In the sermon 'What Are You Doing And Who Do You Think You Are' by Scott Brown, the focus is on Isaiah 22:15-25 where two figures, Shebna and Eliakim, are used to illustrate contrasting approaches to leadership and legacy. Shebna, a self-indulgent official, builds a tomb for his own glory, representative of Judah's societal decay where leaders serve themselves rather than God. In contrast, Eliakim symbolizes Christ-like leadership, characterized by servitude and responsibility. The sermon underscores the consequences of seeking personal glory, highlighting God's faithfulness in replacing unfaithful leaders with those who reflect His character. Ultimately, it encourages believers to examine their own legacies, urging them to build for Christ's kingdom rather than personal acclaim.

We're going to be reading from 22 verse 15 on to the end of the chapter. Verse 15. Thus says the Lord God of hosts, go proceed to the steward, to Shevnah, who is over the house and say, What have you here, and whom have you here, that you have hewn a sepulchre here, as he who hews himself a sepulchre on high, who carves a tomb for himself in a rock? Indeed the Lord will throw you away violently, O mighty man, and will surely seize you. He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country.

There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots shall be the shame of your master's house. So I will drive you out of your office, and from your position he will pull you down. Then it shall be in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your responsibility into his hand He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder so he shall open and no one shall shut and he shall shut and no one shall open I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place and he will become a glorious throne to his father's house They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity from the cups to all the pitchers.

In that day, says the Lord of hosts, The peg that is fastened in a secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken." Let's pray. O Lord, we come before You this morning in the name of our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, and we thank You, Lord, that we have this opportunity to worship You, to hear Your words preached and spoken. Father, we pray today that you would help us to leave this place with a deposit of your word in our hearts, Lord, that this would not just be a regular Sunday where we've gathered just to come, but Lord, that you would give us an understanding of where we are, the time in which you have us, that we would be awakened, O Lord. And Lord, we ask you today that we would take warning also from what we hear of this man, Shabna. Lord, that we would be able to search our hearts and Lord, repent of these areas in our hearts, Lord, where we see likeness to Him.

And Lord, also when we consider this man who is but a shadow of our great King and Lord Jesus Christ, that we would take comfort in Him, the secure peg, Lord, in a secure place. Lord, that we would find our identity in him and that we would Run to him today. We ask you as mr. Brown comes to to preach that you would anoint him Lord that you would touch his mind and Lord also open up our hearts that we would be concentrating on every word spoken that we would be attentive and That you would speak to us and reason with us from your from your word today. We thank you so much that we we are here Lord as the word is opened open our hearts and our minds to hear Your voice.

We pray, amen. Isaiah continues to give us a picture of life in the valley of vision. That really began in verse 1, and he's really still speaking about the same thing. But he's giving an illustration now, illustrations of two people that are in the valley of vision. And Isaiah's been explaining how the people of Judah have been saying, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

And he's really explaining what life is like in the Valley of Vision. There's partying when there should be repenting. There's laughing when there should be mourning for sin. They don't know what it means that Jesus spoke of when he said, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. They just don't know that at all.

And Isaiah is speaking to this, and he's speaking about what's lost as a result of this whole mentality that has taken root in the valley of vision, the place where God has spoken, the place where the prophets rose up and they spoke the Word of God. The place where the temple was there, where you could worship God, the place of the people of God, the place of the blessings of God. There in the valley of vision something has been lost. And One thing that has been lost is that they end up with a whole society of leaders that don't care about them, that they only care about themselves. And they're not shepherding, and they're not tenderly feeding the flock.

And that's the condition that we find here. And this happened even in the Valley of Vision. And so Isaiah begins his words to Judah in this whole chapter right at the very beginning by saying, What ails you now? In other words, what is up with you? You're being destroyed, but you're on your housetops, and you're partying.

And he says, the noise of your partying in your joyous city is rolling, but your men are being flamed. What's up with you? Don't you understand what's going on around you? Now in verse 16, in the second section, he asks another question, what have you here and whom have you here? In other words, what are you doing and who do you think you are?

You'll see that's the title of the sermon. This might be the longest sermon title you've ever gotten out of me. What are you doing And who do you think you are? You'll see that's the title of the sermon. This might be the longest sermon title you've ever gotten out of me.

What are you doing? And who do you think you are? That's the searching question. You see how Isaiah's structuring his words by these two questions. He does it at the very beginning in verses 1 and 2, and then he continues on here in verse 16 and now asks another question.

And you know, they've been trusting in their weapons and their water and their walls, and verse 8 says that the protection has been removed. And so in the midst of all of this, God does something to Isaiah again. Remember, God did command Isaiah to go naked, to declare the nakedness of the people. But now God commands Isaiah to do something else. He actually commands him to go to a man, to go directly to an official, an important official in Judah, a political leader.

