The Coming Attack on a Righteous King

Introduction

ICE has been in western KS this last week

there is a belief in our country right now that you have to be on one side or another

if you are a republican, ICE should get them all out of here

if you are a democrat, ICE should get out of here.

the truth is you can love the people who are right in front of you, as God has told us, and be of the opinion that laws should be followed… or change them…

This is the kind of thing that evil wants

division over semantics

Today - We have a king who has done all the right things

rid the temple of the idols and false gods

rid the kingdom of those gods

seen revival begin

that stretched to the northern kingdom where they began to destroy the false gods, high places and idols

PRAY!

Isaiah 36:1–22 CSB

1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his royal spokesman, along with a massive army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to Launderer’s Field. 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.

Reading the account in 2 Chronicles we know that this Assyrian king is new and wants to make a name for himself

he has made his way down the Mediterranean coast overtaking kingdoms

The Israelites in the northern kingdom have been over run and exiled from that land

they have over taken many of the cities in Judah and now they are on the door steps of Jerusalem

and when it falls, the entire kingdom will fall

Isaiah 36:1–22 CSB

4 The royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on? 5 You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me? 6 Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him. 7 Suppose you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’? 8 “Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! 9 How then can you drive back a single officer among the least of my master’s servants? How can you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’ ”

Wow! This is insulting, belittling and meant to bring them to surrender

basically saying, you are too weak and we are too great

he is attempting to destroy any argument or position that they have before they can bring them up

Isaiah 36:1–22 CSB

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the royal spokesman, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew within earshot of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the royal spokesman replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

OK, that did not go the way Eliakim wanted…

we speak your language, do not speak ours when we are in ear shot of other people not a part of the negotiation

the response was basically, they have a right to know they are destined for utter destruction, extreme poverty

Isaiah 36:1–22 CSB

13 Then the royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot rescue you. 15 Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ ” 16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my power? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my power? So will the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?”

Speaking to the other people, not the negotiators

Our king is greater than your king…

means our gods are greater than yours

no other gods have been able to stop us

attempting to put doubt in the minds of the kingdom

that their king cannot save them

and neither can the Lord God

Isaiah 36:1–22 CSB

21 But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the royal spokesman.

Attacks from evil will come, especially on those who live for the Lord like Hezekiah. We must prepare ourselves now so that we will be ready when the attack comes.

In attacks by the evil one, it is important to recognize the STRATEGIES that he uses.

Make You Feel Weak (vv 4-5, 8)

“Look how big their coaches are…” story

Isaiah 36:4–5 CSB

4 The royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on? 5 You think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?

Isaiah 36:8 CSB

8 “Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them!

Two main ways the enemy goes about this

The enemy is making the people of Judah think they are bigger than they are

The great king…

you rebelled against me… come at me with mere words and strategies

The enemy is pointing out how weak the kingdom of Judah has become

these are done twice in the passage

Who are you relying on… you obviously cannot fight your own battles

Egypt is going to be no help to you

You do not even have the riders for horses if I were to provide them for you

The enemy will do this to us as well

Remember who our enemy is

not people made in the image of God

Ephesians 6:12 CSB

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.

This enemy should be respected in terms of power but not feared

do not give the enemy so much credit that we begin to believe our God is not more powerful

We can freely admit that the enemy is more powerful than we are but he is not more powerful than our God

Satan is a defeated foe…

Throw in a Little Truth (vv 6-7, 10)

The truth messes with people… they do not expect it and it throws them off

we are used to being lied to

we lie to ourselves all the time

our political leaders lie to us every time they speak

spam calls

the enemy will throw in a little truth but will add a twist

Isaiah 36:6-7

Isaiah 36:6–7 CSB

6 Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him. 7 Suppose you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?

This is all true…

Egypt is unreliable and God has commanded his people to not return to them after he freed them from slavery

yet during their time walking through the desert, they would complain that they had it better in Egypt

when Solomon become king, he married Pharaoh’s

different message for a different time

we are always willing to settle for less than God’s goodness if it is easy

Hezekiah had destroyed those things that people used to worship the Lord

but those places were against God’s law

they were to worship God in Jerusalem, at the Lord’s temple under the authority of God’s priests

Did Hezekiah have these places destroyed? YES!

All throughout the books of Chronicles, it is said of kings, they did what was evil in the eyes of God, or they did what was good in the eyes of God but they did not remove the high places

now a king does just that and the enemy attempts to throw it back in the face of the king

Isaiah 36:10 CSB

10 Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’ ”

more truth… God sent them, but for the judgment of the people worshipping false gods… the very things that Hezekiah tore down

You will be reminded of some very true things

most often, the truth about who your past

Satan may not know your future, but he sure knows your past

Tell You the Truth is a Lie (vv13-15)

the third is very similar to the second…

it is basically the opposite

the enemy will accuse the other side of lying

of doing exactly what they were doing

We see this in politics all the time

for some reason we can only recognize it on the other team, not on our own

in the same way that politicians will say, “They only are giving half my statement, without any context to what I was say.” then turning around and tell you that they voted to send your hard earned tax dollars to Bangladesh to house homeless animals.

Isaiah 36:13–15 CSB

13 Then the royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot rescue you. 15 Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ ”

Actually two things they are doing here

first, they are trying to put doubts in the minds of the people about their leaders

Hezekiah is going to send you to destruction…

says earlier that Hezekiah is leading them to a lifestyle that will have them eating excrement and drinking urine

and they are lying about God

questioning his power over this evil king

its funny that the people who say, “sent them to over take Judah” do not believe that the Lord can stop them now

We cannot take a politician’s word, you cannot trust what the enemy says

there is an angle, slight change

so that they can get you away from God and his true word, his promises.

You cannot recognize the lies or half truths if we do not know the word of God for ourselves

I would argue that now more than ever we need to lean into this truth

That all people have a physical paper Bible

with AI and all the advances in technology, it is far too easy for slight changes to be made

things deemed politically incorrect could easily be changed in an all digital world

Know the scriptures and the Lord and Savior it points us to

A Promise of Prosperity (vv16-17)

Speaking to Jimmy about Heaven

streets of gold…

not that we are going to be so rich or prosperous that the gravel is going to be gold

that we are with Jesus… all earthly things that we think are valuable now, will be nothing then

that everything pales in the comparison to knowing and being with him

that does not stop the temptation and constant offering of prosperity if we would just not trust in the Lord

Isaiah 36:16–17 CSB

16 Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Don’t listen to Hezekiah

what was he telling them… trust in the Lord to deliver us from this enemy

I know that they have marched through others, but God will rescue us

Now the enemy is promising them something that they do not have now…

you will have your own vineyard here until we take to you to a much better place

that place by the way is prison, it is captivity

that is what sin and the evil one does

they lure you in, give you a taste then you are imprisoned in your sin, a slave to sin as Paul calls it in Romans

When we fall for these things we reveal who or what we truly worship

our god is our stomach…

Philippians 3:19 CSB

19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things,

We must, as Hezekiah is leading his people, trust in the Lord even in the face of a lying, loud, powerful enemy.

Conclusion

Tell the story of Hezekiah hearing the report and Isaiah declaring that the Lord will deliver them.

We know that the Assyrians are coming due to judgment

save us from this blasphemous people

God does it… Encourage to read Is 37 and 2 Chronicles 32 to see how God delivers a humble people

Our religion cannot save us

meaning our works and habits

only our faith in Jesus and his spirit in us can rescue us from the evil one.

recognize the attacks when they come and give them to the Lord

Isaiah 41:10 CSB

10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with my righteous right hand.