We're in Isaiah chapter 38, and
we're going to read from verse one. In those days was Hezekiah 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. Then Hezekiah turned his face
toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord, and said, Remember
now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee
in truth with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good
in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. 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. And this shall be a sign unto
thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that
he hath spoken. Behold, I will bring again the
shadow of the degrees which is gone down in the sundial of Ahaz
ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees
by which degrees it was gone down. The writing of Hezekiah
king of Judah which he had when he had been sick and was recovered
of his sickness. 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. Mine age is departed
and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off like a weaver
my life. He will cut me off with pining
sickness. From day even to night wilt thou
make an end of me. I reckoned till morning that
as a lion so will he break all my bones. From day even to night
wilt thou make an end of me. 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. What shall I say? He hath both
spoken unto me and himself hath done it. I shall go softly all
my years in the bitterness of my soul. 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. Behold, for peace
I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins
behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee,
death cannot celebrate thee. They that go down into the pit
cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall
praise thee, as I do this day. The father of the children shall
make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me,
therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all
the days of our life in the house of the Lord. For Isaiah had said,
let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon
the boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, what
is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? Amen. May the Lord bless to us this
reading from his word. Well, we will continue with our
thoughts on this little passage. It was pointed out to me as I
was preparing my thoughts how apt it is that we are thinking
of the shadow going back 10 degrees on the sundial of Ehaz on the
very same day we set our clocks back for daylight saving time. It reminds us that we can manipulate
time on the clock face, and we can call it what we will, but
only God can make the sun stand still in the sky, and only God
can cause the earth to spin in the opposite direction. And ultimately, Only God's time
matters. Time is such an interesting subject. We have today atomic clocks that
give absolutely precise times based on the abilities of the
finest scientific minds. But it was only a few hundred
years ago at the coming of the railways that people started
using timepieces at all. Prior to that it was sundials
that were used. Now I'm not going to try to supply
any scientific explanation as to what Hezekiah witnessed here
when the shadow on the sundial of Ahaz went back 10 degrees. I'm not going to suggest to you
how the laws of nature accommodate what Isaiah tells us happened. I will simply remind us all that
the Lord God created the heaven and the earth and he upholds
them all. Moses, David and Paul all knew
the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and
they that dwell therein. This is God's world to do with
as he will. And if occasionally he does the
unexpected, who are we to question his will and his power to do
so? A great miracle in the life of
Hezekiah required a great sign. And both honour the source of
this miracle and verify the fact of it. And to all who say that
even God can't make time go backward, I say, your God is too small. If we can turn our clocks back,
why can't God turn his clock back as well? Our God fills eternity
and time is his handmaid to bring to pass his good will and purpose. What I shall say, however, about
this extraordinary miracle recorded here in the little phrase, the
sun returned 10 degrees by which degrees it was gone down, what
I shall say about this phrase is that it beautifully and suitably
epitomises the equally amazing miracle of extending the life
of Hezekiah by 15 years. By the laws of nature, Hezekiah
will die. But the Lord who rules nature,
reverses those laws, denies the claim of death, legitimate as
it may have been, and at least for a while, postpones the grave's
entitlement. David said, my times are in thy
hand. And Hezekiah, as David's direct
descendant, learned the full significance of what his forefather
had said. My times are in thy hand. And that is true for all of us. I know that our inclination is
to dwell on the extra 15 years that Hezekiah got, as though
here is a man who cheated death and gained extra time over and
above what he was entitled to, albeit by this miraculous means. But let us remember that Hezekiah
still died. His body has been in the grave
for 2,710 years. 2 Chronicles chapter 32
tells us, Hezekiah slept with his fathers and they buried him
in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David. My point
is this, Hezekiah died as we all must. It is so appointed
for all men and women with very few exceptions. These fleshy
bodies must go the way of the grave and yet Hezekiah's experience
and his testimony is Christ's gift to his church to help us
all face the dissolution of our body and come to terms with our
own personal mortality. We all will have to experience
death. And here in Hezekiah's words,
our helps in order for us to meet that moment. Men and women
of faith learn from these verses that death is not to be feared,
that death is not the end, and that death shall not have victory
over us. On the contrary, Hezekiah's testimony
is a witness of hope for us all and it points to the victory
we have in Christ over death, over the grave and over hell. Hezekiah's 15 years extra points
to the eternal, endless, glorious hope we have as the Church of
Jesus Christ. So today we're going to think
about Hezekiah's testimony as it relates to this episode in
his experience and some of the lessons that we might learn from
it as men and women who, like Hezekiah, trust in Christ. The first thing I want to draw
your attention to is here is a man who is mourning the news
that he has been given. When the Lord told Hezekiah,
by way of Isaiah, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die
and not live. Hezekiah was told that In the
normal way of speaking, there was to be the natural decay of
his flesh. And that reminds us that there
is a corruption of our bodies. There is a corruption of our
flesh as a consequence of sin. Paul tells us, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon all men. And that's what Hezekiah was
facing. Death passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned. Hezekiah was a sinner, and he
was facing the reality of the consequences of that sin, as
we all must do. And Hezekiah calls it the cutting
off of my days. And we see the reaction that
this had in the man. I don't think he was a particularly
tender spirit. I don't think he was an overly
emotional man. But we're told that with tears
and with genuine emotion, he recoils from the prospect of
his death. declaring, I shall go to the
gates of the grave. And these gates were now open
and ready to receive Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a believer, he was
a child of God, but he wept sore at the prospect of his death. Now I mentioned a few of the
reasons as to why that might be in the little note that I
sent out yesterday. So I'm not going to add to those. I'm not going to speak about
those reasons anymore. But I do want to add this point.
