Isaiah 37:1-20 The Greatness of God Through the Prayer of Hezekiah In cps we have two separate invasions. We ended last week right in the

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1 1 Isaiah 37:1-20 The Greatness of God Through the Prayer of Hezekiah In cps we have two separate invasions. We ended last week right in the middle of the first Assyrian invasion as they are surrounding the city. The general mocks their God. He says, Your God won t help. He has no authority. He cannot keep you safe. And because of these things, you should not worship Him. The King is upset (v. 1). He also says in v. 3: This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. So, what does he do? First, he turns to Isaiah. He says, Maybe God will hear! Please pray! (v. 4). (Often, we turn to those who we think are more spiritual as if God will hear their prayer more than our own.) We don t know the depths of the king s heart here. But, he is desperate! It is interesting that Isaiah does not pray. He does not hesitate. He knows what the Lord will do already! Isaiah 37:26: Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass... Assyria will not prevail against Jerusalem. (See Is. 14:25-25; 31:8-9). The king will eventually leave the land and not come back; and fall by the sword there. (Oh, how easily we doubt the Word of God, especially his promises!) Let s continue. We are reading between the lines a little. We don t know how immediate it is, or whether he goes back to Assyria, or straight to the next battle, but, the general is called away to another fight in Cush (v. 8-9). And throughout it all, he is communicating with Hezekiah both verbally and in written form (v. 14). In all of this communication, he continues to mock the God of Israel. It is clear! A 2 nd invasion is coming. And apparently, (not sure when) there is a change in the faith of Hezekiah. In cp. 36, he is still trusting in Egypt. In the first part of 37, He pleads for ISAIAH to pray for him and the people. But, when we come to v. 10 there is no mention of Egypt in the Rabshakeh s words. And, for the first time, he refers to God as your God. Back in 36:14 he refers to Hezekiah as one who deceives the people with the strength of Egypt. But, now, starting in v. 14, we see a man of great faith! And this is what I want us to see today evidenced in his PRAYER. You can tell everything about a person by the way he/she prays. For our prayers prove our view of God! On the Andy Griffith show Aunt Bee would always ask Andy if he liked her cooking because he didn t say much. He would always reply, after eating two or three helpings, the proof is in the pudding. Brothers and sisters, the proof is in the pudding. How do you pray? Briefly, let s consider 4 truths and then try to apply them. 1. God is greater than all. Hezekiah appeals to the greatness of God. Do you remember 36? The Rabshakeh questions the greatness of God. He mocks his authority. He mocks his name. He mocks his ability to save. He mocks his faithfulness. He mocks his reputation. Really, cps. 36 and the first part of 37 are not about Hezekiah and the general, but about the King of Assyria and the King of the Israel, the sovereign Lord. Nine times in vv we see the word Lord. In the Hebrew it is Jehovah, translated as the One Who Exists, the proper name of God. In v. 16 Hezekiah appeals to the one who is enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God... Of all God s creatures, the cherubim, are unique. Do you remember when Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden of God s presence because of sin? God placed cherubim at the entrance with a flaming sword to make sure no one would ever enter again. In this respect, they were the guardians of the holiness of God. Where do we see them again? In Exodus 37 when they were

