God Vindicates His Honor Over an Arrogant Foe (Isaiah Sermon 40)

So we come to one of the most spectacular, one of the most awesome displays of the power of God ever in all of history, as we come to Isaiah chapter 37. I picture in my mind’s eye—I don’t know if it happened this way—but I picture in my mind’s eye some terrified Judean going up to the wall, climbing up maybe the ladder or the stairs up to the wall and looking over parapets or whatever there was, to this vast Assyrian army that was ready to begin, perhaps, the siege works, ready to bash down the walls and the gates and to come in and kill us all, and see that something’s different, something’s unusual, there’s no activity in the camp. There’s no early morning smoke rising from campfires. There’s nothing. There’s no movement at all. And wondering, what in the world has caused this change? And not knowing at that point that 185,000 Assyrian troops lay dead on the ground, and that the threat had ended and that God had displayed his power and that their enemies were dead and would not harm them at all. Conversely, I wonder what it was like to be Sennacherib and to look out and see the same thing, or to have reports coming back, confused at first, but then consistent. “Your army is dead. They’re all dead.” And to try to marvel and to wonder at what had happened.

As I said, this is one of the greatest displays of the power of God that there has been. The greatest of course, of all the spectacles of the Old Testament is right in the very first words of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Nothing is more spectacular than that. And dear friends, if God can do that by the word of his power, he can do anything, anything at all. This is small, what he does in this chapter is small compared to that. But think of the other great moments, the displays, the spectacular displays of the power of God. Think of the worldwide flood in the time of the days of Noah and what God did there. Think of the raining down of fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, and the erasing of two very powerful and popular cities in one night. Think about the display of God at the time of the Exodus, the 10 plagues on Egypt, and the curses that he brought on the gods and on the people of Egypt. And the Red Sea crossing, very spectacular with water walling up to the right and to the left and the crossing over, and then it crashing back down on Pharaoh’s army and destroying them forever. Think about the descent in fire and cloud on Mount Sinai for sheer spectacle, the sense of the power and the presence and the majesty of God. Or the crossing of the Jordan River when the water walled up in a heap and they crossed as on dry ground. Or the fall of Jericho, when the walls fell down and the people of Israel went straight in. Or perhaps the descent, the igniting of the sacrifice in the time of Elijah as fire came down from heaven and burned it up. It’s amazing isn’t it? As you think about all of these spectacular displays of God, and so many of them really are displays of God’s wrath, of God’s judgment on sinners. Friends, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And if we get anything out of reading the scripture, out of an account like this, we should get that, that our God is holy and powerful, and he is not to be trifled with.

As we come to Isaiah 37, we come to a pinnacle moment in redemptive history, a display of the power of God. It’s meant to engender faith in us. We are to read this and to take in this account, and to believe in the Lord, ultimately to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of our souls. How are we gonna do this? David only read half the chapter. How are we going to get through this? So this is what I propose to do. I’m going to just go through the entire chapter today this week, just the narrative, and go through every phrase, and every word, and just describe briefly what’s going on, and we’re gonna just upload the chapter in our minds, and next week we’re gonna talk about the theological themes that flow from these words. It’s the only way that I could think to do it. But I’m gonna do a little bit of theological theme work this time too—I can’t resist. And we’re gonna see from these truths just how great our God is. So without any further ado, we need to dig right in.

I. Hezekiah’s Humility: Disgraced, In Sackcloth, Seeking Answers (vs. 1-4)

First, let’s look at verses 1-4, as we see Hezekiah humbled, laid low, disgraced, in sackcloth, and seeking answers. Verses 1-4, Hezekiah, just by way of background, had joined in a rebellion against the power of the king of kings, so to speak, Assyria, who had dominated all these smaller kingdoms and had subjected them, and was receiving tribute from them. Then when his father Sargon died, Sennacherib took over and some of these lesser kings decided to challenge the son and see if he was as determined to hold on to his empire as his father had been. Well, he was. And Sennacherib went after first Babylon went down and went after Merodach-Baladan, and put him to flight, and then comes back up and starts to work his way down the western coastline of the Mediterranean, just crushing and destroying one small kingdom after the other. And it seems that Hezekiah has been somewhat of a ring leader in this rebellion against Assyria’s power, and so it seems almost like Sennacherib saved him for last. And last week, we looked in chapter 36, as Sennacherib has sent the Rabshakeh, the field commander, with the detachment of the Assyrian army to intimidate Hezekiah, while Sennacherib is besieging Lachish, and we’ll have it soon. He sends this detachment in this field commander in Isaiah 36, is that chapter and filled with blasphemous, arrogant statements in which the field commander represents his king, the great king, the king of Assyria, as he tries to intimidate the Jews, intimidate Hezekiah into opening the city walls and coming out and surrendering. It would save him, Sennacherib I mean, the cost of a lengthy siege, and he’ll be able to kill all of his enemies much more easily that way. But it’s a terrible time.

And so as we begin in chapter 37, we have Hezekiah receiving the message of what had happened from this field commander, and he’s reacting to it, that’s the beginning of this chapter. Now, Hezekiah was a godly man filled with zeal for the religion, the pure religion of Judah, that he would purify it. He was a religious reformer as a king, but he had a weak spot, he had a blind spot. And that had to do with politics, it had to do with trusting in his own ability to his own machinations to make arrangements with Egypt or with other kingdoms to fight against Assyria. This was a weakness, but now all of that has been stripped away. The envoys sent with gold and silver down to Egypt to hire for himself a cavalry and chariots will amount to nothing. They’re going to come and fight, the Egyptians are, but they’re gonna get swept away by the Assyrians. And so he’s stripped away the money that was sent, in which he stripped off the gold from the doors of the temple and Senate to the king of Assyria, that has been received now by the king, and he says in effect, “I’m coming anyway. Thanks for the gold and silver, but I’m coming.”

And so it’s a terrifying time, a terrible time, and he’s got nowhere left to turn, and here he sends some messengers to Isaiah the prophet. Now, I don’t know what the nature of his relationship was with, Hezekiah, I mean with Isaiah, I don’t know that they were buddies. Isaiah kept telling the truth, and that meant that not all of Hezekiah’s policies were well-received. Isaiah 30-31 are really just like missiles going right after Hezekiah’s policies towards Egypt. So I don’t know that they really had any kind of warm, close relationship, but all of that is swept aside now. There’s nowhere else to turn. So in verse 1, we have Hezekiah as he receives the message of what had happened in chapter 36, “He tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord.” He tore his royal robes, he’s humbled. He puts on sackcloth, that’s a display of humiliation. And he goes into the temple of the Lord, you see his humiliation here and his faith. He’s very God-centered at this time. And he sends messengers Eliakim, the palace administrator, and Shebna the secretary, and leading priests, they’re all wearing sackcloth too, and they go to Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet. And this is the first time Isaiah is called a prophet in the book of Isaiah. He was a mouthpiece of Almighty God, and Hezekiah wanted to speak to God, and even more, to hear from God. And he sends these folks to come and to ask for prayer from Isaiah. Look at verses 3-4, the messengers came to Isaiah and said, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.” This whole invasion, the whole thing, was a rebuke to the kingdom of Judah. This whole thing was a discipline from Almighty God for their sins, for their worship of idols, for their violation of the law of God, the laws of Moses. They were being struck as with a rod by the ling of Assyria. The king of Assyria was a rod in the hand of God, and he was giving his people a beating.

