Isaiah 22:22
22 And the key [maphteach] of the
house [bayith] of David [David] will I lay [nathan] upon
his shoulder [shakem]; so he shall open [pathach], and none shall shut [cagar];
and he shall shut [cagar], and none shall open [pathach]. KJV-Interlinear
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. ESV
Not much is
known about Eliakim and therefore we look to the meaning of his name and that
of his fathers name to obtain the purpose of this passage. He is not a successor of David, and was never
a king in his time, nor did he nor will he live in the final days of history, which
is the time frame of this passage. And
yet the keys to Davids house, are given to him so that he can open it up or
close it down at his convenience.
Only one person
has that authority. And that person is
the one and only legitimate heir to the throne, who is Jesus Christ.
He who has the
keys to the kings house, and therefore the authority over the kingdom, decides
who may enter and who may not. That is
the ultimate prerogative of the ultimate sovereign. And Jesus Christ decides the fate of all
people.
The rules for
entry into the kingdom are clear. One
has only to believe in Jesus Christ, and then entry is allowed. We call that salvation, of course.
And while the
world struggles to chart its own course through life, its efforts are futile,
because mans efforts have but one ending. And that ending is mans own self-destruction.
Were it not for
God, then all life would have ended long ago.
Satan set the
pattern for destruction, after his fall.
God had to restore the world in order to introduce humanity.
And humanity,
when it rejects Christ, simultaneously rejects God, and simultaneously rejects
truth, and simultaneously seals its own doom.
Humanity simply has no power or authority over life or death, nor
anything else for that matter.
The only things
that people have power over are their own thoughts and decisions, and even
those are handicapped in the wrong direction if truth is rejected. So man is his own worst enemy.
