Let us turn once again to the
word of God and I want to direct your attention for our text to
words that we find in the book of the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah
chapter 38 and verse 16, the parts of the prayer of King Hezekiah
after he'd been sick, his prayer of thanksgiving to God. We read at verse 9, the writing
of Hezekiah, King of Judah, when he had been sick and was recovered
of his sickness. The particular verse then I want
to direct you to is that at verse 16, he says, O Lord, by these
things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit
so wilt thou recover me and make me to live. As I said it's a
part of that prayer that runs from verse 9 right through to verse 20. And
it's a remarkable prayer. It's not the only prayer of the
King that's recorded in Scripture. There are other prayers that
we have mentioned, but this particular prayer, I find a remarkable portion
of the words of God. and certainly our attention is
very much drawn to this godly king because we find that there
is a threefold reference to his reign here in the scriptures
we read there in the 18th chapter of the second book of kings and
through chapters 18 and 19 and 20 of second kings we have the
detail concerning his godly reign but then also we
have a record in the second book of chronicles in chapters 29
to 32 we have mentioned again and some repetition of those
things that are spoken of in the second book of kings but
then also here in the middle of the prophecy of isaiah From
chapter 36 through to chapter 39 we have this sort of parenthesis
in the middle of his prophetic words. Isaiah records certain
events concerning this godly king and those things that occurred
during his reign. A threefold reference then is
to be found with regards to this man. And the preacher tells us
in the book of Ecclesiastes that a threefold cord is not quickly
broken. And God, of course, never repeats
himself in vain. There's no vain repetition anywhere
in the Scriptures. We have a fourfold gospel. Things
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ are repeated sometimes four different
ways when we read through those four books of the evangelists
Matthew, Mark and Luke and John. It's because God is, as it were,
underlining these particular happenings. And is it not the
same also with regards to King Hezekiah. There is much of profit
then for us to consider with regards to this man. He was a
man in many ways who was fearful. He was fearful, he was void of
any hope it would seem beyond the grave. Look at what he says
here. in verses 10 and 11, I said in
the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave.
I am deprived of the residue of my years, I said, I shall
not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living. I
shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. He considered things to be so
hopeless really with regards to that that would come after
he had died. Again at verse 18, for the grave
cannot praise them, deaths cannot celebrate thee, they that go
down into the pits cannot hope for thy truth. He's completely
without any hope it would seem. He's such a fearful character.
But he is not alone in experiencing these sorts of feelings. We see
it with regards to other characters. We see it, for example, in the
book of Psalms. Think of the case of a man like
Heman, the author of the 88th Psalm. And there, at verse 10,
he says, Will thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise
and praise the sealer? Shall thy lovingkindness be declared
in the grave? Or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in
the dark? And thy righteousness in the
land of forgetfulness? He also seems to despair of any
hope beyond the grave. And we see something of that
selfsame spirit even in a godly man like David in the Psalms. He says in death there is no
remembrance of them. In the grave who shall give thee
thanks? We see then how these men, these characters were subject
to like passions as we are. Hezekiah, amongst others, feels
his situation to be quite a desperate situation. Now we know that with
regards to David he is also on another occasion very optimistic
we might say with regards to hope beyond the grave. He wasn't always in that low place, that dark place. At
the end of the 17th Psalm he says, as for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with
thy likeness. Oh, it's not always desperate
for David. There are times when he feels
there's no hope and yet other times he's full of confidence
and of course we see exactly the same spirit in a man like
Job who was so deeply tried and yet those remarkable words, those
familiar words that we find in the 19th chapter where he says
I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth and though after my skin worms destroy
this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eye shall behold, and not another, although my
reins be consumed within me." There in the midst of all his
trials and all his troubles, what confidence we see in a man
like Job, and so too with Hezekiah. Although he utters these words
in the 18th verse, the grave cannot praise them, death cannot
celebrate the day that go down into the pit, cannot hope for
thy truth, yet this man was a man of faith. And it's something
of that fight of Hezekiah that I want us to consider this evening
as we look at the words that we have here in the text that
I announced at verse 16. He says, O Lord, by these things
men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit. So
wilt thou recover them and make me to live. The emphasis here
is very much upon life. But he is speaking here principally,
of course, of the life of God that had come into his very soul. Well, what were the things which
were the life of his spirit? That's the question I want to
endeavor, with the Lord's help, to answer. What were the things
which were the very life of his spirit? First of all, to say
something with regards to God's providence. He observed the providences of
God. He was mindful of God's hand. Remember how at the end of the
107th psalm, that great psalm that speaks so much of God's
providences in the various situations and all the vicissitudes of life.
