2 Kings 19:20-37

[0:00] 2 Kings chapter 19, 2 Kings 19, 2 Kings chapter 19, we're right really almost in the middle of that chapter, starting in verse 20.

[0:12] So we're going to pick it up in verse 20, we'll go to the end of the chapter which gets us down to verse 37. 2 Kings 19 verses 20 through 37 will be our text this evening.

[0:23] I shared this with you last time we were together in this text, I don't think that wasn't this past Sunday night, it might have been this past Wednesday night, I believe was the first time we were in it or it may have been the Sunday night prior to that.

[0:39] But either way, we're in the middle of an account that is recorded three times in scripture. The passage before us is recorded just about verbatim in the book of Isaiah.

[0:57] So we are accustomed to reading things in the books of 1 and 2 Kings which we find repeated in 1 and 2 Chronicles. In particular things that deal with the region of Judah or the southern kingdom.

[1:11] You need to understand why, I know this is not as relevant to the message, but I'm a guy who likes to put a lot of food on the plate and you get what you get. Okay, if you don't eat all of it, that's fine, but I want you to never walk away hungry.

[1:25] So I kind of can't help it in tonight, I'm sorry. I got like four or five messages going in my head tonight and that's usually not a good thing for me, but the way my week goes is going, I needed to do that.

[1:38] So I have tonight's message, I already started next Sunday night's message and I'm starting a Christmas series this Sunday. So I'm really excited about that one because it's not one like I've ever preached before and it's really kind of got me excited about.

[1:51] So that is really in my head and I'm just can't, I'm trying to move away from it. More information than you needed to know. Some pastors are really, really good at holding all that in, I'm not. Usually I dump it all out there and you get all of them at one time, but I'll try not to tonight.

[2:05] But anyway, when you get into the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, you're dealing with a nation coming out of captivity. When we say captivity, Babylonian captivity. And they're coming back to this place of restoration, right?

[2:18] We are the people of God, we're going to rebuild the temple of God, though they don't rebuild it in all of its grandeur and splendor. We see that, Ezra and Nehemiah, we're going to rebuild the walls. And so the chronicler, which many people think may be Ezra or one of the scribes out of the scribal tradition of Ezra, is writing there to record for the people.

[2:40] This is how God was faithful. This is how we messed up, but this is how God was faithful. This is how he preserved his people. And in particular, there is a focus on the southern kingdom, the preservation of the Davidic line, right?

[2:52] That God preserved the lineage of David just like he said he would. And the focus is not so much on the rebellion of the northern kingdom, though it's mentioned. So it's focusing really on the preservation of that and the restoration of the priests and the restoration of everything that's important.

[3:08] So the names are important, the places are important, and matters like this are of great importance even to the chronicler who writes 2 Chronicles. Because, if you remember, Hezekiah is one of those really good kings who came and walked in the ways of his father David.

[3:26] Not just his father next of kin, but his father David, who restored the priestly service, who restored the Levites, who restored the singers and the musicians.

[3:37] And brought all that to play. So if it wasn't for Hezekiah coming and restoring these, then now just stay with me. This, again, we stand back. Here lately, I've been overwhelmed at the small things of Scripture that are so astounding that we forget about them sometimes.

[3:55] That if he hadn't restored them, and it wasn't recorded for us in Scripture, then when they came out of captivity, one of the lineages they needed to know was not just the lineage of David.

[4:06] They needed to know who was a priest. Who was a Levite. Who could actually lead the nation in worship. And they would not have known that if this king hadn't have restored them.

[4:19] Right? So now, all of a sudden, we get to this point where the battle that's going on at this moment in the history of God's people really is of utmost importance.

[4:30] Because the Assyrians are encamped around the city of Jerusalem. The Assyrians have already led into captivity the northern kingdom of Israel. They've defeated all the kingdoms around the people of Judah.

[4:44] They've ransacked the outside of the land of Judah and the rural towns. So, in all the small communities. And now, their military might is really focused on the city of Jerusalem.

