In chapter 36 and 37, an interesting thing has happened. The children of Israel are a bit scared, because Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, has mounted an attack against them and sent his commander-- who is called the Rabshakeh in the Assyrian language, his sort of chief field commander, his General Patton, if you will-- to come against Jerusalem.

Israel has a right to be scared on the physical level. Assyria has already captured 46 of the villages in and around Judah, taken all of the little villages leading up to Judah. And so the children of Israel, or the people of Judah, are terrified because they're next on the hit list. They've been blacklisted by the Assyrians.

But they have a spiritual reason, and this is the whole reason that this has come upon them, and that is they have forsaken God. And we read a couple weeks ago, "The sinners in Zion are terrified," and they have every right to be terrified, because God is using Assyria as an implement of judgment against His own people. And soon, they will be taken captive, although not by the Assyrians, but by the Babylonians.

The Assyrians were prideful people, and we would wonder at God's wisdom and God's love in allowing a wicked nation-- more wicked than Judah-- to come and be the instrument of God to punish God's people. In fact, that is something that Habakkuk had a real problem with. In fact, Habakkuk argued with God about His wisdom, and he really got bummed out at God for allowing the Babylonians to eventually take the children of Israel captive. But although all these things were happening around him, he learned to trust God, and he said, although everything is depleted around me, I will rejoice in the Lord, and I will jump for joy in the God of my salvation.

Although the Assyrians were a rod of God's judgment, God promised, for the comfort of Judah, that he would punish the Assyrians severely because they dared come against God's anointed people. Interesting. Kind of a catch-22. The

Assyrians in this chapter have encamped at a place not too far from Jerusalem in the foothills of Judah. In fact, you can see the ruins today. It's a place called Lachish. As the hills of Judea descend from Jerusalem down toward the Mediterranean Sea, it was a strategic point to camp and use that as your base to attack the cities of Judah, which they did.

And as we read last week, this commander comes and stands before the children of Israel and is very mouthy to them, very arrogant because the Assyrians had a pride complex. They were very arrogant. They believed they were invincible, and they thought that the God of Israel was no different than the god of Assyria or the god of Aram, or any of the places that they had taken people captive from. They thought, oh, here's another bunch of religious fanatics. One believes in this god another believes in that god.

And so the commander says, don't think that you can trust in the name of your god to keep you moving, because look at all of the other places that have trusted in their gods, and they have not been able to stand against the Assyrians. And they're quite bold in their attack, actually.

As we discussed last week, the attacks of the Assyrians are so much like the attacks of Satan. In fact, you could look at Chapter 36 and this commander of Sennacherib as a type of Satan who would come and attack His people. And as we saw last time, or a couple weeks ago, that this attack came immediately after a spiritual renewal.

We did not read the background in 2 Kings, but Hezekiah was a reformer. He believed that Israel had fallen away from God too fast for too long, and he decided to bring in some spiritual reforms. And it was sort of a semi-revival. And no sooner did he bring in these spiritual reforms than the enemy comes to the walls of Jerusalem with all of the implements of war, the battering rams, the arrows, the shields, the horses, the chariots, and start saying, we're going to attack you.

Of course, we know that Satan does that as well. Doesn't he? Remember the old saying in school that you learn? I think you learned it in science. Ever action brings? A reaction. And here we see a reaction. And whenever you decide to get spiritual and take action, there's a reaction in the spiritual realm.

A person says, I'm giving my life to Jesus, and they give their life to Jesus that day. Satan goes, oh rats! Well, we better dispatch some demons on this guy or this gal to keep that person stagnant and stale from growing. Keep them a spiritual wimp. Let them get beat up and go up and down and up and down, but never really get anywhere in their Christian life.

Or you say, I'm rededicating my heart to follow God completely. I'm going to make a stand at work. I'm going to make a stand at school. I'm going to take the gospel boldly. I'm going to boldly go where no man has gone before. And so you launch out in your spiritual spacecraft. And no sooner do you do that then the Klingons come after you. Oh, this is getting out of hand here.

[LAUGHTER]

But the enemy starts attacking you. Now, you will not be attacked if you say, I don't need to grow. I'll just stagnate where I am. I don't need to make any spiritual advances. I'll just veg out in the spirit. Oh. Well, great. That's exactly the position Satan wants you to be at, to just drift through life instead of growing to be like Jesus.

And if he can get you to a place where you'll just drift downstream, like the world is drifting, oh, you're in the right safe place. But the moment you decide to make a stand for God and bring in some spiritual reform and transformation, you can expect that you will not get a standing ovation from the foes of Hell. They will not cheer you on in that endeavor. They will not get behind it and say, that's great. I'm glad you made a decision. They will try to dissuade you from making that choice, from getting any further in your walk.

And now down at verse 7, we see another threat. It says, "If you say to me, 'We trust in the Lord our God,' is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You shall not worship before this altar'?" As we mentioned last time, another attack of Satan is that he perverts the truth. He tries to mix up the facts and get you to believe other things, challenges the promises of God.

Verse 8, "Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them." Another strategy of Satan is that he tries to strike a compromise with you. Doesn't he? A deal with you.

