By Tracing a particular word through the Scriptures we can often gain much in the way of exhortation, and at the same time have the simplest of all aids to remembering that same exhortation: a single word. The ‘nail’ is such a word which, in exhortational terms, has its foundation in the inspired comment of the wise man: “The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd” (Eccl. 12:11). A goad, in literal terms, is a device to encourage an animal to move forward. Exhortation should perform the same function for us in our walk towards Zion, for we are told to “provoke (one another) unto love and to good works . . . exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:24,25).
The source of such exhortation is of course the Scriptures, the Word of God, and especially Jesus, the Word made flesh. So in this sense Jesus is a ‘goad’ and a ‘nail’. We shall see shortly how that Jesus is the nail in Scripture, but we notice also that Ecclesiastes speaks of many nails. Just as Jesus is the good shepherd and the chief nail, so his disciples are also likened to nails which will comprise part of that city of the future which is made up of people: “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). The nail is an inspired theme for exhortation, which speaks to us of Christ, and also of those who will be Christ’s at his coming.
The nail cut down
Isaiah speaks very particularly of Jesus as the nail in a passage which is worth quoting at length: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and 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. 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.
And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. 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” (Isa. 22:20-25).
Firstly we note that the one who is fastened as a nail is Eliakim. His name means ‘El will establish’, and his position was chief of the household in the days of Hezekiah. Both his name and position are types of Christ, who is established by God and who is head of his household, and so from these facts alone it is clear that the Spirit in the prophet is directing our attention to Christ This is further confirmed by linking the words “government” and “shoulder” in verses 21 and 22 with an earlier Messianic prophecy in Isaiah: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder” (9:6). Notice also references by Jesus himself to this same passage in Isaiah when he declared that he is “alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18), and when he described himself to the ecclesia in Philadelphia as “he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth” (Rev. 3:7).
On his shoulders now and in the future, therefore, Jesus bears both the key to open the grave and the Divine prerogative to govern Israel and the world. We shall see in a moment that in order to achieve this Jesus had first to bear something else, something that rested heavily upon him. But for the moment we can be sure that the passage about the nail in Isaiah 22 concerns Jesus, so that in the words, “I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his Father’s house”, we see a prophecy of Christ in his future glory.
It is therefore something of a surprise, at first sight, when the passage continues by foretelling the cutting down of this same nail. I believe the explanation of this is that the passage is one of those in which the end, the object, the fulfilment of the vision is given first, followed by the means of achieving that end. This is a principle of prophetic interpretation that has always been recognised by Christadelphians, from Brother Thomas onwards. Isaiah 2 is perhaps a better-known example. The opening verses present the Lord’s house exalted in Jerusalem and the nations being educated in peace and righteousness. The remainder of the chapter displays the judgements of God by which man’s submission to Christ’s rule is achieved. Thus before the nail that God had fastened could be securely fixed so as never to be broken it first had to be cut down at his crucifixion.
Isaiah had prophesied that, at the time of cutting down, “the burden that was upon it shall be cut off”. Before the key and the government were placed upon Christ’s shoulders he bore for us the burden of sin’s flesh, that our cursed nature might be cut off and conquered through his death and resurrection. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. . . by his knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities . . . he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:4,11,12). What an exhortation of comfort and an encouragement to thankfulness is here in these prophecies!
In Jesus, the sin-bearer, we see our cursed nature overcome, we see redemption from the grave, and we see assurance of his future glory when the nail will be fastened in a sure place, never again to be cut down. Some words of Jesus himself which are related to this context of our deliverance through the sin-bearer also give us comfort and hope: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt. 11:28-30).
Let us never forget that through the work of Christ our calling is to partake in that future glory. So Isaiah associates the saints directly with the nail fastened in a sure place: “they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity. . . cups . . . flagons” (22:24). We are the offspring and the issue of the Lord’s redeeming work, the multitudinous seed by faith, and heirs of the promises to the fathers of Israel.
Thus “vessels of small quantity . . . cups . . . flagons” are symbols of the saints. This metaphor is used because in the natural world they are the kinds of vessels that are hung upon nails.
