“I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will be a seat of honor for the house of his father. All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots — all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.” -Isaiah 22:20-24
Who is this passage talking about? Actually, in context this is what God says about Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, replacing Shebna who is in charge of the palace in Jerusalem.
But it’s also a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ:
I’m reading in Revelation 3:7, where Jesussays that he holds the key of David, that what he opens no one can
shut, and what he shuts no one can open, the same verbiage used in the passage above. Earlier, in Revelation 1:18, Jesus says he also holds the keys of death and hell. Also, it may be said that he holds the keys of life and heaven, since he is the way, the truth, and the eternal life.
So the message of encouragement is this: For those of us who believe that Jesus Christ has saved us from eternal death and brought us to eternal life, He has shut the doors of death and hell; he alone is in control of them, and that not even the devil himself can steal us away and drag us into hell. Not only that, but Jesus has also opened up for us the gates of life and heaven, and not even the devil can rise up and keep us from walking through, because Jesus himself brings us in with the full authority of the Father by the way of his blood shed on the cross. There is nothing that can drag us into hell nor keep us out of heaven! Let us just be obedient and answer the call of Christ with, “Yes, Jesus, I believe in you, trusting that your sacrifice has paid my ransom from sin, and that on the day of judgment you will bring me into eternal life with you.”