And God commands Isaiah to go straight to that man, to look him in the eye, and to rebuke him and tell him what is going to happen to him. It's really a very dramatic moment. I'm struck by all the dramatic moments in Isaiah. There are all these moments in time that are so weighty and so remarkably instructive. But here, Isaiah is going to go to a powerful official and he seems to be the second in command.

His name is Shabna and he goes to him and he prophesies that there's going to be a violent end to his life. And Shabna is a representative example of the rest of the people in Judah who don't look to their maker, they don't mourn for their sins, they're laughing when they should be repenting. So Isaiah moves from a national disclosure of what's going on, that they are the way that I just described. And now he shows how it's manifested in an individual, in a leader, in someone who has been placed in a position of authority. And so the words that are spoken here really relate to all those who are in authority.

This passage of Scripture does touch on the whole matter of representative headship or federal headship. Those who are in authority and what they do with that authority. And we have many fathers and many husbands here who are representative heads of their families. And they do have authority and they are heads. And so this passage of Scripture speaks to this matter of what can happen to someone who has been placed in a position of authority.

And God commands Isaiah to go to that man and tell him what's going on in order to rebuke him. And so, Shebna here is a representative example of one who does not look to his Maker. What does he do? He looks to himself. He cares for his own glory.

He's building his own kingdom. He's building his own legacy. Pretty much the only thing he cares about is his reputation as it goes on. And so everything he's doing while Rome burns is to build his own reputation after he's dead. And he wants glory and honor here.

He wants the praise of man here instead of the favor of God here and forever. And so there's this physical and personal example of a man who has become confused by his worldliness. And what happens here in this section is that he will be replaced. He will be replaced by Eliakim. He will be replaced by another man who actually has the qualities of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In this man you see a type of Jesus Christ. And Shebna is a type of the worldly man whose portion is this world, whose reputation is the only thing that he cares about. And, Eliakim is a picture of Jesus Christ, who doesn't care for himself. He's a servant of his flock. And he does many things for his flock.

So on the one hand you get this very stark, discouraging picture of one kind of leader, but on the other hand, you get a picture of your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You get an understanding of what He's all about. You know, what is He doing? And what is He living for? And, you know, I pray that, you know, today we would somehow be able to grasp both of these things, but particularly that we would be able to grasp the kindness and the beauty of Jesus Christ and What is he doing and who does he think he is?

And it's such a remarkable passage. Well, the outline is very simple in verses 5 through 19. We learn of Shebna and in verses 20 through 25, we learn of Eliah Kim. We first learn about the identity of Shebna in verse 15. Thus says the Lord, the Lord God of hosts, go proceed to this steward, that's an important word, to Shebna who is over the house and say.

So Shebna is mentioned in many places if you want to study it later on, 2nd Kings 18 18, 2nd Kings 18 26, 2nd Kings 18 37, 2nd Kings 19 verse 2, Isaiah 36 verse 3, Isaiah 36 verse 11, and in verse 22 in that same chapter, and Isaiah 37 verse 2. He's a scribe and he has very important duties and he was most likely acting as a secretary of state. He was in charge of writing and documenting and preparing decrees in the name of the king and he was discharged with with important duties. He was a man of high authority and influence. He was appointed by Ahaz and now he seems to be serving in the court of Hezekiah and then something happens to him.

But he is a steward. In other words, he's one who is managing things that had been entrusted to him. You know, a steward is a person who does the best he can with whatever he has to serve his master. That's what a steward is supposed to do, and he takes every talent, every thought, everything that God has given him in order to serve one Master. And so Isaiah is coming to this steward who has authority over enormous resources.

And it would be like a Christian leader today going to the vice president or the secretary of state and to look them in the eyeballs and rebuke them. And to rebuke them for their self-indulgence. Imagine going after the Secretary of State of the United States of America and rebuke them for their self-indulgence and tell them that God is going to wrap them up and throw them like a ball into Never Never Land. How about that? How respectful would that be?

How would that be honoring your civil magistrate? Well, Isaiah is commanded by God to do this very thing. I do recognize that Isaiah does his act of obedience in a manner of honor and respect for the authority, but he does speak the truth to that authority. So we're looking at what self-sufficiency looks like in this man. And so There's this real person in history, identifiable, he worked for two kings that we know of, and Isaiah asks this question, it's a searching question.

What have you here, and whom have you here, that you have hewn a sepulcher here, as he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, who carves a tomb for himself in rock." So he's pointing out what he's doing. You know, what have you here? In other words, what are you doing? Look what you're working on. You know, consider what you're doing with your life right.

Rome is burning and you're building a sepulcher for yourself? What are you doing? And he's confronting him there. And then he points out who he is. And he says, and whom have you here?

In other words, who do you think you are? Who do you think? You're a steward. You're not here to work for yourself. Who do you think you are?

