May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let us turn to the
second book of the Kings, chapter 18, and we'll read verses 19
to 22. The 18th chapter in the second
book of the Kings, and reading verses 19 to 22. And Rabshakar
said unto them, speak ye now to Hezekiah. Thus saith the great
king, the king of Assyria, what confidence is there wherein thou
trustest? Thou sayest that they are but
vain words. I have counsel and strength for
the war. Now on whom dost thou trust that
thou rebellest against me? Now behold, thou trustest upon
the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if
a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, unto all that trust on him. But if you say
unto me, we trust in the Lord God, is it not that he whose
high places and whose altars Hezekiah have taken away and
has said to Judah and Jerusalem, ye shall worship before this
altar in Jerusalem? It's good and we're thankful
that we have an account of a good king of Judah and this king was
King Hezekiah. His father was not a good king
but nevertheless Hezekiah was a good king. And I want to say
straight away just so that we understand that in these verses
that we've read together this morning Rabshakeh came and spoke words
which he was accusing Hezekiah of doing, and they appeared to
be right things. In actual fact, what he said
was not true, and he didn't understand. And so it's good for us to, as
we read the Word of God, to read it carefully not just accept
it as though it is true. That which Rabshaker spoke was
not true. He'd said that Hezekiah was trusting
in Egypt to deliver him. That was not true. Hezekiah had
not trusted in Egypt. He'd also said that Hezekiah
had taken away the high places which were of God. He said, if
you say unto me, we trust in the Lord our God, Is not that
he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away?
No, it wasn't. They weren't the worshipping
places of God. They were the idle places. They
were the wrong places. That's why Hezekiah had taken
them away. And so we see how Rabshaker and
presumably Sennacherib and all the people who got the wrong
end of the stick. And they were accusing poor Hezekiah of things
which were not true. And yet they were spoken in such
a way to try and impress the people that Hezekiah was in fact
doing those things and trusting in things which were not right.
Well, we're thankful that we have the Word of God which encourages
us in the right way. Now, having said that, just let's
turn to Hezekiah and think of Hezekiah. He was a gracious man. He was a good man. And we read
in this 18th chapter, he did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord according to all that David his father did. And that's a wonderful commendation,
isn't it? And it'd be wonderful if you
and I have a commendation like that, that we do that which is
right in the sight of the Lord. That's the great thing, you see,
doing it right in the sight of the Lord and according to all
that David his father did, which is, of course, in accordance
with the word of God. And then we read what they involved. And we should note what it did
involve. He removed the high places and
break the images and cut down the groves and break in pieces
the brazen serpent that Moses had made for unto those days
the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it
Nihashtan. Now that's quite surprising isn't
it? To think there was that brazen
serpent. You will remember I'm sure The brazen serpent was raised
up by Moses. He was told to make it when those
many people were bitten by those serpents and it was poisonous
and many died and many were under that curse because of it. And the Lord told Moses to make
a brazen serpent and put it on a rod, hold it up on high, tell
the people to look at it, and all those who looked should live.
And so it came to pass. So we can see that that serpent,
that brazen serpent, was kept, kept for a memorial, kept to
remind Israel of the wonderful deliverance they'd had when they
were journeying through the wilderness. But we see how it became a snare
unto them, and they were Worshipping the serpent rather than worshipping
the living God Worshipping some outward form rather than the
living God well, what a blessing and good Hezekiah saw the sin
of that and got it taken away and got it broken up and Stopped
Israel doing that And then we read he trusted in the Lord God
of Israel So that after him was none like him among all the kings
of Judah, nor any that were before him." And that's a wonderful
commendation, isn't it? To think of this good King Hezekiah,
the Lord spoke of him in this way, that there was none before
him and none after him that trusted in the Lord God of Israel. Well,
we're thankful, are we not, that we have an example of someone
who trusted in the Lord God of Israel. And it wasn't only when
things were going well, It was also when things were going difficulty,
when things were going contrary to Hezekiah, he still trusted
in the Lord. And that should be an encouragement
to us today, to realise that here we have a godly man and
he set out well, he did those things which were right. And
yet he still had to suffer. He's still in opposition. He
still had great difficulty. And therefore we should not think
that because we may come into times of opposition and difficulty
that the Lord's hand has gone out against us. Not necessarily. Sometimes it is so. Sometimes
the Lord does instruct us in those things which we may have
been doing wrong. But here in Hezekiah's life, and it may be
in our life, We've been doing those things which are right,
and nevertheless the hand of the Lord appears to have gone
out against us, but of course it hadn't in reality. The Lord
was with Hezekiah, and may we therefore be encouraged likewise. And so this man, he trusted in
