2 Kings chapter 19. 2 Kings chapter 19. I'll begin
reading in verse 1. And so it was when King Hezekiah
heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth,
and went into the house of the Lord. Then he sent Eliakim, who
was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of
the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son
of Amoz. And they said to him, Thus says
Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy,
for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength
to bring them forth. It may be that the Lord your
God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master,
the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God, and
will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore,
lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. So the servants
of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah and Isaiah said to them, thus
you shall say to your master, thus says the Lord, do not be
afraid of the words which you have heard and with which the
servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Surely I
will send a spirit upon him and he shall hear a rumor and return
to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his
own land. Then the Rabshakeh returned and
found the king of Assyria warring against Libna, for he heard that
he had departed from Lachish. And the king heard concerning
Terhaka, king of Ethiopia. Look, he has come out to make
war with you. So he again sent messengers to
Hezekiah, saying, Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah,
saying, Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of
Assyria. Look, you have heard what the
kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying
them, and shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations
delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran,
and Rezath, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where
is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the
city of Sepharvain, Hanna and Iva? And Hezekiah received the
letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went
up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And
Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel,
the one who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, you alone,
of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord,
and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib,
which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord,
the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods,
but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they
destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God,
I pray, save us from His hand, that all the kingdoms of the
earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone. And Isaiah,
the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord God
of Israel, Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib, king
of Assyria, I have heard. This is the word which the Lord
has spoken concerning him. The virgin, the daughter of Zion,
has despised you, laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem
has shaken her head behind your back. Whom have you reproached
and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised
your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy
One of Israel. By your messengers you have reproached
the Lord and said, by the multitude of my chariots I have come up
to the height of the mountains, to the limits of Lebanon. I will
cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will
enter the extremity of its borders to its fruitful forest. I have
dug and drunk strange water and with the soles of my feet I have
dried up all the brooks of defense. Did you not hear long ago how
I made it, from ancient times that I formed it? Now I have
brought it to pass that you should be for crushing fortified cities
into heaps of ruins. Therefore, their inhabitants
had little power. They were dismayed and confounded.
They were as the grass of the field and the green herb, as
the grass on the housetops and grain blighted before it is grown.
But I know your dwelling place, your going out and your coming
in, and your rage against me. Because your rage against me
and your tumult have come up to my ears, therefore I will
put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I
will turn you back by the way which you came. This shall be
a sign to you. You shall eat this year such
as grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from
the same. Also in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards
and eat the fruit of them. And the remnant who have escaped
of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit
upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go
a remnant and those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal, the
Lord of hosts will do this. Therefore thus says the Lord
concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city,
nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor
build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the
same shall he return, and he shall not come into this city,
says the Lord. For I will defend this city to
save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. And
it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord
went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000. And
when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses,
all dead. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
departed and went away, returned home and remained at Nineveh.
Now it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the temple of
Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharizar struck
him down with the sword, and they escaped into the land of
Ararat. Then Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place. Well,
it's important that we review chapter 18 because the two chapters
go together. In chapter 18 at the very beginning,
we're given a summary statement concerning the overall reign
of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was, in fact, a godly
king. We look at chapter 18 at verse
3 that tells us, he did what was right in the sight of the
Lord according to all that his father David had done. Now, there
were other kings in Judah that had done what was right in the
sight of the Lord, but none of them are described in this manner,
according to all that his father David had done. So he managed
to meet that benchmark in terms of obedience to the Lord. And
then in verses 4 to 8, we see it further described. Again,
this is the overarching summary of his life or reign as the king
of Judah. And then we see in chapter 18
that there was this attempt to pacify Assyria. Remember that
Assyria is the encroaching world empire. They have tried to exact
tribute from the nation of Judah, and so Hezekiah capitulates and
pays them off. Well, that doesn't satisfy Sennacherib
and the Assyrians, so they show up at all the fortified cities
of Judah, and they demand surrender, specifically in Jerusalem. And then in chapter 18, beginning
in verse 17, we see an address by the spokesman of the king
of Assyria. His name is Rabshakeh, and he
basically incites the people within Israel or within Judah
to rise in rebellion against Hezekiah. He sows discord among
the people there. He challenges the living and
the true God, and that ultimately was his mistake. In fact, if
you look at chapter 18, at verse 35, the Rabshakeh says, who among
all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from
my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand. Ian Proven makes this observation. He says, with these last words,
the Assyrian has clearly overreached himself. It is one thing to claim
that the Lord will not deliver Jerusalem because Assyria is
the Lord's instrument of judgment. He said that in verse 25. It
is quite another thing to claim that the Lord is simply one of
many powerless gods and cannot deliver Jerusalem, and to offer
oneself in the Lord's place as the true provider of material
blessings and life itself." So that is precisely what the Rabshakeh
does on behalf of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Now, certainly
that promotes or produces within the messengers a great deal of
grief and sorrow. We see that at the end of chapter
18, specifically in verse 37. Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah,
who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son
of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes
torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh. So we see the
problem or the tension, and chapter 19 is going to furnish the solution
vis-a-vis the power of God and His divine intervention. So we'll
look at chapter 19 under three considerations. First, the encouragement
of the prophet's word in verses 1 to 7. Secondly, the prayer
of Judah's king in verses 8 to 19. And then thirdly, the defeat
of Assyria's army in verses 20 to 37. But note in the first
place the encouragement of the prophet's word. Hezekiah responds
the way that the messengers did. Notice in verse 1. And so it
was when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes,
covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the
Lord. A sign of mourning, to be sure, a sign of repentance,
a sign of sorrow, a sign of grief. And so what Hezekiah now does
is not typical of the kings of Israel. It's not typical of the
kings of Judah, even. They oftentimes would find themselves
in dire straits, and instead of returning to God or seeking
God through the prophet, they would disdain or destroy the
true prophets. And so Hezekiah calls for Isaiah. his servants to go and present
a request to Isaiah. This is the response of a godly
king, and we'll see that throughout this particular narrative. It
certainly fortifies or certifies or affirms that glowing report
concerning the summary of Hezekiah's reign. He was a godly man. He
wasn't a perfect man. He wasn't, you know, an utterly
righteous man, but he was a faithful, godly man, and he seeks the Lord
here first by way of the prophet Isaiah. He seeks the Lord secondly,
as we'll see in a bit, at the throne of grace. He directly
goes to prayer, in Laze's case, before Jehovah. But here he sends
his messengers, and he sends them specifically to Isaiah.