[4:56] What's so different in this battle is that Hezekiah has been faithful. Chronicles tells us, after all these acts of faithfulness, then the Assyrians came.

[5:07] So, this is not the discipline of God for his rebellion. This is the attack of the enemy upon the people of God. And when we look at it in this kind of mindset.

[5:21] For everything that's going on, all the restoration, which will lead to the preservation of the lineage. So that when they come out of Babylon, they can, again, restore this worship.

[5:33] These things wouldn't have happened if the enemy succeeds. Right? These matters, to us, we look and go, oh, that's a bad time. But no, it's the enemy really opposing the work of the Lord God and the people of God.

[5:49] Now, if you remember, Hezekiah had some growing up to do here. I know I'm giving you a lot of information before we get to the text. And that's because you need to know it in its context.

[5:59] When they come and Esarhaddon, who is his kind of chief military officer, comes and gives all these great threats. He calls and he sends his leaders over to Isaiah and says, tell Isaiah to pray to his God.

[6:13] Isaiah prays. It doesn't say Hezekiah did, but Isaiah prays. Then, the word of Isaiah comes back, says, don't worry. Then the king of Assyria comes back and he sends him a letter and says, I'm going to leave when I'm coming back.

[6:24] And I'm going to, you know, wipe you off the face of the earth. Your God's not big enough and all this other stuff. Then we say that Hezekiah takes that letter, goes into the temple of the Lord, lays it out before the Lord, and Hezekiah prays.

[6:36] Okay. So, now we've got to the point where Hezekiah, that's in verses, it ends really about verse 19 is the end of his prayer there in the 19th chapter. Where Hezekiah is crying out in prayer.

[6:50] Isaiah records the very same occurrence for us. And then we get to this point now where our passage picks up in verse 20. Then Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel.

[7:04] Because you have prayed to me about Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard you. This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him. She has despised you and mocked you, the virgin daughter of Zion.

[7:16] She has shaken her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted up your eyes against the Holy One of Israel?

[7:29] Through your messengers you have reproached the Lord. And you have said with my many chariots, I came up to the heights of the mountains and to the remotest parts of Lebanon. And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses.

[7:40] And I entered its farthest lodging places, its thickest forest. I dug wells and drank foreign waters. And with the sole of my feet, I dried up all the rivers of Egypt. Have you not heard?

[7:52] Long ago I did it. From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass that you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength.

[8:04] They were dismayed and put to shame. They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, as grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up. But I know you're sitting down and you're going out and you're coming in and you're raging against me.

[8:20] Because of your raging against me and because your arrogance has come up to my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips and I will turn you back by the way which you came.

[8:33] Then this shall be the sign for you. You will eat this year what grows of itself and the second year what springs from the same. And in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

[8:45] The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord will perform this.

[8:57] Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there and he will not come before it was shielded or throw up a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came, by the same way he will return.

[9:11] And he shall not come to this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.

[9:26] And when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacher, king of Assyria, departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adramalach and Sherazer killed him with the sword.

[9:43] And they escaped into the land of Erot. And Esrahaddon, his son, became king in his place. 2 Kings 19, 20-37. I want you to see this evening a good word at a bad time.

[9:56] A good word at a bad time. Hezekiah is in the midst of the attack of the enemy. We would say that it is an unprompted, undeserved attack.

[10:09] When the Assyrians go into Samaria and they go into the northern kingdom, we can justify why they are there. It tells us in scripture that they fell to the Assyrians because of their rebellion and their disobedience.

[10:22] Because they worshiped the false gods. Because they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire of the gods. That is, child sacrifice. Because they forsook the commandments and the teachings of the Lord. But when we come down to Judah, we see Hezekiah restoring the temple worship.

[10:37] Refurnishing the temple. Re-establishing the priesthood. Calling the Levites. Purging themselves. Purifying themselves. And also taking over the Passover and extending an invitation to that Passover.

