Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / 2 Kings 20 (Part 1) Bible Study (Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Transcript

2 Kings 20 (Part 1) Bible Study (Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

0:01
Tonight we are at Second Kings chapter 20, and this is the
0:06
final chapter not of Second Kings, but of Hezekiah story.
0:12
And it's been my prayer that Hezekiah has been a source of
0:16
great instruction and encouragement to you and your
0:18
walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. And my prayer remains the same
0:22
as we come now to this chapter and look at what the Holy Spirit
0:25
has preserved for us in the final moments of his life.
0:30
Now, we won't be completing this chapter tonight.
0:32
It is a total of 20 verses or 21, and it's neatly divided
0:38
almost in half. And so we're going to be looking
0:40
at the first half of this chapter together.
0:42
And I believe it is beneficial for us to read it in its
0:45
entirety, the section that we'll be focusing on.
0:47
And so if you're there, begin with me at verse one.
0:49
I will be reading down to verse 11.
0:53
Let's just pray, Lord, we ask that you would help us now in
0:57
the reading of Your Word, the hearing of Your Word, the
0:59
interpretation of Your Word, and the application of Your Word.
1:02
We need your guidance Lord, and as we open up the service with,
1:06
we pray that this would reach our hearts, the innermost parts
1:09
of who we are, so that we can truly know the benefits, the
1:12
nutrients of the Scriptures, and that we can help others also
1:16
taste and see that the Lord is good.
1:18
We commit this time to you, Lord, trusting that you are with
1:21
us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
1:25
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of
1:30
death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son
1:33
of Amos, came to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, set
1:36
your house in order, for you shall die, and you shall not
1:40
recover. Then Hezekiah turned his face to
1:43
the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, Now, O Lord, Please
1:46
remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and
1:49
with a whole heart, and I've done what is good in your sight.
1:53
And Hezekiah wept bitterly, and before Isaiah had gone out of
1:59
the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him.
2:02
Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people.
2:05
Thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father.
2:09
I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears.
2:14
Behold, I will heal you on the third day.
2:19
You shall go up to the House of the Lord, and I will add 15
2:25
years to your life. I will deliver you and the city
2:28
out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this
2:31
city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.
2:35
And Isaiah said, Bring a cake of figs, and let him take and lay
2:39
it on the boil, that he may recover.
2:42
And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the
2:45
Lord will heal me? And then I shall go up to the
2:47
House of the Lord on the third day.
2:49
And Isaiah said, This shall be the sign to you from the Lord,
2:52
that the Lord will do the thing that he has promised.
2:55
Shall the shadow go forward 10 steps or go back 10 steps?
3:00
And Hezekiah answered, It is an easy thing for the shadow to
3:02
lengthen 10 steps. Rather let the shadow go back 10
3:06
steps. And Isaiah the prophet called to
3:10
the Lord, and he brought the shadow back 10 steps by which it
3:13
had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.
3:18
The first 3 words of verse one are essential to capture in
3:24
order to truly understand the depth of this remarkable
3:26
testimony in those days. This tells us that this took
3:36
place at a particular time, particular year.
3:38
Actually. Now, if we're not careful,
3:42
sometimes we can read our Bible. Though it is very much organized
3:45
chronologically, it is not strict to depict every event in
3:50
that order, and the temptation would be to interpret this as
3:54
something that took place after what we studied last week.
3:56
What did we study last week? The deliverance of the people of
4:00
Jerusalem and the humiliating defeat of Assyria.
4:05
But we know that this is not happening after that.
4:08
Why? Look back at verse 6.
4:10
Notice what the Lord repeats, what He promises.
4:13
I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of
4:16
Assyria. I thought that already happened.
4:20
Well, clearly this is a vow that indicates that deliverance had
4:23
not yet taken place. So what do we have here?
4:27
We actually have Hezekiah experiencing this while Assyria
4:32
was still surrounding Jerusalem. Now, why is understanding this
4:37
timeline important? Because it reveals to us the
4:42
intensity of the trials that Hezekiah was enduring.
4:47
You see, he was not only trying to be the godly leader that the
4:51
Lord called them to be by righteously responding to the
4:54
vicious threats of a powerful enemy, he was also fighting a
4:59
disease that quickly turned deadly all at the same time.
5:06
This is meant to remind us that not only are trials inevitable
5:10
for the believer, but that at times there is a certain caliber
5:16
of tribulations that we can expect.
5:20
What am I speaking about? The kind where it feels like
5:22
everything is going wrong all at once.
5:28
That no matter what direction you look to, seems like
5:31
everything is falling apart. And if you and I ever find
5:35
ourselves in a tornado of turmoil, here's what you have to
5:39
do. This is paramount.
5:41
You can never for a moment believe that the Lord has
5:43
abandoned you there. Never.
5:48
Alternatively, you have to set this anchor in your soul that as
5:53
overwhelming as it all may seem, the Lord sometimes permits the
6:00
piling of pain for a goal, a righteous reason beyond our
6:07
understanding, usually in the moment.
6:09
It's often something that we learned after the fact.
6:13
You know, Hezekiah, he's known as a righteous ruler.
6:16
He's known as a man of prayer, but I think people often forget
6:19
that he was also a musician. Hezekiah played instruments.
6:24
I'm going to prove that to you in a moment.