Now, if you look at Isaiah 36 through 39, it's about... exactly parallel to this section
of 2 Kings. So you're getting sort of a double
dose tonight. You're not only getting 2 Kings,
but you're also getting Isaiah. Specifically, this chapter corresponds
to Isaiah 37. And then notice, he describes
the difficulties that they have undergone. Verse 3, And they
said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble
and rebuke and blasphemy, for the children have come to birth,
but there is no strength to bring them forth. I think that latter
part of the verse indicates their weakness, their inability. The
children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring
them forth. It's almost as if a woman is
due to have a child, that due date or due time is now, and
she has no strength to push. She has no strength or power
to produce that offspring even though it is right. And so Hezekiah
reports the same sort of thing to Isaiah. And then notice he
highlights the real issue that is involved in all of this at
verse 4. He says, it may be that the Lord your God will hear all
the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria,
has sent to reproach the living God. That comes up four times
in this particular chapter. The chief problem of the Assyrians
isn't first and foremost jeopardizing the safety of the Judeans. Rather,
the first and foremost problem is blaspheming the living and
the true God. We see that Hezekiah operates
that way as well. His concern is for God's glory.
His concern is for God's honor. Certainly, he wants the peace
and well-being and safety of his people, but his rationale
is primarily theological. And I would ask you to consider
tonight as we move through this material, we will end on some
notes of application to sort of reinforce that teaching, but
genuinely appreciate the genuine theological sort of nature or
disposition of Hezekiah. He really does illustrate for
us why theology matters, why it is important that we know
who God is and that we contend for His honor and for His glory. So the issue for Hezekiah, as
he brings this petition before the prophet Isaiah, is whom as
master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God
and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard.
Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left."
And so Isaiah then responds via these messengers. And Isaiah,
at least in verses 6 and 7, isn't quite as wordy as he is in his
prophecy. I mean, he wrote 66 chapters
in the book of Isaiah. Here, it's very brief. but it's
very pointed and it's very encouraging for King Hezekiah. First of all,
he comforts Hezekiah. Notice in verse 6, "...do not
be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the
servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me." That is
a repetitive theme in the scriptures, a recurring theme in the scriptures,
where our God tells his people, do not fear. Where our God tells
his people, not to be laid low with this fear and trepidation
that hinders the servants of God. Now, there is a right fear
of God that we must possess. It is the fear wherein we see
who God is, what He is, and we see ourselves relative to Him,
and that ought to promote fear and trembling. But when the Lord
God encourages his king here not to fear, it means to not
be laid low so that he's unable to operate as a godly king in
Judah and to withstand the threats of Sennacherib king of Assyria. And then he promises, God through
Isaiah promises victory, at least in this particular skirmish,
with the Assyrians. Notice in verse 7. Surely I will
send a spirit upon him, this is on the king of Assyria, Sennacherib,
and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I
will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. If you
were paying attention, you'll know that that's how the chapter
ends. He dies in his own land by the sword specifically wielded
by his two sons. So you see God's word does come
to pass. Now verse 37 takes place about
20 years in the future from this particular time. This is 701
BC. when the Assyrians come to Jerusalem. It was in 681 that
Sennacherib died at the hands of his sons. So we see there
that Isaiah's prophecy not only speaks to the immediate future
in terms of the Assyrian defeat with these 185,000 troops, but
also it reaches into the future. 20 years later, something spoken
by the prophet Isaiah comes to pass. Now we know, of course,
that that happens, or that happened, you know, a lot with Isaiah in
terms of his prophecies concerning the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But some people really have problems with predictive prophecy, and
they try to argue against it. So it's important for us to see
that Isaiah makes this promise, it comes to pass 20 years later.
