Well, we're coming back this
week to Isaiah and Isaiah chapter 22. Now, the last two weeks,
if you remember, we've been thinking from the New Testament from John
16 about the Holy Spirit convincing, convicting, convincing the world
Which world? Which world? The world? The whole
world without exception? No, the world of God's elect
people. The world of those that God so
loved that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That world
of the elect of God, a multitude which no man can number from
every tribe and tongue and kindred on this earth. everyone, the
world of God's elect, the Holy Spirit convicts, convinces this
world of God's elect of sin, that they are sinners, what it
is to be a sinner before a holy God, of righteousness, of the
righteousness that God requires, and the only place you can find
the righteousness that God requires in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
of judgment, of the fact that Satan is judged, judgment is
completed, that what happened at Calvary has judged Satan,
that he's disarmed, that he's left without any ammunition with
which to accuse the people of God, and therefore judgment is
completed for the elect of God, for the people of God. These
are the things that he convinces the people of God, those who
were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world,
that multitude that no man can number, This is what he convinces
them of. And it's the only way that natural
man, that flesh, flesh and blood, is enlightened regarding God. Yesterday morning I was listening
on the Today program on BBC Radio 4 and John Humphreys, the famous
presenter, who is a notorious interviewer, he is feared by
politicians because he is such an incisive questioner. of politicians. But he was debating with a young
Anglican vicar, priest, whatever he wants to call himself, about
religion. And it was just shared ignorance. It really was. It was nothing
other than shared ignorance. Because if you are to know the
truth of the living God, if you are to know the truth of salvation,
of eternal life, of who God is, The Holy Spirit must convict
you. The Holy Spirit must convince you. Blessed is that man who
knows these things. Blessed is that woman who has
been taught by the Spirit of the living God. And when he teaches
you and convicts you of sin and of righteousness and of judgment,
of course it produces a radical change. That's why becoming a
believer, changing from what you were to what you are as a
believer is called conversion. It's a radical change. It's a
turning around. It involves repentance. It involves
rethinking. It's a turning away from that
which you trusted before and a looking to Christ. Because
as Paul says to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man
be in Christ, are you in Christ? Am I in Christ? If you are, you
are a new creature, a new creature. Old things are passed away. The
things you used to rely on, the things you used to hang your
life upon, the things you used to depend on, they're passed
away. They're gone. They're of no use
to you. Behold, all things are become new. Not just what you
think about God and salvation, what you think about your fellow
men and women, what you think about your responsibilities,
what you think about truth and error, what you think about honesty
and justice and righteousness. All things are become new. Your
lifelong held dependencies that you did depend on are removed
and replaced with eternal dependency on God in Christ. You look at
this world, everybody around us, members of our family who
don't believe, people we come across day by day, neighbors
and so on and so forth, all depend on things in this life as we
once did. If you're a believer, you depended
on things and you come to a knowledge of the truth by Holy Spirit enlightenment
and your dependency is entirely upon God in Christ. Because the
Holy Spirit's purpose is to reveal Christ, is it not? That's his
purpose. You know, those that go on about,
oh, a spirit-filled life, I tell you, they know nothing of a spirit-filled
life. They know all about a false spirit
deluding them. But look, this is what Jesus
said the Holy Spirit would do. When I say Jesus, I mean the
man Jesus speaking to his disciples. He's the Lord of glory. But in
that context, when he spoke these words, he was the man Jesus,
that one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And he said this of the Holy Spirit, he said, he, the Holy
Spirit, shall glorify himself? No, he shall glorify me, for
he shall receive of mine things of Christ, and he shall show
it unto you. All things that the Father, God
the Father, has are mine." This is what this man said. All things
that God the Father has are mine. Can you imagine hearing the words
of a man, flesh and blood, looking like you and me, speaking these
words? He said, all things that the
God of this universe has belong to me. Therefore said I, that
he, the Holy Spirit, shall take of mine, and shall show it unto
you. And what is it that he shows?