All right, you become a Christian, but just stay right there. Buy a Bible, but read it seldom. Join a church, but attend it infrequently. Oh, witness once every couple years, but keep it to yourself. It's like politics. You don't want to get too verbal about it. And so, he will seek to have you compromise or settle on a deal with you.

If you haven't read the book already, The Screwtape Letters is one I would recommend to you, by CS Lewis. He does a fascinating job of trying to put himself in the place of the devil, in trying to dispatch his demons to tempt people, and in particular one person who's become a Christian. And CS Lewis said, when he wrote the book, it almost completely spiritually wiped him out. Trying to think like the devil thinks was a spiritual drain on him. But it is an interesting book. It will yield some fabulous insights. He wants to strike a deal.

If you go down to verse 15, we see yet another strategy of Satan, and that is he challenges the promises of God. For it says, "Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, 'The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'"

The enemy wants you to doubt that the book you have in your hand is the word of God. He would rather have you think it is a good try, made by fallible man, and that there are discrepancies in it. And, you know, you can read it, and it's a good thing to take in college. The Bible as literature, it's a fabulous class.

However, don't get so carried away that you think it's the inerrant word of God. Goodness gracious, that went out when your grandmother passed away. Challenging the promises of God.

Now, there are many Christians who aren't quite certain if the Bible is the word of God. We all have doubts sometimes, don't we? And there is what I called Dalmatian theology. That is, I believe the Bible is inspired, but it's inspired in spots. It's not all the word of God, just in portions it's the word of God. Challenging the promises of God.

Remember in the Garden, in the Garden of Eden, that Adam and Eve were tempted with this. Eve said, now God said that I can't eat the fruit of this tree. And Satan said, has God really said that? And she started doubting what God said, challenging the promises of God.

Then there's another challenge or another method of Satan in verse 16. That is, he appeals to unfulfilled desires. For he says, "Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; until I come to take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.'"

In other words, if you stay here, you're in trouble. If you go back out to your home and settle in your vineyards until I come to take you captive into my own land, you'll be all right. I will give you prosperity. I will give you everything your heart desired.

You want peace and prosperity with your family? You want a large farm? I'll give it to you. Just don't go God's way. Go my way. I will fulfill your desires.

And the enemy does that, doesn't he? We make a commitment to Jesus Christ. However, we see a person over there, Prince Charming. And the enemy comes and says, oh, I'll give you all that you've desired. I'll fulfill your unfulfilled desires. You've been waiting on God for a long time. He has given it to you. I've got it for you right here.

And it's bait for us. We have certain desires planted within us that crave for fulfillment, and the enemy always comes along and says, I will give you fulfillment. You don't have to wait on God. You can shortcut it.

Satan tried that with Jesus, when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Satan said, if you would just bow down before me and worship me, I'll give you the kingdoms of the world, for they are mine and I can give them to whosoever I will, because Satan usurped the title deed to the earth when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden. Satan was accurate when he said they are mine, and I can give them to whosoever I will. The very purpose of Jesus coming the first time was to buy back or to redeem the earth from the power of Satan and buy it back to the Father.

Satan, in effect, said, you don't have to go the way of the cross. You don't have to suffer. You can shortcut this whole thing. Why suffer if you just, for a moment, bow down and worship me? I'll give it to you. Why die? That was quite a temptation.

Jesus said, split, fella. Again, that's a paraphrase. He rebuked him. He said, "You will not tempt the Lord your God. Him only shall you serve."

How did they fight it? What was their strategy? Verse 21 says, "They held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king's commandment was, 'Do not answer him.'"

And I believe that that is the king's commandment to you. God's commandments to you when Satan attacks you isn't to go have a debate with him, isn't to do devil shouting and devil stomping and start talking to him. Don't even answer Satan a word.

The strategy is to retreat to a place of strength, and so chapter 37, verse 1, it says, "So it was when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes--" a Jewish symbol of mourning-- "covered himself with sackcloth--" which is the black hair of certain kinds of goats and sheep-- "and he went into the house of the Lord, and he sent Eliakim, who is over the household, Shebna the scribe, the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz."

Hezekiah retreated to the place of strength. Instead of fretting about it, instead of talking to someone else about it, he went directly to the Lord. And in going into the temple, or going into the house of God, it was a symbolic action that, look, man, we're at the end of our rope, God. We can't trust in ourselves. Our future is in Your hands. Our destiny is for You now.

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. And it may be that the Lord your God--" isn't that interesting. Although Hezekiah had brought reform, it really wasn't complete. There was a bit of unsettledness in his heart. And he doesn't say to Isaiah, now let's pray to the Lord our God, or the Lord my God, but you go talk to your God. He was definitely certain that Isaiah had a relationship with God.

And he goes on and he says, "It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.'"

Now, Hezekiah was not antagonistic toward Isaiah. He loved Isaiah. He loved God. But I think he felt more certain in Isaiah's approach to God than in his own approach to God.

And I've noticed that people are still like this. A person that you share with, who isn't really-- they'll say they're religious, yeah, they say they're a Christian, but when they're really in a jam, who will they go to? You. Hey, I'm really having a problem. Will you pray about this? They don't want to say it too loud so that others will hear them.

