15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him:  16 What have you to do here and whom have you here, that you have hewn here a tomb for yourself, you who hew a tomb on the height, and carve a habitation for yourself in the rock?  17 Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you,  18 and whirl you round and round, and throw you like a ball into a wide land; there you shall die, and there shall be your splendid chariots, you shame of your master’s house.  19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station.  20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,  21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.  22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.  23 And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house.  24 And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons.  25 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.” Is. 22:15-25

Shebna is the ultimate unfaithful servant, while Eliakim is a type of Messiah.

Shebna liked the ostentatious pretensions of office. Beyond that, He liked the pagan habit of tomb building for important people and the pomp and ceremony, of great political power. His excesses are spelled out in the passage. This is what God takes exception to. For it demonstrated that he was not capable of wielding the power he was entrusted with as the steward of the king. It takes a man truly in control of himself to be a great leader. Instead of minding the kingdom properly, Shebna was busy riding in a chariot, wearing the robes and insignia of his office, and building a great tomb. All but the tomb ended up in Babylon.  He had forgotten who had given him his office. Politicians have not changed, today they have new ways to demonstrate such ostentatious self-aggrandizing displays, they build bridges, dams, roads, museums, etc. with their names on them, for posterity, and for the people of course; no, no, not for votes. Like Shebna they all want to be remembered, so too often they waste resources on ostentations and monuments instead of paying attention to what is needed. Hezekiah was looking at the invading armies of Assyria and this fool was building a tomb, so he would be remembered. He’s remembered all right, for being a fool.

At some point not covered in [2 Kings 18] Shebna whose name meant oath or promise is cast aside for Eliakim whose name means God will establish, he is the son of Hilkiah whose name means my portion is the LORD, who may or may not have been the same as the high priest Hilkiah at the time of King Josiah [2 Kings 22:8]  Eliakim is given all the marks and robes of office.  Among these is the key of the house of David, so that he can have the power to act to save Judah from the Assyrians, but as the passage states at the end they are only buying time, judgment is coming and all will be lost. They were only safe until Hezekiah was gone. Then they went back to doing what is evil in the eyes of the LORD.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time?  Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’  and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with the drunken, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know,  and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Matt. 24:45 -51

We are not sure of exactly what part Eliakim played at the court of Hezekiah. The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah were lost when the Babylonians destroyed the city and palace. The passage states that he has the key of David, just as Messiah does in Rev. 3. So Eliakim is a type of Messiah, what he says gets done. What he establishes comes to pass. What he sets in motion continues until it has run its course. His fixed points remain fixed for all eternity.

And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. Is. 22:22

The Church of Philadelphia

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:  ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens. Rev. 3:7.

The prophecy of the church of Philadelphia is about the church of the Reformation. Just as Hezekiah had brought Judah out of her idolatry way, the Reformers had started the process of cleaning out the churches of her many corruptions and idolatrous practices. The key of David refers to the conditions of the time in that nothing was impossible for this church. The church of Philadelphia’s doors were wide open, meaning that they would spread the Gospel to the world, while the doors of persecution were shut. Missionary Societies were born in all the Western nations. They sent Missionaries to every corner of the globe. No, they were not perfect, they transferred far too many bad Western ideas. However, their intentions were pure and souls were saved.

The Church of Laodicea

Now we are the church of Laodicea. The great Missionary Societies are mere shadows of their former selves. The congregations that back them have turned inward.

14  “And to the angel of the church in La-odicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. 

15  “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!  16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.  17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  18 Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.  19 Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent.  20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.  21 He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” Rev. 3:14-22 

We have shut the door ourselves, we have locked God out, after all, He is too controversial. We have thrown away the key, and gone back to the pagan keys of Janus and Cybele i.e. St. Peter. We have neglected to continue the work that the Reformers started and instead of removing more corruption and paganism, we have brought the formerly removed stuff back in.  It is Ecumenical you know.  

We have been told we can’t pray in public, so we don’t. We have been told to take down the Ten Commandments, and we do.  It really shouldn’t matter if you have hidden them in your heart. Teach them to your children, stand up, and recite them. We have put them back into our liturgy, it is amazing what it does for the congregation. We are the temples of the Holy Spirit, stop bringing pagan things into your temple.  We think no one sees what we have dragged in, or what we have painted on our walls, after all, it is just decoration. We think that no one can see into our temples. Never mind that they are the same abominable things that Judah had profaned the literal temple walls with. [Ezekiel 8.] The dispensationalist teaches that the law has passed away, so since there is no law it must be OK.  Weeping for Tammuz i.e. Lent, worship Ashtaroth, i.e. Gaea, the mother goddess, celebrating Saturnalia i.e. Christmas. And God forbid that we should make some national treasure an object of veneration, Even though the Declaration and the Constitution are marvelous documents and everyone should read them, THEY ARE NOT HOLY WRITE. They can not even be understood without some knowledge of the Bible. One can not appreciate that we are created equal if one does not understand the creator. The only decoration your temple needs is the Word of God.

I have laid up thy word in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psa. 119:11

Shebna left nothing but an empty tomb, one that he never used. His wealth and chariots all ended up in Babylon, while Eliakim stands for all eternity as a type of Messiah. They stand as examples of the two kinds of people that are presented in scripture, the accepted and rejected, the loved and the hated, e.g. Cain and Abel, Sarah and Hagar, Jacob and Esau, Judah and Israel, the sheep and the goats, the virgins with oil and the virgins without oil, the faithful and the unfaithful servant, the whore and the bride. Make your choice, which will you choose to be?