At the end there, the psalm, he says, Uso is wise and will
observe these things. Even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. We need to be observant. of God's
ways, of God's dealings. Now with regards to God's providence
in the life of this man Hesychiah, we could say that God's works,
God's works and God's ways seem to be very much going against
him. At this particular time there
was much to cause him to be filled with despair that God's hand
had gone out against him. Here in the opening words of
the chapter we read, In those days was Ezekiel sick unto death,
and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came unto him and said
unto him, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for
thou shalt die and not live. in those days. The days being
spoken of, the days referred to are the events that we read
in the previous chapters, in chapters 36 and 37. We know just when these things
occurred in the reign of King Hezekiah. We read in our public
reading from chapter 18 of the second book of Kings. And we're
told there in the second verse how this man reigned 29 years
in Jerusalem. He was 25 years when he came
to the throne, when he ascended the throne and he reigned for
29 years. And here He is sick, he doesn't die, he
lives, because God is pleased to extend his life by some 15
years. In verse 5, Thus saith the Lord,
the God of David, thy Father, I have heard thy prayer, I have
seen thy tears, behold, I will add unto thy days 15 years. He reigned 29 years, and here
he is to reign another 15 years. This is therefore clearly the
14th year of his reign. He's been reigning now 14 years. Now if we turn back to the beginning
of chapter 36, we're told it came to pass in the 14th year
of King Ezekiel that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against
all the defense cities of Judah and took the And the king of
Assyria sent Rabshakei from Lachish to Jerusalem onto King Hezekiah
with a great army. In this 14th year what events
began to overtake this king? Previously the armies of the
Assyrians had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel had
been divided into two kingdoms after the death of Solomon. There'd
been that rebellion by the ten northern tribes who'd chosen
Jeroboam son of Nebat to be their king and it was just Judah and
Benjamin the South who were faithful to the house of David and Adraeoboam
as their king. There'd been a division. But
the Assyrians had come and destroyed the northern kingdom referred
to as the Kingdom of Israel. But now they've come some years
later and they've come through the kingdom of Judah and all
the walled cities have fallen and the armies of the Assyrians
are at the very gates of Jerusalem. And there's this General Rabshakei
and what does he do? He begins to taunt the men of
Judah. There in chapter 36 and verse
4, Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thou
saith the great king, the king of Assyria, what confidence is
this wherein thou trustest? How he taunts them. And he quite deliberately speaks
in the Jewish language, Although the message is for the King,
Ezekiel, he wants to be sure that the people of the city of
Jerusalem are hearing these blasphemous words that he speaks, not just
against Ezekiel, but against the only true God, the God of
Judah. In verse 11 there, in that 36th
chapter, we're told how Eliakim and Shebna And Joar said to Rabshakei,
speak I pray thee unto thy servants in the Syrian language for we
understand it and speak not to us in the Jews language in the
ears of the people that are on the wall. But he ignores them. Verse 13, then Rabshakei stood
and cried with a loud voice in the Jews language and said, hear
ye the words 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. All of these events are occurring
in the 14th year of his reign. And then we're told over to The armies
of the Assyrians removed from Lycish. There have been these
detachments sent to Jerusalem under the general Rabshakai.
But Sennacherib removes with his armies from Lycish and goes.
He has to fight against the Ethiopians. But that doesn't mean that Judah
and Jerusalem are free now from any trouble. It doesn't mean that at all.
We are told how initially those servants of the
King came and spoke the words of Rabchake onto King Hezekiah. At the end of chapter 36 and when the King receives this
message that his servants Eliakim and Shevna and Joah bring, the
beginning of chapter 37, he heard it, he rent his clothes, covered
himself with sackcloth, went into the house of the Lord, and
he sent Eliakim who was over the household and Shevna the
scribe and the elders of the priest, covered with sackcloth,
unto Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos. and he desires that
the Prophet should also pray. He's gone himself to the house
of the Lord, and now he desires that the Prophet should also
seek the Lord. Then at the end of verse 4 in
chapter 37, Wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that
is left. That was the request that he
made to to the Prophet. And then as I said, there's a
sense in which that prayer is heard because the armies that
are laying siege, they go away. They go away because the Assyrians
are now engaged in warfare with the Ethiopians. But that's not
the end of the matter. That's not the end of the matter. A letter is then sent. There
in chapter 37 we are told how Rabshakei returned and
found the king of Assyria warring against Libna for he had heard
that he was departed from Lycish. But this message is sent to Hezekiah
a letter. And it's that letter that he
takes and spreads before the Lord. He commits the matter into God's
hands. Previously he desired the prayers of the prophets.
