Colin Badger – Thematic Study of Isaiah – Class 2 – Hekiziah the Great

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This is day two of the 1988
Idyllwild Bible School.

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Our third period speaker is
Brother Colin Badger, and his

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general subject is Thematic
Study of Isaiah.

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His subtopic for today’s class
is Hezekiah, the Great Father

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Colin.
They’ve either had them

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unintentionally picked up, or if
you need others, they’re here.

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You can take them at the end of
the class.

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We will be referring to those
sheets periodically during the

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week, so if they’re kept perhaps
folded or in your Bible or

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books, it’ll be helpful.
Yesterday we ended by taking a

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look at some references in the
Kings and Chronicles which show

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the extent to which King A has.
Hebekiah father had polluted the

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worship of Israel, and when we
use the word Israel there we

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mean in general terms North and
South, for the effects of his

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apostasy had far reaching
effects all over the land.

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I’d like just to recap some of
those thoughts from yesterday as

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we lead into a particular study
of Hezekiah.

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We were looking at Second
Chronicles chapter 28 as we

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ended yesterday, where we read
that A has had sacrificed verse

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23 of Second Chronicles 28.
He had sacrificed unto the gods

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of Damascus because he had said
the gods of the kings of Syria

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help them.
Therefore will I sacrifice to

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them, that they may help me.
But they were the ruin of him

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and of all Israel.
Now notice how the word Israel

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is being used there.
Ahab really was reigning in

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Jerusalem in the South over the
two tribes, but he had far

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reaching effects over not just
Judah and Benjamin, but all

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Israel.
We noticed yesterday how the

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King’s account, Second King 16,
gives very detailed descriptions

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of how he introduced a new altar
for burnt offering, a copy of

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which he had received while
visiting a Pagan country.

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We noticed how he had displaced
the position of the burnt

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offering altar as it had been
under the law of Moses.

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We noticed how he had gone to
the great brazen labor

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constructed under Solomon, how
he had taken the legs from off

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of it.
He was constantly busying

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himself with the process of
paganizing God’s people.

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He set in motion a process of
apostasy that was to eventually

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be almost the rock of the whole
land, North and South, but

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especially in the South.
He was literally rearranging

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God’s plan and purpose in every
way that he could.

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And here in verse 24, as we saw
yesterday, chapter 28, he

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gathered together the vessels of
the House of God and cut in

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pieces the vessels of the House
of God.

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He was a madman, this man, a
rampage for paganism and every

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respect.
Then he shut up the doors of the

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House of the Lord, and he made
him altars in every corner of

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Jerusalem and in every several
city of Judah.

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He made high places to burn
incense unto other gods, and

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provoked to anger the Lord God
of his fathers.

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All of that created a gigantic
problem for Hezekiah when he was

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about to come to the throne.
This was the inheritance a

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father left his son.
Isaiah chapter 28, when read in

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light of what we’ve just seen in
the days of Ahab, helped to be

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understood a little more
clearly.

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Isaiah chapter 28 Keep in mind
that phrase in Chronicles that

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we just met that he polluted and
had effects on all Israel North

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and South.
And remember he was a king in

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the South and yet he had effects
in the north.

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Isaiah chapter 28 verse one, woe
to the crown of pride, to the

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drunkards of Iphraim, whose
glorious beauty is a fading

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flower, which are on the head of
the fat valleys of them that are

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overcome with wine.
Now Isaiah 1 verses 1 and 2 tell

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us that Isaiah was sent really
to minister to Judah and

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Jerusalem.
So then why is he issuing this

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prophecy and warning to Iphraim
to possibilities?

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They’re not necessarily
exclusive. 1 is because Ahaz had

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had such far reaching effects in
his apostasy, centering himself

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in Judah but having these ripple
effects throughout the nation.

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Isaiah here appeals to those who
have been affected by his

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apostasy beyond even those of
his immediate parameters as a

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prophet.
Or it’s possible that he is

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actually talking to Judah as
though Judah has fallen the way

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of Ibrahim.
And he may here be using a kind

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of ironic address.
But regardless, look at what it

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says.
The crown of pride, the

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drunkards of Ibrahim, the
condition of the land.

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Just look at it.
Verse 7.

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This is what Hezekiah inherited.
Verse 7 But they also have erred

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through wine and through strong
drink and are out of the way.

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The priests and the prophets
have erred through strong drink.

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They are swallowed up of wine.
They are out of the way through

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strong drinks.
They err in vision, they stumble

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in judgement, for all tables are
full of vomit and filthiness, so

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that there is no place clean,
strong language, brothers and

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sisters, to describe the
condition of his people.

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It’s a land that is filled with
bonnets.

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Verse 14 Wherefore hear the word
of the Lord, says Isaiah E

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scornful men that rule this
people, which is in Jerusalem,

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because ye have said we have
made a covenant with death and

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with hell.
And are we at agreement when the

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overflowing scourge shall pass
through?

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Now in our introductory remarks
yesterday we suggested that you

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be alert to that figure of
speech overflowing waters

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overflowing.
A word that refers to the

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onslaught of Assyria time and
again.

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So now Assyria is threatened
with the overflowing scourge.

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Shall pass through it shall not
come unto us.

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For we have made lies our
refuge, and under falsehood have

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we hid ourselves.
Now that language doesn’t make

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too much sense, unless you bear
in mind the background of Ahab,

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where he had apostasized the
nation, changed the arrangements

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in the temple.
Indeed, they had made lies their

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refuge, and under falsehood they
were hiding themselves,

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ignorant, wilfully ignorant of
the truth.

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Rebels, wayward children, a
thick nation.

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We looked yesterday, didn’t we,
at Isaiah chapter 1, which uses

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the language of leprosy and
weeping sores to describe the

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sick body of Israel inherited
from this faithless king?

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Like just to look again at some
of these details and notice how

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they are linked with something
later on in Isaiah’s prophecy,

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which is very useful to bear in
mind.

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In Isaiah chapter 1, the word
stricken in verse 5, if you were

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to check it in a concordance,
you’d find it’s the same word to

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describe Job’s boils in Job 2
verse 7, which are understood

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generally to be leprous boils.
The word stricken there is also

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the same word to describe the
condition elsewhere in scripture

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of the leper in Leviticus.
It seems to relate also to words

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used to describe Aziah’s leprosy
in Second Chronicles 26.

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Here, then, is a thick and
leprous nation.

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Now something else to notice.
This opens up a lot of fruitful

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thought.
The word stricken here in verse

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5.
If you’ve got a pencil, you

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might want to jot these down,
because I’m going to go through

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this rather quickly.
The word stricken in verse 5 is

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the same word as the word
smitten in Isaiah 53, verse 4.

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That’s the suffering servant
prophecy.

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That’s the servant of Jesus
Christ, the one who would take

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take our sins and our sorrows,
our griefs.

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The word sick in verse 5 of
Isaiah 1 also occurs in Isaiah

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53 verse four, and there it’s
translated griefs verse 6.

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Here in Isaiah 1 the word
bruises found here towards the

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middle of verse 6 is translated
same word in Isaiah 53 verse 5

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the word stripes.
Now isn’t that curious?

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Why would it be, brothers and
sisters, that the Lord Jesus

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Christ as the suffering Servant
should be described in the very

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terms used to describe the sick
nation?

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We can understand why the nation
would be described as leprous

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and thick, being smitten, having
grief, having strife, but why

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would those terms be carried
over and applied to the Lord

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Jesus Christ?
Think about it brothers and

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sisters, we won’t consider it
all of it right now in detail,

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but one thing is certain from
those 3 keyword links.

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The thick nation and the thin
bearer.

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Jesus Christ has taken upon him
the wounds and the sickness of

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the nation, and that’s why He’s
described in those terms.

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It’s not that the Lord Jesus
Christ was afflicted, for He was

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the sinless servant.
He was indeed tempted in all

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points, like as we are, yet
without sin.

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When Peter in the New Testament
quotes Isaiah 53 in his epistle,

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he renders part of Isaiah 53 as
in His mouth was no guile, in

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his mouth was no guile, He was
sinless.

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And yet the sins of the nation,
their wounds, their grief, their

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putrefying swords, as it were,
are transferred in Isaiah 53 to

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the burden bearer.
You see the extent to which He

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takes upon Him our burdens, the
extent to which God wishes us to

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understand how He takes our sins
and our sicknesses.

