Let us turn again to the second
book of Kings, directing you now to the opening words of chapter
20. In 2nd Kings chapter 20, we just
read there in the 18th chapter, but now turning a little further
to chapter 20, and I'll read the first three verses. In those days, while he was sick
unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son
of Amos, came to him and said unto him, Thou saith the Lord,
set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Then he turned his face to the
wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee, O Lord,
Remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with
a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight
and Hezekiah wept sore. Last week we were considering
the prayer of Jeremiah from the the dungeon there in Lamentations
chapter 3 and verse 55. And tonight I want us to consider
the prayer of King Hezekiah as he turns to the wall. Our text is found here in the
second verse in this portion that we just read. 2 Kings 20
verse 2, then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the
Lord. There is a certain similarity,
I suppose, between the two men, the prophet Jeremiah in the deep
dungeon and here the king turning his face to the wall. Now, we certainly know that this
man, Ezekiel, was a good and a gracious man, one of the best
of the kings of Judah. We saw that in the portion that
we read there in chapter 18. Verse 3, we're told he did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all
that his father David did. Then again at verse 5, 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.
For he claimed to the Lord and departed not from following him,
but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded Moses." Now,
we see something of the grace of God so evident in this man
and his faith. Now, remarkable when we bear
in mind who his father was. Back in chapter 16 and there
in the opening verses we see that he was the son of King Ahaz. and Ahaz was the most wicked
king in Judah but then again also we see that sadly Ezekiah
himself was the father of the most wicked king at the opening
of chapter 21 we read of his son Manasseh and the wicked wives
of Manasseh And yet, how the prayer of Hezekiah must have
been answered, because in 2 Chronicles 33 we also have the record of
Manasseh's repentance. Though a great sinner, Hezekiah's
son was once saved by the sovereign grace of God. But it's Hezekiah
and it is Hezekiah's prayer that we come to consider in particular
this evening. And we see how that he was very
much a man of prayer. He prayed over the words of Rabshakai. We read that 18th chapter and
how the general of the Assyrians comes and is taunting the men
upon the wall there at Jerusalem and when those court officials
come and report back to King Hezekiah the words of Rabshakei they come with rent clothes we
read at the end of chapter 18 and they told him all the words
of Rabshakei and if we'd have read on into chapter 19 we're
told he came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it that he rent
his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into
the house of the Lord and he goes into the temple he's going
to lie this whole matter of the Assyrians now surrounding Jerusalem
lying siege to the city he's going to bring the whole business
before the Lord and then subsequently when he receives a letter from
Sennacherib who was the emperor Rabshakeh was just a servant
of the great Assyrian Sennacherib and Sennacherib sends a letter
and then we see in chapter 19 how again Ezekiel is a man of
prayer verse 14 there Ezekiel received the letter at the hand
of the messengers and read it. And Ezekiel went up into the
house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. This threatening
letter. He reads it, he takes it, he
spreads the whole matter before the Lord, his God. And not only that, he also desires
that the prophet that Isaiah, the faithful servant of the Lord,
should be praying at the same time. At the end of verse 4 there in
chapter 19, his words address to the prophets. He says at the end of that verse,
Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
He wants Isaiah also to pray even as Hezekiah himself is praying. He encourages others to pray. And the prayer that this man
brings before the Lord is not in vain. The Lord hears him,
the Lord answers him. Look at what we're told there
at verse 20 in chapter 19. Now Isaiah is sent to Ezekiel by the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
that which thou hast prayed to me against the Naqorib king of
Assyria, I have heard." Oh God sends that comforting
message through His servant, the Prophet. in Hezekiah's praying
has not been in any way pointless, futile. God has heard his prayers,
God will answer his prayers. Well here in the portion that
I want us to consider tonight at the beginning of chapter 20
we see his prayer, but this is his prayer now in his sickness. How the Prophet has come and
told him that he's going to die. He must set his house in order. Some sickness come upon him.