Who do you think? You're a steward. You're not here to work for yourself. Who do you think you are? And the phrase is a little bit like the question that we encountered at the beginning of the chapter.

What ails you? In other words, what's wrong with you? What sickness? What kind of cough have you caught? And are you serious?

You know, what ails you? Isaiah is now coming to this man, and he's saying, what have you here? What are you doing, and who do you think you are? And he is an example, a personal example of a national reality where people are partying when they should be praying and they're laughing when they should be repenting and mourning for their sin. And here, Isaiah is giving us a distinct picture of what sort of happens to you when you're like that.

And you start exalting yourself, and you quit serving your Master, and you start serving yourself. And so, what we learn here in verse 16, what he's doing, he's hewing himself a sepulcher on high. Now there are two different words in verse 16, if you can see them there. There's the word sepulcher and there's the word tomb and they are two different words. Sepulcher just simply means a place, a burial chamber.

While tomb has other implications added to it, it's a dwelling place. A tomb is often translated tabernacle. And so there's this whole picture of renown that Shebna is trying to create for himself. And verse 16 makes it clear that he is carving an ornate tomb. The word carves there, he's carving, it indicates an ornate engraving.

It means to inscribe, to portray, to engrave, to mark out. And it even carries the idea of making a decree or a statement. It's sometimes translated one who decrees or a law giver. It has to do with declaring how great and marvelous you are and putting it on your tombstone so everyone will know how wonderful you were. You know, you've perhaps walked through graveyards and looked at the different inscriptions.

It's something you ought to do and see what people say about themselves or what their family members say about them. And sometimes, you know, you get The idea that what someone said about themselves might be different from the reality of what other people might say about them. But if you have control over your gravestone, you might praise yourself. Well that's exactly what Shabna wanted to do. He wanted his legacy to be known by his own words.

He wanted to talk about himself, not have other people talk about him. You know, the Bible says, let another man praise you. You should not be writing your own tombstone. But this is exactly what Shemna wanted to do. He was most concerned about what people thought about him in the future and it was nothing nothing more nothing less than the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.

And he thought most of what people thought of him. He wanted to be known. His image, his legacy was his critical matter. You know, I know that many people consider their legacy and what their legacy might be. And it is a right thing to think about your legacy.

It's a natural thing. What will be my legacy? And what will we leave behind? What will we be remembered for? And we do that in many, many ways.

But here's the bottom line on legacy. The only legacy worth leaving is not your legacy. It's the legacy of Jesus Christ. It's the legacy of the work of the Spirit of God. It's the implanted Word that exists in people's hearts because you spoke the Word of God.

Because you are a man of the Spirit of God, so the Spirit of God worked in people for eternal purposes. But any legacy that's not a legacy of the Spirit of God is worthless, and worse than that, it will be destroyed. When we think about building a legacy, we often think like Shabna, that we would somehow leave behind us a testimony of renown about us, about what we did. And, Well, it will be true that we will leave a legacy of some kind. We will be remembered for something.

We need to ask ourselves what we'll be remembered for. Now, when we see the contrast in Eliakim, we'll see that He's remembered for something completely different. And He really is remembered by the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what you want to be remembered for. And we have great desires to make our names known.

When we're in Bible study on Tuesday, the speaker brought up by Psalm 49 where we read in verse 11, Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, their dwelling places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, a man, though in honor, does not remain. He is like the beasts that perish. This is the way of those who are foolish, and of their posterity, who approve their sayings, Selah.

Like sheep they are laid in the grave. Death shall feed on them. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling." We think that our houses and our lands and our things will somehow survive us. It doesn't usually work out that way. Because often we think of a legacy wrongly.

We think of it in terms of our legacy, rather than the legacy of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I think it's worth saying, you know, don't concentrate on leaving your children lands. Concentrate on leaving them the law of love. Don't concentrate on leaving your children in a state. Leave them treasures in heaven.

That's the only legacy that will survive. Anyone who desires to build their own legacy will find their legacy destroyed. And so you should always know whose legacy you're building at any time. Is it your own, for your own, glory, your own renown? Or is it for the renown and the glory of Jesus Christ?

But we learn that from Shedna here. And he was a worldly man. This world was his portion, and he wanted renown with man. And then we see his judgment. Well, God is going to replace him.

That's the first part of the judgment here, or the second part of the judgment. The first part is that he will be thrown out. Verses 17 through 19 is where we see his judgment. And verse 17, Indeed, the Lord will throw you away violently, O mighty man, and will surely seize you. So Isaiah is looking at this man in the eye and he's telling him that there will be a violent end to his life.

This is also part of the great testimony of Scripture where you find the rise and the fall of many. You see the rise and the fall of Saul and his replacement, David. You see the rise and the fall of many. You see you see the rise and the fall of Saul and his replacement, David. You see the rise and the fall of Haman and his replacement, Mordecai.

