The Lord’s Signet Ring (Haggai 2:23)

 


Wednesday, October 9, 2024


Psalm 89:39-53

Haggai 2:10-23

Colossians 3:18-4:6


The Lord’s Signet Ring (Haggai 2:23)


Yes, the Lord has brought the people back home. Yes, they will listen to the encouragement to get to work. Yes, the temple will be rebuilt. Yes, the Lord has promised that “from this day on, I will bless you”. Yet one cannot shake off this sense of uneasy tension sitting somewhere in the background.


The day of the Lord is yet to come – this is apparent because God is still speaking as if it is somewhere in the future. When the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians, it was not the day of the Lord. When the southern kingdom fell to the Babylonians, that was not the day of the Lord either. When the exiles returned, the day of the Lord had still not yet come. Everything seems like things are puttering along nicely, but there is still a greater fulfilment out there somewhere. God has not yet finished his grand plan for creation.


One wonders how Zerubbabel must have felt about Haggai’s words. Did he feel pleased with himself, for being the one chosen by God? Maybe he was shaking in his sandals, terrified that the Almighty Creator would mention him by name. Zerubbabel must have recognised that whatever job God was calling him to do, it wasn’t the ultimate climax of God’s wider plan.


This sense of anticipation, of unresolved tension, of a fulfilment yet to come, is all through the Bible. Every human story we read through has its ups and downs, with God bringing up and casting down through them. But the story needs its hero, its one character who steps up and sorts everything out once and for all. And so the New Testament opens with the words “a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.” All these people we have read about find their fulfilment in Jesus, the beloved of God, the Word of the Father, the image of the invisible God; a type of signet ring of God.


When we die to our old selves and rise to our new identity in Christ in our baptism, we are given the work of Christ to do. We are to image Christ to the world; to represent and execute God and God’s will. Christ will one day return, and then we will see just what that day of the Lord will look like. In the meantime, our glory comes from Christ, and his glory comes from us, his redeemed people. Where are the places and people in our lives that are yet to find the fulfilment of Jesus?


Lord of our days, inspire us with your continual presence, so that we will see your reflection in ourselves and all that we do for your world.

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