Good Tuesday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
Have you ever eavesdropped on a conversation that made your eyes open wide as you contemplated what you heard and what it could mean? Today I invite you to join me in doing just that! It’s a conversation that’s actually written down for us and one which was very, very significant not only to the people involved, but to the whole world, 2700 years ago!
In the past few days we’ve been watching very closely an event that was casting a dark shadow of gloom and doom over the city of Jerusalem. It’s recorded in three places in the Bible, and we’ve been tracing the story through the record of an eye witness of these events, the prophet Isaiah. He was not only there, he was very involved in every aspect of these events.
Sennacherib, the emperor of the Assyrian empire, was leading his army to conquer the city of Jerusalem and assimilate it into his growing empire. But Sennacherib had even greater aspirations… the entire southern kingdom of Judah and even some smaller kingdoms surrounding Judah, including the area of the Philistines we know today as the Gaza Strip.
While King Sennacherib was trying to conquer two cities near Gaza known as Libnah and Lachish, he had sent his field commander and another of his armies toward Jerusalem. That field commander had sent threatening messages to King Hezekiah, demanding surrender or promising devastation.
Yesterday we left King Hezekiah in the Temple of God in Jerusalem where the king had spread out before God this threatening letter and prayed a very earnest prayer of total reliance upon God. Meanwhile Hezekiah had sent officials to the prophet Isaiah asking him to pray and seek counsel from God.
Isaiah records for us, in great detail, exactly what message he received from God and sent back to Hezekiah. As we read that message, found in Isaiah 37:21-35, it’s like we are eavesdropping on a very special, historically significant conversation between God, Isaiah and king Hezekiah!
I urge you to listen to it through the dramatic audio Bible link you’ll find below. Here we’ll highlight a few portions of this powerful message. Isaiah begins by making sure Hezekiah understands that God has heard his prayer and is responding very specifically to that prayer which was lifted up by a king on behalf of his people.
That challenges me to ask… I wonder how many leaders, in your country or mine, seek God’s guidance in their leadership, for the good of their people, their organization, their city, even more than seeking God’s blessing on themselves!? Ponder that question a moment.
Isaiah’s message begins: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: ‘Because you have prayed to Me, concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria, this is the word the LORD has spoken against him…” (Is. 37:21) Honestly now, do you sometimes overhear other people praying and as they pray they seem to be giving instructions to God or explaining a situation to God as though they seem to think God doesn’t know or God doesn’t understand or God needs our help in trying to discern what He should do?
God knew FAR, FAR more about the situation than either King Hezekiah, or the prophet Isaiah, or even Sennacherib the Assyrian emperor. God ALWAYS knows far more about EVERY situation that ANYONE does! Do you agree? Do you see God drawing a very clear link between Hezekiah’s earnest prayer and God’s specific response regarding Sennacherib?
Think about that my friends. Almighty, Creator God, is very busy holding the entire universe together; keeping 8.3 billion people alive and watching closely over each life; creating more than 200,000 new babies every day; etc. etc. and that busy God can pay close attention to your prayers and mine and actually respond specifically!?
Does that blow your mind? Does it stretch your understanding of the immensity of God?
Isaiah continued with these words about Sennacherib: “Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed, God says? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!” (Is. 37:23) Let there be no misunderstanding… God hears EVERY word each person speaks, especially words a person speaks against God!
Psalm 139 tells us God even knows those words while they are yet still thoughts in our minds and we have not yet expressed them!! “You have searched me and You know me, LORD… You perceive my thoughts from afar. You are familiar with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue You know it completely, O LORD.” (Psalm 139:1-4) Now according to Psalm 139 what does God NOT know about you or me or any human being who has ever lived?
Sennacherib had no idea how foolish he was in all his pride and arrogance. Before God declared what He was about to do, He wanted to begin by setting the record straight about who Almighty, eternal God IS and how finite and foolish Sennacherib was.
God said to Sennacherib: “I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage against Me. Because of your 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.” (Is. 37:28,29) Those words are shocking, almost terrifying, aren’t they?
One of the humiliating ways some conquering kings treated their victims in those days was actually piercing their nose with a large hook, tying a rope to it, and leading them through the city streets as shackled, dressed in rags, prisoners of war! How humiliating! If they were particularly violent or prideful or belligerent, a bit like that used for a wild horse would be put in their mouths as another way of forcing their humiliation as they would be led painfully like a mule.
For Sennacherib these words would have portrayed a picture he could not possibly foresee for himself, but certainly something he and his predecessors had relished as they humiliated other kings they had conquered.
Then Isaiah concluded God’s message for Hezekiah with this promise: “Therefore this is what the LORD God 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 seige ramp against it. By the way he came he will return; he will not enter this city,’ declares the LORD . I will defend and save this city for My sake and for the sake of David My servant!” (Is. 37:33-35)
For emperor Sennacherib and king Hezekiah and any other person who would have heard this proclamation, it would have seemed ridiculous, unreasonable, impossible. No army of any size had been thus far able to withstand the ferocity and might of Assyria. Jerusalem and the surrounding towns of Judah would surely be an easy victory for the great Sennacherib, or so it would seem to anyone who understood the recent history of that part of the world. Therefore as this word came from God to Isaiah; and from Isaiah to king Hezekiah and his officials; no one could imagine any scenario in which these words could possibly be true.
So let’s pause here… have you ever received some message from God which seemed impossible, unreasonable? What would you advise someone to do if they received an unreasonable message from God today?
Let’s meet back here tomorrow to see what God did!
Today’s Scripture: Is. 37:21-35.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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