Isaiah Why God Often Says: No! Isaiah 39

Isaiah Why God Often Says: No! Isaiah 39 P rayer has been one of the more misused gifts that comes to us as believers. Much of the abuse in the contemporary church has been a misunderstanding of prayer s purpose and what scripture has to say about it. Scripture is twisted and the faith of some believers is damaged. Consider this verse I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven (Matthew 18:19). I told you this story before. I no longer remember the source so it may be apocryphal. The story tells of a young missionary couple who went out into the field to serve the Lord in a foreign land. As is frequently the case, the wife found herself expecting. Now up to a point these parents understood scripture. They knew the child would be born fallen, as all of us are. But then they fell into a trap. Using the above verse they called together some of the other missionaries in the area. Their purpose was to pray that God would cause the child to be born without original sin so raising of it wouldn t interfere with their serving Him. They acted as if this verse was a magic formula by which God could be forced to do men s will. As part of a world-wide prayer chain we sometimes get requests which say, Let us agree together that God would with the idea we can force God to act according to our will. These requests are usually more reasonable than asking for a child to be born without original sin. But the specific request isn t the problem. The problem is these prayers come from a view that reeks more of magic than biblical soundness. Our example is an extreme view of prayer though and hopefully doesn t reflect the position of very many Christians. But too often we to can fall into the trap of believing prayer is a way of getting God to come around to our way of seeing things. We forget God can more easily say No! or Wait! than yes. And we forget that hearing No can be a blessing. I Introduction II To the Glory of Verses 1-2 A. God Verse 1 B. Hezekiah Verse 2 III The Penalty of Pride Verses 3-7 A. Actions Verses 3-4 B. Consequences Verses 5-7 IV Pragmatism Verse 8 V Conclusion

God had been working miracles in the lives of Judah and Hezekiah. For Judah, God slew a significant portion of the Assyrian army and stopped it at the gates of Jerusalem. Next the Lord, who had passed a death sentence on the young Hezekiah, rescinded it, giving him fifteen more years of life. As a sign of the coming miracles, God also chose to move the sun s shadow back. (This specific way this may have been accomplished is identified in the passage.) But all wasn t as wonderful as it appeared at first glance. As for saving Jerusalem from Assyria, it was a temporary reprieve. As we will see this morning, the sins of the people were such that they didn t learn their lesson and therefore were to experience God s judgment. And as for Hezekiah, it might have been better if he had not asked for an extension of his life. Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver and gold and for his precious stones, spices, shields and all kinds of valuables. He also made buildings to store the harvest of grain, new wine and oil; and he made stalls for various kinds of cattle, and pens for the flocks. He built villages and acquired great numbers of flocks and herds, for God had given him very great riches. It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook. But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart. (2 Chronicles 32:27-31). Verse 1: First, we must remember much of what the Lord chooses to do is because He loves us. And, all of what He does should bring Him glory. Unfortunately, people involved in the works of God often divert the glory from Him in an effort to bring it on themselves. This leads us to the problem we find set before us this morning. Since the recipient of God s mercy was the king of Judah, it appears the word of his condition and subsequent recovery had been spread abroad. And one of the places where this recovery was noticed was in the throne room of the kingdom of Babylon. Merodach-Baladan, known to secular history as Marduk-aplu-idinna, an Aramean, was king of Babylon 721 709 B.C. and again for a brief spell of nine months in 703 B.C. 1 Easton notes: In B.C. 729, Babylonia was conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III.; but on the death of Shalmaneser IV. it was seized by the Kalda or Chaldean prince Merodach-baladan (2 Kings 20:12-19), who held it till B.C. 709, when he was driven out by Sargon. 2 Verse 2: As a consequence envoys are sent from Babylon. Keep two facts in mind. First, God had already promised the defeat of Assyria. Second, Judah had made a pattern of poor 1 Grogan, Geoffrey W., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Isaiah, Zondervan Interactive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990 2 Easton M.A., D.D., M.G., Easton s Bible Dictionary, From Illustrated Bible Dictionary Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897, The Master Christian Library, AGES Software, Albany, OR, Version 8.0 2000. ) 272 (