And he turned his face to the wall, it says, and prayed unto
the Lord. Now, there is a threefold reference
in Scripture to these events. Not only do we have it here in
the second book of Kings, but we could also read in the 32nd
chapter of the second book of Chronicles. And there at verse
24, in those days was Ezekiel was sick to the death and prayed
unto the Lord. And the Lord spake unto him,
it says, and gave him a sign. So twice in the historic books,
in 2 Kings and also in 2nd Chronicles we
read of this particular event and then further there's a third
reading there's that 38th chapter in the book of Isaiah the prophet
and we have some detail there in verse Nine following of that
particular chapter we have the prayer of thanksgiving that he
brings to the Lord when he is recovered of his sickness because
God hears him when he prays to the Lord. But let us concentrate
on what's being said in particular here in the verse before us tonight. And I have just two particular
points that I want to dwell on. First of all, we see in a sense
that all of God's providences seem to be against King Hezekiah
at this time. The whole situation that he's
in, the circumstances of his life, he is surrounded by nothing
but problems. In those days, it says, at the
beginning of the chapter, was Hechaiah sick unto death. Those days, what days? Well,
it's those events that are spoken of in the previous chapters. We know from what is written
that Jerusalem was not going to fall at this particular time. Just previously there at the
end of chapter 39, Verse 32, Therefore thus saith
the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come
into this city, nor 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 he return. And he shall not come into this
city, saith the Lord. And so it was that Sennacherib
has to withdraw, the siege of the city is lifted. God doubts
with this man in answer to the prayers of King Ezekiah. And Sennacherib goes back to
Nineveh. Look at what's recorded in verse
28 of chapter 19. Because I rage, this is God addressing
Sennacherib, because I rage against me and thy tumult is come up
into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose and my
bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back by the way by
which thou camest. And so it was that the siege
was lifted and there was a great deliverance. But the significant
thing is that before that happened, Hezekiah is struck down with
this particular sickness. We can work out the timing quite
easily. When he prays to the wall, God
hears him and answers and says to him in verse 6, I will add
unto thy days fifteen years. and I will deliver thee and this
city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and I will defend
this city for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake." Now it was in the 14th year of
his reign that the Assyrians came up against him. The 14th year of his reign. He reigned for for 29 years that's
what we're told remember back in chapter 18 and verse 2 he
was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 29 years
in Jerusalem and here he is being told in verse 6 of chapter 20,
that God's going to add some 15 years to his reign. So we
can quite easily work out it must have been the 14th year
of his reign when he was struck down with this terrible sickness. And it was in that very year
that Sennacherib began his campaign against Judah. Verse 13 of chapter 18, in the
14th year of King Ezekiel, did Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
come up against all the fence cities of Judah and took them.
The point that I'm making is, yes, there was a deliverance,
but at this time, when he is turning his face to the wall,
the deliverance hadn't come. The deliverance was in the future.
This man is being confronted by one problem after the other.
The Assyrians have come, they've come through Judah all the walled
cities have fallen, there's only Jerusalem left the armies of
the Assyrians are surrounding the holy city of Jerusalem and
at that very point the king himself is struck down with some terrible
sickness how awful it must have been Well, not dissimilar in
some ways to the experience of Job. Job could cry out concerning
God's dealings, His troops come together and rise up their way
against me and then camp round about my tabernacle. It was just
like that for Hezekiah. What was this man to do? Troubles
are multiplying. Again, Job cries out the terrors
of God do set themselves in array against me. Oh, not just the
Assyrians. But this sickness, and now the
word of the prophet, the faithful servant, Isaiah, coming with
God's word to tell him he must set his house in order because
he's not going to live, he's going to die. Oh friends, how
it seems that all of the providences of God stand against this man. And this is not like that sometimes
in our experiences. how troubles come and troubles
are multiplied and it's one thing on top of another and we wonder