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It makes better sense of why it
is in Matthew chapter 8 verse 16

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that Matthew says when He healed
the demoniacs, it fulfilled

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Isaiah 53.
That said He took upon Him the

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infirmities and the sicknesses
of us all.

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Yes, Isaiah 53 is not talking
about him taking literal

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sickness.
It’s showing him to be a burden

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bearer of sins.
His the our sins and our

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iniquities were laid upon him.
Obviously, then, there’s an

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ascent in which physical
sickness, especially leprosy, is

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but a parable of the sinners.
And insofar as the nation could

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figuratively to be described as
a sick body, a leprous

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community, it was appropriate in
describing Jesus as the burden

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bearer of sin, to describe him
as having carried to himself the

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sicknesses and the wounds of the
nation.

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I wish we could explore that a
bit more.

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Hopefully we’ll come back to the
game later this week.

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But perhaps you could pursue
that in your own studies and see

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the force of what’s being said
there in both passages.

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Now, I’d like you to turn to
Second Chronicles.

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This is jumping a step ahead.
We will be dealing with it

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momentarily, though, as we look
at Hezekiah’s reform.

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But now on this theme of
sickness, Second Chronicles

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chapter 30.
Second Chronicles chapter 30 is

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a detailed chapter describing
the Passover which Hezekiah

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called for in the midst of his
reform program.

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We’re going to work through
these sections fairly

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chronological in a moment, but
just notice this.

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When Hezekiah brought about his
reforms and when he admonished

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the people to the Levites
especially to reform the land.

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Once that had been done and
Hezekiah appealed in his little

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Passover, we say little because
it was not celebrated at their

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regular time.
Provision under the Law of Moses

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allowed for it to be celebrated
in the second month, which was

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when Hezekiah celebrated it.
The priests and the Levites and

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most of the nation had not yet
been prepared when all that was

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done, and the Passover was at
its climatic point.

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Here in Second Chronicles 30,
verse 18, going to verse 20,

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notice this progression of
thought for it says verse 18.

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A multitude of the people, even
many of Iphraim and Manasseh is

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the current Zebulun had not
cleansed themselves, hadn’t

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cleansed themselves.
Indeed they hadn’t Look at the

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conditions that had been left to
them from Ahab wasn’t just that

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they all hadn’t taken a bath or
hadn’t washed their hands.

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They were spiritually unclean,
yet did they eat the Passover

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otherwise than it was written.
But Hezekiah prayed for them,

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saying the good Lord, pardon
everyone, a nation that’s not

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clean, a man who prays for those
unclean and relates in his

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prayer the thought of pardoning.
You see the sense of being

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unclean, Then it’s in a sense of
having sinned.

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Verse 19 that prepareth his
heart to seek God, the Lord God

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of his fathers, though he be not
cleansed according to the

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purification of the sanctuary.
And what was the Father’s

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response to this faithful prayer
for cleansing, pardoning?

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Verse 20 and the Lord hearkened
to Hebekiah and heal the people,

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heal them.
Why use that kind of language,

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brothers and sisters?
It hearkens back to Isaiah

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chapter 1.
It would make very little sense

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to us unless we had first
considered that in Isaiah 1.

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The nation is sick.
It needs healing, and what kind

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of healing does it need?
It needs to be pardoned for

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their sins and their apostasy.
Thus, in Isaiah 53, when the

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00:16:08,480 –> 00:16:12,320
Suffering Servant is described
as one who looks like the nation

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00:16:12,320 –> 00:16:16,200
as it were, being described as
though he has the sickness

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00:16:16,440 –> 00:16:22,200
transferred to him from a sick
nation, Isaiah 53 shows us to

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have him as the pardoner, the
one who will bear our

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iniquities.
For to pardon sin is to cure a

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00:16:30,480 –> 00:16:34,280
sickness.
To cleanse iniquity and

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00:16:34,280 –> 00:16:38,760
transgression is to make
spiritually a body sound.

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Once again.
All of that background in Isaiah

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00:16:42,560 –> 00:16:47,840
1 then shines its light upon the
force of verse 20 as Hezekiah

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00:16:47,840 –> 00:16:52,120
tried to undo what A has his
father had left to him.

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Hezekiah had spread the disease.
Excuse me?

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00:16:56,040 –> 00:16:58,840
Isaiah had spread the disease.
No, we’ll get it yet.

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00:16:59,600 –> 00:17:01,320
We’ll go through all the names
before we get them.

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A has had spread the disease.
He had initiated it and he had

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been the carrier, and through
the work of Isaiah and Hezekiah,

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00:17:12,440 –> 00:17:16,839
the nation at the time of this
small Passover was able to come

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00:17:16,839 –> 00:17:21,200
before God and under imperfect
conditions, according to the law

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of Moses, be cleansed.
Another passage at the end of

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00:17:27,680 –> 00:17:32,560
Judah’s history as a monarchy at
the end of Chronicles.

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One of the very last things that
is said to describe the nation

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00:17:38,360 –> 00:17:41,880
in her last hours.
Now this is going ahead to the

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00:17:41,880 –> 00:17:46,840
time of the Babylonians.
This is at the time of Jeremiah,

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some years later after Hezekiah
and Isaiah.

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00:17:52,640 –> 00:17:55,880
This is when Nebuchadnezzar
comes down as the second Great

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00:17:55,880 –> 00:17:59,560
Northern invader.
And when Nebuchadnezzar comes

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00:17:59,560 –> 00:18:02,800
down with his Babylonians,
what’s the condition of the

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nation at that time?
Well, verse 13 of our Second

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00:18:10,040 –> 00:18:17,160
Chronicles 36 Speaking of
Zedekiah, like Ahaz Second

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00:18:17,160 –> 00:18:22,600
Chronicles 36, verse 13, he
Zedekiah also rebelled against

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00:18:22,600 –> 00:18:26,760
King Nebuchadnezzar, who had
made him swear by God, but he

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00:18:26,760 –> 00:18:29,480
stiffened his neck and hardened
his heart from turning unto the

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00:18:29,480 –> 00:18:33,400
Lord God of Israel.
Moreover, all the chief of the

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00:18:33,400 –> 00:18:37,880
priests and the people
transgressed very much.

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00:18:39,640 –> 00:18:42,600
Yesterday we were talking with
someone about Joel’s prophecy

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00:18:42,600 –> 00:18:45,600
and we were trying to come to an
agreement as to when it might

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00:18:45,600 –> 00:18:48,160
have been dated.
It’s a curious thing that in

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00:18:48,160 –> 00:18:52,040
Joel’s prophecy there is nothing
that is really said negatively

256
00:18:52,040 –> 00:18:55,400
of the priests.
But at the fall of Babylon, look

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00:18:55,400 –> 00:18:58,200
at the condition of the
priesthood in those last hours.

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00:18:58,760 –> 00:19:02,160
The chief of the priests and the
people transgressed very much

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00:19:02,440 –> 00:19:05,880
after all the abominations of
the heathen, and polluted the

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00:19:05,880 –> 00:19:09,600
host of the Lord, just like Ahab
had, which he had hollowed in

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00:19:09,600 –> 00:19:13,840
Jerusalem, and the Lord God of
their fathers sent to them by

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00:19:13,840 –> 00:19:17,640
his messengers.
People like Isaiah rising up the

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00:19:17,640 –> 00:19:22,400
times and sending because he had
compassion on his people.

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00:19:22,880 –> 00:19:26,000
You know, that’s an echo of a
New Testament statement when

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00:19:26,080 –> 00:19:30,360
Jesus turns to the people and
had compassion on them and saw

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00:19:30,360 –> 00:19:34,120
them as sheep having no
shepherd, that in passing he had

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00:19:34,120 –> 00:19:37,440
compassion on his people and on
his dwelling plate.

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00:19:37,920 –> 00:19:42,360
But they they mocked the
messengers of God and despised

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00:19:42,360 –> 00:19:47,120
his words and misused his
prophets until the wrath of the

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00:19:47,120 –> 00:19:51,680
Lord arose against his people,
till there was no remedy.

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00:19:52,720 –> 00:19:55,520
Remedy sounds like medicine,
doesn’t it?

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00:19:56,240 –> 00:19:59,160
Might that be harkening to the
kind of condition we’ve just

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00:19:59,160 –> 00:20:04,200
been considering in Isaiah 1 and
Second Chronicles where Hezekiah

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00:20:04,200 –> 00:20:08,200
prayed and they were healed?
Now look at your margin.

