We're going to Isaiah chapter 22. In our series through the book of Isaiah, this is now message number 29, entitled The Valley of Vision. And we'll be looking here at chapter 22. So I'll read the first three verses and we'll get started. The burden of the valley of vision, what aileth thee now that thou art wholly gone 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 chapter 21 that we looked at last time continued the woes to the nations. That's the section of Isaiah's prophecy that we are in beginning with chapter 13 and going through chapter 23. And these woes to the nations contain these burdens, various visions of judgment against many different nations that are named. And in this section, we have seen prophecies against large, major nations and small, rather insignificant nations. Again, showing us how that all nations are a part of God's purpose and judgment comes to those who are unbelieving. no matter how great or small. And so the promise of redemption also comes to those who believe, and it's the same no matter how great or small that they are. So, of course, as you read these chapters and you think somewhat about international politics historically and realizing that just as today that can be a very complex issue. But the message of these burdens is very clear. Nations come and go. Nations come and go according to God's purpose. He will raise one up. He will bring another down. And none, There is no nation that's too big to fail. And that's an idea that we've heard expressed in our more modern times of things that are simply too big to fail. There's just too many reliances, too many dependencies. So we've got to bail them out and this, that, and the other thing. But as we look at these words to these nations, Assyria, of course, being the major power at the time that these prophecies were given, Babylon was on the rise, but Assyria perhaps thought that it was too big to fail. Maybe Babylon thought it was too big to fail. Maybe they thought that Rome was too big to fail, but that is not the case. Nations come and go according to God's purpose, and that comes out very clear in this section of Isaiah's prophecy. Another part of the message that's very clear is that trust in governments and trust in leaders and trust in armies and just numbers and population, all these sort of things is completely futile. They will not deliver, not from God's judgment. So there is no escape from God's judgment. So now chapter 22, is the burden of Jerusalem and Judah. And it's not entirely clear from the passage why Valley of Vision is used in reference to Jerusalem. And this is the only place that it occurs like this. But this is a vision of the siege of the city. And we know that the city would be, not long after this prophecy, would be besieged by the Assyrians, which of course the Lord would defeat. And then later by the Babylonians, which is probably the primary reference here. But again, Jerusalem will be besieged in the last of days, as we read about in the prophets and in places like Revelation and so on. Now, the response of the people of Judah really seems to be the real subject of this particular chapter, how they are responding to this siege. And the way that they respond to this siege is an evidence of unbelief. It's an evidence of their lack of faith, their lack of hearing of the Word of God that has been sent to them. And in the last part of the chapter, denounces Shebna, who in that day served under Hezekiah, and he stands sort of as a particular representative of the unbelieving in Jerusalem. And then he is contrasted with Eliakim at the very end of the chapter. So we want to look at this, verses 1 to 14. give us the fall of Judah, the fall of Jerusalem. And then in verses 15 to 25, we get the contrast with Shebna and Eliakim. So we'll start here again in the first part, in the fall of Jerusalem, beginning again with the first three verses. What aileth thee now that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? Thou that are 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." Now, of course, this burden of the valley of vision, it is a reference to Jerusalem as is evident. Jerusalem, of course, was typically referred to as a mountain or going up to Jerusalem. But Jerusalem was surrounded by higher mountains, so maybe giving the appearance of a valley. That doesn't really seem to weigh too much into this. And certainly, Jerusalem was a center of prophetic visions and primary place where Isaiah, in fact, ministered and received these visions and messages from the Lord to deliver But whatever the reason for, and again, it's not used anywhere else. We don't have anything really to compare it to. You can consult some commentaries if you'd like a whole bunch of ideas. But none of them really are explained to us in this text. So not exactly certain why that it is referred to this way. But now, This siege that is described is primarily, again, the siege by the Babylonians. And it seems like that they had a false assurance of deliverance. And maybe that had been a little bit bolstered by that great deliverance in Hezekiah's day. from the Assyrians when the Lord killed 185,000 of the Assyrian army that were surrounding the city. And it seems like that there were those in Jerusalem that did have sort of a an assumption that Jerusalem could not and would not fall. Even after the northern kingdom had fallen and was taken away, but yet Jerusalem. I mean, this is where the temple was. This is the house of the Lord. This is the city of David. This is not going to fall. That was a false assurance. And conditions in this city are described during this siege. And the description that we get when men are slain not with a sword, they're dying of starvation, essentially, during this siege. And the fact that this happened during the Babylonian siege is mentioned in the book of Lamentations, for instance. And there's a sharp contrast here between rejoicing, for instance, we could see rejoicing at the defeat of the Assyrians when Jerusalem was delivered, and then the coming of the Babylonian conquest because those did not end the same. And at the time of the Babylonian invasion, there was an attempt to escape that is referred to here, those fleeing and such, and you can read about that in 2 Kings 25, verses 1 to 7. But what we get is, in general, the rulers fleeing and are bound, and all those in the city are bound and carried away. And again, this happened under the Babylonian invasion. It's a general picture of corrupt