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.
There is a man in the Scripture named Eliakim, in whom this prophecy may be partially fulfilled. But as we read this text it becomes evident that this Eliakim can be none other than Our Lord Jesus Christ. things are said of Him that can only have their total fulfillment in none other. Consider verse 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." This is the exact Verse Jesus quoted about himself in Revelation 3:7 "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth." So Instead of focusing on this man as an OT king I want to see how this prophecy has its greater fulfillment in our Lord Jesus Christ.
I think the best place to start is verse 23, "I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place." In underdeveloped countries, it is still common to have a series of pegs or nails in every home you go into. It is a cost-effective way to store things in the house. In every room of the house, there are pegs, in the bedroom for clothes, over the windows for curtains, in the kitchen for utensils, pots, and pans. This would have been the case in Israel at this time as well. The image that came to my mind was one of these nails. It is said to be in a sure place, when we read these verses it is no wonder it had to be in a sure place, there were going to be so many things hung from this one nail that if it weren't strong and the place where it was driven sure, then it wouldn't be able to bare the load.
The verse before and after verse 22 shows all the weight this nail bore. It bore the "robe" of Judah (that is who the Prophet has been addressing). Didn't our Lord bare the robe of Judah? He is the lion of the tribe of Judah! That is quite a responsibility, to be the scepter promised back in Genesis 49. Then there was a girdle, this girdle is a symbol of the priesthood, he wasn't a Levite, no he was after the order of Melchisedec, that priest before the priest hood, the king of Peace, and we know that Jesus is the "Great high priest." Upon him is the government as well, Isaiah has already revealed to us such a man back in chapter 9:6a, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder..." Then another weight is added to the nail in the sure place, "He shall be a father." Who else could this be other than the promised child, Emmanuel? Isaiah 9:6b describes him as "The everlasting Father." No one could bear these responsibilities, and fulfill them other than our Lord Jesus Christ, any other man, in any other place would fail, they would bend under such pressure, misuse such power, and ultimately fail the test but Our Lord is almighty and that means all that the father could place on him he could bare, he is a nail in a sure place!
Yet, "the glory of the house of his father" is not the only thing that seems to be hanging on him. There are some darker and less glorious things hanging on this nail, "The offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons." Upon this man, Jesus Christ has hung the sins of the whole world, the offspring, and all our issues, not just small vessels of sin, but large ones as well. When Christ became sin for us, it wasn't just for the Small vessels like Spurgeon whose greatest sin was a lie here and there. No, even "even to all the vessels of flagons." Those men whose lives were not cups of sin but vats of sin. The cup that Jesus drank down, was a cup made up of mine and your sins and all the offspring of mankind, some added their cups and some their gallons but all of us contributed to perhaps the greatest load this nail would bear, our sins. No wonder they called him the man of sorrows. Any lesser man, or being would have failed at this point, buckled under the pressure, would have said, nevertheless not your will but mine, but not our Lord, he was a nail in a sure place, His prayer was Nevertheless not my will but thine and he drank it down the dregs of sin, bore it, became it! Oh, what a Savior!
In the Last verse, we see the fall of this nail. we shouldn't be surprised this nail fell, considering all that was hung upon it, yet mark the words carefully. It wasn't weakness that caused this nail to fall, "the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall." It was cut down, it was removed! No man took our Lord's life, he freely gave it! It wasn't the Roman empire that cut him down, nor was it Israel, nor was it me and you but by an act of God the Father and a sacrifice of God the Son, Jesus was given. When he fell all the things hanging on him came crashing down. The glory of God was turned into the image of a sin-cursed man, there lay his body, just like any other man who had suffered the wages of sin. The disciples all went home discouraged, their Lord and all his glory had been cut down; Their redeemer, their messiah, the one who held the keys of David, who was going to take the throne, the Septre of Judah, their Great high priest removed, cut down, oh glory that fell that day! Yet at the same time, our sins have fallen! Glorious day when all our sins were hung on the man hanging on the cross and he was cut down, down to the grave, down to death and with him fell into the grave all our sins! Never to be seen again. All of this seems bitter sweet until we consider what Eliakim means, The name Eliakim means "The God of Raising!" What a prophecy! The nail that was cut down was raised up! Today he bears the marks of sin, but not the weight of it, it fell into the grave when our Lord was cut down! His glory was cut down, but now he has raised and one day soon our Lord will spilt the eastern sky, step down on the Mount of Olives, retake his throne, and establish his Kingdom on this earth, in that day all the glories of God will shine through him on this earth, the nations of the world will bow down to him and in the world to come, New Jerusalem, he will be the light of that place and all that God has ever accomplished or will accomplish in any age hangs upon Jesus Christ. He is now, and forever more will be "A nail in a sure place!"
Dear reader, what are you hanging your hat on today? Where does your faith lie? If you are hanging the destiny of your soul on anything or any other person other than Jesus then that nail will bend and break and you will fall, all the way down to hell. Believe on him today! For He is Eliakim, "The God of raising," "A nail in a sure place."
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