Stephen Palmer - Living on Appreciation for the Scriptures - Class 3 - The Scriptures in Times of Crisis - Example of Hezekiah

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1. 0:00

   Psalm 115 Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name. Give glory for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. Eyes have they, but they see not. They have ears, but they hear not. Noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. Feet have they, but they walk not, neither speak they through their throat.

2. 1:04

   They that make them are like unto them. So is everyone that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the Lord. He is their help and their shield.

3. 1:23

   O House of Aaron, trust in the Lord, He is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord hath been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the House of Israel. He will bless the House of Aaron.

4. 1:52

   He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. We are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

5. 2:10

   The heaven, even the heavens are the Lords, but the earth have He given to the children of men. The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. But. We will bless the Lord from this time forth forevermore. Praise the Lord, Thank you Peter. Class 3 Scriptures in time of crisis Example of Hezekiah. Mother, Stephen.

6. 3:00

   Well, we’re halfway. It’s downhill from now on. Well done. You’ll have to help me because my voice has been dropping. I’m told my people haven’t been hearing some of what I said. So you have to signal to me and say, you know, keep your voice up. I have a problem with my accent, as you know, I have a problem with my teens. Actually, a lot of people are in that position, aren’t they? The signal, the jokes.

7. 3:37

   When we looked at Josiah, the issue then was the rediscovery of the Word of God. When we look at Hezekiah, what we have is an example of how having achieved this Word of God in our lives, it can then become a source of help to us in times of crisis. If we haven’t had that Word of God in preparation, then we’re really not going to find this sort of help when we face those crises which come to us so unexpectedly. Let’s go look at the preparation, first of all, that Hezekiah made for the crisis.

8. 4:21

   In Second Chronicles 29, when Hezekiah came to the throne, he shows a remarkable wisdom in the way in which he set his priorities. He was a man who sought first the Kingdom of God. While he was a young man. We’re told in chapter 29 of Second Chronicles, verse three, he in the first year of his reign, in the first month opened the doors of the House of the Lord and repaired them.

9. 5:02

   And if you add to that verse 17, it says now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify and on the 8th day of the month came into the porch. So they sanctified the House of the Lord and so on. So you put those 3 together and what you have is on the first day of the first month of the first year, Hezekiah opened the doors of the House of the Lord and started to cleanse the temple.

10. 5:39

    His number one priority, the first thing on his mind. No sooner has he come to the throne, the very first thing that he did was to restore true worship to Israel, not just Judah, to Israel as well. So that word first, I circled it in red pen. Actually, in verse 3, it’s there twice straight underneath each other.

11. 6:01

    You can’t miss it really, can you? In the first year, in the first month, and in verse 17, the first day of the first month. So four times has used this word first. What’s it telling us? Seek ye first. The Kingdom of God. That’s this man. It’s only 26 when he came to the throne. You know, and I speak to young people about Hezekiah. I say, well, what would you want to do on day one? You become kin.

12. 6:32

    What would you choose to do? You could do what you want. You know, everything is yours. What are you going to do first? Buy a house, a car, a boat, Another house, another car, another boat. Travel the world. What? The first thing he did was open the doors of the House of the Lord and repaired them.

13. 6:55

    A man, a young man with his priority is absolutely set and absolutely correct. Now why did he have to open the House of the Lord? Because his father had locked the doors to the ecclesia. His father had bolted up the ecclesial doors. Nobody could go in. There was no worship in Israel, there were no psalms being sung, and there were no sacrifices being offered.

14. 7:19

    They couldn’t have been because the doors were shut. Chapter 28 and verse 24, the king had locked the people out of the House of God. And when Hezekiah gets the Levites together and he stirs up the leaves as, come on, he gets the young men together, let’s sort this out, let’s do this work. He explains to them what had gone wrong. And verse 7 says also they have shut up the doors of the porch and put out the lamps and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place and to the God of Israel. And there are four things they actually group into three in verse 7, and each of them have an equivalence today. And I’m sure we’d all readily agree with the explanation. They have shut up the doors of the porch. If you found the ecclesial hall locked up, brothers and sisters, how would you feel if you were told you can’t go to the meeting?

15. 8:34

    I just say, oh, it’s a relief, a day off. Oh, I could stay and put my feet up. Oh, I can get round to the gardening. Oh, I wasn’t going to go anyway or whatever.

