living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard, wherefore lift up thy
prayer for the remnant that is left. So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, and Isaiah said
unto them, Thou shalt ye say unto your master, Thou saith the Lord, be not afraid of the words
that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Asteria have blasphemed me. Behold,
I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor entered to his own land, and I will
cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. So Rapshika returned, and found the king of Asteria
warring against Libna, for he had heard that he was departed from Lekish. And he heard say concerning
Terhaka, King of Ethiopia, he has come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard it, he
sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, saying,
Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying Jerusalem shall not be given into the
hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the king of Assyria had done to all the
lands by destroying them utterly, and shall thou be delivered. Have the gods of the nations
delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Heron, and Zitt, and Rezep,
and the children of Eden, which were in Telasar. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of
Arfad, and the king of the city of Seferveum, Hena, and Iva? And Hezekiah received the
letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up onto the house of the Lord
and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord, saying, O Lord of hosts, God of
Israel, that dwelleth between the chariobooms. Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the
kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear.
Open thine eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear all the words of Senegrib, which hath sent to
reproach the living God. Over truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste nations
and their countries. And hath cast their gods into the fire, for there were no gods,
but the work of man's hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they hath destroyed them. Now, therefore,
the Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art
the Lord, even thou only. Then Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent out to Hezekiah, saying,
Thou saith the Lord, God of Israel. Whereas Thou hast prayed to me against Senegrib,
king of Assyria, this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him. The
virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laugh thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem
hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom
hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel?
By thy servants hast thou reproached, O Lord, and hast said, by the multitude of my
chariots I might come up to the height of the mountains, to the size of Lebanon.
And I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof.
And I will enter into the height of this border, and the forest of this
carmel. I have digged and drunk water, and with the salt of my feet have I dried up all the rivers
of the besieged places. Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it? And of ancient times,
that I have formed it. Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldst be to lay waste,
defend cities, and to ruin his heaps. Therefore, their inhabitants were of small power.
They were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb,
as the grass of the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.
Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, has come up into mine ears. Therefore, while I put
my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way which
thou camest. And this shall be a sign unto thee. Ye shall eat this year such as growth of itself,
and the second year that which springeth of the same. And in the third year so yeen reap,
and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And the remnant that is escaped to the house of
Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go
forth the remnant, and they that escape out of mine mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of
host shall do this. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria,
he shall not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields,
nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came by the same shall return, and shall not come
into the city saith the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for my
servant David's sake. Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians 104 square and 5000. And when they rose early in the morning behold they were all dead
corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
And he came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nistrakh his god. That Adromelik and
Shirazer, his son, smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Armenia.
And Aser Hayden, his son, reigned in his stead. That's right. We thank you heavenly father for
the king James Bible, dear god. We thank you for this church you have given us to your Lord.
Thank you for our pastor. And please bless him tonight as he preaches your word in
Jesus' name you pray. Amen. Amen. Okay we're continuing this evening with our Bible study in
the book of Isaiah chapter 37. Now in chapter 36 we began this chronicle of the story of King Hezekiah
during his conflict with the king of Assyria. We're going to see his victory and of course
some of the bad decisions that he made afterwards. And so these couple of chapters
right here, these few chapters highlight that particular era, that story of King Hezekiah.
Now tonight we're going to look at the victory that he experiences where God supernaturally kills
185,000 soldiers without Hezekiah having to even lift the finger. He doesn't even shoot an arrow,
doesn't send out one soldier, and God delivers him from the hand of King Senechorib.
Tonight we're going to look at three things. Hezekiah's message, his prayer,
and then ultimately his deliverance. Now let's look at Hezekiah's message here. We're
going to look at his humility. Verse number one it says, and it came to pass when King Hezekiah
heard it that he rent his clothes and covered himself in sackcloth and went into the house of
the Lord. And what is it referring to specifically when he says that he heard it? Well in chapter 36
we have Rabbi Shachie threatening God's people and of course you got to keep in mind that
the king of Assyria, Senechorib, has already destroyed and taken over the northern kingdom,
which is Israel, right? That one's already done for, they're already destroyed, they're taken
into captivity, but now he sets his eyes on Judah. And keep in mind that although God,
we ultimately know that God delivers Jerusalem, Hezekiah, you know he does great work there,
keep in mind that he has allowed Rabbi Shachie and Senechorib to essentially conquer a lot of Judah
though. Because in chapter 36 we see that Rabbi Shachie has already destroyed the defense cities.
So a lot of people in that region have already been taken into captivity and they've already
been destroyed, people have died, people are being taken captive and so forth. And so
when we look at the story you have to understand that Judah is being destroyed,
so to speak. The only thing that's still kind of left is Jerusalem, which is the capital of Judah,
that's where Hezekiah is. And so Rabbi Shachie is kind of making himself inward, he's working
himself inward to take over Jerusalem and so that's essentially the last post, so to speak,
that's still free, okay, that still has liberty. But the rest of Judah has been taken captive,
people have been destroyed there, so you got to keep that in, take that into consideration.