You see the rise of in the Tower of Babel where the people said, let us make a name for ourselves. And then they fell and and God, God, God replaced. God replaced them with faith, with the faith of Abraham. Now, this is the rise and the fall of a man, and this theme runs throughout Scripture. In the song of Mary, Mary the mother of Jesus, in her song, she speaks of how God will bring down the proud who feed themselves.

In Luke chapter 1 verse 50 through 53, you see it, she says, He has shown the strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. This is the pattern of God.

Anything raised up against God, any legacy that is your own, it will be thrown down. You can absolutely be guaranteed of that. And one man is appointed here in this chapter and another man is raised up. It's a story of loss of one kind of shepherd and the gain of another kind of shepherd. And the gain and the loss, it all hinges on how you answer the question, what are you doing and who do you think you are?

It all hinges upon that. Hey, that's the question for the morning. At least that's the first question. There's another question when we get to Eliakim. But this first question is, what are you doing?

And who do you think you are? And then we know that He'll be thrown away, verse 18, and He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball into a large country. There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots shall be the shame of your master's house." So the Hebrew language is really very interesting. He will violently toss you like a ball, but the language is He will wrap you up and He will throw you out. It's kind of a picture of a ball getting wrapped up, and just slung out there.

And He is destroyed into a vast place. It's a picture of judgment, it's a picture of rejection, and it is a picture of hell. Again, consider that this is a picture of being rejected by God and thrown into outer darkness. You know, there are many illustrations of this in the Bible. God would have us try to understand what it is like to be rejected, to not bow our knee to Jesus Christ, to build our own legacies, to care really only about our own glory.

He gives us a lot of different illustrations. It's not like he's kept us in the dark. And he's given us very vivid pictures, like a flood, and no is flood, like a pit, or a fire, or brimstone, or a furnace, chains, darkness, gloom, no rest, a lake of fire, cords entangling, a worm that does not die, a desolate country, thirst, anguish, under a flame. And now Isaiah 22, 17-19 gives us an additional image. It's like being wrapped up and wrapped up and thrown out like a ball, out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and you're just bouncing out in this desolate, vast emptiness.

That's another picture of what happens to those who turn from Jesus Christ and do not love his name. John Calvin, in his commentary on this passage of scripture, he tells the story of Thomas Moore, that Roman Catholic. He says Thomas Moore had the exact same office as Shebna, and he persecuted the church. He was burning the Reformers at the stake. He was a bitter enemy of the Gospel, and he gathered up Luther's works and he burned them.

But the thing about Thomas More, Calvin says, is that He very explicitly wanted the things that he did to persecute the church to be well documented. He wanted it to be written down. And he wrote praises of his virtue to be carved in a tomb which he built for himself so that he would have some kind of renown after his death. But what did he get for his pride and for his eagerness for renown? What did he get?

Well, he was accused of treason, he was condemned, he was beheaded, and instead of that nice carved tomb with all those fancy sayings about him, what was his tomb? It was the gibbet. That's what he got. And, by the way, it's interesting, two popes in the 20th century honored him. He was made a saint in 1935 by one of the popes, and he was praised in 2000 by one of the most recent popes.

But anyway, There are many places in scripture where the ungodly are thrown down. And we could itemize them, you know, in the Song of Moses you have the horse and the rider, you know, being thrown down into the sea. Jezebel is thrown out of the window. In Deuteronomy, you know, 28, you've got, you know, this rejection of the people of Israel. Satan is thrown down in Ezekiel.

Jesus cleanses the temple and throws out the money changers. And this pattern is throughout Scripture. Now Shedna is thrown out into this large country, and he's in a desolate place all by himself. And why is this going to happen to him? Because of what he's doing and who he thinks he is.

And that's the question, what are you doing? And who do you think you are? And then we learn in verse 18 and 19 that he'll be demoted. He says, I will drive you out of your office and from your position he will pull you down. So he's going to lose his office.

His quest for his glory is going to result in the loss of his glory. And so Shabna is demoted. And by the time the Rav Shaka from Assyria shows up, Shabna has been demoted. And now he's working for Eliakim. Eliakim, perhaps, used to work for him.

Now the roles are reversed. It seems like there might be a progressive judgment that's going on here. First he gets demoted and he's now an underlaying and then finally he experiences this terrible judgment of being thrown out. You know, you men who work for companies, everybody's jockeying for position, everybody wants to get to the higher level. And you see people trying to work the political system, how they might praise themselves, how they might slander their neighbor in the next cubicle so that they might rise just a little bit higher than the other guy.

You know this tendency to want to get ahead of the guy who's ahead of you. And this is a problem, because when you have a quest for your own glory, you don't get it. You don't get what you're looking for. God is the one who raises up and God is the one who takes down. You know, if a man in his corporation doesn't understand that, he's going to have a lot of trouble.