So that's the encouragement of the prophet's word. And I think
just by way of a quick observation, this is where we are to go in
times of trouble. This is where we are to take
our discouragement, and our sorrows, and our hardships, and our woes.
You see, this was a time that was bleak, and dark, and very,
very, very difficult. not a very negative situation. We see that these men, the messengers,
and then Hezekiah, tore their clothes, covered himself with
sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. Those kinds
of times, or those seasons in our lives, where we are sorrowful,
or we are down, or we are trite, or we are perplexed, where ought
we to go? We ought to go to the God of
heaven and earth. Now, we don't have access directly to Isaiah. He's not living and breathing
and moving and having his being within our church. I mean, that
would be a great thing if he was. But we have 66 chapters
written by Isaiah for the comfort and encouragement of God's people.
So in sorrows and distress and in trials and difficulties, instead
of whining and grumbling and doing whatever it is that we
often do, we ought to go to the throne of grace. We ought to
seek the Lord of grace. Now note, secondly, the prayer
of Judas King. The occasion of the prayer is
given to us in verses 8 to 13. Essentially what happens is the
Rabshakeh returns and he finds Sennacherib now warring against
Libna. They had departed from Lakesh.
It seems that Ethiopia, probably slash Egypt, were trying to mount
an attack upon Assyria, and so Sennacherib has to deal with
that, at least momentarily. But nevertheless, Sennacherib
has not forgotten about Hezekiah and the Judeans. So in verse
9b, he says, So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not
let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem
shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Now we
see here that he's stepping up his game a bit. In the last chapter,
he said that Hezekiah was a deceiver. Remember, when he speaks specifically
to the men of Israel, he is essentially telling them, do not listen to
Hezekiah. He is a deceptive man. He is
going to lead you astray. Basically, what the Rabshakeh
is doing is appealing to the common rank and file, trying
to get them to overthrow Hezekiah and submit or surrender themselves
to Assyria. So the Rabshakeh says, don't
pay attention to Hezekiah, he doesn't have your best interest
in view. Come with us, we'll take you to a land that flows
with milk and honey and we will be your providers. Never mind
that you lose your land, never mind that you lose probably your
families, never mind that you lose your freedom, you'll get
safety and provision under the reign of the great king, Sennacherib.
So they tried to sow discord among the brethren by suggesting
that Hezekiah was deceptive. Now he targets Yahweh himself. Verse 10, he says, Do not let
your God, in whom you trust, deceive you, saying, Jerusalem
shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. So now
he's trying to sow discord between Hezekiah and his God. Hezekiah
is a God-fearer. He is a David-like man. He worships
and serves Yahweh. And now Sennacherib says, don't
let Yahweh deceive you. He is not able to deliver you.
He is not able to bring salvation to you and to your people. Again,
Proven makes this observation. He says, this is a God, says
Sennacherib, who is not only weak but duplicitous. Thus he
implies this is a God who will be destroyed just like the deities
of so many other lands. He amplifies the list in 1834
to emphasize just how many kings and gods were destroyed in verses
12 and 13. Here is a much more direct attack
on the Lord than the one in chapter 18, and one that displays monumental
arrogance. So you see, Sennacherib is not
just toying with the king of Judah, but he is making a direct
frontal assault upon Judah's God. He is attacking Yahweh,
and he is suggesting that our God cannot be trusted. And by way of his supporting
evidence, he again points to the military victories that Assyria
has had over the various nations in the land. Notice in verse
11, look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done
to all lands by utterly destroying them, and shall you be delivered?
You see what he's saying? These other nations were no match.
The gods of these other nations were no match. Therefore, the
God of Judah will be no match. He doesn't know what he is dealing
with. And Hezekiah is going to point that out in his prayer,
which we'll see in just a few moments. Notice in verse 12.
Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers
have destroyed? Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph,
and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king
of Amath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvim,
Hanna, and Iva? You see, he's laying down this
challenge, as it were, to the God of Israel. These gods tried,
these gods failed. Your God's gonna try and your
God's gonna fail. You might as well surrender,
Hezekiah. You might as well submit to our
yoke. You might as well come to this land and we will be your
providers. We will be your benefactors.
Albeit, we will be your masters and you will be our slaves. So
that's the occasion. And again, Hezekiah responds
the way a godly man responds. He doesn't run and hide. He doesn't,
you know, book a flight to You know, Timbuktu, he doesn't bail,
but rather he goes to the throne of grace. So let's look at the
content of his prayer in verses 14 to 19. I'm going to sort of
lean on Davis's outline, at least in this particular section. He
says, first of all, or we ought to observe, first of all, the
disclosure. Notice in verse 14, and Hezekiah
received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read
it. And Hezekiah went up to the house
of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. Now certainly God is
sovereign and omnipotent and omniscient, and He knew what
was going on with reference to Sennacherib and Hezekiah, but
we see that Hezekiah goes and he discloses this before God. He does what the psalmist bids
us to do in Psalm 55. He does what Peter tells us to
do in 1 Peter. We are to cast our burdens upon
God because He cares for us. That's what Hezekiah is doing
here. This is what Paul tells us to
do in Philippians chapter 4. We're to be anxious for nothing,
but in everything, with prayers and supplications, we're to let
our requests be made known unto God. We are to bring it before
the Lord. We are to unburden our hearts.