6:26
And there is actually what many believe to be a song that
6:29
Hezekiah wrote or a poem found in Isaiah's writings in chapter
6:34
38. It's a song or a poem, a writing
6:37
if you will, that he pens after he receives this miracle, after
6:42
he is healed. And there is a part there that I
6:45
want to bring to your attention for this first point.
6:48
It's an Isaiah 38 and verse 17. Notice what he says in this
6:52
journal entry. And Isaiah 38, verse 17,
6:57
Hezekiah says, behold, in other words, pay attention to this.
7:01
You hear us. Behold, the ESB renders it.
7:05
It was for my welfare. The word welfare there is
7:08
Shalom. You can say it was for my peace,
7:12
it was for my well-being. It was for my welfare that I had
7:16
great bitterness. So as he's reflecting in
7:20
hindsight, he's saying it was good that I was sick while I was
7:25
trying to lead a nation, protecting these people from
7:29
being swallowed by an enemy. It was from my welfare that I
7:33
had. Not just bitterness, great
7:35
bitterness, but in love You have delivered my life from the pit
7:39
of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your
7:42
back. Do you see Hezekiah, as one who
7:46
belonged to the Lord, understood that even after great
7:49
bitterness, he can look back and trust that there was some good
7:54
that came from it? Now Speaking of Isaiah, I want
7:58
us to now come back to verse 1 of chapter 27, Kings, and place
8:01
ourselves in his shoes at this moment.
8:04
The last time that Isaiah spoke in this story was in the
8:10
previous chapter, bringing Hezekiah good news.
8:14
Good news, the divinely inspired assurance that his enemies would
8:19
be defeated. And now he comes with a
8:23
different message, and it doesn't seem so good.
8:29
It's not an announcement of life, but one of death.
8:34
It's very brief, but it's very profound.
8:37
I want you to think about how difficult it would be to tell
8:42
someone that the rest of their world will go on living, but you
8:47
won't. Telling a leader your Kingdom
8:50
will survive, but you will not. That's not an easy message to
8:54
deliver. And what Isaiah exemplifies is
8:59
that you and I have to at times speak.
9:03
Not just at times, but all the time, no matter how difficult or
9:07
uncomfortable make us or others feel what God says.
9:10
It moves me that it moves me that Isaiah was the same person
9:14
who partnered with Hezekiah to cry out to the Lord that he
9:17
would send help from heaven, and yet he was also the same man who
9:22
gave a difficult word from the Lord to this man.
9:26
It really proves that he was faithful to God above all.
9:29
So we also should emulate that. That when we have to warm, we
9:34
warm. When we have to rebuke, we
9:35
rebuke When we encourage. Yes, encourage, but take all of
9:40
God's word. Don't leave anything out for
9:42
those who need to hear what they need to hear.
9:45
Hezekiah needed to hear this word from the Lord, and there
9:48
are times where, yes, we again, we have to help others with
9:51
God's Word. And there are other moments
9:53
where we, yes, help them, but in a way that may seem painful or
9:55
uncomfortable. Hezekiah, you're going to die.
10:00
You're going to die. So here's my instruction to you.
10:02
Set your house in order. Set your house in order.
10:07
Again, it's a brief message, but so profound.
10:10
What does that mean to set your house in order?
10:13
It's practical, essentially means get your material affairs
10:18
in line before your departure from this earth.
10:22
Isn't that something? Who's saying this?
10:24
This is coming from Isaiah's head.
10:26
No? Thus says the Lord, this is God
10:28
saying this. This is God telling one of his
10:31
servants, I need you to organize your temporal possessions before
10:38
you die. And there are many people,
10:42
including Christians, who refuse even talk about death,
10:46
especially their own, because they're fearful.
10:50
Yeah, I see something about how God thinks that he actually this
10:54
is just want us to think about death, talk about death.
10:56
He wants us to plan around it, not just spiritually, even here,
11:01
as we see with our worldly belongings, because such people
11:08
who are fearful to even bring it up, mention it, discuss it with
11:12
their spouse or their children, end up believing their loved
11:16
ones with needless difficulty with the challenges that come
11:20
with what happens when a person passes on.
11:25
Set your house in order, think about your death, and you don't
11:28
have to be sick for you to contemplate on that reality.
11:35
But I like to think that Hezekiah only had to arrange his
11:37
material affairs because his heart was already right with
11:40
God. Is that possible?
11:43
Absolutely. He was a righteous man.
11:46
And there are many, including unbelievers, who have set their
11:49
house in order. They have planned accordingly.
11:52
At the same time, their hearts are not in order.
11:56
You see, Hezekiah had the grace. He received a gift from God to
11:59
be told when he would die. You're you're going to die very
12:05
soon. He received Intel.
12:08
He received that kind of heads up.
12:12
Not everybody, most people don't have that advantage.
12:16
And we can't afford to delay our heart preparation in the same
12:20
way we might postpone how we organize our estates.
12:24
The former is far more important than the latter.
12:27
And so the primary ambition for anybody is that your heart is
12:31
first right with God through Jesus Christ, that you are
12:33
saved. You put your trust in Him.
12:36
But for those who are even saved, this still applies.
12:40
We should be even more motivated not knowing when we're going to
12:43
die. At any moment we can suddenly be
12:46
called home. Here's a righteous man who is
12:49
sick. Do you know how old Hezekiah is
12:51
at this point? If you do the math in those days
12:54
right, the first 3 words. We know that this is taking
12:56
place while it's serious surrounding Jerusalem.
12:58
That happened at the 14th year of his reign.
