Prayer for Deliverance
Great Prayers of the Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Let’s start with an exercise: Listen and identify the core truth the Bible is communicating in each of the following verses:
The Lord says…
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
Paul says…
The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The psalmist says…
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
What is the core truth?
The Lord Delivers us from evil.
We pray this every Sunday when we recite the Lord’s prayer:
“And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.”
If this is what the Lord does, then when we face danger, when others aim to bring us harm, when we are facing temptation to do what we know we should not do, when we are under spiritual attack, when our family is facing troubles, or our nation is under threat - what is be our first response?
Where are Christians instructed to turn?
We are continuing on in this series I’m calling Great Prayers in the Bible. I’ve selected prayers found throughout the Bible - each with a different focus - so we can hear what the saints of long ago prayed, and why, and witness to how God responded. We can then incorporate these types of prayers into our lives as needed. My hope is that this series will bolster your prayer life - and mine as well!
Today main character is King Hezekiah. He reigned during the period of time when the twelves tribes of Israel were divided into two kingdoms - the larger kingdom of Israel to the North and the smaller kingdom of Judah to the South. King Hezekiah reigned over the southern kingdom of Judah for twenty-nine years, from c. 715 to 686 BC.
Back when Wayne Towers was born. (Sorry Wayne - happy father’s day!)
Listen to how the writer of 2 Kings describes Hezekiah:
In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
Hezekiah’s actual father was King Ahaz - who was a wicked king - but here the writer identifies King David as his father because he reigned in the way of David. Although many generations separated the two - his zeal for the Lord showed that he walked in the way of his spiritual father David.
There is a quick little Father’s Day lesson - hopefully you are the son or daughter of a godly man. If so, what a blessing. But if not, it is good to have a spiritual father you can pattern your life after. Sometimes that is a grandfather or uncle, but it does not have to be a blood relative. It may have been a member of the church or a faithful Christian you only know by what you have read about that person. Regardless of who it is, it is good to seek to emulate the life of a godly spiritual father - and for you men here today - to be a spiritual father for others.
Continuing on with the description of Hezekiah:
He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
Hezekiah was faithful - he walked in the way of God and the Lord was with Him. Lest we believe for a minute that because he held fast to the Lord and did not depart from His commands - that he had an easy and peaceful life as king - we quickly find that that is not the case at all.
This was also a time when the Kingdom of Judah faced a monumental crisis. The Assyrians, led by king Sennacherib, were steadily spreading across the ancient world and defeating all who did not surrender. The Northern Kingdom of Israel would fall to Assyria. The kingdom of Samaria would fall to Syria. And Syria was threatening Judah as well.
The Assyrians overwhelmed the fortified cities of Judah and closed in on Jerusalem. In their threats against the city of Jerusalem, the Assyrians openly defied the God of Judah, likening Him to the powerless gods of the nations they had already conquered.
If you were Hezekiah - what would you do? The lives of all your fellow citizens are depending on your leadership. Of the 12 tribes of Israel, each named after a son of Jacob, ten of the tribes belonged to the Northern Kingdom and that kingdom had already fallen. The people of Israel, Judah’s relatives, exiled to northern lands never to be seen again.
All that remains is a remnant of God’s people, the tiny Kingdom of Judah consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and some members of the priestly tribe of Levi. Facing the largest and most advanced military in the world. What do you do?
Hezekiah tried the diplomatic route to find peace. Maybe he could pay a large tribute to Sennacherib and purchase their safety.
King Hezekiah sent a message to the king of Assyria at his headquarters in Lachish: “I’ve done wrong; I admit it. Pull back your army; I’ll pay whatever tribute you set.” The king of Assyria demanded tribute from Hezekiah king of Judah—eleven tons of silver and a ton of gold. Hezekiah turned over all the silver he could find in The Temple of God and in the palace treasuries. Hezekiah even took down the doors of The Temple of God and the doorposts that he had overlaid with gold and gave them to the king of Assyria.
That is a hefty price tag - but worth it if it meant the Kingdom of Judah could live in peace. But that was not to be the case, Sennacherib takes the money and then sends a delegation - along with a great army - to Jerusalem and demands Hezekiah’s surrender.
Among the delegation was a powerful court official called the Rabshakeh (RAB-SHA-KUH), who served as the emissary of Sennacherib. Standing near the city walls - he speaks loudly to Hezekiah’s representatives so that all the people standing on the wall could hear.
He asks of Hezekiah: “What are you resting your trust upon?”
Are you trusting in your ability to use words and strategies to secure yourself?
Are you trusting in alliances you make with others?
Are you trusting in the Lord your God?
All fair questions to ask when you are facing imminent danger.
Where does your trust rest?
I may not know each of your responsibilities outside of church - but I am pretty sure none of you are kings of small nations. However, you do have your kingdoms. You have your areas of influence, you have your circle of family, friends, work environment, homes…where does your trust rest when your kingdom is threatened?
When the safety net is removed, your protective walls have crumbled and evil is at the door?
The Rabshakeh (RAB-SHA-KUH) taunts Hezekiah’s people
“So be reasonable. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you think you can provide riders for them. You can’t do it? Well, then, how do you think you’re going to turn back even one raw buck private from my master’s troops? How long are you going to hold on to that figment of your imagination, these hoped-for Egyptian chariots and horses? “Do you think I’ve come up here to destroy this country without the express approval of God? The fact is that God expressly ordered me, ‘Attack and destroy this country!’ ”
The man was skilled in building fear in those who were listening.
Maybe God has allowed this evil to come and wipe us out?
I’m sure I am not the only one who has thought this way when facing a situation when my world has been turned upside down. Is this from God? Is he punishing me for something I have done?
The Rabshakeh, having laid down the groundwork of doubt and fear, moves in for the kill - to demoralize the people so badly that they will give up.
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ”
The message is clear - your God is powerless. Sennacherib is now your god, he will provide for you and give you life.
Richard Nelson in his commentary on 2 Kings writes:
This narrative is a call to trust God even in the face of inevitable disaster, even when all evidence and logic point the other way.
And we all face those moments to some degree or other in our lives. Can it be true that God will deliver us? Do I truly believe that He cares for me and that He will rescue me?
Thankfully for the people of Judah, the matter was already settled in Hezekiah’s mind. He did not waver - he knew where to turn. Salvation does not come from those who threaten you into submission. Salvation comes from the Lord.
The Lord delivers us from evil.
Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance can be a model for us when facing evil.
Hezekiah’s takes the letter his messengers hand him, detailing all that the Rabshakeh had said - and tearing his clothes as a sign of sorrow, he laid it down before the Lord.
Laid out prostrate before the Lord - he starts off by acknowledging and praising God for who He is…
2 Kings 19:15 (ESV)
“O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.
He then presents the situation before the Lord…
Lord, turn your ear this way and hear! Lord, open your eyes and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words. He sent them to insult the living God! It’s true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed many nations and their lands. The Assyrians burned the gods of those nations with fire because they aren’t real gods. They are only man-made creations of wood and stone. That’s how the Assyrians could destroy them.
and he concludes by making his supplication…
So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
It is not a long prayer - but it is a powerful prayer. A prayer made in full faith to a God who is not made by human hands, but who is the Lord God Almighty - maker of the heavens and the earth. A God who delivers us from evil.
Historians have long speculated why Sennacherib did not capture Jerusalem. His own reports noted that he left Judah without capturing the city.
Modern historians won’t take the biblical account as true, so they speculate that Sennacherib’s army must have contracted a plague.
Here is what the scriptures tell us happened:
“Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Assyria’s king: He won’t enter this city. He won’t shoot a single arrow there. He won’t come near the city with a shield. He won’t build a ramp to besiege it. He will go back by the same way he came. He won’t enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.” That night the Lord’s messenger went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Assyrian camp. When people got up the next morning, there were dead bodies everywhere. So Assyria’s King Sennacherib departed, returning to Nineveh, where he stayed. Later, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. They then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon succeeded him as king.
Before I close, I’d like to share why the Old Testament is filled with stories of the people of Israel, when facing certain death, overcoming the odds and experiencing deliverance.
As Richard Nelson has noted, “All the Old Testament victories of God, both historical and literary, serve as pointers to and signs of that cosmic Easter triumph.”
As Christians, these stories are possible because we know that we were facing clear and certain death, and yet God intervened and sent His Son. Jesus delivered us from the enemy. He died on the cross for us and the news of his resurrection affirms that not even the greatest enemy of man, death itself, has power over us. Jesus saves!
And so when we face danger, evil and temptation - we too can boldly pray for deliverance to the Lord who saves.
Now in the words of the Apostle Paul…
Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.
Amen.