So while Senechorib is making his way, or should I say Rabbi Shachie, is making his way inward,
he's threatening Hezekiah and of course through his emissaries, Eliakim, Shibna and Joah,
they come out to meet him and Rabbi Shachie is kind of threatening, he's saying you guys are
going to drink your own dung, or eat your own dung and drink your own piss, essentially saying
I'm going to besiege the city, starve you out, keep food from going in, you know, stop all
the waters and the conduits of waters that you guys have and ultimately you guys are going to be so
desperate, this is what it means by eating your own dung and drinking your own piss, that that's
what you're going to resort to, is eating your own feces, drinking your urine, etc. It's very
disgusting, but that's what he's saying he's going to do to him. And obviously he's communicating
this to the emissaries, but really he wants everyone to know this, which is why he's actually
making these threats at the fuller's field, if you remember the fuller's field is the area where
the cleaners so to speak are going to wash their clothes and so you have the common man there
listening to all these threats, they're hearing about what Rabbi Shachie is going to do and so he
wants them to fear, he wants them to put the pressure on Hezekiah to surrender, he wants
everyone to see that essentially they're on the losing side and they might as well just submit
themselves to Sennacherib king of Assyria. So the emissaries Eliachim, Joah and Shibna, they hear
about this and they're like okay duly noted we'll take this back to the king, they go to king Hezekiah
and they essentially repeat everything that Rabbi Shachie said and what does Hezekiah do?
Well it says in verse one that he rents his clothes. Now what does that mean? It means
that he's tearing his clothing to rent their clothes means to tear their clothing and he
covers himself with sackcloth. Now why does he do that? Well in the Bible when someone wants to
express grief, mourning or humility of sorts they will often rent their garments as though as a
figurative representation of renting their hearts and they'll place upon themselves sackcloth
which is essentially a garment made of wool, flax, some sort of uncomfortable material that they
would wear and it's an expression of humility. They're essentially showing themselves that
they're mourning, they're in grief and they're humbling themselves. Now this is really important
because of the fact that king Hezekiah is royalty. So what does he have on? He has royal
garments on, expensive clothing, soft clothing, soft raiment so to speak and he's tearing that
and he's replacing it with sackcloth. So this is showing some extreme humility from the most
powerful man in the land. Now this is very important, why? Well because of the fact that you would
typically think that the most important man in the land is filled with pride. Maybe he's a
little arrogant. Maybe he thinks, oh who is this guy to come speak to me like that
but obviously Hezekiah is humble. You know he's showing himself to be a humble person,
he's renting his garments, he's covering himself with sackcloth and in other instances you have
people pouring ashes upon their head but I want you to notice what it also says. It says he rents
his clothes, covers himself with sackcloth and he went into the house of the Lord. Now that
is powerful right? Why is that? Well King Hezekiah hears these threats and instead of going
to his commander, his general, his army and saying hey let's put a plan together, how we're going to
defend our city and let's go ahead and put a strategy together and make a plan of how we're
going to do this. What does he do? He actually goes to God right? He goes to the house of the
Lord so this shows us that Hezekiah's heart is in the right place. It's humble, it's not
arrogant, it's not prideful and although he's the most powerful man in the land so to speak
humanly speaking, he's still seeking after God in times of opposition and trouble right?
He's going to the house of the Lord. Seek ye first the kingdom of God right? It's the first thing he
does and so he goes to the house of God because he wants God to deliver him and this is an important
principle for us to learn as Christians in the New Testament that when we're faced with
opposition, when we're faced with attacks, before we kind of strategize and put a plan together,
how we're going to get out of this situation, what is it that we're going to do? We need to go to the
house of the Lord first. We need to seek the face of God first. Why? Because the Bible says
that he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith God resisteth the proud and giveth grace into
the humble. Submit yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God the Bible tells us draw
nigh to God, he will draw nigh unto you, cleanse ye hands ye sinners purify your hearts ye double
minded. It says be afflicted in James chapter 4 verse 9 be afflicted and mourn and weep,
let your laughter be turned into mourning your joy to heaviness, humble yourselves in the
sight of the Lord listen to this and he shall lift you up. So this is something that is
applicable all across the board Old Testament to New Testament that when we are in dire straits
or we're going through a difficult time you know what we need to do? We need to draw nigh to God.
It doesn't matter if you're a king, if you're a magistrate, if you're a peasant, if you're broke,
if you're rich, it doesn't matter who you are on the social stratum you need to make sure
that you seek God out when you're going through a difficult time. Go to the house of God. The
house of God is for everyone and this is essentially demonstrating that Hezekiah is
putting spiritual things first no matter what situation he's in. He's like oh man we're about
to die all right let's go to the house of God. Let's see what the word of the Lord is. So
not only does he go to the house of God he goes to the man of God. It says in verse 2
and he said Eliakim who was over the household in Shebna the scribe and the elders of the
priest covered with sackcloth. Now not only is he humbling himself he's also enforcing
humility on his servants as well because it says that these guys are covered with sackcloth. Now
you know it doesn't really say if he imposed that upon them or they were just inspired by him
he's just like if I'm going to humble myself you guys are all doing it too right. So he sends
them covered with sackcloth and it says unto Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos. So again
he doesn't send them to the commander the general the guy who knows all the strategies
for warfare. He wants to know what the man of God is saying he wants to know ultimately what God
what God's mind is on all these things okay he wants to know the word of the Lord.