the Lord, and we also read, and he claimed to the Lord, and departed
not from following him, but kept his commandments. which the Lord
commanded Moses. He did those things which were
right. And he hadn't had a good example
from his father. His father hadn't done those
things which were right at all. But you see, he departed from
those wrong things and were following those things which were right,
which were in accordance with the word of God. And we read,
the Lord was with him and he prospered with us wherever he
went And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served
him not. He smoked the Philistines even
unto Gaza and the borders thereof from the tower of the watchman
to the fence city. So we have this evidence of God's
favor and God's blessing with Hezekiah. And it may have been
that Hezekiah thought, well, all things are going smoothly
now. It's wonderful. I've got a good life and the
Lord's with me and now no problems. But you see, the Lord was to
bring opposition and difficulty and problems to him. Because
as we read further on, now in the 14th year of King Hezekiah
did Sennacherib king of Israel come up against all the fence-sitters
of Judah. Now he'd already come up against
Israel and carried Israel away captive. And we know it was because
Israel had not followed the Lord. They followed the way of Jeroboam,
who caused Israel to sin. And just to remember what that
was, Jeroboam, of course, was with Rehoboam after Solomon had
died. Rehoboam was over Judah and Jeroboam
was over the other tribes and what Jeroboam had done, he'd
made idols so that people wouldn't have to go up to Jerusalem to
worship. He made two idols and he put
them in two places to save Israel traveling because he was worried
that if they went back to Jerusalem then they wouldn't follow him.
Well that was the wrong thing that caused Israel to sin. And you will read in the Kings
many occasions when they followed the way of Rehoboam who caused
Israel to sin. We have to be very careful in
our lives not to follow a false way which causes sin. Well, Israel
had now been taken captive and that left Judah and now Sennacherib
was intent on getting Jerusalem as well. And so we read in the
14th year of King Hezekiah did Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
come up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them
and took them. And Hezekiah, king of Judah,
sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish saying, I'm offended. Return from me that which thou
puttest on me when I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed
unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, 300 talents of silver and 30
talents of gold. So Hezekiah was trying to appease
Sir Nacharib and to stop him therefore taking Jerusalem. And therefore he gave to the
king that which he asked for and it involved cutting off the
gold from the doors of the temple. But of course, that wasn't going
to appease a greedy king. And poor Hezekiah was holed up
in Jerusalem. A few people were left there
with him. And now we're reading that this Sennacherib, the king
of Assyria, he sends Rabshakeh and others to speak to the king. Well, the king sent out Eliakim,
and Shebna and Jawa to hear what this General Rabshaker had to
say. And it's that which Rabshaker
responds and speaks in to these people in the verses that we've
read together and of course they were fairly persuasive things
really that he spoke if they were true and to an ordinary
person perhaps on the walls of Jerusalem listening to that which
was spoken may have thought well these words are true but of course
that they weren't true and the effect was He asked then for
more. He came and said, now therefore
I pray thee, give pledges to my Lord, the King of Assyria,
and I will deliver thee 2,000 horses if thou be able on thy
part to set riders upon them. He was really mocking him. He
was really mocking Hezekiah that he would give them all these
horses if he was able to put horses on them, riders on them. How then will thou turn away
the face of one captain the least of my master's servants, and
put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen." But of course
he hadn't. But here was this position and situation that was
being told to the people. Well, now, of course, those things
which were being spoken, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shevman
Jab, he didn't want the people to hear things which perhaps
were not true because they might have been persuaded in the wrong
way. And he asked them to speak in
another language, a language as the people wouldn't understand,
which they understand. But Rabshakeh disagreed and he
carried on and he spoke in the language that everybody would
hear. And he cried and he spoke the
loud voice and he said, hear the word of the great king, the
king of Assyria. Thus saith the king, let not
Hezekiah deceive you. For he shall not be able to deliver
you out of his hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you
trust in the Lord, saying, the Lord will surely deliver us,
and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of
Assyria. Hearken not to Hezekiah. Well, these were strong words,
weren't they? Remember, the people in Jerusalem
were here under siege. And you would think, well, this
is very powerful words, really. being spoken by Rabshakeh, but
the great thing was that these words, difficult as they were,
were spoken and eventually they were brought to King Hezekiah. Remember the last verse we read
together? And they rent their clothes and
told the words of Rabshakeh to Hezekiah. Now, they came to Hezekiah. How would you expect Hezekiah
to respond? And this of course is the great
blessing and instruction for us to realize that although faced
with words which were not true, but words which may appear to
