(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, before I get into Isaiah 22, I actually just want to make one more announcement just in regards to, you know, I think there's a lot of people not here tonight, especially because there is sickness going around. So that's definitely happening, there's a lot of people I know personally, just inside and outside of church, that there's just, there's a lot of stuff going on. So we want to make sure we're, you know, we're doing our best not to spread disease any extra than already is going on. And I want to make this point, too, because, you know, brother Steven and Megan, their son has, you know, has been having seizures lately, and that's a result where, like, there's this fast onset of fever that causes him to have seizure. And the problem is now, like, they think it's going to be short-term, hopefully he's going to outgrow it, but there's a lot of things they don't know, and there's, you know, doctors don't know oftentimes as much as people like to think that they know, or sometimes people like to, you know, doctors themselves think they know. But anyhow, they're not certain on all the causes of this, but they do want to come to church and they want to be in here, and that's one of the reasons why they haven't been here in a while, is because of that concern for their child that, you know, obviously it's not good to just be having seizures, and the longer you have them it can cause problems, brain damage, possibly even death, right? So I'm going into all of this because we do have at least one family in this church that is impacted by, you know, if their child were to get sick, that it could be very significant for them, so they have to deal with that, so we all want to just have consideration for others anyways, but obviously if you're thinking, like, you know what, you're perfectly healthy, you're fine, I just think of this, like, you know, if I get a little sick, I don't really care that much, not that big of a deal, but we do want to be considerate for other people, because not everyone's in the same exact situation, and we want to just be cognizant of that, you know, I'm not talking about everything that's going on here with, you know, the craziness of COVID, I just mean in general, like, with any sickness, we should be thoughtful and considerate to others, and that's the way I like to see things here, and I think everyone's already done a good job of making sure you stay home, and look, we're doing the live stream, you know, that's up, that's always available, not that that's just some perfect substitute for church, but you know what, it's great to have that option, if you're ill, you can still, you can still kind of be part of things a little bit here, and be able to do that, so I just wanted to bring that up, because I don't know if everyone's even aware of what's, you know, what their family, what's going on, and why they haven't been around very much lately, and stuff like that, because that is a big deal for the family, and just try to put yourself in their shoes, if you had to deal with something like that, it's not an easy thing to deal with, so I just appreciate everybody kind of thinking about those things, being aware of those, all right, let's get into Isaiah 22. Start off in verse number one, the burden of the valley of vision, what aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the house tops now, the valley of vision, I just was teaching this last week, how, you know, if there's things you don't quite understand, you can sort of look around in Scripture for other places, where else does it talk about this, you say, well, what is the valley of vision? Well, unfortunately, the valley of vision isn't mentioned anywhere else in Scripture, but right here, but when you read the context of the whole chapter here, as we're going to get into it verse by verse, it's going to be very clear that this is talking about judgment that's coming on God's people, this is referring to the siege that's going to be coming upon Jerusalem before they're being carried away captive, so this is, and this all ties into kind of the general preaching of Isaiah, of all of this warning, and the doom and gloom, and the prophesying of God's judgment coming upon all these different lands, and I think the reason why it's using the term the valley of vision is because in Jerusalem is a place where the prophets are, and by and large, are coming out of, and God is using those people, and he's sending his prophets there, and what does a prophet have? They have a vision, right? They have, he gives them some type of a vision to be able to tell others, Isaiah had a vision, there he was, a lot of his prophecies, these are visions where he's explaining God's Word, and preaching God's Word, so the valley of vision is going to be that valley where the preaching is coming forth from God's people, and that, I think it's that simple of an explanation of what the valley of vision is. Again, I'm not gonna be just super dogmatic about that, if you think it's something else, great, but there's not very many places that you can turn to to try to figure out what this is, what this specifically is talking about, but like I said, in the context, we're gonna see that this is referring to God's people, and we're gonna see that in just a couple verses here, let's keep reading. What aileth thee now that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops, and one other thing I just want to point out, just as with many other passages in Isaiah, there's a lot of, especially in this passage, it's very, I'm gonna call it subtle or nuanced, references to end times events, like there's just, it's really interesting, and it makes perfect sense, first of all, when we're talking about God's judgments, we know there's a judgment to come, so seeing different characteristics of different words and different things that would be associated with judgment is, it makes sense you're gonna see some connections there with a judgment to come, because there's judgments going on, right? So it's, that's one of the reasons why it makes perfect sense to see this stuff, but even here, you know, you think of the passage in, where is it, where Jesus is warning, you know, basically not to return, to get down from the housetops and to flee, basically, when judgment is coming, to not return again to the housetops, right? That's the, that's the passage, and one of the things I think this isn't, because that's, that's the warning to God's people, that