Isaiah 22:20-25

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

The above passage summarizes the prophecy that is referred to in that chapter as "the valley of vision". Although Eliakim was a real person living at that time, the prophecy extends further than the immediate fulfillment by Eliakim to a future and more glorious fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the first place, we have the name, "Eliakim", which in the original Hebrew means "whom the Almighty God raises up". The Lord Jesus Christ is that one raised up of God to be a horn of salvation (Luke 1:69). See also Acts 2:24, 3:26.

In the second place, we see that the government is committed into His hand, and that he shall be a Father to the people, reminding us of Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

In the third place, we see that unto Him shall be committed the key of the house of David. The purpose of a key is to lock something that is unlocked, or to unlock something that has been locked, and so we find that this One of whom Isaiah speaks has the power to open and to shut a royal entrance, for the house of David speaks of royalty and the promise of inheritance. The Lord Jesus Christ uses these very words to refer to Himself when speaking to the church at Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7).

In the fourth place, we see that this particular royal key has not been committed into His hand, but has been laid upon His shoulder, signifying that it is a burden that must be carried; it has a weight associated with it. We might consider possessing such a royal key to be an honor and a privilege - and so it is - but this particular key brings with it a tremendous burden: the burden of our sins.

In the fifth place, we see that He will be fastened as a nail in a sure place; and He shall be for a glorious throne to His Father's house. Christ is indeed the Nail fastened in a sure place, and so that sure place must needs be Calvary. The glorious throne speaks of things yet future, for humility comes before honor, and so the cross of shame precedes the throne of glory in God's plan of salvation (Philippians 2:6-9).

In the sixth place, we see that the fastened Nail was to be removed and cut down, and so it was. If Almighty God the Father fastened that Nail, then only Almighty God the Father could have removed it from it's place. So the Lord Jesus Christ was "cut off out of the land of the living" (Is 53:8) according to His Father's will.

Finally, we see that the burden that was upon that Nail is to be cut off. The burden speaks of our own iniquities which were laid upon our Blessed Savior (Isaiah 52:6) who was made made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13), and who His Own Self bore our sins in His Own Body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24).

Yes, those sins have been cut off; as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgression from us (Psalm 103:2).

TJA