So anyway, Shedna is demoted and then he is exalted for a little while and then he is gone. Just like what Job said in Job 24, they are exalted for a little while and then they are gone. They are brought low. They are taken out of the way like all the others. They dry out like the heads of grain." And so there it is.

You know, Shabna wants to be somebody so badly, He does not understand what Jesus said in Luke 9, If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, But whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and himself destroyed or lost?" the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 10 said, Do not fear those who kill the body and cannot kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. This is something that Shabna could not see. Can you see it?

Do you see it? Well, it is here. The Lord Jesus Christ calls His disciples to die unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies. God calls His own saints to really to die to themselves and to care for their own, not for their own kingdom, but for His kingdom, not for their own legacy, but for the legacy of Jesus Christ. There is no legacy greater than that legacy.

We work so hard building our own legacies, and it's all for not. The only legacy that will stand is the legacy of Jesus Christ. You know, it's a good time for us to take stock. We who have thought much about building a legacy, let's take stock. Whose legacy have we been building?

That's one of the great lessons of Shabbat. You know, There's an illustration of this in the days of Elisha, of Gehazi. I would just encourage you to go read the story in 2 Kings 5, verse 20. It's a remarkable story. The short story is that Naaman is healed, he's a man of means, and Gehazi wants something out of him.

He wants Naaman to give him a gift so that he might feed himself. And he runs up to Naaman's place and asks for money in a way. And he comes back to Elisha and Elisha says to him, is it time to receive money and to receive clothing and olive groves and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants? Is it time for that? I think that question that Elisha is asking Gehazi is very much like the question that Isaiah is asking this man, Shabna.

What are you doing and who do you think you are? Is this the time to accumulate things like this? That's the question that he's asking. And so there's this picture of the man of the world who's building his own legacy. He desires to be first, he desires the preeminence.

I was very taken by the quotation that was given to us on Tuesday from Zinzendorf, Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten. Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten. And if you do, the Lord Jesus won't be forgotten. His legacy won't die. Your legacy will die and it should, but His legacy will live on.

Preach the gospel, die and be forgotten. So what are you doing and who do you think you are? Well now we turn to Eliakim in verses 20 through 25 and interpreting The disclosure here on Eliakim can be difficult only when you get to verse 25. Verse 25 causes enormous difficulty in trying to understand exactly what's being said here. What really is very clear is that we do have a type of Christ.

From top to bottom you can see it, except when you get to verse 25, it seems to be confusing. There are at least three interpretations. The first is that Eliakim started out well as a good representative of Christ and that not all types of Christ are perfect men like David and like Joshua and others. But at the end he fell in verse 25 And that while God promises to cast out Shem and replace him with Eliakim, but people began to place their trust in Eliakim and then Eliakim fell. That's one interpretation.

The other interpretation is that Eliakim is a type of Christ to the very end. And the third is that there really is no messianic connotation in Eliakim at all. But that he's a good example of how God replaces a bad leader with a good leader, how God is faithful. He does give help to his people when when an unfaithful leader is present. God will take that leader down and supply a better leader for them.

This was Calvin's view that Shebna is the bad leader and of course the good leader is Eliakim. But you have to answer this question by looking at verse 25 on the one hand, that's critical, but You also have to ask, you see in verse 20 and in verse 25, the words in that day. Do you see that? In that day. And you have to ask, are they two different days or are they the same day?

And then you have to ask, are there two pegs or is there one peg? So, for example, Is the peg that is in verse 23, the solid peg, and the faulty peg, are they different? Or are they the same? So those are the questions you have to ask in this. And so if you look at verse 20, you'll see, in that day, in that day I will call my servant Eliakim, and I will clothe him.

And then you read, and I will fasten a peg, in verse 23, it's Eliakim, and in verse 25, in that day, and then there's a pig also in that same verse. So, however you come down on this, The indisputable point that Isaiah is making is that if you keep your glory for yourself, you will be taken down and you will be replaced. That's one thing that's very, very clear. The Messianic imagery is so clear in this passage. It's hard to read it without seeing the connections all over scripture.

And so I think The way I understand that is that while it may be legitimate to interpret it this other way, or perhaps even a way that Eliakim is a man who fell, which by the way, if you look at the commentators, most of the commentators say it means that. So I think when you come to a passage of scripture and there are a lot of really different interpretations, humble yourself, cry out to God, don't try to be too fancy, try to understand the text, try to do your best, the best you can to lean your weight on what you know is absolutely solid in the text. So I pray that's what we will be able to do today. But let's walk through it here. There are so many obvious things that are real blessings for us to consider about Eliakim being a type of Jesus Christ.

And so that's the approach here. You can see it in the outline. If you look there, I have nine points in the outline for the identity of the lycan. First of all, he is a servant. Second, he's clothed with a robe.

Third, he's strengthened with a belt. Fourth, he's responsible for people. Fifth, he is a father. Sixth, he has authority. Seventh, he is a secure peg.