[10:50] Even into the northern regions. Hezekiah is not a king who is just trying to take care of his little clan. He is a king of the Lord God who is concerned about all the people of the Lord. And yet in the midst of that, the Assyrians come and they encamp around the city.

[11:09] It's amazing how many prophetic words you have in scripture pertaining to the Assyrians. If you go and just peruse through your books of prophecy, your minor prophets.

[11:22] A number of them speak in particular to this time frame and to these people. We have more that speak about the Assyrians than we do the Babylonians.

[11:34] So it tells us we have more prophets that are speaking at this time than in any other. The most famous one of them all would be Isaiah. He is reigning.

[11:45] He is sitting with those who reign. He is amongst the royal courts of the kings. And he is declaring the word of the Lord at this time. His first mentioning in scripture.

[11:55] Now this is not when he begins his prophetic ministry. But his first mentioning in scripture is connected to the Assyrians encampment around Jerusalem. His ministry started in the king prior to Hezekiah.

[12:10] But the first time we have him mentioned in scripture was when the Assyrians came and camped. And it's right here in 2 Kings. So this is a very pivotal point in the nation of Israel.

[12:23] It is a time in history in which God is going to do something astounding. And before he does it, he sends a good word at this bad time. Because the enemy is definitely on the attack.

[12:37] The first thing we notice about this word is it is a response of God to prayer. It is a response of God to prayer. Look at what the word of God says.

[12:48] It says, Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah saying. Now if you open up your scripture and you go to the book of 2 Chronicles. And you read the parallel account in 2 Chronicles.

[13:02] It is not exactly like this one. Because it gives us a little bit fuller details. The account in Isaiah is verbatim a repetition of what we have before us here.

[13:14] But in 2 Chronicles it tells us that when the letter was handed over to Hezekiah. Hezekiah went into the temple and began to pray. But it tells us that Hezekiah and Isaiah both were praying.

[13:27] In the first occurrence, Hezekiah sends to Isaiah and says, Tell Isaiah to pray to his God. Isaiah gets a word and sends it by way of royal messengers.

[13:38] And says, This is what God told me. Now in this occurrence, Hezekiah and Isaiah are both praying before the Lord Almighty. Regarding the enemy attack that is coming against them.

[13:50] And we are told now that God speaks to Hezekiah. He doesn't need Isaiah to translate for him. Because Isaiah is just going to declare to him what the Lord God is saying to him.

[14:01] He is not going to give advice. He is not going to give counsel. He is going to declare the word of the Lord. So what we notice is that God responds to prayer. I have said it before.

[14:14] It is amazing how many times in scripture we look and we see that God not only hears. But He attentively hears the prayers of His people. And that He responds to those prayers.

[14:26] He takes notice of them. Think when the people were enslaved in Egypt and they cried out. And the Lord God heard their cries and responded.

[14:38] Here it tells us, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Because you have prayed to me. So very clearly, Everything that follows is in connection with this one statement.

[14:50] Because you have prayed to me. I have a word of assurance. I have a word of comfort. I have a word of declaration. What I'm about to do. Everything is hinged on the reality, Because you have prayed to me.

[15:04] I was reading in my daily reading. Some of you were reading in the same manner. Again, the small details of scripture. In the very chapter in Luke, In which Jesus is teaching on prayer.

[15:17] And He tells the disciples to keep asking, Keep seeking, And to keep knocking. And He uses the woman who goes before the unrighteous judge. And the judge wouldn't listen to her. She kept going back. And just because he got tired of it, He finally gave in to her.

[15:28] Right? In that same chapter, At the end of that chapter, We almost dismiss it, Because in our English translations, We put headings up there, And we divide it. Instead of just letting it say what it says.

[15:39] But at the end of that same chapter in the book of Luke, You meet a blind man named Bartimaeus. And Bartimaeus is sitting in the city. And Jesus is coming. And Bartimaeus is calling out.

[15:49] Remember that? And everybody is saying, Be quiet, Bartimaeus. Be quiet, Bartimaeus. And he keeps calling out. And he says, Be quiet, Bartimaeus. Be quiet, Bartimaeus. And he keeps calling out. And the Bible says, But he keeps calling out. And guess what? Jesus stops.

