The End of the Story

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The End of the Story

• Haggai 22023

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The Old Testament Prophet

• Using vivid, powerful, forceful language
• Preaching repentance, challenging people to get
  right with God
• Encouraging and challenging people in the present
  with prophecies about Gods future plans

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Which Is It?

• The Kingdom is all in the future
• 11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white
  horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful
  and True, and in righteousness He judges and
  wages war.
• 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head
  are many diadems and He has a name written on
  Him which no one knows except Himself.
• 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood,
  and His name is called The Word of God.
• 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in
  fine linen, white and clean, were following Him
  on white horses.
• 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that
  with it He may strike down the nations, and He
  will rule them with a rod of iron and He treads
  the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the
  Almighty. (Revelation 191115)

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Which Is It?

• The Kingdom is all now
• For He rescued us from the domain of darkness,
  and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved
  Son (Colossians 113)

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Which Is It?

• There is a third alternative!
• Its not either/or
• Its both/and

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Key Idea

• God wants us to live our lives today in light of
  His future plans including His Kingdom

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The Coming of His Kingdom

• Sudden
• Unexpected
• Cataclysmic

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Isaiah 21721

• 17 The pride of man will be humbled and the
  loftiness of men will be abased and the Lord
  alone will be exalted in that day,
• 18 But the idols will completely vanish.
• 19 Men will go into caves of the rocks and into
  holes of the ground before the terror of the Lord
  and the splendor of His majesty, when He arises
  to make the earth tremble.
• 20 In that day men will cast away to the moles
  and the bats their idols of silver and their
  idols of gold, which they made for themselves to
  worship,
• 21 In order to go into the caverns of the rocks
  and the clefts of the cliffs before the terror of
  the Lord and the splendor of His majesty, when He
  arises to make the earth tremble.

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Isaiah 1313

• Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And
  the earth will be shaken from its place at the
  fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of His
  burning anger.

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Daniel 244,45

• 44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven
  will set up a kingdom which will never be
  destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for
  another people it will crush and put an end to
  all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure
  forever.
• 45 Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out
  of the mountain without hands and that it crushed
  the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and
  the gold

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The Kingdom Comes Through the Direct Intervention
of God

• God makes it clear This is something that I am
  going to do
• We do NOT bring in the Kingdom its not our
  responsibility

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The Kingdom Is All About Jesus!

• Who is this man, Zerubbabel?
• The son of Shealtiel and the governor of the
  Persian province of Judea
• A direct descendant of David
• Found in Matthew 1 in the royal line leading to
  Joseph, the foster father of Jesus

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The Kingdom Is All About Jesus!

• What is a signet ring?
• When Pharaoh made Joseph number two in the land
  of Egypt, he gave him his signet ring (Genesis
  4142)
• When the father wanted to show his honor and love
  for the prodigal son returned, he gave him a
  signet ring (Luke 1522)
• A mark of dignity, favor, and authority

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The Kingdom Is All About Jesus!

• Zerubbabel is a stand in for the Messiah, the
  Son of David, Jesus Christ
• The bottom line of the Kingdom of God Its all
  about Jesus, not us!

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Questions

• What is the Lords message for the people in
  Haggais day who heard this for the first time?
• Knowing the end of the story, how should we live
  our lives today?