Roger Lewis - The Crisis of Hezekiah - Class 2 - The Letter and The Answer

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:15

   Brothers and sisters, we are ready to begin our third class. Our speaker is Brother Rodger Lewis. The theme for Brother Lewis’s classes this week is the Crisis of Hezekiah. Today’s class is entitled The Letter and the Answer for the Roger.

2. 0:49

   Well, thank you, brother, chairman, and good morning, my dear brothers and sisters. Another study then on Hezekiah, and as our chairman has announced the matter of the letter and the answer which really brings us to Isaiah 37. You might remember that we left Hezekiah in our last study, having received the report from his three ambassadors.

3. 1:12

   Those three men must have been shattered by the propaganda of Reb Shaker. And when they came back to the king, they knew that they were staring defeat in the face, and so they would have told the king. And you see, here’s a car’s dilemma, as we saw in our study yesterday, was that he was already aware that Assyria was the instrument of God. And so working through the question of what next to do, he wise wisely forbidden them to reply. And the first thing he did, as we saw in Isaiah 37 verse one, was that he now took time to make careful assessment of the situation that he was in.

4. 1:52

   He placed, as it were, a pause on his own response until he could think the issue through. But the wonderful thing is he went to the House of God to do his thinking and he prostrated himself before God in an act of mourning and humiliate humiliation. Because, you see, he didn’t presume on the outcome as if he knew already what it might be.

5. 2:13

   And the very fact that he had taken the time led to the events that will now be reported on in Isaiah 37. Because what he would begin here was a cascade of events that would not stop until Yahweh himself had intervened in the matter. And the story of that intervention is to be found in our study today on the question

6. 2:39

   as soon as I get this screen to behave of the letter and the answer. And that story we take up now on Isaiah 37 and reading from verse 14, because it’s at this moment that Sennacherib’s challenge was committed in writing. He’d already sent messages a second time to threaten Hezekiah to say that he would be coming back for him.

7. 3:05

   But now he wrote a letter and sent it to the king of Judah. And so Isaiah 37, verse 14 says, and Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the House of Yahweh and spread it before Yahweh. And Hezekiah prayed unto Yahweh. So there he is, balances the man of sackcloth, and you can see the letter spread out there on the floor before him.

8. 3:32

   He spread the letter out, says the record. How wonderful a thought when you think about it, because everything now that had been spoken by the messengers was committed to writing and in spreading that letter out on the House of God, I think Hezekiah really asked God, his God, to read the letter with him. Shall we read it together?

9. 3:52

   He says, and he placed it on display as proof of Sennacherib’s blasphemy, since it was all there in black and white. And then he launched into the prayer that will tell us perhaps best of all, what the very soul of this man is, the true spirit of Hezekiah in a time of crisis.

10. 4:15

    So this is what he prayed. Verse 15 Prayed unto Yahweh, saying, O Yahweh, Sophia first, the militant title of God, the commander of the armies of heaven. After all, hadn’t he said to the people there be more with us than with him? And there are. He prayed to the God of those legions of angels, Yahweh of armies, God of Israel who dwellest between the Caribbean.

11. 4:40

    The God who’d promised to be present in the midst of his people, the God who’d promised to commune with them from the most Holy. But not just the God of Israel, because it goes on to say, thou art God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.

12. 4:56

    And if God was indeed the creator of the heaven and the earth, and he was more than just the God of Israel, He was the supreme and only God, none else beside him. And to that God Hezekiah will now address his plea. And so he says, verse 17 Incline thine ear, O Yahweh.

13. 5:16

    And here open thine eyes, O Yahweh, and see and hear all the words of Seneca, which has sent to reproach the living God. Yeah, that’s a very interesting expression. The living ale, I think it was deliberately chosen by Hezekiah. And it was a marvellous title, as it were, to use in his prayer, because that name, the name of the living God, is found throughout the Scriptures. You see, it’s in Joshua chapter 3 and verse 10. It’s in Hosea chapter one, verse 10. It’s in 2nd Corinthians 6, verse 16. It’s in the first of Timothy chapter 4 and verse 10. And as you look at those passages on the screen, brothers and sisters, I think what it tells us is that this title is about the Ale of Power who is living and active in the lives of his people and fully involved in their destiny. That’s what it means to be the living God, and that’s what Hezekiah believed.

