THE WORD OF the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 21“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I will shake the heavens and the earth. 22I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.
23“ ‘On that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the LORD Almighty.”
Original Meaning
AS NOTED IN our discussion of the previous section, 2:10–23 represents prophetic oracles delivered by Haggai at the ceremony celebrating the foundation laying of the Second Temple.1 Each section addresses a different group important on such ceremonial days in the ancient Near East: the priests (2:10–14), the people (2:15–19) and the royal house (2:20–23). Moreover, we argued that 2:10–19 is a unity, delivered orally on the same occasion. The final four verses of Haggai is another speech delivered on the same day, so that 2:10–23 forms a literary unity.
(1) The affinity between 2:10–19 and 2:20–23 is highlighted in distinctions between their superscriptions and those found in 1:1–2:9 (compare “through the prophet” in 1:1; 2:1 with “to the prophet” in 2:10, 20) and between their description of the audience (in 1:1–2:9, inclusive lists; in 2:10–23, each addressed in turn). (2) The rhetorical shape of the two superscriptions in 2:10, 20 are arranged in reverse order (2:10—date formula, messenger formula; 2:20—messenger formula, date formula). (3) This argument for unity is bolstered by attention to the audiences addressed, for only 2:10–23 taken together address the three main participants at an ancient foundation-laying ceremony (priest, people, king). (4) The temporal referents of the three messages provide a structural flow that enhances unity: the address to the priests reflects on the past (2:10–14), the address to the king looks to the future (2:20–23), and the address to the people bridges these two sections by moving from past to future (2:15–19).2
Haggai 2:10–23 functions as a positive encouragement for the people, affirming their decision to move forward in the rebuilding project and to lay the foundation of the temple. This encouragement is offered by comparing the dismal past with the promised future, linking blessing to the obedient response of the people. This future blessing is ultimately linked to the reestablishment of the royal house represented by Zerubbabel, who becomes a symbol of hope for the community of God. For the purposes of this commentary we are studying 2:20–23 in a separate section, but we must stress its close relationship with 2:10–19.
The upheavals described in the message to Zerubbabel in 2:20–23 can be seen more vividly against the backdrop of recent events in the Persian empire. As we noted in 2:10–19, Darius was beginning to exercise his unquestioned control of the vast Persian empire after the rebellions that preceded and followed the former emperor Cambyses’ death. The references to political upheaval in 2:21–22 would have been received by a community that had witnessed the recent vulnerability of the Persian hegemony. This, however, does not mean that Haggai is advocating rebellion among the Jews against their Persian overlords.3 Rather, Haggai envisions God’s action on behalf of his people and, in particular, his Davidic ruler.
The phrase “I will bless you” (2:19) completes the message spoken directly to the people on the important day of laying the temple’s foundation. The flow of the messages in 2:10–19 has moved the audience from the past to the future through the present. To this point, however, this blessed future is close at hand, linked to the anticipated harvests within a few months. The final message on “the twenty-fourth day of the [ninth] month” (2:20–23) will carry the chronology a step further, looking to the breaking in of the eschaton. Although these verses focus attention on Zerubbabel, the prophetic word begins with the appearance of Yahweh, which provides the foundation for the blessing to Zerubbabel.
The weaving together of the theme of subjugation of the nations with that of royal investment is vividly displayed in Psalm 2, where the nations are in rebellion against Yahweh and his anointed one, and Yahweh affirms his adoption of the Davidic royal.4 This installation is linked to “Zion, my holy hill,” from where Yahweh exercises his rule on earth through his vice-regent, the Davidic king. As Zerubbabel leads the people in rebuilding the place of God’s presence on earth from which he exercises rule through the Davidic king, we are reminded of God’s authority and power over the nations.5 Theophany (i.e., the appearance of Yahweh), subjugation of the nations, and the Davidic dynasty are compatible themes that display unity.
Detailed Analysis
THE FINAL SECTION begins in Hag. 2:20 with a superscription dated to the same day as 2:10–19. That this repetition is intentional is clear from the phrase “a second time.” The order of this superscription in the Hebrew text is the reverse of the superscription in 2:10, creating a chiastic structure that may have been designed to bind these two oracles together.
The audience of this message is clearly defined from the outset as Zerubbabel, the political ruler of the province (see the introduction, Original Meaning section). As the message progresses, however, this designation will be left to the side as Haggai unfolds the significance of this character to the future of God’s people in 2:23 (see further below).
