Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- 2 Kings 18-20, Isa 36-39
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: right, it's good to see you today. Welcome to our journey through scripture. My name is Philip Thomas, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, and I hope that your week is going well. ⁓ Let's enjoy ⁓ reading about ⁓ actually a good king in Judah. ⁓ We see some of the good things that he does, but unfortunately, we also get a foreshadowing of some really bad things that are to come to the nation of Judah. So as we continue our journey through scripture, we're again, we're going in chronological order, which can be challenging, but it kind of puts things together and matches different parts of the Bible. So today we're going to be in 2 Kings 18 through 20, ⁓ and then also Isaiah 36 through 39. I'm going to mainly focus on the Kings passage. The Isaiah is nearly exactly the same in much of it, but there is one area that I'm going to pull out. So as you go through it, you'll recognize some of this is word for word, the same thing written down. So 2 Kings 18 through 20 in Isaiah 36 to 39. All right. So if you remember, we started 2 Kings 18 a couple of weeks ago, whenever we were talking about the end of the Northern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel. Right? That's, was called Israel. Southern kingdom was called Judah. The Northern kingdom, Assyria comes in and wipes them out. And it was during the time of King Hezekiah. So the first part of second Kings 18 is an introduction to Hezekiah, that Hezekiah was a good king. But he's getting involved, trying to navigate the political. things that are going on, so he didn't side with Judah and Syria. And so Assyria came in and took out, the Northern Kingdom took out Israel. Hezekiah has thought about partnering with Egypt. He's kind of going through all of these things. He's been warned not to. And now you have, starting in verse 17 of 2 Kings 18, you have The king of Assyria has sent messengers to threaten King Hezekiah. So Assyria has already come in and taken control of many cities in Judah. So Judah, when Assyria wiped out the northern kingdom, they also did damage in the southern kingdom, but King Hezekiah has withstood it to a point. ⁓ But Assyria wants to expand. their control. And so they come and they start talking to King Hezekiah. I encourage you to read through some of that, starting in verse 17 and starting in verse 19. You know, says a few things and gets to the end of, basically he's just trying to convince King Hezekiah to give up, saying, you know, just go ahead and give up. But then he starts to kind of... encourage the people not to listen to Hezekiah, encourage, he starts putting doubt in God. This is the messenger from the king of Assyria, putting doubt in the trustworthiness of God, the trustworthiness of Hezekiah. It's kind of interesting how that works out. He says, verse 23, come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2000 horses. How can you repulse one officer, at least in my master's official, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? This is all a political thing. He's trying to make a deal. He's trying to get Hezekiah to give in. It says, Furthermore, I have come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord. The Lord Himself told me to march against this country and destroy it. So the messenger from the king of Assyria knows enough. to impose the name of the Lord saying, this is what the Lord wants me to do. Then they continue to talk to the people. says the commander stood out in Hebrew said, this is in verse 28, says, hear the word of the great king of Assyria. This is what the king says, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, The Lord will surely deliver us. The city will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria." Isn't that interesting? So he says, don't listen to Hezekiah when he says, trust in the Lord. He's trying to deceive you. It says, do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says, make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig and drink water from your own cisterns until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine. Choose life and not death. ⁓ this is, you know, such wonderful political speech. But anytime someone is trying to convince you not to follow God, not to trust in the Lord, even though the outcome may be better, ⁓ you shouldn't give in to that. You should always trust the Lord no matter what is promised. And that's an interesting political tact. that the king of Assyria is using on Hezekiah and the people. And it's one that I think we can see that now. There's pressure to conform with society around us because it'll make it easier. You won't be considered bigoted or racist or whatever it may be. There's different pressures that are used and to to conform to society's view of reality, sometimes at the expense of God's view. And that's something that we need to always wrestle with and be mindful of, that we do not give in to taking the easy way out at the expense of giving up the truth that comes from God. It says, Do not listen to Hezekiah. If he's misleading you whenever he says, Lord will deliver us. Has the God of any nation ever delivered this land from the hand of the king of Assyria? And he's kind of right there. He has taken over many of the areas. So he's saying Hezekiah is lying to you whenever he says the Lord will intervene. It says, who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land for me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand? Now this is important. It says, but the people remained silent and said nothing in reply because the king had commanded, do not answer him. This says a lot about Hezekiah. It says a lot about Hezekiah's faith in God and the people's ⁓ responding to Hezekiah's faith in God by listening to him and not... responding to the King of Assyria. And so ⁓ this all gets back to Hezekiah, you know, that's trying to cause, you know, ⁓ Assyria and his messengers are trying to cause problems. Hezekiah obviously is very distraught by this because he knows he's in a tough spot. He knows that the King of Assyria could overtake him and has already to some extent, but yet he's... choosing to remain faithful to God, he's trying to do the best that he can. chapter 19, when he heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. It says, this is what Hezekiah says, this day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the field commander, whom is his master. the king of Assyria has sent to ridicule the living God and that he will rebuke him for the words of the Lord. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives." So they are recognizing, ⁓ we don't know what to do, but they are choosing to pray for those who are still there, the people who are still remaining to be faithful. And so then King Hezekiah sent for Isaiah, ⁓ Again, you're going to read this very similar account in Isaiah 36 and 37. It ⁓ says, said to him, Tell your master, this is what the Lord says, Do not be afraid of what you have heard, those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen, when he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I'll have him cut down with the sword. All right. Basically, Hezekiah is crying out to the Lord. He's acknowledging the challenge that he faces. ⁓ He calls on Isaiah because he knows Isaiah is a prophet and God has given Isaiah the message that tells Hezekiah, no, you've done what is right. I will take care of this. God doesn't always take care of it directly like this, but in this... ⁓ In this case, he does. So the messengers from King of Assyria go back and it says ⁓ And ⁓ this is Hezekiah's prayer. Sorry, I was jumping ahead of myself a little bit. ⁓ But Hezekiah's prayer ⁓ is really a powerful prayer. when all this is happening, he hears back from Isaiah, says, Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And he prayed to the Lord, Lord, God of Israel enthroned between The cherubim and you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes and see. Listen to the words that Sinarkarib, that's the messenger from a king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God. It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods. but only wood and stone fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from His hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God." And then Isaiah prophesies the destruction of King of Assyria. And then in verse 35, or verse 32, says, Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning King of Assyria. He will not enter the city or shoot any arrows here. He will not come before it with shield or build siege with ramp against it." Verse 34, I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant. Then verse 35, God takes care of this one himself. Says, that night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 of the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies. So the messenger of the king of Assyria broke camp, withdrew and returned to Nineveh and stayed there. So God intervened in a miraculous way to save the city of Jerusalem and to vindicate Hezekiah and his reliance on God. So that's I think an important lesson there that Hezekiah does remain faithful to God and trusting God even though he's tempted that And all of the circumstances around him point to the fact that he should just make a deal with Assyria. ⁓ But he remains faithful. That's not easy to do. And we're going to see how he kind of lets his guard down here pretty soon that will lead to a ⁓ future ⁓ invasion. But in this moment, as Hezekiah stood strong and the people stood strong. ⁓ Chapter 20. It talks about ⁓ an illness that Hezekiah is struck with. It says he came ill to the point of death. Isaiah comes and says, this is what the Lord says, put your house in order because you're going to die. You will not recover. Right? So he gets pretty bad news. But Hezekiah, it says in verse 2, chapter 20, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, remember Lord. how I have walked before you faithfully and wholeheartedly devotion and have done what is good in your eyes and Hezekiah whipped bitterly. Before Isaiah had left the middle of the court, the word of the Lord came to him, go back, tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, this is what the Lord, the God of your father David says, I've heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you. On the third day from now, you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add 15 years to your life. And I will deliver you in this city from the hands of the king of Assyria. will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant, David." All right. So it's interesting, a direct intervention that God does heal Hezekiah, but for 15 years, right? which it's kind of, like, ⁓ great. It's like, ⁓ you know, in 10 years, is Hezekiah going to start remembering, ⁓ man, I'll have five more years left. Right? It would be kind of awkward and weird to know your date of death. But Hezekiah is obviously overjoyed by this, and he responds. I'm turning over now to Isaiah chapter 38, where this account is as well. But in Isaiah chapter 38, we actually have Hezekiah's prayer in response. ⁓ It's in, starting in verse 9, I encourage you to read through that. says, in the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years. I will not again see the Lord Himself in the land of the living. Right? So it's this prayer that he is recognizing how frustrating and unfair it is that his life is coming to an end. But then he gets the word that the Lord is going to save him. says, but what can I say? He has spoken to me and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. Lord, by such things people live and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love, you kept me from the pit of destruction." All so all of this gives Hezekiah an even ⁓ stronger understanding of who God is and what he has done. And he recognizes even in the anguish that God could bring about good from that. It gave him a better perspective, that God was present even in the midst of the anguish. So Hezekiah is healed. Then we get... to ⁓ verse 12 of chapter 20, and you have the nation of Babylon that is ⁓ introduced. So Babylon comes in to see the king. They say, ⁓ we're so glad to hear that you're doing better from your illness. So Hezekiah receives the envoys from Babylon, showed them all that was in their storehouses, the silver, gold, spices. ⁓ found everything, showed them all the treasures. There was nothing in the palace and all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. This is a mistake. says in verse 14, then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, what did those men say and where did they come from? From a distant land, Hezekiah replied, they came from Babylon. The prophet asked, what did they see in your palace? They saw everything. Hezekiah said, "'There is nothing amongst my treasures that they did not show them.' Then Isaiah has a rough prophecy. He says, "'The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,' says the Lord, and some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you will be taken away and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the Babylon." And this is interesting. Hezekiah, I don't think he understands exactly what's going on. says, the word of the Lord you have spoken is good, Hezekiah replied, for he thought, will there not be peace and security in my lifetime? So Hezekiah is at the point, he just wants peace. And he's kind of done hearing about what's going to happen in the future. That's a dangerous place for us to be. And sometimes I think we get caught into that. We just want to, let's just worry about today and... As Jesus says, know, worry about today for tomorrow has enough worries of its own. However, we do need to recognize that our actions today can have consequences in the days to come. So we need to take care of our actions today and not be stupid so that we don't impact the days ahead of us. Hezekiah, rather than realizing that he made this huge mistake of allowing this foreign nation to see how wealthy they were and all the benefits of... overrunning them, right? Rather than recognizing that as a mistake, he was like, well, you know what, at least that'll happen after my lifetime. That's not a good ⁓ attitude, but he's worn out. He's exhausted emotionally, physically, and he's just glad to hear that there's going to be peace for the rest of his reign. But I think we can also see the danger in that. And that's definitely a foreshadowing of a conflict brewing. A conflict has been averted with Assyria, but a conflict is brewing with Babylon.