14. 6:12

    And that’s the reason, I think why he used this title. Incidentally, he gets it from David. It was David who said in the first of Samuel 17, on the occasion of facing Goliath, thy servant slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God, says David.

15. 6:34

    See, David faced a formidable foe who was the champion and spokesman for a hostile enemy. And his courage in Yahweh’s power to save was the inspiration for Hezekiah. He too believed in the power of the living God. He too was facing a formidable foe. So he calls upon the same God that David called upon the living God in terms of making his prayer.

16. 6:58

    And you’ll notice as it says in verse 18 that he says, here’s a car makes the admission when he says of a truth, Yahweh. The kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods but the work of men’s hands, wooden stone.

17. 7:17

    Therefore they have destroyed them. After all, the gods of the nations about were nothing but wooden stone. They couldn’t incline their ear or open their eyes as Hezekiah had prayed to the Living God in verse 17. So therefore there was no surprise even to Hezekiah that the nations surrounding had been overthrown because their gods were of no power but to challenge the God of Israel. The Living God was another matter altogether. And so he comes to the heart of his prayer, the end of his prayer in Isaiah 37, verse 20.

18. 7:51

    And it’s just such a a wonderful, wonderful spirit, brothers and sisters, for us to read and to understand. He says firstly now therefore, O Yahweh our God save us from his hand and I think he used that word because that was the key phrase of Rebecca’s taunts. You see what God has been able to deliver his people out of the hand of the king of Assyria.

19. 8:17

    Isaiah 36 verse 15, verse 18, verse 19 verse 20. So save us out of his hand. But I think that that pleading of verse 20 is so remarkable for this reason. Just stop and think about it for a moment. That here the nation was at a point of absolute crisis. They were desperate for deliverance.

20. 8:39

    They were overwhelmed by the force and fury of the foe. That was, as it were, just outside the doors. And yet the only words which Hezekiah uttered in all his prayer which concerned them, lay in this one phrase. Save us from his hand. But that wasn’t the real focus of Hezekiah’s prayer, was it? That wasn’t the real purpose of Hezekiah’s prayer. That salvation was incidental to the primary purpose of his prayer.

21. 9:09

    His real reason was in the words that follow. Save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Yahweh, even thou only now. Incidentally, Hezekiah took his words again from David. That’s the first of Samuel 17 again, verse 46. This day will Yahweh deliver thee into my hand, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

22. 9:37

    Hezekiah had already called him the living God, quoting from David, and he’d already referred to him as the God of Israel, quoting from David, that the essential focus of his prayer was the same as David. You see, Hezekiah sought for the salvation of his people, but only so that all the earth might know that Yahweh alone was the supreme God.

23. 10:00

    Do you notice that Hezekiah finished his prayer exactly as he started? Do you see that? Look at verse 16. Verse 16 says Thou art the God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.

24. 10:20

    And now there’s 20. When he finishes, he will say that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Yahweh, even thou alone. He ends with the same thought with which he began. You see, Hezekiah was not focused on the challenge to himself. He wasn’t even focused on the challenge to the nation.

25. 10:45

    Hezekiah was focused on the challenge to God and therefore he besought God that he would deal with this crisis for his own namesake. You see, only a God centered person thinks like this, and only a God centered person prays like this. And the answer was immediate, because verse 21 says, then Isaiah the son of Amos sent unto Hezekiah, saying, you see, he prayed to Yahweh, and now it’s Yahweh’s prophet who sends a message back to the king with the answer of heaven. And yet again, it seems that the answer was almost immediate. Hezekiah had asked for Yahweh’s assistance against Senekra, but only on the basis of God’s honor, not his own. And the wonderful thing about this story, brothers and sisters, is that Yahweh Safaoth responded to their utterly God centered appeal.

26. 11:41

    He said I will take full responsibility for this matter, as his answer will make abundantly clear. So God considered Sennacherib’s letter to be an affront against himself. And that’s how God was brought into this equation by means of the prayer of Hezekiah. Hezekiah in effect said, I can’t solve this, we can’t solve this.