and godless leaders in Judah that's leading up to this great fall. And so the kings of Judah and the kings of Israel is mostly a very sad story. It's a sad story of unbelief. It's a sad story of evil. It's a sad story of idolatry. It's a sad story of those that were that were really not in any way governing the nation as they ought, but rather for their own purposes. And that's what we come to at the very end, those simply trying to flee and escape away. And of course, there's no escape for them. Now look at verses 4 to 7. Look away from me, I will weep bitterly. Labor not to comfort me because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble and of treading down, and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls and of crying to the mountains. And Elam bared the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kur uncovered the shield. And it shall come to pass that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. Now here at this point we've seen a few occurrences in this section of Isaiah's prophecy where Isaiah is just overwhelmed with grief at the vision of what he has seen. And here he is just bewailing and lamenting this judgment to come. What is going to happen to Jerusalem and to the people of Judah? And he's also lamenting the response of the people to it. What is it that they do when they come to the time of crisis, a time when, as no other, that they should be crying out to God? What will they do? And notice how he pleads them to just look away from him, those in his day, when he's delivering this message. you know, close to a couple hundred, a little less than a couple hundred years away when this would happen at the time. But when he's delivering this message, he tells them, don't look at me. And the reason why is because he doesn't want them to try to comfort him. Because he recognizes this vision of judgment. There's no comforting him. There's no escape from it. And we also see this reference to the spoiling of the daughter of my people." And there again we have the singular with the possessive om in reference to Israel, particularly Judah in this time. And then we see these references to God's judgment, how it's a day of trouble and of treading down and perplexity by the Lord God of hosts. It is a judgment from God. There's a crying out to the mountains. Those probably, most likely, those trying to flee away. And then we get the mention that makes this more certain. As I said, the valley of vision is not repeated. It's not, you know, just reading the first few verses, you think, well, that could really apply to a lot of things. But then when we get here, becomes very evident because Elam and Kerr were a part of the army that joined with the Babylonians to gather against Jerusalem. And of course this reference to the daughter of my people and all of that. And so these nations had allied themselves with Babylon to essentially overthrow Assyria and they were contributing to this massive force that the Babylonians brought against Jerusalem when this took place. And again this is a little less than 200 years removed from when Isaiah is speaking these words, all the valleys will be full of chariots and full of horsemen that are set in array against the gate. So the city's going to be surrounded by this massive force that obviously they are not going to be able to withstand. It's not going to turn out like it did in the case of the Assyrians during Hezekiah's time. And then we get to the next part of the verses, verses 8 to 14. We'll start here with verse 8. So again, we're getting more references that tell us more specifically what this valley of vision does refer to. Covering that's used here refers to a veil, something that would cover the face. And in other words, he has taken that away. He's taken away their covering. He's taken away their protection, those things that they were trusting in. And the first one of those which is mentioned is the armor of the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Of course, this was an armory that was built by Solomon back in 1 Kings 7. I think there's other references to it. And this was an elaborate place that was well furnished with all of these different pieces of armament and swords and shields and spears and all these things. And it was an armory that was kept for the defense of Jerusalem. And so there was a certain degree of trust and confidence in this place that the great King Solomon, the great and wise King Solomon, had prepared for them. And so they were looking to that, and they were looking to that as a trust, almost as if, well, we have a backup plan, and we have these weapons stored, and in the case of just such an invasion, we can get these weapons, we can fight. But obviously this is being revealed here that this is a false hope. Yes, there's an armory, there's a cache of weapons and things there in the house, the forest of Lebanon that Solomon had built, but it's not going to deliver you. It's not going to save you. This is a false hope. Look at verses 9 to 11. You have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many, and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool, and ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have you broken down to fortify the wall. You made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago. So there's a description here of the people's efforts. When this siege happens, what is it that the people of Judah and those in Jerusalem, what are they going to be doing? What is going to be their response? When they see this coming that has long been prophesied was going to come, when they see it coming, what is their response going to be? Well, we get a description of them, for instance, tearing down houses. In other words, they'll try to repair the breaches in the walls of Jerusalem because they have been broken through by this massive force. It's really a sign of desperation. And it seems like that there's even some false hope here that they believe, well, if there's a breach in the wall, we can repair it, we can secure it, we can still defend ourselves. And there's going to be work done on the water supply. to cut off water outside the city and try to secure water within the city in the case of a siege. There's, again, this false hope that they'll be able to supply themselves and to be able to resist a siege against this. This is describing actually the making of what came to be known as the Pool of Siloam that's described. And notice that, on the one hand, These