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00:20:09,440 –> 00:20:13,800
The word for remedy in your
margin if you have one, Hebrew

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00:20:14,280 –> 00:20:16,880
healing.
So we’re right.

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00:20:17,760 –> 00:20:21,880
At the very end of the nation’s
history, when Babylon comes

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00:20:21,880 –> 00:20:26,240
down, the nation is sick.
So we read that again.

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00:20:26,520 –> 00:20:30,240
Until the wrath of the Lord
arose against his people, till

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00:20:30,240 –> 00:20:36,440
there was no healing, they were
so sick, there was no remedy, no

281
00:20:36,440 –> 00:20:40,080
healing of that body.
And thus, because there was no

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00:20:40,080 –> 00:20:44,800
healing, no one who would be
receptive to the great

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00:20:44,800 –> 00:20:48,800
physicians words, no one who
would turn back in the last

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00:20:48,800 –> 00:20:51,960
hours before another northern
invader comes down.

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00:20:52,760 –> 00:20:57,800
God says it’s a nation stick.
It’s a standard picture from

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00:20:57,800 –> 00:21:02,000
both Old and New Testament.
And it helps to provide a master

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00:21:02,000 –> 00:21:06,040
key to an understanding as to
why so much attention in the New

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00:21:06,040 –> 00:21:09,320
Testament is given to those
miracles of healing that we

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00:21:09,320 –> 00:21:14,400
mentioned on Sunday.
Well, that brings us to Hezekiah

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00:21:14,520 –> 00:21:22,880
and his great reforms.
When does Isaiah’s prophecy he

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00:21:22,880 –> 00:21:27,200
in to the reign of Hezekiah?
That’s an important question.

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00:21:27,480 –> 00:21:33,160
Go back, if you will, to Isaiah,
for it’s in the 1st chapter that

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00:21:33,160 –> 00:21:36,240
we’re told he prophesied during
the days of Hezekiah.

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00:21:36,880 –> 00:21:40,240
Let’s see if we can discover
where in our Bibles in Isaiah

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00:21:40,560 –> 00:21:46,160
Hezekiah plugs in.
Well, starting from Isaiah 1

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00:21:46,160 –> 00:21:54,200
verse one, we travel over to
Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 6 has a time

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00:21:54,200 –> 00:21:57,920
clue.
Remember, chapter one has told

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00:21:57,920 –> 00:22:01,960
us that Isaiah ministered during
the days of Uziah.

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00:22:02,880 –> 00:22:07,040
Here in the Isaiah 6 verse one
Uziah has died.

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00:22:08,400 –> 00:22:14,880
Isaiah 6, verse one, in the year
that king Uzziah died, I saw

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00:22:14,880 –> 00:22:18,400
also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up.

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00:22:18,800 –> 00:22:21,480
Now that’s the kind of verse you
want to grab a hold of, because

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00:22:21,480 –> 00:22:26,160
now you know this, that from
Isaiah 1 to Isaiah chapter 6,

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00:22:26,440 –> 00:22:29,920
you’re working in Isaiah’s
ministry during the years of

305
00:22:30,200 –> 00:22:33,360
Uzziah.
By the way, it’s interesting

306
00:22:33,360 –> 00:22:37,560
that Uzziah died of leprosy.
In other words, look at this.

307
00:22:38,280 –> 00:22:42,280
It’s on one of those blunt,
undesigned coincidences here.

308
00:22:42,280 –> 00:22:46,920
Isaiah 6 has told us that up to
the 6th chapter, Uzziah was king

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00:22:46,920 –> 00:22:50,440
on the throne.
In other words, when Isaiah 1

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00:22:50,440 –> 00:22:55,880
and verse 1 was heralded by
Isaiah, and when Isaiah showed

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00:22:55,880 –> 00:22:58,880
the nation that they were
leprous and sick, who was on the

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00:22:58,880 –> 00:23:00,960
throne?
Uziah.

313
00:23:01,480 –> 00:23:04,240
And you know what?
He died of leprosy.

314
00:23:05,480 –> 00:23:08,560
See the point?
It’s an incredible coincidence,

315
00:23:08,560 –> 00:23:12,640
is it not, that when Isaiah
portrays the nation as a leprous

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00:23:12,640 –> 00:23:17,040
nation, they’ve got a king who’s
a leper on the throne, who was a

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00:23:17,040 –> 00:23:20,960
rebellious man who thought that
he could, in his arrogance, go

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00:23:20,960 –> 00:23:23,640
in and burn incense.
We’ve referred to him a number

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00:23:23,640 –> 00:23:26,160
of times as we’ve looked at
several studies in the valley in

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00:23:26,160 –> 00:23:28,480
the past week.
He’s the man that leprosy broke

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00:23:28,480 –> 00:23:31,760
out over his forehead in a very
place where the priest mitre

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00:23:31,760 –> 00:23:35,600
was, where it said holiness unto
Yahweh.

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00:23:36,040 –> 00:23:42,040
There’s where leprosy broke out.
Now another clue from Isaiah 7.

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00:23:42,800 –> 00:23:45,520
We travel during the days of
Ahaz.

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00:23:45,680 –> 00:23:52,600
So from Chapter 7 till the end
of chapter 14, you’re working in

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00:23:52,600 –> 00:23:57,920
the years of Ahaz.
Some act to follow.

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00:23:57,920 –> 00:24:01,520
Wasn’t it from Uziah the leper
to Ahaz the apostate?

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00:24:02,320 –> 00:24:04,440
Now, how do we know it’s just
those chapters?

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00:24:05,320 –> 00:24:07,480
Isaiah 14 deserves a lot of
attention.

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00:24:07,480 –> 00:24:09,320
It’s one of those chapters we
use when we’re dealing with

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00:24:09,320 –> 00:24:11,600
first principles.
It’s the Lucifer passage.

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00:24:12,320 –> 00:24:18,400
And often we miss a little tiny
detail at the end of Isaiah 14.

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00:24:18,760 –> 00:24:25,920
Look at it in verse 28 in the
year.

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00:24:26,600 –> 00:24:32,280
No, in the year that King Ahab
died was this burden.

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00:24:33,280 –> 00:24:36,480
Ah, that’s interesting.
If we know that chapter 6 was

336
00:24:36,480 –> 00:24:44,360
given in the year that Uziah
died, then chapter 78910111213

337
00:24:44,360 –> 00:24:49,200
and 14 must be given during the
years of Ahaz.

338
00:24:49,800 –> 00:24:53,680
For by the time you get to verse
28 he has died also.

339
00:24:55,440 –> 00:25:03,560
That means Isaiah 15 to the end
covers the reign of Hezekiah,

340
00:25:03,920 –> 00:25:07,400
the last of the three kings of
Judah that Isaiah said in

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00:25:07,400 –> 00:25:11,960
chapter 1 he worked with.
So by looking carefully at a few

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00:25:11,960 –> 00:25:15,120
little details in the prophecy,
we can now kind of divide it up

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00:25:15,120 –> 00:25:19,560
in terms of time periods all the
way from Isaiah 15 to the end.

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00:25:19,680 –> 00:25:22,920
Anything that’s said by Isaiah
is said during the reign of

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00:25:22,920 –> 00:25:25,760
Hezekiah.
And does that ever help to know?

346
00:25:27,000 –> 00:25:31,240
Bear in mind the Life and Times
of Hezekiah as you read from

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00:25:31,240 –> 00:25:35,520
chapter 15 to the end of chapter
66, verse 24.

348
00:25:38,000 –> 00:25:41,000
While Hezekiah deserves a great
deal of attention, we could

349
00:25:41,000 –> 00:25:43,600
devote a Bible school to
Hezekiah very easily.

350
00:25:44,400 –> 00:25:48,680
That green sheet that we gave
you a few days back, which

351
00:25:49,040 –> 00:25:53,240
outlines the structure, or at
least the suggested structure of

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00:25:53,240 –> 00:25:56,000
Isaiah might find it useful to
look at that now.

353
00:25:57,840 –> 00:26:06,600
And as you do, take a look at
Isaiah 36, Isaiah 36.

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00:26:10,840 –> 00:26:16,040
This is what could be called the
hinge or the axis of the

355
00:26:16,040 –> 00:26:22,760
prophecy.
For from chapter 36, 36373839,

356
00:26:22,760 –> 00:26:25,440
you’re in the middle of the
prophecy and you’re dealing with

357
00:26:25,440 –> 00:26:30,040
historical chapters dealing with
the invasion of Sennacherib,

358
00:26:30,640 –> 00:26:34,320
chapters that are repeated in
part in Kings and Chronicles.