We are to disclose to God the problems that are affecting our
soul. We are to pour it out before Him, knowing that He is a prayer-hearing
God, and knowing that He does come to the aid of His people. Secondly, there is invocation. He invokes God. He calls upon
God in verse 15. And He does so very theologically. Notice he says, or notice it
says, then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God
of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are
God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven
and earth. Now I wonder, if we were staring
down the barrel of Sennacherib's gun, if our first expression
in prayer would be to stop and ponder the greatness and the
glory and the majesty of God. Or would we run from Sennacherib
into the presence of God and say, Lord, deliver me from Sennacherib? Now again, there are instances
and times, if you're about to go off of a cliff, I don't think
God's going to have any problem with you saying, Lord God, please,
you know, watch out for my family, you know, as I'm about to make
impact and depart from this world. But as the normal course or normal
routine with reference to prayer, Verse 15 ought to be utilized
by us. Then Hezekiah prayed before the
Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between
the cherubim, you are God, you alone of all the kingdoms, you
alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven
and earth. Stand in the presence of God
and worship. Stand in the presence of God
and adore. Stand in the presence of God
and highlight His God-ness. I think Davis is right on here.
He says, Hezekiah comes to a God of intense presence. He's enthroned
above the cherubim. He comes to a God of sovereign
sway, God of all the kingdoms. He comes to a God of massive
power. You have made heaven and earth.
Yahweh is specially present to Israel in His temple, enthroned
above the cherubim. But that does not mean he has
gone AWOL among the nations or throughout the world. In one
sentence, Hezekiah confesses that he approaches a God who
is near, vast, and mighty, one who is accessible, sovereign,
and able. I think this is very practical
and very helpful. He says, what better way for
Hezekiah to encourage Hezekiah than to rehearse God's majesty
as he requests God's help? Speaking truth about God to God
may stir up assurance in God. Is this a cue for us to take
more care about our address to God about the way we begin our
prayers? Again, there are times and seasons.
If you fall down a well and all you can pray is, God help me,
I don't think God's angry with you. But if you've got time in
the morning for, you know, Facebook or Twitter or, you know, CNN,
you certainly have time to express verse 15 to the living and the
true God. In other words, we invoke God
with reference to who God is, because that not only brings
glory to God, but it has a calming effect upon the soul. As Davis
says, what better way for Hezekiah to encourage Hezekiah than with
the doctrine of God? You see, brethren, this is key
with reference to the way we approach the Lord Most High. He then moves on to complaint.
and not complain like we're often want to do, but complain that
wherein he expresses the issues that he wants God's aid in. He
says in verse 16, incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your
ears, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which
he has sent to reproach the living God." You see, that's his concern. That's the concern of a godly
man. The first and foremost petition is not, Lord, we're really suffering
here under this Assyrian oppression. No, the primary issue is this
Rabshakeh on the part of Sennacherib king of Assyria has the unmitigated
gall to reproach or mock the God of heaven and earth. You
will see that Hezekiah is very much like David, his father.
Remember David's concern on the field of battle with reference
to Goliath? Why does David want that victory? So that Israel will know that
God is and that all the earth may know that there is a God
in Israel. That's precisely how Hezekiah
prays in this particular section. So what I mean, Hezekiah demonstrates
that theology matters. Sometimes people say, why is
theology important? Why do you spend time reading
those books? Why do you spend time trying
to understand things like, you know, impassibility or divine
simplicity? Because theology matters. If
we don't know the God to whom we pray, we don't praise the
God to whom we confess, if we don't understand the basics that
Scripture sets forth concerning who He is and what He does, we're
going to be the ones who suffer. It's not the people that know
their God that suffer, it's the people that don't know their
God. It's the people that continue
to spin their wheels, and the people that continue to be very
content with a kindergarten education when it comes to theology proper. You need to know your God. My
people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, the prophet says.
How does Jesus define eternal life? golden gates or pearly
gates and golden roads and all that, the big basketball court
in the sky. It's an amazing thing how people
conceive of heaven. I can't wait to get to heaven.
It's going to be one big basketball game, one big golf game. If that's
heaven, that's a very, very unfortunate thing. What's the essence of
eternal life? And this is eternal life, Jesus
says in John 17, 3, "...that they may know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." If the very
essence or the identifying characteristic of eternal life is the knowledge
of God, why is it, at times, so difficult to get 21st century
Christians to want to know their God? You see, this man is theologically
inclined. Notice in verse 17, Truly, Lord,
the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods,
but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they
destroyed them. What's the implication? You're
not a work of man's hands. You are not wood and stone. No
one can cast Yahweh of Israel into the fire. You are the living
God. So He prays to one who has massive
power. He prays to one who is omnipotent. He prays to one who is sovereign.
