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Overview

Jerusalem, the earthly capital of God’s people, will not be absolved of God’s judgment. When you act like the pagan nations, God will judge you like those pagan nations. The prophet Isaiah mourns for their demise. 

Isaiah 22:4-5

Therefore I said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.” For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.

The Valley of Vision. Many Christians know this phrase probably because of the popular book, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. Only Isaiah calls Jerusalem, the Valley of Vision, in the bible. It is an appropriate descriptor because though Jerusalem itself is on a hill, there are higher mountains above it. Therefore, Jerusalem is in a valley. What makes Isaiah grieve is that Jerusalem was meant to be a vision. The nations were supposed to flow into Jerusalem. It was supposed to house the glory of God. It was supposed to be the earthly light to the world. But it wasn’t. 

Isaiah 22:12-14

In that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: “Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,” says the Lord God of hosts. 

This is grim and fatalistic. Not only will Jerusalem remain prideful, not leaning on the Lord’s help, but they are just resolved to party hard and then die. And as morbid as that is, verse 14 is even more weighty. No atonement for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Those who stay on this path of ungodliness will not be forgiven. 

Isaiah 22:15, 19-22

Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

King Hezekiah ruled from 715 B.C. to 686 B.C. He was one of Judah’s godliest kings. Apparently, God told Isaiah to talk to Shebna, who was over Hezekiah’s household, and tell him he is about to be demoted, humbled. Now here is the prophecy: Eliakim will take over and have great authority. He will be given the keys of the house of David. The phrase “keys to the house of David” is very interesting. It is mentioned in Revelation 3:7. 

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. (Rev. 3:7)

Obviously, this is a reference to Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can open and shut the impossible. Only He can provide salvation to the world. Only He can make things right. Only He can bring eternal righteousness to the earth. 

What do you need Jesus to open for you? Is there something or someone who you think is beyond redemption? Beyond healing? Locked away in their own inferno? Remember Jesus has the key. More accurately—Jesus IS THE KEY. There is nothing He cannot open. There is nothing He can’t lock up. Go to Him today.