359
00:26:35,160 –> 00:26:37,760
Now we come back to a question
that we raised earlier.

360
00:26:39,120 –> 00:26:42,680
Why, if these chapters occur in
Kings and Chronicles, are they

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00:26:42,680 –> 00:26:45,480
repeated mostly in the middle of
this prophecy?

362
00:26:46,200 –> 00:26:48,640
Can’t we go back to Kings and
Chronicles and read them there?

363
00:26:49,400 –> 00:26:53,840
Well, of course we can.
But God seems to be showing us

364
00:26:53,840 –> 00:27:00,400
that in this prophecy of Isaiah.
He wants us to meet somebody in

365
00:27:00,400 –> 00:27:03,600
the middle of the book.
And although he’s already gone

366
00:27:03,600 –> 00:27:07,320
to great pains to put it in
Kings and in Chronicles, it’s

367
00:27:07,320 –> 00:27:10,040
not enough.
He puts it again in the middle

368
00:27:10,040 –> 00:27:14,280
of this prophecy.
And who do we meet as we go and

369
00:27:14,280 –> 00:27:16,440
look from chapter 1 to the
middle of the book?

370
00:27:16,440 –> 00:27:21,440
Who do we see ahead of it?
Hezekiah And as you travel past

371
00:27:21,440 –> 00:27:26,800
chapter 40 and look back at the
prophecies before you, who do

372
00:27:26,800 –> 00:27:29,040
you see behind you?
Hezekiah.

373
00:27:29,560 –> 00:27:32,680
He’s meant to be a kind of
double mirror, we would suggest

374
00:27:32,720 –> 00:27:36,320
in the middle of this prophecy.
All that was said and done in

375
00:27:36,320 –> 00:27:41,520
the beginning of Isaiah pointed
towards Hezekiah’s work and from

376
00:27:41,520 –> 00:27:49,240
Hezekiah’s monumental work in
chapter 36373839, really God’s

377
00:27:49,240 –> 00:27:52,920
work through Hezekiah, the
defeat of the Assyrians, the

378
00:27:52,920 –> 00:27:57,720
victory over the great enemy.
From that section on the second

379
00:27:57,720 –> 00:28:02,760
part of Isaiah is a springboard
from that great victory.

380
00:28:03,000 –> 00:28:06,440
And you’ll find in the
second-half of Isaiah a number

381
00:28:06,440 –> 00:28:11,720
of references that hearken back
in past tense to the fact that

382
00:28:11,720 –> 00:28:15,800
the enemy has been destroyed, to
the fact that there is now

383
00:28:15,800 –> 00:28:18,880
liberty.
Past tense to the fact that now

384
00:28:18,880 –> 00:28:21,600
somebody has been, has been
restored.

385
00:28:22,400 –> 00:28:26,040
Passages that refer in the past
tense or present as though there

386
00:28:26,040 –> 00:28:29,040
already is a remnant.
Not just that there will be a

387
00:28:29,040 –> 00:28:31,760
remnant.
Not just that there will be some

388
00:28:31,760 –> 00:28:35,120
people redeemed.
Sometimes the tenses in the past

389
00:28:35,160 –> 00:28:39,520
and in the present tenses in Old
and New Testament are tricky.

390
00:28:40,040 –> 00:28:42,640
Sometimes God calls those things
which be not.

391
00:28:42,680 –> 00:28:46,000
As though they were.
But there is meaning to

392
00:28:46,000 –> 00:28:50,600
Hezekiah’s contemporaries.
When we passed, passed into

393
00:28:50,600 –> 00:28:57,760
chapter 40 and beyond, there has
been a great jubilee, the words

394
00:28:57,800 –> 00:29:11,080
of Isaiah chapter 36 and into
chapter 37 describing the

395
00:29:11,080 –> 00:29:15,840
Assyrian invasion and the
victory over them. 37 just for a

396
00:29:15,840 –> 00:29:26,640
quick peek, 37 verse 30 and 31
and 32 all speak in terms of the

397
00:29:26,640 –> 00:29:31,000
liberation from the Assyrian in
the language of jubilee.

398
00:29:31,800 –> 00:29:35,960
That’s Leviticus 25, the year of
Jubilee, the year of liberation,

399
00:29:36,600 –> 00:29:39,000
verse 30.
That refers to a sign that would

400
00:29:39,000 –> 00:29:45,080
be given crops growing to the
third year, sowing and reaping

401
00:29:45,080 –> 00:29:49,440
land of fruitfulness, a remnant
that would be escaping roots

402
00:29:49,440 –> 00:29:51,440
downward and bearing fruit
upward.

403
00:29:51,680 –> 00:29:55,040
All that language is pulling out
of Leviticus 25.

404
00:29:55,360 –> 00:29:58,880
So there was a contemporary
Jubilee experience.

405
00:29:59,440 –> 00:30:02,800
There were a group of people
that came out of Jerusalem that

406
00:30:02,800 –> 00:30:06,880
next day that were free and
liberated.

407
00:30:07,440 –> 00:30:10,880
There was an enemy that had in
contemporary experience been

408
00:30:10,880 –> 00:30:14,120
destroyed.
There were people, verse 32,

409
00:30:14,240 –> 00:30:18,280
Isaiah 37, that had escaped from
Jerusalem as a remnant.

410
00:30:19,400 –> 00:30:25,560
You see, in the Life and Times
of Hezekiah and Isaiah, they had

411
00:30:25,560 –> 00:30:29,920
a foretaste of a greater jubilee
to come in their days.

412
00:30:29,920 –> 00:30:33,800
There was a remnant that had
come out of that great victory.

413
00:30:34,520 –> 00:30:37,760
There were some that would
regard themselves as redeemed in

414
00:30:37,760 –> 00:30:41,400
the temporal sense, purchased
their life having previously

415
00:30:41,400 –> 00:30:44,200
hung in doubt.
And as they walked out and saw

416
00:30:44,200 –> 00:30:47,720
those dead Assyrian corpses
scattered around the hills of

417
00:30:47,720 –> 00:30:52,800
Jerusalem, they saw the
salvation of Yahweh, the meaning

418
00:30:52,800 –> 00:30:56,880
of Isaiah’s name and the meaning
of Hezekiah’s name.

419
00:30:56,920 –> 00:31:00,280
Yahweh is strength, for there
was proof that Yahweh is

420
00:31:00,280 –> 00:31:05,080
strength, and there was proof as
they walked out free that Yahweh

421
00:31:05,080 –> 00:31:08,560
is salvation.
Now, that’s why we say that in

422
00:31:08,560 –> 00:31:12,960
the middle of Isaiah you have
these records of history.

423
00:31:13,400 –> 00:31:18,400
It’s all focused on Hezekiah and
the experience of delivery from

424
00:31:18,400 –> 00:31:22,360
the greatest Syrian enemy.
Keeping that in mind, the second

425
00:31:22,360 –> 00:31:26,000
part of Isaiah opens up in a way
that perhaps you might not have

426
00:31:26,000 –> 00:31:30,560
considered, and it explains why
at times restoration and

427
00:31:30,560 –> 00:31:35,160
redemption is spoken of as a
spoken of as a real experience.

428
00:31:35,400 –> 00:31:38,440
It was to them in a very limited
way.

429
00:31:39,760 –> 00:31:44,360
Now, our friend Hezekiah, we
can’t do complete justice to

430
00:31:44,360 –> 00:31:46,680
him.
Our study is Isaiah, not

431
00:31:46,680 –> 00:31:50,160
Hezekiah.
But let’s just glean some

432
00:31:50,160 –> 00:31:54,760
exhortations from his life which
help us to understand why his

433
00:31:54,760 –> 00:31:58,760
experience with the Assyrian was
so important to be put in the

434
00:31:58,760 –> 00:32:02,120
middle of the prophecy.
So we go back to the Old

435
00:32:02,120 –> 00:32:09,760
Testament Chronicles, Second
Chronicles, chapter 29.

436
00:32:09,760 –> 00:32:14,320
And we’re going to stay here
within these chapters for the

437
00:32:14,320 –> 00:32:16,200
last part of our study this
morning.

438
00:32:16,960 –> 00:32:23,960
Hezekiah the Great, whose name
meant Yahweh, is strength, and

439
00:32:23,960 –> 00:32:26,480
so in his lifetime it was proven
to be so.