And that brings Him to His petition in verse 19. Now, therefore,
O Lord our God, I pray, save us from His hand. Again, it's
not just that. But the purpose is revealed at
the end of verse 19, that all the kingdoms of the earth may
know that you are the Lord God, you alone. How did Hezekiah want
to evangelize the nations of the earth in that day? It was
through the defeat of Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This was Hezekiah's
great commission. This would be the way that he
would disciple the nations when Sennacherib was toppled from
his power perch and when God Most High would triumph over
him. That's Hezekiah's desire that all the kingdoms of the
earth may know that you are the Lord God you alone. It's really beautiful. In fact,
turn to 1 Samuel 17. In the valley of Elah, in the
field of battle with Goliath, we see David's rationale. Verse 45 in 1 Samuel 17, then
David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword,
with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name
of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom
you have defied. This day, the Lord will deliver
you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head
from you. And this day, I will give the carcasses of the camp
of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts
of the earth that All the earth may know that there is a God
in Israel. Then all this assembly shall
know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the
battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands."
So there is that first sort of macrocosmic, that all the earth
may know that there is a God. But secondly, then all this assembly
shall know. Why does David say that? Because
presently Saul and the armies of Israel are hiding and are
cowering because they think they're outgunned by the Philistines.
So David says, I want them to know that the Lord does not say
with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and He will
give you into our hands. God can take one shepherd boy
off his post and he, that one shepherd boy, can take five smooth
stones and with that first one fell the Goliath, fell that giant
from Philistia. God doesn't need spears and swords
and armies and all that sort of thing. David wanted the earth
to know that there was a God and he wanted Israel to know
what type of God they served and what kind of God they should
have feared and adored. So that's Hezekiah's prayer.
We see his David-like similarity there at the throne of grace.
And now notice thirdly and finally, back in 2 Kings 19, the defeat
of Assyria's army. We see, first of all, the word
of the Lord in verses 20 to 34, and then secondly, the terror
of the Lord in verses 35 to 37. So the word of the Lord and the
terror of the Lord. In the first place, notice the
word of the Lord. He first condemns Sennacherib's
boasting in verses 20 to 28. Notice verse 20, then Isaiah
the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, thus says the Lord God
of Israel, Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king
of Assyria, I have heard. You know, those three words ought
to encourage every blood-bought child of God. I have heard. This
is what God does with our prayers. I have heard. Isn't that encouraging
that God hears prayers? I mean, He is the High and the
Lofty One, the Holy One of Israel, the Majestic One, the One who
inhabits eternity, according to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah
57. But to this One will I look, to those who are humble and of
a contrite spirit, those who tremble at the Word of the Lord.
God hears their prayers. You know what else is most blessed
is Psalm 116. I'm not sure that the people
of God today are as honest as the people of God in the Psalms
were. Do we ever say, I love God because
He hears me and He answers me? You say, well, that sounds a
bit presumptuous and a bit odd. We should love him for who he
is. Well, of course we should love him for who he is. Of course
we adore God because he's God. But brethren, there's nothing
wrong with saying, I love the Lord because he has heard my
voice and my supplications. Because he has inclined his ear
to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live. Isn't
that beautiful? The answer of God to the prayers
of His people is the cause for His people, or one of the causes
for His people, to respond to Him both in love and more prayerfulness. In other words, God answers our
prayer, how do we respond? We love Him for it and we continue
to pray because He is so faithful and so kind and so good. It's
a blessed thing that God heard Hezekiah. Now note his condemnation
of Sennacherib. The Lord comes to the aid of
his virgin daughter and says that ultimately she will laugh
at Assyria. Verse 21, the virgin, the daughter
of Zion, has despised you, laughed you to scorn. The daughter of
Jerusalem has shaken her head behind your back. The Lord then
underscores the nature of Sennacherib's folly. You see, in the first
instance, Sennacherib, your issue isn't that you've tried to attack
Judah. The issue is you have attacked
the living and true God. Verse 22, Whom have you reproached
and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised
your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy
One of Israel. Now, that is a blessed statement
for two reasons, I would suggest. First, because God is most high,
He is most glorious, He is the Holy One of Israel, and Sennacherib
says, when you do that, you defy me. But it also indicates something
of God's identification of Himself with His people. In other words,
when you attack Judah, you're attacking me. It reminded me
of Acts 9, when the Lord Christ comes to Saul of Tarsus on the
road to Damascus. And Saul says, who are you? And
Jesus says, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now, as far
as we know, Saul of Tarsus was not present. Some suggest he
might have been present at the crucifixion, but we don't have
any indication whatsoever in the scriptures that Saul of Tarsus
actually persecuted Jesus. What's the point? Jesus says,
when you persecute my church, When you stone or you stand by
while Stephen is being stoned to death, you are persecuting
me. In other words, Christ identifies
with his body in such a way that when you persecute the church,
you are persecuting the Lord Jesus. And God says, He always
says the same thing with reference to Judah. You attack my people,
you've come after me. Somebody messes with your kid,
That's an affront, isn't it? You go and gently tell them,
don't do that anymore to my child. That's my kid. You don't mess
with them. And I think that's sort of the
sentiment here. And now God chides the or rehearses
rather, the boastfulness of Sennacherib. This is the way that Sennacherib
speaks. Verse 23, by your messengers
you have reproached the Lord and said, by the multitude of
my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains,
to the limits of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars
and its choice cypress trees. I will extend the extremity of
its borders to its fruitful forest. I have dug and drunk strange
water, and with the soles of my feet I have dried up all the
brooks of defense." See, that's the boasting of Sennacherib and
the kings of Assyria. Do you know that there was a
wall covered with boastings concerning their victory over Lachish? Nothing
about Judah. Some say, well, this isn't historical
because there's no sort of attribution to it in Assyrian annals. Guess
what? They didn't record. They didn't
record when they got creamed. They didn't record when they
lost. They didn't record when 185,000
of them were slain by the angel of Yahweh. But they certainly
recorded when they mopped up other nations. I mean, you see
the boasting here, challenging Yahweh based on the failure of
these gods of wood and stone. They were boastful, arrogant,
proud men. I, I, I, I, I. This is what I've
done. Remember, Nebuchadnezzar, different
empire, but the same sort of sentiment when he's looking at
Babylon. What does he do? He is parading
himself, strutting about, as the man who has built this majestic
empire. It is pride and arrogance, and
that is precisely what the Lord condemns. Now note what the Lord
goes on to say. It is intriguing, the Lord now
declares His sovereignty over Assyria and Sennacherib. Notice in verse 25, did you not
hear long ago how I made it from ancient times that I formed it?