Paul does tell us about the purpose of believers going to the gates
of the grave. Paul tells us why, as believers,
we must die. And he speaks to us about death
as being a transition. It's a transition in the case
of believers. These bodies that we dwell in
must be sown in corruption. That means they must go back
to the earth. They must go to the grave. They
must go to dissolution. They must be sown in corruption
in order to be raised in incorruption. so that in order to be raised
with a body like unto Christ's body, we have to let our bodies
go to the grave. Laying down our flesh in death
isn't defeat. It is rather the means of transformation. It is the means of restoration. and it is the method that God
uses to restore and renew. We're assured by the Lord himself
in Matthew chapter 16, the gates of hell shall not prevail against
those who are founded upon the rock Christ Jesus. Hezekiah said,
I shall go down to the gates of the grave. It is true, we
all must lay our bodies down But the death of a saint is precious
in God's sight because, says Paul, Christ shall be magnified
in our dead bodies. Christ shall be magnified in
our bodies by our deaths. Going to the gates of the grave
and giving our bodies to be buried is, hear this, our last great
act of faith. It's our final offering of praise
and worship to our saviour, this side of eternity. Let me say
that again. Christ shall be magnified by
our deaths. This will be our last great act
of faith, our final offering of praise and worship to our
Saviour, this side of eternity. In laying down our bodies, we
assert our trust in Christ's dominion and his power to raise
us again. Satan contended for the body
of Moses but he could not have it because Christ said, it is
mine. The grave has no enduring possession
of our bodies. It has no victory over Christ's
bride. Our souls are immediately with
the Lord and our bodies are banked in the grave for safekeeping
until we need them again. So here is this first point that
I want to leave with you that Hezekiah said he had to go down
to the grave and so must we all but Hezekiah continues, I shall
not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the living. This
is another aspect of our mortality. It's true. Upon our death, we
shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land of the
living. There are consequences in dying. There are consequences
to being absent from the body. There are those who are left
behind. There is sadness of separation
for those who remain. There is a sense of loss. But for believers, not seeing
the Lord in the land of the living is swapped out for seeing the
Lord face to face in glory. Which, says Paul, is far better. How's a guy a-wept? The natural
inclinations of his emotions overtook him. He wept, I'll behold
man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Again, this is
true. The dead no longer gather to
worship with the church on earth, but are gathered with saints
in glory to worship with angels and the great congregation in
heaven. And that is why Paul says to
die is gain. And Solomon tells us that the
day of death is better than the day of one's birth. Here's another thing that Hezekiah
tells us. Hezekiah teaches us that we do not deny the hesitation
and the apprehension that comes with the prospect of death. Hezekiah
was filled with fear and dread. He says, oh Lord, I am oppressed,
undertake for me. But what a blessed prayer for
a believer to utter. in life and in death. In that prayer that Hezekiah
prayed, O Lord, I am oppressed, undertake for me, there is humility,
there is a cry for help, there is a recognition of need. There's worship, there's confession,
and there's petition, all in one short appeal. Now we may be sure as we approach
death that the devil will take opportunity to worry and provoke
the Lord's little ones as they approach their passing. Maybe
he'll do that with accusations and an intense sense of sin. Perhaps he'll do it with regret
for things that we've done or things that we have not done.
Perhaps he will provoke us with fears and longing for the case
and condition of the unsaved or for concerns for loved ones
that we must leave behind. Satan will whisper blasphemies
in our ears and he will try to stir up unbelief in our spirit. He will try to frighten us with
questions concerning God's faithfulness and doubts about our fitness
for heaven. But David gives us ground for
confidence. He says, Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And Christ
says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end. And he tells us in Matthew 11,
my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Let us not be afraid.
Let us not be apprehensive. Let us not fear what the devil
will try to do. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
take us to himself to overwhelm us with a heavy burden. His yoke
is light. His yoke is easy. His burden
is light. In closing, I want us to think
about Hezekiah's comments that appear to indicate a lack of
faith on his part. and yet I think in truth show
us that he had an extraordinary degree of faith in Christ. I want to draw your attention
to a few features of this good king's spiritual life and lively
faith. Hezekiah merely reflected natural
human fears, but he also points us points us all to our precious
Lord and Saviour in the anticipation of our death. For example, in
verse 15, Hezekiah says, He hath both spoken unto me and himself
hath done it. I shall go softly all my years
in the bitterness of my soul. Having spoken previously of days
Hezekiah now speaks of years. He trusts the Lord's promises. And his phrase here, he hath
both spoken unto me and himself hath done it, is a statement
of faith. It's a reference both to the
sign of the sundial and the restoration of his health. but stopping there misses the
real message. Because what Hezekiah is telling
us is that the Lord has both declared our salvation in covenant
grace and fulfilled every requirement in redemptive mercy. This little
testimony of Hezekiah, he hath both spoken unto me and himself
hath performed it, hath done it, speaks to us of Christ's
fulfilment of God's covenant purpose. This mighty truth, spoken
and accomplished in the covenant of God, secures Hezekiah and
our everlasting glory and everlasting happiness. We are justified. God has both declared us justified
and made us righteous in his sight. In the everlasting covenant
of peace, God the Father looked upon the shed blood of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world and made peace with
us in Jesus Christ. We are reconciled to God by the
precious blood of Christ. We are unalterably fitted for
His presence. We are made holy and acceptable
in His sight. The word which I have spoken
shall be done, saith the Lord God. This is our hope. This is
our confidence. This is the ground of our faith.
When we face our mortality, when we consider our end, when the
devil brings his accusations and temptations, we say, The
Lord hath spoken, and it shall be done. He hath both spoken
unto me, and himself hath done it. The just shall live by faith,
says the Scriptures, and we who are justified in Christ shall
live in Christ, and trust him for all that he has done. The Holy Spirit testifies. Whom
he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called,
them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. Justified and glorified in Jesus
Christ is the lot of those who trust in him. God has said it
and has done it. Not only are we justified, we
are redeemed. And here is another truth that
Hezekiah knew. Verse 17, he says, thou hast
in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. My, what a wonderful revelation
and insight this man Hezekiah possessed. Thou hast in love
to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou
hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Hezekiah knew about
God's love and God's forgiveness. As Moses knew, so Hezekiah knew,
that in Christ God sees no sin in his people. He sees no iniquity
in Zion. So we are justified and we are
redeemed and Hezekiah knew it and he tells it to us as well. And finally, Hezekiah knew he
would live to see a son and heir. in the line of David. This is
so significant. In verse 19 he says, Brothers
and sisters, In Christ we are heirs of everlasting
life. Hezekiah knew that the Lord had
made a promise to his forefather David, an everlasting covenant
ordered in all things unsure. There needed to be a son born
to Hezekiah for that covenant promise to be fulfilled, and
Hezekiah knew it. It was why the depths of his
weeping went as it did. He knew. that this was all David's
salvation and all David's desire. It was so also for him. Hezekiah foresaw the Messiah,
Christ. He foresaw forgiveness by the
blood of Christ. He foresaw reconciliation by
the blood of a substitute. And Hezekiah promised that he
would raise the son God would yet give him. to praise the Lord
and to know the truth. May Hezekiah's struggle with
death and the faith that overcame those struggles teach us also
what it is to live and die and live again. trusting in the Lord
Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and
verse 12 says, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then
face to face. Now I know in part, but then
shall I know even as also I am known. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us. Amen.