440
00:32:27,720 –> 00:32:32,720
Why was he so great?
Well, let’s just notice Second

441
00:32:32,720 –> 00:32:36,320
Chronicles chapter 29, first
one.

442
00:32:36,680 –> 00:32:40,240
Hezekiah began to reign when he
was 5 and 20 years old.

443
00:32:40,640 –> 00:32:44,080
Young man, then 25, but as old
as Bob Lloyd.

444
00:32:44,080 –> 00:32:51,040
That’s what Bob tells me.
He reigned 9 and 20 years in

445
00:32:51,040 –> 00:32:55,840
Jerusalem, and his mother’s name
was Abijah, the daughter of

446
00:32:55,840 –> 00:32:59,160
Zechariah.
Did you notice the omission?

447
00:33:00,880 –> 00:33:04,880
No mention of Ahaz here as an
introduction In the Chronicle’s

448
00:33:04,880 –> 00:33:09,960
account, his father is forgotten
as though he never existed, and

449
00:33:09,960 –> 00:33:14,320
all we’re told is, importantly,
what his mother’s name was.

450
00:33:15,080 –> 00:33:21,480
Abijah in the Hebrew her name
means My father is Yahweh.

451
00:33:23,040 –> 00:33:27,600
Notice that it was as though the
scriptural record was disowning

452
00:33:27,600 –> 00:33:32,720
Ahaz as the father of Hezekiah.
The attention is given to his

453
00:33:32,720 –> 00:33:37,880
mum and her name meant My father
is Yahweh whose father was

454
00:33:37,880 –> 00:33:41,080
Hezekiah.
It was more Yahweh in the real

455
00:33:41,080 –> 00:33:45,840
sense than it was Ahaz.
Very subtle point, but it’s

456
00:33:45,840 –> 00:33:49,600
important as striking the
keynote for the life of Hezekiah

457
00:33:50,280 –> 00:33:53,560
and sisters.
Don’t gloss over that too

458
00:33:53,560 –> 00:33:58,600
quickly.
Consider the import a lousy, no

459
00:33:58,600 –> 00:34:03,440
good for nothing husband.
Was Ahaz an apostate?

460
00:34:03,680 –> 00:34:07,920
Thoroughly all the way.
A poor role model for the son.

461
00:34:08,600 –> 00:34:11,360
But consider the work of this
woman.

462
00:34:11,840 –> 00:34:15,480
Scripture wants us to know who
the mother was, and her name

463
00:34:15,480 –> 00:34:18,760
speaks something of both her
character and the relation her

464
00:34:18,760 –> 00:34:23,679
son had to our Heavenly Father.
It was no doubt her mother that

465
00:34:23,679 –> 00:34:27,320
had the his mother that had the
critical influence in the

466
00:34:27,320 –> 00:34:32,159
formative years on Hezekiah in
the midst of the most horrid

467
00:34:32,159 –> 00:34:38,440
conditions in a household that
had a poor, poor father who not

468
00:34:38,440 –> 00:34:41,280
only was not in the truth, in a
certain sense, he had

469
00:34:41,280 –> 00:34:45,600
apostasized the truth not only
for himself, but had apostasized

470
00:34:45,600 –> 00:34:48,520
the whole nation.
Sisters, I don’t think there’s

471
00:34:48,520 –> 00:34:50,880
one of you in this room, whether
you have your husband in the

472
00:34:50,880 –> 00:34:53,400
truth or not, that has a husband
like a has.

473
00:34:54,600 –> 00:34:57,760
But I’m glad to hear you say
that.

474
00:34:59,120 –> 00:35:03,640
And the nods are encouraging.
But consider, brothers and

475
00:35:03,640 –> 00:35:07,800
sisters, consider the power of
that exhortation.

476
00:35:08,960 –> 00:35:11,960
We concern ourselves, and
rightly so, about raising our

477
00:35:11,960 –> 00:35:14,640
children in the truth.
And there’s not too many of us

478
00:35:14,640 –> 00:35:17,800
that have a perfect home that
could say that there’s perfect

479
00:35:17,800 –> 00:35:21,480
domestic bliss in our walls.
There are always times when our

480
00:35:21,480 –> 00:35:24,560
homes are imperfect, and some of
us have a harder job of it than

481
00:35:24,560 –> 00:35:26,560
others.
And some of us do not have our

482
00:35:26,560 –> 00:35:28,880
husbands in the truth for one
reason or another.

483
00:35:29,600 –> 00:35:33,920
That’s no reason to subtract the
importance of your role,

484
00:35:34,240 –> 00:35:38,720
although you may feel Hanford
Hezekiahs can sometimes come

485
00:35:38,720 –> 00:35:40,640
from the households that are
imperfect.

486
00:35:41,120 –> 00:35:45,200
A word of encouragement.
Verse two he did that was yours

487
00:35:45,200 –> 00:35:49,600
right in the sight of the Lord
according to all that David his

488
00:35:49,600 –> 00:35:53,720
father had done.
Now look at the force of how

489
00:35:53,720 –> 00:35:59,120
this man’s presented.
He, in the first year of his

490
00:35:59,120 –> 00:36:04,480
reign, in the first month,
opened the doors of the House of

491
00:36:04,480 –> 00:36:07,080
the Lord and repaired them.
Why did he have to open them?

492
00:36:08,440 –> 00:36:13,520
Because Ahaz had shut them at
the very beginning of his reign,

493
00:36:13,880 –> 00:36:16,440
in the first year, in the first
month.

494
00:36:16,720 –> 00:36:21,160
The very thing that he begins
with is something that reverses

495
00:36:21,160 –> 00:36:24,200
the acts of his father, as
though the first thing he wants

496
00:36:24,200 –> 00:36:27,000
the nation to know is that he
disowns his dad.

497
00:36:27,960 –> 00:36:32,880
He opens the doors which his
father had shut, and look at how

498
00:36:32,880 –> 00:36:35,160
quickly he gets about his
father’s business.

499
00:36:35,680 –> 00:36:39,120
Like Jesus said, I must be about
my father’s business.

500
00:36:39,240 –> 00:36:41,040
And he said that as a very young
lad.

501
00:36:41,480 –> 00:36:45,560
Hezekiah, as young as he is,
throws himself into the work of

502
00:36:45,560 –> 00:36:49,720
reform, tries immediately to
reverse the sordid conditions

503
00:36:49,720 –> 00:36:54,080
left to him from his father.
I want you to slip down to verse

504
00:36:54,080 –> 00:36:59,480
17.
Now this is looking back on what

505
00:36:59,480 –> 00:37:03,000
was started in verse 3,
something worth penciling in at

506
00:37:03,000 –> 00:37:06,520
verse three.
Now looking back to verse 3,

507
00:37:06,600 –> 00:37:11,000
verse 17.
Now they began on the first day

508
00:37:11,000 –> 00:37:16,320
of the first month to sanctify
and on the 8th day of the month

509
00:37:16,560 –> 00:37:18,400
came they to the porch of the
Lord.

510
00:37:19,640 –> 00:37:25,000
Now that tells you that Hezekiah
not only began the work of

511
00:37:25,000 –> 00:37:29,600
cleansing in the first month of
the first year, he began on the

512
00:37:29,600 –> 00:37:35,200
first day of the first month of
the first year of his work, of

513
00:37:35,200 –> 00:37:38,480
his reign.
Now you can see, brothers and

514
00:37:38,480 –> 00:37:41,960
sisters, the exhortation in that
it’s not just that he took 30

515
00:37:41,960 –> 00:37:44,120
days of the first month of the
first year.

516
00:37:44,760 –> 00:37:49,080
He began setting this whole
reform in motion on the first

517
00:37:49,080 –> 00:37:53,480
day of his reign, in the very
first month of the first year.

518
00:37:54,480 –> 00:37:58,120
Hezekiah was a man of action.
Would it be, brothers and

519
00:37:58,120 –> 00:38:01,280
sisters, that in Christadelphia
today we had more Hezekiahs?

520
00:38:02,280 –> 00:38:05,000
People who will turn off the
television and the radio and get

521
00:38:05,000 –> 00:38:08,520
down to this kind of work.
People who will put aside the

522
00:38:08,520 –> 00:38:13,080
women’s magazines and the soap
operas, Who will think more of

523
00:38:13,080 –> 00:38:16,560
this kind of contribution to the
Christadelphian body than

524
00:38:16,560 –> 00:38:20,040
spending hours and hours
indulging in their own pleasures

525
00:38:20,120 –> 00:38:23,120
and desires.
We speak strongly, brothers and

526
00:38:23,120 –> 00:38:25,920
sisters, but it applies as much
to me as it does to you.