13:00
Does anyone remember when Hezekiah started to reign his
13:02
king? How old was he, 25?
13:10
Let's do some basic math. 25 + 1439.
13:14
He's 39 years old and he's ready to die, you can say, in the
13:20
prime of his life. A righteous man.
13:24
So with this in view, we should have the joyous ambition of
13:29
remaining in a constant state of faithfulness because at any
13:33
point the Lord can call us to graduate in the glory.
13:39
Set your house in order. Some of us need to do that, and
13:43
others need to get their heart in order.
13:46
Even if you're saved, I hope that you have the ambition to
13:51
meet the Lord while being faithful.
13:56
However, Hezekiah was not ready to accept this update about his
14:00
fate. Look at verse 2 again.
14:02
And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and pray to the Lord,
14:04
saying, Now Lord, Please remember how I've walked before
14:07
you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and I've done what
14:10
is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
14:14
What does Hezekiah do when he receives this bad news?
14:18
What we see him do before, whenever you receive bad news,
14:21
he turns to God in prayer. But this time it's a little
14:25
different because we've observed Hezekiah not just turning to God
14:29
in prayer, but he would make his way to the House of God.
14:33
He would come as close as possible to the glory of God, to
14:35
the throne of God. And he would lay his pain at the
14:39
foot stool. But this time he's limited.
14:43
His body will not permit him. He is ill.
14:45
So he does what he can to access the most privacy he can achieve.
14:52
He turns his back towards his attendance and he faces the wall
14:56
and he opens his mouth and with his sickly frame he speaks to
15:01
his God. This is a thrilling thought to
15:05
me. I hope it is to you that we are
15:08
able to access the listening ear of God in our beds just as much
15:14
as in the courts of God's house. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
15:19
Isn't it beautiful that the Lord is not so strict about your
15:21
bodily posture and where you're physically located?
15:25
That even as you have blankets piling on you and medicine all
15:29
around you, you're not able to get up from that bed?
15:32
You can cry out to Him and He will listen to you.
15:35
And this is what makes prayer without ceasing possible.
15:41
There is not one place on earth with a weak or lost signal to
15:45
God. Not one.
15:49
And it's in this very account that we also see how swiftly our
15:52
prayers reach the throne of the Holy One.
15:54
Look at verse 4 again to get a hint of it.
15:57
And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of
16:01
the Lord came to him. What does this mean?
16:03
That the Lord heard and answered Hezekiah before Isaiah was able
16:09
to leave the palace? This is incredible that he
16:15
whispers a prayer. He weeps his prayer, at least
16:21
most of it, and the Lord hears him and answers him.
16:25
Now listen. The speed of this answer may be
16:27
unusual, but the reception of it is not.
16:34
I want you to think about this. The very moment you and I direct
16:38
our hearts to the Lord and intentionally commune with Him,
16:42
He hears us the very moment you do.
16:48
Some believers have this strange illusion that they first have to
16:52
package their prayers perfectly with just the right words and
16:56
they have to stamp it with in the name of Jesus and send it
17:01
off with a resounding Amen and hope that it will reach the
17:06
Lord. And I'm here to tell you that
17:11
God doesn't hear your prayer when you say Amen.
17:13
He hears it before you even finish saying, Father, do you
17:18
believe that about prayer? Perhaps you're reluctant.
17:22
So let me give you a couple other examples.
17:23
This is what came to mind when I was reflecting on this today.
17:26
Go to the book of Daniel. Look at 2 examples in Daniel
17:29
Chapter 9 verse 23 and in Daniel chapter 10 verse verse 12 rather
17:34
but look at 923 Daniel 9/23. This man was also a man of
17:44
prayer. Look at the wording of Daniel
17:50
9/23. At least the beginning.
17:52
He is told. At the beginning of your pleas
17:56
for mercy, a word went out, and I've come to tell it to you, for
18:00
you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word and
18:03
understand the vision. Don't read it too quickly.
18:06
But what does he say at the beginning, At the beginning of
18:08
your plea for mercy? So Daniel, on many occasions he
18:12
would fast and pray for weeks. And here we're told that when he
18:16
started he was heard. That should bring comfort to
18:20
you. Doesn't mean that you're going
18:21
to get an answer the moment you pray, just means that God hears
18:24
you. He's taken into account, He's
18:27
listening. Look at Daniel 10 verse 12.
18:31
We weren't persuaded there. Hopefully we're convinced after
18:34
this Daniel 10 verse 12. Then he said to me, fear not
18:37
Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to
18:42
understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have
18:47
been heard and I have come because of your words from the
18:51
first day. Not amazing.
18:56
Again, there are some Christians who believe that they have to
18:59
really convince God or try to get His attention.
19:02
And the more you fast, the stronger your chances are.
19:06
The louder you pray, the longer you pray, the better opportunity
19:09
you will have. That's not the case.
19:11
The very moment you utter your words to Him, you have His full
19:16
attention. That alone should bring
19:19
reprieve. That alone should bring us much
19:21
rest and our pursuit of the Lord.
19:23
In prayer, Hezekiah turns his face to the wall.
19:26
He speaks to the Lord, and before Isaiah can get to the
19:29
parking lot, God has an answer for him and tells him, turn
19:33
back. I've heard this man's request
19:36
and I'm going to give it to him. Let's come back to verse 3.
19:40
Let's consider what Hezekiah prayed.