Eight, he is a glorious throne. And nine, glory will be hung on him. And then in verse 25, I'm going to suggest that there's a change, and that is, and verse 25 is speaking about Shemna, and that peg, that peg will be removed. Anyone who trusts in his own legacy or builds it will be removed, and those who hung their glory on those will also be dislodged that way. Okay, so let's begin with this first mark of identification here of Eliakim.

In verse 20, then It shall be in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah." So God raises up a servant. He is a servant. Shebna was a selfish governor, but he is replaced by a servant. This is the only person in Isaiah who's called a servant, and it's meaningful here. You know, you think about the servants of God that have come across your path in your life.

You think about the people who've cared for you. You think about the people who have taught you. And God here is declaring that He will take down the one who is serving Himself, and He will give you one who serves, who serves you. And in that sense, He is a type of Christ. Of Christ.

And then we see that he is clothed. He is clothed with a robe. And verse 21, and we'll clothe him with your robe. Now remember, Isaiah is speaking, he is speaking to Shabna and he is telling Shabna that he is going to have to take off his robe and give it to Eliakim. So there'll be a transfer of a robe.

And the robe signified identity. The robe signified a role. It's used many times as a mantle and sometimes as a robe. It was most likely a long garment that was that was worn with a looser inner garment. It was not worn by common people, it was worn by people in authority, by kings and by nobles and prophets and the rich.

And so this robe is going to be transferred from one to another. Notice also that God clothes them. He says God is going to clothe them with that robe. God is the one who takes down, and God is the one who raises up. When you have an unfaithful leader that's taken down, you'll have a faithful one come up in its place.

This is the way that God works. You never have to fear a leader coming down. Don't ever fear that. You might say, what happens if our pastors fall down? God will take care of it.

God will raise up another. That's one of the great points here. There are many ways that robes are used in the Bible. There's the long robe of pretension of the Pharisees in Luke chapter 20. There's the torn robe of sorrow in Job chapter 1.

There's the scarlet robe of mockery when they stripped Jesus Christ and put a scarlet robe upon him. There's the robe of righteousness in Luke 15 22. There's the white robe of the redeemed in Revelation 7 verse 9. But this robe is a robe of a transferring of a role, transferring of an identity. And so, here, when an unfaithful leader falls, God will make sure that He will anoint another in its place.

And then also He has strengthened, He strengthened with the belt. It says, and strengthen Him with your belt. So in other words, a belt is going to be transferred. First the robe and then the belt, this belt of protection and that type of thing. And it is strengthening, it's a strengthening thing.

So there's a new strength. Here's the strength of God given to your Savior, the strength that is His that becomes yours. And your strength is not your own, it becomes His strength. This is the beauty of what God does for His people. He will continue to strengthen His people through the one who can strengthen them.

And then we read that He is responsible, number four. It says, I will commit your responsibility into His hand. So Responsibility is given to him. In other words, when an unfaithful shepherd goes down, it's not that no one is responsible for you at all. God will raise up another one responsible.

God appoints people who will take responsibility. I think it's perhaps even an allusion to Hebrews 13 verse 17 that says, obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." And this is the idea of responsibility, that God does have it, that his people would have someone who's responsible for them, someone who will take account for them. This is a very difficult thing to do in our day, because most people really don't believe that elders, that they have any responsibility for them. They really think that they're just voices in their life, or maybe entertainers in their life, or profound instructors in their life.

But they don't think that they have somebody who's really responsible for their soul. But the Bible has it a different way. God does assign people who are responsible for others. And I mean, the elders of your church, we terrifyingly believe that we're responsible for you. And that if you walk away from the Lord, somehow you are ours.

You know, I received a call from a pastor far, far away about one of the young men who's in prison. And because one of those young men was a member of a church probably 500 miles away from him, he believed that he was responsible for that young man. He believed that he was a shepherd because he was a member of that church. Well, that's the whole warp and woof of life in the church is that there are people who you are responsible for as elders and responsible to. And Hebrews 13, six says something that I think shines light on this.

For he himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. So we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? And then he says, Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So there in that short section, the writer of Hebrews declares that God will never leave you or forsake you. And one way that He doesn't leave you or forsake you is He gives you those who rule over you, and they speak the word of God to you. And He says, follow their faith, and He says consider the outcome of their conduct. In other words, the fruit of their life.

Consider the outcome of their conduct. And this is one way that God shepherds His people. He gives leaders who have a certain outcome of their conduct in their life and in their family. And he says it's all part of the work of Jesus Christ. And he says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

In other words, Jesus Christ will always shepherd his flock. And he is responsible. Now, that responsibility is really defined here in the next quality. He is a father. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

And here is this disclosure of Eliakim as a father. Shebna was not a very good father. He was a self-indulgent man. But Eliakim will be a father. And he will have fatherly qualities.