He doesn't do that this time. He simply goes to the temple
and lays matters before the Lord. But now you see, in the same
year, all of these things are coming one on top of the other
in the same 14th year he is laid aside by sickness and he's not
going to live he's going to die he was sick unto death it says all God's providence seems to
be against this man He's an observer of the hand of God, he's a believer
in God, he's a faithful man. Though he was the son of a wicked
king himself, he did that which was right in the sight of the
Lord. And yet, God's hand is constantly
going out against him. Might he not say with Jacob,
all these things are against me? Remember how Jacob uttered
those words when his sons had gone into Egypt and they'd returned
without Benjamin. He'd already lost his son, Joseph. And he concludes that everything's
against him. It was the same in some way with
the experience of Job. He says his troops come together and rise up themselves against
him. and encircle my tabernacle, his
body. He feels assaulted on every hand,
us poor Job. And we know how he was so sorely
afflicted. And we lost his possessions,
he lost his servants, he lost his children, his house was taken
from him. God's troops coming together,
casting up a way against him, encircling his tabernacle. It
was the same I say in many respects for this man Ezekiel. And yet what does he say in his
prayer? By these things men live and in all these things is the
life of my spirit. That's his confession. Oh, what
changes! We were hearing at Agen this
afternoon concerning those that the psalmist speaks of in Psalm
55 they have no changes therefore they fear not God those who have
no changes and we see how these godly men experience many changes
and this was the case with regards to King Hezekiah but not only
do we see God's works and God's ways to stand against him but
also here we can say that God's word was against him. The prophecy,
the words of the prophet also come against him. He is sick
unto death. We read in verse 1, And Isaiah
the prophet, the son of Amos, came unto him, and said unto
him, Thus saith the Lord. All this is the word of the Lord
to him. This isn't just the word of Isaiah. Isaiah is but the mouthpiece
of God. Thus saith the Lord, set thine
house in order for thou shalt die and not live. Even God's word now comes and
stands against him. Now previously we could say that
God's word was very much for him. When he sent his servants, at
the beginning of chapter 37, to Isaiah and asked Isaiah to
pray, Isaiah gave answer to him. Verse 6 there, Isaiah said unto
them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord.
Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the
servants of the king of Assyria blaspheme me, Behold, I will
send a blast 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." All God's Word, you see, was so much for him, in
spite of all the circumstances that surrounded him seeming to
stand against him. He had the comfort of what God
said through his servant Isaiah, God's Word. was very much on
His side. And then again, at the end of that 37th chapter,
in verse 33, Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the King
of Assyria, again you see it is the Lord's Word, 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 shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he
came, by the same shall he 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. and it was so as we see in what
follows how the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in
the camp of the Assyrians and 185,000 were killed. And then Sennacherib the king
of Assyria departs and returns to his city of Nineveh and he
is killed by his own sons when he's worshipping in the house
of his idol God Nisroch. And God's word, you see, seemed
to be so much a comfort to the king. And it came as such a consoling
word in the midst of all his troubles, with the armies of
the Assyrians constantly besieging him and taunting the people. Yet God's word was for him, but
not now. In those very days, in that 14th
year, that eventful year of his reign, he is sick. And the prophet comes with the
word of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in
order, for thou shalt die and not live. We read Something of what the
trouble was at the end of this chapter. Verse 21, Isaiah said,
Let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon
the boil, and he shall be healed. Now Matthew Poole in his commentary
here with regards to the boil says it was a plague sore. It was a plague sore. I suppose something like the
Black Death. Maybe it was leprosy. Maybe it
was leprosy. Interestingly the same word,
boil, as it's translated is found in Leviticus 13 which deals with
the matter of leprosy and how He was the priest who was to
examine the person to see whether or not they did have leprosy. There are certain signs whereby
he could discern it. There in verse 18 of Leviticus
13, the flesh also in which even in the skin thereof was a boil
and is healed. And in the place of the boil
there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white and somewhat reddish,
and it be shown to the priest, and if, when the priest seeth
it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof
be turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is
a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil." Maybe this is what
King Hezekiah was afflicted with, struck down with. We know that
his great-grandfather King Uzziah died as a leper because he presumed
upon the priestly office. He offered fire, strange fire
to the Lord and he was struck down immediately. He became a
leper and he He could no longer rhyme out of it. Put a regent
in, his son rhymed in his stead, and he lived in a house separated
from all others. So Ezekiel would be aware of
those things. Maybe this was what he was afflicted
with. But whatever it was, it meant
certain death according to the Word of God, the Word of the
Prophet, the prediction of God. Joseph Hart has a remarkable
hymn on Hezekiah on these incidents. It's not found in Gadsby's, it's
one of Hart's hymns that's omitted in Gadsby's selection, but he
has those lines, he damps of death that chill me through.
