Today's study text is Isaiah 36-37, such a fascinating story!
The crux of it is that the mighty empire of Assyria was getting ready to conquer the land of Judah, as they had much of the rest of that area of the world, including the northern tribes of Israel (Samaria).
To that end, the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, had sent his most mighty general along with a contingent of soldiers, to deliver a message to King Hezekiah of Judah. The general, Rabshekah, stopped the advancing army outside the city gates, near one of the aqueducts. Hezekiah had sent out to meet him three of his trusted advisors. Rabshekah makes to the people of Jerusalem an offer of peaceful overthrow. In other words, a conquering without bloodshed. He proposed that the Assyrians would take command of the city, and make the land of Judah vassals of Assyria.
As Rabshekah is speaking, he is using the common language of the day, the Hebrew language. In 36:11, the royal ambassadors of Judah ask him to speak in Aramaic, the more formal language that fewer of the common people understood. But, he refused, saying that the common people would be most affected by Hezekiah's decision and so it was fitting that they hear the Assyrian offer, untampered with.
But, if you read closely, and I was reading in The Message version this morning, you can see that making an offer was not all Rabshekah was doing. He was also mocking God, Judah's God. In 36:16, he said - -
"Don't listen to Hezekiah. Listen to the king of Assyriah's offer: 'Make peace with me. Come and join me. Everyone will end up with a good life, with plenty of land and water, and eventually something far better."
Friends, this "offer" is a lie. It is the same lie that Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden and that he still tells people today - - - "Don't listen to God or His representatives! The anti-God way, man's way, the way of rebellion and disobedience is SO much better." King Solomon, writer of the Proverbs, calls out this lie in Proverbs 14:12 - - - (ESV)
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death. "
In chapter 37, King Hezekiah tore his clothes too. But, he didn't stop there and wallow in despair. In his penitent clothing, he sent his envoys (also in their sackcloth/gunnysacks ) to the prophet Isaiah, and then he went into the sanctuary of God.
I want you to notice here that Hezekiah had other choices. He could have sent messages/envoys to surrounding countries, such as Egypt, for help. He did not "put his trust in princes". He obeyed the precepts of Psalm 146 - - - (King James version)
Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.
2 While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
6 Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
7 Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:
8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:
9 The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
10 The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.
Isaiah had received a message from God about the situation, and he shared it with Hezekiah's envoy.
37:5-7 - - - (Message version)
"Don't be upset by what you've heard, all those words the servants of the Assyrian king have used to mock me. I personally will take care of him. I'll arrange it so that he'll get a rumor of bad news back home and rush home to take care of it. And, he'll die there. Killed - - - a violent death."
We see in 37:8-9 that this did occur - - - the general went home to find that Sennacherib had left to go fight the king of Libnah, with a threat having been received from Ethiopia as well. But, in the midst of all that, Sennacherib sent another threat to Hezekiah, sort of a follow-up warning. Again, he boasted of his many triumphs and conquerings, making light of Judah's God.
Let's look closely at Hezekiah's response, because the way he responded to this situation is how we should respond to similar battles in the spiritual wars we find ourselves engaged in. 37:14-20 - - -
Hezekiah took the letter from the hands of the messengers and read it. Then he went into the sanctuary of God and spread the letter out before God.
15-20 Then Hezekiah prayed to God: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies, enthroned over the cherubim-angels, you are God, the only God there is, God of all kingdoms on earth. You made heaven and earth. Listen, O God, and hear. Look, O God, and see. Mark all these words of Sennacherib that he sent to mock the living God. It’s quite true, O God, that the kings of Assyria have devastated all the nations and their lands. They’ve thrown their gods into the trash and burned them—no great achievement since they were no-gods anyway, gods made in workshops, carved from wood and chiseled from rock. An end to the no-gods! But now step in, O God, our God. Save us from him. Let all the kingdoms of earth know that you and you alone are God.”
Oh hallelujah! I just can't add more to that, Y'all. The beauty of the child of the King of Kings, pouring his heart out in prayer, adoration first, and then supplication over the situation. He asked that God glorify His name through this situation where the odds were against Hezekiah. We can read in 37:36-38 what God did - - -
"Then the Angel of God arrived and struck the Assyrian camp - - - 185,000 Assyrians died. By the time the sun came up, they were all dead, an army of corpses. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, got out of there fast, back home to Nineveh. As he was worshiping in the sanctuary of his god Nisroch, he was murdered by his sons..."
Notice that King Sennacherib's violent death, prophesied by Isaiah in 37:7 did, in fact, happen just as God said.
What odds are against you today? No odds are too great for God. Take your problems into your place of prayer, wherever you can get alone with God, and pour your heart out to Him in adoration. Then, ask Him to glorify Himself through your "impossible" situation. The God that delivered His people of Judah is mighty to save. He will hear, and He will glorify Himself through your situation, if you ask. Will you get the glory? Will He let you have "your way"? No, that is not His promise. There will be times that you will not be able to see His answer or to see how He is going to glorify His name. Sometimes the way He chooses to glorify His name is not the way we envisioned "our answer to prayer." But, He is faithful. His love for His children is never-ending. We can trust in that.
Instead of my closing prayer, today, let's pray Psalm 143, a prayer of David, when he was asking the Lord to deliver him out of troubles and guide him in how to walk....resplendent!
Hear my prayer, O Lord,
(A)Give ear to my supplications!
2
And (D)do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight (E)no man living is righteous.
3
For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life (F)to the ground;
He (G)has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.
4
My heart is appalled within me.
5
I (J)remember the days of old;
I (K)meditate on all Your doings;
I (L)muse on the work of Your hands.
6
I (M)stretch out my hands to You;
7
(Q)Do not hide Your face from me,
Or I will become like (R)those who go down to the pit.
8
For I trust (U)in You;
Teach me the (V)way in which I should walk;
For to You I (W)lift up my soul.
9
(X)Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;
[e]I take refuge in You.
No comments:
Post a Comment