The message begins with similar vocabulary and structure as in Hag. 2:6. The phrase “I will . . . shake the heavens and the earth” signals the appearing of God, and the word goyim (in 2:22, “foreign”; in 2:6, “nations”) speaks of the nations. In other words, the flow of words is from cosmos to nations in both sections. The ultimate goal of each unit, however, is different. Whereas in 2:6–9 the disruption of the cosmos began a process that ultimately resulted in the wealth of the nations streaming into the temple, in 2:21–22 the same disruption ultimately leads to the subjugation of the nations. Observe Wolff’s comments on the relationship between these two sections: “Verse 22 can be understood as an elucidation of what this upheaval means, since it talks about the overthrow of national power and destruction of military potential.”6
In our interpretation of 2:6–8 we noted the use of vocabulary associated with the theme of divine warrior in the Old Testament and the subsequent tribute the conquering king expected. Now the “shaking of the nations” alluded to in 2:7 is filled out in more detail in 2:22. These two prophetic visions are compatible and accentuate a different aspect of this future event. Haggai 2:6–9 focuses attention on the result of God’s intervention, while 2:21–23 reveals aspects of the intervention itself.
Verse 22 develops the military aspect of Haggai’s future vision through the use of battle imagery drawn from Israel’s heritage. The term “overturn” (hpk) connotes total and instantaneous destruction by God’s unlimited power and is used most regularly to describe God’s annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah (e.g., Gen. 19:21, 25, 29; Deut. 29:23; Lam. 4:6; Amos 4:11; cf. Isa. 1:7–9; Jer. 20:16).7 In Deuteronomy and the prophets it refers to the judgment of God on his people, but Haggai is called to reverse this trend and use it for foreign nations (as Gen. 19) alongside the term “shatter” (šmd), a more common term for divine judgment of the nations (e.g., Deut. 2:20–23; 9:1–6). The general character of the object of this divine action (“royal thrones,”8 “power of the foreign kingdoms”) also expresses the totality of this defeat: It topples thrones and powers, kingdoms and nations.
In the second part of verse 22 the focus moves from general political to specific military vocabulary as the prophet continues to draw from stock Israelite images. The “overthrow” of “chariots and their drivers” and the “fall” of “horses and their riders” draws on the Exodus tradition in which Pharaoh is defeated (e.g., Ex. 14:23–25).9 Even the most potent military resources available to ancient rulers will “fall.” This last word is a euphemism for death,10 the cause of which is identified in the final phrase (“each by the sword of his brother”). While many have seen here an allusion to Gideon’s defeat of Midian in Judges 7:22,11 the vocabulary is closer to Ezekiel’s description of the defeat of Gog in Ezekiel 38:21,12 a defeat that also speaks of the subjugation of the nations for the sake of Israel.13 In the end God causes such confusion in his enemies that ironically they are the ones who enact judgment on themselves, confirming the ineptitude of human political power and military prowess. Such ineptitude has been demonstrated to this Jewish community in the recent Persian upheaval at the accession of Darius.14
God’s destruction of power structures of humanity serves as the foundation for the final theme of this prophetic message in Hag. 2:23. The phrase “on that day” serves, first, as a transitional phrase to link the two parts of the message in a cause-effect relationship. It looks back to the events of 2:21b–22 that provide the details of “that day,” and then link the actions in 2:23 to the events. This phrase also serves to delineate the time reference for the actions described in 2:21–23. It is used regularly in prophetic literature as the prophets look to a future time of fulfillment (e.g., Isa. 2:11–20; Jer. 25:33; Amos 8:3, 9) and is intimately linked to the eschatological time called the “Day of Yahweh.”15 Thus, Haggai is not given a specific timetable for the actions described here but peers into the indefinite future.
The message now focuses on Zerubbabel. Yahweh declares that he will “take” (lqḥ) Zerubbabel, a common verb in Hebrew often found in contexts in which God changes the status of an individual.16 In particular lqḥ is found in contexts in which Davidic kings are anointed for kingship (2 Sam. 7:8; 2 Kings 14:21; 23:30) and represents the first of a series of allusions to Davidic kingship in this final verse.17
Zerubbabel is identified as “son of Shealtiel” in contrast to the original address in Hag. 2:21, which called him “governor of Judah.” Once Haggai has described the overthrow of human power in 2:22, it is inappropriate to continue to refer to Zerubbabel by his title as a small political player in the bureaucracy of the Persian empire. By calling him “son of Shealtiel” Haggai is alluding to his genealogical connection to the royal line of David. The phrase “my servant” continues this emphasis, for this is a term often associated with the Davidic kings.18 In the role as “servant” of the divine King, the Davidic ruler was the “favorite confidant of the King, one who remains in the vicinity of the king, who knows the mind and wishes of the king, and who executes the confidential assignments of his master.”19 This title accentuates the intimate relationship between Yahweh and the Davidic ruler.
