Isaiah 36
1 Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and seized them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. 3 Then came out to him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. 4 And Rabshakeh said to them, Say to Hezekiah, The great king, the king of Assyria says this: What confidence is this that you trust in? 5 Are words alone the counsel and strength for war? Who are you trusting that you rebel against me? 6 Look, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.
- This chapter is a picture for us of the enemy’s assaults against our faith.
- 2Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
Our God is the true and living God who rules over all kings
7 But 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 to Jerusalem, You will worship before this altar?
- The altars that Hezekiah took away were the altars to the false gods.
- He brought the people back to the one true God.
- Psalm 96:5-6 For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens. 6 Honor and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
- Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to abide his indignation.
8 Now then exchange pledges/hostages, with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then will you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Have I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.
His truth sets us free
11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Please speak to your servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and do not speak to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. 12 But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men that sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? 13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.
- These leaders of Jerusalem, like many leaders, tried to suppress the truth.
- The Lord was about to show His people His great power and protection over them.
- John 8:32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
- John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, except by me.
The Lord will deliver us
14 This is what the king says, Do not let Hezekiah deceive you: for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will certainly deliver us: this city will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah: for this is what the king of Assyria says, Make an agreement with me by a gift, and come out to me: and eat every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink every one the waters of his own cistern; 17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of food and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who is there among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Do not answer him. 22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.
- The gift of verse 16 would be like a payoff to the mafia.
- Sennacherib thought that because God did not stop him from conquering these people, that He was not able to do so.
- Yet God, for the purpose of destroying evil, allowed Sennacherib to destroy idolatry because it leads people to eternal death.
- Psalm 17:13Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is your sword.
Isaiah 37
The LORD is our help in time of trouble
1 And when king Hezekiah heard it he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. 3 And they said to him, This is what Hezekiah says, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
- Jerusalem was surrounded by the mighty war machine of the Assyrian army.
- The captain of the invading army tried to talk them into surrendering without a fight (Isaiah 36).
He is the Lord, the true and living God
4 It may be the LORD your God will hear the words of 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: so lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. 5 So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. 6 And Isaiah said to them, Say this to your master, This is what the Lord says, Do not be afraid of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
- Psalm 96:5 All the gods of the nations are idols but the Lord made the heavens.
- Jeremiah 10:10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to abide his indignation.
7 Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he will hear a rumor, and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. 8 So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. 9 And he heard it concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to make war with you. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 Say this to Hezekiah king of Judah, 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. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and will you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden that were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? 14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying, 16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubims, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: you have made heaven and earth. 17 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. 18 It is true, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries, 19 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.
He is ours; He alone is God
20 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, even you only. 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, This is what the LORD God of Israel says, Since you have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: 22 This is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, has despised you, and laughed you to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. 23 Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you exalted your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.
- Holiness speaks of the uniqueness of God.
- He alone is infinite and eternal knowledge, power, righteousness, and love.
- Think about infinite and eternal for a moment. Then apply that to knowledge, power, righteousness, and love. Then you will see what holiness means.
24 By your servants you have reproached the Lord, and have said, By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice fir trees: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. 25 I have dug, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. 26 Have you not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, that you would lay waste protected cities into ruinous heaps.
- God used Sennacherib to destroyed these people and their false gods because they chose death and were leading others to eternal death.
- Isaiah 26:12 LORD, you will ordain peace for us: for you have worked all our works in us.
27 Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. 28 But I know your dwelling place, and your going out, and your coming in, and your rage against me. 29 Because your rage against me, and your tumult, has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came. 30 And this will be a sign to you, You will eat this year such as grows of itself; and the second year that which springs of the same: and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit.
The Lord fights for His people
31 And the remnant that escapes of the house of Judah will take root downward, and bear fruit upward: 32 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and those that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. 33 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria, He will not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a siege bank against it. 34 By the way that he came, that same way he will return, and will not come into this city, says the LORD. 35 For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 36 Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and struck in the camp of the Assyrians 185,000: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat (Armenia): and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
- This was similar to the army of Pharoah that God drowned in the Red Sea for acting against God's people.
- Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you all families of the earth will be blessed.
- Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength: very present help in time of trouble.
Isaiah 38
The LORD is sovereign over death
1 In those days was Hezekiah was sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, This is what the Lord says, Set your house in order: for you will die, and not live. 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD, 3 And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done what is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.
- God created life (Genesis 1 and 2).
- He holds our life and breath in His hand.
- Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
- Revelation 1:18 I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Jesus)
4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, 5 Go, and say to Hezekiah, The LORD, the God of David your father, says this: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will add fifteen years to your days. 6 And I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.
- This statement shows us that Hezekiah’s sickness was during the country’s siege by the Assyrians.
- The scriptures often place things in order of importance rather than chronological order.
7 And this will be a sign to you from the LORD that the LORD will do what he has spoken; 8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which has gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it had gone down.
- For many years the literature of the American Sunday School Union told of a space launch that could not be attempted until one of their programmers remembered from his Sunday School days that God had turned back time this ten degrees plus the 24 hours that the sun stood still in Joshua’s day (Joshua 10). When these figures were entered into the computer the alignments were correct and the launch proceeded.
- Scientists at Green Belt, MD, recently encountered the same thing, reports Mr. Harold Hill, president of Curtis Engine Company of Baltimore and space program consultant.
9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: 10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I will go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the rest of my years. 11 I said, I will not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I will behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 12 My age is departed, and is removed from me like a shepherd's tent: I have cut off my life like a weaver: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day to night will you make an end of me? 13 I leveled my soul until morning; as a lion he will break all my bones: from day to night you will make an end of me. 14 Like a crane or a swallow, I chattered: I mourned as a dove: my eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; intervene for me. 15 What can I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it: I will go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. 16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so you will recover me, and make me live.
He has cast all our sins behind His back
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but you, in love to my soul, have delivered it from the pit of corruption: for you have cast all my sins behind your back. 18 For the grave cannot praise you, death can not celebrate you: those that go down into the pit cannot hope in your truth.19 The living, the living, he will praise you, as I do this day: the father will make known your truth to the children. 20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs on the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD. 21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster on the boil, and he will recover. 22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?
- Psalm 103:2-4 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercies;
*************************************************************************************************
SUMMARY: Isaiah 36-38
- Our God is the true and living God who rules over all kings
- His truth sets us free
- The Lord will deliver us
- The LORD is our help in time of trouble
- He is the Lord, the true and living God
- He is ours; He alone is God
- The Lord fights for His people
- The LORD is sovereign over death
- He has cast all our sins behind His back