News and Updates
April 1, 2022
David Copeland · April 1, 2022
Newsletter · Volume: 22 Issue: 4
Isaiah 22:15-23
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts:
“Go, proceed to this steward,
To Shebna, who is over the house, and say:
16 ‘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 a rock?
17 Indeed, the Lord will throw you away violently,
O mighty man,
And will surely seize you.
18 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.
19 So I will drive you out of your office,
And from your position [e]he will pull you down.
20 ‘Then it shall be in that day,
That I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah;
21 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.
22 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.
23 I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place,
And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.
This month’s email newsletter is a little longer than normal, but I want to go back and review what we have been discussing these last few months as I believe this is a strong word for this hour.
This prophetic word came to Isaiah during the reign of King Hezekiah, during the time in which Sennacherib & the Syrian army had begun to surround Jerusalem “laying siege” to the city. When an enemy would surround a city, they would build embankments of dirt & stone around the city up to the tops of the walls, essentially sealing the city, so that one day they would simply walk up and jump the walls and take over.
The people seemed to be ignoring the prophecies and the impending doom that was coming and Isaiah felt he was the only one left who was concerned with the coming captivity & annihilation of Jerusalem. It was almost like the people had the mindset, “if you ignore it long enough, maybe it will go away.”
Then in verse 15, the Lord narrows the Word down to deal with two persons: Shebna & Eliakim.
Shebna was a man who some writers believed could have been an Egyptian who had risen to prominence in the administration of King Hezekiah. Shebna represented those who wanted to depend on men’s ability to save & protect the city. He had built himself a reputation (as steward of the King’s house & treasuries) and wanted people to know long after his death he was an important man (this is evidenced in him building himself a giant sepulcher). It’s also very possible Shebna could have misused some of Hezekiah’s funds to build his tomb.
Shebna, in Hebrew, means “to grow strong, vigor” Or it could be said, he was a man who depended on his own ability and strength to gain success and notoriety.
Eliakim, in Hebrew means “a man whom GOD sets up, a set man” Eliakim, who represented those who wanted to repent and turn totally to the Lord, was a man completely sold out to God.
When reading scripture, we must remember three key points:
1.To keep this passage (and all scripture) in context. This is specifically a prophetic word for Jerusalem and for Israel in Hezekiah & Isaiah’s day. Remember to keep it in the time in which it is given. God is addressing needs and situations of that time.
2.This is also considered by many Bible scholars to be a Messianic passage foretelling of Jesus’ first coming; Him almost being installed as King in that day, being a nail in a sure place; but then being “cut off” representing His death.
3.Thirdly, is God speaking to us in this passage? How does it apply to us to the time in which we live?
Here is what I am sensing at this moment:
1.There IS an unusual increase in the “changing of the guard”. I know, some will say, that’s not a prophetic word! People are dying every day! But we have seen a rash of spiritual fathers & mothers go to heaven over the last few years that tell me, God is re-arranging leadership. This will increase. The most famous ones in 2021 being: Luis Palau, Carman, David Yonggi Cho, Marcus Lamb. In recent years, Billy Graham, Reinhard Bonkke, & Myles Monroe are just three that went to heaven who greatly impacted the Body of Christ world-wide.
In my own circle, there have been many younger ministers that I personally know who were not widely known in the last year who have gone to heaven. Many it seems, before their time!
This changing of the guard signals the need for us to constantly check our motives and our hearts and make sure we are not trying to build something that will be a monument to our name. Are we truly building His Kingdom and a work that will remember HIM? Or are we attempting to build something that will live on longer than we do, just so our name won’t be forgotten when we are gone?
2.God is setting in place a people for such a time as this. The Book of Esther comes to mind every time I hear the Lord drop that phrase in my heart. We could have been born at any other time in history, but God saved us for this time; a time which needs men & women like those of Issachar who will understand the times and know, by the Spirit, what we should do.
3.God is removing those who have laughed at, persecuted us, belittled the anointing on our lives and giving us “our chance” to do it right in His eyes. Promotion should never make us full of pride and arrogance, because promotion does not come to you because you deserve it; rather it should humble us! I cannot stress enough this massive change in leadership happening around the world is revealing “the shaking of all things that can be shaken, so those things that cannot be shaken will remain.” Hebrews 12:27
4.GOD is continuing to restore the understanding of spiritual fathers & mothers…and the need for spiritual fathers & mothers in the Body of Christ. Vs 21b “…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.”
God never wanted us to devolve into 35,000 different denominational structures in the Body of Christ. His will has always been that we be one, even as the Father & Jesus are one (John 17:21). American Christianity (as well as the entire Western culture) doesn’t seem to embrace the family concept that the Scriptures reveal. Eastern civilization embraces the understanding of family and its importance in all of life. It doesn’t take a prophet to show us the destruction of the family unit in our nation has created the ills our society battles to this day. America can trace the roots of its problems to a lack of fathers in the home. I’m convinced our rejection of spiritual fathers & mothers are a root cause of the dysfunction we see in church circles today. But the last words recorded that God speaks in the Old Testament tell us,
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5,6
Fifthly, God is releasing an authority on His people we have not known till now. It’s on the church for such a time as this. Vs 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.” Again, I know, the church as well as individual believers have had authority since the resurrection of Jesus; we just haven’t operated in it.
This passage is also directly connected to and quoted by Jesus in Revelation 3:7,8 that I have been declaring for the last several years. “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; 8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it:”
This open door involves 3 things:
1.Greater anointing & authority to Preach the Gospel. People need someone to give them the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! So many people have lost hope during this pandemic, but we, the people of God, are not hopeless. Our God is still the God of all hope!
2.Have success in what GOD has called us to do. Not a success based on the current model of church leadership; a success based on the truth we are the family of God and His plan is NOT for the earth to be a habitation of devils and chaos: the earth is to be the footstool of God. The place He can come down to and fellowship with His sons & daughters who are reborn of His Spirit. Not a success based on our strength or abilities, but God’s strength and His abilities.
3.Enlarge & expand the Kingdom of God (this is the most important). Paul told the Corinthians church (2 Corinthians 10:16) that he prayed for their faith to be enlarged so they could help him… “To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.”
May God help us to pursue this key of David!