The doctrines of the gospel of grace. The purpose of all scripture
is to reveal Christ to the elect of God. That's what it's for.
It's not to teach humanity how to live good lives. It is to
teach the elect of God the truth of the Christ of God, to reveal
him. Because Jesus said, To those
Pharisees, those Jews, he said, you search the Scriptures, for
in them you think you have eternal life. John 5, 39. He said, these
Scriptures are these that speak of me. What do the Scriptures
speak of? They speak of me. in Luke 24,
when he'd risen from the dead and he was with the disciples
on the Emmaus road, and they were in such sorrow, and he walked
along with them, and it says that he expounded to them in
all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. That's what
it is. The Scripture is about Christ. This is what we find in Isaiah
22, verses 15 to the end of the chapter. It's all about Christ. The context, the historical context,
is King Hezekiah in Judea, in Judah, Jerusalem, the surrounding
area. You know, the 10 tribes of the
northern part of Israel had gone off and were totally intermingled
with the Assyrians and Syrians and others. They'd become a mongrel
people. And in 2 Kings 18, you can read
all about it, but we won't turn to it now. The time of this was
the time when Sennacherib, the Assyrian ruler, came to besiege
Jerusalem. And I'm not talking fiction,
I've told you before, I'll tell you again if you want to know
about this. Go down to the British Museum in London, and there you
will see a great big section all about the doings of Sennacherib. And here he is in the scripture,
in 2 Kings 18, and it's the same time as Isaiah was writing Isaiah
22. Hezekiah was basically a good
king who was trying to bring reformation to Judah. The culture
had become sinful and corrupted and godless in its thinking and
its action. It had become unjust and corrupt
in every single way. You know, we know what we hear
about it all the time today, about corruption amongst ruling
classes who claim that they're going to do so much good for
the people, but you know what they do, they make sure that
they and their family and their friends are all right first,
and then if there's anything left over, a few crumbs might
drop from the table to feed them. Well, that society had become
utterly corrupt. It had ongoing godlessness, despite
Hezekiah trying to reform. He found the book of the law,
he had it read out, he was trying to make reformation. That was
the historical context. It was, I forget exactly, 700
or so years before Christ came. Is that why it's of interest
to us? Is it just for historical interest? You know, the BBC's
much better at doing historical documentaries than we are, so
we're not going to try and do a historical documentary. We
come and got the pictures. That's not its purpose. How about
some moral lessons? Can we get some moral lessons
from this? Well, certainly. We read about this scribe, this
treasurer, Shebna. who God was going to remove.
Shebna's sin brought calamity, not only on himself, but on all
around him. Oh, let's learn a moral lesson.
We can learn that whatever we do, the consequences will be
felt by others close to us. None of us are an isolated island. The things we do, a father gets
into crime and He's caught, and he's tried, and he's convicted,
and he goes to prison. Does it just affect the father
who goes to prison? No. The family, the children,
they're all affected. The things that we do, the consequences
are felt by others close to us. And you can apply that to every
realm of life. But that's not the main purpose
of this account. It's not going to teach us moral
lessons like that. We must look for Christ. You
know, it was said, I think Charles Spurgeons told the story about
we must find Christ in all the scriptures because he said, he
said, in every little village and hamlet in England is a sign
pointing to London. And so it is with every text
of scripture. It may be obscure, but you need to find the road
to get you to Christ in the scriptures. I've told you the account. I
grew up in a little village in South Cumbria in the north of
England. and there was a little hamlet
about two miles from where I lived and me and my friends, we used
to go on bike rides and we always used to be fascinated by this
little stone on the side of the... This was a couple of farms and
a couple of cottages in the rolling moors of West Yorkshire, South
Cumbria. and there was a stone by the
roadside that was hundreds of years, I don't know how old,
it must have been hundreds of years old, but carved in that
stone was an arrow pointing approximately southeast, saying 243 miles to
London, or something like that. Correct me if I'm wrong, if ever
you're visiting that area, go to Hutton Roof and see if that
stone's still there. Well, this is the point. It's just an illustration. In every little hamlet of a verse
in this book, you need to find the sign that points to Christ. We have a divine mandate. They
say, oh, you're over-spiritualizing. No, we are not. We have a divine
mandate to look for Christ and to apply his doctrine, his doctrine
of gracious salvation, of accomplishing the salvation of a multitude,
his elect. accomplishing it, so that the
justice of God is satisfied, so that God remains a just God,
and yet he saves his people from their sins. Now this Shebna,
Shebna in verse 15, this Shebna was the corrupt treasurer of
the household of God in the land of Judah, and the society depended
on him so much. everything about the temple worship
and the structure of the kingdom, and who was allowed to do this,
that, and the other, it depended so much on this Shevna. Now God
said, I'm going to remove him, and in his place, I'm going to
put a man called Eliakim. We see him there in verse 20.
Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. This one, Eliakim, is one upon
whom Judean society could depend. But the Holy Spirit's purpose
is not to teach us about social justice. It's rather to teach
us about Christ. So Eliakim pictures Christ. Eliakim, as described here, is
a picture of Christ. His name means, my God will raise
up. And he was raised up to be the
head of the Lord's house in the days of Hezekiah. So the man
of whom I was speaking just before, Jesus of Nazareth that man I
I'm not being irreverent when I say this because in his in
his Appearance as a man, when he laid aside his glory and came
as a man, those who set eyes upon him saw a man. They did
not see a man with a halo round his head, they saw a man, they
saw flesh and blood just like we are. Yet that man God raised
up to be head of all things for his church. You say, in what
respect did he raise him up to be head of all things? John 17,
do you remember we looked at those early verses the last couple
of weeks? God, he said, Jesus said, praying to his father,
has given him power to give eternal life to all whom the father had
given him. He has the power of eternal life. If you have eternal life, it's
because he has exercised the power that he has to give it
to you and he's glorified the father in so doing because the
glory of the father the greatest glory show me your glory said
moses this is my glory i will be gracious to whom i will be
gracious he's given him a name which is above every name says
philippians he's raised him says ephesians far above all principality
and has put all things under his feet. You see the position
of preeminence? In all things, Colossians 1.18
says, in all things that he might have the preeminence. This man
whom they set eyes on 2,000 years ago is the man whom God has raised
to preeminence. In that respect Eliakim is a
dim picture but nevertheless a clear picture. of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was raised up to replace Shebna. Shebna was to be removed by God,
and Eliakim was to be put in his place. And the society of
that day was to depend on Eliakim, just as the church, the household
of God, the kingdom of God, depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In
verse 22 it says, 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. Is that not speaking of
absolute sovereignty over all things to do with the church?
Now, does it remind you of a verse in Revelation? Revelation 3,
chapter 3, verse 7, one of the letters to the churches, this
is how the risen glorified Christ describes himself via John to
that church. He says, these things saith he
that is holy, he that is true. Now listen, look, compare with
verse 22. He that has the key of David. What's the key of David? It's
the key of the kingdom of God. David is symbolical of the kingdom
of God, the king of the kingdom of God, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He that, listen, he that openeth
and no man shutteth. If he opens a door, flesh cannot
shut it. And if he shuts a door, no man
can open it. It's true, you know, absolutely
true. Is it not exactly the same one? He describes Eliakim as
having the key of the house of David. That's exactly the description
of our Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation. Able to shut and no one can open,
able to open and no one can shut. The Holy Spirit takes a real
historical character and shows God's people the things that
concern Jesus Christ. He will take of mine and show
it to you. And here he shows us that Christ
before Christ can be set up in the hearts of his people, he
shows us that something, someone, must be removed. Before Eliakim
can be set up, Shibna must be removed. Verse 25. at the end
of it. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, he's speaking now of Shebna, shall the nail that is fastened
in the sure place, that's Shebna, you have to read the context
and you work it out from that, but that's Shebna, it shall be
removed and be cut down and fall and the burden that was upon
it, the things that were hanging off that nail on the wall shall
be cut off. Why? Because God has decreed
it. God has spoken it. God must remove
him so that he can fasten and set up Eliakim in his place. That verse 25 describes Shebna
as a nail fastened in a sure place. You know, you bang a nail
into the wall, or rather, better, you get a drill out and you drill
into the wall and you put a proper fixing in there and a proper
strong screw and it's amazing the weight that you can hang
upon it. Society, the Judean society, had hung itself from
that nail which was Shebna. They depended on him. The things
he said about the treasury, about the finances, about the economy. They depended on him. They relied
on him. They followed his leading. They
trusted him. They trusted the Shevna. But
if they're to depend on Eliakim, whom God's going to put there
because Shevna must be removed because of his sin and corruption,
He, Shebna, must be removed. God has said it. In verse 25,
God has said it. Shebna must be removed. And then
Eliakim can be fastened as a nail in a sure place. Look at verse
23. I will fasten him, that's Eliakim, as a nail in a sure
place, in place of Shebna, who he's going to remove. And he
shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. We've
been doing lots of work on the kitchen just round the corner,
and it's involved hanging wall, you know, kitchen cupboards.