when, you know, the Antichrist is coming to power, and there's war against the Saints, he's like, don't return to the housetops again, just go, like flee, right? It's time to go. Judgment's coming, you got to go, that's kind of your last warning, but these people are going back up to the housetops, and this is what the problem is, and we're going to see this throughout the whole passage, their mind is not right, it's not in the right place, they're not focused on the spiritual things, they're not receiving the warnings from God, they're just going about their business in, in their kind of God-forsaking way, and not giving any, any heed to God's Word, and just doing their own things, and the cares of this world have choked these people out, and that's one of the reasons why judgment's coming upon them, but we're going to see that that's the case as we get through this, you're going to find this is kind of a theme over and over again, these, these details about the people, that this is what they're about, so instead of not returning to the housetops, which is, you know, the phrase that we see in a judgment to come, in this situation, they're saying, well, they're going, they're going up to the housetops, thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city, thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle, all thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers, all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far, so it's talking about people being slain, it says, thy slain, they're slain men, but they're not dead, they're not slain with the sword, they're not dead in battle, the men of the city, they're not going to go out and fight, they're not fighting in the battle, they're dying other ways, which is another thing, you know, they're not, they're not fighters at all, they're going to end up going into captivity, they're going to be taken away, and they're going to be judged, but look at verse number four, the Bible says, therefore said I, look away from me, I will weep bitterly, now this is, this is now from Isaiah's perspective, he's the one who's having his vision, he's the one preaching the Word of God here, but then he's saying, well don't look at me, because I'm weeping bitterly, and this is because of Isaiah's heart for the people, right, he sees this great destruction coming, he sees what's going to happen, he just sees the stuff, and it's too much for him to the point to where he's going to weep, and not just weep, but weep bitterly, that's a, that's a very, I want to say almost like an uncontrollable weeping, right, when if you're weeping bitterly, it's, it's just a really lamenting type of a weeping, not just shedding a tear, but like, you know, really involved with, with the weeping, that bitter weeping, and you know, to the point to where you might be embarrassed, it's always saying like, look away from me, don't even look at me, right, men, men don't want to be looked at if you're brought to a point of tears, right, you kind of get embarrassed, you don't want, men don't want to see, have people see them crying, and especially if you're at a point where you're just weeping bitterly, that's why I say, you know, don't look at me, look away from me, I'm gonna weep bitterly, labor not to come for me, like don't even bother to come and console me, just, just stay away, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people, so this is a big indicator that when it says the valley of vision, it's talking about Jerusalem, it's talking about the spoiling of the daughter of my people, because now the people he's referring to here, this is, this is his people, this is Isaiah's people, these are, these are his people in Jerusalem that are, that are going to be suffering this, which is why he's weeping over this, verse five says, for it is a day of trouble, and again, that's language is very similar to what we were reading about the day of the Lord, now this doesn't mention the day of the Lord specifically, I'm just saying there's some, there's a lot of subtle references to that event, because there's judgment coming, so this is saying, it's a day of trouble, and of treading down, or breaking down, of perplexity, perplexity is like confusion, by the Lord of hosts, by the Lord God of hosts, excuse me, in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains, and again that, that crying to the mountains just makes me think of when, when men are gonna, their hearts are gonna be failing them for fear, and they'll be crying under the, you know, going into the dens and the caves, and crying under the rocks, you'll fall on us, and hide us from the face of the land, that's what that reminds me of, the same type of language, why? Because judgment is coming from God, now we know for a fact, judgment is coming of God, here in that time, this has already happened in history, when they were taken captive, and when Jerusalem was besieged, and everything else, we know that happened, but also there's a lot of foreshadowing of the future events as well, and we're gonna see, especially as we get into the second half of this, of this chapter, all of the symbolism just of Christ, and of events to come, and how really prophetic this book is, and how amazing, you know, every time I see this stuff, it blows me away of how amazing the Word of God is, and how applicable it is, I mean, just think about how long ago the book of Isaiah was written, think about how long ago this was relevant to the people at that time, right? With Babylon coming, and the Assyrians coming, and you know, these different people, these different nations coming, and these threats of wars, and then this judgment being preached, and that was all very relevant at the time, because there's all of this stuff happened in that relatively short period of time, but then on top of that, to have the application for generations to come, and hundreds of years to come, and to fit so perfectly, and you know, I'm kind of getting ahead of myself, but you'll see it, you probably already said we reread this chapter, but maybe you read over some of that, there's so much symbolism here to what happens with Jesus Christ, it just, it's mind-boggling, and kind of blows me away that how awesome the Word of God is, to have this, just these things written so far in advance, and in such a way as well, to where it's not just a blueprint to say, oh, if we want to make sure this happens, we could take it on ourselves and do this. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, like people want to say, oh, it's, it's, the prophecies are fulfilled because, you know, someone just made that happen after the fact. You write something down in advance, someone could just go later and just say, okay, well, I'm gonna fulfill this prophecy, right? But the way that this is written, this isn't something that you're going to look to, and then all the events that transpired around Christ's death, and especially by people who weren't trying to prove the Bible true, or weren't trying to, to make prophecies come true, whether it be the, the Christ-rejecting Jews, the Pharisees, they rejected Christ as being a prophet or a Messiah or anything like that, so they would not want to be fulfilling these scriptures at all, because that would just tend to point to Christ being the Messiah, but rather this all being of God and true, but that's exactly the opposite of what they wanted, and the Roman government, what would they care, and they have no benefit or anything, and Jesus, they didn't, they didn't have one, one way or the other on caring about Jesus Christ or fulfilling the Word of God in the Holy Bible, you know, they're busy worshipping all their false gods. They didn't, they wouldn't care about trying to do anything to prop up and fulfill prophecy, so again, we're gonna get into that in a little bit, and you'll see what I'm talking about, how, just how it's all worded here, but then these words just being thrown out, they're like, wow, that's amazing. The, the way that Christ, the crucifixion, the nails, the hanging, these are all words we're gonna see later on that are used, in a figure of Christ, but again, I don't want to get so far ahead of myself, we'll cover that in just a minute. Verse number six, the Bible says, and Elam bear the quiver with chariots of men, and horsemen, and cur uncovered the shield, and it shall come to pass that thy choicest valley shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. So this is talking about Jerusalem being surrounded, right, and their best valleys, the choicest valleys, they're gonna be full of soldiers, they're gonna be full of horses, they're gonna be full of people now surrounding their city, and, and locking them in, and that's what you do in a siege, is that's a way of battle where, instead of going in and trying to just break through the walls and have this fight, and you know, you're gonna have deaths on both sides, to try to overcome them that way, what they would do is just surround the city, and basically just starve them out. So the, the, the hosts that would come, the armies that would come and surround the city, they've got a supply chain going, right, so their soldiers, they're being fed, they're, they would use resources that are outside, so their best valleys, they're gonna use to their advantage, they're gonna try to use the land, use the resources locally, the water, everything that's around there, as well as having a supply chain, being able to come to feed them, while the city that's there, they're not letting anyone come in or out, right, so I mean, just imagine if we, you know, it's not like this here, but if we had walls around any local city, around Norcross, around Lilburn, around Lawrenceville, whatever, and, and like, you know, your, your stores weren't able to stock the shelves, right, and all you had to, to be able to stock the shelves because of the city, is maybe what, like, people were growing in their garden, in their backyard, or so, you know, like, that, that's like the most that you have, but even worse, you know, the, the access to water, the access to, to a lot of things that can be shut off from the outside, right, like, oh, you've got this river coming in through your city, well, the troops can work to dam that up, and that's what they would do, they would, they would cut off any resources that they had access to, to be able to turn that off from, from going into the city, to starve them out, to basically get them to the point where they're going to say, okay, we're all just going to die in here now, and it becomes, it becomes this waiting game, and that's, that's what they're doing with the siege, and, and I'm not going to get too far into that, the chapter doesn't get into that heavily, but this is what we see is being described here, with the Choices Valley being full of chariots and horsemen setting themselves in a ray at the gate, they're just basically standing guard right outside, waiting to, to get in. Verse eight, and he discovered the covering of Judah, and doubted to look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest. Now, I think that this is a reference, the house of the forest, and the armor of the house of the forest is referring to that, the, the house that Solomon built in the forest of Lebanon, if you remember, he built the golden shields, and that's where he placed them, was like 300 golden shields, if I'm remembering correctly, up in that forest of the Babylon, and, and the Babylon, Lebanon, and because they're having these enemies coming against them, that's what they're going to be looking to for their defense, and as you're going to see, we'll go through this, they're never looking to God, so they're looking to, oh, we have this structure, oh, we have this fortification, oh, we have, you know, but you're not looking to the right places for your defense, for your, for your protection. Verse nine, excuse me, yeah, that's right, verse nine, you have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many, and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool, and you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have you broken down to fortify the wall, excuse me, I'm going to get to the waters of the lower pool in a little bit, but I, I think that this is, that, well, this, this is the event that's coming, I don't think this is the, the Babylonian, because I think this is going to happen during the time of Hezekiah, and that's when the Assyrians come and besiege the city, because that happens first, and then God does defend them, and God does bring judgment, and that's because of the words that were, that were spoken to them, and if you remember, this is when, when Rabshiki comes, and they're, they're on the, on the house, like there's the people watching from the walls, and he says, you know, who are, who is the Lord? And, you know, don't you know that, that, you know, we've already just, we've already defeated all these other lands, and the gods of Sefer Vam, the gods of Arphad, and the, you