When Its Almost Over | Tim Hatch [Isaiah 36:1-21]
The most 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 is to learn about the 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗚𝗢𝗗'𝘀 people were almost done for, & it turned out fine or even better than expected in the end.
Isaiah 36 introduces us to moment in Judah's history where it seems that their history is almost over.
Isaiah 36:1 [ESV] In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib King of Assyria came up against all fortified cities of Judah & took them.
Have you ever sensed the enemy standing at your door? And I'm not talking about your front door.
I'm talking your bedroom door.
He's taken ground, he's encroached upon your life and you feel overwhelmed by a sense of seeming inevitable end.
You will be there.
It happens to some of GOD's best.
In this case, it happens to Hezekiah.
For the first time since the first verse of Isaiah's writing, Hezekiah's name shows up in the text.
............................................................................. It is quite interesting that it happens to show up at the dark moment of Sennacherib's invasion. .............................................................................
This is the truth about trouble:
It puts the spotlight on you when you least desire it.
Sennacherib sends a Message in this chapter to the people under Hezekiah's reign:
Isaiah 36:4-7 [ESV] And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great King, the King of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?
Do you think that mere words are strategy & power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?
Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it.
Such is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all who trust in him.
7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our GOD,” is it not HE WHOSE high places & altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah & Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?
How insulting to be taunted by some one in front of your subordinates.
But again, it happens to some of GOD's best.
When CHRIST, GOD's SON hung on the cross, rulers and religious leaders taunted JESUS in full view of HIS Disciples & Mary.
There are a few deceptions in Rabshekah's words & it's instructive to point them out.
Isaiah 36:8 [ESV] Come now, make a wager with my master the King of Assyria: I will give you 2K horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.
The enemy offers peace. There is never peace with him.
He comes to steal, kill, & destroy.
Isaiah 36:10 [ESV] Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up aga- inst this land & destroy it.” ’ ”
The enemy pits you against GOD.
What the Messenger says here is true according to Isaish 10:5-6.
Assyria was GOD's tool to chastise Israel. But true theology helps us understand that even what GOD brings into our lives [all] that opposes us is useful to shape us & draw us closer to HIM,
not set us against HIM.
Isaiah 36:16–17 [ESV] Do not listen to Hezekiah.
For thus says the King of Assyria: Make your peace with me & come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his vine, & each one of his own fig tree, & each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern,
17 until I come & take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain & wine, a land of bread & vineyards.
The enemy offers you what only GOD can guarantee you. These blessings are the blessings of those who obey YHWH, not those who negotiate with the devil.
Isaiah 36:18 | Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered HIS land out of the hand of King of Assyria?
The enemy typically beefs up his resume to intimidate us. It doesn't matter what he says about himself, we need to remember what GOD has said about him:
Satan is defeated & his doom is certain.
There may be moments GOD lets the enemy lead you to the end of yourself, but it's the beginning of GOD in you, the hope of Glory!
What is the proper response in all these vicious Messages from our enemy?
Isaiah 36:21 | But they were silent & answered him not a word, for the King’s command was, “Do not answer him.”
Don't converse.
That was the woman's mistake in Genesis 3.
And in the next CH Hezekiah does what we need to do in those moments when the enemy seems to be breathing down our neck.
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