God's Lament for Judah (Isaiah 22:1-25)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“1 The burden against the Valley of Vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops, 2 You who are full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous city? Your slain men are not slain with the sword, Nor dead in battle. 3 All your rulers have fled together; They are captured by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together; They have fled from afar. 4 Therefore I said, 'Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; Do not labor to comfort me Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.' 5 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord God of hosts In the Valley of Vision-- Breaking down the walls And of crying to the mountain. 6 Elam bore the quiver With chariots of men and horsemen, And Kir uncovered the shield. 7 It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys Shall be full of chariots, And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. 8 He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest; 9 You also saw the damage to the city of David, That it was great; And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. 10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, And the houses you broke down To fortify the wall. 11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the water of the old pool. But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago. 12 And in that day the Lord God of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth. 13 But instead, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine: 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!' 14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts, ‘Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you, Even to your death," says the Lord God of hosts. 15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts: 'Go, proceed to this steward, To Shebna, who is over the house, and say: 16 'What have you here, and whom have you here, That you have hewn a sepulcher here, As he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, Who carves a tomb for himself in a rock? 17 Indeed, the Lord will throw you away violently, O mighty man, And will surely seize you. 18 He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball Into a large country; There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots Shall be the shame of your master's house. 19 So I will drive you out of your office, And from your position he will pull you down. 20 'Then it shall be in that day, That I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah; 21 I will clothe him with your robe And strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem And to the house of Judah. 22 The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23 I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father's house. 24 'They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. 25 In that day,' says the Lord of hosts, 'the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the Lord has spoken.' ' ”
Introduction
We heard during the first headquarters 1st lecture about a deacon’s daughter who experienced demon possession. Rev. Kwang-Su Ryu went the deacon’s home to hold a worship service but there was so much distraction and commotion that prevented from this worship service from occurring peacefully. But they were able to finally finishing giving the worship service and prayed in the name of Jesus Christ. They gave a Bible to the daughter and told her to read some of the Biblical scriptures that were recommended to her to read. Rev. Ryu was a little disappointed because he expected works to arise and healing to take place after the worship service and prayer. But Rev. Ryu realized that, he prayed in the name of Jesus Christ so works will absolutely arise because God undoubtedly heard his prayers and the work of God will take place no matter. He thought that maybe, perhaps, works did arise so he gave a call to the parents of the daughter and the parents told him saying that their daughter’s condition has worsened. They asked pastor if they should take their daughter to the hospital but Rev. Ryu still felt assurance so he told the parents to wait. That night, the demon within their daughter completely departed and as the demon departed, it said, “I can’t stay in this body anymore because you spoke of the name of Jesus Christ.” This is a simple story but this is a very important message. When you pray in the name of Jesus Christ, this kind of work arose. If that is so, when you pray in the name of Jesus Christ, God will absolutely work. You must believe in this. When did the work start taking place? The moment you have faith that what you pray will be answered, then works will arise. When we pray but have no faith and just say words to God, then no works will arise. But the moment you pray with faith, then you will receive answers. This is a very important message that you need to hold onto. If you take today’s sermon as just words and as knowledge, then it will just remain as just knowledge to you. It is like you just reading a book, it is no different from that. I am sure your heart may be a moved by it but that will be it. But if you truly have faith and take the word as your own, then the works of the Holy Spirit will take place. When you hear the same message but how you receive it as your own, then that will determine everything. There is a drastic difference on how you receive the word of God. Depending on your faith, it will determine the great working of the Holy Spirit or not. Then, you will receive healing when you take the word of God with faith. May you receive a lot of grace today.
1. God's Lament
1) A warning about Judah
Verses 1-4 - The Valley of Vision refers to Jerusalem. Back in the day, the rooftops of people’s homes were flat, and people would go to the rooftops when something was occurring afar or they needed to have a better look. They heard the cries of Babylon as they were coming to attack Jerusalem so in order to see what was going on, they went on the rooftops. The old Jerusalem is referring to the time when King David and King Solomon reigned, and when the land of Israel was powerful. But this powerful nation was falling into a crisis when Babylon was raiding with the threat of war.