And what God is saying here is that for his people he will cut down those who are not fatherly, and he will give you spiritual fathers in the faith. And it's such a remarkable picture. He shall be a Father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. You think about all the qualities of a father. Well, don't think first of all of your own father.

Think of God your father. That's where you learn all the greatest qualities. A study of the fatherhood of God will tell you the detail of what God is doing in your life, what He desires to be to you. When you read what's said about being a father, it's really shocking. You would think you would get this picture of this macho kind of man.

So much of The language about fatherhood is the tenderest language you've ever read. It's really amazing. Now there is strength in fatherhood. There is boldness in fatherhood. And there is dying in fatherhood, right?

Because the fathers die for those that are under their care, in the same way that a husband dies for his wife as Christ died for the church. So there is significant boldness in it. You know, when the Apostle Paul is speaking about the boldness of their own testimony, when they came to Thessalonica, the Apostle Paul rolled in with his troop in Thessalonica and they preached the gospel and They experienced enormous trouble there. But when the Apostle Paul is explaining what they were like, he says, we were like nursing mothers. We were like nursing mothers.

So a bold proclamer of the Gospel, a father, is like a nursing mother. How about that? Well, this is what is happening here to Judah. They had someone who wasn't much of a father at all, but they got a father. And they got a father in Eliakim.

And then also he has authority, number 6, verse 22, And the key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder, So he shall open and no one shall shut, and he shall shut and no one shall open." So this is authority, which is represented by the keys. The key represents government and it represents authority. And the key is also related to the stewards in the house. They are able to open and shut certain things. And Of course, this is quoted or referred to or alluded to in other places.

In Matthew chapter 16 verse 19, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to His disciples. And He says, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. The apostle John reports this same idea only in a very dramatic way in Revelation chapter 1 verse 18 where he says, I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death.

So the keys, you know, have to do with authority and letting people pass in and pass out. Revelation 3, 8 speaks of it as well. In the church, to the Church of Philadelphia, He writes, He who has the key of David. Who has the key of David? Well here it's Eliakim, but we know who has the key of David now.

It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why you have to say this is a type of Christ. It's explicitly interpreted in the New Testament who this is. And this is why Calvin is wrong when he says there's no messianic element. Revelation chapter 1, Revelation chapter 3 make it very clear that this is Jesus Christ.

He just forgot about that when he was writing about it. But he says, I know your works, see I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it, for you have a little strength, have kept my word and have not denied my name." So he has the key and there's a door that he can open and no one else can open or shut it but him. And there's so many implications to this. There are many implications for church leaders. The keys have to do with the authority of church leaders.

And there is authority that God invests in church leaders. This is something that people do not want to acknowledge today. And some are bound and some are shut out. And even in the matter of excommunicating from the church and not keeping company and all the things of discipline, there is authority that a church has. And there is authority that the elders of churches have who hold the keys of that authority.

And they are representatives of God. Shabna represented himself. Eliakim represented Eliakim represented God. And then we see number seven, we see that he is a secure peg. Verse 23, I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place.

It's like driving. He says, I will drive him. God is doing this. God is going to take him, and he's going to drive him as a peg, like in a wall. And it's like saying, you know, you can hang your whole life on this peg.

It's a secure peg. On Shebna, you cannot hang, you can't hang your hat on Shebna, because he only cares about himself. But Eliakim is a secure peg. You can trust him completely. You can hang on his every word.

You can hang your life on one word of Scripture. You can hang everything and trust Him in it. And you can know that if you do, the legacy will endure. And it will not be your legacy, it will be His legacy. And then He is a glorious throne.

He says, I will fasten Him as a pagan in a secure place, and He will become a glorious throne to His Father's house. He will be a place of authority, A place, you know, if you look at what the Bible speaks of when it deals with the throne, it's such a beautiful picture. He will be the throne. He will be the source of all authority. He will do His will in heaven and on earth.

And from His throne, the Lord Jesus Christ is praying for His saints incessantly, 24 hours a day. He's doing that right now. Are you having a bad day? Really you're not having a bad day at all. Jesus Christ is interceding for you.

He is on His throne. He's caring for you at all times. He's never left you. He's never forsaken you. He is on His throne.

And it does not stop. And then, glory, verse 24, the ninth quality. Glory will be hung on him. They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, and from the cups to all the pitchers. So here now the people are doing something here.

And Isaiah is reporting what the people will do. The people are going to hang on him their glory. He will be their glory and he will, he will, he will, they will hang on him all the glory that they have. You know earlier in Isaiah, Isaiah says, what will you do with your glory? What will you do with your glory?

And what he means is, what do you do with your life? What will you do with who you are? What will you do with what you've built? What will you do with your image? What will you do with your image?

What will you do with your glory? Where are you hanging your glory? Is it yours or does it belong to Him? Is it hung upon Him? And then we find Shebna.