know, these, they weren't able to save them, so why do you think you're going to trust in the Lord, right? And then, and then they go to God, going like, God, you know, Isaiah goes to God, and is like, you know, are you gonna take that from him, Lord? Will you, will you defend us for your namesake, and show that there is a God in Israel, that there is, you know, the Lord is the true God, and, and he does, and he does that for his namesake, but the people by and large are still not godly, like, and here's the thing, Hezekiah is known as a godly ruler, and Hezekiah did a lot of great things for the Lord, but one of the things that we're going to see that's negative in this chapter, is going to highlight one of the problems that Hezekiah also had, that, that he was not perfect, and even though he went down in history as a good king, there's a lot of people that are lacking the proper vision, and that's why I think it's fitting, it starts off the valley of vision, vision of the future, vision of a true godly vision, instead of just the here and now, and we're going to see that they're focused on just immediate needs, and even Hezekiah himself, we're going to get to that in a little bit, but before we get there, I want to point out one more thing about this passage we just read, is that it says, they gathered together the waters of the lower pool, and you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have you broken down to fortify the wall, so they're in this state now because there's breaches, there's holes, there's gaps in their wall and their defenses, so what they're doing is they're breaking down their own houses inside the wall in order to support and protect that, that outside wall, and again, what are they looking to for their defense, they're looking to all this physical stuff, and you have to ask yourself, and there's a reason why this is put in scripture here, you know, if you're so focused on building this wall and building this structure outside to protect yourself at the expense of what's on the inside, what are you even protecting anymore? You know what I'm saying? Like, if I were to build a fence around my house to protect my house, what's the point of pulling all the lumber off of my house to start building this fence? Like, what's more important, the house or the fence? You know what I'm saying? What's more important here? Now, obviously, they have their own lives within here. There is still some level of this where this would make sense, but I think the reason it is in here is to show us, you know, at least symbolically, that we shouldn't be so focused on the exterior and what's on the outside, and especially when it comes at the expense of what's on the inside, and when it comes to the things of God and when it comes to your own life and spiritual life and things like that, you know, the outside matters. I think it was a good idea to have a wall. God told the children of Israel to build a wall. It was right for them to do it, but, you know, what's more important is what's on the inside. When they went back into Jerusalem, they were commanded to rebuild the temple, right? But they didn't rebuild the wall first. They rebuilt the wall after they rebuilt the temple. Why? Because the temple is more important to build. If you're going to build a house, you're going to build a house first, and then you're going to build your fencing around the house. You're not going to build the fencing first and then go in and build the house. You're going to build what's most important first, and if you apply this, then take it away from the physical sense and look at it spiritually, you know, God cares more about your heart and where you're at inside in your relationship with Him and your desire and your zeal to serve Him, to please Him, and to do things according to Him than He is about maybe some of the external things, your external appearance. Now, both are important. Both are important. The Bible gives us commands and laws about how we should look in our outward appearance, and we cover that and have reach about that stuff, but that's not the most important thing. If you have a wicked heart that despises the things of God, but your outside is looking good, that's way worse than someone whose outside isn't looking that good, who maybe isn't following as many of the rules and the things on their external appearance, but their heart is right and they want to serve God and they love God and they want to do the things of God, that's way more valuable and way more precious in the sight of God is how you are on the inside. And we need to be focused and minded on those things having the priority, because here's the thing, when you're focused on the inside, it'll end up taking care of the outside. It'll eventually work its way out. And if all you care about is the facade in the front, you know what, that's going to break down anyways. That's only going to last so long. Because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and then that front that you have, whatever you build up to look for show on the outside is going to be meaningless anyways. So we should take heed to even just this verse here that God puts in here, you know, they've numbered the houses of Jerusalem and the houses you've broken down to fortify the wall. And had they just been trusting in the Lord, He would have been their defense. They wouldn't have had to break down their houses, they could have been dwelling there with God as their shield and God as their defense. Verse 11, ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof. And this is where he's just calling them out, just point blank, just spelling out for them, look, you made this ditch, again, this physical protection, and you ran this water this way, and you did this with the old pool, but you've not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago. You're rerouting this water and making it go this way instead of that way, well who put the water there in the first place? Who made that river? Who made that land? You're completely disregarding God in heaven above in all of your efforts to fix this problem. Well, they're not looking to the real problem. The real problem is in their hearts. The real problem is they're willing to tear down everything on the inside just for a little bit of temporary protection or whatever, and just ignoring and forsaking the long term, the long game. Verse number 12, and in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth. See, God is bringing this judgment on