2 2 making the ark, the place of the mercy seat, two cherubim were placed on each side with their wings overshadowing the mercy seat and their faces looking down (Exod. 37:9). Later on, Ezekiel sees these creatures in a vision. They have 4 sides to their head, and each side has a face: a lion, representing all wild beasts, an ox, representing domestic beasts, an eagle, representing birds, and man, the greatest of all creatures. In this way they represent ALL CREATED EXCELLENCE! In splendor and position, there are none greater! For they guard the holy presence of God. And they are located right below the throne of God (Ezek. 1). It is easy to understand the Apostle John s words in Rev. 5 when we read: And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it (Rev. 5:3-4). Surely, the cherubim are worthy! But they are not! They are holy, but as creatures only. This is why Hezekiah prays in v. 16, You are enthroned above the cherubim. For He knows the King of Assyria is a man, and a very sinful one at that. And He is not great. Only God is great in his own way! There are none greater! He is Lord! Ps. 99:1 The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble; He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake! Brothers and sisters, this truth must be ever before us. We must pray as Jesus instructed us. Our father who is in HEAVEN... And here our payers must begin! And if we do not, we take his name in vain. Yes, God is our friend (as the friend of sinners), but He is first our Lord! 2. God is the creator. We see this also in v. 16. You have made heaven and earth. Here, Hezekiah appeals to God in a different way, though similar. For the One who creates is certainly the Lord. Surely Hezekiah is thinking, Who are you, King Sennacherib? You are merely a man, created by God. You are the clay. God is the potter. And, at this point he was thinking the same about himself. Who am I, but one of your creatures. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). This is the foundation of everything we are and everything we know. At the Word of God everything we see and everything we don t see was created; and this out of nothing, ex nihlo. Power Beyond Measure! Let s think about the expanse of our universe for a moment. If you were to start at our sun, which is not a very big star, and travel outward at the speed of light, here is what you might see. Traveling at the speed of light (186,000 mil/sec), you would pass earth (93 million miles away) in just 8 minutes 19 seconds. In just 5 hours and 31 seconds you would pass Pluto around 3.5 billion miles away. Then we continue, year 1, year 2, year 3, year 4, and finally in the 5 th year of our travel we come to the closest star (after our sun) to our solar system Alpha Centauri A 25 trillion miles away. As we continue traveling 100 light years from our sun, we still can t see yet our galaxy (milky way) fully. At 1000 light years, we still can t see the Milky Way fully. Not until 100,000 light years are we able to see the Milky Way and all its spirals. After 5 million years of travel, we can barely see the Milky Way and 30 other known galaxies known to mankind. At this point, each of these galaxies is ONE dot (like a star). The best estimate is that we have 70 thousand million, million, million stars in the universe. This is 7 X 10 (22 nd power). As we continue 50 million light years, we then encounter the Burger

3 3 Cluster which is said to have 2000 galaxies. After a billion more years of travel we encounter countless galaxies and then stop, pause and consider how much further we can go. Ps. 77:12: I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. When I consider such power in creation, and especially as I consider the ONE behind these things, all I can do is put my hand over my mouth and wonder about such greatness. And such is Hezekiah s prayer! And this is how we must pray! When storms are raging over us, or foreign armies surround us, or when everything is good, we enter our prayer closet alone, as we pray for our friends and our family and the world. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable (Isa. 40:28) 3. He is the living God. We see this in v. 17. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Also look at vv : Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nation and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men s hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are alone are the Lord. Here, Hezekiah wants the nations to know that their gods are not alive. They are dead stones, wood, and other objects that will perish. But, his God is living. I think we might take this for granted. Of course, He is living! You might say. Duh! I think the practical emphasis here is that the gods of this world have NOTHING to offer us. For they are DEAD! We pray to the God who lives. And because He lives, He hears and He answers. And Hezekiah certainly understood this. I remember visiting a totem pole in the forest when we lived in Russia, as the family I was visiting took a fresh meal and flowers to place at the base of a wooden pole with engravings and pictures from top to bottom. To me, this goes against ALL logic! If God is not alive, then how are we alive? If God is not alive, then He cannot be God; if He simply created all things and then went to sleep for eternity. It is so sad to me to see Hindus, Buddhists, those who practice animism, etc. pray to gods who are not gods. For they are dead! This truth is SO practical for us. EVERYTHING you need for life and godliness is found in this truth. And this should overflow in our prayer life. Listen to some verses. Ps. 42:2: My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Ps. 84:2: My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. This is huge! Whatever your burden, whatever your heart is hurting with, whatever your trial or temptation may be, whatever your battle, whatever your danger is, whatever your desire is, can only be found as you look to the living God. So much to say! But, for us as Christians, the proof of this truth is the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Because He lives, we can face tomorrow! As Christians, we are the ONLY ones in this world who have such a rock of truth that anchors our prayers. 4. He is the only God. Very quickly, In v. 16 Hezekiah says, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth... In v. 20 he prays, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that YOU ALONE are the Lord. I think the context is clear. To whom else can we turn? Do you remember Jesus words to his disciples when many others were leaving him because of his

