A Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS 01 July 2007
A)
Read 2 Chronicles 32 for context
Chapter 37 of Isaiah describes how Hezekiah faced the problem of the Assyrian
army which was besieging and threatening his city of Jerusalem.
In the S.P.E.C.K. Hermeneutic: Example to follow
B) 4 Things Hezekiah did to deal with his problem
i. 2 Chron. 32:2-4 “And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?”
ii. Isa. 22:11 “made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool”
i. 2 Chron. 32:5 “He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it, and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the stronghold in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance.” (cf. Isa 22:10)
i. 2Ch 32:6-8 “And he set combat commanders over the people and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.’ And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.”
i. Outrage that God had been blasphemed; holy jealousy
ii. Grief that Jerusalem was in such a hopeless state
iii. Sorrow over his own sin in not trusting God, but trying to save himself by military means (22:10-11), alliances with Egypt, and bribes to Sennacherib
i. When that foul-mouthed neighbor starts blaspheming God, tell him that his words grieve you and are an outrage to God.
ii. Recognize that the world is not perfect and yearn for it to be made right.
iii. When you encounter a problem, stop and search your heart, grieve for the sins you have committed which have contributed to this problem.
i. God said, “Don’t fear Assyria; they’re just a bunch of young whippersnappers. I will work spiritually and send them home and they will die there; they won’t threaten you again.”
ii. This hearsay/rumor that causes Senacharib to leave Jerusalem could be the report that Tirhakah, the Ethiopian king of Egypt, was coming up to fight (v.9).
1. The French authors, Leclant and Yoyotte suggest that Tirhakah was 20 years old at this time and had come to help his brother who was king at the time, then Tirhakah succeeded him a decade later.
2. However, the rumor could have been about the civil unrest between the Assyrians and the Medes and Chaldeans to the North and East that Senacherib and his successors had to constantly fight to keep under control. (Young)
3. The Assyrian army was spread thin at the end of a major campaign to take all of Palestine and Egypt, and they couldn’t afford to be fighting battles on multiple fronts – Egypt, Jerusalem, and Babylon all at once. That’s probably why Sennacherib sends a letter rather than an army back to Hezekiah.
4. Whatever the case, Hezekiah sought God’s word and he learned the truth of the situation.
i. Without God’s input, you can’t really know what the problem is or how to solve it.
ii.
Some problems you can put off
and take a day to fast and think meditate on scripture.
EXAMPLE: When I needed to make a job transition, it was very important
for me to take extended extend quiet times and then to spend hours on the phone
gathering advice from parents and pastors and good friends. I needed to be sure
of God’s call on my life before I took a step in a major new direction and dragged
my family along with me!
iii.
Others you have to respond quickly
to – a quick “Help Lord!” and a mental search to remember a relevant Bible
verse you’ve memorized may be all it takes!
EXAMPLE: Last week, when a neighbor invited our girls to come over for a swim
in their pool, I had to make a quick decision with my wife while the
neighbor was holding on the phone. A quick prayer for help brought two things
out – first, a conviction that the care of my daughters should be given only to
someone I really trust, and second, a practical observation from Paula that I
wouldn’t have thought of – the depth of the neighbor’s pool would rule out one
of our daughters who wanted to swim. Even in that quick decision, it was
important to be guided by scripture and by advice from others.
iv. You’ve got to take time to read the Bible to put it in to your brain so that it will be there for those recall moments, though! “Thy word have I hid in my heart…” Ps. 119
i. PRAISE – proclaiming the truth of who God is (v.16) builds our faith before we request
1. “Jehovah of hosts” – God commands an army more powerful than any other!
2. “God of Israel” (v.20 “our God”) – Almighty God is MY God; He has chosen to love me!