them, and He's planning this, and they're preaching on this. Isaiah's preaching this to them. Why? Because God wants them to be humble. God wants them to repent. God wants them to get right. God wants them to see the error of their way, and the way that they would do that is say, oh man, how did we get to this point? We're breaking down our houses. We're just focused on just trying to keep these walls up. You know, there's this siege. We're doing poorly. We're going to be destroyed. We're sorry, God. That's what God wanted to get out of them, but what did they do? Verse 13, and behold, joy and gladness. Slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. That was their attitude. What a horrible attitude to have. You're saying, oh, well, I mean, it looks like we're going to die anyways. It's just a matter of time. Let's just go ahead and slay and eat and throw a big party and get drunk, and let's just do all this, because why not? I mean, we're going to die anyways. We might as well go out with a bang. You know what this philosophy is in modern terms? It's better to burn out than fade away. That's the rock slogan of the 60s. I think it came from the 60s and 70s, that type of a mindset of the rebellious rock and roll hippie rebellion type of movement that just says, you know what? I'm just going to live it up and live life fast and live life hard, and I'm going to do the drugs and party and sleep around and do all this stuff, and I don't care if I die at a young age, because it's better just to burn out in a blaze of glory than just to fade away in old life. And that is a foolish, foolish, foolish way of thinking, giving no thought for the morrow at all. And I'm not talking about the things, you know, where God saw me. I'm going to take no thought for the morrow of what should I eat and what should I drink. It's taking no thought for the next generation, for other people. What damage is this going to do to anyone else? It's a self-centered lifestyle that just says, well, I'm just going to please me, me, me, me, me and just take everything that I can and then just die, and so what? What a miserable existence. What a miserable philosophy, way of thinking, way of life. And it is miserable. That's why the people that live that way aren't happy. That's why they're on drugs. That's why they're, you know, having all these divorces and everything else, just nothing being stable in their life. And I know what it's like. Before I was saved and when I was real worldly, I looked up to the to the rock stars. The 27 Club, I thought that was cool. The Kurt Cobain's and Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix and all these stars and all these rock stars that died at the age of 27. 27 is young. And I guarantee you right now, they are not satisfied with the choices that they made at all, where they are. Foolish, foolish, foolish. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall die. This is actually also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15 because this is the mindset that you have if you don't have God. If you don't have any faith in the Lord or if you're an atheist or whatever, like what else is there? And this is what the Apostle Paul said. 1 Corinthians 15 32, you have to turn there. He says, if after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it me if the dead rise not? So this is where he's talking about the resurrection. Instead of you saying, hey, if Christ didn't rise from the dead, then we're yet in our sins, right? Then what's the point? I mean, if Jesus didn't rise again from the dead, then he didn't pay for our sins. He's not a risen Savior. He's not someone that can save me. He's dead. What good is that going to do me? Then I might as well, like he says here, if the dead rise up, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Then what's the point? Why am I hazarding my life? Why am I dealing with these beasts at Ephesus and dealing with these people and putting myself in danger if all that's going to happen, if the dead don't even rise, if there's no afterlife, if there's no hope of a resurrection, then I might just as well try to get as much satisfaction as I can here on this earth. But man, what a miserable existence. But see, this is exactly why as Christians we should never live that way and never have this mindset because we know that there is a hope of a resurrection because we know and we put our trust and our faith in a risen Savior. We know the resurrection is true. We know that there's a day of Christ coming. We know that there's a judgment seat of Christ coming. We know that God's going to give out rewards. We know that God is going to bless us for doing what's right. And on top of that, we also know that just trying to live a life of so-called pleasure isn't really pleasurable. And even if you haven't experienced that, you don't have to because the Bible teaches that. Getting intoxicated, getting drunk, Bible talks a lot about that. Read Proverbs 23. It'll tell you how fun that is. But this is the exact attitude that the children of Israel had. Even when all these things are happening to them, they're just going, well, just live it up now. Who cares? Turn, if you would, to 2 Kings chapter 20. We're going to see how this attitude actually also was, Hezekiah had this type of an attitude as well. That's why I think it permeated the people a lot, even to the point where even someone who was considered a godly man or a godly king, he was also impacted by this philosophy and this mindset of their world, of their culture at that time, that this influenced him as well. Not to the same extreme as I think most of the people, but we're going to see it in this story here that he also had a similar mindset to this, and he didn't have the proper vision of the future. People here didn't have a proper vision of the future because they're saying, hey, well, who cares? Tomorrow we're going to die. And what's going to happen then? Right? That's what you really need to care about. What's going to happen then? What's going to happen when you step into eternity? Valley of vision. Verse number 12 in 2 Kings chapter 20, the Bible says, at that time, Barad-dach-balladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. This is right after the events when Hezekiah, he was sick, he was dying to death, and God even said, you know what, you're going to die. And what did Hezekiah do? He pleaded, he begged God, God, can you just please heal me, give me some more time, and God added 15 years under his