The second action of Yahweh in relationship to Zerubbabel is that he will “make” him “like my signet ring.” The combination of the verb śwm (“make”) and the preposition k (“like”) produces the connotation of “make the equivalent of” or “make into.”20 This verb thus completes the progression from one state to another begun by “take” in the first half of the verse.
Yahweh appoints Zerubbabel as “my signet ring” (ḥotam). This image is a common one in the royal vocabulary of the ancient Near East, designating a piece of metal jewelry on which was etched an impression of the seal of the king. It symbolized his authority because of its use to authenticate legal documents and royal pronouncements (Est. 8:10; Ezek. 28:12; 1 Macc. 6:15) and by extension was regarded as a precious possession (Song 8:6).
Haggai is alluding here to an earlier prophetic message to the Davidic line. In Jeremiah 22:24 the prophet Jeremiah attacked the Davidic king Jehoiachin with a message of judgment: “Even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.” The ensuing message in Jeremiah 22 speaks of Yahweh’s rejection of Jehoiachin and his exile to Babylon, and it ends by prophesying that “none of his offspring will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah” (22:30). This “offspring” (zeraʾ ) is defined in 22:28 as his “children” (zeraʾ ) who went into exile with him. As Haggai now addresses one of those who was born in the Exile (Zerubbabel, meaning “seed of Babel”) prophesied by Jeremiah for the Davidic line, he revisits the message to the Davidic line.
This message is carefully phrased in terms that define the appropriate role for the Davidic line in Yahweh’s kingdom. Both images used (“servant” and “signet ring”) are passive images of instrument, for the “servant” is one who responds to the commands of his master and has no authority apart from his relationship to this lord, and a “signet ring” has no value apart from its connection to the king who wears it. The Davidic king was expected to fill the role of vice-regent on earth, executing Yahweh’s authority and representing Yahweh’s interests in this world (see Ps. 2). The downfall of the preexilic Davidic kings was their penchant for exercising authority beyond these carefully defined boundaries. The future of the Davidic line is based on a return to the original intention of the royal office in Israel.
Haggai is not contradicting Jeremiah’s prophecy but rather making a creative play on the prophecy and revealing a future for the Davidic line. This may explain why Haggai refers to Zerubbabel as “son of Shealtiel” throughout this book. The genealogy of the Davidic line in 1 Chronicles 3:10–24 consistently uses the term “his son” to refer to the chosen individual to rule in the Davidic dynasty. Following Jehoiachin’s name in 3:17, Shealtiel is designated “his son.” No descendants are listed for “Shealtiel”; only Pedaiah’s sons are given, one of whom is Zerubbabel. This implies that the line was to pass through Shealtiel, but that it was Pedaiah who provided the needed child. Zerubbabel is thus explicitly placed in the Davidic line by associating him with Shealtiel but is clearly of the generation that did not go into exile, the generation Jeremiah promised would not reign in Judah. Two generations removed and having been cleansed through exilic suffering, the Davidic line is now addressed by Haggai and granted hope of a future reinstatement to their unique position as “signet ring” for Yahweh.
The reason for Yahweh’s action is given in the final phrase of the announcement: “for I have chosen you”—another phrase drawn from the pool of vocabulary associated with the appointment of the Davidic dynasty.21 Although “chosen” (baḥar) is used to refer to God’s election of Israel as a nation (e.g., Deut. 4:37),22 it can also refer to God’s choice of David, especially when combined with “my servant” (e.g., 1 Sam. 16:8–10; 2 Sam. 6:21; Ps. 78:70).
In sum, Hag. 2:20–23 concludes the larger pericope that began in 2:10. In 2:10–14 the prophet reflects on past defilement that had produced the destitution. With the obedience of the people represented by their completion of the foundation of the temple, the prophet then anticipates a bright future, focusing the people’s attention on promises of blessing that will reverse the predicaments of the past (2:15–19). But 2:20–23 shows us that this promise of blessing in the immediate future is but the firstfruits of a far greater blessing. Yahweh will shake the universe, overthrow human power, and appoint the Davidic line to its rightful place as vice-regent over the world.
