Secret Power Within

In ancient times, the sentries of a city would bring news of approaching invaders. The city walls would quickly be fortified, and everyone would seek safety inside. What do you think the greatest fear would be in such a situation? It wasn’t catapults or rocks or flaming spears. The people most feared being cut off from supplies of food or water. The invaders may not be able to come inside, but they could stop you from getting the things you needed from the outside.

In advance of the arrival of the Assyrians at Jerusalem, Hezekiah had time to prepare his defenses. In the Kidron Valley outside of Jerusalem bubbled a deep spring called Gihon. It provided the water supply for Jerusalem, so it was of enormous strategic importance. Hezekiah knew that above all costs it must be protected, so he redirected the spring through a conduit that was 1,777 feet long, hewn of solid rock. He brought the spring waters beneath the walls of Jerusalem into a reservoir in the middle of the city. Then he covered up all traces of the spring in such a way that Sennacherib would have no idea where the water supply was. If the angel of the Lord hadn’t destroyed the Assyrians that night, the people of Judah would still have had fresh water for a lengthy period of time. Hezekiah had planned well.

There is a suggestion of this incident in the psalm. “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High” (v. 4).

Jeremiah, D. (2000). A bend in the road (237). Nashville, Tenn.: Word Pub.

Introduction

Sermon text with italics and bold and John 3:16 and v. 20.

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