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Isaiah 22 - God's Judgment Against Jerusalem and One Specific Guy · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Hello and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  Today we are in Isaiah chapter 22 and we've been looking at
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  some various prophecies that happened around like 757 hundred
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  BC. And as Isaiah is a preacher from
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  Yahweh, from the Lord and he has seen incredible wickedness that
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  is happening all around in the world around him, but especially
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  in his people in his nation in the southern Kingdom of Judah.
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  And so he now in chapter 22, after prophesying against all of
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  the surrounding nations and their wickedness, now he draws
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  his attention back to Judah itself, and he calls it the
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  Valley of vision. And we read this in chapter 22
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  and verse #1A pronouncement concerning the Valley of vision.
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  What's the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up to
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  the rooftops? The noisy city, the jubilant
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  town is filled with celebration. Your dad did not die by the
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  sword. They were not killed in battle.
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  All your rulers have fled together, captured without a
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  bow. All your fugitives were captured
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  together. They had fled far away.
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  So here there had been a deliverance that God had given
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  to Judah that had not come as a result of Judah's greatness, but
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  instead he came by the hand of God.
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  Some of the rulers fearing what could happen in the fight, they
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  ran away, but then they were captured as a result of them
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  fleeing. And so now the people are like
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  partying and celebrating as a result of this victory that was
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  won. But Isaiah is broken hearted
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  because they are celebrating when they should be repenting of
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  their sins and their evils. This is what he says in verse #4
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  Therefore I said, look away from me, let me weep bitterly.
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  Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear
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  people. For Adonai Yahweh of Heaven's
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  armies had a day of tumult, trampling and confusion in the
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  valley of vision, people shouting and crying to the
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  mountains. Elam took up a quiver with
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  Chariots and horsemen, and Kiir uncovered the shield.
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  So these are representatives from the Assyrian army.
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  Verse #7 Your best valleys were full of Chariots, and horsemen
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  were positioned at the city gates.
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  He removed the defenses of Judah on that day.
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  You look to the weapons in the House of the forest.
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  This was a large wooden building that house a lot of weaponry.
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  You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the
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  City of David. You collected water from the
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  lower pool. You counted the houses of
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  Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall.
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  You made a reservoir between the walls for the water of the
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  ancient pool, but you did not look to the one who made it or
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  consider the one who created it long ago.
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  So here within this fight, there is reliance on the old buildings
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  that they tore down some of them and took the stones and
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  everything to fortify up the wall.
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  That way there wouldn't be the cracks or the broken areas in
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  it. They were trying to make sure
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  that they had enough water. You can read about that at
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  length in Second Kings and the pool that Hezekiah found and all
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  of that. So they were really focused on
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  the physical. But here Isaiah says you didn't
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  look to the one who created Jerusalem.
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  You didn't consider the one who created it long ago.
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  They were so focused on fixing the physical problems that they
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  had no care for the spiritual problems that caused all of this
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  to occur. Can I ask you today, are you
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  aware that yes, we encounter physical things in our lives
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  that need working on? I can't just say, you know,
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  every morning when I get up, oh, I'm, I'm just going to consider
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  the Lord and I'm never going to shower.
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  I'm never going to put on new clothes.
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  I'm never going to eat food. That would be a quick and easy
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  way for me to die within, you know, week, two weeks.
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  I don't know how long you can last without water.
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  But if I had no care for the physical, I would die.
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  And that's not what God has for us.
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  We are not simply spiritual beings.
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  We are physical beings with a spirit, with a soul.
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  And so as a result, we need to care about both.
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  Yes, the physical, you know, fill in the wall, but hear what
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  God says is you didn't consider me as you were going through
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  this battle. And yes, God here in this moment
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  provided some victory, provided some safety for some of the
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  people, but he says you are missing out on the most
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  important aspect of your life, which is your relationship with
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  me. Can I encourage you as you are
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  getting ready for work, pray to the Lord, ask for Him to guide
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  you, ask for His direction. Ask for skill in what you do at
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  your job so that you can do it well, so that you can be a good
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  witness for the Lord even there within your workplace.
