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Isaiah’s vision of the cross. Isaiah 22

Todd tomasella: Is 22 begins with the vision of Isaiah, where there is a coming judgment of Judah. All spiritual vision comes to us when we are in a valley of trouble, destruction and despair. This is the experience of the cross of Christ.

Isaiah 22:6-8

6 And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

7 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.

8 And he discovered the covering of (removed the protection of) Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.

The Lord had called the people of Judah to weeping, mourning, baldness, stripping and sackcloth. These are all foreshadowing of times when we are called to take up the cross. The people of Judah refused the cross of mourning and stripping and chose for self and self-indulgence instead.

Todd tomasella said that this chapter is a picture of the key doctrine of the message of the cross named “redemptive withdrawal.” God removes His protective hand and turns the people of Judah over to the destructive hands of enemies, Elam and Kir. See verse 4 quoted above. God weeps for His people when turning over to the enemy has to occur. 22:4.

We are always being handed over to death for Jesus sake in order that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal bodies. 2 Cor 4:11. This is Redemptive Withdrawal.

Isaiah 22:12-14.

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:

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

14 And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you TILL YE DIE, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

There had to be a death to purge them of their wickedness. This is a foreshadowing of our own need to experience the cross in order to die to self, to be purged, purified, sifted, sanctified and grow in grace.

Shebna, steward or treasurer of the house of Judah, a type of Satan, had become the head of the house of Judah. So God told Isaiah to go and say some things to Shebna. See the 5 verses below:

Isaiah 22:15-19.

V15. Thus saith the Lord GOD of hosts, go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,

16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?

17 Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee.

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.

V18 is a foreshadowing of Satan’s self-destruction at the cross. John 12:31. Satan was and is being violently cast out by his own act of violence against Jesus at the cross. God’s only violent act of all time is the cross of Christ. At Calvary, Satan “hewed him out” his own burial place in the Rock, Christ crucified. See v16 above.

Is 22:19. “And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull thee down.” Satan and all his arrogant followers are taken down from the throne of self-thru the destruction of the cross of Calvary.

The remaining verses in Is 22 are about Eliakim, a type of Christ, who will come and take over Satan’s house and kingdom thru the cross. The whole thing, Satan’s position, his fallen angel followers, his possessions and his people (the entire “old man”) will “hang” with Christ when Jesus is nailed to that “sure place” at Calvary. All of Satan’s kingdom will be “cut off” thru the cross. The key of government which is put on Eliakim’s shoulders is the cross that Jesus shouldered and took up, for us and as us. The entire old man was crucified with Christ. Rom 6:6. Satan and his fallen angels were stripped off and spoiled at the cross. Col 2:15. Their stripping and spoiling of Jesus was His stripping and spoiling of them. Satan was defanged by his own act at Calvary. 1 Cor 2:6-8; Heb 2:14. The door way of the cross is a door which only Christ can open and shut.

Isaiah 22:20-25.

20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:

21 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.

22 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.

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.

24 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.

25 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.

To summarize, God removed His protective cover off of Judah and allowed Elam and Judah to attack. Shebna, a type of Satan, the steward and head of the house of Judah, was destroyed thru the attack of Judah by these enemies. Eliakim, type of Jesus, was hung and the entire weight of Shebna’s and Judah’s glory was taken down with Him forever at Calvary.

The valley of vision is a prophecy of Christ crucified, a death that “destroyed the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.