Haggai 2:23

We have had what we may call the word of rebuke, then the word of encouragement, and then the word of warning. Now comes the word of exaltation, spoken directly to Zerubbabel, who was a prince of David's line, as Matthew 1:12 shows. The last verse of the chapter surely had some application to the man himself. Kingdoms would be overthrown, as Daniel 11 predicts, but he would be like a signet ring, by which God would establish His decrees. We do not know how this worked out for Zerubbabel. But we believe the Spirit of God had in view not so much a temporary exaltation of this man, but the permanent exaltation of the One he pictured: our Lord Jesus Christ.

Zerubbabel has been dead more than twenty-three centuries, and yet this shaking of the nations has not come. What could be clearer? The great event foretold here is the overthrow of all thrones on earth, when the Messiah, Zerubbabel's descendant, will set up His rule in righteousness over the nations of the world.

Zerubbabel, the son of David, is a picture of Christ, the Son of David. He will then receive the throne of His father David. He will be made a signet. Among those nations the signet ring was a mark of honour. Kings gave it to their chief ministers, handing over full authority to them. So the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured as receiving rule and authority from God.

These verses point again to the future, when all nations will be shaken. Then God will take the true seed of David — still called "Zerubbabel my servant" here, a picture of Christ as the prince of the house of David — and make Him as a signet. Coniah, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, was unfaithful, and he was like a signet torn off God's right hand (see Jeremiah 22:24). Christ is the opposite. He is the signet on God's right hand, sealing all God's purposes for the nations and for His chosen people Israel.

Jehovah's gracious power would establish the throne of David after He had judged the Gentile kingdoms. The picture of His special closeness and choice looks ahead to "that day." Zerubbabel was only a governor, yet he is clearly the picture of Christ as King.

Adam failed in the trust God gave him. So did Noah, and David, and everyone else God made responsible. But from the beginning God had in view not Adam, nor David, but Christ. God's choice rested on Him. His thirty-three years on earth proved that choice right. God's heart will take special delight in honouring that blessed One, who as a Man has fully justified God's choice.

The coming of Christ will not only mean blessing for Israel and the nations. It will also be the occasion of His own glory. He who was crowned with thorns will be as Jehovah's signet. He will be glorified, for Christ will carry out all that God does, and it will all be for Him.

Faced with all this power of evil, the remnant had only to obey the word of the LORD and, in simple faith, give themselves to the work of the LORD. It was no part of their business to oppose the world, or overthrow its power, or try to put its wrongs right. They are told that the LORD will deal with all the evil of the world in His own time.

Thrones and kingdoms would be destroyed, but Zerubbabel would be as a signet on the Lord's hand, "for I have chosen you." Today the weakest believer can say: "It is not that I chose You, for, Lord, that could not be; this heart would still refuse You, but You have chosen me."