# 30 2025 Dev. Isa.22:4. Grieving! Read all of chapter twenty-two first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Isa.22:4 “Therefore I said, ‘Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.’”
Grieving for his people, that is what the prophet does at his own prophecy. Grieving, in order to deal with loss, with change, and because people refused to listen to what is right and good! Sounds very familiar, does it not?
Isaiah 22 is a prophecy against Jerusalem, “the Valley of Vision.”
Vs1-7 This prophecy is about the time Sannacherib, King of Assyria, surrounded Jerusalem. The news of the army approaching threw the city into chaos and confusion. Apparently, the leaders fled at the news. They have been or will be captured. It is a day of the Lord; “The Lord, the Lord Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision…”
Vs.12-14 God called for repentance, but there was no remorse, only partying, “Let us eat and drink,” you say, ‘for tomorrow we die! The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: ‘Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for, says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.’” These were God’s people, like Christians are today, are we listening?
Vs.8-11 “The Lord stripped away the defenses of Judah, and you looked in that day to the weapons…” It appears that there was panic, not calling on the Lord. That is a situation that still exists today, we look to do all we can do on our own about a situation, but in the end, we find that God is in control. God dealt with Sennacherib. Amen!
Vs.15-25 Is a long section about Shebna who seems to be the top administrator in King Hezekiah’s government. He is the source of what is happening in Jerusalem, lack of faith, no remorse, not seeking God’s will. He will be replaced, Shebna’s authority will be given to Eliakim. “He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.” Eliakim here is a type of Christ; the authority of Christ, He alone has the authority to save and to judge. (Rev.3:7) God intervened and during one night He threw the solders into confusion and they killed each other, sending Sannacherib back to Assyria.
Alas, it will be only temporary, see v.23 referring to Eliakim, “I will drive him like a peg into a firm place”, everything depends on him.
V.25 “In that day, ‘declares the Lord Almighty, ‘the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down. ‘The Lord has spoken.’” God did not allow the Assyrians to destroy Jerusalem in 701 BC. But He did allow the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem in 586 BC. They had not learned their lesson, nor practiced what God had commanded.
“The Lord, the has spoken.” Today, God still speaks, through nature, through His Word, the Bible and through His church the body of Christ. Are we listening? May Jesus, by His Spirit, open our minds and our hearts!
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Heavenhigh 