Bridging Contexts
AS IN HAG. 2:1–9, so here at the conclusion of this book we see the transition from forthtelling to foretelling and the intimate relationship between the two (see the introduction, Bridging Contexts section). The exhortation to Haggai’s community clearly has a future dimension as the prophet expects nothing less than the breaking in of God’s universal kingdom and rule. In doing this the prophet is not only offering a vision of the future but also displaying the intimate connection between present and future. This hope is clearly centered on God, who will create the conditions conducive for the future rule of his prince and people. But this divine work ultimately focuses on the reestablishment of the Davidic line; thus, a quick orientation to this line and its relevance to us is useful for ascertaining the contemporary significance of this passage.
Zerubbabel. By the time we come to Hag. 2:20–23, we have left the accursed past behind and find ourselves in the future. Haggai’s final message is one of hope for the future of the Davidic line. It addresses Zerubbabel as a symbol of the enduring nature of God’s promises to David. But this promise is carefully couched in terms that reveal that the ultimate purpose of this reinstatement is the rule of God on earth through Davidic rulers.
It is not surprising to find this promise to the Davidic descendant in the context of the ceremony for the foundation laying of the temple. The temple project was a core accomplishment of the Davidic dynasty at its inception (see esp. 2 Sam. 5–7; 1 Kings 6–9; 1 Chron. 13–17; 22; 28–29; 2 Chron. 1–7), and the care of the temple was to be an ongoing priority (2 Kings 12; 23). The temple was the place of God’s manifest presence, the place from which he ruled the earth in relationship with the Davidic king (Ps. 2; 84). By rebuilding the temple, the people in Haggai’s day are fulfilling the priorities of the Davidic line, providing a palace for the Great King, Yahweh. The ultimate purpose of this rebuilding project is now revealed: It is the first step in the program of God to bring his rule to the nations of the world.
Haggai focuses attention on the hope represented in the person of Zerubbabel. Some see here an optimistic prophet who oversteps his boundaries and places far too much focus on the historical figure of Zerubbabel.23 There is, however, precedent for speaking about an individual while having his descendants in mind in the Hebrew Bible. Hosea 3:4–5, in speaking about the future when the Israelites will repent, speaks of David while meaning his descendants:
For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.
Similarly, Ezekiel 34:23–24; 37:24–25 anticipates the coming of David:
I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.
My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.
Haggai is declaring that God is doing a new thing in their day, and Zerubbabel is a symbol of the future of the Davidic line. This is not lost on the writers of both Matthew and Luke, who include Zerubbabel in their list of Jesus’ lineage. These two genealogies agree verbatim in their tracing of Christ’s line from Abraham to Solomon and then diverge until they get to the figures of Zerubbabel and Shealtiel after the Exile. They then diverge again until Joseph. It is not our intention to discuss these genealogies and their differences in detail, but this evidence shows that Zerubbabel is an important figure in the history of the Davidic line. The New Testament makes clear that the hope of the Davidic line finds its fulfillment in Jesus who is called Christ, or Messiah.
Messiah. Jesus came to establish God’s rule on earth as the Davidic king. The genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel makes this clear from the outset as it identifies Jesus as the “Christ” (Christos, Gk. for Heb. word meaning Messiah), who was the “son of David” (Matt. 1:1). Later in that same chapter Matthew links this same Jesus with the “Immanuel” promised to the Davidic king Ahaz by the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 7:14), and then again in the following chapter he cites the promise of Micah that a ruler will come out of Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2), the hometown of David.
The opening sermon of the early church, which Peter preached on Pentecost, emphasizes Jesus’ fulfillment of the Davidic hope that God would place one of his descendants on his throne (Acts 2:30). The apostle Paul echoes the Davidic link when describing Jesus’ human lineage at the outset of his theological treatise to the Romans: “who as to his human nature was a descendant of David” (Rom. 1:3). It is not surprising that Psalm 2, a psalm celebrating the installation of the Davidic king to the royal throne, is one of the most oft cited Old Testament passages in the New Testament (Acts 4:25–26; 13:33; Heb. 1:5; Rev. 2:27).
