ROBERT@kontu.cc.utu.fi (Robert W. Johnson) (05/14/91)
Subj: Isaiah 22:15-29
"Thus says the Lord Jehovah of hosts: Get up, go to this
steward, to Shebna, who is over the king's house, saying,
What are you doing here and whom do you have here?...
(Isaiah 22:15-16a)
"And I will drive you from your position, and from your
standing He will pull you down.
And in that day I will call to My Servant Eliakim the son
of Hilkiah,
And I will clothe him with your tunic, and I will strengthen
him with your girding sash, and I will put your dominion into
his hand; and he will become a father to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
And I will set the key of the house of David upon his shoulder
-- when he opens, no one will shut; when he shuts, no one will
open.
And I will drive him as a peg into a sure place, and he will
become a throne of glory for his father's house.
And they will hang upon him all the glory of his father's house,
the offspring and the issue, all the smallest vessels, from the
bowls to all the jars.
In that day, declares Jehovah of hosts, the peg driven into the
sure place will be removed, even cut away, and it will fall;
and the burden that was upon it will be cut down; for Jehovah
has spoken.
(Isaiah 22:15-25, Recovery Version)
Isaiah chapters 13-23 covers the judgment of Jehovah upon the nations and
its issue. The key to this section of Isaiah is God's "firing" and Christ's
replacing. In His judgment God discharged, or "fired," everyone. All the
kings of the nations, including the kings of Babylon and Assyria, were
raised up by God. He appointed them, or hired them, and eventually He also
fired them. They were appointed by Him, but they proved to be unqualified
because they made many mistakes. Eventually, God fired them. God not only
fired the nations (the Lord considered Israel the same as the nations
because Judaism had become so utterly degraded around the year 700 B.C.),
but He also fired Shebna, a steward in the house of the king (Isaiah
22:15), and replaced him with Eliakim, a type of Christ (vv. 20-24;
Revelation 3:7). God also fired all the bowls and jars (v. 25). This is a
picture showing us that in the entire universe everything in God's house
and outside God's house needs to be fired and replaced by Christ. The
nations, the old steward, and all the bowls and jars in the king's house
needed to be replaced. God replaced all of them with Immanuel. He replaced
everyone and everything with Christ. This is the reason that Christ is
unveiled as a Father, a Steward, the Lord sitting on the throne of glory,
and a peg (a nail) driven into the wall, on which to hang all the things
that belong to God for His people to enjoy Him. Whatever or whoever is not
Christ, God fires. In Isaiah, all of God's chastising and judging is a
firing.
As Christians, we all have been fired by God. He fired us on the cross.
Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." God fired everyone on the
cross, and He is replacing everyone with Christ.
After God's firing and replacing of everyone and everything with Christ,
there is first the restoration for the kingdom, and then the restoration
for the new heaven and the new earth for the New Jerusalem. That will be
the real church life. The real church life is a life in which all the
saints are fired and replaced with Christ. This will make Christ everything
in the church.
-----
Robert W. Johnson
Computer center, The University of Turku, Turku Finland
robert@kontu.utu.fi (InterNet)
robert@firien.bitnet (BITNET)
The preceeding is my opinion and may not express the opinion of my employer
and furthermore has nothing to do with my employment.