It’s a day of distress and rebuke, and disgrace, he says. And that is right. In effect, Hezekiah humbly says, “We deserve this. We deserve what’s happened. We are being punished justly for our sins.” Sennacherib has destroyed, has conquered 46 cities or towns in Judah, lots and lots of dead people by now. He says right here in this section, “Pray for the remnant that still survives.” There’s not many left. It’s a time of total humiliation. He likens it to a time in which a woman has reached the end of her time, the end of her pregnancy, but she just doesn’t have the strength to give birth to the baby, and with that being the situation, there’s every likelihood that both mother and child are going to die, and that’s a time, he says, of distress and rebuke and disgrace.

He has in this dark time only one hope, and it is a sure and certain hope, although he doesn’t know what God is going to do, and that is that our God is zealous for his own glory. It is, I think, the strongest force there is in the universe. There is none stronger. God’s commitment to his own glory is the strongest force there is in the universe. Look what he says in verse 4, “It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.” Remember the field commander went too far. He said two things about God. He said, “First of all, God sent me, so your God will not deliver you from us,” but then he goes even further in the second phase, he says, “Not only that, haven’t you heard of what we’ve done to all these other gods and their kingdoms and their countries? Not only is it true that your God will not deliver you, it is even more significantly true that he cannot deliver you. Your God cannot defeat us. No god ever has.” Dear friends, that’s blasphemy. Hezekiah knew it, he knew it. Every human being on earth underestimates God. I’ll say that again. Every human being on earth underestimates God. It’s impossible to overestimate him. But Hezekiah knew this: their God is the God of the universe, and if he wants to destroy Assyria, he is fully capable of doing it.

“He has in this dark time only one hope, and it is a sure and certain hope, although he doesn’t know what God is going to do, and that is that our God is zealous for his own glory. It is, I think, the strongest force there is in the universe.”

But notice the broken-heartedness and the humility of Hezekiah, look what he says in verse 4, “It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words…and that he will rebuke him” for the words that the field commander has said. It may be, not, it must be. There is no must when it comes to God and us. God doesn’t owe you a thing, he doesn’t owe me a thing, he doesn’t owe us anything. He will never be our debtor ever. And he does not owe to anyone an explanation or a certain pattern of action, because of anything he’s done in the past. He doesn’t ever owe us an apology, and so it’s merely, “It may be that God will act because of what he heard.”

Ironically, it’s very similar to what the king of Nineveh himself, the Assyrian king of Nineveh said when Jonah came, a number of decades before this. You remember that. How God sent Jonah to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria?  And, he says, “40 more days and Ninevah will be destroyed.” You remember what the king in Nineveh did? He took off his royal robs and put on sackcloth, and he had sackcloth put on all his royal officials and on all the cows, and it was world class repentance, friends. And he humbled himself, and he issued a proclamation. The king of Nineveh said, “Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence,” and then he says, Jonah 3:9, “Who knows? [Who knows?] God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” Isn’t it amazing how similar, the king of Nineveh and Hezekiah, king of Judah, were at this point? And they’re both dead right, absolutely right. Who knows what God will do? God’s not bound in this at all, he has the freedom to act as God, as the sovereign king.

And so he asks for prayer, “Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.” He asks Isaiah simply for prayer. He’s not even asking for a word from the Lord at this point, he’s just asking for prayer. And notice he says, “Pray for the remnant.” That tells you just how much slaughter there’s already been of the people of Judah. Lots and lots of them have been killed by the Assyrians, a lot of dead people. And it’s the very thing that we’ve seen again and again in Isaiah, this remnant language. It says in Isaiah 1:9, “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” We’re no different morally than them, but God left us some survivors, that’s Isaiah 1:9. Or in his call in Isaiah 6. Remember, “Here am I. Send me”? You remember that? “Alright, what’s my mission? Lord, I’m ready. Here am I, send me.” Well, “Go and tell this people: ‘“Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.” Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and turn with their hearts, and I might turn and forgive them and heal them.’” And then Isaiah says in Isaiah 6, “For how long [do I have to do that], Lord?” He says, “[You’re gonna keep doing it] until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though…” Listen to this, “A tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.” That’s all remnant language. Do you hear it? A tenth are left and they’re gonna be a seed for the future.

Or, again in Isaiah 10, “A remnant will return.” Isaiah 10:21-23, “A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous. The Lord, the Lord Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.” A remnant, just a remnant is going to survive. And the apostle Paul picks up on this remnant language and says, “That’s exactly what’s going on spiritually with the Jews of his time. There is a remnant,” he says, chosen by grace, by the sovereign grace of God to believe in Jesus and the rest are not.” It’s remnant language. And so he says, “Please pray for the remnant that still survives.”

II. God’s First Answer: Fear…the Blasphemer Will Die (vs. 5-7)

And so in verses 5-7, God gives his first answer. His first answer, “Fear not, the blasphemer will die.” Now, I just wanna give you an observation I just had a moment ago, right before I preached, and it occurs to me the majority, the overwhelming majority of Isaiah 37, is words happen, words spoken before the event happens. The overwhelming majority is God’s promise of what he’s about to do, and then just a simple two verses on what he did. You see what I’m saying? You know what the significance of that? That’s where we live, dear friends. We live in promised land. We live in the land before God has acted to cut off all of our enemies, and so most of our lives is the bulk of Isaiah 37, waiting for God to fulfill his promises. That’s why the majority of this chapter is all about promise, God saying, “This is what I am going to do.” And so the first answer comes in verses 5-7, in effect, this, “Fear not the blasphemer is going to die. I’m gonna kill him.” Look at verses 5-7, “When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, ‘Tell your master, “This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I’m gonna put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.”’” This is an immediate answer that God gives. Sometimes God makes you wait. Sometimes you have to be like the persistent widow. That’s not the case at this point. He gives him an immediate answer, “Go, tell your master. This is what I’m saying.” The word of the Lord had already come to Isaiah concerning this matter.

And notice immediately the first thing he says is, “Do not be afraid. Fear not.” Do you realize how often God says that to us in Scripture? I mean, frankly, in the end, fear and faith are diametrically opposed. Fear drives out faith, or faith drives out fear, that’s how it works. And so he’s saying, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid of the words you heard. Don’t be afraid of the Assyrians.” Fear and faith are opposites. And so, fear not. He’s giving him in effect the same message he had given to his ungodly father, Ahaz, concerning the same kind of thing, “Don’t be afraid. Be strong in your faith. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

And notice he talks about the underlings of the King of Assyria. So he puts the Rabshakeh, or the field commander in his place. It’s like, “I’m not even talking to you, I’m gonna talk to your master, you underling.” So he humbles him here. He says, “Don’t be afraid. These words of blasphemy with which they have blasphemed me.” Do you realize what blasphemy is? It’s speaking words of disrespect, of dishonor concerning Almighty God. It’s exact opposite what we’re supposed to do. We were created in the image of God with a verbal faculty, the ability to speak, to understand words, and we are to use our words to praise and exalt and glorify and magnify God, but this underling has blasphemed him.

Jesus addressed the issue of blasphemy in Matthew 12, you remember how his enemies had ascribed his miracles to Beelzebub, “It is by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that he casts out demons.” It is an understatement to say that Jesus didn’t take it kindly. And in Matthew 12, he talks about speaking, he talks about words. He said, “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned.” So in other words, “I heard what he said, I heard what the underling said, and he’s going to have to give me an account on the day of judgment for his blasphemy, just like Jesus’ enemies.”