19:43
Now, O Lord, Please remember how I've walked before you in
19:46
faithfulness and with a whole heart, and I've done what is
19:48
good in your sight. I have two questions with this
19:51
one verse. Maybe they're the same questions
19:53
you have. Number one, is Hezekiah
19:57
displaying self righteousness in his supplication?
20:02
You might be tempted to believe so I don't think he's doing that
20:06
at all. Have you and I seen similar
20:10
confessions and some of the petitions we find in the Psalms
20:16
where there's this appeal to 1's devotion and consistency as one
20:20
is preparing to make a request? Yes, we've seen that.
20:24
And that's what we find here. Hezekiah understood, especially
20:27
under the Old Covenant, that the law promised, and even in the
20:30
new Covenant, the law promises us rewards for obedience.
20:36
And it's as though here he is appealing to his consistent
20:39
devotion as a way of showing that if healed and granted more
20:43
years, he will remain loyal as he has been.
20:47
Lord, you can guarantee that I will continue to live for you
20:50
and serve you. Look at my record.
20:53
Look at how I've been walking with you up to this moment.
20:55
This is not just a last minute turn around.
20:58
I'm here to say, not that God needs remembrance, but it's just
21:01
a way of expressing stuff. Or look at my life and see that
21:05
I'm making this request because I want to remain here and
21:08
continue in that faithfulness. Second question, why did
21:15
Hezekiah weep bitterly? Any ideas?
21:20
Actually want to open it up for possible answers.
21:23
Any ideas why this man wept bitterly?
21:32
Yes, I think that has to do with it that Hezekiah was concerned
21:40
about the state of the nation. I think there are many possible
21:43
answers. There's many reasons why we can
21:44
weep. In fact, sometimes we weep
21:46
because we're so overwhelmed by so many thoughts.
21:50
One way of answering this is that this is perhaps just a
21:52
natural response to the human instinct of self preservation.
21:56
Life is precious. Life is a gift.
21:58
And remember, he's 39 years old at this time.
22:01
There's so much that he can still give an experience,
22:03
especially in his service to the Lord.
22:06
And so perhaps he's just expressing himself because he
22:09
wants to do more and he he's requiring obviously the
22:13
intervention from God to, to do that.
22:17
But I think there's another idea going on here.
22:20
It's difficult not to compare Hezekiah's reaction to what we
22:24
see in the New Testament, especially with the apostle
22:26
Paul, who taught Christians how we should face death.
22:29
Right. To to live is what Christ and to
22:33
die is what game. And in that same context, to
22:38
depart and be with Christ is what?
22:40
Far better, Far better when you come here and you see this man
22:46
weeping bitterly and you wonder what's going on here.
22:49
And, and I think that is precisely the point.
22:53
Hezekiah's understanding of the afterlife lacks the clarity that
22:58
the apostle Paul, indeed that every Christian possesses.
23:03
You know, you have many Christians innocently wondering
23:07
what advantages do we have in the new covenant in comparison
23:10
with the old covenant? And some Christians even believe
23:12
that it would be more beneficial to actually be under the old
23:16
covenant with all that they experience and all that we read
23:18
in the Old Testament. Well, here's one that you can
23:20
add to the list that what we have in the new covenant is a
23:24
revelation of the bliss of the world to come for the righteous,
23:28
something that is not widely known for those in the Old
23:32
Testament. Yes, there, there has been
23:35
moments, hints given by the Spirit to prophets in their
23:39
writings as we see that they understood just a murky view of
23:45
of what's going to happen. But the expansive hope that the
23:50
New Testament describes and that you and I have access to was not
23:54
given to those who lived under the Mosaic promise.
23:59
Do you understand that? Does that make sense?
24:02
We've been given more light and so profound is this like that we
24:07
can even interpret impending death differently, differently
24:12
than Hezekiah who's seen 185,000 of his enemies slain in one
24:17
night. Differently than men like Samson
24:23
and other heroes of the faith. Maybe you're not persuaded.
24:28
OK, let's go to the New Testament.
24:30
I want you to see this and Paul's writing in Second Timothy
24:33
110. This is one of those verses that
24:35
you want to underline if you're trying to understand what
24:38
glories outshine that of the old covenant.
24:42
Well, here's one of them and listen to how Paul describes it
24:45
in second Timothy chapter one. Look at verse 10.
24:54
And which now has been manifested through the appearing
24:58
of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life
25:04
and immortality to what? What's that word to light?
25:10
How, how We've been given greater light with something
25:15
such as immortality through the gospel and the gospel as a means
25:21
of inaugurating the new covenant.
25:23
Through the establishment of the new covenant in the gospel, you
25:27
and I have been given greater light with, yes, even death and
25:32
immortality. Here's one of the rewards of
25:36
being in this covenant. We can view and understand death
25:41
much differently than even the greatest Saints of the Old
25:44
Testament. So I believe to some degree
25:47
Hezekiah here is struggling with the unknown.
25:52
There's a greater fear here, a fear that the average Christian
25:56
should never experience. Let's come back to Second Kings
26:01
20 in verse 4. We read it.
26:07
Isaiah, before he even leaves the palace, receives a word from
26:11
the Lord, and verse 5 is what I want to focus on.
26:16
Turn back, the Lord says, and say to Hezekiah, the leader of
26:20
my people. Thus says the Lord, the God of
26:22
David, your father. I've heard your prayer, I've
26:24
seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you.
26:27
On the third day you shall go up to the House of the Lord.
26:30
Don't read too quickly. How does the Lord identify
26:37
Hezekiah? What does he call him?