choices. She turned to Assyria to protect her from Syria and Israel. Then she attempted an alliance with Egypt against Assyria. Now possibly there was going to be an opportunity for an alliance with Babylon against Assyria. It seems wisdom would have been to avoid foreign entanglements. Grogan summarizes the situation accordingly. Babylon had known years of greatness in the past and, though now eclipsed by Assyria, was to be great again. Merodach-Baladan s brief success in throwing off the Assyrian yoke was an earnest of this. There was, of course, a political motive for sending his deputation to Hezekiah (v.1). It could have taken place during the closing years of his first period of rule; but, in view of the time references in 38:1 and this verse, it seems likely that it was in 703, only two years before the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib. The envoys were taken on a grand tour of the palace and the kingdom (v.2). Hezekiah s glad reception of them may have been due to a desire to be involved in concerted action against Assyria, and the display of his wealth would show he had something to offer as a potential ally. 3 The problem is, for Judah there was only once safe and successful alliance possible. This was a continued dependence on her alliance with God. And it was this alliance she constantly ignored turning instead to foreign involvements. Something is different here though. When the envoys came from Assyria with threats, Hezekiah offered up their letter spread in the Temple before God. But Hezekiah didn t seek God s leading in dealing with these envoys. Before when threatened he turned to God in prayer. But when things are going well, when being flattered, he could handle things himself. (Now we d never fall into the trap would we? Of course not!) But ego is a tough enemy to overcome. And it appears Hezekiah was under the influence of his own, for he received this envoy from Babylon. And he wanted to impress them with the glories of Jerusalem. So he took them and showed the wealth of the nation. He showed them his personal wealth, the wealth of the palace, the wealth of the storehouses, and probably the wealth of the Temple. Where God deserved glory, Hezekiah claimed it for himself and Judah. He violated a principle later expounded on by Paul. And Hezekiah was to pay the price for his arrogance. Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ (Galatians 1:10). Verses 3-4: God greatly blessed Hezekiah. For while the king had served Him well, that did not mean God was obligated to answer his request for healing. God chose to do so because of His promises to David. 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. 3 Grogan. ) 273 (

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. (2 Samuel 7:11b-16). But it would have been better if Hezekiah had accepted God s will and had not prayed for an extension of his life. Nevertheless God chose to answer yes. Sometimes God is merciful though and answers No! But more on that later. And so Isaiah, having been sent by God, goes to Hezekiah to call him to account for his dealings with the Babylonian envoys. First he asks Hezekiah who came to him? Babylonia Envoys. And what did Hezekiah show them? Everything there was to see. Hezekiah obviously doesn t see a thing wrong with his actions because he makes no excuse or justification for his actions. Apparently he didn t see what was coming. Verses 5-7: God spoke to Hezekiah. Isaiah warned him of the two consequences which were coming. First, all the wealth, all that was the foundation of Hezekiah s pride, would be taken away from the nation. The wealth of Judah would become the wealth of Babylon. Common sense should have told the king that it wasn t expedient to show the nation s riches to a people who might very well covet it. Second, descendents of Hezekiah would be taken into captivity, would become eunuchs in the courts of Babylon. So some of the line of David would be carried off. Destruction and desolation were in the future for the royal line and for the city of David. While Hezekiah had been a good king, he had fallen into temptation, giving in to his own pride. Instead of continuing to show God gratitude for the gift of his life, he took it for granted and started believing his own press. He was the miracle king. And where there had been humility, it fell to pride. How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver! Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud (Proverbs 16:16, 18-19). Verse 8: The chapter ends on a pretty pathetic note. What is Hezekiah s response to the prophecy? Does he recognize his fault? Has he become humbled before the Lord? No! Instead his response is quite pragmatic. He responds positively before Isaiah saying what God prophecied is good. But what he is really thinking appears to be, at least all the negatives won t happen until long after he is gone. I don t know about you, but as for me, my initial reaction to this verse is finding Hezekiah s words self-serving and lacking in any kind of compassion for the future, though Grogan sees it from a different perspective when he states: Hezekiah s acknowledgment that God s word was good probably includes a recognition that the judgment was appropriate because deserved and that it was not altogether unmixed with grace. Are we ) 274 (

