The Glorious Future And The Coming Of The Messiah And Of God's Kingdom (Haggai 2:20-23).
Here we have the third of the three promises. The first was that the Temple would be for all nations, the second that their near future would flourish, and now thirdly that the Prince who has established the Temple is to be seen as God's symbol of the coming of His everlasting Kingdom.
‘And the word of YHWH came the second time to Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,'
On that same day as fruitfulness was promised for the future, God comes with an even greater promise.
“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying,
I will shake the heavens and the earth,
And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms,
and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations,
And I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them,
And the horses and their riders will come down, every one by the sword of his brother.”
Haggai is to speak to the Governor of Judah and declare that God was at some unstated time to act on Heaven and earth (shake Heaven and earth) and would overthrow the throne of the kingdoms (whoever at the time was ruling those kingdoms) and would destroy the strength of the kingdoms and the nations, and would overthrow the chariots and those who rode in them (the elite), and would bring down the horses and riders, and it would all happen as they fought each other.
As with many of the prophets before him he depicts the days before the everlasting kingdom as being days of warfare and trouble, as the nations of the world are involved in a universal struggle (compare Joel 3:9-16; Ezekiel 38-39; Zechariah 14:13-15), although ‘the world' that they have in mind is mainly that in the Ancient Near East.
It is always possible that this shaking is also to be seen in terms of earthquakes or of other convulsions on the earth (caused say by asteroids), for both are possibly portrayed in Revelation depending on how literally we take the descriptions. But dogmatism is clearly ruled out. In the end it is YHWH Who will shake the world as He pleases.
“In that day,” says YHWH of hosts, “will I take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,” says YHWH, “and will make you as a signet. For I have chosen you,” says YHWH of hosts.'
But His end purpose is that in that day He may take Zerubbabel His servant, through his seed, and make him His signet ring, because he is the chosen of YHWH.
At first sight this might appear to signify that Zerubbabel was necessarily to be the Messiah. But God's promises were often given to a man and his seed. To Him a man included his seed. We can compare the promises made to Abraham which included his seed, for the land would never strictly be given to him (Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 13:17; etc), and the promises made to David and his seed (2Sa 7:9; 2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 7:16), so that future king could actually be called ‘David' (e.g. Ezekiel 34:23-24; Ezekiel 37:24-25). Thus His promise here is given to Zerubbabel and his seed. Zerubbabel is being assured that his house will so prosper that one day a ‘son' of Zerubbabel will arise who would be the coming King. And Jesus Christ was of the seed of Zerubbabel (Matthew 1:13-16). And He was God's signet ring, the stamped out image of God's substance (Hebrews 1:3). And the earth was shaken by His coming and today He reigns over His everlasting kingdom and will one day return to finally bring about its full consummation.