16. 8:49

    It was number one priority to Hezekiah. You get those doors open. That’s the first thing. The first thing you’re going to do. You get those doors open. I want to go and the people want to go to the House of God. It’s like being told you can’t go to the meeting and have fellowship.

17. 9:08

    Heartbreaking, isn’t it? What else have they done? They had put out the lamps. What does the lamp signify? My word is a lamp unto my feet. The word of God wasn’t there. They weren’t doing the daily readings. There was no lamp. It wasn’t shining, it wasn’t a light. So there was no fellowship and the Word of God was not present in the minds and hearts of the nation. It couldn’t be.

18. 9:44

    The lamps have been put out. And then the third thing Hezekiah says they have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings. And if you look at Psalm 141 and verse 2, you’ll see that burnt incense and burnt offerings represent the prayer which David says would ascend to God. So they weren’t going to meeting, they weren’t doing their readings, and they weren’t praying.

19. 10:21

    The three fundamental things were absent from the nation in the symbol of the chapter, and that was priority number one for Hezekiah. And it ought to be priority number one for us to do those things. They’re so simple, aren’t they? They take, we take them for granted. When we get into crisis, we look for special solutions because the problem is so difficult and there are no special solutions. They’re only the old answers.

20. 11:03

    When Hezekiah was in crisis, what did he do? He went up to the House of the Lord because the doors had been opened. He went into the House of the Lord and the lamp was burning. The Word of God was being sung because he had instituted the Levitical choir to sing the songs and he could hear the word of God and the way was open for him to offer the prayer of incense.

21. 11:37

    Do you remember what he did? He took the letter which Sennacherib had sent by his servants to him and he laid it before the Lord. And he could only do that because verse seven had been remedied. He opened the doors, they lit the lamps and they offered the incense and burnt offering. Those were the answers to the crisis which would come later on.

22. 12:03

    So often when we’re in trouble, our reaction is to stay away from the ecclesia, to stop doing our and not to pray. Isn’t that right? And that just compounds the problem and removes us from its solution. And then we ask, well, what should I do? Where can I get some help from when we’ve closed off the very source of help that God has given us?

23. 12:34

    Now this is what we have to get in mind from Hezekiah. These were his priorities. What wisdom in this young man’s life and the whole nation benefited from it.

24. 12:48

    Just let me point out one other thing from this section of Scripture. In verse 17, you notice it says they began on the first day and it says at the end of the verse and in the 16th day of the first month they made an end. That’s the word finished. They began and they finished.

25. 13:13

    Have a look at verse 27 and 28, Hezekiah and verse 25, He set the Levites in order. He’s got the musicians together and they’re going to sing Psalms and they’re going to play the music. And of course, Hezekiah is credited with putting the the book of Psalms together. Clearly it was his love to hear the Psalms being sung as they should be and with the words and the music of David.

26. 13:41

    It must have been exquisite to be in the House of God 24 hours a day. I believe the Psalms were sung. There were 24 courses day and night. It says in Revelation 5 in the Kingdom makes the the Caribbean sing day and night. Anytime you went up to the House of God, you would be able to hear the Psalms.

27. 14:04

    And if you stayed for a couple of hours, you’d probably hear the wall. So whenever you’re in trouble, if you went up to the House of God, there would be a Psalm for you to hear and the beauty of it, throwing out the problem and providing us with the answer. So that was what he did.

28. 14:24

    Now he’s going to start the process. And it says in verse 27, Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the offering, the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began with the trumpets and with the instruments and verse 28 says, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished.

29. 14:48

    And when they had finished literally, then the king bowed and presented. So all you just imagine the scene, all the choir and all the musicians, they’re, they’re waiting, they’re waiting for the conductor. If there wasn’t a signal, well, what’s the signal? You watch that burnt offering and when you see the flame lick the burnt offering, then you start and you carry on until that burnt offering has finished, but go all the way through until it’s finished burning and when it’s finished, stop. Their worship was linked to the burnt offering. The burnt offering spoke of dedication, commitment, It spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ.

30. 15:27

    It was the beginning and ending of their praise. They began when it began. They finished when it finished. He was the author and finisher of our faith. Everything about their joy and worship was linked to the burnt offering. That’s what God wants, a life of praise, dedicated, beginning and ending with a service that is exemplified in the Lord Jesus Christ.

31. 15:50

    But can you see the repetition when they cleanse the house in verse 70? They began, then they finished. Here they begin and then they finish.