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  As you are maybe heading back home from work, pray over your
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  family, your spouse, your kids, your grandkids.
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  Pray over your neighbors and your interactions with them.
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  Don't allow the physical things to drown out the spiritual
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  reality, because at the end of the day, if you could only focus
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  on the spiritual or only focus on the physical, only focusing
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  on the spiritual, you would still live eternally.
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  If you just focus on the physical, you can lose out in so
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  much of your life. And this is what we read here.
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  Let me continue reading now in verses 12 through 14.
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  On that day, Yahweh Adonai of Heaven's armies called for
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  weeping, for wailing, for shaving heads and for the
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  wearing of sackcloth. But look, joy and gladness,
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  butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats,
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  eating of meat and drinking of wine and hearing quotations.
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  Let's eat and drink for tomorrow we die.
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  There's just this hedonism, this fatalism that says, well, we're
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  going to die, and so let's just party it up until we pass.
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  And Isaiah says in verse 14, Yahweh of heaven's armies has
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  directly revealed to me, this iniquity will not be wiped out
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  for you people as long as you live.
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  Yahweh had an eye of heaven's armies has spoken here.
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  What God tells Isaiah is what is broken in this people right now
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  with their sin. It is not going to go away while
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  they are within this land of promise.
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  They needed to go into exile with Babylon, and it was only
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  after that that eventually they would turn from their idolatry.
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  Now they had many other sins. You can look at, you know,
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  Matthew's Gospel all the way through the book of Acts, and
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  you can see the various ways in which Israel was still sinning.
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  They were still wicked. They were not perfect, but they
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  turn from some of these particular steps of wickedness
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  that they had been taking for hundreds of years.
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  And I think in my life and in yours of the times when God will
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  sometimes discipline us, He will correct us and it will feel as
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  though we are being punished or that part of us is being ripped
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  away. But that's not the way that God
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  views it. He says, I am looking after you
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  and I want to remove sin from your life.
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  And sometimes that's painful when we so tightly and so
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  closely hold sin to ourselves that to remove the sin feels
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  like we are losing ourselves. And hear God says in order for
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  Judah, in order for Israel to actually experience the life in
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  the future that I have for them, they have to go because they
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  will not change if everything stays the same as it is right
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  now. Can I ask, will you have that
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  prayer to the Lord to say God, even if it changes some of who I
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  am and how I feel and and how I interact?
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  God, I want to walk with you. So God, remove what you need to
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  remove, change what you need to change in me, switch up my
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  circumstances so that I will follow you more wholeheartedly.
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  So that's the prophecy against Judah and specifically against
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  Jerusalem. Then there's kind of an
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  interesting portion. I I mentioned this last episode,
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  then God has something to say about one particular person, one
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  particular ruler within Jerusalem during this time.
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  He says in verse #15 Yahweh out an eye of heaven's armies, said,
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  go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, and
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  say to him, What are you doing here?
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  Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here?
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  Carving your tomb on the height and cutting a resting place for
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  yourself out of rock? Look, you strong, wrong man.
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  Yahweh is about to shake you violently.
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  He will take hold of you, wind you up into a ball and sling you
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  into a wide land. There you will die, and there
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  your glorious Chariots will be a disgrace to the House of your
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  Lord. I will remove you from your
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  office. You will be ousted from your
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  position. So here there's this guy Shebna
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  in charge of the palace there in Jerusalem.
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  And during a time where there should have been like weeping,
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  sorrow, repentance, he instead is just building up this giant
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  gaudy location for him, for him to be buried.
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  And I wonder how many times we are simply focused on ourselves
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  when we should be focused on spiritual matters, when maybe we
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  should be the people that are repenting, that are guiding
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  others in, in prayer or in walking with the Lord.