what can we do, where can we turn well what was Hesychias
recourse in the midst of all these troubles well doubtless
he was a man who would observe the providences of God he's not unaware of God's sovereignty
He's a believing man. As we said, he was one of the
most gracious kings that ever reigned over Judah. And remember
the language of the of the Psalmist at the end of that 107th Psalm,
"...whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall
understand the lovingkindness of the Lord." What are these
things? It's all that's spoken of there in the Psalm, all the
providences of God. Oh, how Hezekiah must have been
so much aware he was a wise king. And as he observed, what does
he do? He pries. He calls upon the name of his
God in the midst of all his troubles. There in that 19th chapter, it
came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it that he rent his clothes
and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the
Lord. Lies before the Lord all the
threats spoken by Rabshakeh. And then again, when Sennacherib
sends his letter, Ezekiel received the letter of the hand of the
messengers and read it. And Ezekiel went up into the
house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. Whatever
trouble it is, he knows where to take his troubles. He brings
all these matters and casts them upon the Lord. And so it is here
in our text, as he hears these words from the lips of the prophet,
he turned his face to the wall and pried unto the Lord. We sang
just now that 890 second hymn. It doesn't contain all of the
verses. that Joseph Hart originally wrote,
and there's one particular verse that's omitted in Gatsby's selection,
and it says, if pain afflicts, or wrongs oppress, if cares distract,
or fears dismay, if guilt deject, if sin distress, the remedy is
before the pride. Whatever our circumstances, whatever
things come into our lives, there is a remedy. for all our troubles. And that remedy is that we are
to be like this gracious man, this godly king. We're to be
like King Ezekiel. We need to pray. We need to pray. Here we see
him now, unable to go to the temple of the Lord. Remember
back in chapter 19, that was his practice. he would go into
the temple to pray, to spread the letter before the Lord but
now he is unable to do that because he is sick and he is not just
a bed of languishing from what the Prophet has said to him this
is his death bed he cannot now go to the temple, but he turns
his face to the wall. Now, was that the wall facing
the temple? I imagine that it was that wall. Though he cannot go to the temple,
he will look towards the temple. He would remember the words of
his father, he would remember the prayer that Solomon had prayed
at the dedication of the temple. We have it recorded, remember,
back in the 8th chapter of the first book of Kings. As the temple
is dedicated, we have this long prayer by King Solomon. And he says, amongst other things,
this, If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, with
us, however thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the Lord
toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house
that I have built for thy name. Then hear thou in heaven their
prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause." Or
is he not now so much aware, Hezekiah, of the enemy of God's
people, these Assyrians? And he would remember this, how
that Solomon had said that they were to look toward the house,
towards the temple of the Lord. That temple, of course, is a
wonderful, a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Didn't
the Lord Himself say in the days of His flesh to those Jews, destroy
this temple and in three days I will build it again. He is
speaking there in John chapter 2 of the temple of His body.
But that temple of the Lord is a type of Christ. When Bunyan
wrote his book on Solomon's temple spiritualized, he brings that
out so clearly. What is he doing by going to
the temple, or looking to the temple? He is looking to Christ. Or it was the same with Jonah,
when he was cast overboard and swallowed by the great fish and
taken into the depths of the sea and he speaks of it as a
belly of hell but what does he do in his prayer that prayer
that's recorded in the second chapter of the book of Jonah
I am cast out of thy sight yet will I look again he said toward
thy holy temple He couldn't turn to the wall. He didn't know where
the temple was. He had no idea. He must have been thoroughly,
completely confused. Altogether disorientated in the
fish's bed. And yet that is what he cries
out. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee, into
thy holy temple. And this is what King Hezekiah
is doing. He turns his face to the wall,
he looks towards the temple, he looks towards that that is
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is making his prayer through
Christ who is the only mediator. Christ is the only mediator.