26:41
The leader of my people. Why is that important?
26:44
The Lord could have said many things.
26:45
You could have said my servant. You could have said the king,
26:48
the leader of my people. Here's what I believe.
26:53
It has to do with the Lord's willingness to extend Hezekiah's
26:56
life for the sake of God's people, that this answer of
27:01
giving Hezekiah health is not just for Hezekiah.
27:06
It's for the citizens of Jerusalem.
27:08
It's for the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Judah.
27:10
It's for the sake of the shepherding of the people of
27:14
God. And here's what we learned.
27:16
For this, God takes into account every level of suffering and all
27:24
the parties that are involved in a painful situation.
27:27
Isn't that wonderful? Realize that he's not just
27:30
thinking about Hezekiah. Yes, he sees Hezekiah, his
27:33
tears, and he hears his prayer, but he's also considering what
27:36
might happen if Hezekiah, this righteous king, dies at the ripe
27:42
age of 39. The leader of not his people,
27:46
the leader of my people, says the Lord.
27:50
And what we take from that is God is very much mindful of all
27:55
levels of suffering. Yes, he is concerned about
27:59
bruised bodies, and he's even concerned about healing our
28:02
emotional wounds. We see this in the New Testament
28:07
again with Paul. Paul had a friend and a ministry
28:09
partner. Pafforditis.
28:12
What a name. More importantly, what a man.
28:15
Pafforditis was ill, even to the point of death, but he was
28:19
spared. And do you remember what Paul
28:22
said to the Philippians? You don't.
28:24
It's OK if you didn't. That's the beauty of Bible
28:26
study. Philippians 2.
28:28
Listen to his words in verse 27 of Philippians 2.
28:31
Indeed, he was ill near to death, but God had mercy on him.
28:37
He could have stopped there, but he didn't.
28:39
He goes on to say, And not only on him, but on me also.
28:44
Why were you sick, Paul? No, lest I should have sorrow
28:49
upon sorrow. God was not only gracious to my
28:53
friend, he was also gracious to me because he understood that if
28:56
I lost my friend at this point, I'd be very sorrowful.
29:03
It's one of those paradoxes, right?
29:04
Many of the paradoxes in the Christian life appear in Bible
29:07
study. The same man who said in this
29:09
letter to Dias Gain also said, I just, but I don't want to lose
29:13
Epaphroditus this early. The humanity right there,
29:16
there's still this transparency, but the pain of death, even
29:20
though there's so much promise with it.
29:24
The Lord is not limited to treating physical pain, but he
29:29
looks even at your emotional state and he is equally
29:32
concerned. He healed Epaphroditus, but he
29:36
also saw the sorrow that would have come upon Paul.
29:39
And he does something to bring a remedy to both of them.
29:47
And this leads us perfectly to what we see in the next thought.
29:50
And Hezekiah, he says, I've heard your prayer, I have seen
29:55
your tears. This is God saying this.
30:01
Imagine managing the universe. You know, we have many busy
30:06
people here in the West. Many of us are busy here too.
30:09
We miss a lot of things when we're busy.
30:12
We overlook many things, even sometimes important things.
30:14
The Lord of glory takes into account the tears of His people.
30:22
Now you and I have learned in the New Testament through Jesus
30:25
teaching that the Father is so attentive to us that He even
30:30
counts the number of our hairs. But that's not the only thing
30:32
that He counts. In Psalm 56, verse 8, we learn
30:36
that the Lord keeps count of depending on the translation you
30:41
have. The ESV says keeps count of my
30:44
tossings and other translations are wanderings.
30:50
He actually records where you go and why you're going, where
30:56
you're going and how much you go back and forth in bed.
31:00
All your movements are considered by the Lord.
31:03
And the Psalm doesn't end there though.
31:05
You have kept count of my tossings.
31:08
Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?
31:16
So he actually counts the amount of tears that stain your face
31:22
and create streaks on your cheeks.
31:25
Who does that? This is profound because it's a
31:32
way of conveying that the Lord is deeply considerate and
31:36
compassionate toward us. You know, if he just said I
31:39
heard your prayers, that would be enough.
31:41
But there'd be the danger of interpreting that, as, you know,
31:47
putting an application together, like at a governmental office,
31:49
and submitting it with the hope that the person behind that that
31:53
desk is merciful enough to consider your case.
31:56
That's not how God deals with our request.
32:00
He is up close and personal, close enough to see the liquid
32:06
streaming down your eyes, and it's impossible to believe that
32:11
He is dismissive to our sorrow. With verses like this, how can
32:16
you even be tempted to believe that thought?
32:20
And if this wasn't deep enough, the Lord's awareness of
32:22
Hezekiah's tears reveals something even more glorious.
32:25
Because you see, tears often express what words can't.
32:30
Was Hezekiah's prayer detailed? Was it elaborate?
32:34
Was it profound? Not really.
32:36
All he asked was to be remembered.
32:38
Remember, He doesn't make specific appeals even.
32:42
He just says remember. And here's what I believe that
32:50
Hezekiah's tears said a lot more than what his words could say,
32:55
and God interpreted it perfectly.
32:58
God knew everything that was in Hezekiah's heart and he took it
33:02
into consideration. And here's how I know that.
33:07
Look at verse 5. At the end of it, the Lord says,
33:11
behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up
33:14
to the House of the Lord. We kind of are blinded to the
33:19
second part of that promise. We just see, behold, I will heal
33:22
you. That's not all that the Lord
33:23
said. There are things in Hezekiah's
33:26
heart that he could not put into words.