Now I have brought it to pass that you should be for crushing
fortified cities into heaps of ruins. Oh, it's Sennacherib. The only reason you've had any
victory whatsoever is because I ordained it that way. Now,
this bothers some people. They say, well, that means that
God used Sennacherib and he used the Assyrians to bring judgment
upon the other nations. That's absolutely, positively,
100% what it means. We should certainly have no problems
with that as Reformed Christians. We should certainly have no problems
with that in light of the prophet Isaiah or the language of the
apostle Paul in Ephesians 1.11. He predestines everything that
occurs according to his own purpose and plan. So you see, on the
one hand, Sennacherib's boasting about his great victories and
about his mighty power and about his ability. And God says in
verse 25, did you not hear long ago how I made it? from ancient
times that I formed it, now I have brought it to pass that you should
be for crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins. Therefore,
their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and
confounded. They were as the grass of the
field and the green herb, as the grass on the housetops and
grain blighted before its growing. Lord Sennacherib, you guys mopped
up these other nations because God in His sovereignty ordained
it so." Now, we need to come to grips with this God. I think
Davis makes a good observation here as well. He says, predestination,
of course, makes some Christians nervous. They shudder at the
mention of the P word. All I can say is if you don't
want predestination, well then, go ahead and live a comfortless
life, bite your nails and eat your guts out as you watch the
evening news. Some of us prefer, however, the
pillow of predestination. That is, of having a God big
enough that he is never surprised by the blathering Sennacheribs
of this age. Everything is according to his
purpose and plan. He raises men up and he puts
men down. It's intriguing too because isn't
this what the Rabshakeh said back in chapter 18 verse 25,
have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy
it? The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy
it. He didn't mean that. He's trying to incite the people. He's trying to mock the people. He doesn't think for a moment
that Yahweh of Israel is responsible for the victories of Assyria.
And yet Yahweh of Israel is responsible for the victories of Assyria.
Psalm 76 10 is accurate. Even the wrath of man shall praise
you, our living and true God. Now notice, he then goes on to
highlight that he is going to defeat them. Verses 27 and 28,
but I know your dwelling place. You're going out and you're coming
in and your rage against me because your rage against me and your
tumult have come up to my ears. Therefore, I will put my hook
in your nose and bridle in your lips and I will turn you back
by the which you came. This could be a reference to
the way that Assyria deported people that they conquered. They
would put fish hooks in their nose and they would string them
together and they would march them into other lands. So God
is turning the tables on the Assyrians, and God says, I will
put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I
will turn you back by the way which you came. So that's the
condemnation of Sennacherib's bow stake. Now let's look finally,
quickly, at the comfort for Judah in verses 29 to 34. Verse 29
is a sign which essentially says there will be food for Judah. When we see verse 29, this shall
be a sign to you. This is spoken to Hezekiah. This
is spoken to Judah. This is by way of comfort and
encouragement. Now remember, Hezekiah has been
looking down the double barrel shotgun of Sennacherib, king
of Assyria. He doesn't know if there's gonna
be 30 minutes left in Judah. He doesn't know if there's gonna
be 30 days left in Judah. And verse 29 assures them that
there'll be at least three more years in Judah. Now we, the careful
reader, know that Judah's going to fall. We know that they're
going to collapse ultimately. But at this particular time,
they have been given a reap-wreath. That's the purpose of verse 29.