And so when we go through a difficult time when we're faced with a tribulation a challenge in
our lives we need to go to the word of God we need to go to the house of God we need to go to
God in prayer and say God what is your mind in all this what does the Bible say about this
what are some biblical principles that I can extrapolate from the word of God
that would apply to my situation. And sometimes Christians are like well nothing in the Bible
explicitly talks about my situation okay then go to the man of God so that he could extrapolate
some principles to teach you on how to deal with that situation. The point is you need to see God
right and put your mind in such a place that you know the spiritual is the most important
aspect of the situation I need a spiritual mind to make this decision. Hezekiah is doing well
better than most kings you know seeking the Lord. Look at verse 3 he says and they said
unto him thus saith Hezekiah this day is the day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy
for the children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth. Now what
does he mean by that? Well Hezekiah is basically given this analogy of a woman who is ready to give
birth but there's no strength to essentially give birth therefore resulting potentially in the death
of the mother and the child right. He's basically saying you know we are about to give birth here
in the sense of the travail that we're going to experience because of the onslaught of the
Assyrians but we're at our wits end we're at the end of our rope we don't even have any
strength all the defense cities have been taken over we have no defense we need God we need your
help is what he's saying right and of course the implication is that he's relying on God's strength
and you know there are going to be instances in your life I've had instances in my personal life
where I feel like I'm without strength I can't deal with this situation you know I don't I don't
have the energy to deal with this I don't have the strength to deal with this whether it's
mental energy physical energy emotional energy spiritual energy sometimes you're just depleted
on all fronts right and the Bible tells us that he giveth power to the faint the Bible tells us that
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings and zingles
they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint and so it's important for us
to realize that when we experience a situation where we are just completely depleted on all fronts
we need to wait upon the Lord right and not just think well I'm going to throw up my hands because
I'm without strength and just make bad decisions or something we'll just make a hasty decision
we'll make a bad decision a bad decision is better than no decision no why don't you just
wait upon the Lord okay pray into God come to church read your Bible get counsel do that which is
necessary for you to essentially guide you in the right direction to put you on the right path okay
so Hezekiah is a very humble person he's humbling himself before the Lord he's going to the
house of God he's going to the man of God so we see Hezekiah's humility but we also see
his faith verse number four it says I like what he says here it may be the Lord thy God
will hear the words of Rabbi Shacky now that is a powerful statement I love that phrase there
you know he's going to the house of God he's going to the man of God because it may be
it may be that the Lord will hear and what is that that is that that is signifying faith
right I mean he's at his wit's end the enemy's like right there in the doorstop Jerusalem is the
last city to take over all the defense cities have been destroyed well let's go to the house of God
it's just like well Hezekiah why even go now everything's it's done for didn't you hear all
the stuff that they said they're going to make us eat our own dung and drink our own piss yeah
but hold on a second it may be though that the Lord will hear the words of Rabbi Shacky
and you know what that is that is an expression of faith
why do we keep reading the Bible even when we're going through a tough time I'll tell you why because
it may be that the Lord will hear you know why do we keep going to church even when difficult times
arise and the bank accounts low the health is bad everything is going south why even do so I'll
tell you why because it may be that the Lord will bless us for doing so it may be going to
church you might hear the sermon that you need that'll carry you throughout you know the
next week the next year you might get the answer the unit it may be yeah but what if not yeah but
what if though it may be and you know what Hezekiah good great call there he's saying look it may be
that the Lord will hear the word with the words of Rabbi Shacky and you know this reminds me of
Jonathan right Saul's son Jonathan who is with his armor bearer and they're going to go fight
them too with all the Philistines and he says you know come let us go over to the garrison of these
uncircumcised it may be that the Lord will work for us for there is no restraint to the Lord to
save by many or by few you know what that is it's called faith you know what and it's important
for us to continue to exercise faith in God faith in his word at all times but especially
when it seems as though all odds are against you because when all odds are against you it may seem
as though it may not work out hold on a second though it may be though that the Lord you know the
factor of the Lord getting involved in your situation is a big factor okay and so we need to
exercise that faith keep reading your Bible keep going to church keep stepping out of faith you
know the reason we go so many for example going so many is an act of faith it's not
just an act of obedience it's actually an act of faith why because it may be that someone will
get saved when we do right you go to a particular block you don't know the people that are there
it is that I don't even know if anybody's going to get saved but you know it may be that someone
will get saved though you know going to Mexico is an act of faith why because it may be that
some Mexican out there might get saved going to different countries going and preaching the
gospel preaching to your family witnessing to your friends witnessing to your loved ones
why do you do it because it just may be that something will happen and so this is a great
attitude to have don't be the person that you know you're always thinking well it may be that it
may not work yeah but it may be that it will work though and God will work for you
He will save by many or by few God may do something great call him to me and I will
answer thee the Bible says and show thee great and mighty things which down know it's not
and so powerful statement there he says whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to
reproach the living God and will approve the words which the Lord thy God hath heard
wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left so the servants of king Hezekiah
came to Isaiah so again just to reiterate there when he's saying there wherefore lift up
thy prayer for the remnant that is left he's literally referring to the remainder of people
in Judah that's left in Jerusalem because everyone else has been taken everyone else has
been destroyed so you know put yourself in in Hezekiah's sandals right like you're in Judah
and the the vast percentage of your nation has been taken like you're you're on the losing side
so it requires a lot of faith to say you know what let's just go to the house of God