life. So if you remember that story, right, the sundial went backwards, the time went in reverse to prove that, hey, this is of God, and that he was going to have these years added to his life. So this just happens. Hezekiah receives mercy and grace from God, and God's going to extend his life here on earth, right? So the king of Babylon hears this, and he sends this present unto Hezekiah, and verse 13 says, and Hezekiah hearkened unto them and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious ointment and all the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not. And here Hezekiah has gotten a little proud. Now I'm not going to get into expounding completely on this. Again, it's outside of the scope of what I want to preach tonight for all the reasoning here, but basically here we see Isaiah in verse 14 now coming unto Hezekiah and rebuking him, and now he's going to end up getting judged. I mean, he just got healed from God, right, and now he's showing off all this stuff to the king about, you know, to the king of Babylon. Oh yeah, look at all my stuff. Look at everything that I have. Not look at what God's given me even. It's just, oh yeah, here's all my stuff. Take a look. Take a look at how great I am. Verse 14, and then came Isaiah the prophet unto the king Hezekiah and said unto him, what said these men? And from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, they are come from a far country, even from Babylon. And he said, what have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, all the things that are in mine house have they seen. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord. Behold the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day shall be carried into Babylon. Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord, and of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Now it's one thing to lose all of your wealth, but if you don't know what that means for his children to become eunuchs, essentially I'll just put it this way, they're going to lose their manhood. Now any father that loves their children should not want that to ever happen to their children. I mean you think about, well everything's going to be taken away, they're going to be taken captives, they're going to lose their manhood, they're going to serve this other king, this other wicked nation. That alone, I mean just, I mean imagine you hearing that pronouncement, how would you respond to that? What can I do? God, I'm sorry again, can you please not make this happen? You would think that that would be the response, right? Look at verse 19, then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken. And he said, is it not good if peace and truth be in my days? I mean is it, that's not, that's not till later. So isn't it good? I mean hey at least, at least I get to live in peace and truth. Nuts to the next, nuts to my children and their children, at least I get to live in peace and prosperity. And this is that wicked, like there's so many decisions that people make, just kick the can down the road, oh we'll just deal with that later, all just, you know, kids can deal with that. That's wicked, no you deal with that now. Verse 20 says in the rest of the Acts of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made a pool and a conduit, the conduit's the way for the the pool to go, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah? So what we were reading about, that's why I made mention of that earlier, because I knew we were gonna go to this passage, where Hezekiah's the one who made that the water change the direction there to be able to have that water around there, and it says they're not written. But then look at verse 21, Hezekiah said with his fathers, and Manasseh his son Reinan has said. Now if you know anything about Manasseh, Manasseh was an extremely wicked king. I mean he was letting his children pass through the fire, all the stuff that Hezekiah had built up for the Lord, and that other kings and its, you know, predecessors had built up, and people serving the Lord, all that was taken down, all these altars of Baal were reared up, and just caused the children of Israel, of Judah to sin, like worse than anyone before him. That was Manasseh. What also is interesting about that is that Manasseh was born after Hezekiah should have died, or would have died, I want to say should have, would have, if God hadn't extended the extra years to him. And I'll tell you this much, I don't think Manasseh would have turned out the way he did if Hezekiah didn't have that mindset of, well, at least it's good for me. You see what happens to your children when you have no vision for them. What's your vision for your children, Hezekiah? Oh, that they're going to become eunuchs and serve some wicked king somewhere and be under tribute and bondage? Great vision, Hezekiah. This is the vision that everyone had at that time, and this is why the judgment's coming. That's one of the reasons, you know, that's the that mindset of not being able to to put the Lord in His proper place. Let's go back to Isaiah 22. Isaiah 22 verse 14, and it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die, said the Lord God of hosts. Man, what a horrible pronouncement. Basically saying there's no more forgiveness for this. I mean, basically you're just gonna have to die for it. There is a sin unto death, I do not say it, she shall pray for it. You know, there's a sin not unto death, there's a sin unto death, and when God's just saying, you know what, there's no more that I can do. There's nothing that you can do where you're gonna get grace from me and mercy from me, you're just gonna have to die. It's basically being reprobate. I mean, this is physically talking about them just, okay, you know what, no, you're all just gonna have to be judged. It's the same thing that happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness, right, the generation that wasn't trusting in the Lord, and which obviously has its own symbolic meanings, it's up to, but they all had to die in the wilderness. Said, nope, there's no more. Because remember, when they didn't want to go into battle, and then the judgment came, then they're like, oh no, wait, now we're ready to go fight. No, it's too late. Now you're all gonna die in the wilderness. You had an opportunity, you had plenty of opportunities. And, you know, another reminder, don't push things too far with God. And even just personally, okay, don't, you know, you get involved with sin, and you want to