And so God gives at this point through Isaiah an early verdict, on this whole case and a verdict on the king of Assyria. Look at verse 7, “Behold! [He says, or listen,] I’m going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.” “Behold or listen, just watch what I’m gonna do with the king of Assyria.” There’s an awesome display here, of the sovereignty of God over all nations and over the smallest movements, the smallest inclinations of the heart. God says he’s gonna put a certain spirit in Sennacherib. It’s gonna make him think a certain way, so that when he hears a certain report, he’s going to act in a certain direction. He’s going to return to his own country. This is the key to God’s sovereign power over the unfolding of human history, the ability that God has effectively to influence the human heart in one direction or the other. So it says in Proverbs 21:1, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” And that’s exactly what’s going on here. He’s gonna hear a report and God’s gonna put a spirit in him, so he’s gonna act a certain way, and so there he says, “After he leaves, there in his home country, I will…” Look at what it says, “I will have him cut down with the sword.” What does that say about God’s power over the inner workings of the nation of Assyria?

It reminds me of the enemies of Israel who said, “You know their gods, Israel’s gods, are gods of the mountains, not of the plains. If we can just get them out of the mountains and fight down in the plains, we will win,” and God in effect says, “Look, I can do mountains, I can do plains, I can do rivers, I can do oceans, I’m really good at all of it. I’m really very versatile. So I can do Judah, I can do Israel, I can do Assyria, I can do any country. It’s not an effort for me to have you cut down in your home country, even in your own temple. I can do that any time.” And so God’s sovereign over all of these things. He rules over the temple of his god, his false god Nisroch. God’s sovereign over the temple of Nisroch. And so while he’s worshipping in his temple, he’s going to move so Sennacherib’s own sons to assassinate him. He’s sovereign over the inner workings of the politics of the throne of Assyria, it’s incredible, but he doesn’t get into all that at this point. He’ll talk about it more later.

III. The King of Assyria’s Blasphemy: “Your ‘God’ Is No Different!” (vs. 8-13)

The next section, verses 8-13, we have phase two of the king of Assyria’s blasphemy. First time was just through the underling, through the field commander. Now, we get it from Sennacherib himself. Same thing though. There’s no difference. The circumstances are given in verses 8-9, “When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him.” So at last, Egypt moves out and Egypt comes under Tirhakah and they’re there to fight Assyria. That’s gonna be a very short battle. Assyria is going to win easily. The field commander has failed in his mission, Hezekiah has not surrendered, he’s not been intimidated, he didn’t come out, so he failed. He goes back to join his master, and so the immediate threat to Jerusalem is removed.

And so we have the movements here of the Assyrians, but Sennacherib sends a letter to Hezekiah. Four possible reasons. First, having heard from the field commander that Hezekiah did not surrender, he wanted to give Hezekiah one final opportunity to surrender, so he sends this letter. Secondly, Sennacherib especially wanted to strip Hezekiah of any confidence that he may have in the news he had just received that the king of Egypt was coming out to fight against him. “Don’t be confident about that, I’ll take care of Egypt,” which he will. Thirdly, the letter would come with the personal stamp of the great king, the king of Assyria, not merely an underling now, but “This is what I myself am saying to you, not merely the words of a messenger.” And fourth, Sennacherib wants to zero in, especially on the central remaining, the only pillar left in Hezekiah’s hope, and that is his religion, his faith in God. And he wants to try to knock that out from under Hezekiah, and so he sends this letter.

Look at verses 10-13, this blasphemous letter, “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ As surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of the Sepharvaim, or Hena or Ivvah?”

This is a dark look into the incredible blasphemy and pride of the human heart. Look at the first thing he says, “Do not let the god you are depending on,” what does he say? “Deceive you.” “Don’t let him trick you. Don’t let him lie to you. Is your God saying to you that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria?” This is a bit creepy in a way, I wonder if Sennacherib had spies in Hezekiah’s inner circle giving back information concerning maybe even what Isaiah the prophet had said at the beginning of this chapter, “O great king Sennacherib.” He’s being told by the prophet Isaiah that God’s gonna deliver him. “[Oh, have you heard that? Well, let’s deal with that right here in this letter.] Don’t let the God you are depending on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’”

And then he makes his central argument, a powerful argument based on past history. “We live, we Assyrians live for war, we’re very good at it, and we have an incredible track record. Every time we take the field, we win. And that goes right up to recent history, that includes me. I’ve been toppling one kingdom after another, and why would you be any different? And those kings, they all relied on their gods, why would your God be any different than theirs?”

Now, when he receives this letter, Hezekiah has to make a life or death decision. He has to look in his own heart, he has to look concerning his character, he has to look concerning his faith ultimately, and say, “Is my God able? Does he even exist? Is it all just words? Can he do this? Will he do this?” It’s a time of the searching of hearts. “Is our God really no different than all the gods of the nations?” Well, Sennacherib had the right facts, but he had the wrong conclusion. That history was true, but he had drawn the wrong conclusions. We’ll see. The drama has now reached its peak and the time has come for a decision from Almighty God.

IV. Hezekiah’s Prayer: “Defend Your Glorious Name, O Lord!” (vs. 14-20)

But first, Hezekiah prays. Verses 14-20, he receives the letter from the messengers and read it, then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord, and Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. He spreads the letter before God, he takes it up to God in prayer, Hezekiah goes back to the temple, he’s got the letter and he spreads it out. He had nowhere else to turn. There was nothing else he could rely on. Egypt is now defeated. There’s no money left. There’s nothing left, only God. God, however, would be sufficient. Prayer would be sufficient. And so he spreads out this letter before the Lord. Now, it’s not because God didn’t know what was in the letter. Not at all, and Hezekiah knew that. It was rather to underscore and intensify the issues in that letter in his own mind and heart. The symbol of spreading out a matter, spreading out a letter before God is helpful for us. God doesn’t need it. The Puritan pastor Thomas Manton said, “One way to get comfort is to plead the promises of God in prayer.” Thomas Manton said, “Show him his handwriting; God is tender of his word.” So say now, “God, you said right here, this…” And show it to him. Lift it up to him. Alright, well, God knows what he wrote. He knows it better than you do, but I think in this way, it’s about the same thing. He shows him now, the handwriting of the king of Assyria, he says, “God, did you see this? Look at this,” and he prays to the Lord. This is a great, great moment here.

“He had nowhere else to turn. There was nothing else he could rely on. Egypt is now defeated. There’s no money left. There’s nothing left, only God. God, however, would be sufficient. Prayer would be sufficient. “

And he begins where we should always begin, he begins with worship, he begins with a sense of the honor and the greatness of God. Verse 16, “O Lord, Almighty God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth.” There are five statements here, one after the other, directed toward God, directed to the issue of God’s position in reference to the human race, in reference to human history. All of them go in the same direction. First, Lord Almighty, he calls him Yahweh, Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, the God who rules the armies of heaven. Second, God of Israel. “You are the covenant-keeping God who made a covenant with our forefathers, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you’re the God of Israel, so that we would be your treasured possession out of all the nations of the Earth.” Thirdly, “You are enthroned between the cherubim.” Cherubim are angels, and a throne is where a king sits. God is enthroned between the cherubim. That’s a picture of the ark of the covenant, where God said that the blood of the sacrifice, which prefigures the blood of Christ, the blood of the atonement, will be poured out on the mercy seat between the cherubim, and that’s where the shekinah glory of God descended and was, and Moses heard the voice of God speaking from between the cherubim. It’s a symbol of God dwelling in the midst of his people by his glory. “You are enthroned between the cherubim.” Fourth, “You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the Earth.” It’s the repeated lessons again and again of Isaiah 13-35. God rules, God rules, God rules. The nations are like grasshoppers before him, the nations are like a drop from the bucket. They’re like dust from the scales, the nations are as nothing before God. God is the ruler of all the earth. And then fifth, “You have made heaven and earth.” This mighty God is the God of the universe, the Creator of everything that exists. These words at this moment are not merely some theological recitation of a catechism. These words had become for Hezekiah his very life, his very life. If God would not live up to these words in his case, he would die, and so would all the remnant in Jerusalem.