The first installment of this fulfillment was accomplished through Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection from the dead. The mystery of the cross event is that through this act God exercised his rule over the earth. This is made clear in Isaiah’s prophecy in Isaiah 52–53, which speaks of the victory of God, announced to his people by the messengers who bring good news: “Our God reigns” (52:7). God reigns by laying bare his holy arm (52:10). It is then with shock that Isaiah gazes on this “arm of the LORD” and declares with astonishment: “Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed” (53:1). This astonishment arises from his incredulity at seeing a man dying in agony at the hands of wicked men (53:2–12). God accomplishes his powerful victory through Christ’s death on a cross, after which he ascends to heaven to sit at his right hand as God’s vice-regent over the earth.
Community of the Messiah. There is, however, a “not yet” to the “already” of this first installment. We long for the full exercise of God’s dominion on earth, that God’s will in heaven will be done on earth. This is accomplished through those on whom has come the promise of David—that is, the church, through whom God desires to exercise his rule on earth. This is why the apostle Paul can transform the promise originally directed to the Davidic line into a promise for the new community of Christ, the church (2 Cor. 6:18; cf. 2 Sam. 7:8, 14). In Christ we now are called to be his vice-regents on earth, to exercise his rule, for all authority has been given to us (Matt. 28:18–20). The proclamation in word and deed of the gospel through an oft-times suffering church is God’s surprising strategy to exercise his rule on earth. The church longs for the day when God will shake the earth and its power structures in the final days even as we experience the firstfruits of such shaking as we proclaim the gospel in the world.
I PICKED UP a newspaper the other day, it read something like this:
The world is too big for us. Too much going on, too many crimes, too much violence and excitement. Try as you will you get behind in the race. . . . It’s an incessant strain, to keep pace . . . and still you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries in you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political world is news seen so rapidly you’re out of breath trying to keep pace with who’s in and who’s out. Everything is high pressure. Human nature can’t endure much more!
This newspaper: The Atlantic Journal. The date: June 16, 1833—over 170 years ago.
My world is too big! Douglas Coupland has become a spokesman for the cross-section of society now called Generation X.24 In his two books Generation X and Life after God, Coupland shares vignettes from the lives of this younger generation. He defines a condition among Generation X termed optional paralysis: “the tendency, when given unlimited choices, to make none.”25
This is not limited to Generation X, for we all are bombarded by more and more choices these days. And not only more choices, but more and more information. Why? Because in an ironic twist our big world is shrinking. As the world shrinks, we all think that will mean that the world will become more manageable, that we will feel more significant in this shrinking world. Instead, the opposite happens: As the world shrinks, we feel ourselves shrinking with it. We feel more and more insignificant in our global village.
Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard accurately captures the frustration we all feel in trying to communicate the gospel while feeling that not only ourselves but our message itself is irrelevant and insignificant in this global village. Kierkegaard begins with the scene of a fire backstage of a theater on the opening night of a new comedy production. A clown realized the danger and pushed through the curtains to alert the audience. They applauded. The clown repeated his warning more urgently. By now he was center stage, flailing his arms, his eyes wide in panic. The crowd went wild. Whistles. Cheers. Raucous laughter. Never had they seen such a routine! Kierkegaard concludes: “I think the world will come to an end in the same way. The human race will stand in thunderous ovation, calling for an encore, convinced it’s just another happy joke. And so, what if you try to warn the world?”26
Over 2,500 years ago a prophet stumbled onto the world stage into a situation much like ours today. It was a world witnessing one of the first attempts at a global village achieved through advances in technology, control of commerce, and alignment of political forces. In his shrinking world that appeared to sideline God’s people, to cast this prophet as a clown crying “fire,” Haggai was called to faithfully proclaim an eternal message, a message of hope, a message of triumph.
Comforting the saints. There is a climactic and triumphant tone to this final prophetic message in Haggai. There has been a progressive movement in the book as a whole from its initial message, which called the people out of their complacency to begin the project, to this final message, which celebrates the obedience of the people in the first stage of the temple rebuilding. Although they are still far from completing this temple structure, Haggai’s message is finished. Through this message, however, we learn that he sees implications for this project far beyond the mere reversal of the dire human situation of the Jews in 520 B.C. Haggai sees it as the first step in the establishment of God’s rule on earth. He looks to the future establishment of the Davidic line to its rightful place as vice-regent on earth. Zerubbabel’s participation in the present project is a powerful symbol of that future reality.