They carry a lot of weight. Those cupboards, now that they're
loaded up with the plates and the pots and the dishes and all
the rest of it, I wouldn't like to try and lift one of those,
loaded as it is. I can just about lift one without
its doors and without its shelves to hang it on the wall. But do
you know something? you have to drill into the wall, and in
this house it's a house of bricks and mortar, and it's a 1930s
house of bricks and mortar, so the mortar tends to be very soft
lime mortar, and all of the holes that I was drilling to re-hang
the cabinets in the right place. My great fear, every time I got
the drill out, was that I was going to, when I burst through
the plaster, I was going to go into some soft mortar, and it
wouldn't be a sure place to put a wall fixing. And it's amazing,
but as it turned out, nearly every time I got a good solid
brick, right into a good solid brick, and a good big wall fixing
in it so that It goes in and it's got a good strong bracket,
and I tell you then, with confidence, you can hang a heavy weight off
that. If that comes down, it means the house has come down
with it. It's a strong, sure place for holding those loaded
kitchen cabinets. Now, if Eliakim pictures Christ,
the one upon whom God's people are brought by Holy Spirit to
depend, to hang their eternal souls on, The nails of this life
without God must first be removed. You know, we all hang on nails
in what we think is a sure place. You know, everybody, unless their
life is falling apart and they're having a nervous breakdown or
whatever it is, people going about their business in this
life, they hang their life on sure nails, as far as they see
it, on nails in sure places. It's what all their mates are
doing. It's what their family tradition has been. It's the
place of work that they work in and what it does for them.
You know, people hang their lives on these nails, as it were. The
Holy Spirit must come. and remove those nails if Christ
is going to be put in that place and your life is hung from him.
And how does the Holy Spirit come and remove those nails that
we once trusted in? It's what we were thinking about
in the last two weeks. He convicts, he convinces of
sin. of righteousness and of judgment. He comes and shows us that we
have no confidence in ourselves. He comes and shows us that we
have no righteousness with God in ourselves. He shows us that
judgment is accomplished for us without us working our way
to those things. He removes those things on which
we depended before, those things in which we had confidence. He
removes them that Christ might be set up as that nail in a sure
place. Even go right back to the beginning.
When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, fell from that
state of grace, what did they do? Do you remember the account?
They became aware in their sin of their nakedness. They were
naked, but they were unashamed before they sinned. And then
they became aware of their nakedness. And in their shame, They sewed
together fig leaves to try to cover that nakedness, to try
to hide that nakedness, thinking that God wouldn't see their sin.