Verse 3 - Babylon was raiding Israel so all of the armies and soldiers of Israel were fleeing away in fear.
This realistically occurred and this event was recorded in Jeremiah 39:4 “So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the plain.” - The soldiers of Israel were supposed to attack and fight the Babylonians, but they ended up fleeing. God saw all of this.
Verse 4 - When you look at this verse, it is astounding. God said that He is weeping bitterly. As He was watching the suffering and destruction of His people, Israel, God was weeping bitterly. This was not talking about the Israelites who were going to die instantly and quietly but they were going to die a destructive death. God was weeping because God gave Israel so many warnings and opportunities, but they continued to fall into idolatry and didn’t seek after God in the end. We can see God’s heart here, “…Do not labor to comfort me…” God was saying that He didn’t want to hear any conforming words. As He was watching His people being destroyed, He didn’t want to hear any comforting words because nothing would comfort Him. The people whom He loved; they were falling destruction because they failed to rely on God.
2) A warning through Assyria
Verses 5-7 - This was not the first time of a warning that God gave because God gave Israel a warning when it came to regarding Assyria.
2 Kings 18:13, 15-16 “And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.” - The King of Assyria was attacking the land of Judah and he was coming for a second attack.
At that time in Verse 6 - Assyria did not just bring their soldiers but he bought neighboring nations as well to attack Judah. All of these vast numbers of armies were coming towards Judah to attack them but what happened at that time?
2 Kings 18:15-16 - King Hezekiah went before the king of Assyria and pleaded for mercy. The King of Assyria said that he will forgive King Hezekiah if he gave all of the gold of Judah and bought it before him. So, King Hezekiah stripes all of the gold off from the temple of God and took it before the king of Assyria. After the king of Assyria received all of the gold, he retreated back to Assyria. After this incident, King Hezekiah realized that he needed to raise up and build his army.
Verses 8-10 – This was what these Biblical scriptures were talking about. Not only that but in verses 9-10 it talked about how they were going to be build a reservoir to prepare for wars and protect themselves from their enemies.
2. God's Proclamation
1) Turning away from the God of Judah
Verse 11 - They started fortifying their walls to protect themselves from their enemies. Despite doing all of this, it was written in verse 11 - This message was referring to, what they failed to do was they failed to rely on God. God sent His one angel to destroy all of the 185,000 Assyrian army. When God did this, instead of giving thanksgiving to God and relying on God alone, they looked elsewhere. They didn’t have to fight at all because God completely destroyed the Assyrian army for them, but they did not give thanksgiving and glory to God. They did not thank God. God was so furious by this. God was asking them if they forgot what God has done for them. God worked for them, and they should have given thanksgiving and glory to God, but the Israelites did not have this heart at all. Despite all of this, God continued to show them the way to live once again. When I read this, I realized that God had so much patience towards His people. God continued to have patience for His people.
2) God's proclamation
Verses 12-14 - God proclaimed the way to live. God was telling them to way to have restoration and be successful, and the way to have all of this was to repent. God was telling them to tear off their hair, this means to completely depart from the life of idolatry and sin that they once lived. This was to show the shame of the life that they lived before God. God was telling them to put on the sackcloth. God was telling them to show and reveal their life as a sinner. God just wants one thing from you. God wants you to repent and to return back to Him. God doesn’t expect much from you. God wants you to just repent and return back to Him. But what was their response?
Verse 13 - God was pleading for them to return back to Him, or else they will die, and God said this, but the Israelites didn’t respond to God at all. This is such a flabbergasting event for God. They responded that they were going to die anyway so they only focused on partying and holding festivals. They didn’t care about their lives anymore and only focused on achieving their physical desires, so they turned to partying and holding festivals.
God spoke in verse 14. God told Isaiah that He will never forgive the Israelites again. God said that this was His decree and final proclamation. This was what caused the destruction of Israel.