And so he makes his first request in verse 17. Five imperative verbs, “Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib sent to insult the living God.” Again, we should not be misled by this, God is more attentive to everything than we are. With the Lord, a day is like 1,000 years, like everything moves in super, super, super slow motion for God. He is able to judge every little glance of the eye, every inclination of the heart. God doesn’t need to be told to open his eyes and open his ears, but again, this is a focusing here saying, “God concentrate on this issue.” And it’s amazing, Hezekiah’s tone here, his whole approach in this prayer is not, “O God, we are such an incredible awesome people, and I know you love us, and we really could keep on serving you very well if you would just deliver us.” It’s nothing like that at all. The whole focus here is “God, be zealous for your own name. Be zealous for your own glory.” It’s just like Moses’s prayer for Israel when God wanted to wipe the Israelites out, remember, and make of Moses a great nation. Remember that? Moses said to God, “O God, if you do that, what about your reputation among the nations? They’re gonna think you took the people out of Egypt and you were not able to bring them in the promised land. What about your reputation?”

Daniel prays the same thing in Daniel 9. He prays that God would restore the Jews back to the promised land so that they can rebuild the temple and all that. He prays all that in Daniel 9, but the same thing. “God,” he says, “Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name.” This is Daniel speaking, “We do not make a request of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, listen! O Lord forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.” That’s a good way to pray. Friends, if I could just get one thing across to you in reference to this whole chapter is that you would grow that have the same zeal for the name and the honor of God that he does, that you would come to realize the most important thing in your life is the glory and the honor of God, that all of your good works are for one purpose, that they may see your good works, and praise and honor and glorify your Father in heaven.That he must increase and you must decrease, that’s a good way to pray. And so Hezekiah prays that way.

And he goes over these recent facts, verse 18-19, “It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste to all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.” So he’s got it right. Same history, different conclusions. Now request number 2, verse 20, “Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.” So the request has been made.

V. The Verdict Comes Down from the King of the Universe (vs. 21-38)

Now the verdict comes down from the King of the universe in verses 21-38, and it comes down in two phases: words, then action, as I already told you. The words are verses 21-35, the action, verses 36-38. First, the words. “Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the Lord has spoken against him.’” Notice that God specifically mentions Hezekiah’s prayer. “Because you have prayed to me.” The relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility is incredibly complex. No one fully understands it. God had planned all of this before the foundation of the world, but yet he uses the prayers of Hezekiah to bring about his end. God ordains not only the ends, but the means to the end, and the prayer was a means to the end. “Because you prayed, now I’m going to do this.” The way I understand this is that God already has a plan, and we’re supposed to get with the program, dear friends, and we get with the program when we study the word and when we pray and the Spirit moves. Then we suddenly start to see what God is doing. And like Jesus said, “The Father is at his work, and I too am working.” The Father and the Son perfectly working together, then we together join the Father and the Son in the work that they’re doing by this prayer.

Well, there are four parts of God’s answer in words. First, God promises to judge the blasphemer, verses 22-29. Second, God promises to save his remnant, verses 30-32. Thirdly, God promises to deliver Jerusalem, verses 33-35, and then finally God makes it clear, he does all of this for his own glory, verse 35. First, he promises to judge the blasphemer, verses 22-29. The people of Judah are pictured as the Virgin Daughter of Zion, who tosses her head as Assyria flees, laughing and singing. Virgin daughter, because it’s a picture of purity and a picture of frailty and a need for protection. Sennacherib basically would like to come and rape Jerusalem and her father or husband, you could put it either way, says, “I’m going to protect this city.” Furthermore, women frequently in the Old Testament were the ones that would go out and celebrate after the victory was won. So like Miriam, after the Pharaoh’s army has been destroyed, she gets her tambourine, and she goes out there and they celebrate and they’re not holding back. It’s full celebration. It’s, “Ha, ha, ha! You wanted to kill us. Now, look at you, look at you now.” And that’s about what’s going on in this chapter. It’s the very thing David didn’t want the daughters of the Philistines to do when Jonathan and Saul died. Tell it not in Gath, don’t let the daughters of the Philistines go out and celebrate. So here, “The Virgin Daughter of Zion tosses her head as you flee.”

In effect, the king of Assyria has said to Hezekiah, “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know what I have done? Why aren’t you afraid of me?” God totally turns that thing around. In effect, he says to the king of Assyria, “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know what I have done? Why aren’t you afraid of me?” God discusses the centerpiece of Sennacherib’s argument, the recent history of success. He captures the soaring blasphemy of their heart attitude. “I have with my chariots gone up on the mountain heights.” That’s ridiculous. Anybody knows you don’t take chariots up a mountain. I mean, why would you do that? They’re for speed and agility and all that, you don’t take a chariot up a mountain. So how is it with your chariots, you’ve ascended the utmost heights? You know what’s going on there? It’s that demonic satanic pride. Just like Isaiah 14, the king of Babylon says in his heart, “I will ascend to the most high; I will make my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned above the mount of the assembly; I will make myself like God.” It’s the same language. But not only that, the king of Assyria says, “I’ve dug wells, and I’ve drunk their water.” So in effect, he says, “I have ascended to the heights, I’ve gone down to the depths. I am God. I can dry up the rivers with the soles of my feet.” “No, you can’t. You’re just a man. You’re nothing. I’m Almighty God. And let’s get this straight,” verses 26-27, “Apart from me, you have done nothing. Don’t you know?” “Haven’t you heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I’ve brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They’re like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting up on the roof, scorched before it grows up.” “I planned it, I ordained it, and now I have brought it to pass. You are nothing, nothing but my puppet.”

And the terror of God’s omniscience and omnipresence now comes right down on Sennacherib personally. Let’s look at verse 28. I get chills every time I read these words, 28-29, “But I know where you stay.” Do you hear that? That’s a threat. “I know where you live, and how you come and go, and how you blaspheme against me. I know these things. Is there anywhere you can go and be away from me?” “Because,” verse 29, “you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.” Archaeologists have found drawings, Assyrian drawings of them doing something very much like that to a defeated king. They bored a hole in his jaw right through and put a rope in it and dragged him away. The Assyrians were vicious, cruel people. God says, “Okay, that’s what you do, I’ll do it to you. I’m gonna put a rope through your nose like the beast you are, and I’m gonna drag you back to your country and there you will stay.”

God promises then to save his remnant, verses 30-32. “This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: ‘This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.’” So in other words, “When Assyria leaves, you’re gonna have a hard time finding food. It’s gonna be hard, the whole land has been destroyed, so you just have to eat what you can find. In the second year you’ll eat whatever grows up from that, but in the third year, it’s back to life is normal.” And he says, “That will be a sign for you.” It’s just like the sign that he gave to Moses, “This is the sign that I’ll give you. When you all come out of that country, you’ll worship me on this mountain. It’s a sign after the fact. So when it all happens, you’ll stand and look back and when that third year you’re eating that harvest that you planted, you’ll know I did this. You’ll know I did this.” So God promises to deliver Jerusalem.