Shebna is cut down, verse 25. In that day, in that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg that is fashioned in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken." And so this is the day that Shabna falls. And that day goes back to verse 23. Now Isaiah, I'm just going to suggest, is speaking of Shabna, not Eliakim in verse 25. You might have a different opinion about that.

But what we know here is that Eliakim is a good shepherd. Now let me give you some applications here. Question, am I in any way like Shedna? Are we feasters or fasters? Shedna is feasting and building his own legacy.

Eliakim is fasting and he's serving and he's like a father? Are we building our own legacy? I mean, the Lord has told us that we are not our own, that He's purchased us, and we are no longer our own. That He gave His life as a ransom for us. In other words, to buy us so that He would own us, and that we are not our own.

That We are bought with a price, as Peter says. And we have to recognize that He has purchased us. He's purchased every minute of our time. He has purchased all of our resources. He's purchased all of who we are.

And we are His. And we always should be asking, what, who am I building for? Am I building for myself even though I've been bought for a price? Somebody said, it's far better to die having your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life than to die with a fancy sepulcher with all your praises written on it. Here's another question.

What kind of head, federal head are you? You know, this is implied in the whole idea here of headship and leadership and responsibility. It's a term that we use, federal headship. It's really an understanding of government. It's the idea that a few people, very few represent a lot of people.

And what those few do have enormous consequences. And if they become self-serving, then those who are following them will be self-serving of others as well. But you know, you fathers, who are you? And who do you think you are? That's the question and As as a head of your family, you know, are you more like Shevna or Or is your legacy going to be more like Eliakim?

You know, God is so kind in revealing this to us. I'm reminded of Ezekiel 34, where God says that he will take down the unprofitable shepherds and he will give them a new shepherd. I want you to turn to Ezekiel 34. I just want you to look at a couple verses in here. Ezekiel 34.

The Lord comes to Ezekiel and he commands him to prophesy. He talks about unfaithful shepherds and they, you know, in verse 2, they feed themselves. In verse 3, they clothe themselves of finery. In verse 4, they don't strengthen the weak. In verse four, they don't heal the sick.

In verse four, they don't bind up the broken. They don't bring back what was driven away. And those sheep are often driven away by different things. They don't seek what is lost. In verse four, they're forceful, and they're cruel, and they're ruling of them.

And then the result is in verse 5, the sheep are scattered and they're wandering through the mountains on every high hill And they've been scattered on a dark and cloudy day. And there's a punishment for the shepherds. And God says, as I live, I'm going to take them out. But in verse 11, we come to what God will do for his sheep. And it's very, very much like what we've just read about Eliakim.

He does eight things for his sheep. First of all, he will search for them in verse 11. I will search for my sheep and seek them out. Secondly, he will deliver them. As a shepherd seeks out his flock, verse 12, on the day he is among his scattered sheep.

So I will seek out my sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. And then in verse 13 He will gather them and He will feed them. In verse 16, He will seek out the lost and He will bind up the broken, He'll strengthen the sick. And then a new shepherd will be given to them. In verse 23, you see who this shepherd is.

I will establish one shepherd over them and he shall feed them my servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. Now when he says my servant David he means Jesus Christ. And when Isaiah speaks about Eliakim and the keys that are given him, the keys of David, he is speaking of Jesus Christ. We've just encountered another disclosure of the name of Jesus Christ and how good He is.

And He says in verse 24, and I will be their God and my servant David a prince among them. And he says that he will bless them. Verse 26. I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will cause showers to come down in their season, and there shall be showers a blessing. Then the trees of the fields shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase.

And they shall be safe in their land, and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no longer be prey for the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore." Ezekiel is preaching over a hundred years later, and prophesying of this great and wonderful Savior that has been sent into the world. And so the question is, you know, what are you doing and who do you think you are?

And the other question is, What is Christ doing? And are you doing what He's doing? Is your legacy going to be His legacy? Or will it be your own? And even maybe more important, do you realize what a good shepherd this is?

Do you see how good Jesus Christ is to you, to give you shepherds? He's promised He would do this, and I guarantee you, He is doing this for all of His people. He will never leave you or forsake you. And you might find it that Leaders will rise and fall and rise and fall. But one thing you can always know, Jesus Christ is on His throne and He is ruling.

And He will care for His flock and He will take them to their final resting place, and He'll bless them forevermore. And so here we have this disclosure of Shebna, the one who wanted to make a name for himself, and Eliakim, the name of all names, the one you can hang all of your hopes. Would you pray with me? Lord, we thank you for telling your people from one generation to the next of the glory of your kingdom, of never allowing your people to forget how good you are. In the midst of discouraging moments, dark times, leaders falling all around, and yet you are such a good shepherd.

Lord, you're the only one we know to hang all of our weight upon. We thank you that we can. As men come and men go, you will shepherd your people. Amen.