“… they came to Zerubbabel …” (Ezra 4:2, NKJV)
All processes through which the Bride is bringing into operation the networking and correspondence of rhema-words with one another, is in fact carrying out the corporate authority of Zerubbabel. If this is also true of you, you are functioning in the spirit or within the mantle of Zerubbabel. Everything we then now know of this historical Zerubbabel, should be understood within this overarching specificity of the mantle, which has as its main aim the rebuilding of Jerusalem. In the previous teaching we started describing this mantle of Zerubbabel, and highlighted six specific characteristics of it. We will now continue with the eight characteristic of this corporate mantle.
In Hag. 2:23 God proclaims the following: “‘In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the Lord, ‘and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
The signet ring carries a loaded meaning in Scripture, and speaks of deep-seated intimacy and a covenant of the heart, as Song of Solomon 8:6 makes clear: “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame.” Aside from the passionate flame of the most intimate love, which is here linked to the pressing oxymoron of death and the realm of the dead, it is also linked to the fire of transmutation of God’s character. In this symbol God’s bond with the Bride, to which He betroths Himself (Hos. 2:16), is represented.
One could rightly ask: Why does He specifically betroth Himself to the Bride?
The first instance where the term signet ring is found in Scripture, is in relation to a misdeed by the forefather Judah! In Gen. 38:18 we read that Judah had intercourse with his disguised daughter-in-law, Tamar, whom he thought was a prostitute. The first thing she then demands of him, is his signet ring: “So she said, ‘Your signet and cord, and your staff that is in your hand’”.
It is very interesting that Coniah, of whom we spoke earlier (Jer. 22:24), a king of Judah, is removed from God’s finger, as signet ring: “’As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off …’”
And that Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, then receives the symbolic signet ring. What are the spiritual implications of this? Why is the chosen Bride (here represented by Judah, as opposed to Israel, who represents the church) then cast to and fro, now accepted, then rejected? This leads us to an immensely important revelation.
- Selah: Ponder the implications.
- Read: 26-27; Prov. 12; Phil; Ps. 19.
- Memorise: 19:3-5.