measures are not necessarily unreasonable in a sense that the city is surrounded by this massive army, the numbers that they obviously cannot match. And they're surrounded by this massive army and all of these weapons. And so they're doing what seems like reasonable responses. They're going to try to secure the breaches. They're going to try to maintain a water supply so that that won't be cut off. So they're trying to do these things. But the problem here was that Jerusalem and the people of Judah in that day would be wholly involved in these outward things and would not be turning their hearts to God, which is what they're being called to do and have been called to do for long since before this time. And then we get to verse 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." So by giving these prophetic visions, God is calling them to repentance. In other words, this word has been known, and so when these things begin to happen, what should be their response? Well, this is what was prophesied. This is what the prophets have told us and have warned about. This is what's coming to pass. So then, the next logical step would be, what does that mean for us? That means we should repent. That we should turn to the Lord because that's why, this is His judgment that is coming against us. We should turn to Him. And what is their response instead? Well again, it's to the weapons, to the walls, to the water. So these prophecies of judgment, are calls to repentance. And that is really what response that should be given. And notice this description of weeping and mourning and baldness and girding and sackcloth. And it's an indication of real repentance that's being called for. He's not asking for an outward show. He's not asking for some official proclamation of an official day of mourning and we can all play dress up and put on sackcloth and ashes and have this day to show God that we're repentant and therefore He will relent in this judgment. That's not the kind of repentance they're being called to. They're being called to true Repentance. And so what does this show us? It shows us that they had not listened to the messages that were given to them. They would understand that their actions were wrong in this sense. These are the wrong actions in order to deliver you from this army that is threatening your destruction. They had not listened. 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. So he's continuing to describe the response of the people of Judah and particularly those within Jerusalem to this invasion. And rather than it being a response of sackcloth and mourning and repentance, the people viewed it as essentially a hopeless situation. So let's take to feasting. Let's take to celebration. Paul actually cites this philosophy in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse number 32 as a response to those who believe in no bodily resurrection. If there's no bodily resurrection and there's no true life after death, well then it makes perfect sense to adopt this sort of philosophy. Let's just eat and drink for tomorrow we die. Let's just get everything that we can, enjoy it as much as possible because that's it for us. And that was sort of the attitude of those within Jerusalem in verse 14, Now obviously this time of God's indignation. We've seen this, we've talked about this a little bit before looking at Daniel and things. It really began with this destruction of Jerusalem, this age of the nations, and this time of God's indignation against Israel. It continues to this time and it will finally It will finally be fulfilled in the day of the Lord, in the time of trouble, when His wrath against them will be exhausted, and that remnant will be saved, and He will never be angry with them again. And these are essentially just a fulfilling of those words to Isaiah, all the way back in Isaiah 6, verses 9-10. You go preach to these people, but they're not going to listen. Their ears are going to be heavy, their hearts are going to be slow. Essentially, what do we see here? Their reactions show us that in that moment, in that day, they did not believe that God could or would do what He had promised, that He could deliver them. So what is the use of turning to Him? So it seems like they have essentially given up hope. Now the second part of the chapter is a little bit different. because it focuses on two men, Shebna and Eliakim, and it provides a contrast, and it sort of follows after this description of the response of the people of Judah. And so we see something similar, but we see it being played out in a very individual and a very personal level. So let's begin looking here, verses 15 to 19. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, 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 an habitation for himself in a rock? Behold, the Lord will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. 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. And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall He pull thee down. " So this Shebna that is referred to, Shebna served King Hezekiah most likely at the time that Isaiah was speaking these words. His exact position is not fully certain. You see the word here is translated treasurer that he was described as, which could be something like a steward over the house under King Hezekiah. He's later referred to as a scribe, which would actually be a lower position than that of a steward or treasurer sort of position. So it seems like maybe perhaps he was a scribe who was promoted into this position. And what we see is that he was in a very high position. He had come to a very high position, but he thought more highly of himself even beyond that. In other words, he's hewing out this this sepulcher. Essentially, he wants to have his tomb among the kings. He wants to die and be laid to rest and be honored and be memorialized and all of these sort of things. So he thought very highly of himself, things that he did not deserve. And so in a way he's a very tangible, to that current audience, he's a very tangible representation of this unbelieving response to the Babylonian invasion in Jerusalem that would come later. He was faithless. Shebna is described and depicted to us here as one who was more concerned about his own memorial and his own legacy than the fate and the condition of the people he was supposedly serving. So he was a public figure. within Judah at that time. And he was more concerned about the perks of his office and being esteemed highly