let's hear what Isaiah has to say let's hear what God has to say you know God can say by many or by
few and in this case you know technically he says by few and even then even fewer than that because
he doesn't even use Hezekiah or his armies to destroy Assyria he just does it supernaturally
okay so we see Hezekiah's humility we see Hezekiah's faith now let's look at Isaiah's
message in verse number six that says in Isaiah said into them thus shall you say into your master
master referring to Hezekiah thus say the Lord be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard
or with the servant of the king of Assyria had blasphemed me that's what he tells him he was
like don't be afraid of what he's saying now it's probably easier said than done especially
over the fact that you know he's essentially fulfilled everything that he said for Israel
and some of Judah but he says they're being not afraid of the words which thou has heard
now I believe the reason he's saying that is because of the fact that you know he's essentially
saying this at the end of the day Hezekiah has to choose where he's going to have more faith in
the words of rap sheke or the word of the Lord right he's like don't be afraid of the words
of rap sheke because basically what that's showing is that you have faith in the words of rap sheke
but what he needs to do is put his put his faith in God's word that God will deliver them right
fearing the words of rap sheke is showing that he has faith in the words of rap sheke
but you know when we fear God it's an expression that we have faith in God's word that he's
going to come through and show himself strong so he says don't be afraid of what he's saying
okay and again you know stepping out in faith and doing these things doesn't mean that we don't fear
it just means that we're acting in spite of fear fear will always be present when we step out in
faith because we're humans we are imperfect we're sinners fear will always be present when
you're stepping out in faith you know faith is when you step out and you obey God and you
do what God says regardless of how you feel okay and he was basically saying Lord I believe but
helped out my non-belief and saying I'm afraid to do this but I'm gonna do it anyways because
mama didn't raise no punk you know mama didn't raise no wuss so I'm gonna do it anyways
and the word of the Lord I need to have faith in the word of the Lord look at verse seven behold
I will send a blast upon him this is the prophecy here he says I will I will send a blast upon
him and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land and it will cause him to fall
by the sword in his own land so Rabbi Shachie returned and found the king of Assyria worn against
Libna for he had heard that he was departed from Lakers now what's going on here well
Isaiah God tells Isaiah to prophesy to Hezekiah and say you know don't be afraid of what
Rabbi Shachie is saying I'm going to send I'm going to cause a conflict with Senecharib
that will cause Rabbi Shachie to essentially leave Judah and then ultimately you know Senecharib
is gonna die now here's the thing about this promise okay because when you actually know
the story you read the story you see that it's true but not all these events that he's talking
about happen happen like all at once okay because we see that yeah he does leave for a
season for a time but then he returns and Senecharib doesn't die until like way way later okay and so
although God does fulfill this promise he doesn't necessarily share the details of when it's gonna
happen all right now what is a couple things that we can learn from that well number one
we see that you know Rabbi Shachie leaves like the threat leaves but only for what a season
you know that's exactly how the devil operates the devil when he was tempting Jesus Christ the
Bible says that he departed for a season and one thing we have to keep in mind is that when we
experience satanic attacks this side of eternity yeah when we resist the devil when he flees from
us he will flee but not permanently the Bible teaches us that he comes back after a season
and you know what he's always going to come back while we're here this side of eternity
because we're in a spiritual battle the point is is that when he returns we're to resist him again
and implement biblical principles in order to defeat the wiles of satan understand the point
that I'm making here is that don't think just because you got a victory today that that promises
you a victory tomorrow or even next week because he departs only for a season he will return
Rabbi Shachie yeah he took off but you know what he's gonna return again one day the other
thing that we can learn from this is the fact that everything is beautiful in God's timing
so when he gives us a promise in his word you know he's not taking our calendar into account
you know okay you know I got a slot here God if you could do it like at this time
and then if this promise can be applied here it's just like we just got to
believe he's going to do it in his time okay because he gives him this promise and I'm sure
Hezekiah is thinking once Rabbi Shachie leaves it's like oh great it's over with you know we won yeah
but then he returns I was like oh man look at verse nine we're gonna look at Rabbi Shachie's
iteration here in verse nine it says and he heard and he heard say concerning
Tirhaka king of Ethiopia he has come forth to make war with thee and when he heard it he sent
messengers to Hezekiah saying thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah saying let not
thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee saying Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of
the king of Assyria so what's going on here well what's taking place here is that while
Rabbi Shachie is gone right because there is another conflict taking place somewhere else
the king of Ethiopia springs up from the south because if you remember a couple chapters
back around chapter 20 or so we see that Judah is trying to make an affinity with Egypt and Ethiopia
right and why is he making affinity with him because he wants them to defend him against Assyria
so they sent tribute you know they pay money well it sounds like the king of Ethiopia is actually
trying to either by you know they're they're spreading the rumor that they're gonna come
or they're actually coming to defend Judah and Rabbi Shachie hears about this and he returns
and he says hey don't think this is gonna change anything just because the king of Ethiopia is
gonna come up they're not gonna be able to deliver you from my hand from the hand of Senecharib
this means nothing okay and of course we see earlier that God tells Judah hey you're placing
your faith in Ethiopia but Ethiopia is gonna be your shame and it's true because it's an earthly
solution to a spiritual problem you understand and so and of course that solution is never
gonna come to flourishing anyways God's not gonna allow that God was allowing Assyria to
destroy Judah because of their wickedness and no earthly solution can fix that it doesn't matter
how much money they paid look at verse 11 Rabbi Shachie begins to reiterate Assyria's accomplishments
he says behold thou has heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands by
destroying them utterly and shall thou be delivered have the gods of the nations
delivered them which my fathers have destroyed as Gozan and Heran and Rezef and the children
of Eden which were in Telessar which is the king of Hamath or where is the king of Hamath