Talk to your God about my problem, and they will retreat oftentime to the person they know is religious, has a walk with God. And oftentimes, if they're insecure, they will trust your relationship with God more than their own relationship with God.

Now, if you're a Christian, you don't have to do this. If you walk with God, my prayers are not more powerful than your prayers, or the person sitting next to you. Although I'd love to pray for you, if you have anything you want to pray for, and you're around, and you says, Skip, would you pray about this? I'd love to take it before the throne with you. But don't think that if I pray for you, it'll get done more than if you prayed for it. All of us have access to boldly come before His throne.

And 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.'" I love that phrase. Thus-- there's a certainty a ring of it is going to be done in that. "Thus says the Lord, do not be afraid of the words which you have heard 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."

Now we see the fulfillment, the answer to the prayer. And so the "Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah--" a few miles, about five miles north of Lachish where they were camped. And had "heard that he had departed from Lachish, and the king heard concerning Tirhakah, the king of Ethiopia.

Has he come out to make war with you? Or he has come out to make war with you, so when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, 'Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah the king of Judah saying, "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you saying, "Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'"

So the guy has to retreat. He's standing before the wall of Jerusalem. Hezekiah takes it before the Lord. He talks to Isaiah. Isaiah said, don't worry about this guy. He'll hear a rumor, and he'll have to split. The Rabshakeh hears that Sennacherib has to leave Lachish, go to Libnah, and so he retreats. But he says, now, let me warn you guys. I'll be back. Don't think that this ends the whole thing. I'm going to be back, and don't you start trusting in God, the God that you think will deliver you. You're out of luck, and you're out of time. And he gives this very stern message.

In verse 11, "Look! You have heard what the king of Assyria have done to all the lands by utterly destroying them, and will you be delivered? 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?" All of these nations had been conquered about 100 years before this event, and all of them trusted in a certain deity to save them. And he's saying, it didn't work.

"Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of the Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivah?" These are all ruins today, by the way. And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and he read it.

Now, stop right there. As soon as you got in encouraged-- let's say you're in the king's place. You're Hezekiah, and you hear that they're going to destroy your people, take you captive, and a man of God comes by and says, don't worry. Be encouraged in the Lord. God will take care of you.

And as soon as he encourages you, you receive a message saying, don't trust in the Lord. I know what you're thinking. You're going to trust in God now, and it's going to be OK. It's a dream. Don't even think that you could do that. Every one who has tried to fight against us and trust in their god, they're history. Don't think you can do it.

Now, as soon as you would read a letter like that, you would become so discouraged. Notice what he does. "And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord." Just opening up his mail and just-- here it is, Lord. Read this thing.

Now, God already knew what was in it, but it was a symbolic action. God, I need Your help. "And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 'O Lord of hosts, 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 the earth, the heaven and the earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to reproach the living God.

Truly, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all 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 have destroyed them.

Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone." Now, Hezekiah did a very wise thing. He spread it out before the Lord, and he said, look at what they're saying about you, God.

That's a wise way to pray. Instead of taking it personally, he saw it as a reproach against God. And so instead of saying, look what they're saying about me, since they were talking against God, Hezekiah was very wise in his approach. He said, look at what they have written about You, God. Hit him, God. Get 'em. They've reproached You. They've blasphemed You.

His approach to God in verse 16 is noteworthy. He says, "O Lord of hosts." These are the angelic beings that inhabit the presence of God, whose job it is to praise God and to be servants of God. And he recognizes that God is the Lord of hosts, of all the angelic beings. Now, this is important in the next few verses, because you're going to see God dispatching one of His angels to do a very important work against the Assyrians.

"O Lord of hosts, God of Israel." Why did he mentioned that? He is remembering the covenant that God made with His chosen people. "The One who dwells between the cherubim."

Now, remember in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and eventually in the temple, what was the central piece of furniture called? The Ark of the Covenant. And on top of the Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat. On top of the mercy seat, there were these angels, or these cherubim, whose wings touched one another.

When Solomon had his temple built, he kind of enlarged that whole idea, and the wingspan inside the Holy of Holies was from north to south 30 feet across. Huge wingspan in carved gold.

When the Temple of Solomon was dedicated, as a sign to the children of Israel that God was there, dwelling amongst His people, because God said that He dwells in between those angels, the cherubim on the mercy seat, it says that smoke filled the Holy of Holies, and it was so thick that the priest could not even continue to minister. They had to get out.

And so, he is recalling that covenant relationship with God. You're the Lord of hosts, you're the God of Israel, you dwell between the cherubim, as you did there in the Temple of Solomon. Not only that, You've made the heavens and the earth. God, I am recognizing that You have made the heavens and the earth, You're the God of our covenant. There is nothing too hard for You. That's the most important way to approach God.

We kind of approach God sometimes as if He's very weak. We tremble in His presence, like God has no power to work out our little trial that we have. We're in a financial difficulty. We're in a physical weakness. And you can always tell what kind of a relationship a person has with God by the way that person treats the promises of God. In the face of adversity, does that person cringe? Does that person wince? Or is that person confident? Hey, what God has said, He'll bring it to pass. I'm not worried. You've made the heavens and the earth.