27. 12:01

    But this man hasn’t reproached me, O God, He’s reproached thee and thy holy name. For your name’s sake. I ask you to deal with this matter. And God said, I will and I shall. And that comes now in the answer that he’s going to provide, as verse 21 is going to go on and say.

28. 12:19

    Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria. This is the word which Yahweh has spoken, and now we’re going to have the answer of Yahweh. Now just as we discovered yesterday that the that the speech of Sennacherib, not Sennacherib, the speech of Reb Shaker, was made intelligible when we could break it into sections.

29. 12:44

    Remember how there were two parts to the speech and two sections to each part? Well, you might not be surprised to find that the answer of God follows a very similar sort of format and suddenly it it makes the answer more understandable. So here’s the answer of God as I think it’s brought forth to us in the narrative here of Isaiah 37.

30. 13:04

    So it begins verses 22 to 29 with a message of judgement to Sennacherib. Now we know that because of those crucial little words at the start of verse 22, when it says this is the word concerning him, well, that’s Sennacherib. So this is the first part of Yahweh’s answer. And there are two sections, I think, to that part of the answer. Verses 22 to 25 is a poem of disdain for Sennacherib’s failure and his sentence for the sin of reproach. And then beyond that, in verses 26 to 29, we will have a warning of divine control and God’s threat of inexorable power to remove Sennacherib at the time and circumstance of God’s own choosing.

31. 13:57

    So this is the first part of the answer of God, and it deals with His judgement against Sennacherib himself. Now do you notice incidentally when it says in verse 22, this is the word which Yahweh hath spoken, that word, word is the normal Hebrew word, dorbar. But one of the meanings that it carries is the idea of a sentence.

32. 14:17

    It’s used that way in Deuteronomy 17, verses 9 to 11, the sentence as it were, of judgment. And I suggest that perhaps that’s an appropriate reading, reading of the word here. This is the sentence which Yahweh has spoken against Him. So you notice the emphasis of the words. This is the sentence which Yahweh has spoken concerning Him.

33. 14:38

    The Virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, laughed thee to scorn. Now in the Hebrew, incidentally, this whole section is set in poetic form. So this is what the This is what the Hebrew says in this verse 22. It literally reads Has despised you, laughed to scorn you. The Virgin, the daughter of Jerusalem, so the city he has described as a virgin, and I think she was called that in contrast to the brute power of the Assyrian monarch who has it, as it were, arrived to defile her. But he would fail.

34. 15:24

    Sennacherib would be prevented from touching her because of Yahweh’s protective power, and even after his threat, she would still be called the Virgin to indicate that she remained unsullied by foreign intervention. Now, Seneca would be unable to lay his hand upon the Virgin daughter of Zion. Instead, the Virgin would be the one who would despise him, the one who would laugh him to scorn. The scorner would become the scorned, and in the failure of his purpose Seneca was going to leave behind a virgin fortress that was unmarked and untouched.

35. 16:03

    The daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee, it says. So says God. Do you know? To shake the head was a sign of contempt. Psalm 22, verse 7 says all that. See me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, and again in Lamentations 2, verse 15, all that pass by clap their hands at thee.

36. 16:27

    They hiss and wag their head. It’s the same word Sheikh, as in Psalm 22 and here in Isaiah 37, and in the sense of the city of Jerusalem remaining in the Violet afterwards is caught in the Hebrew, because the actual Hebrew at the end of verse 22 reads this way. It’s not not there in the English, but it’s there in the Hebrew behind your back.

37. 16:52

    Her head has shaken the daughter of Jerusalem. So Yahweh’s answer by the message of Isaiah pictured the moment when Jerusalem would shake her head in disdain at the back of the retreating figure of the Assyrian monarch as he fled from the scene. And ignominy and abject failure, the disgrace of being unable to take the city.

38. 17:15

    Strong words by the sisters. You’ll be sent away, and the daughter of Jerusalem will shake her head at you as you walk away. And why was that? Well, because of verse 23. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? Against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel? So you see, this is the issue, isn’t it? The issue of this challenge had gone beyond men. The boasting of Assyria demanded divine intervention, and that really had been Hezekiah’s request. Now you see that word reproached in verse 23, the Hebrew word Quraf.