God had to remove those fig leaves. That nail on which they were
relying and pinning their hopes, he had to remove it. And do you
know what he did? He covered them instead. with the skin of
a slain animal, which pictured Christ, whose blood was shed
for the sins of his people. Paul, who was Saul of Tarsus,
when he was a Pharisee, he tells us that he had relied on his
religious heritage. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews,
of the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, a Pharisee of
the Pharisees. When it comes to the law, as
the Pharisees judged one another, he said, hand on heart, he who
called himself the chief of sinners. But then, when he was a Pharisee,
he said, I was blameless. They couldn't bring a charge
against me. I was blameless. And all of that, he tells us
in Philippians 3, that nail on which he had been hanging his
confidence for his soul for eternity, he said, I counted it as done.
as utterly worthless, as absolutely vile worthlessness. What about
you and me? Have we got things on which we
are hanging our confidence for our souls for eternity? A personal
worth that we might have before God? The works that we do for
Him? The knowledge that we have? The
tradition that we come from? So many, you see, in religion
think that they're right with God. They trust in these things,
these false nails, these corrupt nails. Is that what we do? If
the Holy Spirit has convinced you, has convinced me of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment, you will see something, even
something of the worthlessness of the nails you relied on, of
the fact that they're not able to support the load. You'll discover
that they're as useful as finding a fixing in soft mortar. It's just going to pull out and
the cabinet won't stay in place. And you have to change it. You
have to flee from it, or else the result is calamity. Hebrews
6.18. that we might have strong consolation
who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. You see, seeing the worthlessness
of the nails of this worldly life on which we have hung our
confidence, We have strong consolation because we have fled for refuge
to a better place, to a stronger nail, to a nail that is able
to hold us. Have you realized that the nail
of worldly materialistic conformity to this society on which you've
hung all your hopes for this life is an unsure place? I mean
all of us. You know, we all have these traditions,
we all have these society values that we put so much dependency
upon. Do you not realize that they're
a nail in an unsure place? There's only one true nail, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. For God says, I will put him,
I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be
for a glorious throne to his Father's house. What does Paul
say? We are the true circumcision,
who worship God in the Spirit, who rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and We have no confidence in the flesh. Not what we are, not
what we're judged by others. We have no confidence in the
flesh. We flee for refuge to Eliakim. This society was told,
flee for refuge to Eliakim. I'm setting him up as a nail
in a sure place. You and me, flee to Christ. Flee from the wrath to come.
Flee to Christ. Let's compare a bit more Eliakim
with Christ. He was set up by God. It shall
come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim. This is God speaking by the prophet,
set up by God, called by God. Christ was called from before
eternity to come and he covenanted with the Father and with the
Spirit that he would come. and represent his people, and
be the substitute, and bear their sins on the cross of Calvary,
that justice might be established, that satisfaction might be made,
that they might be made the righteousness of God in him. And it says, and
I will clothe him, Eliakim, with thy robe, with the robe of the
position that Shevna had had before. I will clothe him with
that. 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. And so
he has with our Lord Jesus Christ, the one born in humility in a
stable in Bethlehem, whose bed was a cattle-feeding trough,
a manger, clothed with the robes of eternal office, strengthened
for the job that he had to do to come to save his people from
their sins, appointed governor and father in the kingdom of
God. Does that remind you of Isaiah 9 verse 6? For unto us
a child is born and unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Do you see how it's speaking of Christ In verse 22, the key
of the house of David is given to him. And so we've already
seen he was given power over all flesh that he should give
eternal life. It's in his gift. It's in his
gift that he would give eternal life to as many as the father
had given him. He controls the entry to eternal
life. You had better take heed. You'd
better listen to Psalm 2 verse 12, where it says, kiss the son. Kiss, come, come before him,
seek his favor, seek his mercy, lest he be angry and ye perish
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed
are they that put their trust in him, all of them, blessed. Verse 23, I will fasten him as
a nail in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne
to his father's house. fastened as that nail in the
sure place. You can hang what you like on
it, you can hang all the glory upon him. Verse 24, 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. Hang on him the glory
the glory of the kingdom of God, everything hanging upon him,
everything depending upon him. Why? Because he is ruler in the
house of God. He is redeemer in the house of
God, the one who has paid the price. He's the treasurer who
has paid the price. He's balanced the books. He is
the one you can depend upon. He is savior and his salvation
is certain. He's in a sure place. Why is
it certain? because it's accomplished redemption.