I am the way, the truth and the life, he says, no man cometh
unto the Father but by me. And we know of Christ. or we
are each of us familiar with what the Scriptures tell us concerning
Him, the only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
and or to know what it is to come by and through Him, to know
that boldness, that access with confidence that is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. But see something more here as
He turns His face to the wall, Doesn't Hezekiah also desire
simply to be alone with his gods? He turns from all human health. He looks to the wall. He's mindful that his dealings
must be with God and with God alone. That's the teaching of
the Lord Jesus when they pray us. when thou prayest enter into
thy closet, shut thy door behind thee, pray to thy Father in secret,
and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. For what do we know, friends,
of turning our face to the wall, the secret place of the Most
High, the call upon God, all human help is useless. All human help fails us. There
is only one to turn to. And this is what the Prophet
is doing. Oh, it does seem that everything
is against him. All the providences of God. The
Assyrians have come. They'd previously come and the
Northern Kingdom of Israel had fallen. and now the Assyrians
have come south and they've taken all those walled cities in the
kingdom of Judah and even Jerusalem itself is under threat and then
in the midst of all these things the king himself is sick unto
death and the prophet comes and tells him these awful solemn
words he's going to die, he's not going to live and he turns,
he turns his face to the wall and praise unto the Lord even
unto Jehovah but I said two things and we've said something with
regards to God's providence but also this is the remarkable thing
God's Word God's Word also appears to be against it Isaiah is not speaking in his
own person. Isaiah is the Lord's mouthpiece.
He speaks to the King the Word of God. Thus saith the Lord,
Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt
die and not live. Matthew Paul, the Puritan, in
his commentary says that this boil seems to have been a plague
sore. We know that King Uzziah, if
I remember right, was the grandfather of Hezekiah. Uzziah was struck
down with leprosy and if this was a plague sore, Ezekiel also
being struck down with that awful plague of leprosy well certainly
it seems that he would consult with the prophet we know in the
plague of leprosy that the person was not to consult the physician
the person with leprosy was to consult the priest That's the
command that they received in Leviticus 13. It was the priest
who has to deal and make the diagnosis. Leviticus 13, the Lord spoke
unto Moses and Aaron saying, When a man shall have in the
skin of his flesh arising a scab or bright spot, and it be in
the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy then he shall
be brought unto Aaron the priest or unto one of his sons the priest.
Now that indicates that it was not an ordinary physical ailment
there's a spiritual aspect to it and leprosy therefore is a
typical disease and it's a type of sin But particularly, as we
said before, a type of sin, when that's been opened up in a man's
conscience, he's aware of it. He consults the priest. And here
we see that it is the prophet that speaks to King Ezekiah when
he is sick, on to death. And what does he do? He prays. He turned his face to
the wall and prayed unto the Lord, saying, I beseech thee,
O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and
with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy
sight. And as he coyly wept sore, And it came to pass, before Isaiah
was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord
came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain
of my people. Thus saith the Lord, the God
of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. So he doesn't pray in vain, although
God's words seem to be so much against him. Remarkable, really. But God says, before they call,
I will answer. While they are yet speaking,
I will hear. How quickly the scene is changed. The Prophet has hardly left the
the royal palace before Isaiah was gone out into the middle
court it says the word of the Lord comes to him again there
in verse 4 and it's a different word now he's not going to die
but the Lord has said He will heal him so remarkable Why was
it that Hezekiah's prayer prevailed in this fashion? Well, in his
prayer there's nothing of himself. There's nothing of himself. When he comes in that 38th chapter
of Isaiah to return his thanks after he is healed, He talks
about the manner of his praying, like as a crane or a swallow,
he says, so did I chatter, I did mourn as a dove, my nice fail
with looking upward, O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for
me. It was nothing of his prayer,
it wasn't that he came with a wonderful prayer, and he was able to express
himself in such a remarkable fashion and to so plead with
God and persuade God by force of argument. No, what was he
praying? It was like the chattering of
a bird. It was like the mourning of dogs. That's what he says. He's failing
altogether as he looks up to God. He's so oppressed, he wants
the Lord. to undertake for him. Now we need to remember all of
that in order to understand the significance of what he is saying
here in verse 3 at the beginning of his prayer. As he begins to pray we have
this, I beseech thee O LORD remember now how I have walked before
thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which
is good in thy sight and as Ezekiel wept sore. Now Some might say,
well surely there's a great measure of self-righteousness in this
man as he comes and speaks of himself in this particular fashion. But there can be nothing of self-righteousness
here. Surely, if that were the case,
he would not have been heard by God. God despises the self-righteous
prayer. The Lord Jesus makes that abundantly
clear in Luke 18, when those two men go to the temple in the
hour of prayer, and the Pharisee prays, asks with himself, his
prayer goes no further than himself, all he can do is make his boast
before the Lord. Are we to understand that here,
in verse 3, Ezekiel is speaking like the Pharisee? I would say
not at all. He had previously behaved somewhat
foolishly. Had he not sought in some way
to bribe Sennacherib when he first came? Remember what we read in chapter
18 verse 15? He gave Sennacherib all the silver
that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures
of the king's house. At that time did Hezekiah cut
off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from
the pillars which Ezekiel king of Judah had overlaid and gave
it to the king of Assyria he wants to buy him off as it were
and that was foolish behavior it didn't work it didn't work
at all you know what he must do is look to the Lord and he
must remember he must remember the works of the Lord he doesn't
just observe those outward works, God's providences can he not
also look within, can he not call to mind all that God had
done in his soul all his salvation was from the Lord he had that perfect heart, where
did that heart come from? it wasn't there by nature that
was the new heart That was that heart that God had given him.