Francis Schaeffer, in one of his books-- and if you haven't read, again, I recommend his books to you, his writings-- Francis Schaeffer said years ago, the time has come when we can no longer refer to God as just calling Him God. We have to define God, because when you say God to somebody who's in the world, you know, that could mean anything. Most of the world believes all paths lead to God, and you have your god, and this person has his god, and really, they're all the same, and we're going to get there all anyway.

And the truth is, all paths do lead to some god, but all paths do not lead to one God, Yahweh. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and life." And the time has come where we need to define it.

I was listening to a radio show the other day, where Luis Palau a famous South American evangelist was on. And Luis Palau said, in England, you can no longer talk about Jesus, because people won't know what you're talking about. You have to say, Jesus, the founder of Christianity, whom we believe rose from the dead. You have to really string it out and define Him, because people in England are so spiritually depraved, they don't understand, they're spiritually illiterate, biblically illiterate, that they won't even understand what you're saying.

And the time has come to define God. That's why often in the Bible-- because so many people had gods, they just didn't say, we believe in God. They would say, we believe in the One Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and the earth, or we believe in the living God, as opposed to your dead idols. They really defined God, and delineated Him in between all the other gods of the surrounding areas.

Verse 20 is also noteworthy. In his prayer he says, "Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone." What was the name of Hezekiah's prayer? That God would get the glory.

It wasn't just that he would be protected, it wasn't just for his own benefit or personal gain, but it was for the glory of God. And Jesus taught us to pray that way. When you pray, say, "Our Father, hallowed be Your name," or may Your name be lifted up. May You get the glory in this situation. And we should always be concerned with, does this bring reproach on the name of God, or does it not?

Unfortunately, a lot of people see prayer as kind of the ultimate room service, and God is a divine bellhop. You know, every now and then, when I travel-- well, almost always when I travel-- I stay in a hotel. And if it's in the United States, American hotels are a blast, because you can get on the phone and whatever you need, you just snap your fingers over the phone.

You can say, I want a wake up call, 7:00 o'clock. Yes, sir. I want a pot of coffee up here in five minutes with bagels and cream cheese and hot butter oh them. Yes, sir. 11:30 at night, you can have dessert, and they'll make it for you. You don't even have to go to the refrigerator and dish the ice cream up yourself. It's just given to you.

And some people see prayer as that. In Jesus' name, I claim this, as if God is somebody that you push around and claim and demand. You know what? I don't demand a thing or claim a-- I claim the promises of God, but when I stand on a promise of God, I don't demand Him to do anything. And you'll see, even Hezekiah, in the couple of chapters where he prays that God extend his life, he asks for a healing. He doesn't demand a healing. I want a healing. I will be healed, God.

Hey, listen, when I pray to God, I always say, please to Him. I don't tell God, the Creator of heaven and the earth to do anything at my whim, extracting from Him His own wisdom. That's quite a bit of presumption, don't you think? And arrogance. I don't call it faith. I call it presumption. And in some cases, it's blasphemy to presume that a mere mortal can push around the Creator of the universe, as if we have the wisdom of God.

Amen.

Amen.

"Then Hezekiah, the son of Amoz said to Hezekiah saying, thus says the Lord God of Israel." This is great. "Because you have prayed to Me, against Sennacherib the king of Israel, this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him." Which makes me ask the obvious question, what would happen if he didn't pray? I shudder to think.

Oh, how often, I bet, opportunities are passed up because we don't take things to God in prayer, because we don't spread it out before the Lord and ask Him direction. Sovereign Lord, I'm asking you this. Your will be done.

This verse should make us afraid to get out of our house in the morning without turning the day over to God. And when we do turn it over to God, we should walk out with confidence, whistling a song in our voice.

And this is the message. The message is actually in three parts. The first part in the first few verses here in verse 22 on down. God's message is that the tables are now going to be turned. Because you prayed to me, Assyria will no longer mock you. You, people of Judah, will mock the Assyrians. And so he says, in poetic language, "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."

When I was a kid, I had a big brother. In fact, he was quite a bit bigger than I am. I'm six foot five. He was six foot 8 and a half. At his tallest point. And when he walked through a doorway, he had to bend. And when he finally made it through, people just kind of went, wow.

And I liked having him as a big brother, because oftentimes, people who were my size or bigger, even smaller, would push me around. And a lot of times, they pushed me around, and they would get real confident. And if my brother was around, in earshot range, he would walk in, and he'd stand in front of me and say, now, I want to tell you something, when you mess with my brother, you're messing with me.

And God, in effect, is saying, hey, you've messed with My people, and you're approaching Me. I take it very personally. And you know that God always takes personally a vendetta or a threat against His children. It always excites me.

It excites me, and it scares me. It excites me like Paul the Apostle, Saul of Tarsus, when he was on the way to persecute the people in Damascus. God, Jesus, knocked him off his horse and said, you're persecuting Me. He took it personally. That excites me, because I know that God will defend His people.

It scares me, because I better not be presumptuous to attack a brother in Christ, because if I attack another person in the body of Christ, Jesus will take it personally, and I have Him to deal with. And a lot of times, of course, we think that because we're a Christian, we're always right, and that gives us the ability to personally attack another brother or sister. Well, you're in for a fight. And you reproach the name of God, and God will stand up.