God's prophet and prediction to, I must withstand you all. And that's what he has to do.
God's providences seem to be so much against him much of the
time. And God's word, although it came as a comfort to him,
now stands against him also. And he has to withstand all of
these things. Now how does he do that? How does he do it? He does it by prayer. He pleads with God, he prays
to God. Oh Lord, by these things men
live. You see, these things, these
events that come into his life, they move him to prayer. Oh Lord,
by these things men live and in all these things is the life
of my spirit. Now do we not prove that? When
we're brought into some crisis, maybe in our own family, we brought into a situation and
we know not what to do and the only thing we can do of course
is cry to the Lord and we have to do that and the Lord becomes
very real I remember that some years ago now I suppose it must
be 10 years ago when our grandson was diagnosed seriously ill with meningitis
And what does one do? One just has to cry to the Lord
and the Lord becomes very real. By these things men live. It's
the same when the Lord maybe afflicts us in our own persons,
in our own bodies. We have to cry to him, we have
to call upon him. These things are the very life
of prayer, are they not? in David, remember David's experience
when he'd gone with his men and left the women and the children
at Zilag and Zilag was destroyed and the
women and the children had been taken and David's men turned
against him and they spoke of stoning David and what did David
do? David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. There in the 30th chapter of
the first book of Samuel in verse 6. David encouraged himself in
the Lord his God. And this was the only thing Ezekiel
could do. He had to pray. And he did pray. He prayed himself when Rabshakeh,
first K, when he received that message from the men who were
there upon the wall, hearing those taunting remarks. Remember
the beginning of chapter 37? It came to pass when the king
Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, covered himself
with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. And he not only prayed himself,
he requested prayer by the Prophet. He wanted the Prophet also to
pray. There at verse 2 following he
sends his servants and the elders of the priests with sackcloth
unto Isaiah the Prophet And he asks Isaiah to lift up his voice
in prayer. Lift up thy prayer for the remnant
that is left, we read at the end of verse 41. Isaiah also
to pray. And then when they are removed
for a little while because they have to leave Lycish to the Assyrians
and they have to go out against the Ethiopians, but that letter
is sent What does he do with the letter? He simply spreads
it before the Lord. He takes the letter and he takes
it into the temple of the Lord and he spreads it before the
Lord. That's what we read in our scripture
reading, that's where we finished. are reading there in 2nd Kings
19 and verse 14. But you see now, in chapter 38
here, when the Prophet comes when he's sick, he's unable to
get up from his bed and go to the Temple of the Lord.
What we read in the second verse then, has he turned his face
toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord. He turned his face
to the wall. And I think that that was the
wall on the side towards the temple of the Lord. It was there
in his palace but it was that wall on the side towards the
temple of the Lord. Remember the significance of
the temple when Solomon prays his remarkable prayer, that long
prayer at the dedication of the temple. He constantly refers
to the children of Israel making prayer to the temple of the Lord. When they're in battle, and the
battle goes against them, they have to turn to the temple and
to make their prayer towards the temple. When there's death
and famine in the land, they have to turn to the temple. Now,
the significance of the temple, of course, is it's a wonderful
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning we heard of that,
those words, in the second chapter of John, when Christ said to
the Jews, destroy this temple and in three days I will build
it again. And they said, well, 46 years
his temple was in the building. They were thinking of the literal
temple, but he was speaking of his body, as it says. His body. The temple is a wonderful type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, where there is prayer
in the Old Testament to the temple, of course, it's prayer to Christ.