32. 16:01

    And in Second Chronicles 31 and verse 7, just another illustration of a phrase which keeps repeating in this passage of Scripture and really gives us the insight into the character of Hezekiah at the Spirit of the Times. Verse 7 of chapter 31, it says in the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps and finished them in the seventh month. So there are three sets of beginning and finishing in this Scripture and it’s quite rare.

33. 16:32

    You don’t find many other passages. There are two in the New Testament, both linked to Hezekiah. But let me just point out verse 21 of chapter 31 and you’ll see the emphasis. And in every work that he began in the service of the House of God and in the law and in the commandments to seek his God, He did it with his whole heart and prospered.

34. 16:58

    Now can that be said of us? Do we finish what we begin or we people that give up? Oh, I tried that. I tried doing my readings, but I don’t get anything out of it. I tried to look at the concordance, but you know, it’s just, you know, I couldn’t get on with it.

35. 17:19

    I tried praying more than once a day, but you know, I forget. I tried doing what was suggested last year but you know, never got round to it really. That’s what Hezekiah is asking us. He started on day one and everything he started, he did. He was a finisher, and that’s what we want to be. We’ll only finish through God’s good grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ.

36. 17:52

    He is the author and the finisher of our faith, but He’s willing to help us finish the course, to carry us through those last steps where we feel we just can’t make it on our own. And Hezekiah must have felt like that. It just like us to look at Hezekiah’s problem in the British Museum.

37. 18:15

    Some of you may have been to the British Museum. You’ll see the remains of the the walls of Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria at the time of Sennacherib. They’ve discovered, they have discovered Nineveh and the throne room of Sennacherib, the great king who challenged Yahweh in the chapter that we have been good to look at and these are pictures are from the palaces of the kings.

38. 18:41

    This was the wallpaper they had carved out of stone and it exemplified the spirit of the nation of Assyria. There was a warrior nation. The kings were fierce. They delighted in their aggression and ritually they used to kill these lions. The the Saudis would bring a lion in front of the king and they’d surround the king of the lion with their Shields, and then the king would shoot the lion and they’d carry the lion off as a sacrifice.

39. 19:10

    Probably an echo of Nimrod, the mighty hunter against the face of Yahweh who started this whole process off in that area. But that’s what they were like. They were fierce, cruel kings. Here is another scene from the British Museum.

40. 19:35

    Those of you at the front may just be able to see what those soldiers are holding in their hands. Can you see see what they have? They have the heads of their enemies. That’s what the king delighted to see on the wall of his palace, the brutality of his soldiers. And that reputation, of course, went ahead of them and it served them well because their enemies would rather run or give up than fight and be subject to that sort of thing. They were a proud military nation and their weapons, their weapons were feared.

41. 20:22

    I wasn’t so impressed with arrows as a weapon until I saw in one case in the British Museum this and really it was a piece of piece of brick, piece of stone from the wall of Lakish. And of course Lakish was where Sennacherib was when Hezekiah received all this correspondence. And the Assyrian armies were camped against Lakish, and what they found is arrowheads buried in the stone. So the power of these boats must have been quite something. So these were fearsome people with fearsome weapons. The man in question is there.

42. 21:19

    This, it seems, is his father Sargon, and that is Sennacherib. The experts didn’t believe they existed until the turn of the century when the pictures were found.

43. 21:34

    So much for the experts. But Sennacherib had a palace and the throne room was discovered, and this is from his palace. This is the siege of Lakish, a Hebrew city in the time of Hezekiah. And the picture shows the ramps that have been built to scale the walls and the people being carried off to captivity. There’s The Archers were drawn, the bow. And you can imagine what it would have been like. Well, Can you imagine what it would have been like in Jerusalem?

44. 22:11

    Every morning you look over the wall and there they are, thousands and thousands of bow. And you see them building the ramps, getting higher and higher because in the end, you’re looking them in the eye. And what are they going to do to you if they get you something like this?

45. 22:39

    Probably just as well. It’s not enlarged too much, but over here are some pretty gruesome scenes. These are the the leaders of the city being hung, drawn and quartered. They’re being stretched and flailed and their skin cut off them while they’re still alive, impaled on stakes. That’s what they did. And that’s what was in store for Hezekiah and his Princess if they’re caught. So you can see what a crisis is building up. This is the throne room itself, and this is this is Hezekiah sitting upon a sorry Sennacherib sitting upon a throne with the leaders of Lakish being brought before him. And there are the captives being taken from Judah into Assyria. Well, that is a crisis, I would suggest, that matches anything that we face in our lives.