[16:03] I do not think it's coincidental That that's the very same chapter In which Jesus is teaching us to pray And to keep asking, To keep seeking, And to keep knocking. Because if Bartimaeus had been quiet, Jesus would have walked by.

[16:15] But he would not let the crowd hush him. He would not let the people threaten him. And he would not let anything stop him. And since he kept on doing it, Jesus stopped and said, What would you have me to do for you?

[16:27] Bartimaeus followed Jesus away from there Looking at him. Because he received his sight. And it says that he went forth from there Behind him praising and rejoicing On all that the Lord God had done.

[16:39] The answer to prayers Because he would not be quiet. Hezekiah saw the need to ask Isaiah to pray. And when the situation got bad enough, He started praying. And when he started praying, God responded.

[16:52] God responds to our prayers. But go back and read Hezekiah's prayer. I'm not going to do it for you tonight. Go back and read Hezekiah's prayer.

[17:04] Hezekiah doesn't say, Oh God, get me out of this situation. Oh God, do this. He doesn't go before him with a list. He goes before him with a recognition And a reminder of who the Lord God is.

[17:15] He is declaring God's position And majesty and authority Over the circumstances. And is waiting on his reply In light of the circumstances. So we see it as a response Of God to prayer.

[17:30] When the enemy threatens And the people pray, God responds. Number two, We notice in this passage The relation of God to his people. The relation of God to his people.

[17:44] In God's response, He says, Because you have prayed, I have heard you. And this is the word That the Lord has spoken against him. That is, the king of Assyria.

[17:55] Because you've prayed, I've heard you. And this is what I say to him. In your scripture, You should have some words That are offsets. They're a little bit different In their type.

[18:08] And it's because these things Are everything that God is saying To the king of Assyria. Then when it goes back To your regular paragraph form Or verse form, This is what Isaiah is declaring To Hezekiah That God is saying to him.

[18:18] So pay attention To what God is saying To the king of Assyria. She has despised you And mocked you. The virgin daughter of Zion. She has shaken her head behind you.

[18:29] The daughter of Jerusalem. So he declares This is what the king is doing. But look at what he says. Whom have you reproached And blasphemed? Now looking in, We would say The king of Assyria Has mocked Hezekiah.

[18:44] The king of Assyria Has mocked the armies Of the people of Judah. The king of Assyria Has declared The unfit condition Of Jerusalem To defend themselves. But God asks the question.

[18:55] Whom have you mocked? He says, Whom have you reproached And blasphemed? He says. And against whom Have you raised your voice? This is what he's saying To the king, right? Now, in this world The king of Assyria Is saying these things To the people of Judah.

[19:10] But God says, You're not just saying it To the people of Judah. Look at what he says. Against the holy one Of Israel. By the way, That is a name of God That is one of the favorites Of Isaiah.

[19:24] The holy one of Israel. God says, You are not mocking them. You're not reproaching them. You're not blaspheming them. You're not declaring Unrighteous things towards them.

[19:37] Through your messengers, He said, You have reproached the Lord. Do you see this? Look at the relation Of God to his people. He says, When you reproach them, You reproach me.

[19:51] When you blaspheme them, You blaspheme me. When you declare They are unfit, You're saying that I'm unfit. Notice this. When the people of God Walk in fellowship with God, Then God identifies With his people.

[20:06] The Bible tells us In the book of Hebrews, What? That Jesus came To experience all of humanity And to be tempted In every way That we have been tempted So that He may know how to lead us Out of that temptation.

[20:22] He did not fall. He did not stumble. He was tried and tested In every way, It tells us. That he may identify with us. We have a Savior Who knows us By experience By experience And by identification With us.

[20:38] See, God has such a relation With his people. It tells us elsewhere In the Old Testament That they are the apple Of his eye. Right? They are the most tender Part of his body.

