Isaiah Is There a Doctor in the House? Isaiah 38

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1 Isaiah Is There a Doctor in the House? Isaiah 38 A well known pastor received the following mailing which included a prayer cloth : Take this special miracle prayer cloth and put it under your pillow and sleep on it tonight. Or you may want to place it on your body or on a loved one. Use it as a release point wherever you hurt. First thing in the morning send it back to me in the green envelope. Do not keep this prayer cloth; return it me. I ll take it, pray over it all night. Miracle power will flow like a river. God has something better for you, a special miracle to meet your needs. 1 Now granted this is an extreme end of the healing movement. Those who take this approach are cons, not sincere individuals who believe healing is available to all. But even those who are sincere can be damaging because of the teaching that God promises to heal all who have adequate faith. Dr. William Nolen, MD investigated Kathryn Kuhlman and presented his findings in a section of his book, Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle. Before going back to talk to Miss Kuhlman I spent a few minutes watching the wheelchair patients leave. All the desperately ill patients who had been in wheelchairs were still in wheelchairs. In fact, the man with the kidney cancer in his spine and hip, the man whom I had helped to the auditorium and who had his borrowed wheelchair brought to the stage and shown to the audience when he had claimed a cure, was now back in the wheelchair. His cure even if only a hysterical one, had been extremely short-lived. Here are some aspects of the medical healing process about which some of us know nothing and none of us know enough. To start with the body s ability to heal itself: Kathryn Kuhlman often says, I don t heal; the Holy Spirit heals through me. I suspect there are two reasons why Miss Kuhlman continually repeats this statement: first, if the patient doesn t improve, the Holy Spirit, not Kathryn Kuhlman, gets the blame; second, she hasn t the foggiest notion of what healing is all about and once she puts the responsibility on the shoulders of the Holy Spirit she can answer, if questioned about her healing powers, I don t know, the Holy Spirit does it all. 2 And of course this is the problem, because while God can heal, He often chooses not to. But more on that later. I Introduction II Hezekiah s Illness Verses 1-8 A. The Prognosis Verse 1 B. The Prayer Verses 2-3 C. The Reprieve Verses 4-8 III Hezekiah s Psalm Verses 9-20 IV Conclusion Verses We are in the midst of an account of incidents in the life of Hezekiah taking place around the time of the Assyrian attack on Jerusalem. I m going back to my introduction to this section to 1 MacArthur, Jr., John F., The Charismatics, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1978, p Ibid, 137.

2 remind us of the context. If you want to consider these events in greater detail you can go to 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles 32. Buksbazen gives a summary of chapters 36 through 39 which complete the first part of the Book of Isaiah. Chapters are a historical supplement to the prophecies of chapters 1-35, and record some of the important events which took place during the reign of king Hezekiah and in which Isaiah himself played a prominent role. The same events, with minor modifications and the omission of Hezekiah s prayer, are also recorded in 2 Kings 18:13-20:19. The supplement completes the first part of Isaiah and serves as a background and a bridge to the prophecies of the second part of his book (40-66). Chapters describe Sennacherib s unsuccessful attempt to capture Jerusalem, and his assassination. Chapter 38 records Hezekiah s sickness, his prayer and recovery. Chapter 39 tells about the embassy which Merodach-Baladan, the prince of Babylon, sent to Hezekiah, and Hezekiah s folly in boastful flaunting his wealth before the foreign visitors. The chapter closes with the ominous prediction that the descendants of Hezekiah will be carried off into the Babylonian captivity. 3 So far we have seen God s miracle in stopping Assyria at the very gates of Jerusalem. Now we will see another miracle, but next week we will see that miracles don t always lead to the end results one would hope for. While scripture demonstrates God heals, it doesn t guarantee that He does so every time. As we will see over the next couple of weeks, there are reasons He may choose not to do so. Verse 1: We start off this section with bad news for Hezekiah. He has been given a fatal prognosis. He is about to die. Grogan notes: The phrase in those days employs different words but is similar in meaning to the phrase at that time, which opens the next chapter. In fact, all these events probably occurred within about two years. This means then that the time reference in this verse is to be taken very generally. 4 Isaiah told Hezekiah that God had decreed his death and so it was time to make his final arrangements. Verses 2-3: What happens next is reasonable by any standard. Hezekiah wasn t ready to die yet, or so he believed. He was probably about 39 years of age at this time. He prayed to the Lord for a healing. And the basis of his prayer was the righteousness of his walk. He had served the Lord faithfully. This statement, which might seem disingenuous to us, was certainly consistent with Moses writings. If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. 3 Buksbazen, Victor, The Prophet Isaiah, In Two Volumes, The Spearhead Press, Collingswood, NJ, 1971, p Grogan, Geoffrey W., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Isaiah, Zondervan Interactive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990 ) 272(

3 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land your grain, new wine and oil the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. The LORD will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you (Deuteronomy 7:12-15). And so, grounded in his faith, Hezekiah knows that God can rescind his death sentence. After all, he had no heir, so what about God s promises to David about the eternal aspects of his line? (As to that, what Hezekiah had no way of knowing was that part of the promise would finally be fulfilled in Christ.) Verses 4-8: God is moved by the faith of Hezekiah and so sends a message through Isaiah. He presents Himself as the God of David, reminding Hezekiah that He was more concerned for the throne of David and its continued existence that Hezekiah was. That night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying: Go and tell my servant David, This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now then, tell my servant David, This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever. Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation (2 Samuel 7:4-17). So, God was going to extend Hezekiah s life by fifteen years for the sake of His promises to David. Sadly, (as we will see next time), the added fifteen years are not as positive as the previous part of his rule. And as an added bonus (obviously this took place before the previ- ) 273(