39. 18:00

    It means to reproach with the idea of casting blame or scorn on someone, to insult, to mock, to defy, to defame. And this was the great sin of Sennacherib, and it was the basis of his judgment in this chapter. So what’s interesting about that idea is we’ll see what it says. Isaiah 37, verse 4. These are the words of Hezekiah.

40. 18:27

    It may be that Yahweh will hear the words of Rab Shaker, which the king of Assyria have sent to reproach Koraf, the living God. It may be that God will hear that says Hezekiah, and again in the in his prayer later in this chapter, as we’ve just read Isaiah 37 verse 17 inclined by the hero Yahweh, and hear all the words of Sennacherib which have sent to reproach the living God. So twice Hezekiah had called God’s attention to the challenge that Sennacherib had set before him, and he pleaded with God to answer a matter that actually questioned God’s own sovereign majesty.

41. 19:07

    And now in response, God will answer twice to defend His supremacy. So in verse 23 he says, Whom has there approached? Even the Holy One of Israel? And again in verse 24, By thy servants thou has reproached Yahweh. And God was not going to permit that boast, brothers and sisters, to remain unanswered.

42. 19:28

    And this is what that reproach encompassed, that sin of Sennacherib in mocking and defaming Almighty God, because this was the spirit and attitude of the Assyrian monarch. Read verses 24 and 25. And just capture the obvious spirit of the man. By thy servants hast thou reproached Yahweh, and hast said by the multitude of my Chariots.

43. 19:57

    And I come up to the height of the mountains to the side of Lemon, and I will cut down the tall Cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof, and I will enter into the height of his border, the forest of his Carmel. I have digged in drunk water, and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

44. 20:15

    And one of the key features of the Assyrian records was their spirit of utter boastfulness. In describing their conquests as they gloried in the brutal annihilation of their rivals, I have done this and I have done that was the spirit of Sinacreb. And I think what he was really boasting, by the way, in these two verses was this, I think, Sinacreba saying that there was no natural boundary that could stop his army from advancing.

45. 20:43

    His men could ascend every mountain, they could traverse every desert, they could penetrate every forest, they could Ford every river. His forces had invincible power and unstoppable might. That was the claim of Saint Akrab. But his mistake lay in imagining that he could do the same against the Holy One of Israel. And so now came Yahweh’s assertion of His own divine control, and of His own inexorable power, that he would execute in judgement and in sentence against Sennacherib, king of Assyria. So God now says in response, in answer to the spirit of that king, verse 26.

46. 21:23

    Hast thou, O Sennacherib, hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it, now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defence cities into ruinous heaps? And this time, of course, the word I in verse 26 is God Himself. So what was Yahweh’s answer to Sennacherib’s reproach? It was to remind him that everything he’d done, all his own exploits, had actually been decided beforehand by God. Sennacherib had done nothing that Yahweh had not already ordained for him.

47. 22:02

    In fact, hold your hand in chapter 37, come back for to to Isaiah chapter 10, because these words are relevant to that the spirit of the king Sennacherib in the answer of Yahweh here in Isaiah 37, God says I did you not know that I’ve ordained all this? I brought it to pass, not you.

48. 22:20

    So Isaiah 10 verse 12 says this. Wherefore it shall come to pass, when Yahweh have performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of His high look looks. For He says, by the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent, I have removed the bounds of the people and robbed their treasures.

49. 22:45

    I have put down the inhabitants. Since it’s the identical spirit of chapter 37, is it not? And therefore the answer comes back from God. Verse 15. Shall the acts boast itself against him that hewith therewith shall the sore magnify itself against him that shaketh it, as if the rod should shake itself against them that lifted up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood? Therefore sheth the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, and under his glory he shall kindle a burning, a burning of a fire.

50. 23:19

    So coming back to chapter 37, what God was really saying is that unbeknownst to Sennacherib, He, for all His might and for all His exploits, had never been anything more than an instrument in Yahweh’s hand to accomplish Yahweh’s purpose. And when Yahweh’s purpose had been accomplished, Sennacherib would be immediately removed, and he would swiftly feel the pain of divine judgment. It was a humbling estimate.