"Against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants, you have reproached the Lord, and said, 'By the multitude of my chariots, I have come 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 its farthest height, to the fruitful forest."

Now, what this is speaking of is that when a people would invade another people, they would cut down the trees in the area. That would destroy the topsoil that-- because the rains would not settle, they would drain and run off, and it would make the land unproductive. It'd also make it very ugly. A place that has no vegetation is pretty ugly. It's stark. And so they would cut down the trees.

When the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD, they cut down all of the trees surrounding Jerusalem, and the area has remained desolate until 1947 and '48, when the Jews resettled the land. They have embarked upon a massive, tree planting endeavor. And in areas, even the Gaza Strip, where it was once barren desert, they have planted forests.

And if you go to Israel today, you can stand on one side-- you can stand on the street-- and you can see the portion that is Israel and perhaps the portion that is not Israel today, or that is Lebanon, and you can see a direct contrast, a forest with huge trees and barren wilderness. And by planting trees, they've changed the landscape, and they've changed weather patterns, creating more moisture in the air as a magnet drawing in more clouds, bringing more moisture, and it's created a beautiful weather cycle.

And so the enemies of the Lord, the enemies of the Children of Israel would cut down the trees, and they're boasting that they're going to come in and wipe them out. Verse 26, God says, "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, as the green herb, as the grass of the housetops, as the grain blighted before it has grown. But I know your dwelling place."

I know where you live. I've got your address.

"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 and your lips, and I will turn you back by the way that you came. And this shall be a sign to you. You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, and the second year what springs from the same; also in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them."

This is the second part of the message, and it is directed to the people of Israel, to the remnant. Look at it again.

"You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. And the remnant who have escaped from the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward."

What He is telling them is that life will go back to normal. When the Assyrians-- or for that matter, any captor-- would come in and threaten the land, if you lived out in the country where most of the farming took place, because the cities were walled and Jerusalem had a wall around it, you would leave the farm and you would take shelter within the city walls during the attack. It was the safest place. Otherwise, you're dead meat out there in the fields.

Well, because they had to get into Jerusalem during part of the siege, they left their lands to nature. They weren't tilled, they weren't fertilized, they weren't harvested, and the lands just sort of went to pot. God is saying, you'll go back into your fields, and you'll be secure. And at first, the first couple of years, it's going to be a struggle.

But the third year, which is the normal time it takes once you plant vineyards for the grapes to really come on the vine-- takes three years-- by that time, it will be a plentiful harvest. So life will be as usual. At first, it'll be a little tough. It'll be really a blessing the third year. So hang in there.

"For the remnant of Jerusalem shall go-- out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escaped from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." And here's the third part of the message, verse 33. "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria."

Now, this is a message to Sennacherib. He gave a message to the commander. He gave a message to the people who were farmers, the remnant. And now, He is giving a message to Sennacherib, the King of Assyria. And He's basically going to say, look, buddy, you don't even set foot in Jerusalem, nor will you be allowed to set up a siege mound, a battering ram, against it. "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor build a siege mound against it. By the way 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.'"

You know, when God makes a promise, He really thinks about it. God made a promise to David years before this. And here, God mentions David and says, I made a promise to David, and I intend to keep it. Although he's dead and gone many, many, many years ago, I'm going to keep My word to him.

And verse 36, "The angel of the Lord went out." Remember, Hezekiah said, "Lord of hosts, of all of the heavenly angelic hosts... An angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000; and when the people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses-- all dead."

Now, this should add some force to the statement of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane when Peter takes his sword out of the sheath and he tries to aim for the guy's head, cuts off his ear, and Jesus says, Peter, put the sword away. Those who live by the sword will perish by it. All who take up the sword will perish by it. For, don't you know that right now I could pray to the Father, and He would give Me 12 legions of angels?

A legion is a company of Roman soldiers between 3,000 and 6,000 men. 12 legions of angels is up to 72,000. If one angel can wipe out 185,000 Assyrians, imagine what damage 72,000 could do. And Jesus said, I could call down 72,000 angels, and the Father would give them to Me.

Put your sword away, Peter. Don't think you're some noble protector of God. Oh, I'm going to protect God. Here's my sword. Pfft. I could get 72,000 angels [SNAPS] like that. Puts it in perspective, doesn't it? How often we try to help God out. God says, put it away.

"And so Sennacherib the king of Assyria departed, and he went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat." Modern-day Turkey. "And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place." So just as God predicted, it was fulfilled.

I'm fascinated with the work of angels in our lives. Now, angels were created primarily by God for His praise and adoration, and to be His messengers, His servants. They are different from humans, obviously. They have a spirit. They don't have the bodily form that we have. They are not procreated like we. Are in other words, they are a special, unique creation by God, each one of them. There are deathless. They are in the presence of God. They seem to be eternal. And yet, they are also sent and dispatched by God for us.