Notice carefully, the Lord in mercy is giving us here a vision of our future glory, for, by God’s grace, it is the “glory” that is hung upon the nail. But note also, after the pattern used in the metaphor, that the vessels hung upon the nail are totally dependent upon the nail for support Apart from the nail they would fall, be smashed, and destroyed as useless rubbish. Such is our relationship to and dependence on Christ. We are completely dependent upon him for our salvation, and apart from him we would fall and be broken to pieces. Let us be sure that we are always hung securely upon the nail that is fastened in a sure place.
The nail destroys Sisera
While Isaiah was inspired to portray the work of the nail as the sin-bearer, in Judges we find the role of the nail as the destroyer of sin presented most powerfully. Deborah and Barak were enabled by God to defeat the army of the Canaanites. The captain of the Canaanitish army, Sisera, fled from the battle as soon as he realised defeat was inevitable, and in order to hide from the pursuing Barak he “fled away . . . to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite” (Judg. 4:17). Jael agreed to conceal him, but she “took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it unto the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died” (v. 21). There is, of course, a definite allusion in this incident to the promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). In Isaiah 22 the nail was cut down, but only temporarily (the bruise in the heel), but through Jael the nail slays the enemy of God and His people, sin, embodied at that particular time in Sisera (the wound in the head).
Thus Judges portrays for us a beautiful little cameo of the destruction of sin and death by Christ. Seen in this light it is small wonder that the victory of Deborah and Barak produced such mighty rejoicing, which we can wholeheartedly echo as we contemplate the emblems of our victory through Christ week by week: “Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel” (Judg. 5:3). The same chapter also concludes the type by presenting the final accomplishment of the work of the nail: “So let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might And the land had rest forty years” (v. 31). As a result of Deborah and Barak’s victory Israel experienced the Kingdom in miniature, a forerunner of the time when “the Sun of righteousness (shall) arise with healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2), and when by God’s grace we shall enter into that “rest” which “remaineth . . . to the people of God” (Heb. 4:9).
The nail in the temple
The two aspects of the nail so far considered have taught and exhorted us concerning Jesus as the sin-bearer, the one who willingly bore our cursed nature, and concerning Jesus who, in the sacrifice of his sinless life, put to death that same nature. But the sacrificial work of Jesus thus portrayed was only brought to fruition when Jesus rose from the dead, triumphant over the grave. Here also the figure of the nail is employed by the Spirit to comfort us concerning our hope. As so often in the Scriptures, the figure is introduced in a literal sense, so that the natural world contains a powerful lesson, the more powerful because of our appreciation first of natural things. In the first 6 chapters of his inspired record Ezra describes how the Jews who returned from exile in Babylon at the time of Haggai the prophet rebuilt the temple.
When Ezra and Nehemiah returned some years later, and found the Jewish nation in a state of spiritual degeneracy again, how natural that, in praying, Ezra should refer to a nail in God’s holy place! Nails would indeed have been used in the rebuilding of God’s temple, but Ezra’s nail had a deeper significance: “grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God. . . to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage . . . God hath not forsaken us . . . but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof” (Ezra 9:8,9).
Just as the temple was rebuilt, so Jesus could say, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up . . . But he spake of the temple of his body” (Jno. 2:19,21). In speaking of the nail, Ezra had prophesied of the resurrection of Jesus when he spoke of “a reviving”, a bringing back to life. Jesus not only bore our sin and destroyed our cursed nature, but he also rose from the dead to die no more; truly the nail fastened in a sure place, “a constant and sure abode” (Ezra 9:8, AV mg.).
Nor has the work of Jesus as the nail been completed at his resurrection. It has one further stage left to accomplish its mission. Zechariah tells us of this when speaking of the time when the Lord will make Judah his “goodly horse in the battle” (Zech. 10:3). He continues: “Out of Him came forth the corner, out of Him the nail, out of Him the battle bow, out of Him every oppressor (ruler, RV mg.) together” ( v. 4). For Sisera, the nail was the destroyer; for the post-exile temple the nail was an element in the rebuilding. Both these aspects will be combined in the future role of Jesus as the nail, for as the battle bow he will fight against and defeat God’s enemies; he will then become ruler of the world, and be manifested as the chief corner stone of that house comprised of God’s saints.