You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, and in the
second year what springs from the same. Also in the third year,
sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. Be
encouraging news, wouldn't it? If Sennacherib and his armies
were standing outside your gate and the Lord says, you're going
to be eaten in three years. Good, nice, that's a sign. The fact
that there's gonna be food for our bellies, that's a wonderful
sign. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. And God then
explains his purposes for Judah. Verse 30, and the remnant who
have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward
and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go
a remnant and those who escape from Mount Zion, and then notice
how he underscores this, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will
do this. It's the same promise affixed
to Isaiah 9, 6, and 7, that great statement concerning Messiah,
His identity, and then a description of His kingdom in verse 7, and
then it says, the zeal of Yahweh of hosts shall perform this. It is a beautiful confirmation
of God's word to His people that all that He promises will in
fact come to pass. And then on the immediate situation,
with reference to the armies outside of Jerusalem, verse 32,
Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria,
He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor
come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it.
By the way that he came, by the same shall he return. And he
shall not come into this city, says the Lord." It's a beautiful
statement. He's not going to penetrate.
He is not going to make headway. He is not going to level this
city, Hezekiah. You will be kept free, kept safe
at this particular juncture. And then notice why God does
this in verse 34. Everybody is theologically minded
in 2 Kings 19. That's why we ought to appreciate
it. Hezekiah is theologically minded and as God is most often. He is, well, God's always theologically
minded. He is for his own glory. Notice
in verse 34, for I will defend this city to save it, notice
the twofold reason, for my own sake and for my servant David's
sake. For his glory and for his covenant. Provent makes the observation,
hitherto in Kings this promise, this reference to the Davidic
covenant in 2 Samuel 7, hitherto in Kings this promise has been
invoked only to explain why the Davidic line continued to rule
over Judah even though a particular king was apostate. You remember
that throughout the history of Judah, even when there's terrible
kings, we oftentimes find this remark that the Lord nevertheless
preserved Judah for the sake of his servant David. It's that
Davidic covenant of 2 Samuel 7. Proven goes on to say, now
we find it mentioned in a narrative featuring the very best of kings. Even his survival must now be
explained explicitly in terms of divine grace. For in these
days, when Judah is herself moving towards final judgment, the piety
of even the most faithful offers no guarantee of deliverance. So without that Davidic promise,
without that covenant, Judah would have gone the way of the
north long, long ago, but they are preserved, they are kept,
they are blessed, they are regathered after the Babylonian captivity
because God made a promise to David that from his seed, one
would rise up, occupy his throne, and of his kingdom, there would
be no end. It is that Davidic covenant. It is the glory of God. That's
why Sennacherib would meet his end. And that brings us to the
terror of the Lord in verses 35 to 37. The death of a multitude,
185,000, killed by the angel of the Lord answers the immediate
concern of the Assyrian army and provides the basis for Sennacherib's
departure. Why did Sennacherib leave in
verse 36? Because he just got slaughtered. Again, people say, well, the
Assyrian animals don't record this. Why would they? You don't
boast on Facebook that you lost at football. You don't boast
on Twitter that you got creamed by your opponent. The Assyrian
kings didn't do that either. They didn't boast in the equivalent
of their Facebook that, you know, we got wiped out at Judah. Just
don't go up against Judah. I mean, that really takes away
from their ability to then exercise ominous power over other nations. So this angel of the Lord slays
outright these 185,000. And then in verse 36, an Acrib
king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and
remained at Nineveh. Now, it came to pass, again,
this is 20 years later, verse 37, as he was worshiping in the
temple of Nisroch his God. That's a really good God there
that can provide safety and comfort for you. that his sons Adramelech
and Shararezer struck him down with the sword and they escaped
in the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon, his son, reigned
in his place. And we ask the question, why
in the world did this happen? Because he had already appointed
Esarhaddon as his heir apparent. He was the youngest son. Adramelech
and Shararezer didn't like that as the older boys and so they
take the sword and they slay Sennacherib and then they bail
because that wasn't a good thing to do. The second event the text
mentions occurs in 681 BC, long after the invasion. Hubbard explains,
apparently Sennacherib had bypassed his older sons to designate his
youngest son, Esar-Hadon, as a parent. Though details remain
unclear, extra-biblical records suggest that those bypassed killed
him in an attempted coup. Isaiah's predictions are not
just short-term in nature, they also cover long-term events. You see, everything that was
created in terms of tension, problem, difficulty, and issue
in chapter 18 is resolved by the end of chapter 19 by the
power of God Almighty. Well, there's a couple of lessons
I want to run through very quickly. First, the word of promise and
the presence of trials. Verses 1 to 7, the prophet Isaiah
says, don't fear. Verses 1 to 7, the prophet Isaiah
promises victory. Verses 8 to 13 is nothing but
reasons to fear. Trial, hardship, difficulty. I mean, he got another letter
from Sennacherib, right? Don't we find ourselves in this
position from time to time? We have the word of encouragement,
we have the word of comfort, we have Romans 8.28, that assures
us that all things will work for our good, to those who love
God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. The
promise, however, doesn't remove any potential for trial, or any
potential for issue or for challenge. The health, wealth, prosperity
idea that God never wants any problems for his kids is absolutely
satanic. Because we see the pattern set
forth here. We see it in the life and the
ministry of the Lord Jesus. We see it in a servant, the Apostle
Paul. Because we have the Word of Promise and encouragement
and comfort does not mean we'll never have trial. It does not
mean we'll never be assaulted by the Sennacheribs of this world.