Verses 33-35, he says, “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter the city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter the city,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will defend the city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!’” This is the final verdict. Five times in the Hebrew, there’s the negation. Five times. “No, you will not enter this city. No, you will not shoot an arrow here. No, you will not come against the city with a shield. No, you will not build a siege ramp against it. No, you will not even enter this city. I tell you, no.” Who wins? But we know who wins, God wins. “By the way that you came, you’ll return.” God said, “I’m gonna fight for this city and I’m going to defend it.”

Now, frequently in situations like this, God would raise up another army that would come, or they would turn on themselves and fight each other, that happens sometimes, it’s like insanity would come, like the days of Gideon, that would happen. Sometimes God would just raise up mighty leaders and the Jews themselves would go out empowered and they would go fight. God said, “No, no, I’m doing this one alone. I’m gonna do this one all by myself.” He already said he’s gonna do this in Isaiah 31:8, he said, “Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them.” “I’ll do it myself. I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!” Now, next week, we’re gonna get more into, for the sake of David my servant, and how this relates to Christ.

But God’s ultimate purposes is to establish with his zeal the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and he said already the same thing, “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” He’s already said it once in Isaiah 9, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his kingdom and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.” Same phrase, “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” “I am intending to raise up from the Jews a Savior, and his name is Jesus. So no, you’re not going to extinguish the Jewish flame here today.”

Well, that’s his prediction. That’s what God said he would do. What did he do? Well, verses 36-37 say what he did. Verse 36, “Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!” It’s just absolutely staggering, overwhelming. I did a little research this morning, Battle of Gettysburg, one of those bloodiest in history. In that battle, 7,800 soldiers combined died, 7,800. God killed 185,000 in one night. That’s more than the combined forces of North and South at the Battle of Gettysburg. It’s more, it’s about 15,000 more. So you can imagine if Robert E. Lee and General Meade got up on the morning of July 1, 1863, and they found that all of their soldiers were dead, that would still be less than the ones that died outside the walls of Jerusalem. It’s awesome.

Who killed them? Well, it says the angel of the Lord. How does this chapter preach Christ? Some say it’s just an angel of the Lord. I think when God says, I got this one, I think he sent his Son to do it. And it’s just a foretaste of what he’s going to do at the second coming of Christ, when he defeats his enemies with a sword coming out of his mouth. This is just a small dress rehearsal. Jesus went out, I think, pre-incarnate Christ, the angel of the Lord, the same one that spoke out of the flames of the burning bush to Moses, the same one that stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, the angel of the Lord went out and killed these troops himself for the zeal and the glory and the honor of his own name.

Next week we’ll talk about lessons, we’ll talk about the question that remains concerning this. I just wanna finish with a simple gospel presentation, ‘cause I can’t get up here and preach without talking about the cross and the empty tomb. Alright, how does this point to Christ? Well, some day you’re gonna be surrounded by an enemy that’s going to seek to take your very life, it’s called death, and at that point, it will be very easy for Satan to bring up to your mind all of your many, many sins, and your sins will mount up 185,000 strong and they’ll accuse you and say, “You don’t deserve to go to heaven.” And they’ll be right, they’ll be right, except for one thing: God sent Jesus to defeat your enemies, to destroy your sin, to destroy death, and to bring you to heaven. The blood of Christ is sufficient to cover all of our sins, and by the blood of Christ, Satan, our enemy, that ancient serpent will someday lie crushed and dead under our feet. So for you, if you came in here unregenerate, not knowing Christ as Savior, do you not see how terrifying it would be to have God as your enemy? The converse is how delightful to have him as your deliverer. Trust in Christ, simply trust in him. No works needed, simply faith. Say, “Jesus died for sinners like me, I’m a sinner, he shed his blood, I trust in you for forgiveness.” Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for the things that we have learned in Isaiah 37. There’s never enough time. I thank you for the patience of these people, and I pray that you would please now cause these words to live and to glow and to shine in their hearts, and next week, God willing, if we’re able to meet again, that we’d be able to celebrate some of the vast, awesome themes that flow from this chapter, in Jesus’ name, amen.

The most spectacular actions of God in the Old Testament

1)     Creation

2)     The Flood

3)     The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

4)     The Plagues on Egypt

5)     The Red Sea Crossing

6)     The Descent in Fire and Cloud on Mt. Sinai

7)     The Crossing of the Jordan River

8)     The Fall of the Walls of Jericho

9)     The Igniting of Elijah’s Sacrifice by Fire from Heaven

10)  The Destruction of the Assyrian Army

Amazing, isn’t it… all these most spectacular displays of the power and presence of God; all but one are directly related to the judgment of God on sinners… God puts His awesome power on display by drowning the whole world for their sins, for raining down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, for judging Egypt in ten different ways.

As we come to Isaiah 37, we come to a pinnacle moment in Redemptive History… a breathtaking display of the power of God. The circumstances could hardly have been more dramatic… after decades of warnings by the prophet Isaiah, after the sinful northern Kingdom of Israel had been deported by the Assyrians… now at last the time had come.

I.   Hezekiah’s Humility: Disgraced, In Sackcloth, Seeking Answers (vs. 1-4)

A.  Context: Isaiah 36… and all the preceding chapters

King Hezekiah of Judah had joined in a widespread rebellion against the King of Assyria, Sennacherib. Sennacherib had responded by crushing the Babylonian rebels, and then systematically crushing one small kingdom after another, working his way down the Mediterranean Coastline. No nation could stand against the terrifying Assyrian army… their whole lives were built on military excellence, focused on conquest, total domination. They were astonishingly cruel… their own artwork, unearthed by modern-day archaeologists, depict their victorious army humiliating conquered foes… impaling them alive on sharpened logs, decapitating them after they’d suffered, leaving piles of heads next to large piles of corpses. Nahum mentions their “endless cruelty”…

They invaded the little kingdom of Judah and destroyed one small city and town after another… 46 in all. In Isaiah 36, Sennacherib was assaulting Lachish, perhaps the second most important city in Judah. He sent his field commander with a large army to intimidate King Hezekiah and the small band of survivors huddled up with him in the walls of Jerusalem…

Isaiah 36 is a record of the bluster and intimidation of the Field Commander

Perhaps the key statement he made was to denigrate the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to liken Him to all the other gods of the nations:

Isaiah 36:18-20 “Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 20 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

B.  Hezekiah Stripped at Last of All Other Refuges

1.  Faithful concerning his religion… especially seen in his removing of the High Places and the purification of the worship patterns of Judah

BUT…

2.  Unfaithful concerning his politics

a.  Though never mentioned by name in Isaiah 30 and 31, it seems he was little different from his father, Ahaz, when it came to his international politics

b.  He trusted in his alliances and his scheming

c.  Especially he sent emissaries to Egypt with gold and silver to ask help from the Egyptians

d.  Again and again, Isaiah the prophet had warned Judah not to trust in Egypt, forgetting the power of God

Isaiah 30:1-3 “Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; 2 who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. 3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.

Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.

