Untitled Sermon (3)

Triumph Turns to Trial

2 Kings 18-19

TURN TO 2 Kings 18

As week after week goes by, I find myself amazed, over and over and over again - how relevent 2 Kings is to the world we are living in today. In the last few days, we have been watching our world increasingly seeming to fly apart - inflation skyrocketing, the price of gas is at levels we’ve never seen before - and our TVs and computer screens are beaming into our homes, images of Kiiv, the capital city of the sovereign country, Ukraine, under seige by foreign forces.

Our text this morning takes place 700 years before Christ - so 2700 years ago … but it takes us back to a people who were living at the heart of a time just like ours. The events we are stepping into, today, are described in three different places in Scripture: 2 Kings 18-19; 2 Chronicles 29-32; and, Isaiah 36-37. If I read all of the passages, we would be here a long, long time. So I’m going to confine myself to 2 Kings, but I would encourage you to fill in the rest on your own, when you get home.

1 Triumph in Judah, 18:1-8

READ vv. 1-8

We are dealing with the fortunes of God’s people during the reign of King Hezekiah. He takes the throne during dark, dark days. He’s a young man of 25 when the crown is placed on his head and for the first few years, he rules joingly with his own dad, Ahaz, who has been an utter disaster.

It’s also only a few years into his reign when 10 out of the 12 tribes of Israel – the Northern Kingdom, are destroyed by the mighty Assyrian army. These are the cousins of Hezekiah and his people - all of them descendants of the 12 tribes God delivered out of Egypt. They may not have liked each other very much, but what happens to the Northern Kingdom, hits very close to home in the south.

For three years, the TV news in Judah was focused on the unimaginable suffering of the Northern Kingdom’s capital – in Samaria. People in the south heard the reports of an entire nation of people, forcibly dragged from the only homes they’ve ever known – deported hundreds and hundreds of miles away – to Persia and other places in the vast Assyrian empire – never to see home again.

This was God’s judgment – the prophets had promised it ahead of time, even as they called the people to repent. The problem for Hezekiah and the people of the South, is that they know their own actions – they know they are guilty of the same rebellion against God. I mean, Hezekiah’s own father has murdered his own son in a pagan sacrifice under the auspices of ‘worship’.

What do you do when you look at the future and see no sunshine on the horizon – only bleak, black clouds of foreboding? Some of you are there right now.

What did youthful king Hezekiah do? He did business with the LORD, that’s what he did. Verse 6 lays out the foundation of his reign: “He held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following Him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses.”

Hezekiah rips out and destroys every aspect of false worship in the nation, unlike the half-hearted kings before him, who obeyed God … to a point - this leader of God’s people goes ALL-IN in pursuit of the LORD.

The parallel account in 2 Chronicles 29-30 gives a long list of the positive things Hezekiah does to restore pure worship: He repairs the temple, he restores the traditional worship, he re-organizes the priests, gives them a refresher course in what it means to be in the service of the holy God – then he consecrates them all over again. The Passover celebration has been lagging – not celebrated for years on end …well Hezekiah calls the people from across the nation to ‘come home to Jerusalem’ and celebrate that feast of God’s Saving Work on behalf of his people.

And then he leads the people in prayer: 2 Chronicles 30:18-20, “May the LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD …. And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.”

There’s a revival in Judah – do you see it? Spiritual revival leads to a revival of political strength and bravery – Hezekiah goes on offense and attacks in Philistine country – the land of Goliath is steamrolled by David’s godly descendant.

Hezekiah also stops paying tribute to the mafia operation known as the nation of Assyria. “We’re not paying your extortion anymore”. This is a courageous king – following the LORD wholeheartedly, standing up to the bullies of the world.

The dark clouds have cleared over Judah. The sun is finally shining again.

2 TRIUMPH TURNS TO THREAT, 18:13-37

For 14 years, the nation enjoys a golden age of peace and security. But the journey isn’t over. A decade and a half into Camelot,

Verse 13, “Sennacherib, king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.” The year is 701 BC. According to the royal annals of Assyria, this king storms through the countryside of Judah – captures 46 walled cities and even more villages, until he has Hezekiah hemmed up in Jerusalem, like a ‘bird in a cage’.

Hezekiah tries to persuade the Assyrian king to leave the nation alone. He panics – to the point of stripping the gold he had overlaid from the doors and pillars of the temple – that he had installed himself … and handing it all over. It worked – or at least, it SEEMED to work. The Assyrians leave town … only to turn around, all of about 5 minutes later .... and head back to Jerusalem.

The clank and clatter of armour and the thump of marching soldiers can be heard by the residents within Jerusalem’s walls. An army appears within eyesight and approaches the city. Once the foreign force gets close enough for the full magnitude of its size to be appreciated … close enough to be recognized as Assyrian … close enough for the terror of all that means to be appreciated … then the threatening force stops.

Three individuals step out ahead – three important men. Verse 17, the tartan, the Rab-Saris and the Rabshakeh - that is, the field-marshal - the chief general, the head of the king’s own bodyguard – and the provincial governor representing Sennacherib – the men step forward from the columns of infantry soldiers and walk up to within earshot of the barricaded city walls – and they call for the king.

Hezekiah is trying to save some dignity – he will not be ‘summoned’ by anyone, so he sends representatives. v. 18, “Eliakim, Shebnah and Joah make their way along the walkway at the top of Jerusalem’s wall, until they are close enough to engage in conversation with their Assyrian counterparts.

As they take their positions – the first thing they surely notice is the gleam of the sun reflecting from the medals pinned to the chests of these Assyrian officers – honours from battles fought and won in far flung corners of the vast empire. These are battle-seasoned, veterans – conquerors.

The Rabshakeh speaks with loud and authoritative voice: “A message from the great king – the King of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?”

Verse 20: “Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust that you have rebelled against me?”

“Rebelled against you?! But we’ve just stripped the gold from our temple to pay you off – now you are accusing us of rebellion?! What gives?!”

Let that be a lesson to you – never trust an Assyrian king to keep his word. Sennacherib wants Hezekiah to come out. He wants him impaled on a pole – soo he can install his own puppet king – that’s what he wants. Pick up the speech in v. 22. READ vv. 22-25

“SURRENDER NOW!”

This is one powerful propaganda piece. Don’t miss the Assyrian’s points, because they are variations on the very same tests that come your way, if are a Christian:

First - “How can you say that you trust in God to rescue you, when your king has torn down all the high places where you used to worship your God – and left you with only one temple?” It’s a subtly deceptive shift – turning Hezekiah’s obedience into a shortcoming. We see that all around us today, don’t we? Abortion, sexuality … ‘How can you trust God to rescue you when you are so narrow minded?’

The next point is to mock. Verse 23, “I’ll even make you a deal – let’s make the odds better for you: I’ll GIVE YOU 2000 horses … IF you can find riders to put on them. But you can’t even do that.”

Third point – The Assyrians claim to be on a mission from God himself. Verse 25: “Don’t you see – we’re not here of our own accord – the LORD, YOUR God sent us to destroy you.”

Of course, the people on the city walls can’t help but be reminded of the Northern Kingdom and how this very army did bring God’s judgment on His own people. They know their own failings. They know – “We don’t deserve God’s rescue”

See the mind games here, Christain? It is the same M.O. that the Devil works today on you: You are out of favor with God,, you are completely incapable of overcoming this temptation staring you in the face – and you deserve this punishment from God because you know yourself that you have failed the God you claim to love.

So, how do you respond?

The 3 representatives from Judah are suddenly conscious of the crowd of citizens lining the top of the wall, listening to the threats coming from outside.

Verse 26, “Please, can you speak so not everyone can hear you?! We can understand your language – you don’t have to speak ours.”

The Rabshakeh will not change a thing. Verse 27, “… Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and NOT to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine.”

“Those people with you will bear the consequences if you try to hold out against us. These words are meant for them.”

READ vv. 28-35

The speech is met with silence. What CAN you say? From a human perspective – it’s all true. Nation after nation – has fallen before the might of Assyria. Each one of those nations had its own god. A lot of good that did them.

The messengers go back to king Hezekiah, clothes torn in mourning. He joins them, grabbing hold of his own collar and tearing his robe in two.

The clouds have rolled back in.

But wait a minute, life isn’t supposed to be this way. Hezekiah ‘cleaved’ to the LORD – that’s the Bible’s own verdict. That means, this isn’t just a man who has a little faith … this is a man 100 percent committed to following the LORD – even when it’s unpopular. Now, the most powerful king in the world is standing outside the front door, ready to impale you on a stake and destroy your country…

How does that make sense? Surely that kind of faithful devotion to God should bring God’s blessing NOT bloodthirsty Assyrian soldiers. We went to Sunday School - we’ve heard the lessons - Hasn’t God’s word already said in Solomon’s day, in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins … and heal their land”?

Of course He had said that.

But here we are - Judah’s leading cities are already in Assyrian hands and Jerusalem is next.

And here is a question that every one of us has dealt with at some point in our lives.

Why does it seem that at the very time I’m pursuing the LORD, just when things seem to be getting on track …. That’s when the bottom falls out and I feel the breath of angry Assyrians on the back of my neck?

It’s a question that God’s People have wrestled with throughout history.

The text is teaching that faith is not a prophylactic – a vitamin ‘D’ to keep disaster from falling. Your mom used to tell you, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

You can be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ – LOVE the LORD your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, strength … and still – the Assyrians will come.

It doesn’t mean that the blessings won’t come, too. But it does mean that the blessing sometimes will come deep in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

And it has to be this way.

Would it really be faith in the Lord, if my pursuit of God guaranteed me freedom from trail and turmoil? That’s not holding onto your Saviour, that’s holding onto a lucky rabbit’s foot’.

I have seen so many people, over the course of my life, who have walked away from God – because they had a rabbit’s foot faith. The woman who serves in the church – taught Sunday School for years … but then she’s abandoned by her husband … abandons the church.

The man who’s wife gets sick – he prays for her constantly and with great passion – but she still dies. He never prays again.

You’ve been there – heard the verdict, heard the decision … awake in the dark of night, the rest of the house is asleep – but you agonize – cry out – “How can this be? Where are you, God? I know I’m far from perfect, but I’m your child. I do put your first and try to honour you in all of life. So why are you allowing the enemy to be at the gate?!”

The problem with that ‘rabbit’s foot’/ vitamin ‘c’ faith – is NOT that it expects TOO much from God …. No, it expects too little. It thinks that the LORD’s blessing can ONLY come in the absence of pain - when the sun is shining bright in clear skies overhead.

God has more than that. He intends to bless you when the rain is pouring down and you are trudging in the dark, through the Valley of Death’s shadow – and you don’t know how you will take another step.

Dale Davis – “ 2 Kings 18 can prove a helpful corrective. It tells you that you can be a king who trusts and obeys Yahweh and who reforms the nation’s worship and yet your enemy may come and crush your land, deport its population, and await the moment when he can impale the king’s carcass on a stake outside the city wall. It’s helpful to faith to know that.”

3 TROUBLE TURNS TO DELIVERANCE, 19:1-19

Well it may be helpful to recognize the reality that even our greatest days of triumph can turn to threat – but what do you do about it?

Hezekiah gives a great example for us in chapter 19. Take a look at vv. 1-2

The king is overwhelmed … in agony – the torn clothes and sackcloth make that clear. But he doesn’t withdraw into a prison of self-isolation. He goes to the house of the LORD. Hezekiah goes to church, that’s where he goes – he needs to hear from God. He sends for a word from the faithful prophet Isaiah - knowing that whatever message comes back - will be the unadulterated Word of God. It’s the Old Testament equivalent of you and I taking our heartache to the Bible - seeking out a faithful sermon from the Scripture.

Isaiah sends back a message for the king in verses 6-7: 2 Kings 19:6-7 “Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ ””

Well, what a relief - it’s a good news message of hope. Isaiah promises God’s rescue for his anxious king.

But the trouble isn’t over. Sennacherib sends a letter to King Hezekiah. Verses 10-12. 2 Kings 19:10-12 ““Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?”

Oh my – isn’t it uncanny – no sooner does Hezekiah get a word of hope from the LORD, than the threatening enemy king sends him a letter warning him NOT to trust God to save him. So what does Hezekiah do?

READ vv. 14-19. 2 Kings 19:14-19 “Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “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. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 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.””

The king who’s very life is under a threat from a massively superior power – takes the letter … takes it to the LORD, unrolls the scroll it’s written on before the LORD – and prays. The downcast child of God takes his problem to

Brother Andrew, is the famous Dutch Christian missionary, who is well known for smuggling Bibles into the communist countries of Eastern Europe, during the height of the Cold War. He would load up his Volkswagen with Bibles and drive to the border of

When the border guards, with their rifles, would pull him over to have his car inspected, he prayed, “Lord, make seeing eyes blind.” And God did just that.

Brother Andrew was inspired by his countrywoman Corrie ten Boom, who helped to rescue many Jews during the German occupation of the Netherlands, and who later survived a Nazi concentration camp. According to Brother Andrew, Corrie sometimes lifted her Bible up when she prayed and showed what was written on the page to her Father in heaven. “You wrote it,” she would say about one of God’s promises, “and now I am asking you to keep it.”

O. Hallesby’s description of prayer applies this lesson to the Christian life: “Helplessness becomes prayer the moment that you go to Jesus and speak candidly and confidently with him about your needs.” That’s great advice - In fact, it’s not just advice - it’s a Bible command from - Philippians 4:6-7 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

“In Christ Jesus” - don’t miss that friend. If you do

4 FAITH REWARDED, 19:20-37

In verses 20-37, we see Hezekiah’s faith rewarded. God gives Isaiah another message for the praying king. READ vv. 20-28, 32-34.

God says, “I have heard your prayer. And for the sake of my glory - I will answer - and the king who is spewing his arrogant threats and seemingly conquering nations at will - now breathing down your neck with overwhelming force amassed outside your door - that king … I’m leading him around with my hook in his nose.”

And that very night - 2 Kings 19:35-37 “And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.”

The unbeatable king with the massive army - dies, not on the battlefield, but in the supposed safety of HIS temple, worshiping HIS god. And the threat is neutralized.

God answers the prayers of HIS people - no matter how hopeless the situation - no matter how low your spirits may be. He may not keep the trials from your pathway - the enemy may be massive and the and there may be NO human hope of making it through the battle he brings to your door

.... but make no mistake Christian - the God of glory is leading that enemy by the nose to accomplish His good purpose for you. So don’t be overwhelmed by the world of this day.

Not many people realize that in the wake of the American Revolution (following 1776-1781) there was a moral slump. Drunkenness became epidemic. Out of a population of five million, 300,000 were confirmed drunkards; Profanity was of the most shocking kind. For the first time in the history of the American settlement, women were afraid to go out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence.

What about the churches? The Methodists were losing more members than they were gaining. The Baptists said that they had their most wintry season. The Presbyterians in general assembly deplored the nation's ungodliness. In a typical Congregational church, the Rev. Samuel Shepherd of Lennos, Massachusetts, in sixteen years had not taken one young person into fellowship. The Lutherans were so languishing that they discussed uniting with Episcopalians who were even worse off. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York, Bishop Samuel Provost, quit functioning; he had confirmed no one for so long that he decided he was out of work, so he took up other employment. The Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall, wrote to the Bishop of Virginia, James Madison, that the Church 'was too far gone ever to be redeemed.'

Voltaire averred and Tom Paine echoed, 'Christianity will be forgotten in thirty years.

Take the liberal arts colleges at that time. A poll taken at Harvard had discovered not one believer in the whole student body. They took a poll at Princeton, a much more evangelical place, where they discovered only two believers in the student body, and only five that did not belong to the filthy speech movement of that day. Students rioted. They held a mock communion at Williams College, and they put on antiChristian plays at Dartmouth. They burned down the Nassau Hall at Princeton. They forced the resignation of the president of Harvard. They took a Bible out of a local Presbyterian church in New Jersey, and they burnt it in a public bonfire. Christians were so few on campus in the 1790's that they met in secret, like a communist cell, and kept their minutes in code so that no one would know.

In New England, there was a man of prayer named Isaac Backus, a Baptist pastor, who in 1794, when conditions were at their worst, addressed an urgent plea for prayer for revival to pastors of every Christian denomination in the United States. Churches knew that their backs were to the wall. All the churches adopted the plan until America, like Britain was interlaced with a network of prayer meetings, which set aside the first Monday of each month to pray. It was not long before revival came.

Exploring Church History 27: Revival, Social Concerns, and Liberalism

Denomination after denomination took up the challenge. Revivals began to break out everywhere around the turn of the century. The Second Evangelical Awakening was in progress (not only in America, but in Britain, on the Continent, and elsewhere).

Revival fires burned over the entire nation, first in the East (especially Connecticut and Massachusetts) and then on the frontier. The revival was not characterized by evangelists going to and fro to incite churches to activity. There were few great names connected with it. For the most part, services were carried on by the pastors in their respective churches.

Tens of thousands of people were added to churches in a variety of denominations. The collegess of the land were largely reclaimed, the midweek prayer meeting and Sunday Schools got their start, close to 20 new colleges and seminaries were founded and missionary work was spurred on.

Dr A. T. Pierson once said, 'There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.' We see it in Hezekiah - we see it throughout history … when the greatest triumphs, descend into the deepest depths of trial .... the battle isn’t lost, friend - it just means that God’s people need to get on their knees. And pray.