3. “Sitting at/Enthroned above the cherubim:”
a. Phrase from Psalm 80 & 86 – use Psalms when you pray - good patterns!
b. Cherubim are described to us as mighty angels with human and animal forms and with wings.
c. Ex. 25:17-20 – sculpted above the ark of the covenant where blood was sprinkled for forgiveness of sin. This is where God and Man meet.
d. Because God is holy, the ones closest to him (crb means close/near in Hebrew) represent holiness. The cherubim from their position at the gate of Eden (Gen 3), upon the cover of the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25), and in Ezekiel 1/Rev. 4 are evidentially connected with vindicating the holiness of God against the presumptuous pride of fallen man. Upon the Ark of the Covenant they looked down upon the sprinkled blood that symbolized the perfect maintenance of God’s righteousness by the sacrifice of Christ (Ex. 25:17-20; Rom. 3:24-26). (Unger)
4. “you are it, the God alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth” – God is holy, unique, unlike any other god among all the others on the earth, the God over all the kingdoms of the earth.
5. “You made the heavens and the earth”
a. Although God requires faith, there is one awesome demonstration of His power which stands before our eyes all the time, and that is the heavens and the earth around us.
b. Whenever you are intimidated by powerful people or impossible circumstances, stop and look at the awesome display of God’s power in a thunderstorm rolling across the prairie and then don’t be afraid of a puny man any more!
ii. CONTEXT - hear & see what's going on
1. The king of Assyria had sent a letter which read (v.10ff): “Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ 11 Look, you yourselves have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. And you? You will be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations that my fathers destroyed delivered them? Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? [Chaldean cities and provinces] 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king for the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, or of Ivvah?”
2.
Hezekiah spreads that letter out in
God’s house of prayer and says in v.17, “Look at this, Lord! Are you going to
take this sitting down?
I know that you are the only real god, but Sennacherib thinks you are no
different than all the other gods which he has destroyed. He is blaspheming you!
This is the situation.”
iii. REQUEST – “Deliver us” (v.20)
1. Short and to the point
2. Mat. 7:7 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”
iv. MOTIVATION – Here’s why You should deliver us:
1. God is faithful to His Covenantal promises
a.
2 Sam. 7:16 God promised David,
“Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before you: your throne
will be established forever.
So he knew God could not let Hezekiah be killed because he carried on David’s
kingly line and God had promised that this line would never stop.
b. In v.1, Hezekiah appeals to God using relational terms – God of Israel, Our God.
c. By mentioning God’s place at the mercy seat between the cherubim over the ark of the Covenant where blood was sprinkled for atonement for sin, he was saying, “God, you have established Your gracious covenant with us. This cannot be snuffed out by Assyria.”
d. “Only grace is sufficient to get us past our timidity, fear, and defensiveness so that our lives can exhibit something of God’s love, Power, and self-discipline (2 Tim. 1:7). Only if we believe what the Bible says about grace will we risk fleshing out the gospel in a world which will try to destroy us.” (Dennis Haack)
2. Kingdom advance
a. v.20 “all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you are Jehovah alone”
b. Hezekiah’s entire prayer says, in effect, “Lord, look at this! This is a perfect setup for the nations to know that you alone are God! Assyria has conquered all the other gods and then mocked the God of Israel. I know that you are the only real God, but the nations don’t know, yet, you promised to Abraham to bless all of the families of the world… So how about it? Our deliverance would be a perfect opportunity to let the world know you are God!”
c.
This is Kingdom praying, praying
for the accomplishment of God’s plan for history!
When we pray for something, frame it in God’s purpose of saving people from
every nation. This can expose the requests we shouldn’t be asking for and give
us hope for the requests we should be asking for!
C) The RESULT of Hezekiah’s Actions
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: I heard what you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that Jehovah has spoken concerning him:
The virgin daughter of Zion despised you, scorning you;
The daughter of Jerusalem wagged her head after you
[By refusing to answer Rabshaqah Jerusalem effectively said, “Nanny-nanny-boo-boo.”]
