“Inviting the Enemy”
[Isaiah 39:1-8]
April 19, 2020 YouTube
We
return to our look at the book of Isaiah this morning – picking up where we
left off – at chapter 39.
In previous chapters, we see the Assyrian army
come against Judah and take her – up to Jerusalem. King Sennacherib of Assyria sends his
Rabshakeh to threaten King Hezekiah of Judah and Jerusalem to get them to give
up. Hezekiah and his chiefs pray for God
to deliver them and an angel of the Lord comes through the camp and slaughters
185,000 of Sennacherib’s soldiers. They
return to Nineveh in defeat and, some years later, Sennacherib is murdered by
his sons.
At
the same time this is happening, Hezekiah is facing a deadly illness, and he
asks that God save him. God hears
Hezekiah, and Isaiah tells him that God will heal him and give him fifteen more
years of life.
Also,
about the same time, the Kingdom of Babylon is growing and becoming a force in
the region. And in 703 B. C., Merodach-baladan, the king of Babylon, leads his
forces again the armies or Sennacherib and wins a major battle. Merodach-baladan also gets word that
Hezekiah’s God has miraculously slaughtered a segment of Sennacherib’s army and
sent him home, also, Hezekiah has been healed of a terminal illness.
As
someone who wants to overthrow the Assyrians and become the major player in the
region, Merodach-baladan is intrigued about Hezekiah and his God, and he
wonders if an alliance might be in the offing.
And
we remember, time and time again, God tells the kings of Judah, do not make an
alliance with foreign nations, rely on God alone.
And
that brings us to this morning’s text, around 702 B. C.
First,
pride leads to sin.
“At
that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys
with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and
had recovered. And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed
them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil,
his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in
his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.”
It
is said, “flattery will get you everywhere.”
The
king of Babylon sent envoys to King Hezekiah with letters praising him for his victory
against the Assyrians and for recovering from a terminal illness. And these
letters can with some sort of gift – likely a gift befitting a king – an
expensive gift. And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly.
Hezekiah
was thankful. He should have been
thankful. They came with letters that
gave thanks for his victory and his recovery.
They gave him an expensive gift.
It was perfectly right for Hezekiah to be thankful.
If
you or I go through a terrible time of suffering and show wise leadership and
faithfulness to God, it is not wrong for us to accept the thanks and praise of
others and even gifts from them – given in thanks for our recovery – for our
overcoming insurmountable odds.
But
– and Hezekiah probably didn’t say it out loud, but he certainly said it in his
heart based on the rest of our text, “You’re right. I am pretty amazing. I stood in faith against the Assyrians and
defeated them, when no one else in the kingdom could stop their rage. And then I pulled myself through this
terrible disease that everyone told me would be fatal, and here I am, fit as a fiddle. I really am something. And the Babylonians have noticed!”
Chapter
sixteen of Proverbs begins by talking about how God is the One Who ordains
everything that comes to pass, and then we read:
“Pride
goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18, ESV).
With
all the praise and joy and gifts being heaped upon Hezekiah, he forgot where
the real power lies. He forgot the promises
of God and what God had done in the life of Judah and in his life. He forgot
that he was commanded to do nothing – not to ally with pagan nations. He was so filled with pride, all he could see
was Hezekiah on the top of the cake, and everybody cheering and telling him how
great he is.
And
so, with the slightest nudge from the members of the envoy – perhaps, “How did
you do it your majesty? How did you
defeat Sennacherib and overcome your illness?
What is it about you that makes you so invincible, so wise, so
handsome?”
Hezekiah
takes them to the national vault, and he lets them go in and count the silver
and the gold, weigh out the spices and the precious oil – he allows them to see
exactly what the nation has financially to back up his future plans. And then he takes them to the armory, and he
let them check out the tanks and the guns and the rocket launchers and the
explosives – he allows them to see exactly how strong his military is. And he takes them to the storehouses and
shows them how much food he has stored up – so they could estimate how long
they could be in quarantine and still meet their nutritional needs.
“Pretty
amazing, isn’t it. We have enough
financial wealth to fund any project you could think of, enough military
strength to defend against any intruder, and enough food to feed the nation if
the crops go bad or if we are attacked and lose access to our crops.”
And
the envoy thanks Hezekiah and returns to Babylon and reports all these things
to their king.
Peter
warns his fellow Christians, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the
devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter
5:8, ESV).
What
does it take for you to open up and tell someone – or show someone – something
that leaves you vulnerable? What does it take for you to think, God won’t mind
this just once – or, maybe what God is clearly saying is not what God is
clearly saying? What does it take for you to think, you know, I am pretty
impressive – what I did is pretty amazing, I ought to get some acclaim – I
ought to let people know that I’m a star?
