Continuing from the last weekly I wrote about the lessons we can learn from the message of Haggai to the first group of returnee to the holy land, we saw God corrected the wrong notion of the returnees and pleading with them to turn back to Him. Now the Word of the Lord came (at the same time Haggai 2:20) specifically to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah. Earlier messages were to the general crowd; now it was specifically to the leader of the Jews.
Straightaway, God declares that He “will shake the heavens and the earth (the nature); … will overthrow the throne of kingdoms (those in authority), … will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen (power of heathen); … will overthrow the chariots (the resources of the heathen), and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother (the heathen themselves)” (Haggai 2:21b – 22). These elements (those stated in bracket) were issues that the leader Zerubbabel worried about and all of them were dealt with by God. The general people had their set of worries but the leader had more (on top of the things what the general people worried about).
Other than giving him this assurance, God continued and said He “will make thee a signet” (Haggai 2:23a). A signet is a ring worn by the king (or person in authority) with a seal engraved upon it which is used to seal the decree passed by the king. This signified that Zerubbabel was signet, was the authority which had the approval of God and this was another assurance and encouragement.
All of these assurances were given for one main reason: God had chosen him (Haggai 2:23b) and it is the same with us. We are chosen of God, and we are also leaders in our own areas of lives. In what sense? In the sense that we are to lead people to Christ. There are many who are lost in our scope of lives. There will be struggles with those in authority, in power, and people around may oppose our leading of people to Christ, but God says in His Word that He will take care of all these elements. God has chosen us as the authority to do God’s Work, to declare His Word, His Gospel.
Let us trust God and His declared promises to go forth as His chosen signet, to do God’s work, and to lead people to Christ.
Deacon Nick