3.  Perhaps not a good relationship with Isaiah

a.  Isaiah was the mouthpiece of God, warning Hezekiah and his officials from trusting in politics, trusting in Egypt

b.  Isaiah was a goad, poking and prodding at Hezekiah to turn fully to the Lord, to embrace fully the Lord’s power

c.  So, though I am arguing from silence, it is quite possible that Hezekiah and Isaiah were not particularly close

BUT NOW… step by step, God was teaching Hezekiah that he must put ALL HIS TRUST in the Lord ALONE

In Isaiah 33:8, Hezekiah’s emissaries have returned with the news that Assyria had taken all the gold and silver Sennacherib had demanded, and they were still going to crush Jerusalem anyway

the Field Commander has come; also it seems like Sennecherib had defeated an early detachment of Egyptian troops, though the main battle with Egypt was yet to come

It had become obvious now that Egypt would not save them from Assyria Hezekiah had NOWHERE ELSE TO TURN!!!

By the end of Isaiah 37, Sennacherib himself would come with a vast, undefeated army and encircle the walls of Jerusalem itself

C.  Hezekiah’s Humiliation… and His Faith

Isaiah 37:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD.

1.  Some people are humiliated, but refuse to turn to the Lord

2.  Hezekiah had a genuine faith, but he needed to be trained

3.  With nowhere else to turn, he humbles himself completely

4.  He tore his royal robes, and put on sackcloth… signs of extreme grief and mourning

5.  He went into the temple of the Lord to focus his mind totally on the power and existence of God

D.  Seeks Guidance Humbly

Isaiah 37:2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

1.  This is the first time in this book of Isaiah that Isaiah son of Amoz is called a “Prophet”

2.  Perhaps it was difficult for King Hezekiah to humble himself and seek guidance from the Prophet Isaiah, who had spoken so many convicting and even harsh messages of judgment and warning

3.  BUT Hezekiah was stripped of all pride

4.  He was ready to hear whatever God had to say

E.  Hezekiah’s Assessment of the Emergency

Isaiah 37:3-4 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.”

1.  A day of “distress and rebuke and disgrace”… this was God’s message to His sinful people… these words are appropriate for humbled sinners who are submitting to what God is doing

WE DESERVE THIS!!! WE ARE BEING PUNISHED JUSTLY FOR OUR SINS!!

2.  Total humiliation… no strength, no power, no ability to change the situation… like a woman who is in agony as the time has come for the baby to be born; the pain is immense, but the woman is completely depleted, she can’t push the child out, she can’t deliver the baby… they may well both die together

F.  Hezekiah’s ONE HOPE

Isaiah 37:4 It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

1.  The Field Commander had gone TOO FAR… He had blasphemed, he had ridiculed the Lord

2.  In this, he represented the arrogant attitude of his master, the King of Assyria

3.  The ONE HOPE is that God will be motivated by His zeal for His own glory, and will move out in POWER to VINDICATE HIS NAME

4.  Note the humility of a broken-hearted sinner: IT MAY BE that God will hear and will act…but MAYBE NOT…

a.  We are truly sinners, and God is free to deliver us or not

b.  We deserve what we’re getting, and God is not at all bound to save us from this disaster

c.  Ironically, this was the same as the repentant King of Assyria in Nineveh only fifty years before this when the Prophet Jonah went and warned him that the wrath of God was about to fall on Nineveh

d.  The King of Nineveh repented in sackcloth

Jonah 3:6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.

He issued a proclamation:

Jonah 3:8-9 let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. 9 Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

WHO KNOWS???? God MAY RELENT… but our repentance does not OBLIGATE God to forgive us or deliver us

G.  The Request for Prayer

“Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”

1.  This is clear indication that many of the people of Judah had already died under God’s judgments

2.  All that was left now was a REMNANT… a small percentage of Israel that still breathed

3.  This is God’s way, over and over with Israel… the remnant was mentioned at the beginning of this Book:

Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

4.  So also the remnant was mentioned in Isaiah’s call to the prophetic ministry

Isaiah 6:11-13 Then I said, “For how long, O Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”

5.  The remnant is mentioned in Isaiah 10, in which God predicted the events of this chapter

Isaiah 10:21-23 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. 22 Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous. 23 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

6.  So also the remnant would be mentioned in Romans as a picture of God’s electing grace among the Jews

Romans 11:5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Hezekiah begged for Isaiah to pray for God to rise up and protect the honor and glory of His blasphemed name, and to protect the remnant of Israel that still remained

II.   God’s First Answer: Fear Not… the Blasphemer Will Die (vs. 5-7)

Isaiah 37:5-7 When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard– those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Listen! I am going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'”

A.  An IMMEDIATE ANSWER!!

1.  The word of the Lord had already come to Isaiah

2.  There was no time to waste, and God wanted to speak a word of comfort and courage to the leader of His remnant

B.  Do Not Be Afraid of these Words!!

1.  Again and again, the word of the Lord to God’s people is FEAR NOT

2.  Faith and fear are opposites

3.  God is giving Hezekiah the same message as He had given decades ago to Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz… DO NOT BE AFRAID, ONLY BELIEVE

C.  The Words of the “Underlings”

1.  God humbles the Field Commander directly

2.  The real human foe is the King of Assyria, but each person is responsible for their own words and actions

3.  These words of blasphemy are charged against the account of the Field Commander

D.  Blasphemy

1.  The exact opposite of worship

2.  God created us in the image and God and gave us the ability to speak

3.  In Isaiah 36, we see the blasphemy of the Field Commander… comparing God to all the gods of the nations and saying openly:

Isaiah 36:20 Who of all the gods of these countries has been able to save his land from me? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

4.  In a moment, we will also see the blasphemy of the King of Assyria himself

5.  Jesus addressed the issue of blasphemy in Matthew 12

Matthew 12:34-37 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

E.  God’s Early Verdict on the King of Assyria

Isaiah 37:7 Behold! I am going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'”

1.  “Behold”: just watch what I am going to do to this man!!! An awesome display of the sovereignty of God over the smallest movements of the mightiest men on earth

2.  God says He has power to “put a spirit” in Sennecherib… to MOVE HIM to do what God wants him to do

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Exodus 7:3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt,

3.  God has the right to enter our minds and make us think what He wants us to think, to do what He wants us to do

4.  So, His plan is to direct Sennacherib’s heart so that WHEN HE HEARS A CERTAIN REPORT, he will return to his own country

a.  Ironic, isn’t it?

b.  The Field Commander said to Hezekiah,

ESV Isaiah 36:5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war?

c.  And yet, it would be MERE WORDS that, in the end, would move Sennacherib to leave Judah and go home

5.  God’s sovereignty over ALL NATIONS…

“… and there (in his home country) I will have him cut down with the sword.”
a.  God rules every single square inch of this world

b.  God is not what the Assyrians thought… the “God of the Jews” alone

c.  God’s power extends to the ends of the earth

d.  God rules even in the temple of Sennecherib’s god, Nisroch, as we will find out at the end of the chapter… for it was there that God had him cut down

e.  God even rules over Sennacherib’s own family, for it was his own sons who would kill him

So… God has immediately given His answer to Hezekiah concerning the Field Commander’s speech… but more drama is yet to come:

The Sennacherib’s Final Warning to King Hezekiah:

III.   The King of Assyria’s Blasphemy: “Your ‘God’ Is No Different!” (vs. 8-13)

A.  Circumstances

Isaiah 37:8-9 When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. 9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him.

1.  The Field Commander failed in his mission to intimidate Hezekiah and the Jews into surrendering Jerusalem

2.  So, he withdraws to rejoin his master, Sennacherib, who was now done conquering Lachish and was polishing off Libnah

3.  At last, Tirhakah, the Cushite King of Egypt comes marching against Assyria

4.  Sennacherib hears about it and decides to keep the psychological heat on Hezekiah…

5.  He sends him a letter

6.  Four possible reasons

a.  Having heard from the Field Commander that Hezekiah did not surrender, he wants to give Hezekiah one final opportunity to change his mind

b.  Sennacherib especially wanted to strip Hezekiah of any confidence that this news about the King of Egypt might have given him

c.  This letter would come with the personal stamp of the Great King, the King of Assyria himself… not merely the words of a messenger

d.  Sennacherib wanted to zero in especially on the central remaining pillar in Hezekiah’s hope: God’s power to deliver

B.  Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter

Isaiah 37:10-13 “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them– the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?”