He's done it. He's finished it. Oh, my soul,
what should I trust in? Where should I look? Look to
him, for he's accomplished salvation. He's made satisfaction. We must
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Oh, that scares
me to death. No, it doesn't. It doesn't scare me in the slightest,
for I know that he has made satisfaction to the law of God and the justice
of God, and there is nothing owing, and there is nothing required,
and I know that my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and
he's going to say, come ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Satisfaction is completed. It's a sure place. It's unchangeable,
for he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It cannot
change. Our God cannot change. He cannot
change. He's the same. It's irreversible
for eternity. Why? Because, as 1 Corinthians
15.3 says, Christ died for our sins. according to the Scriptures. Everything this book said Christ
fulfilled when He died for our sins, the sins of His people
at the cross of Calvary. He whose name was Jesus, for
He shall save His people from their sins. He bore His people's
sins in His own body on the tree. He was made the sin of His people. And being made that sin of His
people, and His people being united in eternal marriage union
with Him. When He died, we died. His people died in Him. The law
was satisfied. There is nothing more to be done.
He, the substitute, our bridegroom, our high priest, our king, our
prophet, the one who speaks the words of truth to us, He died
for our sins according to the Scriptures. And that's why it's
certain, a sure place. in verse 24, all the vessels
of small quantity from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels
of flagons. Do you know all the vessels of
temple worship had some meaning in terms of typifying aspects
of how God is approached acceptably. And all those vessels are hanging
on this nail in a sure place. All those vessels which picture
ways in which Christ makes us acceptable to God are all hanging
on him, on the person and work of Christ. What's his person
and work? Our great God, who became flesh
as a man, the great God-man, who came and lived perfectly
under the law of God, that he might be seen to be a perfect
Passover sacrifice, and then going to the cross of Calvary
to answer the law's demand, The soul that sins, it shall die. And he was made the sin of his
people. And bearing that sin, he satisfied the law's demand.
And he was put to death for the sins of his people. And in dying
and shedding his lifeblood, he made satisfaction to the law
of God. So his salvation is the sure
place, the nail in the sure place, formulated in the covenant of
grace. This is a covenant sworn by the
persons of the Godhead, the one God who is manifested in three
persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And those persons covenanted
in the covenant of grace because they could swear by no greater.
They swore by himself. God swore by himself and formulated
this salvation in the covenant of grace and announced it in
the word of God, by the word of God, who is the word of God.
rooted it in heaven and in eternity. It's certain, it's a sure place.
And he is all the glory of his Father's house, which is why
it's the Holy Spirit's work to glorify Christ. He is all the
glory of his Father's house. Now let's apply this. Your life, my life, given by
God, whoever you are, is hanging from something. There's a nail
in a wall and it's hanging from something. The things you're
used to, the things you depend on, like most others around you,
you're hanging your life on something. But if that thing that you're
hanging from is a nail pictured by Schebner, in this account,
false, corrupt, not true. It is actually the things of
the kingdom of, not God, but of Antichrist, and of Satan,
and of the false prophet, and his beast. And it's a most unsure
place. But Christ has come and has defeated
Satan. He said in Matthew 12, 29 that
he would come and enter the strong man's house, the strong man being
Satan, and that he would bind the strong man. And having bound
the strong man, the house would be his and those in it would
be his. And this is what Christ has come and done. He has bound
Satan at Calvary. When Satan thought he had won,
he has bound. Satan at Calvary, and so Colossians
2.15 tells us that Christ, by his death on the cross, has spoiled
principalities and powers. It means he's routed them militarily.
He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it, like
the Roman emperors used to drag their prisoners through the streets
of Rome in shame. He's done that with Satan. God
has done this. Christ alone is the nail in a
sure place of accomplished eternal salvation. Will you seek Him? Will you trust your immortal
soul to His safekeeping? Will you hang your immortal soul's
hopes from that sure nail in that sure place? Will you hear
His voice calling you?