It says in the book of Hebrews that "Angels are ministering spirits that are sent to minister to those of us who are heirs of salvation." And I believe that the Bible teaches guardian angels, perhaps not the way you were thinking about them as a little kid in Sunday school, but certainly-- now, some of us probably have more guardian angels than others of us, depending-- you know, we're kind of dingy and the Lord, you know--

I'm sure God has to send a lot more on me. Ride a motorcycle around, and God says, oh man, and you know what? We're going to have to double up on the angels on this guy. He's kind of crazy. He kind of does a lot of weird things. Just get a lot of angels on him. Their sent to minister to those of us who are heirs of salvation.

Also, angels observe the work of God upon the earth. It says in Peter, 2 Peter, 1 Peter, that the angels desire to look into the things that God is doing in us, fascinated at the grace of God. Paul in Ephesians says that God, through us, through the church, is teaching the angels the wisdom of God.

We are God's class project. The angels are in school, and we're lab. And God, to demonstrate His wisdom to the angels, demonstrates it through us. And I'm sure, as the angels observe us, they must question the wisdom of God.

[LAUGHTER]

And perhaps even be frightened, because God made a promise in the New Testament that you and I, His church, will judge angels. And I'm sure the angels go, oy, oy vey.

[LAUGHTER]

These jokers are going to take care of us some time? Give me a break. And I'm sure they absolutely marvel at all of the resources that God has at our disposal, all of the power through the Holy Spirit, given to us. And they just shake their heads going, I can't understand why they're so weak and anemic.

Why they don't trust You, Lord, more. Why they're not so confident in You. You've done so much for them. As they see us going through our trials, and as they see us in our weakness, although God understands, and God gently says, come into my presence. I'm sure the angels just go, unreal.

Chapter 38 is real interesting, because it has come time for Hezekiah to die. And God is actually very gracious to him. He tells him in advance, something that God doesn't always do. Sometimes people are killed instantly without any notice. A car accident.

It says, "In those days, Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz went to him and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord, "Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.'" Now, I consider that to be very gracious on God's part. When you know a person is going to die, it goes easier. It's not easy.

A dear sister in the fellowship went to be with the Lord this last week, and we did her funeral last Monday. She was 25 years old. She died of cancer. It was painful. It was hard to see someone you love die. And yet, it wasn't sudden. It wasn't like, see you later, honey, and then you get a phone call saying, well, your loved one was in a car accident. At least you have a chance to say goodbye and get your house in order.

In fact, it's been great. Many people who know they're going to die will call me up and say, now, I have prayed about this, and I planned my funeral. This is what I want you to do.

And this gal actually planned her funeral. She said, at my funeral, I want some upbeat, rejoicing songs. And then after that, I want this song played on tape, and I want you to preach the gospel to my family. They happen to be very religious, but a lot of them don't know Jesus. And I want you to tell them that my goal is that they have a personal relationship with Him. I said, that's great. You're giving me license to just go for broke.

And so I told the people at the funeral, Rosemary desired that you hear the biblical gospel, because, frankly, she's worried about some of you. And so here goes.

[LAUGHTER]

It's gracious when God lets you know that you're going to die before you die. It's still difficult and painful the loss, but it goes a little bit easier. Hezekiah, you're going to die. He's been sick, thinking, I hope I recover. And Hezekiah, basically like the doctor, comes in and says, it's malignant. Your number's up.

And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord. And he said, "'Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth with a loyal heart, and I have done what is good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly."

Now, we should not blame Hezekiah for weeping bitterly. If you were dying, and somebody said you're on your last leg, you would probably react the same way. There is one of the strongest, if you will, instincts or characteristics about a human being. It's called self-preservation. I can prove it. If I walk up to you and throw my fist in your face, you'll flinch and put your eyes up-- or put your hands up and close your eyes. It's the instinct to protect yourself. You always have that instinct.

Satan, when he came before God in the Book of Job, after Job already went through one trial of losing a lot of things, including his own family, all of his wealth, God said, Satan, have you looked at my servant Job? He is like numero uno in all of the earth when it comes to being righteous. Have you considered him?

And Satan said something that is very true. Kind of surprising that he actually spoke something true, but he did. He said, "Skin for skin, yea, all that a man has will he give for his life." Satan recognized that one of the strongest instincts of man is self-preservation, alleviate suffering and have health, to keep yourself alive at all costs.

And so he wept bitterly. "And then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah saying, 'Go and say to Hezekiah, "Thus says the Lord, the God of David to your Father.'" Again, referring to David. He was a role model. "I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears, and I will add to your days 15 years." It even rhymes in this version. "I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city."

Now, everyone does not have this privilege of asking God to heal them, and they get healed. When somebody is dying, though we have prayed for people who are actually dying of a disease, we've prayed, and we've seen some amaze-- we've seen God heal people just miraculously of life-threatening diseases.

Yet, we've prayed for others, and God just says, I want them home. I want-- in My wisdom, no. I won't heal them. God doesn't answer everybody's prayer like he answered Hezekiah's prayer. Some people go through suffering toward the last stages of their life.

Prayed for a woman yesterday at her house and called her this evening. Dear lady, who was part of this church when we first start. I remember her and her husband every week coming and encouraging us in the Lord. Her husband died a few years ago. She's on her last legs. Her last breaths will probably be breathed this weekend.

She's gone through incredible suffering. It's hard to understand why. Lord, just take her quickly. Let her family say goodbye to her.