23 Whom have you mocked and reviled? [Here’s a good evangelism question!]
Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes from on high?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By the hand of your servants you have mocked a Master, and you have said,
‘With my many chariots I myself have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the sides of Lebanon, and cut its tall cedars, its choice cypresses,
and I have come to its remotest height, its forest of Carmel.
25 I myself dug and drank waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.’
[Neither lack of water to drink nor lack of dry land to march on stopped the Assyrians. But just because you are a great consumer doesn’t put you on equal footing with God who created the world and controls its history – yes even your own actions!]
26 Have you not heard that I did it from afar?
From days of old I formulated it; now I make it come about,
to make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins,
27 while their inhabitants, short-handed, are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field - tender grass,
grass on the housetops, withered before it stands tall.
[Assyrian practice of relocating conquered peoples to other lands kept nations from maturing into great civilizations that could threaten Assyria. Like grass growing in a thin layer of mud coating a roof, they could not really put down roots and grow tall.]
28 I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your agitation against me.
29 Because you have agitated against me and your complacency has come up to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose and my bit within your lips,
[Led by the nose like a cow or like the captives Assyria had led around.]
and I will cause you to turn back by the way which you came into her.
30 And this shall be the sign for you [i.e. Hezekiah]:
this year to eat what grows of itself
[Every meal you eat is a sign that God keeps His promise.],
and in the second year what springs up.
[The Assyrians came in the fall, preventing the first year’s harvest, so the Jews had to eat whatever they could find until they could plant next spring and then get the harvest the following fall.]
Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
31 And the survivors of the house of Judah - the remnant
shall again take root downward and make fruit upward.
32 For from Jerusalem shall go out a remnant,
and survivors out of Mount Zion.
[God preserves us so we will “go out” and “bear fruit” – growing His kingdom worldwide – the Great Commission!]
The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will do this.
33 Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria:
He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there
or come before it with a shield or dump up a siege mound against it.
34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return,
and he shall not come into this city, declares Jehovah.
35 For I will shield over this city to save it,
for my sake
and for the sake of my servant David.”
a. NOTE: God responds to Hezekiah’s two motivations (v.35)
i. for my sake – Kingdom advance and glory
ii. for the sake of my servant David – Covenantal faithfulness
iii. Because Hezekiah knew God, he knew what God would respond to in prayer!
It all happened just as God had planned.
D) APPLICATION
1. Personal: Are you facing a problem that is too big for you to handle? Follow Hezekiah’s example:
d.
Pray and ask others to pray
God will act to glorify Himself through you.
2.
Family: Does God want you and your spouse to have a loving
and peaceful relationship that mirrors Christ and the church? (Yes. Eph. 5:25)
Does God tell us to ask each day for our daily bread? (Yes. Matt. 6:11)
Does God desire godly offspring in your children? (Yes. Mal. 2:15)
It doesn’t matter how far you are from perfect; God calls you to seek Him
and pray for those things in your home!
3.
Church: Does God want a church centered on His glory, (Yes.
Isa 43:7)
which believes He created the heavens and the earth (Yes. Isa 37:16),
which believes His word is the ultimate authority, (Yes. Rev. 3:8))
and that children are part of the church, (Yes. Gen. 18:19; Deut. 31:12, Mat.
19:14; 1 Cor. 7:14)
and that seeks to spread the Gospel to all the world? (Yes. Matt. 28:18-20)
Then it doesn’t matter how weak our church looks or how great the threats
are to our continued existence. This is an opportunity for God to show
His glory to the world – just pray for it!
4.
National: Does God desire all men to come to repentance? (Yes.
2 Pet. 3:9)
Does He show mercy when a nation humbles itself before Him? (Yes. 2 Chron 7:14;
Jonah 3)
Does God desire righteousness and justice instead of violence and corruption?
(Yes. Isa 61:8)
Does the world see the USA as a representative of Christianity? (Yes.)
Then now is a perfect time to pray for revival!