527
00:38:26,920 –> 00:38:29,120
How much action is there in your
house?

528
00:38:29,760 –> 00:38:33,880
Are the doors open and who opens
them, or are they shut to the

529
00:38:33,880 –> 00:38:36,360
ecclesia?
Do they just open a crack on

530
00:38:36,360 –> 00:38:39,120
Sunday morning or when you go
trotting off to Bible class?

531
00:38:39,560 –> 00:38:41,880
Or are the doors of your house
open?

532
00:38:42,320 –> 00:38:45,640
What about your ecclesia?
Are doors those doors open?

533
00:38:46,320 –> 00:38:49,720
Are they open to a complete
infusion of God’s influence?

534
00:38:50,360 –> 00:38:55,400
They ought to be look at also as
we progress through verse four.

535
00:38:55,840 –> 00:38:58,440
He brought in the priests and
the Levites, and gathered them

536
00:38:58,440 –> 00:39:03,160
together into the East St.
And he said unto them, Now he’s

537
00:39:03,160 –> 00:39:04,800
talking to the arranging
brethren.

538
00:39:05,480 –> 00:39:10,680
He said unto them, Hear me, ye
Levites, sanctify now

539
00:39:10,680 –> 00:39:14,800
yourselves, and sanctify the
House of the Lord God of your

540
00:39:14,800 –> 00:39:20,320
Father’s.
Responsibility begins at home,

541
00:39:20,320 –> 00:39:24,120
doesn’t it?
First and foremost, they had to

542
00:39:24,120 –> 00:39:26,960
see that they themselves were on
the right wavelength before they

543
00:39:26,960 –> 00:39:30,680
try to help the nation.
Jesus understood that principle

544
00:39:31,000 –> 00:39:35,920
when he said in the Gospels,
Physician, heal thyself,

545
00:39:37,120 –> 00:39:40,680
physician, heal thyself.
And this is a physician’s work.

546
00:39:40,720 –> 00:39:45,400
Remember a few moments ago we
read that when God responded to

547
00:39:45,400 –> 00:39:48,520
Hezekiah’s prayer, he healed
them.

548
00:39:48,600 –> 00:39:53,400
So the whole reform and the
Passover work was targeting

549
00:39:53,400 –> 00:39:58,520
towards that climax that finally
when a when Hezekiah prayed to

550
00:39:58,520 –> 00:40:01,960
God, God would pardon the nation
and heal them.

551
00:40:02,160 –> 00:40:04,880
That’s the objective.
So everything we read here,

552
00:40:05,320 –> 00:40:08,760
everything that he’s about and
doing has that objective that

553
00:40:08,760 –> 00:40:11,360
the nation might be pardoned and
healed.

554
00:40:12,680 –> 00:40:15,480
So.
It began first with those who

555
00:40:15,480 –> 00:40:17,200
were in positions of
responsibility.

556
00:40:17,960 –> 00:40:22,680
Secondly, verse 5, let’s go on.
He, he tells the priests and

557
00:40:22,680 –> 00:40:26,760
Levites, carry forth the
filthiness out of the holy

558
00:40:26,760 –> 00:40:31,000
place.
What filthiness in the holy

559
00:40:31,000 –> 00:40:34,920
place?
That was the present left by

560
00:40:35,000 –> 00:40:38,080
Ahaz.
That was the condition of the

561
00:40:38,080 –> 00:40:42,240
sanctuary of God.
Do you think you got problems in

562
00:40:42,240 –> 00:40:44,240
your Ecclesia?
Perhaps you do.

563
00:40:44,800 –> 00:40:47,520
Do you think we as a body have
our problems worldwide?

564
00:40:47,520 –> 00:40:49,960
Indeed we do.
Let’s not minimize them.

565
00:40:51,000 –> 00:40:53,480
Do you think the problems are
insurmountable?

566
00:40:54,400 –> 00:40:58,440
As we go through these details,
consider how potentially

567
00:40:58,440 –> 00:41:00,560
insurmountable were these
problems.

568
00:41:00,960 –> 00:41:03,640
There’s not one of us in this
room that has to fight against a

569
00:41:03,640 –> 00:41:05,640
condition like this in the
ecclesia.

570
00:41:06,600 –> 00:41:11,000
And concerning that filthiness,
just slip over here in the same

571
00:41:11,000 –> 00:41:13,560
chapter to verse 15, when the
work is done.

572
00:41:15,120 –> 00:41:18,920
Verse 15 And they gathered their
brethren and sanctified

573
00:41:18,920 –> 00:41:22,080
themselves, and came according
to the commandment of the king,

574
00:41:22,520 –> 00:41:26,160
by the words of the Lord, to
cleanse the House of the Lord.

575
00:41:26,480 –> 00:41:30,360
And the priests went into the
inner part of the House of the

576
00:41:30,360 –> 00:41:36,840
Lord, the inner part of the
house, to cleanse it, and

577
00:41:36,840 –> 00:41:40,920
brought out all the uncleanness
that they found in the temple of

578
00:41:40,920 –> 00:41:44,160
the Lord, into the court of the
House of the Lord.

579
00:41:44,440 –> 00:41:48,560
And the Levites took it out to
carry it out abroad into the

580
00:41:48,560 –> 00:41:55,160
brook, Kidron, barrels, wagon
loads, it would seem, of some

581
00:41:55,160 –> 00:41:57,400
kind of filthiness, whatever
that was.

582
00:41:58,360 –> 00:42:03,120
Can you imagine what A has had
done and what he had tolerated

583
00:42:03,120 –> 00:42:07,040
or encouraged so that in the
very inner parts of the house

584
00:42:07,760 –> 00:42:10,240
there was filthiness, not
figurative.

585
00:42:10,800 –> 00:42:14,160
There was some literal
filthiness that needed to be

586
00:42:14,160 –> 00:42:17,600
shipped out and dumped over into
the valley down below.

587
00:42:18,480 –> 00:42:22,080
That was the condition of the
times in which Isaiah and

588
00:42:22,080 –> 00:42:25,960
Hezekiah worked.
Now can you see why the prophet

589
00:42:25,960 –> 00:42:28,280
described the nation as sick and
leprous?

590
00:42:28,880 –> 00:42:32,920
That passage we read in Isaiah
28 that described the priests

591
00:42:32,920 –> 00:42:37,360
and the people as both being
polluters, sick, drunk, blind,

592
00:42:37,480 –> 00:42:39,880
deaf.
Such was the condition.

593
00:42:40,560 –> 00:42:46,680
Then verse 7, following on the
orders of great Hezekiah.

594
00:42:48,680 –> 00:42:52,760
Also, says Hezekiah, they have
shut up the doors of the porch,

595
00:42:53,880 –> 00:42:58,640
put out the lamps, and have not
burned incense nor offered burnt

596
00:42:58,640 –> 00:43:02,000
offerings in the holy place unto
the God of Israel.

597
00:43:02,840 –> 00:43:07,480
Problem after problem stacks up,
the doors have been shut, the

598
00:43:07,480 –> 00:43:14,880
lamps extinguished, no incense
to heaven, no burnt offerings of

599
00:43:14,880 –> 00:43:18,720
dedication and commitment.
Every one of those pieces of

600
00:43:18,720 –> 00:43:23,560
furniture which Hezekiah picks
on were highly symbolic of the

601
00:43:23,560 –> 00:43:25,640
wretched condition that had been
going on.

602
00:43:26,680 –> 00:43:31,240
The doors needed to be opened.
The lamps needed to be filled

603
00:43:31,240 –> 00:43:37,240
with oil and burning incense.
The symbol of prayer need to be

604
00:43:37,240 –> 00:43:42,000
once more offered to God.
And the symbol of commitment and

605
00:43:42,000 –> 00:43:46,280
dedication, the principle of
sacrifice, brought into being

606
00:43:46,280 –> 00:43:48,440
once again.
Now do you know, brothers and

607
00:43:48,440 –> 00:43:51,960
sisters, every one of those
terms in verse 7 is worth almost

608
00:43:51,960 –> 00:43:57,920
circling as a kind of package.
That is Hezekiah’s reform

609
00:43:57,920 –> 00:44:01,000
program.
If you were to say to Hezekiah,

610
00:44:01,520 –> 00:44:05,160
how would you reform an
ecclesia, how would you reform a

611
00:44:05,160 –> 00:44:09,440
community, he would no doubt
say, first open the doors to

612
00:44:09,440 –> 00:44:14,520
heaven, open the doors to
heaven, get those doors open in

613
00:44:14,520 –> 00:44:18,000
your ecclesia and in your own
home and in particular in your

614
00:44:18,000 –> 00:44:22,200
own mind and heart.
Open the doors, open the doors.