33:28
He had no language for them. He can only cry them.
33:32
Here's what I believe. The Lord knew how much the House
33:36
of God meant to Hezekiah, or else why else would he promised
33:40
him? On the third day you're going to
33:41
be able to go to the courts of my earthly dwelling place.
33:45
Why would he mention that? Because he wanted that.
33:49
We've seen it in the previous chapters how he would frequently
33:52
make his way to the House of the Lord.
33:54
And I believe one of the pains, one of the laments of Hezekiah
33:57
is that I won't be able to do that anymore.
34:00
I won't be able to to enjoy these ordinances and be with
34:04
other worshippers and experience the glory of God.
34:07
You might be saying, yeah, but if he dies, he can experience
34:09
the fullness of it. But remember, he doesn't have
34:11
the fullness of that revelation. So here he is longing for the
34:16
House of God, and the Lord promises him this.
34:19
You are going to go back to the House of God.
34:24
And that longing is confirmed in his poem in Isaiah 38.
34:27
We'll look at it in a moment, but let's see something else.
34:30
This is again evidence to show that there were things in
34:32
Hezekiah's art that can only be expressed in tears and and the
34:35
Lord knew exactly what he was weeping about.
34:38
Look at verse 6, we looked at it earlier, He promises them I will
34:43
deliver you and the city out of the hand of the king of Assyria.
34:47
Now Hezekiah was already promises in chapter 19, so I
34:50
mentioned it again was brother David already answered, I
34:55
believe it's because the king desperately wanted to witness
34:59
the deliverance of God's people with his own eyes.
35:02
So the Lord tells him you're going to see it, you're going to
35:06
behold it. You're going to watch me bring
35:08
absolute and total victory for my name's sake.
35:13
So here's what we have to take comfort in knowing.
35:16
God interprets our tears, and all we have to do is come into
35:22
his presence. And if you come into his
35:24
president, all that you can offer is your tears.
35:28
You need not to fear 1 moment that the Lord is confused by
35:32
them or that he is unmoved by them.
35:37
Now He's drawn to us. In fact, Spurgeon said the tears
35:41
of the righteous are the diamonds of heaven.
35:45
What a beautiful picture and that's not an exaggeration based
35:49
on what the Lord says about our tears.
35:51
He bottles them, he records them the diamonds of heaven.
35:57
This come back to our main text in verse 6.
35:59
Consistent with his character, the Lord goes beyond what we
36:03
ask. This is just say that he's going
36:05
to heal him. He tells him the amount of years
36:07
he's going to add. Look at the first part.
36:09
And I will add 15 years to your life.
36:13
Be honest. Would you want to know the year
36:15
you're going to die? Floor?
36:19
Would they grant you that? I can tell you the exact year
36:22
that you're going to expire. Who would sign up for that?
36:27
I'm not sure if people want to know.
36:29
Most people at least. But for Hezekiah, this was a
36:32
sort of source of comfort. This was something for him
36:34
personally. He didn't ask for the knowledge
36:38
of how many years he was going to live, but the Lord gave it to
36:39
him anyway, knowing that it would be a source of great
36:43
encouragement and motivation. However, I think there is
36:45
benefit in pausing and placing ourselves in his position and
36:51
wondering what would I do if I knew I had 15 years to live?
36:59
What would you do? What would that kind of
37:02
information do to your priorities, to your desires?
37:09
What kind of strength would it give you over distractions?
37:15
How quick would we be to reconcile with people to be
37:20
intentional peacemakers? What kind of oomph would it give
37:26
you if I can use that word in your service to?
37:28
Would you be more consistent in the ministry that God has given
37:31
you in the local church? Would you hone in and craft your
37:35
gifting? What would it do to know I have
37:37
15 years left? I mean, at 15 to 39 doesn't make
37:42
Hezekiah very old. He's very grateful for this.
37:45
But just think about it. Just you don't see very often
37:50
the Lord telling somebody exactly when he's going or she's
37:53
going to die. It's very rare occurrence.
37:57
Do you know that? Hezekiah answers that very
38:01
question about his own life on the other side of this
38:05
revelation. On the other side, after
38:07
learning that he had 15 years, do you know he tells us in
38:09
detail what he will do with those 15 years.
38:12
Where do you think we're going to find it?
38:15
And Isaiah 38, let's turn that to see what is Hezekiah
38:20
determined for the rest of his life.
38:25
Look at verse 19 of Isaiah 38. He says the living, the living.
38:36
He thanks you as I do this day. The Father makes known to the
38:41
children your faithfulness. Number one, I am going to invest
38:48
in my family. I am going to unreservedly
38:52
declare the glories of God to the next generation and it's
38:55
going to begin at home. But look at verse 20.
39:00
The Lord will save me and we will play my music on string
39:04
instruments. Who's the We?
39:07
My family. We will play my music on string
39:11
instruments all the days of our lives at the House of the Lord.
39:19
You see it? Do you think he's like mildly
39:23
excited about God's house? No, no, I'm recruiting my
39:27
children. They don't know how to play an
39:30
instrument. I'm going to teach them how to
39:31
play an instrument and we're going to invest all of our days
39:36
to God's service. We're going to declare His
39:39
glories by word and even in song.
39:42
In other words, to summarize this, I'm going to do what I can
39:45
to bring pleasure to the Lord and to declare who He is with
39:50
the audience that He has given me.
