The Signet Ring

Haggai 2:23

This is a book about priorities. It begins with a challenge to weigh personal desires against the mission we are called to accomplish on Christ’s behalf. The document concludes with a promise with reference to a signet ring. This promise concerning the signet ring is preceded in verse 19 with the optimistic statement concerning the seed in the barn. It has not even been planted, yet it will yield fruit. A crop comes from the combined effort of God and man. God provides the seed and the rain and the sun and the soil. Man provides the labor of planting and of harvesting.

Good days are coming for the people of good. There is ample reason to look forward to the future. If you are going through a difficult time, if you are facing hardship or times of discouragement, then this book is for you. God has a plan; He can pull it off. “Work!” the prophet proclaims, because your work will not come back empty.

The last message that the prophet has for us is that Zerubbabel will become as a signet ring. Now, the signet ring was the safe combination, the password, the security code, the signature on every check. It is not to be taken lightly. It was life’s most valuable physical possession. It is not something that you would allow to leave your possession. It let you in where nothing else would. It was the key to your economic security. It guarded your assets. It was your ATM card and retirement program all wrapped into one.

The key, however, is not just in its value, but also in its possessor. The key is that this promise is not for you and for me, but rather for Zerubbabel. He will become the signet ring. Remember, he is the governor. He is the governmental king. He rules in the line of David, and his name will reappear in the New Testament in Matthew 1:12, where he will be listed as an ancestor of our Savior. He stands in the line of the coming Savior, and the promise to him is a promise about our Savior.

Jesus Christ is our signet ring. Many forgeries or false Christs have been presented throughout history. But the history of Christ remains for us, God incarnate in human flesh. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. He is our signet ring. He is the signature on the check that pays the full debt of our sin.

When Christ was buried in the tomb, “they made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone” (Mt. 27:66). That seal was the government’s seal of security, but at the resurrection, the seal was broken. This world could not contain the contents of this grave. And in His resurrection, we have our security. The risen Christ is our seal. He is our signet ring. He is the promise given in the last verse of the book of Haggai!

The Signet Ring

Haggai 2:23

INTRODUCTION

Signet rings in Scripture

INSTRUCTION

A. God’s intervention in creation

B. God’s intervention in humanity

C. God’s intervention in redemption