4 4 difficult words? He said, Do you also want to leave me? And Peter replied, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life (John. 6:68). Let me end with some applications. The first one is directly related to God being the ONLY God. Hezekiah is concerned with the glory of God, not the glory of man. Kent Hughes puts it like this: He is not treating God as a means to his own ends but as the worthy end of all things. In other words, God is not our genie at our beckoning call to do as we want. Notice he does not pray, Lord, why is this happening to me? I don t deserve this sickness. I ve lived a moral life. Why was my child struck and killed by a drunk driver? Or, Why, after serving you in this foreign, evil, ungodly country for so many years, have I been put in prison? Why does a tree fall on my house and crush my infant child? Now, I am not saying we should not cry out to God, even when we complain and ask hard questions. We should! We must know that God and his glory is the most important thing! And, He will be with us! He did not spare his Son, but gave him up for us all, how will He not give us all things! His ways are not our ways! But, they are good! At the end of the day, we do not live in the sandbox of our own making (Hughes), but to be living proof that God saves sinners. When you pray, God must never be there to service your convenience or selfish dreams, but to display his glory in your salvation. Hezekiah finally sees what Isaiah has been saying all along. It is not this world with whom we have to deal, but with God. Application: God always answers, though not always as we like. Ask: What do we do when God s will is contrary to what we want. Think of Isaiah and the remnant. They will be delivered in this instance, but not in 586 B.C. or 70 A.D. What do we do when God s will is to send an evil nation upon us, or give us a string of bad rulers? This extends to other issues in life such as sickness, untimely deaths, unjust harm, etc. We must be willing to do as Hezekiah in vv. 3-4: It may be that the Lord will hear... There is great resolve in this type of heart! Application: Your prayers reveal your heart more than anything you do. Let me ask, How do you pray? Application: Your view of God and his sovereignty over all things allows you to pray according to the will of God, no matter what! We see this with Hezekiah, Maybe God will hear. This is very similar to Jesus instructions to pray: Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. What a motive! So how do you pray when a hurricane is beating down on your house? How do you pray when your child is rebellious and heading down the wrong road? How do you pray when your child is sick with an incurable disease? How do you pray when you or your loved one is going through cancer? How did Jesus pray as he considered the absolute worst event imaginable in the universe, that He would be forsaken by God? There is great comfort in this resolve! And not just comfort, but peace, contentment, etc. Practically, How you handle life, your thoughts, your actions, your motives, your ability to handle the effects of sin in this world, is directly related to your view of God. Application: What do you do if your view of God is not like Hezekiah s? First, I would say, keep praying, keep seeking God, even if you don t feel like it, go into your closet and pray, pour your heart out to God with repentance and faith. Pray, Lord, help my unbelief. And

5 5 there are great promises that those who ask will receive, those who seek will find, and those who knock will have the door opened. God knows your heart anyway. Be honest! Lay your heart before God. Second, I would say look to the Scriptures as if your life depends on it (which it does). There you will find wisdom and knowledge. Third, look unto Christ! Do you remember what Hezekiah did? Where did he go. Verse 14: He went up to the house of the Lord... He went to the place of God s presence. Do you remember what Jesus told the woman at the well? Speaking of worship, He said, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father (John 4:21). Today, Jesus IS the place of God s presence. In essence Hezekiah s prayer is like our prayers today. But, there is a difference. As Hezekiah looked forward to the promises of God being fulfilled in the Messiah, we look back upon the fulfillment. As the perfect, holy man, God in the flesh, Jesus laid down his life on the cross as a sacrifice in the place of sinners, in the place of those who have had incorrect views about God, SMALL thoughts about God, those who have not sought Him nor loved Him, nor cared for his rule over their lives (this is all of us), and he was crucified for our sins. The punishment we deserved fell upon Him. The veil into the holy of holies was ripped in two. Today, All God s wisdom, all God s promises, EVERYHING we need for life and godliness is found in HIM! And if we think about all these attributes of God, we see them in Jesus. He is greater than all! After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you? (Heb. 1:3-5). He is our creator. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:15-17). He is the living God. He is not in the grave. He is risen! And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:8-11). He is the only God. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father... (John 14:9). He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power... (Heb. 1:3). And, He hears and answers. He says, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28). Christ is the fulfillment of all these attributes. In Him, we see the ALL of who God is.