It doesn't mean that we're going to live a carefree, happy-go-lucky
life. Just because we have the Word
of Promise does not mean that we will never have the trials
that affect man on earth. Davis again says, prayer is frequently
unnerving because it is the activity we engage in between catastrophe
and deliverance. But if we pray truth, as Hezekiah
did, we will find it not only reaches God, but it anchors us. You see, sometimes people say,
why would we pray if God's sovereign? Well, in the first place, it's
commanded. You know, that should always be a great answer for
anybody. Why do I pray? Because God says.
You know, your kid says, well, why do I? Because I said so. Do you debate? Do you interact? Do you give them 25? You just
say, because I said. Right? You don't expect your
five-year-old to require a list of reasons and rationale. And
yet believers, why do we pray if God's sovereign? Because he
said so. Prayer is beneficial for the
soul, especially if you're praying like Hezekiah. Because as you're
rehearsing the solitary nature of God or the singularity of
God, you're rehearsing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places in Christ. You're encouraging yourself,
aren't you? Isn't that a means by which you
find comfort when you rehearse who God is at the throne of grace? It's a time to bless Him, and
to praise Him, and to worship Him. And lo and behold, what
happens? Our soul is affected in a positive
and well-intentioned way. It's a good, good thing. Secondly,
we ought to consider the example of Hezekiah and the prayer of
God's people. I'm always mindful of the silent
covenant I have made with you, brethren, to not keep you past
nine. I will not do that, so I must go quickly. First, the
king sought God in times of trouble. We need to dare to be a Hezekiah
in that regard. He sought him through the prophet.
He sought him at the throne of grace. The king laid out his
burdens before the Lord in verse 14. Have you ever felt like you're
all alone in this world? Nobody knows what I'm going through.
Nobody listens. Nobody cares. God does. He always
does. That's the purpose for Psalm
55, 22, and Peter's repetition in 1 Peter 5. Cast your cares
upon Him. Why? Because He cares for you. My wife never listens. My husband
never listens. My friends never listen. God
always listens. That's the sureness of His Word. It's a beautiful thing. Third,
the king invoked God in conspicuously theological terms, verse 15. Fourth, the king highlighted
the offense of Sennacherib. It was a reproach to the living
God. And five, the king supplicated
God with specific theological concerns for God's glory. Matthew Henry comments, the best
pleas in prayer are those which are taken from God's honor. Isn't
that how Moses prayed with reference to the safety of Israel? Lord,
if we die out in this wilderness, then all the pagan nations are
going to say, Yahweh couldn't deliver them. What does God do
with that? How dare you pray that way? God
says, I'm going to deliver you. God's about His glory, brethren. And I think Henry's right. The
best pleas and prayer are those which are taken from God's honor.
And therefore, the Lord's prayer begins with, hallowed be thy
name, and concludes with, thine is the glory. And then finally,
the goodness of God in the preservation of His people. The kindness of
God in the provision of Isaiah the prophet. Praise God, there
was an Isaiah that Hezekiah could go to. I mean, bless God Almighty
that He hasn't blocked heaven, that we have access to God Most
High through the Word. Secondly, the kindness of God
in the answer of Hezekiah's prayer. He's beholden to no man. He doesn't
answer. He doesn't have to answer anybody favorably. There's nothing
in God that he has to complete himself by sparing Judah in this
particular instance. Well, I mean, covenantally, yes,
because of 2 Samuel 7. But in terms of being beholden
to man, God is not. Thirdly, the sovereignty of God
over his enemies, verses 25 to 26. Sennacherib's boasting, flexing
his muscles, saying, look at what I've done. Look at what
I've done. Look at what I've done. God says, I did it. I just raised
you up. Isaiah 10. I mean, isn't that
the point of Isaiah 10? God raises up this weapon, uses
it to chasten Israel, and then the weapon starts to boast. It
gets arrogant. God says, I'm going to cut you
off. Fourth, the judgment of God and the destruction of His
enemies. Fifth, the sovereignty of God and the preservation of
His people. And sixth, the faithfulness of God in light of His covenant. Again, Matthew Henry said, thus
all the deliverances of the church are wrought for the sake of Christ,
the Son of David. Amen. Great chapter, great lessons,
great man in Hezekiah, and a great covenant with David in 2 Samuel
7. But most of all, a great God
who hears the prayers of His people, comes to their aid, vindicates
His cause on the earth, and sustains these men from the battle with
Sennacherib and the Assyrians. Well, let us pray. Our Father,
we thank you for your word and we thank you for the clarity
with reference to prayer. Help us to be these kinds of
prayers. Help us to come before you to
acknowledge your glory and your majesty and your excellence.
Help us, Father, to have God-centered petitions. Help us to be about
your glory and to genuinely pray, Hallowed be thy name. We ask
that you would go with us now. We pray that you'd bless us in
the remainder of this week. Be with all of our brothers and
our sisters in our local church here. throughout all the churches
in Chilliwack. We pray that you would bless
your people with peace and with grace and with strength. And
we ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