46. 23:53

    This tale of prism was found in Assyria, and it records Sennacherib’s approach and I read from it. But As for Hezekiah the Jew, who did not bow in submission to my yoke, 46 of his strong walled towns and innumerable smaller villages in their neighbourhood, I besieged and conquered by stamping down earth ramps and then bringing up battering Rams, by the assault of foot soldiers, by breachers, tunnelling and Sapper operations. I made to come out from them 200 and 200 and 150,000 people, young and old, male and female, innumerable horses, mules, donkeys, cameras, large and small cattle. I counted them as the spoils of war. He himself, I shut up like a caged bird within Jerusalem, his royal city, like a bird in a cage. He had shut up Hezekiah in this city, and that was the crisis which Hezekiah now has to deal

47. 25:08

    with. The way in which the Lord answers this terrible trial of Hezekiah is marvellous. There are psalms which speak specifically about this great crisis, even to contrast the bird in a cage, but we’ll come to that in a while. This wasn’t his only problem, he had others as well. If you look at the King’s record, Second Kings chapter 20, you’ll see that the sickness which Hezekiah had sided with the siege of Jerusalem.

48. 25:58

    Now if you don’t. Know this point, it’s quite an interesting one because it helps give us an insight into what was going on at the time. Hezekiah was. Sick unto death while the Assyrians were camped outside the city. That explains why it seems not to have been around when the the negotiations are going on and why the conspiracy developed. I don’t think Hezekiah was part of the conspiracy. We’ll mention that now.

49. 26:26

    Second Kings chapter 20. This is the illness which he has and Isaiah is said to tell him that he’s going to die. Then Hezekiah turns to the Lord and prays and the answer comes that he’s going to have an extension of life. If you look at verse 6 it says. I will add unto thy.

50. 26:45

    Days 15 years, And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for mine own sake, right? So verse 6 of chapter 20. And what that tells us is that the deliverance of Hezekiah from death through his sickness coincided with the deliverance of Hezekiah and the city from the Assyrian.

51. 27:20

    They were running in. Parallel, not only did this man of the Assyrian to cope, he had his own fatal illness and all the concerns. He had no air, he had no sea and NASA wasn’t born until into the 15 years extended life. He was worried about. The future of the throne of David. He was concerned about the House. And the Assyrians were.

52. 27:47

    About to destroy it. Look at Isaiah chapter 8 and see how Isaiah had prophesied the Assyrian invasion and the dramatic description it gives. So how they felt in Jerusalem,

53. 28:04

    Isaiah chapter 8. Yes, it seems as in. The time of Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father. Verse 6. For as much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloh, that go softly and rejoice in resin, and Remeliah’s son. Now therefore behold, the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river strong, and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory.

54. 28:34

    And he shall come up over all his channels and go over all his banks, and he shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over. He shall reach even to the neck. It’s a picture of a. Great river flooding its banks and the waters sweeping down over the surrounding countryside and swirling around till they come round to Jerusalem.

55. 28:58

    And they’re filling the valleys around Jerusalem and the water level is getting higher and higher until all that’s left is the city. Like a man drowning, but just his neck above the water, stretching to keep up. And that was Hezekiah. Like a bird in the. Cage like a drowning man who’s just managing to keep his head above the water. I don’t know if.

56. 29:22

    Anyone has been in that situation of? Thinking they’re going to. Drown A few people have. I have. Thinking somebody I was. Trying to help was about to drown and I was desperate. The, the water was the was the sea was sweeping along. And if your feet, if your feet just went below the surface of the water, if you couldn’t float, then the water was dragging you along. And this young lad was, was weighty, you know, he’s quite dense and he couldn’t keep his feet up and I couldn’t keep his head up.

57. 30:01

    And he said to me. I’m prowling, prowling. I couldn’t do anything. Except try and find. Try and push him up. Try and keep his hip up.

58. 30:16

    There was. Hezekiah, the city was drowning with the Assyrians of flooding in. And with all he’s. He’s got a a condition, he’s got this, this lesion on him and Isaac and says that’s a fatal condition. You’re not going to recover.