and the king of Arfad and the king of the city of Sepharveim Hina and Iva what is he saying
you know look at all the people that we conquered and destroyed nations that are
mightier than you look at all these kings that we've been able to overcome and destroy
and he's basically saying you guys are no different than these other nations but hold on a second they
are different because it's God's nation it's God's people right and all these other gods are fake
they're false gods that can't deliver anybody which is why later on Hezekiah says you know
they're thrown into the fire because they are no gods they don't compare to the God of the
Bible but this is Rabbi Shachie's attempt to intimidate Hezekiah and to cause them to
think like oh man maybe God can't deliver us and this is a tactic that Satan will often use
you know against us they'll often try he'll often try to use intimidation by comparing us
or causing us to compare ourselves with other people oh man look at these other churches that
have closed down and they couldn't make a difference or you know Christians have been
saying this for so long but at the end of the day you know at the end of the day we still
have the God of the Bible God's promises are still true and you know don't compare us to the Lutheran
church okay you know the the lesbiterian church and the Lutheran church and the Methodist church
were fundamental Baptists we have the right God Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords King of Kings
and you know we have the right Bible and so he's trying to use these intimidation tactics
of kind of expressing and talking about their previous accomplishments how they're able to
destroy so on and so forth but you know it needs to be as water off a duck's back when it comes to
Hezekiah so we see there Hezekiah's message now let's look at his prayer verse 14 it says
and Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it and Hezekiah
went up unto the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord so over and over again we
see Hezekiah as a very spiritual person right he's a spirit-filled man because not only is he going
to the house of God when he hears about this stuff he's going to the man of God but then when
Rabbi Shacky persists in his threats against Hezekiah you know he sends him a letter an email
he sends him a DM right what does Hezekiah do he's not like hey how should we respond
you know let's respond to this you know no actually he takes it goes back to the house of God
and he spreads it before the Lord and basically what it means when he says he spreads it before
the Lord he's like you see you see Lord you see the stuff that he's saying
you know he's basically leaving it in the hands of God right and this is a perfect example
of what the Bible refers to in the New Testament when it says casting your care
on him for he cares for you you know sometimes we need to take our bills emails you know if
you're getting any kind of threats I don't think anybody's getting threats right now but you know
lawsuits you know when someone serves you and you know what take it before the Lord and say
look at this look what they're saying look what they're trying to do
and take it before God and obviously you know we don't have a geographical location where we have to
go worship God per se ourselves we can pray in any place at any time we do have the local New
Testament church where we come here the preaching of God's word but when it comes to actually
communing with God we can do it anywhere so you can go to your room and say Lord you know
I have this bill I got this bill and you know you said you'll provide for my needs I'm serving
you I'm loving people I'm loving you I'm reading the Bible I'm walking with God I need you to fix
the situation I need you to pay this bill or I need you to you know help me with this issue right
here that's what Hezekiah is doing and it's just showing you once again that his heart is in the
right place he's responding correctly to all of this stuff and I hope this isn't going over
your heads I hope it's not going through one ear and out the other because I'm just telling
you right now the story is here for a reason to teach you to teach me that when we're faced with
great opposition in your marriage in your relationships with your finances with your health
seek God first go to God this is not cliche this is a fact you know one of the reasons
Asa was not able to recover from the disease of his feet is because he sought the physicians
and not the Lord you know he went to the doctors first instead of going to God and you know we need
to make sure that we take it before the Lord once you get that bad news you pray and say Lord help me
I need your help with this give me wisdom give me strength give me a solution to this problem
you know don't resort to the flesh and say man oh this is this person's fault
and this is why this is happening why don't you actually just take it before the Lord and cast
your care upon him because you know what that trauma may have caught you off guard but it didn't
catch God off guard it meant a blindsided you but it didn't blindside God God sees it all he sees
the whole situation so don't respond carnally respond spiritually by spreading it before
the Lord and saying God I didn't expect this situation and so help me with this
he goes to the house of the Lord brings the letters of threats to God okay what a great response
and then he begins to pray and here's some things that he covers in his prayer okay he begins to
express his motive why he wants God to deliver him now before he even gets into you know expressing
that he wants God to deliver him he actually exalts the greatness of God first look at verse
15 and Hezekiah prayed into the Lord saying oh Lord of hosts God of Israel that dwells between
the cherry beams thou are the God even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth thou has made
heaven and earth that's called praising God right you know the bible tells us in Psalm 100 that
we're to enter his gates with praise and in thanksgiving this is obviously something
that Hezekiah knew about he said before I even bring my petitions before the Lord
I'm going to praise him I'm going to worship him I'm going to show adoration I'm going to express
my gratitude and my recognition over who God is right and this is obviously important because
we should praise God but let me let me explain something to you that this is also important
because it kind of reminds us how big God is right like when you praise God and you start
going through his attributes and his characteristics you start realizing like
man oh my God is actually I know he was powerful but actually he is powerful
you are omniscient you are omnipotent you are omnipresent you're almighty you're grand you're
terrible you're strong you're mighty you are God no one's able to hold the light and a candle
to who you and you start expressing all these things you know you kind of start believing them
once again because some of these things you just forget or it's not that you forget but you
don't really think about it as much and therefore it's not necessarily important to you but when you
praise God and you know Hezekiah is kind of like he's not trying to convince God of this
because God already knows this right you would almost think that he's trying to convince himself
of it okay when he says thou has made heaven and earth thou alone of all the kingdoms of the
earth he's like saying this because he needs to be reminded of the fact that God is big