the people to be true, then Hezekiah now has a situation. And they
come to him and Hezekiah heard it and he rent his clothes and
covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the
Lord. Yes, what a good place to go
when the problems exist. And these were great problems
for a king. And don't forget that Hezekiah
had done those things which were right in the sight of God. He'd done those things very clearly
which the Lord had instructed him in. And now the man's hedged
in in his own city and facing all this opposition And he must
have thought, what am I going to do? He went into the house
of the Lord. And they said unto him, Thus
saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy. The children have come to the
birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. It may be the
Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the
king of Assyria, his master, sent to reproach the living God
and were approved the words which the Lord thy God has heard. Wherefore
lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left." So the servants
of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. Yes, they came to seek what the
Lord would speak through his servant Isaiah. Well, God's servant
Isaiah, and you can read this account very similarly, Isaiah's
prophet in chapter 36 it gives a very similar account to these
great truths and it's a confirmation of the importance of them that
we should recognize they're there for our instruction today and
so Isaiah was told and Isaiah was instructed by God and he
said, thus shall you say to your master, thus saith the Lord,
be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard with which the
servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I
will send a blast upon him and he shall hear a rumor and shall
return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword
in his own land." So Rabshakeh returned and spoke to the king
but of course he wasn't happy with that situation so they came
and they returned and spoke again to Hezekiah King of Judah, saying,
let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying,
Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the King of
Israel. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have
done to all lands by destroying them utterly, and shalt thou
be delivered? Have the gods of the nations
delivered them which thy fathers have destroyed? Et cetera. And
what did Hezekiah do? Well, this was given to him in
a letter. And again we find Hezekiah received
the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it and Hezekiah
went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the
Lord. And again we see Hezekiah's reaction
against these kind of difficult situations. And it's there for
our instruction today that in a similar way when we're faced
with difficult situations we are to go to the Lord. We are
to commit our way unto the Lord. And that's just what Hezekiah
did. And we read Hezekiah's prayer. It's only short and we just read
it because it's wonderful instruction for us in the 19th chapter in
verse 15. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord
and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims,
thou art the God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth,
thou hast made heaven and earth." You see, he acknowledges, first
of all, the greatness of God. And it's good for us in our prayers
when we come to God and we acknowledge the greatness of the Lord. He's
not a little God. He's a great God. And it's good
if we acknowledge it to the Lord in words which are so important. We come to the great God. This
is how Ezekiel came. And then he asks, he said, Lord,
bow down thine ear and hear. He wanted the great God to bow
down and listen to him. He wasn't any great person. You
see, previously, Ramachakra made out that the king of Assyria,
Sennacherib, was a great king. And he was trying to frighten
all these people by the greatness of this king. Ah, we see Hezekiah. in a very different form. And
he asked the Lord to bow down and hear. Lord, open thine eyes,
Lord, and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, which has sent
him to reproach the living God. This was the bottom line, as
it were. You see, Sennacherib wanted to
really destroy the people of God, the Church of God. And that
was his endeavour. He'd been very successful. you
see, he wasn't going to be able to complete that which he wanted
to do, because the Lord was with Judah, and the Lord was with
Hezekiah. And what a blessing it is to
think of that today in our lives, when sometimes things appear
to be all against us, to realise, no, the Lord is with us. The
Lord will not leave us So he says, Lord bow down thine ear
and hear, open Lord thine eyes and see and hear the words of
Sennacherib which he has sent him to reproach the living God
of a truth Lord the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations
and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for
they were no gods but the work of men's hands wood and stone,
therefore have they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our
God, I beseech thee." You see, he was praying earnestly, and
it's good when we are able to pray earnestly. You see, it's
not something which we can produce ourselves, but when God gives
us the earnestness, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man, we can be sure it will avail And here we have Hezekiah, Now
therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, say thou us out of his
hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou
art the Lord God, even thou only. The great desire was not only
for deliverance, but that the name of the Lord God might be
lifted up and honoured and glorified. And how important that should
be in our lives. when the Lord appears, when the
