When God Pulls The Nail Out

Isaiah 22:25 February 5, 2023 A.M.

“When God Yanks the Nail Out”

This morning I want to start off by reading just one Verse. The last Verse of Isaiah 22. Verse 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.”

In this passage, Isaiah is prophesying about the coming Judgment for the Nation of Judah. The Babylonian Empire would invade their land, they would lay siege to the City of Jerusalem, many people would die from starvation and eventually the MAJORITY of the people, who were still living, would be taken away to the Nation of Babylon.

At the time this Chapter was written, Hezekiah was the king. And by his LEADERSHIP, the coming judgment was put off until after he died. 2 Kings 18:5 and 6 tell us,

“He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.”

But in the CABINET of King Hezekiah, there was a man by the name of Shebna. He held a very important job. He basically was the Household Treasurer for the King. He had been given this job during the reign of King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father. And as we’ll see in this passage, Shebna was a wicked, deceitful, and proud man and some Jewish historians believe he was actually a TRAITOR who conspired with Assyria when they attacked Jerusalem.

Before I get started this morning I want to say something. I believe as a PREACHER of the Gospel, it is my JOB to bring to you the Word of God. Without the Word of God we would ALL be lost. But, more than that, it is my JOB to RELATE THIS WORD to our LIVES. I could stand up here and read some scriptures. Maybe read a POEM. But I believe this passage that was written around 2800 years ago has a MESSAGE for you and I. So I want to bring a message this morning that I have entitled, “When God PULLS the NAIL OUT”.

Before we get into this message let’s go to the Lord in Prayer. Brother _____, would you lead us in Prayer.

When I built our house 15 years ago, I ordered a FRAMING KIT that was a lot like a GIANT ERECTOR SET. It was ALL METAL and it ALL SCREWED together. There are very few NAILS in our house. It’s a little stronger and has a better FIRE RATING being metal.

Now that’s fine and dandy until you want to hang something on the wall. You can find a stud but you’re NOT gonna drive a NAIL into it. So most of the time we use a sheetrock anchor. You know, you poke a hole into the sheetrock and then you push one of those pieces of plastic into it and then you run a screw into the plastic. That works fine until you get just a little bit too much weight on it and then .... everything falls to the ground. Yeah, we’ve broke a few picture frames through the years.

And basically that’s how this Chapter ends. We read Verse 25 earlier.

“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.”

This Verse is speaking about the LIFE of that wicked fellow SHEBNA. And I want us to see what led up to this Verse.

I. Look at Verses 15 and 16.

“Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,

16 What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?”

This fellow Shebna thought he had it made. He was making plans for the future dwelling place of his MORTAL REMAINS. In other words, he had built himself a TOMB for his body to be laid in when he died. But this wasn’t just a PLOT out at the local CEMETERY. No, this was a PLOT there among the HIGH SOCIETY. In that day, this was a display of significant power and wealth. Old SHEBNA was somebody and he wanted everyone to know it.