And those are sometimes prayers that I pray. Lord, You're calling her home. I would not want the Lord to heal her at this point. She's gotten up there in years. And you know what? "It's appointed unto man once to die."

You know, when I get to be old, let's say I'm 80, 90 years old, I want to go home. I don't want to live another 20, 30 years. I'd be a wreck by then.

And I just say, Lord, I pray that You would take her swiftly and painlessly. And yet, there is suffering. Paul the Apostle, he prayed for healing, and God said no. He said in 2 Corinthians 12 that he had a thorn in the flesh. In Greek, it's literally a stake, and it means a nagging, physical pain that he had in his body.

He said, it was "a messenger of Satan to buffet me." And yet, he said, God allowed this. In fact, God, no matter who sent it, this is the sovereign will of God. It's His message in 2 Corinthians 12. And he said, three times I asked the Lord to heal me.

And God's answer was, "My grace is sufficient for you." And so Paul said, OK, then I rejoice in my physical weakness and my physical disease, my infirmity, that the power and the glory of God may be manifested in my body. What an attitude! Not, God, if You don't heal me, I won't serve You. Job said, "Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him." Now, that's faith. Can look down the gun barrel of death and disease and say, I'll love You no matter what. You don't owe me a thing. I'll serve You no matter what, God.

"And this is the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing which He has spoken. Behold, I will bring the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down with the sun, on the sundial of Ahaz, 10 degrees backward. And so the sun returned 10 degrees on the dial by which it had gone down."

Now, picture sitting in the palace of Hezekiah, and looking out into his garden. And there in the middle of the garden is this pillar, an obelisk, something that has a wider base and goes up to a point on all sides. It finally goes up to a point, and there are notches that are cut on this obelisk.

As the sun shines through the window, it shines on the obelisk. As the sun goes down, the shadow goes up on the different notches on the obelisk. These were the notches or the degrees of the sundial, so that during the day, you could check it out. Because the sun was focused through a window, you could see it on the sundial. And the degrees would tell you what time it is.

So God is saying, Hezekiah, I am going to give you 15 years to your life. And just blow your mind with a sign, I'm going to let the sun, the degrees, instead of shadow, there'll be light on 10 of those notches, 10 of those degrees.

Now, how God did this, I'm not certain. And I really don't need to know. There's a couple of possible explanations. He could have stopped the rotation of the Earth and reversed it. According to physics, that would be impossible, although God could do it. I'm certain of that. You know, when you go thousands of miles an hour, and all of a sudden stop it and try to reverse it, you're going to have some problems, some damage.

[LAUGHTER]

The other is that God could have refracted the light somehow, so that light shone upon the points of the obelisk, thus giving that miraculous appearance. I don't know how He did it, but I'm sure it was just a delight for Hezekiah to watch that. He said, this is awesome, as seemingly the day went back. "And this is the writing by which Hezekiah the king of Judah, when he had been sick, had recovered from his sickness."

Now, as soon as he's healed, he thanks God. And he writes a song, and everybody has to sing it.

Remember the story of the 10 lepers in the Gospel of Luke? There were 10 men who had leprosy. They came to Jesus. They said, have mercy on us. Jesus said, go show yourself to the priest. And as they went, they were healed. One of them came back and glorified God, shouted thank you, Jesus, for healing me. And Jesus said, didn't I heal 10? Where are the nine? Not everyone who gets the benefits of God thanks God.

"I said, 'In the prime of my life, I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years.' I said, 'I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world. My life span is gone.'" This is all of his fretting, because he is dying. "Taken from me like a shepherd's tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off in the loom." And he goes on to say how he was feeling.

And in verse 20, it says, "The Lord was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our lives, in the house of the Lord."

Now, was this the time for Hezekiah to die? And should Hezekiah have prayed this? Well, I guess that's discretionary. The way I see it, when it's my time, it's my time, and I don't really want it prolonged. I want to go.

There is the whole thing of the perfect versus the permissive will of God. Now, some people don't see any truth to that. I see a tremendous amount of truth to it. God has only one will. He doesn't have alternate plans. God has a central will. However, as you well know, we are humans. We are fallible. We blow it. And we don't always walk in the will of God. We often settle for second best. We often are rebellious against God.

God did not want Israel to have a king, and yet God granted Israel a king, because they just cried for it incessantly. It wasn't God's perfect will. He told them that. The prophet Isaiah said, Hezekiah, it's time for you to die. Get your house in order. But he prayed, and God gave him 15 years of his life. They were 15 miserable years of his life.

During those 15 years, he had a son by the name of Manasseh, who was the most corrupt king of all of Israel. He was worse than Ahab and Jezebel put together. God said, he is just the worst. You couldn't conceive of anybody worse.

In fact, it was Manasseh who took Isaiah and cut him in half and killed him. Then he showed the envoys from Babylon-- which is in the next chapter we'll get to next time-- all of the treasures of the house of God. And by doing that, he brought, as a hook, the Babylonians in, and eventually the Babylonian captivity. And his heart was lifted up with pride, it says in 2 Kings. So it really wasn't a great 15 years. It's best just to go when it's your time.