[20:49] God so identifies With his people As they walk in faithful Obedience to him That when people oppose them They're really opposing him. This is why We can say The greater is he That is in me Than he that is in the world.

[21:01] Why? Because it is not us. We wage war Not against flesh and blood But against the powers And principalities there And the spiritual forces Of darkness. What we notice here Is that God declares To the king of Assyria You're not mocking them You're mocking me.

[21:18] Friend, listen to me. In Christ When the enemy Comes against you They're not just Coming against you They're coming against him As well.

[21:30] Now I'm not talking about When we are in sin And in disobedience And we're being disciplined And chastised Because it is The faithful father That disciplines us For our inconsistencies But rather when we are in Christ And the attack comes And we are walking In faithfulness And we're walking In repentance And we can say As far as I know There's nothing between Me and the Lord That is unleft Unrepented Or unconfessed Then when the enemy Attacks us He's attacking He who is with us As well It is the relation Of God To his people Number three Look at the revelation Of God To those who oppose him The revelation of God To those who oppose him God says You've raged against me You've blasphemed me You've reproached me So now let me tell you About me Right They thought they knew All about Judah

[22:31] They could look at the walls Going around Jerusalem They could look at the city That was decimated They could look at Just a few people That were confined within They thought they had it Shut in and shut up They thought they had Hezekiah figured out But God says You're not reproaching them You're reproaching me Now I need to tell you A little bit about me Look at what it says And this is where we get Into all the prophetic books That we see He says Through your messengers You have reproached the Lord And you have said With my many chariots I came up to the heights Of the mountains To the remotest parts Of Lebanon I cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypresses And I entered Its farthest lodging place Its thickest forest I dug wells And drank foreign waters And with the soil of my feet I dried up all the rivers Of Egypt What is he saying The Assyrians saying This is what we have done This is what we have done And if you were to look Across the landscape Of the world of that day You could see where the Assyrians Had been You could see all of the victories They had had in battle Every place that they declared

[23:32] Everything that they went to I told you They came out of nowhere And they became a superpower Out of nowhere Up until this time They were kind of just Some small region over there Nobody thought about All of a sudden The people of Israel Need to be disciplined And the Assyrians Coming out of nowhere And they're ransacking everyone And we say Where did that come from Well in their pride And in their halt They thought they had Figured something out So in their pride They said This is everything We have done But God gives a great revelation Look at what he says Have you not heard He says Wait a minute There's something you've missed Have you not heard Long ago I did it And from ancient times I planned it Do you see this revelation The Assyrians Are where they are And who they are Because God had determined That it would be Long ago I planned it And then I began To do it Friend listen We know the word of God

[24:33] Declares to us That he holds the hearts Of the kings In the palm of his hands And he turns them Where he wants But he is so omnipotent He is so all powerful That nothing escapes His planning His directing And his leading He says Have you not heard The only reason You're there He says I have brought it to pass That you should turn Fortified cities Into ruinous heaps Therefore their inhabitants Were very short of strength And they were dismayed And put to shame God says The only reason You're winning the battle Is because I go before you The only reason You win the battle Is because this is What I had already ordained Long ago I had planned That it would be this way And some of us say Well that's unfair You mean all those Innocent people would die And everybody would be Cast aside That's not fair That God would allow These things to be What is the clay To say to the potter You shouldn't do that Be careful how we judge

[25:35] The fairness Quote unquote Of God Because we don't know Where we stop That fair line If I had to guess We would stop That fair line Where we fall On the good side Instead of the bad side But what we need To understand Is that God Is in control Of all things In all times In all seasons Do we understand it?