51. 23:43

    God said, You’re nothing more than my rod and my staff in my hand, He says. And so he says in verse 27 of Isaiah 37. Therefore, their inhabitants, the inhabitants of the cities that you have successfully conquered and overrun, they were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were as grass of the field, as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, as corn blasted before it be grown up.

52. 24:12

    So Sennacherib’s success was only because God permitted it. And God’s answer used four symbols here to portray the utter weakness and the feebleness of Sennacherib’s opponents, the grass of the field, the green herb, the grass on the housetop, and the early blasted grain. And the common element, perhaps of those four items is that none of them had the resilience to withstand the scorching power of the vehement E wind, which in Scripture was a symbol of the Assyrians. Hosea 13 verse 15 and Jonah 4 verse 8. And that blighting blast would wither them into nothingness. But the point of God’s comment here in this verse is that it wasn’t so much that Sennacherib was strong, but that God had made his opponents weak.

53. 25:02

    I allowed you to succeed, said God. But he says verse 28, I know thy abode. Now that word abode, I think the margin has sitting, and rightly so, because that’s what the Hebrew word your Shah really means. And I think it’s a reference probably to Sennacherib’s throne where he set to hold his council meetings and where he set to plot his conquests.

54. 25:26

    I know where you sit in your throne room, says God, I’ve seen you there. I know thy going out and thy coming in. Now that’s an interesting expression, by the way, because that phrase is used in in Scripture as a metaphor for every type of human activity by going out and thy coming in. Deuteronomy 28 verse six, Second Samuel 3 verse 25, Psalm 121 verse 8, by going out and thy coming in. And I think what God was saying to the king in his sentence against him in this verse was I know every aspect of your life. There’s nothing you plan, there’s nothing you do, there’s nowhere you go that I do not already know about. Your every move is known to me, including, he says, your hostility against both me and my people. Thy Rage Against me, verse 28.

55. 26:20

    And because verse 29, thy Rage Against me, and thy tumult has come up into my ears. Now the word tumult is rendered by the New International Version as insolence and by the New American Standard Bible as arrogance. Your arrogance has come up into mine ears. What a wonderful answer. By the way, didn’t notice that come up into mine ears. But isn’t that what Hezekiah had prayed? Verse 37, Incline thine ear, O Yahweh. And here and now God says in verse 29, I have heard, and your insolence has come up into mine ears. And therefore, verse 29, I will put my hook in thy nose and my bridal in thy lips, and I’ll turn thee back by the way which they arcamest.

56. 27:07

    Now you’ll know that the Assyrians were noted for the cruel treatment, this cruel treatment in particular, of their captives, because they’d let be LED away in ropes tied through a ring in either the prisoner’s lip or the prisoner’s nose. Can you imagine how excruciatingly painful it would be to be literally carted off into captivity with a ring through the nose or the lip pulling you? It was a brutal sign of the utter domination. And when Yahweh warns Sennacherib of Sennacherib’s own future, he says to him, I, Yahweh, against whom you have presumed to boast, I am in charge and not you. And you will be LED away from my city in my land, and you will experience the inexorable power of divine control from which there is no escape.

57. 28:00

    I’ll put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips. And so God promised that he would deal with Sennacherib with as much force and power as Sennacherib himself had exhibited against the nations that he had come against in times past. Now isn’t that interesting that that same promise has been made against the latter day Assyrian because of that man that says in Ezekiel 38 verse four, I will turn thee back, O Gog, and I will put hooks into thy jaws.

58. 28:34

    And the latter day Assyrian will be treated by God in the same way that he dealt with on this occasion with Sennacherib of old. And then came the second part of Yahweh’s answer. So thus far, the message of judgement to Senekreb, but the second part of Yahweh’s answer. Now what that might be about? Well, it was a message of comfort for Hezekiah. And we know that because just like up here, this is the word concerning Him was the clue to the message to Senekreb. So now do you notice the keywords at the start of verse 30?

59. 29:15

    And this will be a sign unto thee. So the second part of Yahweh’s answer is now directed to a message of comfort for Hezekiah himself. And again, there’s two parts to this message. So verses 30 to 32 is a pledge of provision for national relief and the assurance of a remnant that will be saved.