When we pray, we don't have to turn to any physical objects
or any particular geographical place. Because now we have the
fulfilment of all that was foreshadowed there in the Old Testament. We
make our prayers in Christ. We invoke his name, we plead
always for Christ's sake. But these men in the Old Testament,
you see, they look to the temple. They look to the type, as it
were. Even Jonah, when he was in the fish's belly, I am cast
out of thy sight, he says, yet will I look again toward thy
holy temple. Surely there he had no idea where
the temple of the Lord was. He was in the belly of the great
fish. But he says, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered
the Lord and my prayer came in unto thine holy temple. And so also here with Hezekiah,
though he cannot now rise out of his bed and physically go
to the temple and spread the matter before the Lord, he turned
his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord. Oh and how this man prayed How
this man prayed. Look at the end of verse 3. Ezekiel
wept sore. Or as the margin says, Ezekiel wept with great weeping. There's
a repetition there, you see. And it's brought out in the translation,
he wept sore, but there's a repetition. He wept with great weeping. He was earnest. in his prayer
to God. He was so full of despondency. His kingdom was so threatened,
was it not? Or had been? His faith was wavering. What was he to do? He's almost
in utter despair. But look at what he says in verse
3. Remember now, O Lord, I beseech
thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect
heart, and of them that which is good in thy sight, and Ezekiel
wept sorely. Now that's not Ezekiel pleading
his own works. We're not to think of him here
praying as a self-righteous man, but rather is he here remembering
that new man of grace that was within him. Was he not a man who was born
again by the Spirit of God? Was he not a man who was a partaker
therefore of the divine nature? That that he is born of the flesh
is flesh, that that he is born of the Spirit is Spirit. This
is what he had received from the Lord. It's not his own righteousness
that he is pleading. But he remembers who he is. He
remembers that he has that new man of grace. And so we please
and see the evidence, you see, of the new man of grace. Where
do we see the new man of grace here? We see it in the manner
of his praying. Like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter, I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes fail with looking
upward, O Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake for me, he says at
verse 14. Oh, this is real prayer, you
see. This is real prayer. This is the prayer of a man who
feels a terrible burden, a man who has seen so much come against
him, the ways and works of God, the Word of God standing against
him, and yet, oh, we will pray through all of these things. And His prayer isn't made up
of fine words. Some people have a very ready
gift in prayer. It's a blessed thing if God is
pleased to grant us that ability to express the real needs of
our soul. We need to be careful of course.
There are some I fear who only preach in prayer. They preach
to their to their fellows in the prayer meeting, but they're
preaching to God, really. We don't come to pray in order
that we might preach to God. We should plead with God. Plead
with God. Cry to God. And what is real
prayer? Well, it's what we have here,
like a crane or a swallow. So did I chatter. Just chatterings. Poor prayers, really. I did mourn
as a dove. Remember how John Berridge speaks of the real
worship of God over against the worship of the formalist in 884. And this is what he says of real
prayer, real worship, at the end of that hymn, For thee my
soul would cry and send a labouring groan, for thee my heart would
sigh, and make a pensive moan, and each for thee would daily
pine, and would be always only thine. That's real worship, real
prayer, a labouring groan, a pensive moan. Like a crane or a squirrel,
so did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes
fail with looking up, but, O Lord, I am oppressed. undertake for
me. Oh, this is the life, you see,
of God in the soul of this man. By these things men live, he
says, and in all these things is the life of my spirit. So
wilt thou recover me and make me to live. And it was so, was it not? Oh,
there's no ease, you see, in the soul of this man. Woe to
them that are at ease in Zion, says another prophet. There's
no easy life here. But it's the life of God in the
soul of a man. And he was heard, you know, in
this prayer. Remember the end of verse 3,
he wept sore. Verse 4, Then came the word of
the Lord to Isaiah saying, Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith
the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer,
I have seen thy tears. Behold, 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.
All his prayer was heard. And friends, how that prayer
was hurt there in that second book of Kings we read
in chapters 18 and 19 if we go on to chapter 20 we
see when God's word came to him look at chapter 20 in 2nd Kings
Verse 3 we read of Ezekiel a whipsaw and he came to pass afore Isaiah
was gone out into the middle court that the word of the Lord
came to him saying turn again and tell Ezekiel 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 and on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house
of the Lord afore He had gone out into the middle
court. He had not even left the courts
of the palace of the king. The answer was immediate, you
see. Before they call, I will answer,
says God. Whilst they are yet speaking,
I will hear. That's how immediate God's answer
is, before they call. I said, not under the seed of
Jacob, seeking my face in vain. Oh, it was no vain thing what
this man did, though so much seemed to be against him, how
he was able to plead with his God to pray to his God. And this, as I said, was the
very life of God that had come into his soul. Oh, that we might
be favoured to have such a religion, a real religion, like unto that
of these godly saints of the Old Testament, men like Ezekiel
or David or Joel, or him and the psalmist in Psalm 88. O Lord, he says, by these things
men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit. so
wilt thou recover me and make me to live. Oh the Lord be pleased
to grant to us such a life, such a spiritual life as that. The
Lord bless to us his own world.