59. 30:40

    And that wasn’t all. There was a conspiracy. I don’t think Hezekiah. Was part of this Isaiah Chapter 30 and 31 describe it. Sennacherib knew. About it because this is the one of the things that Grab Shaka comes to speak about when they come to the wars of Jerusalem, he says. What are you trusting in?

60. 31:02

    Are you trusting in Egypt? They must have intercepted the messengers who had gone from the Princess in Jerusalem to Egypt. Say, come and help us. You know we’ll be your slaves. Come and help us. And Isaiah comes. On the scene and says in verse 1 of chapter 30, woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord that take counsel, but not of me that cover me cover with a covering, but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin that warped to go down into Egypt and up and asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves and the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.

61. 31:37

    There was conspiracy in Jerusalem to get the alliance with the Egyptians to come and save them. Hezekiah must have felt completely helpless. What could he do? He was. Powerless. Well, not quite. How did he respond? Let’s go to the second Chronicles 32 record of Hezekiah’s response to these things. We don’t know how long the.

62. 32:07

    Whole process took Maybe it was a matter of months before the Assyrians would come into the land. Actually came to Jerusalem. Must have taken a little while, because some of the preparations that Hezekiah made for the city itself were quite profound. Verse 2, Second Chronicles 32. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his Princess and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains that were without the city, and they did help him.

63. 32:48

    So there was gathered much people together who stopped all the fountains of the brooks that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the king of Assyria come and find much water? Also he strengthened himself and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Milo in the city of David, and made darts and Shields in abundance.

64. 33:10

    And he said captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them. What is this showing us is that Hezekiah did all the things that were sensible to do. You know, when we have a problem, and the advice is, well, make it a matter of prayer, seek the word of God.

65. 33:32

    That doesn’t mean, of course, that we shouldn’t do those things which we can do in preparation or to solve the problem. You know, there are sensible things that we can do. God doesn’t ask us to sit down under a tree and wait. We we have to get. On with what is the right approach?

66. 33:53

    So we think also we’ll see not to the exclusion very much in a prayerful way. And what Hezekiah did was to protect the water supply of Jerusalem as well as well as blocking up the water that ran through the land. And this is the Guyhon spring outside Jerusalem, which was the water supply for the city. But the problem with it was outside of the wall. And what Hezekiah did was to dig a tunnel from the Guyhon spring to take the water 600 meters through the wall and to bring it to this place here, which is the pool of Siloa. And there may be people here who’ve actually walked between these two through Hezekiah’s tunnel. An interesting sidelight on this is given in a recent article on the water supply of Israel in in the Palestinian archaeology journal Palestine.

67. 35:00

    It’s called the Palestine Exploration Society Journal, which is a a well respected journal and it describes the water supply of Jerusalem and the theory of how they dug the tunnel between these two places because this tunnel goes like this. And yet they met in the middle and they could hear each other chiseling away through the rock.

68. 35:21

    And it seems extraordinary. How did they how did they find each other? Now they didn’t have. Ultrasound or scanners or any other equipment? Well, it’s suggested that they followed and this is the latest theory. They followed a crack in the rock. And that they must have. Known that water would flow between the two.

69. 35:43

    What’s why I mention it is. What is interesting about it is that the article says this paraphrasing. This proposal was first suggested by the architect Henry Sully in 1927. It was, of course. That’s Brother Henry Sully who described Ezekiel’s temple. It’s interesting isn’t to see his name mentioned as the first one to suggest in print that what Hezekiah did was to follow a natural crack in the rock. And that seems to.

70. 36:18

    Be what Isaiah 22 is referring to when Isaiah upgrades the people because they put their trust in the water supply that Hezekiah had brought into the city. They thought, oh, whatever Relief. We’ve got water in the city and he hasn’t got any water out there. We’ll be all right. We’ve done what we can. Yeah.

71. 36:40

    Well done, Hezekiah. Yeah, I’ve got a a good strong. Wall and I’ve got the armaments and I’ve got the water supply that’s that’s beating him off. And what Isaiah 22 says is fuck you missing the point. Verse 11 of Isaiah 22. He made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But he have not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago. Interesting, isn’t it there?

72. 37:19

    Was only one way they could have built that tunnel, which was to follow a God-given crack in the rock who had fashioned it long ago for this very purpose. This wasn’t a bit of luck.

73. 37:33

    This was the. Providential hand of God, to enable them to find a way of escape, as it were, from the problem they were in, that they might be able to bear it, that they might have their water supply, that those who trusted in the waters of Shiloh could withstand the flood of Assyria that was coming against the city.

