“King Hezekiah: Intercession”  (Yahweh strengthens)

2 Kings 18-20; 2 Chron 29-32; Isa 36-39

We find another remarkable young man - like Daniel - in the king of Judah, Hezekiah, who started his reign when he was only twenty-five years old.

His devotion to the Lord was so pronounced that he did ‘right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did...He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him, for he clave to the Lord and departed not from following him...’. (2 Kings 18:3,5-6)

As far as the kings go, he was one of the most outstanding of all, after David, holding his confidence in the Lord and never giving himself over to idolatry.  

It was these two characteristics that secured the Lord’s blessing upon him through all his reign, in that ‘...the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth,’ and answering his many prayers. (v 7)

This young man’s faith and stand in Jehovah was even more remarkable, especially when we look at him in the light of his family influences.

Ahaz, his father, with his sickening abominations against the Lord during his reign, could have easily sidetracked Hezekiah.

And - if we were to trace back into history, we would also see that Hezekiah’s grandfather and great-grandfather also did evil in the sight of the Lord.

So, to see this young man choose to forsake the idolatrous practices of his father, to be so dedicated to the Lord when he was reared under such evil influences, is nothing short of the wonderful grace of the living God in Hezekiah’s life.

He is credited with bringing Israel back to her allegiance to Jehovah and to true spiritual worship - the quality of worship in which the Lord delights.

It was through Ahaz that Judah was brought to depend on Assyria.

But it was Hezekiah who broke that grip by refusing to pay tribute to Sennacherib any longer.

Of course, you know what that meant - it was an out-and-out invitation to war. 

And the Assyrian king certainly was not about to let that go unchallenged! 

After some unsuccessful negotiations between them, 
Sennacherib started his offensive.

He sent messengers to the Jerusalem wall to urge the Israelites to surrender to his forces.  

They taunted the inhabitants of Jerusalem, battered them with warnings against expecting help from the Egyptians, tried to misrepresent Hezekiah’s temple reforms as being dishonorable to God, tried to undermine their confidence in the living God. 

They even sought to convince them that their invasion upon Jerusalem was heaven-sent as a judgment by the Lord against them: ‘What kind of a leader do you have - why Hezekiah ought to be dethroned’, they jeered! 

And - to top all that - since Sennacherib is such a mighty, powerful king, why even Jehovah cannot match him and deliver the Israelites out of his hand!

Now - this is quite an impressive list of reasons to capitulate - to give up, surrender, submit, and yield to the enemy - is it not?

Why fight when you know you have no chance of winning - when the odds are so heavily stacked against you!

Is that not right?

But - stop to think about this for a moment!

Can you imagine such brazenness, such impudence against the living God and against His people!

What a daring mockery toward the strength, the power, the might, the honor of Hezekiah’s God, of our God!

Hezekiah gave the answer to this foolishness in no uncertain terms - an answer - and the only answer - to any and all such intrusions into the life of a believer - into the midst of the Lord’s Church!

Without wavering - with his utmost confidence in the living God - he made his move!

All of Sennacherib’s mouthy wrangling is met with the representation of the Lord’s way of meeting the onslaughts of the enemy - in v 36.

Look at it: 2 Kings 18:36 - ‘But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.’

Yes - ‘In quietness and confidence is our strength’ was the unspoken reply!

I think the most serious damage to the Christian walk is to try to determine our steps by letting the current influences and the contagious opinions and ideas of the world dictate to and control us in our character and in walking a wise course of our Christian lives.

When this is happening, you can be rest assured that our lives in fellowship and prayer with our Lord is on a low plane. 

It is on a standard of our own making - and that is a dangerous place to be for any Christian - more about this in a moment, but let us go on.

Wise Hezekiah was not reluctant to take the first step toward a shift from the threatenings of outside forces to the nobleness of spiritual life - in this case, that first step in spiritual warfare.

He told his people to ‘answer him not’!

Do not say one word to the enemy - give him no place - let him go on his way - baffled and unacknowledged!

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians - a letter that stresses the unity of the Church, the unity of believers, the consistency of the believer’s walk in the Lord Jesus Christ, their Source of strength and their stance in spiritual warfare - it is not surprising that there is included, among all of this, the admonition of ‘...neither give place to the devil’.

Hezekiah was doing exactly this in the way he was approaching the enemy.

His people were united so much so that when he said, ‘Answer him not’, they did exactly that - stood together, were consistently strong and unwavering in the counterattack, and let the enemy wallow in his own confusion.

And that is not surprising either, for - in 2 Chron 30:12, it reads: ‘Also in Judah, the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king, and of the princes, by the word of the Lord.’

The word of the Lord came to them - the king announced it - ‘answer him not’.

And in that, they stood together as one.

And Hezekiah did not stop at this point either - he knew where to go now - he knew the direction to take.   

So - without hesitation - in 2 Kings 19:1, he ‘...went into the house of the Lord’, the only place to go in such a time as this.

You see, much of our feebleness in the Christian life is  because we are ignoring the Standard that Christ is in us - of He Who shapes our character and of He Who measures the results of His own work.

I wonder often - are we putting prayer in its proper place in this regard.

Is not our weakness because we let prayer slip to the bottom of our list of priorities for a smooth, strong, steady Christian walk?

When we make our own standard - as we are so prone to do - there is always delusion in asserting our own desires; convenience and pleasure are formed by our own fleshly and low rule.

For us, who say we are born from above, born of the Spirit of the living God, this is idolatry!