C.  The Incredible Blasphemy of the Human Heart

1.  Don’t let the God you are depending upon DECEIVE YOU

2.  Don’t let God trick you or lie to you about what He can do…

3.  Is your God saying, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the King of Assyria”???

a.  Perhaps he had spies in Hezekiah’s inner circle who had reported what Isaiah the prophet had just said to Hezekiah

b.  He wants to strip Hezekiah of all hope

D.  Powerful Argument Based on Past History

1.  There was overwhelming evidence based on past history that Jerusalem would soon be nothing but a pile of rubble and all her people slain

2.  The whole nation of Assyria lived for war

3.  Assyrian kings, one after the other, had totally dominated that region of the world for nearly fifty years

a.  Tiglath-Pilesar III, Shalmanessar V, Sargon II had repeatedly decimated and terrorized the cities of the Ancient Near East

b.  These were not minor victories, nor were they some weird fluke

c.  And recent history—that very campaign led by Sennacherib—had proven that Assyria was still the most powerful nation in that region

d.  Those kings, those people all relied on their gods too… and look where it got them!!!

e.  Why would you be any different?

f.  Why would the god you rely on be any different?

4.  Hezekiah had to make a life or death decision… Is God truly able? Is He truly willing? Does God truly exist? Does He live? Or is He really no different than the gods of all the other nations

E.  Sennacherib: Right Facts, Wrong Conclusion!!

1.  All that history was true…

2.  BUT Sennacherib had drawn the wrong conclusion, as we shall see

3.  The drama has reached its peak

4.  Somewhere between the sending of this blasphemous letter and the answer God would give, Sennacherib quickly defeated the Egyptian army and came right up to the walls of Jerusalem

5.  The time had come for a decision from Almighty God

IV.   Hezekiah’s Prayer: “Defend Your Glorious Name, O Lord!” (vs. 14-20)

Isaiah 37:14-15 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD

A.  Hezekiah Takes the Letter to God in Prayer

1.  His faith is growing stronger and stronger

2.  His prayer here is one of the greatest moments in the history of faith

3.  He had nowhere else to turn… and he NEEDED nowhere else to turn

4.  God would be sufficient

5.  Prayer would be sufficient

6.  He “spread out” the letter before the Lord, not because God didn’t know what it said, but to underscore the issue of the prayer in Hezekiah’s own mind

7.  This symbol of spreading out a matter before God in prayer is a powerful image

Puritan Pastor Thomas Manton: One way to get comfort is to plead the promise of God in prayer, show Him His handwriting; God is tender of His Word.

Here, Hezekiah shows God the Assyrian king’s handwriting… LOOK AT THIS, O LORD!!!

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord… this is a great moment

B.  Beginning with Worship

Isaiah 37:16 “O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

1.  Five statements about God, all of them directed to the issue of God’s position in the universe and in human history

2.  “Lord Almighty” = “YAHWEH OF HOSTS”… the God who rules the armies of heaven

3.  “God of Israel”: the covenant-keeping God, who chose Israel as His treasured possession, out of all the nations on earth

4.  “Enthroned between the cherubim”: “God is a KING on a mighty throne; the cherubim are the mighty angels of heaven, depicted on the ark of the covenant, where God specially meets with Israel in the blood of the sacrifice and by the glory cloud

5.  “You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth”: The repeated lessons of Isaiah 13-35… God is the God of all the earth and all the nations are merely a drop in the bucket and dust on the scales

6.  “You have made heaven and earth”: This mighty God is the God of the universe, the creator of everything that exists

7.  These words are not merely some correct catechism answer for Hezekiah… they are his LIFE

C.  Request #1: Five Imperative Verbs

Isaiah 37:17 Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.

1.  He wants God to focus His attention on the words that Sennacherib has written

2.  He does not focus on his own righteousness or worthiness, because he knows he has none!!!

3.  The focus here is entirely on the glory of God and His reputation

a.  Just like Moses interceding for God not to destroy Israel after the Golden Calf

b.  Just like Daniel, interceding for God to reestablish Israel in the Promised Land after the exile as God had promised

Daniel 9:18-19 Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”

D.  Recite Recent Facts… Understanding them Theologically

Isaiah 37:18-19 “It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.

E.  Request #2

Isaiah 37:20 Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”

1.  Total focus on the glory of God and His name

2.  Hezekiah is concerned about the reputation of God among the nations of the earth

3.  Fundamentally, God is zealous for His name and His glory so that all nations will hear of that great name and call on the name of the Lord and be saved

4.  God works that same concern into the hearts of His praying people

V.   The Verdict Comes Down from the King of the Universe (vs. 21-38)

Isaiah 37:21-22 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the LORD has spoken against him

A.  Words, then Actions

1.  Words (vs. 21-35)

2.  Actions (vs. 36-38)

3.  Notice: God specifically mentions Hezekiah’s prayer… BECAUSE YOU HAVE PRAYED to me…

a.  We should understand the complexities of divine sovereignty and human responsibility

b.  Hezekiah’s prayer was intimately part of God’s sovereign purpose here

c.  BUT we should not say it was ULTIMATELY because of Hezekiah’s prayer

d.  Rather, the praying man or woman is merely escorted into the plans God had already made, and their prayers in a mysterious way become a secondary CAUSE of the miraculous deliverance

e.  In other words, “Because you prayed, I will let you in on what I am planning to do…”

John 5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.

John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

So… God gives WORDS first, then REALITY second… but God’s words are instrumental powers in His plan

Four parts to this answer in words:

1)     God promises to Judge the Blasphemer (vs. 22-29)

2)     God Promises to Save His Remnant (vs. 30-32)

3)     God Promises to Deliver Jerusalem (vs. 33-35)

4)     God Makes It Clear: He Does All of this For His Own Glory (vs. 35)

B.  God Promises to Judge the Blasphemer (vs. 22-29)

Isaiah 37:22-29 “The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and mocks you. The Daughter of Jerusalem tosses her head as you flee. 23 Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! 24 By your messengers you have heaped insults on the Lord. And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. 25 I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’ 26 “Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. 27 Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up. 28 “But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me. 29 Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.

1.  The people of Judah are pictured as the “Virgin Daughter of Zion”

a.  A picture of vulnerability, a young woman needing to be protected by her powerful father, the King

b.  She is portrayed as a Virgin because Sennacherib intended to come and violate her, to rape her and take everything from her

c.  Also, often women or daughters are the ones who celebrate great victories in the bible, often with taunting, mocking songs… like Deborah and the women of Israel singing after the Red Sea had destroyed Pharaoh’s army; and David’s desire that the daughters of the Philistines not mock the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:20)

d.  So here, the Virgin daughter of Zion TOSSES HER HEAD AND MOCKS as you flee!!!!

2.  Next: WHO HAVE YOU MOCKED???

a.  The King of Assyria basically said to Hezekiah, “Don’t you know who I am? Don’t you know what I have done? Why aren’t you afraid of me??”

b.  God completely turns the tables on that theme… no, you tiny little man… don’t you know who I AM??? Who have you mocked? Who have you raised your voice against and blasphemed? Do you have any idea how powerful I am, how awesome is my glory?”