74. 37:53

    But they missed the point. You see, Isaiah? 22 describes the people who wouldn’t recognise from hezekiah himself there was. A people who were. Having a party. When the day of the. Lord was about to come upon them.

75. 38:12

    It’s a city under. Siege that had broken down the houses to repair the walls, which had brought the water supply into the city. And verse 12 says, And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to boldness, and to gird him with sack law. He expected them to call upon his name, to get down on their knees when they’re in such trouble, and to depend upon Him.

76. 38:39

    What did he find? The whole joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.

77. 38:55

    It’s a picture of a. World like the one we live in, which hasn’t got a thought about eternal life or what happens at death. This is the only. Life that we have. Where we may as well. Get on and enjoy ourselves. And isn’t that a surprise to see Jerusalem like that in the days of Hezekiah, when you would have thought that they would have responded to him when they looked outside, they said, well, he’s going to get us.

78. 39:23

    We’ve got the water. Supply. Let’s have a party while it lasts. Yeah, we’ve got to die. Sometime a people who lacked faith and all the while Hezekiah must have been at home suffering from this condition which he thought was going to bring into the grave. But. When we go. Back to Second Chronicles to chapter chapter 32, we can see that Hezekiah himself wasn’t as those people in the city were. Here was no.

79. 40:03

    Resentment about the situation of resentment. No complaints. It’s not fair. Why should it happen to me? Why doesn’t have to somebody else for a check? Why is it always me that has all these troubles? Look, I’ve I’ve I’ve. Opened the doors of the house, I’ve got them to light the lamps. We’ve offered incest and everything and now look what it’s all come upon.

80. 40:25

    It’s just not right. It’s not there. There was none of that. He did what he. Could and then look what he says in verse 6. It says He spake comfortably to them. He spake comfortably to them, saying, Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him.

81. 40:51

    For there be more with us than with him. That says, What do you mean there are more with us than with him? Have you had to look over the wall? 190,000 of them.

82. 41:07

    But with him is an. Arm of flesh. With us is Yahweh. Our God to help us. And to fight our. Back. And so we did. Jerusalem didn’t. Need to fire a shot there. They didn’t have anything to do with the victory. One morning they. Got up and looked over the wall and outside with all dead corpses. Yahweh had fought.

83. 41:37

    Their battle for them because and there must have been a faithful remnant in this city because they trusted in him to do that. We haven’t time to look. At this subject in great detail, but let me just take you back to 2nd Kings chapter 19 and just see there how Hezekiah coped with the problem. Second Kings. 19 and verse one.

84. 42:17

    And it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it. That’s the message from Sennacherib. But he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the House of the Lord. He could do that because the doors had been repaired. And he sent Aliakim, which was over the household, and Shebner the scribe, and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet.

85. 42:47

    The lamp was lit, So he sought the word of God to Isaiah the prophet. And then we know in verse 14. When the letter was received at the hand of the messengers and he read it, Hezekiah went up into the House of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed, and he could do that because the incense and the offerings had been reinstituted. It’s beautiful, isn’t it, to see how this man in crisis now benefits from the preparations that, by the good hand of God, he had engaged in.

86. 43:28

    And when he went into. The House of God, those psalms that he heard must have been a real encouragement to him. For example, let’s just take this one Psalm 20. Just think of what Hezekiah would have felt when he heard them singing this Psalm, a Psalm of David, ready and prepared for him when he was in time of crisis.

87. 43:58

    Psalm 20 the Lord hear. Thee in the day of trouble. Well, that’s what he had. Said in verse three of Second Kings 19. This is the message that his servants took to Isaiah the prophet. They said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble. A day of trouble. What was Hezekiah thinking? He was in the House of the Lord.

88. 44:32

    He must have heard. Psalm 20 being sung, Go and ask Isaiah. This is a day of trouble, just like Psalm 20 speaks of the Lord. Hear thee in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee, Send thee help from the sanctuary, Strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifices. Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy council.

89. 45:04

    We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. The Lord fulfil all thy petitions. Now know I that he shall say his anointing.

90. 45:24

    Do you know in verse? 6 is the name and title of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now. No, I Yahweh savour Yahshua. Christ is anointed. That’s what Christ means, of course. In the middle of this. Psalm in time of crisis, the words of the psalmist says now, no. I. Jesus. Christ. Beautiful isn’t. It he had come to know God and the character of the one he served, and it served him well in the day of trouble.