and he's big enough to deliver him from this so he exalts the greatness of God
but secondly he explains the problem verse 17 says incline thine ear oh Lord what does that mean
he's like saying like God can you just go like this to me like listen to what I'm saying here
incline thine ear oh Lord and hear open thine eyes oh Lord and see and hear all the words of
Senecharib which had sent to reproach the living God now that is a good way to pray why because he's
not saying like because which thou has sent which has sent to reproach me he's like hey Lord he's
reproaching you okay of a truth Lord the kings of Assyria have laid waste of all the nations
and their countries and have cast their gods into the fire for there were no gods but the
work of men's hands wood and stone therefore they have destroyed them so what is he saying
you know there's some truth to what Senecharib is saying they have destroyed nations they have
destroyed their gods they've laid waste some of the nations that they've conquered it's true
but it's only true because of the fact that they were no gods he's being realistic here
but he's also understanding that realistically speaking the reason they're able to do that
is because at the end of the day you know they didn't serve they didn't serve anything divine
they were serving false gods they can't do anything for them verse 20 so he exalts the greatness of
God he explains the problem to God and then he expresses his motive to God he says in verse 20
now therefore oh Lord our God save us from his hand why that all the kingdoms of the
earth may know that thou art the Lord even thou only i think that was probably the straw that broke
the candles back in the prayer because he's like i want you to deliver me so that everyone knows that
you're God you know because they're they're they're destroying all these other nations proving
that these are no gods they're they're weak gods but you should deliver us so you could prove
that you are God so what is he doing he's essentially taking the reputation of God into account he's you
know he's Hezekiah is more concerned with preserving God's reputation than his own reputation which is
kind of proving that you know Hezekiah is very humble because Hezekiah is a king and kings are
very prideful they're concerned with their reputation they're concerned about how people
think about them how the kingdom is going to view them but in this whole thing he's just like you Lord
you know uh everyone needs to know that you're God that you hold all the kingdoms that you made
heaven and earth and you know what i think that is uh uh uh one of the reasons why God probably
answered his prayer it's like okay he's obviously not self-willed he's not a self-centered
self-willed king his prime motive for being delivered is because he wants God to be glorified
he wants God to be exalted he wants the nations to know that the God of Israel is the true God
let me read to you from Psalm 115 verse 1 it says not unto us oh Lord not unto us but unto
thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake wherefore should the heathen say
where is now their God but our God is in the heavens he had done whatsoever he hath pleased
what is he saying he's saying you know what do this not to glorify us but to glorify your name
and you know what we're more likely to receive answers to prayers that we give to God if we
come to him and say this is for your glory so that you may be glorified so that you may be
exalted he's more likely to answer those prayers right if he knows and we know that through that
situation the name of God will be glorified that people will honor the Lord through that situation
it's more likely he's going to answer that prayer you know it reminds me of what David said
when he defeated Goliath or when he was about to defeat Goliath he says in verse first Samuel
17 you don't have to turn to verse 46 this day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand and I will
smite thee and take thine head from thee and I will give the carcasses of the host of the
Philistines this day into the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth that all the
earth may know that there is a God in Israel I'm sure that played a role in David defeating
Goliath because at the end of the day he was trying to exalt the name of God in Israel
and so he's praying it's a powerful prayer and what we can apply this to ourselves is that when we
pray for things obviously there is a sense of selfishness we're asking for these things for
our personal gain to a certain a certain degree right but you know what may you conclude that
prayer was saying but at the end at the end of the day Lord thy will not not mine be done right
and may you be glorified through this may all things be done for your honor and for your
glory because you know what that's the most important person anyways the reputation of God
is far exceeds in importance than our reputation our personal reputation the reputation of our
church we want God to be exalted and glorified in all things very humble man here so we see his
message we see his prayer and now let's look at his deliverance look at verse 21 we're
going to see that the Lord has reproached verse 21 then Isaiah the son of Amos sent unto Hezekiah
saying thus saith the Lord God of Israel whereas thou has prayed to me against Senechorib king of
Assyria now I want you to notice that that he says God recognizes that Hezekiah has prayed
against Senechorib what is that called it's called an imprecatory prayer
and what this is showing us is that God is well pleased with this prayer right he says this is the
word which the Lord had spoken concerning him the virgin the daughter of Zion had despised
thee and laughed thee to scorn the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee whom has
thou reproached in blaspheme and against whom has thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes
on high even against the holy one of Israel by thy servants has thou reproached the Lord
and has said by the multitude of my chariots and might come up to the height of the mountains
to the sides of the Lebanon and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof and the choice fir trees
thereof and I will enter into the height of his border in the forest of his karma what is he
saying here he's basically saying you know you know what who do you think you're talking to
rap shekki you're saying all these things you're approaching the name of God but how do
you think you even got to the point where you're at you know he's you know rap shekki
and senecharim they're bragging about all these things that they've done and God is saying
I let you do that I enabled you to do those things says in verse 25 I have digged and drunk water
and with the soul of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places
has thou not heard long ago how I have done it I like I like that part you know because he's
basically saying about all the things that senecharim and rap shekki bragging about they're
like man whatever my the soul of my foot touches it just dries up all the water because we have so
many soldiers and you know look at all the great works that we've done as a nation how many people
we've conquered and God says well have you've heard about what I've done long ago cool story bro
but have you heard about what I've done long ago how I have done it and of ancient times that
I have formed it now have I brought it to pass that thou should as be to lay waste defense cities