615
00:44:22,720 –> 00:44:27,440
Secondly, he would tell us, put
in some oil and ignite the

616
00:44:27,440 –> 00:44:29,800
lamps.
What about the lamp in your

617
00:44:29,800 –> 00:44:31,320
house?
Is it burning bright?

618
00:44:31,880 –> 00:44:33,760
What do the children think, if
you were to ask them?

619
00:44:34,400 –> 00:44:36,600
Do we just go to meeting once or
twice a week?

620
00:44:36,960 –> 00:44:39,960
Are the readings in our family
circle done haphazardly and with

621
00:44:39,960 –> 00:44:43,640
disinterest?
Does father come home after

622
00:44:43,640 –> 00:44:46,800
spending some 8 or 9 hours at
work, plunk himself in the

623
00:44:46,800 –> 00:44:49,200
living room, pick up the
newspaper, turn on the stereo

624
00:44:49,320 –> 00:44:51,440
and wait for dinner?
And then after dinner, go back

625
00:44:51,440 –> 00:44:54,960
to the same posture.
Is that the role model of our

626
00:44:54,960 –> 00:44:58,760
fathers at home?
Does mum spend most of most of

627
00:44:58,760 –> 00:45:01,160
her day getting about in the
malls and spending money?

628
00:45:02,160 –> 00:45:04,920
Or is she pouring over that book
so that she can train up her

629
00:45:04,920 –> 00:45:06,480
children in the way that they
should go?

630
00:45:07,440 –> 00:45:12,960
Do we have the mothers that
Hezekiah had in our homes?

631
00:45:13,280 –> 00:45:15,560
Because if we don’t, we won’t
have the effects in the

632
00:45:15,560 –> 00:45:19,440
ecclesia.
Hezekiah would also tell us that

633
00:45:19,440 –> 00:45:24,640
as a program for reform there
needs to be a burnt offering

634
00:45:25,360 –> 00:45:29,120
that hearkens to Paul’s words in
in Romans chapter 12.

635
00:45:29,600 –> 00:45:34,720
Therefore he says to the Romans,
this is your reasonable

636
00:45:34,720 –> 00:45:38,640
sacrifice.
Offer your bodies as a living

637
00:45:38,640 –> 00:45:41,960
sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God.

638
00:45:42,680 –> 00:45:49,080
So open the doors, ignite the
lamps, prayer, incense,

639
00:45:49,080 –> 00:45:53,840
communication to God, and
finally put into process the

640
00:45:53,840 –> 00:45:57,960
principles and examples of
offering ourselves as burnt

641
00:45:57,960 –> 00:46:01,920
offerings in His service.
It’s not a matter of saying no,

642
00:46:01,920 –> 00:46:03,600
we can’t do this.
No, we can’t do that.

643
00:46:03,880 –> 00:46:05,600
It’s a matter of doing the
positive.

644
00:46:05,600 –> 00:46:10,040
And when you do the positive
like Hezekiah in the first day

645
00:46:10,520 –> 00:46:16,040
of the first month of the first
year and age 25, when you have

646
00:46:16,040 –> 00:46:19,040
that kind of commitment, you
don’t need to worry about

647
00:46:19,040 –> 00:46:20,840
talking about where you
shouldn’t go and what you

648
00:46:20,840 –> 00:46:23,720
shouldn’t read because it’s a
full time occupation.

649
00:46:25,360 –> 00:46:32,000
Now the mind of Hezekiah, look
at this verse 9 and 10:00 and

650
00:46:32,000 –> 00:46:36,920
11:00 of the 29th chapter here.
What an insight into Hezekiah’s

651
00:46:36,920 –> 00:46:42,200
mentality.
Verse 9, he says a continuing

652
00:46:42,200 –> 00:46:45,440
exhortation from the lips of a
25 year old man.

653
00:46:46,560 –> 00:46:50,640
For lo, he says, our fathers
have fallen by the sword, and

654
00:46:50,640 –> 00:46:53,920
our sons and our daughters and
our wives are in captivity for

655
00:46:53,920 –> 00:46:59,360
this now.
He says it is in mine heart to

656
00:46:59,360 –> 00:47:02,800
make a covenant with the Lord
God of Israel.

657
00:47:03,040 –> 00:47:05,760
It was a consuming concern for
him.

658
00:47:06,000 –> 00:47:10,800
It’s in my heart, he says, to
make a covenant that his fierce

659
00:47:10,800 –> 00:47:14,040
wrath may turn away from us.
What wrath?

660
00:47:14,720 –> 00:47:17,040
What had to be turned away?
What do you think he was

661
00:47:17,040 –> 00:47:20,080
worrying about?
Well, if you had nothing in

662
00:47:20,080 –> 00:47:23,840
background about the Assyrians
and you didn’t know that by now

663
00:47:23,840 –> 00:47:27,520
Tiglath Pleaser had already
proven himself to be the new

664
00:47:27,520 –> 00:47:29,880
architect of the Assyrian
Empire.

665
00:47:30,400 –> 00:47:33,560
And if you didn’t know, brothers
and sisters, that the Assyrians

666
00:47:33,560 –> 00:47:37,040
were already on the March by the
time these words were put out,

667
00:47:37,840 –> 00:47:41,800
you wouldn’t appreciate the need
for urgency.

668
00:47:42,120 –> 00:47:44,000
That’s the wrath he’s referring
to.

669
00:47:44,080 –> 00:47:47,320
Hezekiah knew it was on the
doorsteps, and he knew of the

670
00:47:47,320 –> 00:47:50,560
filthiness of his nation.
Verse 11.

671
00:47:51,880 –> 00:47:56,360
A 25 year old says this to the
fathers and the arranging

672
00:47:56,360 –> 00:48:02,160
members of his ecclesia.
He says as a 25 year old, My

673
00:48:02,160 –> 00:48:06,720
sons, my sons, how many were
there that were probably old

674
00:48:06,720 –> 00:48:09,200
enough to be his grandfather as
priests and Levites?

675
00:48:09,560 –> 00:48:15,240
But see how he addresses them.
My sons, be not now negligent,

676
00:48:15,920 –> 00:48:21,280
for the Lord hath chosen you to
stand before him, to serve him,

677
00:48:22,360 –> 00:48:25,640
and that ye should minister unto
him and burn incense.

678
00:48:26,120 –> 00:48:30,240
Be in prayerful communication.
He’s talking to the Levites and

679
00:48:30,240 –> 00:48:33,320
the priests.
Keep in mind, they had that

680
00:48:33,400 –> 00:48:37,400
precious privilege.
How is it that he would call

681
00:48:37,400 –> 00:48:40,600
them?
My sons, do you see how he

682
00:48:40,600 –> 00:48:45,400
viewed his family in Christ?
How he viewed his relationship.

683
00:48:45,440 –> 00:48:47,920
As.
King over the land.

684
00:48:48,720 –> 00:48:51,280
It’s not the language that’s
typical of a monarch.

685
00:48:51,480 –> 00:48:54,520
Can you see one of our monarchs
today?

686
00:48:54,600 –> 00:48:59,040
Now I’m talking as a Canadian
for the Queen still is over my

687
00:48:59,040 –> 00:49:01,920
land in one way or another.
Teka smiling.

688
00:49:03,080 –> 00:49:06,400
We look to a monarch, let’s say
like Queen Elizabeth.

689
00:49:06,840 –> 00:49:10,320
Can you imagine her standing in
front of all of the

690
00:49:10,320 –> 00:49:14,800
representatives of her nations
as a 25 year old girl and saying

691
00:49:14,960 –> 00:49:17,480
my sons and daughters?
Can you imagine?

692
00:49:17,480 –> 00:49:19,000
That wouldn’t be very suitable,
would it?

693
00:49:19,800 –> 00:49:25,040
He views himself as a father,
doesn’t he?