39:51
That's what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.
39:52
Now, do you need to know that you have X amount of years to
39:55
live to have that same ambition? I hope not.
39:59
I think we should be even more motivated because tomorrow's
40:01
never promised that every single day you wake up and there is
40:07
fresh air in your lungs, you should be excited.
40:12
I have another day to live, to serve the Lord, to love my
40:15
spouse, to love my kids, to serve my church, to know more of
40:20
God's word, to ask for divine appointments, to speak the
40:23
gospel. That's what I'm here for.
40:25
In fact, that's the very tension Paul felt in that same passive
40:28
recess. To depart and be with Christ is
40:30
far better. The only thing that kept him,
40:32
the only thing that made him wrestle, that was to remain on
40:35
the earth on the account of the church.
40:39
That I can contribute something to your fruitfulness.
40:42
That's the only reason why I want to stay.
40:43
It's not because I want to visit that country or I want to buy
40:46
that car or I want to finish my my home renovations.
40:49
No, no, no, no. The only reason why I want to
40:52
stay, so I want to do more for the Lord because there's only a
40:56
unique opportunity in this life to glorify God that I can't
40:59
repeat in heaven. I will glorify God perfectly in
41:02
heaven, but not in a way that I can now with all the temptation
41:06
and all the trials. There's a unique opportunity I
41:09
have now to serve God. Think about it, You, you, you
41:12
might live 70 years, 80 years, and then eternity, eternity
41:18
forever and ever. We don't get a redo with his
41:21
life. And if you constantly set that
41:24
before your mind, it'll be very difficult to become lukewarm.
41:28
Very difficult. I only got one shot at this
41:32
thing. One shot.
41:35
I don't want to waste it. I want to be like Hezekiah all
41:38
the days of our lives. I'm going to glorify God the way
41:40
He's wired me to glorify him. What an inspiration.
41:46
Let's come back and finish this Bible study, the second Kings 20
41:51
verse 7. And Isaiah said, bring a cake of
41:55
figs and let them take and lay it on the boil that he may
42:00
recover. That's interesting, isn't it?
42:05
I was expecting a little bit more extravagance, something
42:09
more supernatural. Nothing very impressive about
42:13
taking a cake of figs and applying them to a boil.
42:18
What does this mean? It means that God uses natural
42:21
means to perform his will. And it's not a recent idea that
42:26
God works that way. You find it in the Old
42:30
Testament. You find it in the New
42:31
Testament. Non miraculous interventions
42:35
providentially provided by God. And if the Lord chooses to
42:41
express His grace through common means, you and I must still be
42:45
quick to give Him glory for it. Hezekiah still wrote a poem in
42:51
Isaiah 38 giving thanks to God for saving him.
42:53
Even though Isaiah had to get a prescription from the local
42:58
store to help him, he still sang, and he still recognized
43:06
God's faithfulness in it. A lot of believers need to be
43:11
rescued from this idea that the Lord should only be recognized
43:16
and and praise reports should only be given when inexplainable
43:19
things happen in our lives. Now you can give Him glory even
43:24
for the things that seem to be natural and common and ordinary.
43:29
He's still behind them because in God's Providence, He allowed
43:32
it. And so this is what we see here,
43:37
which should make us wonder why He follows this with a request
43:40
for a sign. What is he saying?
43:43
Verse 8? Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What
43:46
shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go
43:48
up to the House of the Lord on the third day, Huh.
43:55
Just take take the promise. We should be hesitant to condemn
44:01
Hezekiah here. Why?
44:05
Because he doesn't receive a rebuke from the prophet for it.
44:09
Is he operating in unbelief here?
44:11
Is he skeptical of this approach?
44:15
I don't think so. I think there's something deeper
44:17
going on here. You may disagree with it, but I
44:19
think the best explanation is that Hezekiah wanted to be
44:22
certain that the Lord was truly behind this healing.
44:26
Because again, it's a medicinal thing, figs application, you
44:31
know, some kind of recipe was being made to help him.
44:35
And I believe he wanted to be. He wanted to be certain God is
44:40
the one who's actually prescribing this less.
44:43
When people hear about it, they would be tempted to give credit
44:45
to figs instead of God. That makes sense when you
44:53
remember what kind of people Hezekiah is leading.
44:57
A people who had a tendency of admiring and even worshipping
45:02
instruments of God's blessing instead of God himself.
45:06
Anything come to remembrance? When Hezekiah brought reform to
45:11
the Kingdom of Judah, what was the one special thing he had to
45:14
destroy? The bronze serpent, a means of
45:18
bringing healing to the people of Israel many years ago, but
45:20
became an object of worship and God was eclipsed by it.
45:24
This is the kind of people that Hezekiah is dealing with.
45:26
I wonder if he was afraid that though natural means were being
45:30
applied, the glory of God would be missed in it because the
45:34
people's failure to understand it.
45:35
So he's asking for an autograph, if you will, something that God
45:41
can stamp so that people, when they hear about this
45:43
intervention, cannot deny that the Lord was behind it.
45:47
And Isaiah, he's going to approve.
45:52
In fact, this is precisely what happens.