then to condemn his final statement as selfish and unfeeling? Probably not. It is more likely to be a thankful recognition that God had not dealt with him personally to the measure of his desert. 4 In fairness it should be pointed out while the majority takes the positive approach to Hezekiah s words, Oswalt represents the other position. When speaking of this positive position he states: However, this position is called into serious question by the ensuing statement, For there will be peace and stability in my days. While it may be that Hezekiah is humbly thankful for God s grace in not bringing the deserved punishment upon him immediately, it is hard to avoid the implication that the real reason for his saying that God s word is good is merely the very human relief that he is not going to be destroyed. Whether his descendants are to be consumed does not seem to affect him. Furthermore, his reaction was quite different when his own demise was imminent (38:3). All this leads me to believe that the picture here is essentially negative. 5 Oh well, at least I m not the only cynic. But whatever the case, after the day of Hezekiah Babylon would take many of Judah into captivity and pillage the city of Jerusalem. And so closes the first book part of the work of Isaiah. Conclusion: Now going back to where we started. Hezekiah s prayer for healing was answered and the result was a man who had generally walked faithfully before the Lord ended his career ignominiously. Why God chose to answer his prayer yes, considering the consequences, is unclear. But what is, is we should be grateful God often chooses to answer our prayers no. And it doesn t matter whether we are praying for healing, or fixes to circumstances, God s primary concern is for His glory, our spiritual growth, and the advancement of His kingdom, or as Paul said: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 It is for this reason we need to remember the purpose of prayer. Hanegraff summarizes the purpose of prayer this way: the body of Christ must rediscover the joy of genuine worship by developing a passion for prayer. It is crucial that we become so focused on the purpose, the power, and the providion of prayer that once again prayer becomes our priority. While prayer involves supplication, it is much more than that. Ultimately, prayer is the submission of our will to God. That is precisely why R.A. Torrey said that to pray the prayer of faith we must, first of all, study the Word of God, especially the promises of God, and find out what the will of God is. Through prayer we have the privilege of expressing adoration and thanksgiving to the One who saved us, sanctifies us, and one day will glorify us. Through prayer we also confess our sins with the sure 4 Ibid. 5 Oswalt, John N.., The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1-39, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1986, p. 697. ) 275 (

knowledge that He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). F.B. Meyer has well said that, The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer but unoffered prayer. 6 Too often, like Hezekiah, we turn to God in the times of trials, and forget to when we are dealing with decisions we can make on our own. We emphasize the intercession and petition aspects of prayer with less emphasis on the praise and thanksgiving. We think in terms of expressing needs that we desire God to meet. Instead, we should be thinking about prayer as a way to come to terms with God s will for us and as an opportunity to worship and fellowship with our Creator and Savior. I suspect it is the de-emphasis of these aspects which often make prayer more of a burden than a blessing. If our prayer life seems more work than relief, maybe we need to examine it as see if somewhere we have forgotten the most important aspect of prayer, making ourselves available to hear what God would say to us. If we remember this is what we need most, then we will truly desire and experience, the sweet hour or prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, That calls me from a world of care And bids me at my Father s throne Make all my wants and wishes known! In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft escaped the tempter s snare By thy return, sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear To him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless: And since he bids me seek his face, Believe his word and trust his grace, I ll cast on him my ev ry care, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, May I thy consolation share, Till, from Mount Pisgah s lofty height, I view my home and take my flight: This robe of flesh I ll drop and rise To seize the everlasting prize; And shout, while passing thro the air, Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer! 7 6 Hanegraaff, Hank, Christianity in Crisis, Word Publishing, Dallas, TX, 1997, p. 244. 7 Walford, William, Sweet Hour of Prayer, Public Domain ) 276 (

Isaiah Why God Often Says: No! Isaiah 39 I Introduction II To the Glory of Verses 1-2 A. God Verse 1 B. Hezekiah Verse 2 III The Penalty of Pride Verses 3-7 A. Actions Verses 3-4 B. Consequences Verses 5-7 IV Pragmatism Verse 8 V Conclusion I Introduction: (Matthew 18:19; 2 Chronicles 32:27-31) II To the Glory of A. God: B. Hezekiah: (Galatians 1:10) III The Penalty of Pride: A. Actions: (2 Samuel 7:11b-16)

B. Consequences: (Proverbs 16:16, 18-19) IV Pragmatism: V Conclusion: (2 Corinthians 12:7-10) Personal Application: This week let us examine our prayer lives, seeing how it might need refocusing and consequently making it something we greatly desire as blessing and comfort. Prayer for the Week: Lord, may my words, prayers, and walk be examples of praise to You and blessing to others. In Christ s name, Amen.