Why was he so animate? Because, I believe, Hezekiah didn't understand death. When a person doesn't understand death, it is the most fearful thing to look at. When a person understands death, in a full biblical sense, the only thing that should cause that person fear is how will his relatives be taken care of after his death, and getting them through the mourning process, not fear for yourself.

It says in Corinthians that death is the last enemy, and God has pulled the fangs out of death. "O Death, where is your sting? O Grave, where is your victory?" When a person doesn't understand death, there's great fear.

I've watched people die. I've watched lots of people die. In fact, I brought my son Nathan over to our friend to pray for this lady yesterday, because I want Nathan to grow up seeing this, seeing how people die, getting in touch with life and death. And he also prayed for us, and it was a fantastic teaching experience.

But I've watched believers die, and I've watched pagans die. There's a big difference. There's great fear that grips the heart of a person who doesn't know what's beyond. There's a great comfort knowing that as soon as you pass this life, the arms of Jesus will welcome you into the next. Underneath you are the everlasting arms. I don't fear death.

This life is so temporary. One day, if the Lord doesn't come back before too long, you will die, every one of you in this room. It's appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment." You know why I don't worry? Because I've taken care of part b, "after this, the judgment." I've passed from death unto life. There will be no that kind of judgment from me. I'll be right in, immediately, in the presence of God when I die. Now, what's so bad about that?

Oh, I feel so sorry for him. He died at such a young age. What did he have to look forward to? Just heaven.

[LAUGHTER]

See how absurd that sounds? Now, if you really don't believe that, then it probably sounds goofy to you. But a person who really understands, it's like phew. Let's go for it. Not that you have a death wish, but, hey, if it's my time, it's my time. I'm not going to ask God to give me 15 years.

Remember Paul the Apostle, he was in a quandary, sort of like Hezekiah. He said, you know, here I am in prison. I'm suffering. "I'm in a strait between two. I have a desire to depart and to be with the Lord, which is far better than this. Nevertheless, I know that if I remain, it will be profitable for you, and I could minister to you." But he said, if I had my druthers, I'd just go home and be with the Lord.

I know that in a few days, I will conduct this dear lady's funeral. It'll be a homecoming. It will be sad, and we will try as hard as we can, by God's grace, to comfort the family, because the funeral really is not for the person who's departed. It's for the people who are left. I don't mourn the death of the person for the person who's died, who's a Christian. If he's an unbeliever, I do mourn. If he's a Christian, I don't mourn. I rejoice. It's like graduation day.

Hezekiah didn't understand death, therefore he prayed to God to restore his life. Now, verse 21, Isaiah said, "Let them take a lump of figs--" and we'll end here, verse 21 and 22-- "and apply it as a poultice to the boil, and he shall recover. And Hezekiah said, 'What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?'" And we'll get to the rest of that next time.

The thing to point out, as we close, is that the healing was a combination of prayer and medicine. He put a poultice upon the boil, and it was commanded by a man of God. It was a common remedy to cure boils and ulcerous sores in the body, some kind of medicinal poultice. And although he prayed, and yes it was miraculous, it was a combination. And Isaiah said, in other words, take him to the doctor. Give him some medicine here, and he will recover.

Don't minimize that, because Hezekiah received it, whether it was partially the fig poultice and partially prayer. Whatever. He knew it was the Lord, and he gave God the glory. Don't look at it as a cop out. Oh, well, yeah, you know. It really wasn't that big of a deal. I just went to a doctor, and I got better. So what? You're better! We rejoice with you. God can use doctors, too.

For some reason, we think, oh, you know, that's like second best. Now, always pray first, and ask God by faith to heal you. If you don't get healed, just say, well, that's it. I prayed once, and if God didn't heal me, I'm just going to die. Well, that might be our philosophy, but I've got a wife and kids. And, yes, I want to be with the Lord, but unless it's going to be soon, if it's something that can be easily remedied, bring it on.

Well, you have appendicitis, Skip. And if you don't get it operated on, it will rupture, and you will die. Well, what am I going to do? Sit around the house until it ruptures?

[LAUGHTER]

No. I'm going to pray. I'm going to ask God to heal it, and God might very well do it. If the pain doesn't go away, I'm not going to rebuke the pain. I'm going to go to a doctor and say, cut that baby out. And it's not a big deal these days. It's a simple operation.

So God has His methods, and God uses all of them. The whys and the wherefores are locked in the mind and heart of God. And although we say, now, why this, and why that, and why does that person suffer, and why does that one get healed miraculously, and this one has to go to the doctor? I don't know. I don't need to know. But I just trust the Lord with my life.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, how gracious You were to Hezekiah, through Isaiah, the man of God, who spoke Your word to him, encouraged him to walk hard after You, encouraged him to trust You.

Lord, I pray that is we are confronted-- excuse me-- as we are confronted with Your promises, as we hear Your words spoken, as we read it, as we spent time searching Your word daily, that we would believe the promises of God, that we would grab hold of them and treat them with respect, and really draw close to You, based on what You've said You would accomplish. I pray that it wouldn't just become a sentimental book filled with wives' tales for us, that we would stake our life upon it.

And I pray, Father, again, that we would mature and become men and women of God, as we commit ourselves to Your word. In Jesus' name. Amen.