keep sinning, and keep sinning, and keep sinning, and, you know, and just, well, God's merciful, well, God understands, well, God's forgiven, you know, like, look, when you willfully just get into sin, especially depending on what kind of sin it is, just be careful with that. Don't, you know, don't, don't get this proud attitude ultimately is what it is, whether you recognize it as such or not. Don't get this proud attitude, because you may end up just being like, you know what, we're God's just gonna say, well, now you're just gonna have to, I mean, there's nothing else left for me to do. Now, obviously, you're saved, you're still going to heaven, that's, you know, I shouldn't even have to mention that, but, you know, I want to make sure there's no confusion there, but you still don't want to have to lose your life that way and just be done. Verse 15, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, now, that's what I pointed out, he says, get thee unto this treasurer, so is God speaking well of Shebna here or not? No, not at all, you don't talk about this, this treasurer, and the fact that he's even bringing up that he's a treasurer is also telling, and we're gonna see here in a minute too, it fits in with the rest of the theme of what's going on and how these people are characterized, they're focused on the treasures and the wealth of this world, he's focused on the things of this world, worldly treasures, has choked out this people, what does he say? Verse 16, what hast thou here, and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulcher here, as he that heweth him out a sepulcher on high, and that graveth in habitation for himself in a rock? Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity and will surely cover thee. First of all, what we're seeing here, Shebna the treasurer seemed more focused on the riches of this life and the cares of this life, to the point of securing himself this fancy sepulcher, this fancy grave, and making sure he's gonna have this sepulcher on high and graveth and habitation for him out of stone, this is not something that everybody had, right? This is gonna be more of a lofty type of a burial place, up on high, where everyone can see this, I'm in this good burying place, and he's focused on the things of this world, he's this treasurer, you know, you're more worried about where your body is going to be than your soul, right? Than on the things that really matter, you're more worried about the outside, the external shell, than you are with what's spiritually happening and going on and needing to get right with God. This is what we see over and over and over again getting hammered home in this passage, and then not only that, but the fact that God's saying, you know, you think you're just gonna be here your whole life, and you think everything's just gonna go great, you're gonna be taken captive, you're gonna die somewhere else, what good is that grave gonna do for you? You're spending all this money on this fancy tomb, on this fancy sepulcher, and you're not even gonna die here, and you're not even gonna use it. What good is it gonna do you then? Focus on the things that matter, and don't get caught up in all these worldly things. Don't worry about that. Nobody seems to have the proper mind of God's place in their life. They're just distracted with every other care of the world. Verse number 18, he 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. He's violently gonna turn and toss thee. He says God's just gonna whip you like a ball and just throw you way out into some far country, and it's gonna be turned and tossed, just thrown out there. It's not gonna be very pleasant, Shebna. Verse 19, and I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down, and it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Lachai. Now, Eliakim the son of Lachai is a real person. This is definitely going to happen anyways with him being clothed with the robe, but what we're gonna see here though is that this is obviously a figure or a type of Christ. When you see all the words being used here to describe this new ruler Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, God is placing this, you know, there's a lot more added to this than just what's physically gonna happen at that time. We see this in verse number 21. The Bible says, 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. We're gonna get to more of the more compelling images of Christ in just a minute, but I just want to point this out again. I went over this one when I taught on Isaiah chapter 9, but Isaiah 9 6, remember this is the famous passage, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, is what that verse says here. He says, I will commit thy government into his hand, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsel to the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and in verse 21 there it says, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Why? Because as this ruler, as he has the government in his hand, he's gonna be like a father to the people of the land, and that also fits with Jesus being having a government upon his shoulder and having the Everlasting, you know, Father be one of his names. Verse 22 here in Isaiah, the Bible says, in 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, and that is a characteristic or a power that man just doesn't possess. Man cannot shut a door that no one can open or open a door that no one can shut. That's God alone can do that, and that's also, we see that in Revelation. Revelation 3 7, the Bible says, and to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, which verse 22 in Isaiah says, the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder, so who has the key of David? Jesus Christ has the key of David. He says, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. He is the one that's saying these things in Revelation 3 to the angel of the church of Philadelphia. I know thy works, behold I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it, for thou has a little strength and has kept my word and has not denied my name. So obviously Isaiah 22 in this latter portion is talking about Christ. I mean, yes, it's talking about Eliakim, but it's talking about Christ. I mean, that's what's really being driven here. It's similar to, you say, yeah, but it never says, you know, a Messiah, it never says anything, it just says, you know, he just says Eliakim, but what about all the times when the Bible talks about David, where it references