4 ous chapter so the flow isn t chronological) God was going to free both the king and the people from the threat of Assyria. And God told Hezekiah He would provide a sign to validate His promises. This was not requested but was to be provided nevertheless. And the sign? God was going to make time move backwards. The shadow of the created by the sun was going to be reversed. How this occurred or what the full implications are we don t know. What we do know is a miracle occurred. (If you think about it, because of gravitational effects, a movement of the sun would have affected the galaxy but since God created this universe He could move it in any way He desired) Verse 9: Now Isaiah steps aside and let s us read Hezekiah s prayer or meditation as a response to all God has done. By the way, this is the only part of this narrative which does not occur in the historical sections of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. This first part of this psalm/prayer is a retrospective statement of Hezekiah s thoughts when ill. He talks about the loses he would experience with death. The first statement is one of understandable frustration at dying when he is still young. The next is a little hard to draw a conclusion about. Hezekiah states he wouldn t see God again, and then clarifies, in the land of the living. This may have to do with not being able to serve God and to come into His presence at the Temple. He also regrets the loss of fellowship of his fellow man in this world. Like the weaver who finishes his work, like the shepherd whose pulling up his tent and moving on, having received his death sentence, Hezekiah feels cut off and disconnected from the world around him. Even though he hasn t died, emotionally it is as if a part of him has died. And feeling helpless Hezekiah cries out to the Lord. He feels as if he is about to be destroyed. And at least physically, this is an accurate assessment. Verses 15-17: But starting in verse 15 something has changed. Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen. I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you (Psalm 22:21-22). God has spoken and He has given Hezekiah an extension of his life. And just as the psalmist he gives praise to God in the congregation. He realizes that it is through suffering that one grows. He learned humility because when it came to death it matters not whether one is a king or a commoner. Verse 16 is a bit clouded and may refer to the truth that life is found in the promises of the Lord. And so God has healed Hezekiah, and this healing would appear to be both physical and spiritual. He no longer is immediately facing the grave. Verse 18: What is obvious here, and we know this from elsewhere in the Old Testament, is that an understanding of eternity did not have the clarity found in the New Testament. ) 274(

5 but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1:10). Verses 19-20: These last two verses are statements of praise and worship. Praise is part of our responsibility to the next generations. As the children see the importance of God in our lives we increase the likelihood they will see the importance for themselves. (Statistics demonstrate that were the father attends church on a regular basis the children are much more likely to attend then they become adults.) Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn for he has done it (Psalm 22:30-31). Conclusion: And so Isaiah concludes this section with a coda answering the question how was Hezekiah healed, and Hezekiah s question, regarding the nature of God s sign. There a couple of important principles we can take from this section. The first regards the healing power of God. There is no question that God can and does still heal miraculously. But some use this truth and by bending scripture teach God has to heal all Christians because that is His will. And to add insult to injury when a healing doesn t occur it must be due to lack of faith on the part of the individual who is ill. There for this leaves the ill person with only two conclusion, either they don t have enough faith, leading to guilt, or God doesn t keep His word leading to anger and loss of faith. The problem is the teaching not God. Hezekiah learned a tough truth here. God chooses to heal, or not, based on the reality that growth comes through struggles. God doesn t heal because He is concerned for the best not the good. And often healing would prevent something more important from happening. But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul (Isaiah 38:15). And of course this is the broader principal. It isn t just about healing, it is about any blessings we look for in our lives. God always wants to give us the greatest blessing which means we may not experience that which is good, but instead that which is best. Nevertheless, sometimes He chooses to heal and we are certainly called to pray for the healing of the ill. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James 5:16). And by the way, we are all promised healing which we shall receive, healing in eternity. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Revelation 21:4). Keeping all of this in mind, the second point is our response which not only should be praise for God s blessings in our lives, but the importance of our praise being before others. And of ) 275(

6 specific importance is our praise should be before our children so they too will know the blessings of the Lord in our life, and discover these blessings in their own. The living, the living they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness. The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD (Isaiah 38:19-20). All People That on Earth Do Dwell All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice; Him serve with fear, His praise forthtell; Come ye before Him and rejoice. The Lord, ye know, is God indeed, Without our aid He did us make; We are His folk, He doth us feed, And for His sheep He doth us take. O enter then His gates with praise, Approach with joy His courts unto; Praise, laud, and bless His name always; For it is seemly so to do. For why? the Lord our God is good, His mercy is forever sure: His truth at all times firmly stood, And shall from age to age endure. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heav nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 5 5 Kethe, William, All People that on Earth Do Dwell, Public Domain ) 276(

7 Isaiah Is There a Doctor in the House? Isaiah 38 I Introduction II Hezekiah s Illness Verses 1-8 A. The Prognosis Verse 1 B. The Prayer Verses 2-3 C. The Reprieve Verses 4-8 III Hezekiah s Psalm Verses 9-20 IV Conclusion Verses I Introduction: II Hezekiah s Illness: A. The Prognosis: B. The Prayer: (Deuteronomy 7:12-15)

8 C. The Reprieve: (2 Samuel 7:4-17) III Hezekiah s Psalm: (Psalm 22:21-22; 2 Timothy 1:10; Psalm 22:30-31) VI Conclusion: (Isaiah 38:15; James 5:16; Revelation 21:5; Isaiah 38:19-20) Personal Application: Consider the blessings in Your life. How can you respond to the this week? Prayer for the Week: Lord, may I see the reality of my life as you see it, understanding the blessings that may be disguised as trials. In Christ s name, Amen.