into the ruinous heaps he's basically saying you know yeah that's really cute but have you heard
about the great exploits that I've done in the past all the nations that I've destroyed I mean God
destroyed the world you know oh oh you've dried up the rivers and the lands with your well how
about flooding the entire world and just killing everybody that's what God has done through Noah's
flood and he's basically saying you know of ancient times all the things that he's done
and he's saying you know to honestly the reason you're able to accomplish these things he says that
thou should as be to lay waste the defense cities of the ruinous heaps I allowed you to
accomplish that the reason you're even in Judas because I've allowed it verse 27
therefore their inhabitants were of small power they were dismayed and confounded
they were as the grass of the field and as the green herb as the grass on the house tops
and as corn blasted before it be grown up what is he saying there he's saying therefore because
I've allowed it that's why these nations are powerless in your presence the Lord is basically
saying that he's orchestrated a serious conquest leading to the victory against Israel and against
Judah in other words you know the action and boast against the one swinging the axe right he's like
you're boasting but at the end of the day I'm the one who who enabled you to do so
verse 28 but I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in and I want you to notice this
and thy rage against me now that's a powerful statement because what God is saying here he's
saying I know that you are angry at me so even though Seneca rib and rapshaki they're you know
saying oh how's your God going to be able to do this at the end of the day God knows the hearts
of those people and he knows that rapshaki you know has some vitriol against the Lord himself
because he says I know thy rage against me you know think about the fact that you know
God can see the hearts of men and we often you know talk about the haters of the Lord right
but only the Lord really knows the rage in the hearts of those people you know sometimes people
they kind of have a knee jerk reaction when we talk about the reparate doctrine for example
oh yeah how can God do that yeah but do you know the rage in the hearts of those people though
you know you have such a knee jerk reaction to this doctrine that teaches that God removes
people's ability to believe so they can be saved and you think that's so unmerciful and
God would never do something like that but you know what you don't really know the rage though
and the hatred that people actually bear in their hearts against the Lord only the Lord
truly knows the inner recesses of the heart and how much a person can actually hate him in their
heart and for God to remove someone's ability to believe and make them a reprobate concerning
the faith I mean that means that that person probably truly hates the Lord Jesus Christ in
their hearts and obviously we see the fruit of it and essentially you know we see the fruit of
being a reprobate and say okay this person has rejected the Lord this person has reprobated
concerning the faith but we can never really truly see the heart though God actually can
actually view the heart and see it as being a hateful person against God and against the
Lord Jesus Christ he says in verse 29 because I rage against me and I tumult is come up into my
ears therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by
the way which thou came us what is it showing us it shows us that the Lord can control the
opposition he says because you're like this I'm going to go ahead like a leash and just pull
you away from Judah and send you back home is what he's saying okay now this teaches us that you
know at the end of the day the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and as rivers of water the
Bible says he turneth it whether so ever he will he can turn people's hearts he can turn people's
minds he can control to a certain degree the opposition of certain individuals the Bible
tells us in Daniel this matters by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the word of
the holy ones to the intent that the living may know that the most high ruleth in the kingdom of men
and giveeth it to whomsoever he will and seteth up over it the basis of men meaning he's able to
turn them and use them for his purpose look at verse 30 verse 30 says in this shall be a sign
unto thee of course referring to Sennacherib ye shall eat this year such as growth of itself
in the second year that which springeth of the same and in the third year so ye and reap and plant
vineyards and eat the fruit thereof and the remnant that escaped out of the house of Judah shall
again take root downward and bear fruit upward for out of Jerusalem shall go forth the remnant
and they that escape out of the Mount Zion the seal of the Lord of hosts shall do this what
is he saying he's basically telling Sennacherib because obviously what he's talking about in
verse 30 is going to take place after he kills the 185,000 soldiers so what's going to happen you
know Sennacherib is going to go home and a year's going to pass two years are going to pass three
years are going to pass a few years are going to pass and nothing's going to happen right because
he says there ye shall eat this year such as growth of itself and the second year that
which springeth of the same in other words you know he's going to go through life and
God's punishment is not going to be instituted right away he's going to be able to eat the
fruits of his of his work you know what that's going to cause that's going to cause him to think
oh maybe nothing's going to happen right but one thing we know when it comes to God's judgment
is that complete punishment comes in due time so even though he's going through a few years
of just eating fruits and you know everything's all right and nothing bad's going to happen
and it seems as though my land is not being affected I can eat the fruits everything's going
dandy your punishment is still coming one day and in fact you know the the piece that comes
before the storm is often the worst because it gives you a false sense of purity thinking that
the judgment has already passed you know what's that guy's name agag was it agag who got hacked
who got huge in pieces agag right my bible's cause who you know what I'm talking about remember when
Saul refused to kill the king you guys know what I'm talking about we awake here you know he
refused to kill the king was it agag I think it's agag king agag and you know what did agag
say when when everything he's like oh you know the the whatever the death has passed he's like
the worst part is over I'm fine but then Saul came and he basically hewed him in pieces
he took a sword and chopped them up you know but it's just like that false sense of security
thinking oh nothing bad has happened everything's going fine and so I guess God's not going to
judge me but hold on a second he never said exactly when he was going to do it though
and you know what that is obviously applicable to the haters of God out there who persecute God's
people they revile they rail they do all manner of evil against God's people and nothing happens
to them and you know what to a certain degree we can often think man what's where's justice
but folks justice will be served one day and God keeps records of those things
but you know this is also applicable to God's people as well you know be sure the Bible says
your sin will find you out and there can come a point where you think well nothing's happened to me
