In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith warns the Jewish nation about their impending destruction due to their rejection of God's law. He references the story of King Hezekiah, who was rebuked by the prophet Isaiah for his pride and lack of humility. Pastor Chuck emphasizes the importance of listening to God's voice and having a soft heart towards Him. He urges the listeners to purify their lives and not be like reprobate silver, but rather like gold that has been tried in the fire.

Welcome to the Word for Today. The Word for Today is a continuous study of the Bible taught by Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently teaching from the Old Testament. And for those of you following along in your Bibles, we'll be continuing today in Isaiah chapter 22, beginning with verse 16, as we continue with an in-depth message entitled, The Prophecies Against Babylon. One thing is needful, O my Father One thing is needful, O my God That I sit at your feet And pour out my love This thing is needful, O my God And now with today's study, here's Pastor Chuck. Now, at this point, the Lord gives him a message for this fellow Shebna. Now Shebna is not a Jewish name, and thus he was a foreigner, and there he was in the position of the treasurer in Jerusalem. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go and get thee unto this treasurer, even to Shebna, which is over the house, that is the house of the treasury, and say to him, 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 a habitation for himself in the rock. Now the prominent families in Jerusalem would carve out these monuments for sepulchers for the family. They were sort of like the mausoleums today. And quite often the sepulcher carved right out of the rocks, right in the cliffs, would be quite ornate, as they are today down in the Kidron Valley. As you drive along the wall, eastern wall of Jerusalem, looking down into the Kidron Valley, you can see what is called the tomb of Absalom and the tomb of Zacharias. And they are carved out of rock, and they're very interesting and large and ornate rock carvings. Sort of like our Mount Rushmore kind of a thing. Carved right out of the rock, you see these tombs down there. Now, going into these sepulchers, they had several little niches. And when a person would die, they'd just put them in the niche and then seal up the niche. And so the families, they were made for families, and so they would be the family burial place. The prominent families, the wealthy families all had their own sepulchers. Now Shemna was not a Jew, he was a foreigner, and he probably did not have any real family there. And yet he was making for himself this very ornate sepulcher. He was hewing out this sepulcher for himself there in Jerusalem. And so Isaiah is rebuking him for this. He said, Behold, the Lord will carry you away with a mighty captivity and will surely cover thee. You won't be covered in that sepulcher, but the Lord will cover you. For he will surely violently turn and toss you like a ball into a large country, and there you're going to die. And there the chariots of your glory shall be the shame of thy Lord's house. And so this fellow, the treasurer, a prominent man, building a sepulcher for himself, probably leading the people in this party time as the destruction is coming. Easing the interest rates and all, so everybody has lots of money and just, you know, so what? If they don't pay it back, we're going to die anyhow, so let it go. And riding around in his glorious chariots, and so Isaiah rebukes him. He will drive you from your station, your position, and from your state shall he pull thee down. It shall come to pass in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah. He'll call his servant Eliakim. Now, Eliakim means whom God appoints. The idea is that Shebna was not appointed by God, but God will appoint a man to take his place. This man, Eliakim, whom God appoints. Now, when Sheneqereb did finally arrive at Jerusalem with his troops, and the Rabakshak came to the wall and began to call up their demands for capitulation, it was Eliakim, this Eliakim, who already had replaced Shebna, who responded to the Rabakshak from the Assyrian army. Now, at this point, however, we have one of those interesting places, which there are many in the scriptures, where the prophecy moves away from the immediate to the future fulfillment, so that you have a double fulfillment. In other words, it is speaking of things that will happen immediately, but these things that are happening immediately are a foreshadowing of things that are going to happen in the future. As Paul the Apostle tells us in Colossians chapter 2, that the holy days, the new moons, the Sabbath days, these things were all a shadow of the things that were going to come. They were foreshadowing things of the future. The Passover feast, the slaying of the Lamb, the blood of the Lamb, the sparing of the firstborn in the house, that was all a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who would be slain for our sins, whose blood covering our lives will free us from the curse of death. And these things are all a shadow of things to come. He said the substance is of Jesus. And throughout the whole Old Testament, you find so many, so many things that foreshadow Jesus Christ. Though they were dealing with a present current situation, but it had its future fulfillment in Christ. And so they became the types of what Jesus would be. And so in seminary we had a class, Types and Shadows, in which you study all of these types of Christ in the Old Testament and the foreshadowings of Christ in the Old Testament. And so here Eliakim becomes a foreshadowing of the Messiah. Shabna, the foreshadowing of the Antichrist, and his being put down in order that Eliakim, that one whom God appointed, might rule. And so as he begins to describe now Eliakim, we can see here that he is definitely a foreshadowing of the Messiah. I will clothe him with your robe. I will strengthen him with your girdle. I will commit thy government into his hands. Isaiah has already told us concerning Christ that the government will be upon his shoulder, as his name will be called Wonderful Counselor. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And 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 herein we find then the proof text that this is indeed a foreshadowing of Christ, because when Christ is addressing himself to the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3-7, he said to John and unto the angel of the church of Philadelphia, These things saith he, who hath the key of David, who openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. And so Jesus uses these very words to describe himself in the book of Revelation as he is addressing the church of Philadelphia, and then later on he said, I have set before you an open door which no man can shut. And from a historic standpoint, as you look at the seven churches of Asia as the seven periods of church history, the church of Philadelphia is the Lord's true church that is holding to his word in the last days. We hopefully identify ourselves with the church of Philadelphia, to which the Lord said, I have set before you an open door. And I am amazed at how the Lord is opening doors in these days in which we live. Absolutely astounded at the opening of the doors that God is providing. A fellow just returned from Russia. He's in the church here. He has a lot of business in Russia. He just returned from six weeks over there. And he is in this area and he said that in this one city in Russia, there used to be this large church. They tore the church down and put this huge statue of Lenin where the church once stood. He said, at the present time, they are dismantling the statue of Lenin and they're going to rebuild the church on that spot. In several areas in Russia, they are now teaching the Bible in the public schools. It seems rather incongruous that there is greater religious liberty in Russia today than there is in the United States. Now, that's rather sad. They have greater freedom of religion in Russia than we do here in the United States as far as the public schools are concerned. In one of the cities in Russia, they have the Baptist minister come in and teach the Bible class in the public school. And in the south, in the areas of Armenia and all that, the public schools now have the Bible as a part of their curriculum. Open door. I have set before you the Lord set an open door. And so, this definitely is a foreshadowing. Eliakim is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. The key to the house of David. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place. Now, he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. Jesus, in writing to the church of Laodicea, verse 21 of Revelation 3, said, God has a place for him, a place of glory and honor. Now, we are told in Philippians that he was in the form of God. He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And yet he humbled himself, came in the likeness of man. As a servant, he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God has also highly exalted him. He's given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Now, Jesus, in his prayer in John 17, prayed that God would glorify him with the glory that he had with him. And the Father, of course, in another place Jesus said, Father, glorify thy name. And he said, I have glorified and I will glorify it again. But I would that those that are with me might see me, he said, in the glory that I have with thee. In the beginning with God. Thought it not robbery or something to be grasped to be equal with God. There he was the center of glory in heaven. God is again going to give him that position and place of glory and honor in the heavenly realm. And so, here is the nail that is fastened in a sure place. He shall be for a glorious throne to his Father's house. They will hang upon him the glory of his Father's house, which we were just referring to. And the offspring and the issue. All vessels of small quantity from the vessels of cups, even all the vessels of flagons. Now, an interesting twist to the prophecy. 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. This is no doubt a reference to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament prophets told the people that the Messiah was coming. That he was to have a place of glory and honor. He was to rule over the world. Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. We recognize that as a messianic song. He's going to reign over the earth in righteousness and in truth. He will sit upon the throne of David to order it and to establish it in righteousness and in justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. And yet, this glorious Messiah, this wonderful Lord who is to reign and to rule over the earth, is going to be cut down, removed. The crucifixion. Isaiah tells us more about the crucifixion in chapters 52 and 53. He tells us that he is going to be cut off from the land of the living. He'll be numbered with the transgressors in his death. We did esteem him as stricken, smitten of God. But he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. And so, this seeming contradiction concerning the Messiah. The nail was going to be established in a solid place. And the glory of the Lord's house would be hanging on it. But yet, this nail was going to be cut down. It was to be removed and fall. And the burden that was on it shall be cut off. That is, the Jews and the glory of the house of Israel that was to be upon the Messiah will be cut off. So, we find in the scriptures that Jesus indeed was cut off. He was crucified. Psalm 22, the Messianic Psalm, describes his death by crucifixion. Daniel in chapter 9 told the time that the Messiah would come. But then he said, but the Messiah will be cut off. And so, Jesus was cut off. Daniel also then predicted that the Jews would be dispersed. That's what Isaiah is predicting here. The glory of the house of Israel that was hanging on the nail shall fall and be cut off. And thus, the Jews were cut off. And for almost 2,000 years, they were cut off as they were dispersed throughout the whole world. Now, miracle of all miracles. After the 2,000 years of dispersion, according to the promise of God, he is bringing them back and planting them in the land again. And so, we see this modern day miracle. And if ever anybody needed any proof that the Bible was the word of God, surely the Jew becomes the proof. The fact that these people maintained a national identity for 2,000 years without a homeland. The fact that after 2,000 years of dispersion, they gathered back and became a nation again according to the prophecies of the scriptures. Surely, therein is a miracle that is unparalleled in the history of mankind. The maintaining of the national identity to the extent that they could come back and a nation that was dead for almost 2,000 years being reborn. Nowhere in history has there been any kind of a sequel to that. And yet here it is promised and predicted. Their fall. And then, the Lord sort of puts the finishing touch on it. He said, For the Lord hath spoken it. That's it. What can you say? God has said it. Now, this last verse, In that day saith the Lord of hosts. And then, so you have the double confirmation that this is God's word. The Lord hath spoken it. As we go through Isaiah several more times, we're going to find this phrase, The Lord hath spoken it. And you'll find that it is always used in reference to prophecy. As Isaiah is speaking about things yet future, He says, And the Lord hath spoken it. Which sort of affirms the fact you can be sure it's going to happen. Now, in this case, it's already happened. We can look and see that it did take place. The nail was cut down and removed. And the Jewish nation was destroyed. Cut off. Lord, let me know. Face to face. Lord, let me see you. Pastor Chuck Smith will return with a few closing comments. But first, I'd like to remind you that today's message is available in its unedited form on cassette or CD. Simply write or call and ask for ordering details on tape or CD number C-3251. Again, that's tape or CD number C-3251. As we come to a close in today's program, we'd like to introduce a new book by Pastor Chuck Smith, written especially for today's young generation. Do you have what it takes to abstain from the immorality of our culture? Would you stand up for Jesus Christ in a group of complete strangers? What about in a group of your closest friends? It definitely takes a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. The word for today presents Pastor Chuck Smith's new book, Standing Up in a Fallen World, a Bible study based on the book of Daniel, a young man who took a stand for righteousness in a time when he could have lost his life. Filled with encouragement and application, Pastor Chuck teaches a powerful message for today's young adults between the ages of 12 and 20, urging them to stand up against the compromise in the world today and get ready for the Lord's coming. And now for the first time, the word for today is made available clothing, T-shirts, beanies and hats for a limited time only, equipping young adults to witness and revive their generation. Also available is a study guide especially designed for students and family devotions. To order your copy of Pastor Chuck's new book, Standing Up in a Fallen World, the clothing apparel and study guide, you can call the word for today at 1-800-272-WORD or write to us at P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. Once again, that number to call is 1-800-272-9673. And for those of you that would like to visit our website, you can do so at www.twft.com. Or if you would like to e-mail us, you can do so at info at twft.com. Well, coming up next time on the word for today, Pastor Chuck will be continuing his fascinating study through the book of Isaiah. That's coming up next time on the word for today. And now with a few closing comments, here is Pastor Chuck. Father, we thank you tonight for the warnings over and over and over that you gave to the people. We thank you, Lord, that you are patient, that you are so long-suffering. Lord, we can see that when man rejects your law, when man turns a deaf ear to your voice, when he becomes stubborn and obdurate in his sin, that your judgment, your righteous judgment, does ultimately come, and they are destroyed. Lord, help us that our ears might be ever open to hear your voice, our hearts ever soft and pliable to you, Lord, and to the things of the Spirit, that we, Lord, might not be as reprobate silver, but as gold that has been tried in the fire and comes forth pure. God, burn out from our lives that dross, those impurities, that we might become pure, even as you are pure. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In Jesus' name we pray.