45:56
Go to Second Chronicles quickly and we're wrapping things up
45:59
here. It's Second Chronicles again in
46:02
chapter 32 is another advantage for what we have to Hezekiah's
46:06
story, even this one. Notice what happens after
46:12
Hezekiah's healing and after the sign was granted for this
46:16
healing to take place. Second Chronicles 32, Scroll
46:19
down to verse 31. And so in the matter of the
46:24
envoys of the Princess of Babylon who had been sent to
46:27
him, him being Hezekiah, to inquire about the sign that had
46:32
been done in the land, God left him to himself in order to test
46:39
them and to know all that was in his heart.
46:42
Oh, I'm so tempted to touch on that last part of the verse, but
46:44
let's focus. Let's focus on the main thing
46:47
here. Notice that whatever sign was
46:50
performed, it even reached the inhabitants of Babylon.
46:56
Something so remarkable took place that news reached this
47:00
Gentile nation, and there was even representatives sent to
47:03
inquire Hezekiah about it. So I believe Hezekiah's desire
47:09
in the Lord being glorified in his healing was granted and we
47:12
see the fruit of it. So all to say, he's coming from
47:16
a good place when asking for a sign, he's not operating in
47:19
unbelief. He's wanting there to be no
47:21
confusion about who's behind his restoration.
47:25
What is this sign? Come back to Second Kings 20 and
47:29
look at verse 9 with me. And Isaiah said, OK, you want to
47:34
sign. This shall be the sign to you
47:37
from the Lord that the Lord will do this thing that He has
47:39
promised. Shall the shadow go forward 10
47:41
steps or go back 10 steps? And Hezekiah answered very
47:46
wisely. I mean, it's more challenging
47:49
for the shadow to retract and to decline here instead of moving
47:54
forward. So I want to see it come back 10
47:56
steps. Lord says, fine, that's nothing
48:01
to me. And there's a lot of debate
48:04
about how this miracle happened, as you can imagine, speculation
48:08
and I, you know, all these explanations of how this was
48:12
able to take place, but the scriptures do not provide us a
48:15
detailed answer. And I think that's the point.
48:16
It's a miracle. Miracles exceed explanation.
48:23
Miracles suspend natural law. Miracles defy and surpass human
48:31
logic. So I don't sense the burden to
48:35
come and explain how this happened.
48:37
All I know is that it happened. And if we're not careful, our
48:41
curiosity can sometimes lead us into discussions that completely
48:44
missed the point of the passage. What's the main point?
48:49
What are we supposed to leave with?
48:51
With this section of Scripture, I think it's obvious.
48:53
God is sovereign over all things, including time.
48:58
So what you're supposed to see with what we studied here in
49:00
this portrait, if He so chooses, the Lord can reverse the
49:04
rotation of the globe and He can add or subtract years, months,
49:11
weeks, days, hours, minutes, even seconds of your life.
49:21
He's in control of everything, absolutely everything.
49:29
That's what you're supposed to feel from this passage.
49:34
He added 15 years to Hezekiah's life, and he made the dial turn
49:41
back a few steps. He's that powerful, and if we're
49:49
not careful, our preoccupation can be in trying to explain the
49:54
extent and the execution of God's omnipotence when the point
50:01
is that we're supposed to truly worship Him and live in light of
50:06
the power that He has, especially with the time that He
50:09
has granted us. Sometimes debates can distract
50:14
us from the simplicity of living for God, and I believe that's
50:19
what Hezekiah was all about. I believe he was that kind of
50:23
servant. How do I know?
50:25
Go back to his request for the sign.
50:27
In verse 8, Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign
50:32
that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up to the House
50:36
of the Lord on the third day. What is he concerned about?
50:40
More than anything, I just want to know, I want the Lord to to
50:45
show that this is from him and I, I want to just be granted
50:49
certainty that I'm going to actually go to the House of the
50:51
Lord. I want to worship God.
50:54
Can you provide that to me, please?
50:55
Isaiah. And Isaiah prayed and the Lord
50:57
granted it to him. May may that be true of us,
51:04
possessed with a passion to serve the Lord.
51:08
If he gives us 15 years, five years, 50 more years, whatever
51:12
our days may look like, each of us have an invisible expiration
51:15
date. I know that doesn't sound too
51:19
encouraging, but it's true. We're all going to die.
51:22
What are we going to do with our lives?
51:29
And I want to end this way by asking the Lord not to give us
51:32
revelation about how much time we have left, but with every day
51:36
to make the most of it. For His glory.
51:39
Let's pray. Lord, we're amazed by you.
51:59
We are so amazed by you. Your power is unmatched,
52:08
unparalleled, incomparable. But we also see that your
52:14
compassion is the same, that you care with a force that's almost
52:23
unbelievable, but it's in your words, so we choose to believe
52:26
it. Thank you that in a packed car
52:34
on a road trip, we can pray and you hear us on flights as we're
52:38
sitting beside a stranger, you can listen to our request.
52:47
But Lord, while we're able to come to the House of God, we
52:49
want to do what we can while we have life to serve you with our
52:55
our strength to have no regrets as we age if you allow us to
52:59
age. So Lord, both young and old here
53:01
we ask for fresh wind in our sails as we serve you fresh
53:10
faith to believe that you can answer prayers speedily.
53:17
We just asked Lord that what was shared in this past hour would
53:22
melt our hearts, soften us, and that we would be pliable so that
53:30
you can mold us to be the men and women of God that you've
53:32
called us to be. We love you, we honor you in
53:37
this place. What a mighty God you are.
53:41
It's a privilege and a joy to serve you.
53:44
We pray these things in Jesus name, Amen.
53:49
Amen. Let's stand.