60. 29:39

    And then finally, from verses 33 to 35, we’ve got the guarantee of Sennacherib’s defeat and the promise of the city’s defence. So now we’ve got the completion of Yahweh’s answer. And how wonderfully balanced it is. First he he provides sentence of judgement against Tenekreb, and then he brings forth this message of comfort for King Hezekiah, who had prayed so earnestly to him on this occasion. Well, let’s start then with the words of verse 30. This will be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, and the second year that which springeth of the same, and in the third year sow ye, and reap and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. So the question is, what’s all that about? Do you think that promise in verse 30? Well, that promise is interesting for this reason that I believe that it refers to a particular Hebrew word that takes us back to a place in the law, because in the Hebrew that those words such as groweth of itself is all one single Hebrew word.

61. 30:41

    It’s the Hebrew word suffiac, and that word is found back in Leviticus chapter 25. So just hold your hand in Isaiah 37 and come back to what the book of the Law said, with which with relationship to the matter of the sabbatical years and the Jubilee years in Leviticus 25, where that word suffiac will be brought again to our attention. So in Leviticus 25 it says this firstly about the Sabbath years, maybe verse 4 for connection.

62. 31:17

    Leviticus 25 verse 4. The 7th year shall be a Sabbath of rest. Thou sought neither sow nor prune that which groweth of its own accord suffiac. That’s the same Hebrew word as the one found in Isaiah 37. It’s in the margin. That which growth of its own accord of the harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy thine undressed. For it is a year of rest unto the land. And the Sabbath of the land shall be meet for you, for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee. So the two the Sabbath year, the ground was to be left unsewn, and for that matter unreaped.

63. 32:00

    That which groweth of itself suffiac was what they were able however to partake of. And just as with the Sabbath year, so with the jubilee, because verse 11 says, a jubilee shall let 50th year be unto you, ye shall not not so neither reap that which groweth of itself suffiac, nor gather the grapes of it in thy vine undressed, for it is the jubilee, it shall be wholly unto you, you shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. So of course you realize that in the jubilee there were two sabbatical years side by side, because you always counted one to seven, one to seven, one to seven, one to seven. And every 7th year was a was a Sabbath year. But the Jubilee was the year after the Sabbath year, the normal Sabbath year, but it itself was counted as a Sabbath year.

64. 32:48

    So now there would be two sabbatical years, and during that two years they were not allowed to either sow or reap in the land. But God promised a special blessing of fertility, so that even the unsone land would bring forth enough by itself. Suffiac to feed everyone, master and servant alike, for the next two years.

65. 33:13

    No one could reap that crop, but everyone could glean it and eat of what the land itself provided. And that’s the sign that’s being given to his a car back here in Isaiah 37 when it says in that 30th verse that which springeth of itself, Sapphire will be enough for your food. And in the second year that which springeth of the same and in the third year Sony. So the very sign of his a car in Isaiah 37 verse 30 was the sign of a jubilee blessing that would feed the nation until all the Assyrian hosts had been withdrawn from the land. And it was intended to reassure his, a car, that Sinacra was going to be gone for good.

66. 33:54

    It promised that when they did so again in the third year, they could do so safely. And when they went to reap, they would gather that harvest and understood peace. But they’d have to wait for three years. They’d have to wait for three years before that sign would be fulfilled. It demanded faith, brother and sisters, absolute faith. But that faith would be rewarded because Sennacherib was never seen, never heard of in the land of Israel ever again. Trust me, says God, trust me for these three years. And here’s a guy I did.

67. 34:30

    And not only that, says Isaiah 37, but verse 31, the remnant that’s escaped at the House of Judah shall take root downward and bear fruit upward, for out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant. And they did escape out of Mount Zion. So just as the land was to enjoy a burst of fruitfulness, so the people would be restored in every sense. That blessing of the third year, when the land was resound with a fresh crop, was going to be backed by a remnant who’d been spared, who’d emerged from the city. They’d come out from Jerusalem, they’d reoccupy their land, they rebuild their villages, they’d rejuvenate their nation by taking root downward and bearing fruit upward. It was the ultimate proof that the Assyrian had been completely removed from the land.

