai with chapter 2, verses 20 to 23. He recapped that the temple throughout scripture is where God wants to meet with people, and today that is the body of each believer. In all four messages God's complaint is the same: you are building your own houses and neglecting the place where I meet you. The first message was to consider your ways, the second looked at their disappointment, and the third addressed the priests about holiness and uncleanness. The fourth is a word to one man, Zerubbabel, ending with "I have chosen thee."

Brother Rivera explained why that matters. Zerubbabel was governor of Judah, but Judah was a small part of the Persian empire ruled by King Darius, so the title sounded big and meant little, like being president of Newark. His only project was building a wooden temple. God tells him that He will shake the heavens and the earth, overthrow the thrones of kingdoms, and make Zerubbabel like a signet ring, because He has chosen him. He pointed to three things God chooses to do.

What God chooses

God shakes what seems permanent. Zerubbabel was watching Darius move armies and run an empire, while his own job was small. God was telling him that one day He will shake all the kingdoms, not just Persia. Brother Rivera pointed to Haggai 2:6-7, Isaiah 13:13, and Joel 3:16, and then to Hebrews 12:26-29, which tells believers that we receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, so we should serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, "for our God is a consuming fire." He said wrath is rarely preached, but God's righteous anger is aimed at the world's system and not at His people, and the right response is to present our bodies to Him as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) in lives that are holy.

God shatters what seems powerful. In Haggai 2:22 God says He will overthrow the chariots and riders, "every one by the sword of his brother." Brother Rivera turned to Judges 7, where God told Gideon his army was too large. The frightened were sent home (22,000 left), and the rest were tested at the water until only 300 remained, so that Israel could not claim victory for themselves. Gideon's men carried trumpets and lamps hidden inside clay pitchers. When they broke the pitchers and blew the trumpets, the Midianites panicked and turned their swords on each other, the same wording as in Haggai. Gideon won without a weapon of his own.

God selects what seems insignificant. Zerubbabel was a small governor given a small task, and Gideon's army was common household items. Brother Rivera turned to 2 Corinthians 4:3-7, where Paul says we have the treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels, so that the excellency of the power is of God and not of us. The light has to be released by breaking the pitcher. If someone wants to be used so that others can see the gospel, he said, God may have to break and weaken that person so that when victory comes, no one credits the person's talent or intelligence but says that only God could have done it.

Why God does this

God shakes what seems permanent, shatters what seems powerful, and selects what seems insignificant, so that more people can see Him. Brother Rivera closed in prayer that believers would not hide their light or chase status and selfish agendas, and that God would break them in the right ways so they can be useful to Him, since life is short. He used an object lesson at the end that startled the room, and Pastor Ortiz thanked him for the series, noting that he kept each message to about thirty minutes.