The Relevance of Zerubabbel

“The hands of Zerubabbel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands also shall finish it (Zechariah 4:9).” From the name of a devout Hebrew who participated in the building of the temple, God fashioned a parable which is meant to help counsel his lawgivers, the priesthood. “Judah is my lawgiver (Psalms 60:7).” “Who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubabbel (Zechariah 4:10).” Zerubabbel's name will help usher in New Jerusalem. “It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it (Isaiah 2:2).”

"The Lord hath a controversy (Jeremiah 25:31)." Zerubabbel's name was used in prophesy to help identify what the Lord's controversy is all about: “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? (Haggai 1:4).” God's primary concern is not so much about the in house festivities of his people, but rather, it is that all the descendants of Abraham are not dwelling in peace and unity: religion has defiled God's call for peace and unity (Ephesians 4:13; Psalm 133:1-3).

“Ye have sown much, and bring in little… He that earns wages, earns wages to put it into a bag with holes (Haggai 1:6).” “Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; when you brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? Because my house is waste, and ye run every man to his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. I called for the drought upon the land, and upon the mountains… and upon all labor of the hands (from Haggai 1:6-11).”

Consider a mystery: In the book of Ezra, Cyrus made a proclamation: Sheshbazzar, the then governor of Judah, was to take the Jews from Babylon and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem (Ezra chapter one through 2:2). Zerubabbel went with them. They set up the walls, and joined the foundation of the Lord’s temple (Ezra 4:12). Then skirmishes erupted and letters were sent, and a new king caused their work to cease (Ezra 4:24; 5:16). This information was published to verify that the temple's construction had begun, and that the foundation of the temple had been laid.

Several kings and some years later, Zerubabbel was now governor (Haggai 1:1) and work on the temple was being resumed, when suddenly prophecy erupted: “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 the nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory… the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former… and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord (from Haggai 2:6-9).” These words are prophetic words, for they corroborate the immense shaking that is prophesied to take place when the sixth seal of the Revelation is opened: in that day every mountain and island shall be moved out of its place as an earthquake shakes even the heavens (Revelation 6:12-14).

The mysterious prophecy that erupted before Zerubabbel was intended to make an announcement that something really big is destined to occur on the twenty fourth day of the ninth month (Haggai 2:10). God stressed Zion's need to pay attention to this date by reiterating the word, consider. “Consider from this day upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord… Consider now from this day upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider (Haggai 2:15-18).”

Consider: The temple’s foundation had already been laid, and stones had already been laid upon it, so why was God saying, “before a stone was laid upon a stone?” This message was coming forth on the twenty forth day of the ninth month (Haggai 2:10; 2:20), so why was God deferring to a future date, saying, “Speak to Zerubabbel, governor of Judah, I will shake the heavens and the earth; I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, everyone by the sword of his brother. In that day, I will take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant… and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts (Haggai 2:21-23).”

Has there ever been any relevance ascribed to this signet?  Or was our omniscient God eluding to a future day, and to the building of Zion? Could the declaration of this date, combined with the setting Zerubabbel’s times, and the prophesied shaking of the heavens, earth, and the nations, as well as God's promise to set Zerubabbel's name on high, divulge a secret yet future?

“Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day I will bless you (Haggai 2:19).” Remember this date: the twenty fourth day of the ninth month; a date which was prepared by the foresight of God, a date prophesied by the prophet Haggai. Could this be the day that God rips open the sixth seal? Will this date prove to be the day in which God decisively divides his sheep from the goats? Will knowing this date help infuse strength into the building of Zion?

God’s people must acknowledge and affirm that salvation is granted through covenants (Isaiah 42:16; Romans 8:19). Changing the way that every believer worships God is the solution to the controversy. “Mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people (from Isaiah 56:7).” “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubabbel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace, grace unto it (Zechariah 4:7).” Zerubabbel’s name is chosen to mark change.

“My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people (Judges 5:9).” God will protect those priests that willingly sacrifice themselves in order to help him build the truth of end times. "The Lord shall save the tents of Judah first (Zechariah 12:7)." “I will make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left (Zechariah 12:6).”

“Be strong, O Zerubabbel” “All the remnant of people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet.” “I am with you.” “They came and did the work in the house of the Lord.” (quotes from Haggai 1:12 through 2:4). The building of covenant understanding is God's will, and it is our Mount Zion, therefore it will be built! “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit (Zechariah 4:6).”

“This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built… Thus saith the Lord of hosts… Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified (Haggai 1:2,7-8).”

“Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth (Micah 4:13).”

Covenant understanding is the kingdom message that will consume all the deceptive practices of religion, and it shall stand forever! “In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever (Daniel 2:44).”

God is with us so long as we work together in agreement with his word. “According to the word that I covenanted with you… so my spirit remains among you: fear ye not (Haggai 2:5).”