and all the rewards and everything that it could bring to him than he was the condition of the people when such prophecies as this are being spoken. We see that he was living under these prophecies of judgment and yet was busying himself with the building of this sepulcher. And he was told that he would be reduced. He's not going to inhabit it. He would rather be covered with shame and he would be cast away. And rather than being placed in a glorious tomb with a burial fit for a king, he would die in shame in some foreign land and sort of be tossed away as just so much garbage. He'll be removed from his high office and he'll be demoted to scribe before the Assyrian invasion actually occurred in 701 BC. Again, that's a very tangible representative to the people receiving this message at this time. But then we get the contrast. So here in verses 20 to 25, 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 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, 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, So Eliakim is who we have reference to later being over the household under King Hezekiah later in chapter 37. He took Shebna's place. So this proud and arrogant Shebna that had come to this high position and thought of himself so highly was going to be removed from it. He's going to lose. He's going to be stripped of all of that, and he's going to ultimately go on to die in shame. And not only that, but another's going to take his place, this Eliakim. And this is a place of real authority, and we can see it in the description here. And Eliakim is presented to us as essentially the opposite of Shebna. He's a faithful man. In fact, he says he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. That he will be concerning, and he will be serving the people during his time. He's also referred to as my servant. In Eliakim, we certainly see a foreshadowing of the Messiah who will ultimately deliver Jerusalem and the house of Judah. He would truly save Israel. My servant, that is a particular title, the servant of Yahweh. My servant is a particular title of the Messiah in Isaiah's prophecy that we're going to run into again and again. And so it certainly has that undertone, and we see even in the reference to, in that day, in reference to Eliakim. So there's an undertone here that's looking far beyond to the coming of the Messiah. And he had the key of David. Essentially, he opened or closed access to the king's presence. In other words, he was sort of the the final appeal as far as presence to the king. And these are the very words that are applied to Christ in Revelation chapter 3 and verse number 7. And they refer to essentially an ultimate authority. So obviously speaking of the coming messianic kingdom there. Eliakim, it goes on to say, will be like a peg or a spike that's fastened to a wall, and it's going to be secure so that it will carry the hangings of the house. And so there's a description here of some permanency that Eliakim will come to this position, and there's going to be a real sense of kavod, and that's used a couple of times here in the word for glory. There's going to be a real sense of kavod with Eliakim in Hezekiah's house. But then we see by the end, in verse 25, and again in that day, the blessings that will come for Eliakim's sake are ultimately going to fail. In other words, with this contrast between Shebna and Eliakim, Jerusalem is still not yet going to be delivered from that Babylonian invasion. That peg that was so securely fastened, that spike that was secure and able to bear a load in the wall, is going to come out. It's going to fail. And ultimately this ends by pointing out the failure of the flesh to deliver and obviously points Judah to God and to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, as ultimately their salvation. Well this chapter pronounces coming judgment and then goes all the way down to this individual level at the end of this chapter, quite unique in that regard. Shebna was, of course, caught up in his own promotion, and he was worried about his own comfort, and he's worried about his own image, rather than the judgment coming on Judah. And remember, that judgment coming on Judah, the vision of it, caused Isaiah to wail and weep and cry and lament publicly. and say, turn away and don't try to comfort me for the terribleness of what was coming. And yet, Shebna was one caught up in making himself this beautiful tomb fit for a king and all of these sort of things. And ultimately, he's told what? He's told, you're going to die. And all of your works are going to be destroyed. And all these things that you think that are going to be left behind, that are going to make your name great in history, are going to be forgotten. And then with the contrast of Eliakim, even the faithfulness of Eliakim provides us a lesson. And that lesson is about the very temporary nature of this present life and this present world. I mean, Eliakim was a relief for Judah and Jerusalem as compared to Shebna before him. But it was only going to be temporary. Even though for the short time it would be great, but it was only going to be temporary. And so really, this chapter, I think it presses this question on us. In light of this reality, the reality of coming judgment, what kind of people should we be? And that is something that Judah and Jerusalem were being called to consider. What kind of people should you be? Should you be faithless, despairing, trusting in the flesh kind of people? Should you be faithless people that is giving in to just simply feasting and tomorrow we die sort of philosophy? What kind of people should we be? Well, obviously Isaiah depicts one of those type of people that we should be. And Eliakim gives us another picture. In other words, it's a call for us and something that we need to be called to. And that is to consider what is it that truly matters? There's so many things that we have to do, so many things that we have to keep up with. And in many ways, life today can be very complicated with so much going on and all these sort of things. There's a lot of things we have to do. But what truly matters? What should we focus and invest our time and our energy and our resources in? And obviously there is a real concern that we should have for the state of our souls before God. Because sooner or later, this party is over. And then comes the time of reckoning. And just like this message to Shebna, who lived and died in unbelief, judgment is all that awaits him.