As God promises in the covenant, a new heart also I will give
them, a new spirit I will put within them. He is really here
pleading what God had done in his own soul. And though he knew that work of God
in his soul, it was he who helped him. In his prayers, he was a
man of prayer as we saw. And it was the Spirit who must
have been constantly helping him in those prayers. It is the
Spirit who helps our infirmities, Paul says. We know not what to
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession
for us with those groanings that cannot be uttered. And that was
his prayer, it was groanings. It was that chattering of birds,
that mourning of doves. Oh, it was the life of God in
his soul that he was so very much aware of, in the midst of
all these troubles, all these providences that came against
him, even the word of the Prophet that speaks against him. When
he comes to his great prayer of thanksgiving there in that
38th chapter of Isaiah, what does he say? Oh Lord, by these
things men live. And in all these things is the
life of my Spirit. All these reverses, all these
difficulties, all these trials, all these troubles, all these
dreadful, overwhelming events, these things that seem to be
so oppressing to me. By these things, this was the
very life of His Spirit. And so, the prophet is told, before ever
he had left the court. Verse 5, Turn again and tell
Hezekiah, the captain of my people, Thou saith the Lord, the God
of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen
thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. On
the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. and
I will add unto thy days fifteen years and I will deliver thee
and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and I
will defend this city for mine own sake and for my servant David's
sake." Who is this David? It's not so much David, it is
David's greatest son. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Him who is the Beloved
One. This is my Beloved Son, says
God, in whom I am well pleased. It's for the sake of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so turning his face to the
wall and praying unto the Lord, oh, he proves that God is the
One who hears. and the one who answers all the
prayers of his children. That's his comfort. And I trust
tonight, friends, that's also our comfort. It is the same God
that Hezekiah had to do with, that we have to do with. All
these things we know are written for our learning, as Paul says,
that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might
have hope and that word patient really means endurance or there's
much to endure but there's much also to comfort us here in the
Word of God. Joseph Hart has a hymn that's
based on the words of our text It's not in Gadsby, it's in Hart's
own hymns, 109. If you have a copy of Joseph
Hart's hymns, you can read it. Some seven verses. But the last
two verses, he says this. But in these words, as it were,
into the mouth of King Hezekiah, in his prayer, ye damps of death
that chill me through God's prophet and prediction to I must withstand
you all both heaven and earth a while be gone, I turn me to
the Lord alone and face the silent war, he said, and weeping poured
a prayer that conquered pain, removed despair with all its
heavy load, repelled the force of death's attack, brought the
recanting prophet back, and turns the mind of God. And previous
to that, there are three lines in one of the verses, and it's
this, this description of Hezekiah, Favit of heaven, in thee we see
the miracles of prayer, in thee the omnipotence of faith. I like that, I like that. In
thee we see the miracles of prayer, in thee the omnipotence of faith. Oh God grant that we might have
such a faith as that, omnipotent faith that deals with a God in
prayer, a God who is able to do wondrous things, miraculous
things, exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or
think. He turns his face to the wall,
it says, and pray unto the Lord. Oh, the Lord, help us to pray
in such a manner as that. Amen. See a boss in the dearest Lord,
whose soul, encouraged by thy word at mercy's footstool, would
remain, and there would look, and look again.