Hezekiah’s
pride got the better of him. He listened
to them fawning over him, he accepted their gifts, and then he left – not only
himself – but the entire nation vulnerable to a foreign, pagan nation.
Second,
God confronts our sin.
“Then
Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, ‘What did these men
say? And from where did they come to you?’ Hezekiah said, ‘They have come to me
from a far country, from Babylon.’ He said, ‘What have they seen in your house?’
Hezekiah answered, ‘They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in
my storehouses that I did not show them.’”
And
we wish that Isaiah had been wearing a wire and it had been passed down through
the ages so we would know the tone of Hezekiah’s responses to Isaiah’s
questions. At this point it’s not clear whether Hezekiah responds repentantly
or with pride.
Did
he give responses pridefully?
Or,
did he give responses repentantly?
What
we do know is that Isaiah has not been hanging out in the shadows, drooling
over the attention that Hezekiah has been getting from the Babylonians, wishing
it was he. No, Isaiah is told by God to
march up to Hezekiah and confront him about what he has done.
“Hezekiah,
you have given the Babylonians – who are not our allies – you have given this
pagan nation all of the information they could ever want to know about
Judah. What do you think God thinks
about your consorting with Babylon in this way?
What do you think God thinks about you giving all this information away
for some sweet language and an earthly gift?”
As
we continue in our text, it is obvious that Hezekiah, if he did not recognize
his sin the moment Isaiah arrives, he understands his sin once Isaiah asks him
these questions.
No
unlike after David takes Bathsheba to be his and sent Uriah, her husband, off
to be killed, that Nathan appears and tells David a story about a rich man who
steals the one lamb of a poor man, and David’s rage against the man builds, and
as Nathan tells David that he is the man, David repentantly crumbles.
God
still confronts our sin through His Word, as Paul explains: “What then shall we
say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I
would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the
law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Romans 7:7, ESV).
And
God has written His Law on our hearts and minds, so we normally know what sin
is. As Christians we certainly know –
the author of Hebrews writes:
“For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on
their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Hebrews
8:10, ESV)
Third, sin leads to a fall.
“Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear
the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in
your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be
carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own
sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and
they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
We know that sin carries a
price. And God sends Isaiah to tell
Hezekiah what the price will be.
Two things:
First, Babylon will attack and
conquer Jerusalem and take everything that you showed them back to Babylon as
their booty.
Second, the people of Jerusalem will
be taken into captivity – including some of you sons – and your sons will be
made into eunuchs to serve in the king’s palace.
“Hezekiah, your sin – which seemed
like nothing to you – is great. And it
will affect the nation, as well as your own family. But God, in His Mercy – for the sake of His
promises, will not bring this to pass in your lifetime.”
Historically, we know this came to
pass in 597 B. C. – just over a hundred years later.
Our sin has serious consequences –
perhaps even far beyond ourselves. And
that is the secondary reason not to sin.
And God is right and just in all of His discipline and punishment that
He brings.
The primary reason not to sin is the
Gospel – Who Jesus is and what He has done in history. If we have been credited with Jesus’ righteousness
and He has paid the debt for all our sins and given us the indwelling of God
the Holy Spirit, so we are always able to turn from temptation and not sin. If
we sin, we are, as R. C. Sproul says, in “cosmic rebellion.”
“We all do it.” But how can we do it? How can we turn from our God and Savior and
treat Him so shamefully? For what? Other people fawning over us? A moment of pleasure? Another dollar in the savings?
Sin is easy. But it is always wrong and never for the
good.
How does Hezekiah respond to the
news? Certainly he receives and accepts
it as the True Word of God:
“Then
Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.’
For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my days.’”
Again,
we wish we had the tape. How are we to
hear Hezekiah’s internal comment? Was it
thankful acceptance of God’s Mercy towards him?
Or, was there a relief that could be questionable?
Chapter
thirty-nine of Isaiah is a major turning point in the book. Hezekiah’s sin is the final straw that
secures Jerusalem being conquered by the Babylonians and the people being
taking into captivity for seventy years.
Just
as we see God’s Mercy towards Hezekiah in chapter thirty-nine, Lord willing, we
will see how God shows mercy and gives hope to the captives during their
seventy years away from the Promised Land.
In
the meantime, remember God’s word to Cain and do not invite the enemy in:
“If
you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is
crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over
it” (Genesis 4:7, ESV).
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we thank You that You are Holy and Just and Merciful. We thank You that sin must be paid for and
that Your Son has paid the debt for all our sins. We ask that You would help us
– that You would strengthen us with the power of the Holy Spirit that when
temptation to sin is laid before us, we will not let the enemy in, but we will
rebuke the devil and he will flee. Help
us to desire to be holy, and give us the strength to become holy, even as You
as changing us into the Image of Your Son.
For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
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