nothing bad's going to take come out of this I'm not going to suffer the consequences yeah go ahead
and eat such as growth of itself this year go ahead and eat that would spring into the same the
second year but it doesn't mean that you're not going to suffer the consequences of your actions
if you continue down that path you know Senechar ever is just like well maybe next time we'll get
Judah there ain't gonna be no next time your sons are going to kill you and of course he says in
verse 31 he talks about the remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah you know God is obviously
working in that remnant that is taken into captivity he's going to allow them to return
and so forth and get and they'll get right with God look at verse 33
therefore does say at the Lord concerning the king of Assyria he shall not come into the city
nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a bank against it
by the way he came by the same he shall return and shall not come into the city say at the
Lord now once Hezekiah hears that it's just like oh cool because the same is like nothing
not a single arrow is going to be shot nothing's going to happen and the same route that he took
to get here the same route I was going to use to go back look what it says in verse 35 for I
will defend this city to save it for Hezekiah no he says for my own sake and for good measure
and for my servant David's sake which by the way shows you how influential and powerful
David was in the eyes of God that's a phrase that you continuously see in the Old Testament
where God is like showing grace and mercy to a particular king and he's like I'll do it
for my for my servant David's sake you know and but that's a good passage to take into
consideration that you know what you want to live in such a way as a Christian that God
will bless your future generations for your sake like I'll do it for my servant Cody's sake
I'll do it for my servant Kelly's sake you know you left such an impression a spiritual
impression on this world that God blesses future generations for you he says in verse 36
then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the Assyrians
a hundred and four score and five thousand so a score is 20 of course four would be 80
so you have 180 and then it says five thousand so that's a hundred and eighty five thousand
soldiers that are killed just overnight without Hezekiah having to do anything at all
and when they arose early in the morning behold they're all dead corpses
I mean that's awesome you know and I'm sure you know Hezekiah might have had some preppers
amongst themselves and they're like Hezekiah I think we should really just sharpen our
swords that we should get ready to fight and do our part horses are prepared against the day
of battle but you know I prefer this this way though I prefer not to lift a sword not to
shoot an arrow and just let God just destroy a hundred eighty five thousand of them
I mean what an increase of faith Hezekiah probably got at that moment right
and so he sees the miraculous deliverance of the Lord by you know God just sending forth
he just lets loose and allows this angel to just destroy them
now what's the principle we can learn there you know we should pray for a miracle
pray for something supernatural to happen and you know it's good to be specific but sometimes
just like Lord however you see fit you know and of course this story kind of reminds me of the
bombing because we're kind of at our wits end what to do with the with the whole transvestite
what's that the drag queen contest they were trying to have and to file the eyes of the
children you know putting on their flyers you know let's make them throw up and all this stuff
and I remember literally doing the opposite of what Hezekiah did and just kind of getting
with the guys and just thinking like let's brainstorm what we can do to offset that you
know let's buy speakers and just play preaching or something or can we build a wall or I mean
we're trying to come up with all these practical things to do to guard ourselves even to the
point where we bought blinders for the children we don't want them to be molested by viewing
you know those AIDS dispensers just kind of just showing themselves to be disgusting
and then you know at the end of the day at the end of the meeting we're just like you know what we
just need to pray and just have God do something and you know just leave it in God's hands
and you know he basically did it he just allowed the church to be bombed so they couldn't
meet like well that's a way to do it I guess allow the church to be bombed and then they can't meet
right now I would have preferred the dev corpse but you know I'm not Hezekiah and so
that would have been neat though verse 37 so Senechor of king of Assyria departed
and went in return and dwelt at Nineveh so we see here that he suffers a major loss
and he's all right time to go home he goes back to Nineveh verse 38 says and it came to pass as he
was worshiping in the house of Nisrach his god what an idiot by the way he just sees that his
185,000 of his men are killed by the god of Israel the god of Hezekiah just shallax them
and then he goes home and he starts he keeps worshiping Mary so worshiping his saints his false
gods he just what is that that is a refusal to give glory to God that is a refusal to believe in
God and you know what this guy had it coming because he saw the hand of the Lord he saw
God do something miraculous and he still refused to believe in the God of the Bible
so he goes home and he worships Nisrach his god that Adramelik and Shirezer his son
smote him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Armenia and Esar Hadon his son reigned
in his stead so he suffers an ill fate his sons end up killing him and that's where Armenia
comes from but we see here that you know he dies a very dishonorable death I mean a horrible death
by the hand of his sons but obviously God put that verse in there for a particular reason
because he wants us to know that this guy in spite of seeing all the miraculous things he still
decides to what worship false gods and reject the true God of the Bible and therefore he
got what was coming to him what are some closing thoughts well first and foremost
let's learn from Hezekiah's example amen seek the Lord when you're faced with opposition
take it to the Lord in prayer we need to start praying some more things down from heaven amen
we need to start praying through more things and and you know asking God to show himself
strong on our behalf we need to start praying for things to be just very apparent and very
evident that it comes from God take it to the Lord in prayer half faith in God's word
over man's word and then lastly you know the Lord will answer in his timing we got a way for
God's timing and so that is it let's pray Father we thank you so much for Isaiah chapter 37 I pray
God that you'd help us as your people to have faith in your word and please Lord may you show
yourself strong on our behalf and Lord we want to see great and mighty things which we know not
and I pray that we we would be able to experience those things in our lifetime
help us to be a people of prayer uh importune prayer and that you would answer those in such a
supernatural way that you we would know that it comes from you from you and I pray that Lord you
would just strengthen our faith as you answer our prayers as you did to Hezekiah I pray you
bless us as we go on our way Lord we love you we thank you pray this seems in Jesus name amen