E) CONCLUSION
We can present our requests with confidence. And let me give you one more reason why: because Jesus Himself intercedes for us:
Hebrews 7:24-25 “He holds his priesthood permanently, because He continues forever. Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
I challenge you to pray and see what God will do. You have a great high priest in heaven who makes your prayers effective. With Jesus praying for you, great things are going to happen!
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Spencer January’s Miraculous
Deliverance By Intercessory Prayer
http://www.godswork.org/inspiration68.htm
It was a morning in early March, 1945, a clear and sunny day. I was 24 years old and a member of the U.S. Army's 35th Infantry Division, 137th Infantry Company I. Along with several other companies of American troops, we were making our way through dense woods, towards the Rhine River in the German Rhineland. Our objective was to reach and take the town of Ossenberg, where a factory was producing gunpowder and other products for use in the war.
For hours we had pressed through an unrelenting thicket. Shortly after midday word was passed that there was a clearing ahead. At last, we thought, the going would be easier. but then we approached a large stone house, behind which huddled a handful of wounded, bleeding soldiers who had tried to cross the clearing and failed. Before us stretched at least 200 yards of open ground, bordered on the far side by more thick woods. As the first of us appeared on the edge of the clearing there was an angry rat-tat-tat and a ferocious volley of bullets sent soil spinning as far as we could see. Three nests of German machine guns, spaced 50 yards apart and protected by the crest of a small hill to the left, were firing across the field. As we got our bearings it was determined that the machine guns were so well placed that our weapons couldn't reach them. To cross that field meant suicide. Yet, we had no choice. The Germans had blockaded every other route into the town. In order to move on and secure a victory, we had to move forward…
I dropped to my knees. "God," I pleaded desperately, "You've got to do something. Please do something."
Moments later the order was given to advance. Grasping my M-1 rifle, I go to my feet and started forward. After reaching the edge of the clearing I took a deep breath. But just before I stepped out from cover, I glanced to the left. I stopped and stared in amazement. A white cloud -- a long fluffy white cloud -- had appeared out of nowhere. It dropped from over the trees and covered the area. The Germans' line of fire was obscured by the thick foggy mist. All of us bolted into the clearing and raced for our lives. The only sounds were of combat boots thudding against the soft earth as men dashed into the clearing, scrambling to reach the safety of the other side before the mist lifted. With each step the woods opposite came closer and closer. I was almost across! My pulse pounding in my ears, I lunged into the thicket and threw myself behind a tree. I turned and watched as other soldiers following me dove frantically into the woods, some carrying and dragging the wounded. This has to be God's doing, I thought. The instant the last man reached safety, the cloud vanished! The day was again bright and clear.
The enemy, apparently thinking we were still pinned down behind the stone house on the other side, must have radioed their artillery. Minutes later the building was blown to bits but our company was safe and we quickly moved on…
Two weeks later, as we bivouacked in eastern Germany, a letter arrived from my mother back in Dallas. I tore open the envelope eagerly. The letter contained words that sent a shiver down my spine… "Mrs. Tankersly telephoned me one morning from the defense plant where she works. She said the Lord had awakened her the night before at one o' clock and told her, 'Spencer January is in terrible trouble. Get up now and pray for him!" My mother went on to explain that Mrs. Tankersly had interceded for me in prayer until six o' clock the next morning, when she had to go to her job. "She told me the last thing she prayed before getting off her knees was this" -- "Lord, whatever danger Spencer is in, just cover him with a cloud!"
I sat there for a long time holding the letter in my trembling hand. My mind raced, quickly calculating… With a seven-hour time difference, her prayer for a cloud would have been uttered at one o'clock, the exact time Company I was getting ready to cross the clearing…
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FOR LITTLE ONES: Here’s an image you can color:
Woodcut by
"R.S." Hezekiah spreads the Assyrian’s letter before Jehovah.
http://www.jesuswalk.com/greatprayers/images/hezekiahs_prayer_woodcut622x600.jpg
Nate Wilson’s website – Isaiah Sermon Expositions
Christ the Redeemer Church website - Sermons