David, but it's clearly talking about this, you know, the seed or the offspring of David, which is Jesus Christ. So this is another one of those instances where it's not just, it's not referring to the man, it's not meant to be talking about that man. But let's keep reading here because, like I said, this just gets incredibly amazing. And even when you read these verses, you know, when John was on the Isle of Patmos and he's delivered this revelation in Revelation chapter 3, talking about, you know, these things saith he that is holy and true, I don't even know if he is thinking about Isaiah 22, 22, when this is being revealed unto him. Now, I'm not saying he didn't come up with that, you know, he didn't see that connection at some point, but to author something like that would be incredibly difficult. And on top of that, this is just one section. When you look at all of the references that go back from even the Revelation to the Old Testament, you can't convince me that a man can just do those things. And to write so fluidly and coherently and also be able to incorporate so much of this, of these passages, that not only you're just using the same words, but it all makes sense. It fits together. It's talking about the same things or similar things and being applied at a later date. It's incredible. Look at verse 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. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house. So you've got him fastened, a nail, hanging. What's the imagery here? Tell me this isn't amazing. Yet at the same time, people who were reading this or looking at this at that time never would think of a cross and someone being hung across, right? There's no way. I mean, you can't come away with that. But having the hindsight of looking back and saying, wow, how amazing is the word of God to show so evidently and so clearly the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the wording here in Isaiah that was totally unplanned on both sides. Obviously planned by God, but I'm saying if you were to look at this as if it wasn't the word of God, as if it was just the word of man, whoever you think would have written the book of Isaiah, no way were they going to apply this as a man to somebody being crucified in the future. And no way would I say that at the time of Christ would some man just say, oh, look, if we come up with this figure called Jesus and have him crucified on a cross, it'll fit this prophecy here in Isaiah 20, so we'll make sure this comes true. No way. No way. But you know what? These things really happen, and this shows just so much more evidence to this being God's word, the word of the Lord, how perfect and amazing and true this is. And this is so much more clear than any other false prophet or false dreamer and seer of visions like the Nostradamus and things like that. It's a joke. Their revelations and prophecies are a joke. This is amazing. They shall hang upon Him, all the glory of this Father's house, which again, even besides the imagery of the nail, the hanging, we also have the throne, you have His Father's house being referenced. I mean, this all ties in with Jesus Christ and who He is, the Son of God. The offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. 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. The burden. What did He die for? He died with our sins. He eliminated that burden. He lifted that burden off of us when He died and was buried and rose again. It's amazing. Absolutely incredible. I love, and I keep using that word incredible. You know what I mean. I don't mean it's not credible. I don't. It's very credible. It's just, it's amazing. It's wonderful. It's glorious. It's marvelous. Those are much better words. It's just something I'm used to saying, so forgive me for that wrong. But you can see this theme in Isaiah 22, right? What is the problem? What is the main problem of the people? They've got no respect for God. They essentially don't really have God in their life at all. They're focused on the here and now. They're focused on the temporary. They're focused on, well, let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Even in the face of doom and gloom and destruction, when they know it's coming their way, that's still where they're at. Look, folks, if you start going through hard times in your life, it's a really good indicator to try to get right. See where you're not right with God. Now, it doesn't mean every time bad things happen in your life that you're not right with God. So just don't go to that extreme of misinterpreting and that's your life. I'm just saying the healthy thing, the right thing to do, is when things do start going bad, just be like, God, show me where I'm in error. Because you don't want to be lofty and just lift it up thinking that you're just so great and there's no way you could do anything wrong. Now, again, like I said, many people doing right and doing good things do get attacked and have things not go their way. But we never want to get to a point where we're not taking heed lest we fall, where we're thinking we're above those things. And you know for yourself, I mean, you know from day to day in general anyways if you're in sin or not, if you're just living in some wicked sins. But the humble thing to do is to just go to God. God, am I, you know, like, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, but please let me know where I am. And if I'm not, then thank you Lord for bringing me to this place and whatever you have for me to do here, help me to understand. Help me to know what to do for you. But you never want to get to, because these people, no regard for the Lord. And unfortunately then it gets to the point where God says, well now there's no more, you know, purging for your sin, you're just gonna have to die. As far as that word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your words. Thank you for giving us these amazing scriptures, Lord, that your fingerprint is on your word, and that it really is glorious and marvelous. God, thank you for revealing your words unto us and helping us to have this light here on earth to lighten our paths and understand and know the right way. Lord, please lead us and direct us to open up our understanding as we continue to study and read and search out the scriptures. Lord, I pray that you would just continually increase our knowledge and our wisdom and help us to serve you better through that knowledge and wisdom. God, we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.