Lord answers our prayers, our desire should be that his name
might be honoured and glorified. Perhaps we find in our lives
there have been those occasions when that has not been so. We've
received answers to our prayers and perhaps we haven't given
the praise and the honour to the Lord that we should have
done. Well, here we have the example of this good King Hezekiah. Again, Isaiah was instructed
by the Lord. Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent
Hezekiah saying, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Remember,
he already had a message for the king and has another message,
that thou hast prayed to me against the Nacrib king of Israel. I
have heard. I have heard. Sometimes we think
perhaps our prayers are not heard. Well, our prayers are heard if
they are brought to God in that right way, that right way seeking
for his honour and for his glory and seeking that he would do
that for us that we cannot do for ourselves. And so here we
have this wonderful statement, I have heard. How encouraging
it should be for us today to think that the Lord hears and
answers prayer still in a day and age in which we live. Yes
we have, we come to that God who is the same. The same in
Hezekiah's day. The Lord hasn't changed. He is
the same today. And He's on high, in glory, there
to answer our prayers. And what a blessing it is for
us today that we as poor, sinful creatures can approach unto the
Holy God through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed
Advocate with the Father. To think that He can take our
prayers, they may not be Polish prayers, they probably won't
be. They may be very ragged prayers. But to think that the Lord takes
them and presents them to His Father. And the Father looks
upon His Son, the Son who died to atone for our sins. And our
prayers are accepted through Him. What a wonderful thing it
is to hear, to believe that, yes, this God hears our prayers. Yeah, time of need, wasn't it?
Time of need in Hezekiah. I have heard, this is the word,
the Lord has spoken concerning him, the virgin, the daughter
of Zion, hath despised thee. And lastly, the scorn, the daughter
of Jerusalem, has shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou
reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted
thy voice? And lifted up thine eyes on high,
even against the holy one of Israel. That's, you see, who
Sennacherib was speaking against. It was against the great God.
Oh, my friends, what a danger, what a terrible thing. And so
he says, by thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord and
has said, with the multitude of my chariots, I am come up
to the height of the mountains to the sides of Lebanon, and
will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice
fir trees thereof, and I will enter into the lodgings of his
boarders, and into the forest of his carmel. I have digged
and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet have
I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places." And so
he goes on, and we can read on what Isaiah spoke of this word
to the king Sennacherib, those things which he had said would
happen in all his pride and all his enmity. But as we read on
down in this 19th chapter and we find the remnant that is escaped
to the house of Judah shall yet again take route downward and
bear fruit upward for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant
and they that escape out of Mount Zion the zeal of the Lord of
hosts shall do this. it wasn't any great strength
that Hezekiah had naturally. Hezekiah's hope, his strength
was in the Lord his God. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into the city
and shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor
cast a bank against it. By the way that he came by, The
same shall return, and shall not come into this city, saith
the Lord. For I will defend this city,
to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake."
You see, Hezekiah's confidence was in his God. My friends, today
may our confidence be in our God. And here was the gracious
word, the gracious promise, from God to Hezekiah. And he said,
for I will defend this city. The Lord will defend the city.
To save it for mine own sake. You see, God was to get the honor
and glory. And without any doubt in our
lives, the Lord is to do great things for us in providence and
more especially in grace with regard to the life of our soul.
It'll be for his honor and for his glory. We need to be very
clear about that in our lives because the Lord Jesus Christ
is to be lifted up. He is to receive the honour and
the glory. And so we have this statement
here about what the Lord would do. And of course the Lord brought
about an amazing miracle as we read what occurred. And it came
to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote
in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred, four score and five
thousand. A hundred and eighty-five thousand
people were slain by the Lord. You see, Hezekiah, with all the
chariots he could have mustered, would never have been able to
produce a victory like that. But the Lord, you see, the Lord
works. And when God works, you see,
Who can hinder the work of God? I will work, the Lord says, and
who shall hinder it? No one can hinder God's work. There is an appointed time, an
appointed place, an appointed occasion. And we see that the
Lord brought a wonderful deliverance, didn't he? We have to observe
how testing it was for Hezekiah. And my friends, today, as you
and I walk on this earth, We were finally coming to testing times, which would test
our faith. And we are not to look to man. Hezekiah did not look to man.
He didn't look to Egypt. No, he looked to his God. And
God came, and God heard his prayers. And of course, it wasn't once.