3.  Next: God discussed the centerpiece of Sennacherib’s argument: their recent history of success

a.  He captures the soaring blasphemous arrogance of his heart attitude

b.  The language is the language of deity… like the “King of Babylon” in Isaiah 14

Isaiah 14:13-14 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

c.  It’s that soaring pride of the builder of the Tower of Babel

d.  Look at the ridiculous claims…

Isaiah 37:24-25 you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have ascended the heights of the mountains, the utmost heights of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the choicest of its pines. I have reached its remotest heights, the finest of its forests. 25 I have dug wells in foreign lands and drunk the water there. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’

4.  Let’s Get This Straight: Apart from Me, You Have Done NOTHING!!!

Isaiah 37:26-27 “Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. 27 Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.

5.  The terror of God’s omniscience and the threat of God’s omnipotence comes down on you PERSONALLY

Isaiah 37:28 “But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me.

6.  The prediction restated

Isaiah 37:29 Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came.

a.  Sennacherib is like a BEAST

b.  Amazingly, some Assyrian drawing have shown the atrocities they did to conquered kings… Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria, tortured and humiliated a rebellious vassal king by boring a hole into his jawbone, putting a rope through the hole, and attaching it to a dog-leash, putting him in a cage to be mocked in Nineveh

c.  Sennacherib, like a beast, will be drawn by the power of God to go back to his own country

C.  God Promises to Save His Remnant (vs. 30-32)

Isaiah 37:30-32 “This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 31 Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. 32 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

1.  God will give Hezekiah a SIGN

a.    This is a “sign after the fact”… just like the “sign” God said He would give Moses concerning the Exodus… when all the nation came out and worshiped at Mt. Sinai

b.  Here also, the sign will be the amazing restoration of the land to be able to provide for the needs of the people

c.  The land was laid waste by the Assyrian army… there would be very little left

d.  The first year would be hard, but God would provide enough

e.  The second year would be similar

f.  But in the third year, SOW AND REAP, PLANT VINEYARDS AND EAT THEIR FRUIT

2.  The Remnant of the House of Judah will remain… they will be like the land itself, taking root below and bearing fruit above

3.  THE ZEAL OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY ALONE can accomplish this

D.  God Promises to Deliver Jerusalem (vs. 33-35)

Isaiah 37:33-35 “Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. 34 By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city,” declares the LORD. 35 “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

1.  Final verdict… coming down from the King of the Universe

2.  He says NO, NO, NO, NO, and NO… five times NO!!!!

a.  Each of the clauses in vss. 33-34 begins with no or not

b.  NO, you will NOT enter this city

c.  NO, you will NOT shoot an arrow here

d.  NO, you will NOT come against the city with shield

e.  NO, you will NOT build a siege ramp against it

f.  NO, you will NOT even enter this city!!!!

3.  Instead, BY THE WAY THAT YOU CAME YOU WILL RETURN

4.  God Himself will fight for this city and defend it

a.  Often God raises up people to fight

b.  Or causes confusion to reign among the enemy

c.  Or gives courage to his own people to fight

d.  Here… God does it ALL HIMSELF

Isaiah 31:8 “Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man; a sword, not of mortals, will devour them.

E.  God Makes It Clear: He Does All of this For His Own Glory (vs. 35)

Isaiah 37:35 “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

1.  As we just said, it is NOT AT ALL because of Hezekiah’s righteousness

2.  It is simply for the display of His own glory that God does it

3.  A moment ago, He said,

The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

4.  God’s zeal is for His own glory

5.  “David” = God’s ultimate purposes in Jesus

a.  Because Jesus was a physical descendent of Hezekiah, God allowed his line to survive

b.  God had made a promise to David that one of His own descendants would sit on his throne and rule forever… amazingly, the same ZEAL achieves that

Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Having spoken all these words, God now makes them come true:

F.  God Kills the Assyrian Army (vs. 36)

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

1.  A terrifying display of the power of God…

2.  I can hardly imagine what it was like for the survivors, those who investigated the tents the next morning… dead person after dead person

3.  The number is staggering: 185,000 soldiers… that is about the total number soldiers ON BOTH SIDES that fought in the Battle of Gettysburg. Imagine if Robert E. Lee of the South and George Meade of the North went out on the morning of July1, 1863 to fight the first day of Gettysburg and found that their entire armies BOTH SIDES were dead.

4.  And no explanation… they’re just all dead

5.  What must Sennacherib have thought???

6.  Notice: God left him alive… He brought the story back himself

7.  BUT he never told it in the official annals of Assyrian history

a.  He DOES mention in history that he surrounded Jerusalem and had King Hezekiah caged in his palace like a bird

b.  But the official Assyrian records are silent about this slaughter

c.  But a simple question: if you had Hezekiah caged like a bird, and if you conquered and destroyed all the other cities, WHY NOT JERUSALEM??

G.  God Kills the Assyrian King (vs. 37-38)

Isaiah 37:37-38 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

1.  Astonishing irony: Sennacherib had mocked Hezekiah’s God and said “He can’t save you!” BUT look where Sennacherib died… in the temple of his own false god, Nisroch

2.  He who digs a pit will fall into it!!

3.  He mocked the gods of the other nations… “Where are the gods of …”?? So, Sennacherib, WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW??

4.  The very same words he used came back on his head

5.  BUT you should know this didn’t happen right away… actually the deliverance of Jerusalem happened in 701 B.C. Sennacherib died in 681 B.C. TWENTY YEARS LATER

a.  Sennacherib had chosen his YOUNGEST SON Esarhaddon to succeed him

b.  His older sons were jealous and plotted against Esarhaddon, who fled and hid from them

c.  They then assassinated Sennacherib as this text describes and tried to take over the Empire

d.  Esarhaddon came back and put them to flight and ruled

Thomas Hardy, poem, 1912, about the sinking of the Titanic, “The Convergence of the Twain”

“And as the smart ship grew In stature, grace, and hue

In shadowy silent distance grew the Iceberg too.

Alien they seemed to be:

No mortal eye could see

The intimate welding of their later history”

Proverbs 16:4 The LORD works out everything for his own ends– even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Romans 2:4-5 do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

VI.   Glorious Lessons Listed Briefly… But One Probing Question Asked

A.  God’s Glory is Uppermost in His Own Affections

B.  Therefore, God’s Actions Are First For His Name, Second for Human Salvation

C.  God’s Power and Knowledge Are Awesome

D.  God Is Sovereign Over the Nations

E.  God Rules Over the Hearts of Kings

F.  Behold the Arrogance of the Human Heart

G.  God Opposes the Proud, But Gives Grace to the Humble

H.  God Answers Humble Prayer

I.  God’s Wrath is Terrifying

J.  God’s Mercy to Sinners is Amazing

K.  BUT: If God Can Do This Anytime He Wants, Then Why So Much Suffering??

VII.   How this Chapter Preaches Christ

A.  The True, Arrogant, Seemingly Undefeatable Foe is Sin/Death

B.  Christ’s Victory Over Sin and Death is Infinitely Greater

VIII.   Applications

A.  Flee to Christ!

B.  Understand: God Cannot Be Mocked!

C.  Understand God’s Zeal for His Own Glory, His Own Name

D.  Imitate the Faith of Hezekiah…

1.  Humility

2.  Seeking God’s will in the Word of the Lord

3.  Praying in the midst of trial

E.  Understand God’s Patience Toward the Wicked