Nails in God’s tabernacle
The Hebrew word for nail (yathed) )is also translated in the AV as “pin” and “stake”, usually in reference to the tabernacle. We noted earlier in our initial comments on Ecclesiastes 12 that there are many nails in the purpose of God, although so far we have concentrated on the work of the nail, Jesus Christ, on whom the whole purpose of God hangs. The tabernacle in the wilderness, when viewed as a whole, is a figure of the multitudinous body of Christ, in which are many nails, or “pins”, as the word is translated in Exodus: “All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass” (Ex. 27:19). This is just one example of many. Here the “pins”, or nails, are of brass, saints in their mortal state, later to be transformed by the redeeming work of the nail.
The tabernacle in the wilderness was, of course, only a figure for the time then present. In contrast Isaiah speaks of a tabernacle in the Kingdom. Firstly, the Spirit of Christ in the prophet sets the Kingdom context for us: “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off” (Isa. 33:17). Then the prophetic vision speaks of Zion as a tabernacle: “Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes (Heb. as for “nail”) thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken” (v. 20). This is clearly a vision of God’s ultimate dwelling place with man, not merely in a tent, nor even in the literal city of Jerusalem, although He will be there. Rather this tabernacle is “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Heb. 8:2).
Compared to the “shadow of heavenly things” and “the pattern shewed . . . in the mount” (v. 5) there is now “a more excellent ministry . . . a better covenant . . . better promises . . . a new covenant . . . I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people” (vv. 6,8,10). Similarly the Zion spoken of by Isaiah is “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2), that is, the redeemed, purified and glorified body of saints, presented to the bridegroom as a chaste virgin.
So in the comment in Isaiah 33 about the stakes of this tabernacle which are never to be removed, we are being told of our future destiny, if faithful, as stakes or nails in God’s future dwelling place, when the saints will say in spirit and in truth, “The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He (has saved) us” (Isa. 33:22).
Gentile nails
The tabernacle was, of course, a peculiarly Jewish institution, and Jerusalem is Israel’s capital city. Yet we are Gentiles! It is Isaiah who resolves this apparent dilemma consistently with our theme. Again the figure of the tabernacle is used, but now it is a specially enlarged tabernacle, to accommodate faithful Gentiles. “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes (nails); for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited” (Isa. 54:2,3). What an exhortation to thankfulness this is! The nails or stakes of God’s tabernacle have, by His grace and mercy, been moved, and the tabernacle extended, so that Gentiles can become, by faith, heirs to the promises made to the fathers of Israel.
There is a remarkable confirmation of this interpretation given by the Lord’s half-brother in the council at Jerusalem. Speaking to support Peter’s account of the conversion of Cornelius and the extension to the Gentiles of the offer of salvation on the same basis as to Jews, James refers to a parallel prophecy in Amos 9:11,12: “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up” (Acts 15:14-16).
What a privilege we have, therefore, in that we have been called to this holy calling, to become nails in God’s dwelling place for eternity! In Isaiah 54, as well as the figure of the “stake” (nail), there is also considerable comment upon the bride in the sense of the bride of Christ, as alluded to earlier. It is this bride, once barren and now married, who is instructed to enlarge her tent. She is told indeed that “thy Maker is thine husband” (v. 5). But prior to this she had to endure the “shame of (her) youth . . . widowhood . . . a wife of youth . . . refused” (vv. 4,6). As with the bride, so with our calling as nails. To attain to the position of nails in God’s dwelling place for eternity a time of trial and fashioning has first to be endured. Consider the nail. He was a sin-bearer though he himself did no sin. Truly he wounded sin in the head, but not without first being bruised in the heel. Certainly he rose from the tomb, but in order to rise he had to die first.
Whilst he will be King of kings in the future, the Captain of our salvation was only made perfect through sufferings. If it was thus with the nail, so it must be with those who after his pattern hope to be nails in the tabernacle which God pitched and not man. So in our affliction, whatever form it may take, let us remember that the “nail that is fastened in the sure place” had first to be “cut down” (Isa. 22:25), and let us apply to ourselves the words of the Spirit of Christ in the prophet Isaiah: “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer” (Isa. 54:7,8).
Being Compassionate