Isaiah 22:15-25 (KJV)
Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, 16What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? 17Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. 18He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. 19And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.
20And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: 21And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. 25In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it.
The nail fastened in a sure place
It is evident that in this text that something more than just the removal of a man from the treasurer position and the appointment of a replacement. It is clear to see that there is an eternal picture being painted in this portion of scripture. There is something that God is trying to show us that is deeper than the first read of the text.
I. I want you to take note of the seriousness with which God deals with the man Shebna. Look at the wording... 17Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. 18He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. 19And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.
Shebna the minister of the house is a perfect type of the old testament priesthood. The removal of Shebna the old testament priesthood.
A. v.16 God says to Shebna the minister of the house, Why do you try to make your ministry eternal.Isaiah 22:16 (KJV)
What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?
B. Your priesthood is not eternal.
• Problem with the old sacrifice.
• Could not cleanse the conscience. § Hebrews 9:9
• Could not perfect conscience. § Hebrews 9:9-10
• Could not perfect man. § Hebrews 9:9
• Could not remove sin or perfect man. § Hebrews 7:25-28; § Hebrews 9:1-10; § Hebrews 9:11-14; § Hebrews 10:1-18
• Gave no pleasure to God. § Hebrews 10:5-10
• Left a consciousness of sin. § Hebrews 10:3, cp. § Hebrews 10:1-4
• Purified only the flesh. § Hebrews 9:11-14
• Required a better sacrifice than the sacrifice made by man. § Hebrews 9:23-28
• Were only a shadow of things to come, not the image. § Hebrews 10:1-18, cp. § Hebrews 8:3-5
• Were only a type of Christ. § Hebrews 9:8-10, cp. § Hebrews 9:11-14; § Hebrews 9:23-28
• Were only made with hands-only figures of the true. § Hebrews 9:23-24
• Were only material sacrifices and ordinances. § Hebrews 9:10, cp. § Hebrews 9:1-10
• Were only patterns of heavenly things. § Hebrews 9:10, cp. § Hebrews 9:1-10; § Hebrews 9:23-28
• Were powerless. § Hebrews 9:25-26; § Hebrews 10:1-4
II. God says in your place I will establish an unchangeable priesthood. v.20-24;
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: [21] And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. [22] And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. [23] And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. [24] And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
What an awesome picture of Christ!
A. I will clothe him with thy robe!
1. the word robe is the Hebrew word yif-deh-yaw; it means Yah will liberate. Did you get that? God is saying I will raise up one who will be wrapped in the power to liberate. Jesus walked into the temple in Luke ch. 4 and said the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has annointed me to bring liberty to the captives. Jesus brought liberty everywhere he went!
B. I will strengthen him with thy girdle!
Jesus said the only power I have I have received from him who sent me, I am not walking or working in my own strength. Jesus said in John 6:38
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
The power of God Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Luke 4:18 (KJV)
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
C. The government is in his hands. I will give him the dominion. Jesus said, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth! Isaiah prophesied that the government of the world would rest on his Shoulder.
D. He shall be a father. Jesus said when you see me you see the father.
E. Isaiah 22:22 (KJV)
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
F. The house built around the nail! Isaiah 22:23
And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
Isaiah 22:24
And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
III. Isaiah 22:25 (KJV)
In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it.
It’s late at night in a small garden among a grove of olive trees just outside of Jerusalem. The fog is thick, the air is thick and the weight of the world is now resting on the shoulders of one man. Slumped over a rock that is now covered in blood, is the Son of God. Just a few yards away are the eleven that have come with him to this place of prayer. Suddenly the night air is lit with the torches of a thousand armed soldiers and religious men, led by Judas.
With the kiss of betrayal, Jesus is rushed off to judgment. All night long he is dragged from one place to another. He is beat with the cat of nine tails, platted with the crown of thorns, robed with a robe of mockery and at last condemned to die by the most violent punishment known to man. A cross beem is layed upon him and he begins the slow arduos journey to the place of the skull.
Crucifixion was preceded by scourging with thongs, to which were sometimes added nails, pieces of bone, etc., to heighten the pain, often so intense as to cause death. In our Lord’s case, however, this infliction seems neither to have been the legal scourging after sentence nor examination by torture (Acts 22:24) but rather a scourging before the sentence to excite pity and procure immunity from further punishment (Luke 23:22; John 19:1). The criminal carried his own cross, or a part of it, in which case another person was compelled to share the burden (Luke 23:26). The place of execution was outside the city (1 Kings 21:13; Acts 7:58; Hebrews 13:12); arriving there, the condemned was stripped of his clothes, which became the property of the soldiers (Matthew 27:35); and the cross having been previously erected, he was drawn up and made fast to it with cords or nails, although sometimes he was first fastened to the cross and then raised. The limbs of the victim were generally three or four feet from the earth. Before the nailing or binding took place a medicated cup was given out of kindness to confuse the senses and deaden the pangs of the sufferer (Proverbs 31:6), usually of "wine mixed with myrrh," because myrrh was soporific. The Lord refused it that His senses might be clear (Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23).
If the nailing was the most painful mode in the first instance, the other was more so in the end, for the sufferer was left to die of sheer exhaustion, and when simply bound with thongs, it might take days to accomplish the process. Instances are on record of persons surviving for nine days. Owing to the lingering character of this death our Lord was watched, according to custom, by a party of four soldiers (John 19:23), with their centurion (Matthew 27:54), to prevent His being taken down and resuscitated. Fracture of the legs was resorted to by the Jews to hasten death (John 19:31). This was done to the two thieves crucified with Jesus but not to Him, for the soldiers found that He was dead already (John 19:32-34). The unusual rapidity of the Lord’s death was due to the depth of His previous agonies or may be sufficiently accounted for simply from peculiarities of constitution. Pilate expressly satisfied himself as to the actual death by questioning the centurion (Mark 15:44). In most cases the body was allowed to rot on the cross by the action of the sun and rain or to be devoured by birds and beasts. Interment was generally, therefore, forbidden, but in consequence of Deut. 21:22-23 an exception was made in favor of the Jews (Matthew 27:58).
bibliography: J. Finegan, Light from the Ancient Past (1946), pp. 252, 292, 431; M. Hengel, Crucifixion in the Ancient World (1977).
Isaiah 22:25 (KJV)
In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the Lord hath spoken it.
But wait!
IV. His name is Eliakim.
Which means He will arise!On the third day, that great getting up morning, the cross couldn’t hold him, the grave couldn’t stop him and death wasn’t enough…He got up!