Let me repeat, this is a form of idolatry - let me call it
‘ego-idolatry’ - if you will.

Fortunately, Hezekiah knew how to avoid giving himself over to idolatry - he held fast his confidence in the Lord.

And that conviction ushered him right to prayer - he went to prayer! - no weakness, no feebleness in him.

Yes - he went to prayer in the house of the Lord where he was able to meet with some other brethren to stand with him in this ‘no-win combat’ that lay ahead of Jerusalem and its people!

He consulted with the priests of the temple and - through them - with Isaiah, the Lord’s prophet.

And, in doing that, he was given the assurance that 
the Lord would intervene for them.

Listen to the Lord’s answer in Isa 37:7: ‘I will put him [Sennacherib] in such a mind that when he hears a certain rumor, he will return to his own country where I will bring him down, and I will give the word and a sword shall make an end of him.’

And - if you want to know whether that came true, read the very last verse in that chapter for yourself - ch 37 of Isaiah.

It was a scathing communique, a defaming and blasphemous letter, that promptly came from the Assyrian king after this.

2 Chronicles 32:17: ‘He [Sennacherib] wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him...’.

Imagine - he wrote a scornful, sarcastic letter condeming the Lord God - spoke against Him in such a insulting way!

And, again, where else could Hezekiah go ?

And to whom should he, or could he, appeal for help? - to none other than the living God! 

Yes - again, it sent Hezekiah before the Lord for, when he received the letter and read it, he ‘...went up to the house of the Lord, and spread the letter before the Lord.’ 
(2 Kings 19:14)

‘Lord - bow down thine ear, and hear - hear all that Sennacharib has to say;

And - Lord - open thine eye and read - read this letter he sent me...’

‘Lord - Sennacherib is reproaching You. Of a truth, some of what he said about us is so, but, Lord, save us out of his hand, so that ‘all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the Lord God, even Thou only’.’ (2 Kings 19:19)

Look at how Hezekiah was viewing the matter and how he so faithfully stood confident in the Lord and communicated that confidence to the people in 2 Chronicles 32:7-8.

‘Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him; with him is an arm of flesh: but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our battles’, he said to the people.

With us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our battles!

The united prayers of the praying king, the praying priests, and the praying prophet were almighty forces in bringing deliverance and destroying God’s enemies.

The Lord was given the opening to work things out His way - in whatever way He deemed necessary and best - and that is what we must see with no doubt about it.

Prayer is what must mold the life of the Church - it is the only Standard by which it can go on and be victorious in the battles life hurls at it.

Just as the united prayer of the praying king, of the priests, and the prophet were those forces to bring in deliverance, so also the united prayer of the Church that stands with one mind and shoulder (as I have often said) bring in deliverance.

For it has the Prophet, the Priest, and the King with His blazing sword ready for battle! - Christ, our Deliverer.

Listen - armies lay at God’s mercy and are defenseless in the heat of a prayer battle - would you accept that as 
Gospel truth?

If prayer is not the Church’s main rule - if it is not the pattern by which we rule ourselves in our individual lives - 
if it is not the pattern by which the Church is patterning its life, then we are - of all men - most deceived and most miserable.

Without raising a hand against the enemy, Hezekiah defeated Sennacherib with the concerted prayer of the whole-hearted Church.

If we, the Church as a whole, do not believe in the effectual, working power of prayer, we wallow in our own helplessness!

And - let me get just a little more personal: if you cannot honestly say that ‘the Lord will fight this battle today’, you are on the losing side of your Christian walk!

This is so - or it is not so!  

And we may as well come to the point where we are thoroughly convinced of it or we walk in our own doubt and disbelief!

Can that be any more simple?

What in the world is there to lose by being confident of this very thing, I ask you?

Listen - what sets Christians who are experiencing troubles apart from the troubles the world sees?

It is simply that Christians know to Whom to take their troubles for help, guidance, and comfort.

There are some of us who have real problems - even within our own families.

Some of those problems do not have to be - especially when we finally realize that much of the problem may lie within us and our failing to co-operate with the Living Christ within Who longingly desires to start at that place first!

And, do not think for one moment that that may be so of the person sitting next to you - ‘he or she, but not me,
O Lord!’

And do not think that - because you have heard it all before - that you really know it all as it ought to be known!

That kind of thinking is nonsense!

And that is what may be keeping some of us from increasing in the full knowledge of Jesus Christ.     

Let me, once again, remind you: the heart is desperately wicked and deceitful - above all things - who can know it?

Certainly not you nor I - but the Lord does!

So - beware - think this through again before the Lord, for your own sake, and especially for the sake of Christ!

The Lord knows those who honestly, truly, and purposefully have trusted Him all along.

That present ground must be held for it is precious in His sight.

And on that ground, He has graciously given us one heart, one mind - and He desires to go on and desires that we go on with Him.

And we must be desirous to advance on and on in it.

So, I urge you - strike out for higher ground!

Be a Hezekiah in your character before the Lord.

Be a Hezekiah in your prayer walk.

And, in speaking to the Church in general - let us be a Hezekiah in our concerted walk of prayer before the Lord.

I leave you with 2 Chron 31:20-21 that says: ‘And thus did Hezekiah...[he] wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work he began ...he undertook to seek God, to make his whole heart’s quest...(and notice this part especially) [and he] did it with serious purpose and things went well for him.’

(Pray)

I trust that you will ponder these things we have looked at tonight seriously before the Lord.

The Lord bless you and give you an especially glad week in the beauty of His presence and sustain you daily. 

AMEN.