What does it mean that Zerubbabel was the LORD's signet ring (Haggai 2:23)?

Hag. 2:20-23 are still another message from God, and refer again to the future, when all nations will be shaken, and when God will take the true seed of David (here still called 'Zerubbabel my servant', a type of Christ as 'the prince of the house of David'), and make Him as a signet. In contrast to the faithless Coniah, or Jeconiah, king of Judah (as a signet plucked from God's right hand: cf. Jer. 22:24), Christ is the signet on God's right hand, to seal all His purposes touching the nations, and concerning His chosen people Israel.

The final address of Jehovah's messenger is altogether prophetic. It is addressed exclusively to Zerubbabel, the governor, a son of David. He tells the princely leader that the heavens and the earth will be shaken; it is the same as in verse 6. When that comes the throne of the kingdoms will be overthrown; the power of the kingdoms of the nations (the ten kingdoms; Dan. 2) will be destroyed, for in that day, the falling stone, typifying the second coming of Christ, will make an end of Gentile dominion. The battle of Armageddon will take place and end the military power of these nations. Zerubbabel, the son of David, is the type of Christ, the Son of David. He will then receive the throne of His father David. He will be made a signet. The signet-ring was among those nations a mark of honor. It was given by monarchs to their prime-ministers, conferring all authority upon them. Thus the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured as receiving from God the rule and authority.

*After the shaking of heaven and earth in [Haggai 2, the Lord promises to fill the house with glory, to give peace there, and to make Zerubbabel His signet, i.e., to establish him and his authority irreversibly. In Hebrews 12 this shaking is referred to; but the whole epistle gives us, additional to Haggai, that the believer is to share the signet or "the immovable kingdom" with the true Melchizedec, and also largely unfolds, as we know, the title by which such share in the kingdom is to be held. Thus, ulterior scripture is continually filling up or completing previous scripture.]

The last section begins with verse 20. We have had, what we have ventured to call, the word of rebuke, followed by the word of encouragement, and then the word of warning. We now have what we may call the word of exaltation, addressed personally to Zerubbabel, who was a prince of David's line, as stated in Matthew 1:12. The last verse of the chapter doubtless had some application to the man himself. Kingdoms would be overthrown, as predicted in Daniel 11, but he would be as a signet-ring, by which God would establish His decrees. How this worked out for Zerubbabel we know not, but we believe the Spirit of God had in view, not so much some temporary exaltation of this man, but the permanent exaltation of One whom he typified; even our Lord Jesus Christ.

The last message comprises and amplifies the change of the heavens in its effect on the earth. It is not the church, but the kingdom when no longer in patience but in power and glory. "And again the word of Jehovah came to Haggai on the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, 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 heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, says Jehovah of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says Jehovah, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, says Jehovah of hosts." The throne of David should be established by the gracious power of Jehovah on the judgment of the Gentile kingdoms. The figure of His special intimacy and choice looks onward to "that day." Zerubbabel, though but governor, is clearly the type of Christ as King: as being David's son and heir in his own day, it was the more natural that he should be. Messiah alone will fully set up and for ever maintain, while earth endures, the kingdom of Jehovah here below; and this in the midst of the chosen people gathered back from captivity and dispersion. As heathen expected from the world that which was to be manifested in the church, so now Christendom expects from the church that which God reserves for Christ, and for Christ in relationship with Israel on earth as well as the church glorified on high. The revealed truth of the age to come embraces both the restoration of the kingdom to Israel on earth and the reigning of the saints above, changed indeed into the glorious likeness of the Lord, but none the less reigning with Him over the earth.

And yet again the heathen will rage and the people imagine a vain thing, and in their rage against the people of God will assemble themselves against Jerusalem. But when thus gathered in all the might of their strength, it is only to meet the outpouring of the wrathful indignation of God, who at length executes judgment upon the earth, preparatory to the establishment of the throne of Him who shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the earth. The princes of this world reck not of the coming storm which is so surely and so rapidly approaching; and, in the meanwhile, they delude themselves with their "progressive ideas," and dream of a millennium without God and without His Christ. But this word has proceeded from the mouth of God, and cannot be recalled, "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 heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down every one by the sword of his brother."

But there is a star of hope rising up out of this night of judgment in the promise to Zerubbabel. "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts." (v. 23.) We have seen that this prophecy refers to the judgment of the nations on the eve, or rather on the morning, of the thousand years. In what sense then does the prophet speak of Zerubbabel in that day? It will be observed that he alone is addressed in this message, and that he is spoken to in his official capacity as the governor of Judah. Now it is in this aspect that he becomes a type of the Messiah; for, as Jacob prophesied, "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be;" and as Micah spake, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." (Micah 5:2.) It is God's Christ who is thus spoken of in Haggai — the One who is both the root and the offspring of David, and who, in relation to Israel, will then sit upon the throne of His father David; "and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1:32-33.) He it is who will in that day be displayed by God as a signet, and as His chosen vessel for the blessing of His people. Thus Isaiah cries, in the name of the Lord, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." (Isaiah 42:1.) These three things, as already stated, are ever connected in the Scriptures — the appearing of the Messiah in glory, judgment of the nations, and the establishment of the kingdom in power and blessing.

The second prophecy returns to the shaking of all things. In that day, the governor of Judah, the heir of David, should be as a signet on the hand of Him by whom all things were shaken. While encouraging the people at the time of the prophecy — a time when they so greatly needed it — this prophecy, in naming Zerubbabel, has Him in view who, when God will shake the heavens and the earth, shall be the true seed of David and the heir of his crown according to God — the Christ of God, the Elect from among the people.

After the captivity, in connection with the rebuilding of the temple, "came the word of Jehovah by the prophet Haggai, saying — I will shake the heavens, and the earth, … and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come" (Haggai 2:1-7). And two months later the same prophet is commanded to "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 Gentiles; and I will overturn the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, says Jehovah of Hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, says Jehovah, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, says Jehovah of Hosts" (vv. 21-23). Zerubbabel has been dead more than twenty-three centuries, and yet this shaking of the nations has not come. What can be clearer than that the great event here foretold is the overthrow of all earthly thrones when the Messiah, Zerubbabel's descendant, shall establish His rule in righteousness over the nations of the world?

The promise is that in "that day" (the day of universal shaking, when thrones and armies are overthrown, and warriors perish by the sword), Jehovah will give a place of peculiar exaltation to His servant, as the Man of His own choice.

For the coming of Christ will not only mean the blessing of Israel and the nations; it will be the occasion of His own glory, He who has been crowned with thorns will be as Jehovah's signet. He will be glorified in that all that God does, will be done by Christ, and for Him.

Adam failed in connection with what was committed to his charge. So did Noah, and David, and everyone else to whom responsibility was entrusted. But from the beginning God had in view not Adam, nor David, but Christ. He is the One upon whom God's choice rested. His sojourn for thirty-three years on earth proved the rightness of that choice, and the heart of God will find peculiar delight in honouring that blessed One who, as a Man, has so entirely justified the divine choice.

The prophecy of Haggai concludes with a personal message of encouragement to Zerubbabel, the representative of the house of David. Thrones and kingdoms would be destroyed, but Zerubbabel would be as a signet on the Lord's hand, "for I have chosen thee." Today the weakest saint can say: