All Glory to God our Father. When we last left our story, King Hezekiah’s administrators, the ones he sent to talk to Rabshakeh the military commander, had come back to their King with bad news. So bad, in fact they had torn their clothes and probably wished that somebody else could deliver that bad news. And the King, after hearing what Rabshakeh said, tore his clothes, too.
We don’t have that custom in this day and age. It was typical back in that day to tear your clothing on being told something unpleasant and if it was really bad, you’d haul out your sackcloth and ashes and sit there in misery.
Sackcloth and ashes was used often in the Bible and is a symbol of debasement and or repentance. Someone wanting to show his repentant heart would wear sackcloth and either sit in ashes and or put ashes on top of their head. Sackcloth was a course material, usually made of black goat’s hair, making it quite uncomfortable. The ashes signified desolation and ruin.
I think a lot could be fixed in this day and age with the adoption of this old custom. Yup, I’m serious. The Lord looked on people wearing their repentance and quite often had mercy on those people. To do this, you have to be serious about whatever is troubling you when you choose an outward expression of grief and humility. God can see our hearts and he knows we are good at saying we are sorry, but saying it and showing it means we have truly accepted that we need to atone for whatever we did to affront God. The first mention of sackcloth in the Bible is:
Genesis 37:34
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

Jacob’s sons hated their brother Joseph and knew that he was their father’s favorite. They hatch a plan and sold Joseph into slavery then told their father that he had been killed by a wild animals. And the amazing thing in this is God controls everything, and I do mean everything. Every detail. It troubles my mind to think about how all this works, but tiny details and connections matter to God. So much so that he took what the brothers, these sons of Jacob, what they had done and made it work out that it saved the father and his sons, so that those sons became the Tribes of Israel. And these Tribes of Israel fell away from God, all except Judah, and that was questionable at times. And here we are now in Chapters 36 to 39 of Isaiah, with Judah having a good King, a righteous King, destroying idols everywhere, making his people walk closer to God than they had for quite some time. And all those tribes of the brothers that had conspired against Joseph, when God had told Abraham that he would father a great people, these people, these tribes had just been swept up by Assyria. Assyria had been used by God as an instrument of Judgement on his wayward people. Isaiah told his people that this would happen, but they did not listen. God had told Isaiah in Chapter 6:9-10
He said, “Go and tell this people:

“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
10 Make the heart of this people calloused;
make their ears dull
and close their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
Are we not the same as these people? Do we hear what is preached to us in Church, but our ears refuse to understand and accept what is said? Our eyes see but if you are watching TV and reading anything of the secular world, more than the Bible, is it a wonder that they don’t perceive the Word of God? The Lord said
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Why wouldn’t you choose this over whatever the world has to offer? And yet we have so much unhappiness in the world, so much searching for meaning. Our Lord said His burden is light, and yet we yoke ourselves to depression and anxiety, witchcraft and everything else this world has to offer. You may scoff at the term witchcraft. But it is what the Bible tells is Astrology, Horoscopes, the belief in Luck and ends as idol worship. How many times have your said to someone “Good Luck”? Do you really want to place your faith in Luck, rather than the Lord? How many horseshoes have you seen over doorways of barns and outbuildings. Satan has wormed his way into our culture long ago and now it’s just a way of life for many.

We read about the Armor of God last week in Ephesians 6:10-18. I recommend that you mark that in your Bible and read it every day. Give it some serious thought, and while you’re at it, give your worries to the Lord. Why would you trust in the world or yourself? Can you change anything by worry? Does it give you pleasure to worry? It must be, seeing how often I keep hearing it. I was a very self sufficient man. I could, by my own hand, manage my life and the things around me, I thought this until the Lord humbled me. All those things I could do, those things I worried over. Gone, like tears in the rain. The Lord took from me what he could not use, and he is still taking from me. Everyday I can do a bit less. That prideful, rebellious man, is now someone who relies on the Lord, trusts in the Lord, more each day. My favorite verse is from 2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Place your faith in the Lord, not in flesh. Our God will provide your daily bread and much more. Keep in mind all the details and connections that our Lord handles. He knows what you need before you do. You really need to believe that.
He knew what Hezekiah needed before the King did. Hezekiah was worried, and rightly so. The entire Assyrian army was camped on his doorstep.
Let’s go to Isaiah 37 and I’ll go through what we find.
1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”
So, Hezekiah’s got trouble. He tears his clothes and dons his sackcloth and heads to the Temple. I would call that a good start. Shows you are serious about this, willing to be humble and uncomfortable. And if he’s going to get his sackcloth on, all his government officials are going to do it, too. What a breath of fresh air that would be for our government to follow this old custom. Instead of lowering the flag to half mast, mandate that everybody put on sackcloth and get serious about praying.
The city of Nineveh did it, much to Jonah’s disgust.
Jonah 3:6-10
6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. 7 This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh:
“By the decree of the king and his nobles:
Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. 8 But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
And Jonah told God that he’d rather die than see these gentiles repent.
Keep your place in Isaiah 37 and let’s go read Jonah 4.

1 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5 Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

9 But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
We are quite often ungrateful and still have the Love of God.
God’s children in Judah had been ungrateful and more and yet the Lord still loved them. Hezekiah’s officials go to the Temple and confer with Isaiah, asking him to put a good word in with God. They were hoping that God would preserve the remnant that they were.
Verse 5
5 When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’”
Isaiah has good news for Hezekiah. Do not be afraid, he told them. I tell you this also, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of this world. Do not be afraid of the arthritis in your bones. Do not be afraid of where your next meal comes from. Faith, Faith in the Lord that he will provide. God is the same now as He was back then. He does not change, which is hard to understand in our fallen condition. Satan is always whispering to us, but the armor of God and the Holy Spirit indwelling us, will keep him at bay. You just have to trust in the Lord, as Hezekiah did. God told him that the Assyrian King’s underlings have blasphemed the Lord and Sennacherib will hear something that will make him want to return to his own country, where he will meet his end with a sword. In this we must keep in mind that we ourselves should never seek justice. The Lord our God is the Great Judge.
Verse 8
8 When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10 “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”
Rabshakeh finds out his King has left him to go back home. Then he delivers a stern warning to Hezekiah to not get comfy with him being gone for long. Oh, and that god you depend on is not going to help you when I get back. After all, how much help where these gods to all the other people I and my predecessors have destroyed? Where are those people now?
Let us read together the rest of Chapter 37
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

18 “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 20 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God.”
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

“Virgin Daughter Zion
despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
23 Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your messengers
you have ridiculed the Lord.
And you have said,
‘With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its junipers.
I have reached its remotest heights,
the finest of its forests.
25 I have dug wells in foreign lands
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’

26 “Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
27 Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched[d] before it grows up.

28 “But I know where you are
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.
29 Because you rage against me
and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.

30 “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:

“This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.

33 “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:

“He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
34 By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,”
declares the Lord.
35 “I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

Hezekiah goes to the Temple and prays to the Lord and lays it all out.
16 “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. What a great verse. It follows closely with the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
After acknowledging that the gods of other people were only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands, Hezekiah boldly goes forth and asks God for deliverance.
Isaiah then tells of the end of Sennacherib and how the Angel of Death will put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. And one day while Sennacherib was worshipping to his god made of wood or stone, he was killed with a sword by his 2 sons.
Also interesting is that Jonah was in Nineveh around 790 BC, about 100 years before Sennacherib meets his end, in the same city. I can’t stress enough that God is in control of all things. Even small things, like why am I here talking to you. A little more than a year ago it was Pastor Pete, and I was still in rebellion. My wife asked me every Wednesday to come to Bible study. Nope. Until God told me Yup, you’re going to Bible study. Pastor Pete then leaves to go minister to a town near the arctic circle or so it seems. Next up in the land of details and connections is Pastor Delroy takes over Bible Study. I am no longer in rebellion and listen in wonder as Delroy spends 6 weeks in studying Psalms 23. Then summer comes, this summer, and Delroy and Patty want to take the summer off.

I am not saying it was like me in Isaiah’s place, standing before our Lord, hearing this scripture:

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

No, it was more like Charlotte asking me if I would teach Bible study this summer. The Lord works in mysterious ways. If Pastor Pete had not left, I would not be here. And another mysterious thing is Delroy and Patty did not take the summer off.
What God has planned for you, you can resist, you can fight it and boy howdy I did. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. And remember this.
John 15:9-11
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

All Glory to God our Father. Today we have a major change in our reading of Isaiah. There are 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah and ironically, there 66 books of the Bible. Isaiah is considered the most revered prophet of the Bible and there are no such things as coincidences in God’s world. Our Sovereign Creator:

Genesis 1

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

In reading those 3 verses, the very beginning of the Bible and the Living Word of God, we find the basis for Faith. When we accept that God created the Heavens and the Earth with just a Word, we also must accept that God is in control of every event, every moment, every breath of all of His creation. There are no such things as luck, good fortune, karma or as I’ve mentioned, coincidences. Our Father is in control. We must have Faith in God as Isaiah did. So much so that he was given a vision of Heaven with our Lord Jesus sitting on the throne. And Isaiah, knowing he was in the presence of the most Holy One, fell to his knees. 

Isaiah 6

5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah became a mighty prophet for our Lord and spoke boldly to the people of Judea. The first 35 chapters of Isaiah is quite poetic. Lots of smiting of ungodly people in an artful prose.

We come now to the 36th chapter and there is a very noticeable change. We have a story here that is referenced in other parts of the Bible and in historical records. 

2 Kings 18 & 19

2 Chron 29 & 30

Assyria is dug up 

Archaeologists had been digging on these sites for years and never really knew who these things they had dug up had belonged to. Finally, after finding some crucial clay tablets, they realized they had unearthed the records of the Assyrian Empire. Much to the astoundment of all non believing researchers. For the longest time, this among other things, they kept claiming the Bible was wrong because they couldn’t find anything of the Assyrians. So, naturally the Bible was wrong, not them. All things come in accordance to God’s will. 

Isaiah is divided up into 3 parts. Books 1 through 35 are of Judgement. They deal with the Tribes of Israel and Judah, and the Judgement by God of these peoples, who were in rebellion and worshipping false gods. The Assyrians just swept up the Northern Tribes of Israel and they never returned. 

We find now the Assyrians trying to capture Jerusalem and this is the story in Books 36 through 39. The writing style is more direct and clear. Think of it as the 7th inning stretch before we head back into the Books of 40 to 66. The writing style goes back to poetry and talk of God’s Grace and Salvation.

Let’s start out with a brief overview of the story, Chapters 36 to 39.  I will begin with the idea that Sacred and secular history are not the same. There are great spiritual truths that are hidden here that are seen only with the eyes of Faith. The Holy Spirit must teach us the divine purpose in the recording of this and all scriptural history. This account records a tremendous change in the history of the world. Here we see the transfer of the world power from Assyria to Babylon. Babylon is known as the first great world empire and it denotes the time of the Gentiles. Babylon was also known as a real menace to God’s people. This is a record of a Son of David beset by enemies and who went down to the verge of death, but was delivered out of it and continued to reign. Does this not sound like the story of Jesus, 600 years before Jesus’s birth.

In this story we have 3 miracles:

1. The Death Angel slays 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.
2. The Sun retreats 10 steps on the stairway of Ahaz.
3. Hezekiah is healed with his contrition of his sin.

And we have 2 important letters:

1. The first was from the Assyrian King that Hezekiah  took directly to God in prayer and his people were delivered.
2. The second was from the King of Babylon which flattered Hezekiah, who did not take that letter to God in Prayer and led to the undoing of the Southern Kingdom.

Let’s begin. Turn to Isaiah 36. I will read and render my commentary at the same time. You can follow along in your Bibles and see how this unfolds. 

Isaiah 36

Verse 1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his field commander with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. When the commander stopped at the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field, 3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went out to him.

King Hezekiah was a good king. His name means “God has strengthened,”  Hezekiah was 25 years old when he began his reign and zealously began to set things right. He reopened the Temple in Jerusalem and brought back the passover as a national holiday. King Hezekiah made sure that idols were smashed throughout the land and ended any pagan worship. Apparently the bronze serpent that Moses had made in the desert Number 21:8-9 was being worshipped by some people. Hezekiah smashed the serpent and led his people as a God fearing King.

And now he was feeling quite pressured by powerful King Sennacherib. Hezekiah had watched as the Tribes of Israel were being swallowed up, one by one, and was very concerned that he would be next.

The Assyrian King sent his military commander and army from a town South and East of Jerusalem. Lachish is about 37 miles from Jerusalem, so a days travels for a battle tested army. Which means Hezekiah is pretty much surrounded. The field commander stopped near the aqueduct of the Upper Pool and a couple of Hezekiah’s Court officials went out to see what he had to say.

Verse 4 The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

“‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? 5 You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? 6 Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. 7 But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?

Here we have a man, absolutely confident of his power. He had already subdued everyone else in the neighborhood and now he is trying to intimidate his next conquest by belittling them and mocking their supposed alliance with Egypt and more importantly the Jew’s Lord. Those high places mentioned refer to the asherah poles. Asherah poles were wood poles (sometimes carved, sometimes not) or trees planted by the “high places” where pagan worshipers sacrificed. They were used to worship the pagan goddess Asherah. After the construction of the temple under King Solomon, there were those who would instead worship Asherah on a high place and were considered blasphemous to the Lord, worshiping a different God in different ways and in different places than how He prescribed.

After the construction of the temple under King Solomon, there were those who would instead worship Asherah on a high place and were considered blasphemous to the Lord, worshiping a different God in different ways and in different places than how He prescribed.

This military leader was trying to say that the Jew’s God was in the very place of those asherah poles that Hezikiah had torn down. Where the Assyrian army had been fighting and conquering the other tribes, he found “high places” where Jehovah had been worshipped, which Hezekiah had desecrated. Now where are you going to find help?

Verse 8 “‘Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! 9 How then can you repulse one officer of the least of my master’s officials, even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

Rabshakeh, who is the name of this military commander, continues his mocking tone and pretends to bargain with them, doubting they would even have 2000 men to ride his generous gift of horses. Adding to the taunt that the least of his captains would command more horsemen than that. 

Verse 10 is interesting in that Sennacherib, the King of Assyria was noted for making claims of Divine sanction for the wars in which he is engaged. Isaiah also taught that it was Jehovah who brought the King of Assyria into Judah, and used him as an instrument of Judgement.

 

Isaiah 7:17

The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria.

And the empty prideful boast that the Lord himself told him to march against this country and destroy it. 

Verse 11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

It is interesting that the Jewish officials did not have much confidence in their people. Possibly knowing themselves so well and how rebellious they had been, they thought it better to keep negotiations in a more foriegn language. Obviously these guys were new to being a diplomat, thinking they could have the opposing side cooperate with a statement like that.

And it backfired. 

Verse 12  But the commander replied, “Was it only to your master and you that my master sent me to say these things, and not to the people sitting on the wall—who, like you, will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

Military men have always had a frank way of speaking. He is saying that the inhabitants of not only the wall, but of the city, will bear the brunt of what will happen if King Hezekiah does not surrender. Famine and slavery or death is what he is speaking of. This has always been the way of war, even unto this day. If you look at Syria now, today, they are experiencing this very thing. You must remember that these people are the descendants of Ishmael and will always be in contention with each other. 

Genesis 16:11-12  

And the angel of the Lord said to her,

“Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son.

You shall call his name Ishmael,

because the Lord has listened to your affliction.

12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,

his hand against everyone

and everyone’s hand against him,

and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.

And that has held true since this scripture was written.

Verse 13 

13 Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! 15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern,17 until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Have the gods of any nations ever delivered their lands from the hand 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 hand? 20 Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save their lands from me? How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

Appealing directly to the people on the wall and by extension the people of the city. Don’t listen to your King, listen to me. I will give you peace and fruit from your own trees, water from your own wells. Forget that mandate from God Himself telling me to destroy this country. You can’t possibly believe your Lord will save you. To Rabshakeh, one god is as good as another and none of them have stood up to him so far. How then can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand?

Verse 21

But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder went to Hezekiah, with their clothes torn, and told him what the field commander had said.

Tearing your clothes was a sign of distress and angst. These boys went back to their King and gave him the bad news. And the King, hearing the bad news, also tore his clothes.

So, you ask, what does this really mean to me? You’ve heard me going on and on about this story and how cool it is that we can find actual references to it in our history books. That’s nice and all, but you personally don’t find history all that exciting and could I just get to the point? 

Why yes I can. What does this look like to you? A powerful man shows up at your doorstep, making demands, threats, taunting you and even bargaining with you. Saying that if you listen to me and do things my way, it will be better for you and that God you pray to isn’t really going to help you anyway. Let’s make a deal so you can really start enjoying your life instead of following a bunch of rules that this “God person” says you must do and aren’t a lot of fun. 

Am I ringing any bells here? Didn’t Eve hear the same message? Or perhaps when it’s time to drive your friend into town for some grocery shopping because she can’t drive anymore and you sort of felt bad about that, but she talks a lot and is SO thankful to you that it gets annoying. You’d rather stay home and watch some trashy TV show and maybe not go to Church this next Sunday because the Pastor doesn’t say anything interesting anyway.

This to me speaks very directly of satan. Does he not whisper to us, taunt us, bully us? Put little inconvenient questions in your head. Little doubts. 

That one sin that nobody knows and you really feel bad about it. Jesus said that when you believe in Him, accept Him, all your sins are forgiven. Are they really, are you sure about that? I know that I have had those thoughts pushed at me. It is one of the most persistent, nagging feelings that you still have to ask for forgiveness, over and over again for something that God has already forgiven and forgotten. The Scripture says in:

Isaiah 43:25

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

And in:

Hebrews 10: 14-18

14 For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.

15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Has that answered the question of your sins being forgiven? When satan comes knocking, put on the full armor of God:

Ephesians 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

So, go out into the world fully informed of God’s Love and fully armored against the desires of evil. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. READ YOUR BIBLES! And if you truly believe in Christ, satan has no purchase in your life. The Lord has put His Laws in our hearts and in our minds. Go forth and do His works. 

It is clear today that we as God’s children are in sinful rebellion of the wishes of our Lord. As sin was entered into us, from our Father Adam, and to which God asks the woman “WHAT IS THIS YOU HAVE DONE?” Gen 3:13. The whole world that God saw on the sixth day and had said was very good, in Gen 1:31, must have groaned in despair. You see not just Man was damned by sin, the world, the universe was also damned.

We see a lot on the news that looks like lunacy, I can find no better word for it. This is not new to God. He saw the same thing in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham argued with our Lord, actually bargained with our Lord and who among us would have the temerity to do such a thing. But Abraham asked our Lord to not destroy two of the most wicked cities on earth if he could find, ultimately, just 10 good people. And our Lord said he would save the cities for just 10 good people. The fact is that he found only one person, Lot, in those cities and the 2 angels hustled Lot and his family out of town before destroying them. So I wonder where is our Abraham today, and who is our Lot. 
It seems as if we are at a similar point to the Jews in the time of Judges, which was around 1400 to 1000 BC.

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Is that not what today is like. Sure we have laws, as they did in that day, but the law worked for them like does for us. It doesn’t work. It was never meant to work. 

-Rabbit Trail Warning –

What I had been taught, and probably you also had been taught, is God gave the law to Moses and he came down the mountain and spoke the law unto the people. This would have been the second time, because the first time he came down the mountain with stone tablets, with writing from the hand of God, he saw, well let’s just go there and read it.

Exodus 32:7-10 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8“They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” 9The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. 10“Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

Then Moses spent a quite a bit of time on his knees, pleading with God to spare his people and God then changed his mind and did not destroy these people. Notice that God always has a backup plan. Verse 10 says let’s destroy this people, which I had great plans for and then I will make you a great nation. There WILL be a Great Nation. Whether these Jews are part of it or not is not going to stop God’s plan of Jesus coming and rescuing us sinners, all sinners. Moses, although by his own admission was not eloquent, was able to talk his people out of destruction.

A good story and instructive for our day, don’t you think. We as a people are so busy building our own golden calves, that I doubt most of us would look up from our stupid smart phones to notice that we’ve been smited by our Creator.

What I have recently discovered was something small but really interesting and instructive. I happened to be listening to Grace Stream from John MacArthur’s church a couple of mornings ago – I really recommend you try it out. I have found it very good for streaming the Living Word of God into my head, those days when I’ve gotten up too early, and it puts me right out, as in asleep. But, just before I drifted off I heard this new and interesting thing. 

The law was given from God to Angels who then gave it to Moses and he gave it to the people. Yes, I said Angels gave the Law to Moses. And this is where some controversy exits. We still have Judaists in this day, apparently.

 Paul writes in Galatians 3:19: “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.”

And people, no doubt being prompted by satan, have said Paul is conflicting with Exodus 32:15-16,  Some have even said he is lying. 

And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.”

And in Exodus 34:1 “And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.” 

To my knowledge this is a current controversy, but it quite well could have been used back in Paul’s day by the Judaists to discredit him. They also point accusing fingers at Acts 7:51-53

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”  

This was by Stephen, being guided by the Holy Spirit as he schools the High Priest and Council. Stephen gives an eloquent 2000 year history, from Abraham to Jesus’s crucifiction and his words from the Holy Spirit were so enraging that they took him out and stoned him. And as he was being stoned, he looked up to heaven and forgave them.

If you recall, I pretty much did the same thing last week. Rattled off from Abraham – no, I started at Adam and went down the line to Jesus. Now, I am in no way saying I anything like Stephen, nothing like him. But, what I am saying is, in today’s current culture, you could have the same thing happen to you if you told this to people who are in rebellion, people that don’t want to hear of the Mercy, Grace and Salvation of our Lord. This is not a warning in any way, just a heads up. People all over the world are still being killed for being Christians.

That was a bit of stomping off into the rhubarb, but we will get back to our original rabbit trail by saying ironically, when Stephen gets stoned, this is where Paul comes into the picture. The very guy they are saying is lying about Angels and the Law. We find also…

Hebrews 2:1-3 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard…”

Exodus is silent about Angels being on Mount Sinai when the Law was handed out. The Bible is the Living Word of God. As such, we will receive what understanding as God sees fit to give us. Mysteries remain, until prophets or apostles or even the Holy Spirit fills us in. God gives us the understanding that He wants us to have, not what we think we need.  A good example of this was my reading Exodus 32, again. I suddenly noticed in verse 24 So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!”

I have read Exodus before and I don’t recall that particular verse standing out to me. “Out came this calf.” Sounds like something I would have tried, as a child, to explain what stupid thing I had just done. And this is what happens when the Holy Spirit reveals something to you. No big fan fare, just a quiet revelation of something that you did not know but needed to know.

Pray for Discernment and Understanding. You might be surprised at what you learn.

Under the small issue of how we got the Law, I am pretty convinced that it went from God’s hand to Angels to Moses and to the People, who promptly decided nope. I don’t know how you translate nope into Hebrew, but the end result is the Law was not obeyed. And it was never meant to be used as a tool for justifying us or saving us. It was meant to show them and us, who have all been born with a conscience, knowing right and wrong, what really rotten people we are. We can’t follow God’s Holy Law and as such we will be damned to eternal darkness and torment. That’s ultimately what the Law’s purpose was. You, walking down the street, thinking you are a pretty good guy or gal, pretty good doesn’t cut it in comparison to how Holy God is and what he wants us to be. The Law was meant to be a burden to us, so much so that we can’t do it and throw our hands up in the air, we need help, we need a mediator. We need Jesus. God was driving us toward Jesus. He is our advocate and the Holy Spirit that indwells us, knows our heart and speaks to Jesus even when we don’t know what to say. He is our Abraham bargaining with Jesus. And that is what the prophets foretold. When Jesus came he said Love is the greatest thing, what you must do is Love your Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and then Love your neighbor. Then all the other laws are followed. All of them.

It is clear today that we do not have Love and thus are not in compliance with God’s desires. I looked at the research of Church attendance in our country. It’s not good. Now just going to Church is not going to save you, but you have to start somewhere. What struck me as I was going through this was all the odd ball religions in the US. There is only one true God but not everybody got the message. Buddhists, Hindus, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, Muslim. Of just us Christians, 36% said they go to Church at least once a week. And married people are more prone to Church going than others. Keep in mind that not everybody is truthful on these surveys and what I was looking at was from 2017. 
Europe was in worse shape than us and it’s pretty clear the trend is going to get worse, as in a great falling off of Faith. 

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.

My point is, where is the Love? The Love that will satisfy the Law and get us God’s Grace, Mercy and Love coming back at us, the undeserving sinner. That kind of Love. We all have people we should Love, family members, even. Read the New Testament and after reading that, all of it, tell me where you found how holding a grudge and anger against anyone, is what we should do. Remember Stephen being stoned, looked up and said forgive them. Could we, as believers and followers of Christ, do anything less?

The command from our Lord Jesus Christ is to Love and thus satisfy the Law.  Many of our neighbors, friends, even family are walking the wrong path. The wide road. Find it in your hearts to speak to them. Remember, it is not your job to save them. God offers His hand and opens their hearts. He is using us in a way, that is as much for us as it is for them I think.

End of Rabbit Trail

Isaiah 35 – Let us read it together.

Joy of the Redeemed

1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;

    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.

Like the crocus, 

2 it will burst into bloom;

    it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

    the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

they will see the glory of the Lord,

    the splendor of our God.

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,

    steady the knees that give way;

4 say to those with fearful hearts,

    “Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come,

    he will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution

    he will come to save you.”

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,

    and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

    and streams in the desert.

7 The burning sand will become a pool,

    the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

In the haunts where jackals once lay,

    grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

8 And a highway will be there;

    it will be called the Way of Holiness;

    it will be for those who walk on that Way.

The unclean will not journey on it;

    wicked fools will not go about on it.

9 No lion will be there,

    nor any ravenous beast;

    they will not be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there,

10     and those the Lord has rescued will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

    everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

What a wonderful passage. God’s Judgment has cooled and this is the dawn of the Millennial Kingdom. Earth will be transformed. We will be transformed. Our Lord Jesus, our King will have returned and we will be in our glorified state. In perpetual joy and praising our King and Savior. Think about that day, when it comes. 

The End of Revelation, Chapter 21 does a pretty good job of describing that time. For those of you that have not gotten to read Revelation yet, let’s read this one together.

A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb

9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

And we end with this, the 9th verse from the end of the Bible. Cue Charlton Heston’s Voice as Moses…

Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.