[26:00] No But we acknowledge it We believe in the reality That the Assyrians Could not do a thing If God had not Went before them The only reason They won the battle Is because God Had weakened the inhabitants Of every city They went into And then he has One more revelation To them He said Not only did I go Before you I also Know you But I know You're sitting down And you're going out And you're coming in And you're raging Against me That is The one who had Made them so strong Knew them Even in their Weakest moments God is not only In control Of all of the world Events Friend listen God is in control Of every event Of your personal life And my personal life Paul standing On Mars Hill Said it this way That you are Where you are Now I'm paraphrasing I put in today's terms That you live Where you live Because this is where God wanted you to live

[27:00] When he wanted you To live there And you are Who you are Because this is Who God wanted you To be Sometimes I think Well I would have Loved to have lived In a different Day and time A different age And I would have Fit in a little bit More back then And I have all These thoughts And then I'm Reminded that I am Where I am Because this is Where God wants me At this time In history For his glory Paul tells us That God ordains The seasons And the epochs And the days And the times Of where everybody Exists He is a God Who is in control This is the revelation Of God To those who oppose him So many think That they have it all Under control And God says Have you not heard Have you not heard Fourth and finally We notice The retreat Of the enemy As he promised Here's the good word Fulfilled The retreat Of the enemy Isaiah tells Hezekiah This will be

[28:00] A sign for you You will eat This year What grows of itself And the second year What springs from the same So he says You're going to live For two years On the sustenance You already have And on the third year So it gives us A little bit of A snapshot Of how long The seeds lasted Admittedly There's just a Remnant Of people of Judah Who come out of this Many Indeed suffer But this remnant Will bear fruit It will grow down And bear fruit Out It will be prepared To usher in The Savior Himself But this is what God says Therefore thus says The Lord concerning The king of Assyria He will not come To this city Or shoot an arrow There And he will not Come before it With shoulder Or throw up A siege ramp Against it That's a promise He says he won't Do it The promise of The king of Assyria Is that I'm going To do it The promise from The word of God Is that he will Not do it Look at what he says For I will defend The city To save it For my own sake And for my servant David's sake Remember they have Opposed the Lord God

[29:01] They have not Just opposed man Then it happened That night That the angel Of the Lord Went out And struck 185,000 In the camp Of the Assyrians Josephus The secular historian Tells us It was 185,000 Of the best soldiers The Assyrians had The Assyrians Recorded in their Own history And they will not Tell you how they Died They just said It must have Been a plague Of some sorts Or some kind Of sickness Went through the Camp And we lost A number of Soldiers The Assyrians When they recorded Their history They were very Ambiguous In their word Choice They said That they Laid siege To Jerusalem But they never Say they went Into Jerusalem He says We surrounded The city But never Does he declare Like he did Every other city That we went Into the city Because he Didn't Just like Some trying To paint History In their Own light They said We had To leave Because the Sickness Came through And we Know the Word of God Tells us That the Angel of The Lord Went before Them And struck 185,000

[30:02] Of their Strongest Men Why Because they Had relied On their Own strength And when They woke Up in the Morning They looked Next to Them And the Man next To them Was dead So they Went home And for About two Years Everything's Quiet Because there's A historical Reference of About two Years that Passed Before we Read that Senecrib Went home And lived In Nineveh Went into The house Of his God With a Lowercase G And was Worshipping His God And two Of his Sons Came in And killed Him And fled And that's Her Had and his Son became King in his Place You know What's Telling in This Is that the Lord God Almighty Struck a camp And one Night 185,000 People died In an Instance And the God that This man Was worshipping Couldn't Preserve His own Life Be careful Of the God you Worship Because it Matters When the Enemy's Presence Hezekiah

[31:06] Had enemies At the Gates Outside The Walls And Surrounding Him In a Mighty Mighty Way And in One Night The Lord God Delivered Him In an Instance Sennacherib Was in The safety Of his Own City In his Own False Temple With his Own False God Worshipping With two Of his Own Sons And that God was Of no Help to Him Because it Absolutely Matters Who we Worship When the Enemy is Presence Because the Only way we Get a good Word at a Bad time Is when We're getting A word From the Lord God In response To our Prayer And we See it In second Kings Nineteen Twenty Through Thirty Seven For us Thank you My Friends Thank you Brother Ass Thank you.

[33:01] Thank you.

[33:31] Thank you.

[34:01] Thank you.

[34:31] Thank you.