68. 35:15

    But when God said those words in verse 31, the remnant that’s escaped shall take root downward and bear fruit upward. You know what I think Hezekiah heard? He heard this. See, this is what Hezekiah had prayed earlier in this chapter. Wherefore he says, lift up thy prayer, verse 4, for the remnant that’s left.

69. 35:33

    And this answer from the Almighty on this occasion must have rejoiced the King’s heart. Because you see, what Hezekiah wanted is for Yahweh’s remnant to be preserved, that the way of the truth might be continued. And that was the answer of God. He says. I’ve heard there will be a remnant. In fact, that’s a key theme in Isaiah’s prophecy. We won’t look at these in any detail, but let me just put them on the screen.

70. 35:54

    The remnant, the remnant, the remnant that’s left, the remnant that’s escaped chapter 37. And for his a car. That promise of chapter 37, verse 31 and verse 32 was that he would still be able to continue to work with those in Israel, those in Judah who were of a spiritual mind that he might continue his labours among them.

71. 36:15

    The remnant will be saved, says God, I promise you that, He says to the king in answer to his earlier prayer. So God’s answer covered Hezekiah’s deepest concerns for the needs of the nation that he was working with, because that’s what Hezekiah always worried about, the needs of the nation, the needs of the nation, the needs of the remnant.

72. 36:34

    God’s answer gave him comfort. And how was all this going to happen? What was the guarantee of all these things? Well, the end of that verse, verse 32 says the zeal of Yahweh of hosts shall do this. Now do you remember how Isaiah began his prayer? Verse 16 O Yahweh of hosts, O Yahweh of hosts, was how He began his prayer. And now the arch of God comes back. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts shall do this. It was the answer to Hezekiah’s prayer. And now came the final part of Yahweh’s answer, which concerned the guarantee of Sennacherib’s defeat and the promise of the city’s deliverance.

73. 37:24

    And so he says in verse 33. Therefore he said, Thus saith Yahweh concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow, nor come before it with seals or cast bank by the way that he came by the same shall he return and shall not come into this city.

74. 37:41

    So there wouldn’t be a battle Aaron shield, there wouldn’t be a siege, cast a bank. Seneca wasn’t going to get anywhere near the city, and so impregnable would its defenses be, not because of the fortifications which Hezekiah had built, but because of the divine hand that would over shadow it. Instead, Seneca was going to be LED away with inexorable power in the opposite direction.

75. 38:03

    This was one battle Sennacherib would not win by the way that he came by the same. Shall he return? And so he says, verse 35, I’ll defend the city. Now do you know? So that’s the focus of these last three verses. Verse 33, He shall not come into this city. Verse 34, He shall not come into this city. Verse 35, I will defend this city. That’s the focus of these last three verses. And that was the promise that the city of Jerusalem would be delivered in rebuttal of Sennacherib’s boast, because Sennacherib, by the mouth of his spokesman, Reb Shaker, had said in Isaiah 36.

76. 38:48

    Verse 20 Who are they that Yahweh should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? And again in Isaiah 37, Verse 10 Let not thy God, in whom thou trust us deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given to the hand of the king of Assyria. And God now comes back, and he says, I will, I will deliver the city. The city will be safe, here’s a car, the city will be untouched. And for what reason?

77. 39:10

    Verse 35 For mine own sake, says God, Ah, there it is. So now came Yahweh’s answer. I will hear the words of reproach and I will reprove them. The challenge that I cannot deliver. The city I will respond to. Do you see how firm the response of God is in this matter? It’s absolutely marvellous, brother and sisters, because Yahweh assumed full responsibility for the final outcome of this crisis.

78. 39:35

    It’s mine, says God. I will deal with this matter, but not only for my sake, he says, but also for my servant David’s sake. Now that’s because of the first of kings 11 verse 36, which said, And unto David’s son will I give one tribe, that David my servant, may have a light all way before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. God promised that to David.

79. 40:09

    So for his own name’s sake and for David’s sake, the city of Jerusalem would stand impregnable against the Assyrian host. And so God’s answer now was complete. It was a wonderful response. It was a thrilling reply when you think about it, brothers and sisters. So to his enemies such as Sennacherib, God gave this answer in the form of a warning, I am in control. And to his servants such as his a car, God gave this answer in the form of a promise.