Haggai began his message on the day of the foundation laying with a healthy assessment of the condition of his people (Hag. 2:10–14). These people were unqualified to be in the presence of the holy God because of their disobedience in the matter of building his temple. This defilement was the source of the curses they experienced as a people. Cut off from the presence of their King, they had not received the blessing that accompanies his rule; instead, they had experienced his wrath and curse. Obedience brought renewal of relationship and consecration of the people, and with that, blessing. But ultimately this blessing will be eclipsed by the brilliance of the appearance of God. Such temporal blessing connected with the harvest is only the beginning. God promises to affirm his choice of the Davidic line and people and reign on earth.
In one sense this passage has been fulfilled in the arrival of Christ in the line of David and his ascension to his heavenly throne. In another sense it remains unfulfilled as we await the final arrival of this Davidic ruler in the last days. We must, of course, admit that we live in a radically different era from that of God’s people in Haggai’s day; at the same time, however, our posture is similar as we await the final consummation of God’s rule through Jesus.
The coming of Christ means that we can live with far more hope than those who lived in Haggai’s time. Jesus has come, fulfilling the prophetic hope of the Old Testament. This grants to us far more closure and certainty than those who longed for the coming messianic age (Heb. 11:39–40; 1 Peter 1:10–12). We continue to live, though, in faith as Haggai’s audience of old, awaiting the ultimate shaking of the cosmos, the overthrow of all earthly power through the arrival of the divine warrior in the last days (Rev. 19).
Global warning. Although this passage functions as comfort for God’s people, offering hope to a people dwarfed by great imperial forces, one should not miss its function as a warning to human authorities, that is, to “royal thrones” and the “power of the foreign kingdoms” propped up by “chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders.” It is easy to spiritualize such references and limit application to forces of spiritual evil, the devil, and his minions. However, the prophet speaks here of literal political powers that will be overthrown by God’s “shaking.”
We cannot escape from the society in which we live. For the majority of Christians in our world today (most of whom live in the Two-Thirds World), following Christ’s call and expanding his kingdom means suffering at the hands of dictators and their military forces. Such suffering is not evidence of the lack of fulfillment of Haggai 2:20–23, but rather marks the beginning of the end for oppressive political systems. Just as God established his kingdom through the suffering Christ, so he will do so through the suffering community of Christ.
It is easy for Christians who live in democracies to equate their political system with “the kingdom of God and of his Christ.” However, even this human system must ultimately give way to the kingdom of God. This means that Christians who live within democratic nations must consider carefully the role of their governments within the global community and understand that this kind of political system leaves us accountable for the actions of our representatives, whether they are in Ottawa, Washington, or London. Such evaluation of our role within the global community must be followed by response in word and deed. Christians must have the courage within their nations not only to call their governments to account but also to function as salt and light throughout our culture, whether through political protest, social action, courageous proclamation, or faithful service.
The church worldwide must take seriously its role in proclaiming and enacting the anticipated and already-realized kingdom of Jesus. Haggai 2:20–23 gives us confidence to fulfill our calling as we entrust ourselves to the One who created and will one day shake the heavens and earth.
Local faithfulness with global implications. Haggai 2:10–23 as a whole, therefore, has ongoing relevance for those of us who live in anticipation of the coming age. It reminds us that God is concerned about our welfare and that he desires to bless us as we obey his kingdom demands. These verses focus attention especially on the perseverance of this community through the difficult and discouraging early moments of rebuilding. Such perseverance is exemplified in the foundation-laying ceremony of this passage. God promises blessing to this community that has persevered and in a similar way to those of us who persevere in kingdom activity today.
We often live our lives as Christians as though our everyday activities have no significance in the overall redemptive plan of God for our world. In our postmodern world of short attention spans and split-second communication we have lost patience with perseverance. To a community in the initial steps of rebuilding the temple, God declares his blessing for their perseverance and reveals that such perseverance will ultimately bear fruit in the transformation of the cosmos. Do we as the church realize this? Have we grasped the truth that God’s plan is to work through us as his people to bring his rule and justice on earth? Do we live life with this confidence that as those who are the redeemed community in Christ we are invested with the authority of Christ to make disciples of all nations, bringing them into line with the demands of the sovereign Lord of the universe?
May God strengthen us to place kingdom activity in its proper perspective. The Israelite community in the Persian period was a community dwarfed by the power of the Persian empire, and today as we live in an increasingly secularized world, we may be tempted as the church to cower in submission, to live in fear. But we have even greater reasons to expect the cataclysmic upheaval of the cosmos, for the Zerubbabel who was to come has come and through his resurrection confirms the promise of old. Haggai calls us to embrace that cataclysm as our hope and to live faithfully until Zerubbabel’s greatest son, our Lord Jesus Christ, returns.