It was effectively twice, because there was a backup, as it were. The enemy came in. again and
tried to overthrow him but his confidence was in his God and
the Lord heard and answered the prayers of Hezekiah and brought
a wonderful deliverance. Wouldn't it be good for us today
in our spiritual life if we can be encouraged by the life of
Hezekiah because the truth is that we have much opposition
and it may be just like Rabshakeh He may come and, as it were,
the evil ones speak into our mind and say, well, of course,
you know, you're relying on this and you're relying on that. And
it may not be true. We may kind of question it in
our minds. We may be a bit hazy in our minds. We may not be able
to quite assimilate the situation. And we may perhaps not want other
people to hear about it or anything like that. But you see, when
the Lord comes and directs and when the Lord blesses with that
faith, that's the important thing. Hezekiah, blessed with living
faith in his God. And my friends, what a blessing
it is to know that the Lord God can do everything for us. Nothing
is impossible with God. We perhaps live in a day of small
things, and we're not to despise small things, we're to thank
God for small things, but you see, the Lord still blesses small
things. He still brings small things
to pass. He does it. He brings it to pass. And it's good for us to have
spiritual eyes to observe the Lord going before us. The Lord
providing the right solution. The Lord provided a solution
here. Hezekiah could never have dreamt that God would have come
and slaughtered all those Assyrians overnight. He could never have
thought that God would have worked in that way. And so, in our lives,
we're apt, you know, to plan out deliverances, aren't we?
We think, well now, this is how that's going to happen, and I
think if this does that, then this may follow, and so on. Hezekiah
just committed his way unto the Lord, his God, in a very simple
way. It wasn't a complicated prayer,
was it? But remember, he didn't acknowledge he was coming to,
the great God. And he did see earnestly, the
Lord would hear, and the Lord did deliver, and he desired the
great name of God might be honoured and glorified. And so we should
remember that in our prayers to our God, to come in that right
way. You see there's a right way to
come and to approach unto the Lord God, that his name may be
honoured and glorified, and surely our spiritual life, what would
that be? It would be to direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we shall indeed come and give thanks for what he's done,
for his great mercy toward us, in looking upon us and remembering
us in our lowest state, for his mercy endured forever. It is
a good thing, surely, to realise that we worship the same God
today. And may our faith look to the Lord Jesus Christ, that
one who so willingly came and died upon Calvary's cross to
deliver us. We might be surrounded by the
enemy. We may seem to be holed up, you see, and we can't seem
to get out. We're there. The Lord knows,
my friends, our situation. He knows your situation. He knows
mine. And He can deliver. He can come and He can touch
our hearts. It may be that we need the Lord to appear for us.
in a spiritual way, in a special way, perhaps very simply but
very gloriously, to hear those words, saying to my soul, I am
thy salvation. It was a similar statement naturally,
wasn't it, to Hezekiah. He wanted the Lord to tell him
he would deliver him. Perhaps you and I need the Lord to speak
to our souls and say, I am thy salvation. I am the one who will
deliver thee. I am the one who will free thee
from the chains which your bound with the present time. You may
feel to be captive in prison. You may feel not able to get
out, just like Hezekiah was here. But you see the Lord heard his
prayer. My friends, the Lord can hear your prayer and my prayer.
He comes to deliver us so that we look. Where do we look? To
self? No. Where do we look? To the
Lord Jesus Christ. And to see Him suffering in our
place. and paying the price for our
sin, every sin, every sin, washed away in His most precious and
valuable blood. Now it would be a good thing,
would it not, if the Lord perhaps brings us into a situation, and
let us not forget what Hezekiah's life was. He did that which was
right in the sight of God, and you would think, therefore, Hezekiah's
going to have an easy path. No, it's not. just because you
may have been given grace to do that which is right. And thank
God if you have, but don't expect it all to be plain-sounding.
The Lord tests our faith continually as we journey on through life.
There are those things which cause us to pray. If there weren't those situations,
we would very easily become prayerless, or at least prayer would be very
formal, it wouldn't be very real. The Lord, bless his name, brings
us into those situations so that prayer is a reality and not a
formality. We see here in Hezekiah's case,
his prayer was not formality, it was reality and God heard
and answered his prayers. So may we be encouraged this
morning as we think upon the life of Hezekiah and the example
that he was able to set by the grace of God and the love of
God to his soul. May we unite ourselves in our
path as we walk through this life and be able to thank God
for his great mercy and favour to us. Amen.