91. 46:16

    Served in the Spirit. Of the Psalm, as he listened to it, he could ask Isaiah, What is the word of the Lord in my day of trouble? That I might come to. Know Yahweh’s savour is anointed. He will hear Him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Look at verse 7.

92. 46:39

    Some thrust. Now know I that He shall say. His anointed do you know in verse. 6 is the name and title of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now. No, I Yahweh savour Yahshua. Christ is anointed. That’s a Christ musical. In the middle of this. Song in time of crisis, The words of the psalmist says now know why Jesus Christ. Beautiful isn’t.

93. 47:29

    It he had come to know God and the character of the one he served. And it served him. Well, in the day of trouble. Served in the Spirit. Of the Psalm, as he listened to it, he could ask Isaiah, What is the word of the Lord in my day of trouble? That I might come to. Know Yahweh.

94. 47:54

    Saviour is anointed. He will hear him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Look at verse 7. Some thrust in Chariots and some in horses. Well, that’s exactly what was happening. Isaiah 30. They were going down into Egypt for horses and Chariots. This was the very conspiracy that must have been on his mind.

95. 48:22

    That’s what would have been. Part of his prayer, my brethren of Forsaken. I am. Discouraged because the ecclesia is not in the condition at all to be in. I am downcast because some trust in Chariots and some in horses. But we will. Remember the name of Yahweh, our God.

96. 48:50

    The name there. It is again that we have looked at today. They are brought down, they are fallen, but we are risen and stand upright. Save Yahweh. Let the King hear us when we call. What a beautiful. Psalm to hear in the Day of Trouble, a Psalm of David, perfectly suited to the time of Hezekiah.

97. 49:13

    We could say that David had written it under inspiration just for Hezekiah. And we may find that. Ourselves that when we turn to the Word of God in the day of trouble, we will find words written just for us, which capture the the turmoil of our mind and express the thoughts of the heart and throw out the feelings that are burdening us now and turn us to trust in the one who will say.

98. 49:42

    This is what the word. Of God has been given to us for Hezekiah’s crisis is summarized in Psalm 150. If we had more time. Than sisters, we would try to show how these things are linked together and leave it for you to follow up if you’re interested. The Psalm, which Hezekiah perhaps wrote under inspiration or was written at the time, captures the prayer that when he went before the Lord, you know, he had a letter. He had this letter from.

99. 50:18

    From Sennacherib. And it terrified him. Hezekiah wasn’t a man who had No Fear. He was just as frightened as you and I would have be. But he has this letter and there’s no what to do. It’s threatening him with all sorts of things and he says I don’t know what to do about it, Lord.

100. 50:37

     I can’t cope. Look, that was his prayer. He laid it before the Lord He. Didn’t know which way to. Turn. What do we do when? We’re in that situation. They harden ourselves. What do we do with? Hezekiah did, and then he offered the most magnificent prayer. Showing the Spirit. Of Christ that was in him.

101. 51:05

     It’s not a prayer about. His problem at all? It’s a prayer that. The name of God might be glorified that those who challenged in the name of the king of of Assyria the God of heaven, might know that the God of Israel is the one true God. That’s why Hezekiah wants them to be destroyed, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.

102. 51:35

     So much had he. Got the spirit of the name of God in his mind that his thoughts expressed in the day of trouble were the right thoughts. He was manifesting the name of God. This was God manifestation in a day of trouble, that God might be glorified in whatever happened to him. And Psalm 115 takes hold of that prayer verse. One not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name, give glory for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? That’s the challenge of Rabchaka. You have in verse 4:00 and 5:00 and six a reference to the gods of the nation, Second Kings 19.

103. 52:31

     You have the need. To trust not in Egypt, not in horses, not in Chariots, but in the God of Israel. Verse 9. O Israel, trust thou in Yahweh, He is their help in their shield. O House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh, He is their help in their shield. He that fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh, He is the help of their sheer.

104. 52:59

     This was the encouragement of Hezekiah’s reign. And it has the. Assurance of blessing. There in verse. 17 is the contrast with the Assyrian who were destroyed in one night, the dead craze, not Yahweh, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless. Yahweh from this time forth and forevermore. Hallelujah. May brethren, sisters, Hezekiah and the words of God in times of his distress, be an encouragement and comfort to us in our day of trouble.