694
00:49:25,040 –> 00:49:29,560
And he’s only 25 years old.
He took his job seriously as a

695
00:49:29,560 –> 00:49:32,720
reformer in the ecclesia.
It wasn’t a position of

696
00:49:32,720 –> 00:49:34,960
arrogance.
In fact, he doesn’t think of

697
00:49:34,960 –> 00:49:38,720
himself so much as a monarch as
he thinks of himself as a

698
00:49:38,720 –> 00:49:41,560
father.
And that implies that he sees

699
00:49:41,560 –> 00:49:47,240
the ecclesia as a family.
My sons, My sons.

700
00:49:47,600 –> 00:49:49,400
He’s speaking from the heart
here.

701
00:49:50,320 –> 00:49:53,440
Brothers and sisters, these are
words you just can’t trip over

702
00:49:53,440 –> 00:49:56,520
quickly.
Every phrase deserves careful

703
00:49:56,520 –> 00:50:00,040
weighing in our minds.
It shows us by the words he

704
00:50:00,040 –> 00:50:02,360
speaks and the method of his
appeal.

705
00:50:02,720 –> 00:50:06,560
It shows us why.
Hezekiah was a man after God’s

706
00:50:06,560 –> 00:50:12,560
own heart, like David.
And so as a response, verse 12,

707
00:50:12,560 –> 00:50:16,800
look at the reaction.
Then the Levites arose, and from

708
00:50:16,800 –> 00:50:21,720
that section on, you see the way
in which they respond to

709
00:50:21,720 –> 00:50:25,120
Hezekiah’s appeal, right?
The king has told us we’ve got

710
00:50:25,120 –> 00:50:26,520
to clean the temple, and they do
it.

711
00:50:27,080 –> 00:50:29,840
He’s told us that we’ve got to
reform the people, and they do

712
00:50:29,840 –> 00:50:31,160
it.
Now.

713
00:50:31,200 –> 00:50:39,680
Verse 20 having got all of that
done, Hezekiah the king rose

714
00:50:39,680 –> 00:50:43,480
early.
Well now how much time took

715
00:50:43,720 –> 00:50:47,080
place up to verse 20 from the
beginning of the reform?

716
00:50:47,720 –> 00:50:51,280
How long did it take for
Hezekiah to busy this group of

717
00:50:51,280 –> 00:50:58,600
people into reform action?
Well, verse 17 says so, for by

718
00:50:58,600 –> 00:51:04,320
the 16th day it was done.
End of verse 17, you can see it.

719
00:51:04,640 –> 00:51:07,080
By the 16th day they had made an
end.

720
00:51:08,600 –> 00:51:11,000
Why do you think it tells us
16th day?

721
00:51:12,800 –> 00:51:16,400
Well, it certainly stresses how
quickly it was done, but I think

722
00:51:16,400 –> 00:51:21,400
there’s another reason.
Go back to chapter 28, if you

723
00:51:21,400 –> 00:51:26,520
will, and verse one, one of
those golden threads.

724
00:51:28,160 –> 00:51:35,640
Verse one, Ahaz was 20 years old
when he began to reign, and he

725
00:51:35,640 –> 00:51:43,800
reigned 16 years, 16 years to
pollute the land, and Hezekiah

726
00:51:43,800 –> 00:51:48,480
in 16 days reversed it.
And it was done.

727
00:51:49,400 –> 00:51:54,600
So quickly was it done that if
you go to the end of chapter 29

728
00:51:54,600 –> 00:52:01,520
here in verse 36, here’s the
last word, the very last word of

729
00:52:01,520 –> 00:52:05,480
this chapter.
What is it suddenly?

730
00:52:06,280 –> 00:52:13,800
And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all
the people that God had prepared

731
00:52:13,800 –> 00:52:16,720
the people for the thing was
done.

732
00:52:16,720 –> 00:52:20,920
Suddenly, not enough time, you
say, to change the ecclesia.

733
00:52:20,920 –> 00:52:26,880
Now Christadelphian body has
gone too far over the Cliff. 16

734
00:52:26,880 –> 00:52:30,760
days to reverse 16 years of
pollution.

735
00:52:31,880 –> 00:52:37,280
Now a man of action.
Back to verse 20 of chapter 29

736
00:52:38,080 –> 00:52:41,280
on the day in which this reform
was celebrated.

737
00:52:43,000 –> 00:52:45,000
Just look at the character of
the man.

738
00:52:45,000 –> 00:52:47,960
It’s so much in keeping with
everything we’ve now seen about

739
00:52:47,960 –> 00:52:54,240
him on that day at the end of
the 16 days of cleansing, the

740
00:52:54,240 –> 00:52:58,640
day he’d been waiting for, for
it was in his heart to make a

741
00:52:58,640 –> 00:53:02,120
covenant, and this is the day
the covenant can be made.

742
00:53:03,280 –> 00:53:08,360
Verse 20, Hezekiah, the king
rose early and gathered the

743
00:53:08,360 –> 00:53:10,760
rumors of the city and went to
the House of the Lord.

744
00:53:10,960 –> 00:53:13,440
You can just see him jumping out
of bed that morning, perhaps

745
00:53:13,440 –> 00:53:16,200
even before the sun rose.
This is the day he said to

746
00:53:16,200 –> 00:53:18,120
himself, that we have been
waiting for.

747
00:53:18,400 –> 00:53:20,760
In his heart it was to make a
covenant.

748
00:53:21,000 –> 00:53:25,200
Here’s the day, 16 days of
turning back history.

749
00:53:25,720 –> 00:53:29,160
He bounds out of bed early in
the morning and he calls for an

750
00:53:29,160 –> 00:53:32,600
arranging meeting.
And he gets the elders together,

751
00:53:33,040 –> 00:53:36,400
and down they go to the temple,
to the House of God in

752
00:53:36,400 –> 00:53:40,800
anticipation of the crowd.
And from verse 21 down, brothers

753
00:53:40,800 –> 00:53:44,160
and sisters, you see Hezekiah,
the priests and the Levites

754
00:53:44,440 –> 00:53:49,480
offering the sacrifices, for it
was in his heart to make a

755
00:53:49,480 –> 00:53:55,560
covenant with God.
Brothers and sisters, chapter 30

756
00:53:55,560 –> 00:53:59,480
is a study in itself as well.
We’ll take a quick look at that

757
00:53:59,480 –> 00:54:02,080
tomorrow.
But let us end, brothers and

758
00:54:02,080 –> 00:54:09,320
sisters, on this note once
again, verse 36 of chapter 29.

759
00:54:11,040 –> 00:54:16,240
Here was the character of the
man, the great reformer, the one

760
00:54:16,240 –> 00:54:23,600
who came from a has the terrible
Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the

761
00:54:23,600 –> 00:54:29,800
people that God had prepared the
people.

762
00:54:30,920 –> 00:54:34,520
When we have success in the
ecclesia, through some effort of

763
00:54:34,520 –> 00:54:38,920
ours in quotation marks, when
we’ve gone about and done what

764
00:54:38,920 –> 00:54:44,360
was right, do we sit back and
silently pat ourselves on the

765
00:54:44,360 –> 00:54:47,760
back?
Has anyone in Christadelphia

766
00:54:47,760 –> 00:54:52,280
ever affected a reform like that
16 years, reversed in 16 days,

767
00:54:52,560 –> 00:54:55,680
on such a scale, with such great
success?

768
00:54:55,800 –> 00:55:00,000
None of us have.
But this man came to the

769
00:55:00,000 –> 00:55:04,920
realization immediately that
success came from God.

770
00:55:05,160 –> 00:55:07,160
It was all given to God in
credit.

771
00:55:07,480 –> 00:55:10,480
He rejoiced.
Not that Hezekiah, son of A has

772
00:55:10,480 –> 00:55:16,280
had done a great thing.
He rejoiced that Hezekiah son of

773
00:55:16,280 –> 00:55:22,080
Ahaz had been blessed by
Almighty God, that God had

774
00:55:22,080 –> 00:55:27,960
blessed the labor of his hands,
responded to his prayers, and

775
00:55:27,960 –> 00:55:31,200
that God had prepared the
ecclesia.

776
00:55:31,920 –> 00:55:35,120
May it be, brothers and sisters,
that we capture some of

777
00:55:35,120 –> 00:55:39,360
Hezekiah’s spirit, no matter how
bleak the ecclesial or the

778
00:55:39,360 –> 00:55:43,440
community seen may may appear.
May it be that we have fire in

779
00:55:43,440 –> 00:55:47,880
our bones to rise up early.
And may it be in our hearts that

780
00:55:47,880 –> 00:55:51,200
we work for the Ecclesia in
their cleansing and healing.