80. 40:38

    I am in control. And you see when you think about it, mother and sisters, believing and accepting that God is in control is the answer to every crisis in life.

81. 40:57

    You see times of crisis reveal who we really are and how we really think. And you see really Hezekiah shows us in this prayer that he really did trust in his God and he really did believe in his sovereign control. And I think with that comes the great lesson from our study this morning as to what we should do in times of crisis.

82. 41:17

    If we believe that God is in control, then we need to pray to him. But we need to do more than that. We need to pray the right sort of prayer that’s focused on the right objective. This is where the example of Hezekiah is just so instructive, brothers and sisters, because he wasn’t focused on how God might intervene. He wasn’t focused on when God might intervene. He was focused on why God would intervene. So here’s our lesson for today, brothers and sisters, in terms of what we might do in times of crisis. It’s about learning how to pray with God centered focus. Now here’s David’s prayer in the time of Goliath. First of Samuel 17 verse 46 this day will Yahweh deliver thee into my hand and I’ll smite thee so that all the earth may know that there’s a God in Israel.

83. 42:21

    Can I just draw your attention to 1 little but crucial word so that I’ve added the word so so that you can see the word that so that what so that David could be delivered? No, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Here’s the prayer that David gave to the House of Asaph to sing as the singers in the sanctuary in the first of Chronicles chapter 16, verse 35.

84. 42:51

    And say, ye save us, O God, of our salvation, and deliver us so that, so that what? So that we might be saved? No, so that we may give thanks to thy holy name and glory in thy praise. Here’s one of the prayers or one of the Psalms that the House of Asaph wrote and sang themselves in Psalm 83, verses 17 and 18. Let them be put to shame and perish our enemies, so that, so that men may know that thou whose name alone is Yahweh at the most high in all the earth.

85. 43:34

    And here’s the prayer that Hezekiah offered in our study this morning in the prayer of Isaiah 37. Therefore, O Yahweh, our God, save us out of his hand, so that so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Yahweh, even thou only, and that one vital phrase. So that is what sanctifies all these prayers.

86. 44:01

    Because you see, all salvation and all deliverance is only so that God can be honoured in the outcome. I think there’s a powerful lesson here, brothers and sisters. It’s a good lesson for us to ponder. And that’s this.

87. 44:19

    No matter what crisis we have, God is not obliged to save us from our enemies, or to give us the gift of immortality, or to grant us a place in His Kingdom, or to fulfill those countless petitions that we might make. Unless at the centre of each request and sitting at its very heart is so that His purpose might be advanced in our lives. His purpose not ours, His will, not ours. And in our ecclesial prayers, we’re hearing less and less of such God centred God focused prayers. And the reason is because the doctrine of God manifestation is progressively lost and we’ve got to get back to it because that’s where the center of the truth is. So when we hear petitions to God often on behalf of the assembly, we ought to listen to the so that that should follow after the petition.

88. 45:24

    Save us, so that bless us, so that forgive us, so that and we pray that Thou will grant us a place in Thy Kingdom. So that See, that’s the crucial thing, isn’t it, Mother and sisters, the little bit at the end that changes it from a human prayer to a God centered. 1 So that Thy name might be magnified in our lives, so that Thy purpose might be outworked in us, so that Thy will may be done and not our own, So that thy glory may be seen in the earth, So that all nations may know that Thou art God alone. We should all always test our prayers by the so that rule and we want to hear them more frequently in our ecclesial assemblies.

89. 46:19

    Now what a wonderful example. Here’s a car has left us with as we face times of child in our own lives. Are we facing a crisis? Then let us give it to the Father to deal with through prayer, but let us be sure to give the type of prayer that Hezekiah offered and gave so magnificently on this day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy. Learning to pray with God centered focus allows us to offer prayers that Yahweh delights Him and that He will move to accomplish because they’re focused on the honor of His name and His will and not our own as it says in one of our hymns.

90. 47:07

    Thy way not mine, O Lord, however dark it be, Lead me by thine own hand. Choose out the path for me, not mine, not mine the choice. In all things, great or small, be Thou my guide, my strength, my wisdom, and my all.

91. 48:00

    Thank you, Brother Roger for your class this morning.