3. The Vessel that God Seeks
1) Shebna and Eliakim
Verses 15-25 - This showed the main reason why Judah was destroyed. There was a royal steward who was a prime minister of Judah named Shebna. Shebna and Eliakim were prime ministers who served during the days of King Hezekiah. Shebna held the most amount of power after the king. What did Shebna end up doing?
Verse 16 - This message means that there was a cemetery where kings were buried but Shebna who was not a king, made a place of burial for himself in that cemetery. He was making a place that was considered higher that was above even King David and King Solomon. This shows that Shebna thought that he possessed power that was greater than all kings. After King Hezekiah died, King Manasseh became king when he was 12 years old. King Manasseh was 12 when he became king so he didn’t know anything, so Shebna started taking all of the authority and power. Since he held great power, he started taking advantage of all of the riches and power of the throne. What do you think King Manasseh learned from Shebna? Because of the wicked Shebna, King Manasseh became a wicked and corrupted king. He fell into idolatry and ended up killing his own son. This was the sin that he committed. Because of Shebna, the land of Judah became an idol worshiping nation. This was what made God furious.
Verses 17-18 - God was so furious that He tossed him like a ball. This was how furious God was. When God saw how corrupted and wicked Shebna was, God was so furious that he poured a great judgment upon Shebna and the land of Judah. God ended up bringing the King of Assyria to invade and destroy Judah. God also literally threw Shebna like a ball and destroyed him as well.
Verse 20 - God destroyed Shebna and bought forth Eliakim.
Verse 21 - King Manasseh was captured by his enemies but returned back to the land of Judah. Eliakim becomes an advisor to King Manasseh when he returned and when he returned, King Manasseh repents before God. God was so happy when Manasseh repented that God said that He will raise up Eliakim as the father of the inhabitants of Israel.
Verse 22 - God gave the keys that kings used to Eliakim.
2) Those who enjoy the keys of heaven
Matthew 16:16, 18 “Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” - We possess the key of heaven but we can see the key of heaven being used here in verse 22. After King Manasseh died, King Josiah rose to power at the age of 8 after King Amon was put to death by his conspirators. Who taught this king who was 8 years old? Do you think it was Manasseh? It was actually the lineage of Eliakim who taught him. The lineage of Eliakim continued to hold onto God’s covenant and taught the covenant of God to the king.
Verse 23 - The faith that Eliakim had, he relayed to that his descendants. After King Josiah became king, all of the idolatry within the land of Judah was destroyed and they lived a life to give glory to God alone. God was so happy.
Verse 24 - The land of Judah was doing everything for God’s glory, so God continued to pour down His great blessings upon the land of Judah and the descendants of Eliakim. May you receive this blessing. You already possess this key of heaven.
Verse 25 - The gospel gets cut off. The peg that was holding the corruption and sin of Israel fell out. This caused the gospel to start disappearing, so the entire land of Judah ended up falling apart as well. The blessing of Eliakim and the land of Israel that was once upon them, the land of Judah lost hold of it. God gave Israel the keys of heaven but the moment they lost hold of the gospel, they lost hold of all of the blessings. Who did God give the key to afterwards? It was given to Peter. We need to enjoy the blessing of the key of heaven.
Matthew 16:18 - How did Peter receive this blessing? He confessed that Jesus was the Christ. This rock was referring to the word of God.
John 8:31-32 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' ” - Those who remain in God’s word, then you are a true disciple of God.
John 8:32 - If we know the truth, then we can experience the great power and works of the Triune God.
It was written that the Gates of Hades will not overcome us in Matthew 16:16 and John 10:28 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” - If God holds a peg firmly into your heart, no one can take it away from you. Those who are within God’s covenant and His word, then you can enjoy the blessing of the heavenly throne.
Matthew 16:19 - What does this mean? John 14:14 “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” - If we hold onto God’s word and pray, then God will bestow great blessing and power of transcending time and space upon you. We will experience the same blessings and works that came upon Eliakim.
Conclusion
Isaiah 60:1 “Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.” - We who have received the key of heaven, what must we do? We need to shine the light. Just like how Isaiah shined the light of Christ, we must also do the same. May we enjoy this blessing in the name of Jesus Christ.
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