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  And instead we're too busy having leisurely things, maybe
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  only worrying about our own finances and and things like
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  that. I don't want to be like Shebna.
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  I don't just want to focus on me.
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  I want to focus on what the Lord has and hear God says as a
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  result of your selfishness and self centeredness, I am going to
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  remove you from your position. And instead of being buried here
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  in this elaborate tomb that you've made in Jerusalem, I'm
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  going to he says, what's that in verse number 17?
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  He'll take hold of you, wind you up into a ball and sling you
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  into a wide land. The God here throws this
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  fastball and he says, Shebna, you are going to a different
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  place. You're not going to die here in
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  Jerusalem and be buried in extravagant honor.
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  Instead you are going to be a disgrace to those that know you.
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  Then verse #20 God doesn't just say here's what's going to
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  happen to Shebna. He says I have someone that is
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  going to take his place. He says on that day I will call
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  for my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah.
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  I want to be called a servant of God.
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  I want to be one that God would say this one is my servant and I
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  call on him to do the work that I have for him.
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  He says I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash
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  around him. I will hand your authority over
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  to him and he'll be like a father to the inhabitants of
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  Jerusalem and the House of Judah.
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  I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder
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  when he opens, no one can close. What he closes, no one can open.
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  So here like him is one that is going to be what Shebna should
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  have been. He's going to care for people,
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  going to be like a father to them.
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  He is going to take care of the House of David, which would be
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  the the kingly lineage that they're the kings are that
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  Shebna should have been caring for the king, but instead he was
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  only caring about himself. And so I love in verse #22 the
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  apostle John actually takes this quote about Eliakim, about this
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  one from the House of David. And he applies it ultimately to
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  Jesus. And that Jesus is the one who
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  opens the door of eternal life that no one can shut, and he
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  shuts the door of eternity that no one can open.
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  Verse #23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place.
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  He will be a throne of honor for his Father's family, unlike
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  Shebna, who would be a disgrace. Verse #24 They will hang on Him
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  all the glory of His father's family, the descendants in the
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  offshoots, all the small vessels, from bowls to every
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  kind of jar. On that day the declaration of
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  Yahweh of heaven's armies, the peg that was driven into a firm
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  place will give way, be cut off and fall, and the load on it
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  will be destroyed. Indeed, Yahweh has spoken.
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  So even with Eliakim being one that is God's servant, there was
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  still coming that judgement Day. And when that judgement Day
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  came, even Eliakim himself would fall that the greatness of the
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  House of David, it would undergo A transitory period.
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  And certainly we know Israel would not get its former glory
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  for many more years after that. And certainly from the House of
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  David, you have one guy at the end of the exile, and we can
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  read about that in, I forget if it's Haggai or Zechariah, I'll
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  look that up later. But you have one descendant of
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  David that's there that's kind of leading during that time.
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  But then ultimately, obviously Jesus is this one.
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  What to kind of take from this? Have humility, not pride.
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  Repent of our sins. Be spiritually aware of what is
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  happening. Care for your spiritual self
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  even as you do the physical tasks.
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  Pray to the Lord, Call on Him, Seek His guidance.
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  Seek to do what He wants you to do in His way and in His time.
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  Realize that it's not all about you and seek to be one that
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  would be known as a servant of the Lord doing what God has
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  called you to do because there is no greater purpose in your
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  life or in mine than to follow the Lord and to follow His way.
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  Thank you for tuning in today. And I'm looking forward to a
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  very closely here. We're going to get into what's
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  called Isaiah's little apocalypse.
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  And so we're going to see, as Isaiah describes, kind of the
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  end of this current age and what the Lord has planned, the
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  ultimate judgments that will come on humanity for their
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  wickedness, but then what God will do and how God will rescue
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  and restore what sin broke. Thanks for tuning in today.
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  Have a wonderful day.