Burunche’s Blog

Israel’s Only Savior

“Now this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring My sons from afar, and My daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.” Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind, and who have ears but are deaf.

All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witnesses to vindicate them, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.” “You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me, no god was formed, and after Me none will come. I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no Savior but Me. I alone decreed and saved and proclaimed—I, and not some foreign god among you. So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. Even from eternity I am He, and none can deliver out of My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”

A Way in the Wilderness

Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, and your King.”

Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the surging waters, who brings out the chariots and horses, the armies and warriors together, to lie down, never to rise again; to be extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: “Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old. Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness (Judges 2:10-15; Jeremiah 2:23-37)

But you have not called on Me, O Jacob, because you have grown weary of Me, O Israel. You have not brought Me sheep for burnt offerings, nor honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with frankincense. You have not bought Me sweet cane with your silver, nor satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities.

I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more. Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated. Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against Me. So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”

God through Isaiah is trying to call Israel back to Himself one more time. But nobody seems to be listening. Look at the promises God is making! “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.” Favored nation status? It doesn’t get much better than this. Why would anybody turn down such an offer from the God of the universe? And it gets better.

“Do not call to mind the former things; pay no attention to the things of old. Behold, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness and streams in the desert.” In any desert, water is a precious commodity. No matter how well adapted to desert life an animal might be, it still requires water. Finding a way through a waterless wasteland can be treacherous and deadly, but God is promising that He will make a way. But there’s a big problem.

Even after God has done all kinds of miracles for Israel, the Israelites have ignored God and have refused to worship Him. Even worse, when the Israelites have brought animals for sacrifices, they have brought the lame, the maimed, and the blind. “But you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities.” The prophet Malachi also brings a similar charge against the Israelites. “When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi 1:8)

God is offering incredible deliverance on the one hand and condemnation on the other. Unfortunately, the Israelites are persisting in their sins, choosing their own destruction. “So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”

APPLICATION: Some people are so foolish that they would cut off their own noses to spite their own faces! The ancient Israelites KNEW that their God had repeatedly delivered them and they KNEW that their God still wanted to deliver them; yet, they steadfastly refused to turn away from their sins. Stupidity has been described as making the same mistake repeatedly and expecting different results. That’s where the Israelites stand at this point.

Throughout the history of both the Northern and Southern kingdoms, God has repeatedly delivered when people have called on Him, but they remain recalcitrant. Through Isaiah, God is making some of His strongest arguments, and yet the Israelites are refusing to listen. We know that eventually God allows the Assyrians to overrun Judah, destroying much of Jerusalem.

The wonderful thing about God’s promises is that they don’t just apply to one set of people. Untold numbers of believers have taken courage from God’s promises to be with them through fire and floods and to make a way in the desert, supplying them with water. Those same believers have lived to testify to God’s goodness and provision. One such saint, Robert Keene, wrote this grand old hymn in 1787: “How Firm a Foundation Ye Saints of the Lord.”

1.  How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!

What more can he say than to you he hath said,

Who unto the Savior, who unto the Savior,

Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

2. In ev’ry condition—in sickness, in health,

In poverty’s vale or abounding in wealth,

At home or abroad, on the land or the sea—

As thy days may demand, as thy days may demand,

As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.

3. Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

4. When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow,

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

5. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,

Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

6. E’en down to old age, all my people shall prove

My sov’reign, eternal, unchangeable love;

And then, when gray hair shall their temples adorn,

Like lambs shall they still, like lambs shall they still,

Like lambs shall they still in my bosom be borne.

7. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, I’ll never, no never,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, let these words of faith sink into our hearts and become our testimony. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Here Is My Servant (Matthew 12:15-21)

“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the coastlands will put their hope.”

This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it: “I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.

I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. Behold, the former things have happened, and now I declare new things. Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

A New Song of Praise (Psalm 98:1-9; Psalm 149:1-9)

Sing to the LORD a new song, His praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands, and all who dwell in them. Let the desert and its cities raise their voices; let the villages of Kedar cry aloud. Let the people of Sela sing for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops. Let them give glory to the LORD and declare His praise in the islands.

The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars. He prevails against His enemies. I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant. I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes. I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them. But those who trust in idols and say to molten images, ‘You are our gods!’ will be turned back in utter shame.

Israel Is Deaf and Blind

“Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see! Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the LORD? Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear.” The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.

But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!” Who among you will pay attention to this? Who will listen and obey hereafter? Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? They were unwilling to walk in His ways, and they would not obey His law. So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.”

Isaiah 42 gives us one of the many clear pictures of the Messiah. God says that He delights in the Messiah, that He will put His Holy Spirit on the Messiah, and that Messiah will bring forth justice and hope. Although powerful, the Messiah will be so gentle that he will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick that barely has any fire left in it.  

“I, the LORD, have called you for a righteous purpose, and I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and appoint you to be a covenant for the people and a light to the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.” Messiah is sent to be a light to the nations, to bring people out of the darkness and prison of sin. Ancient prisons were dark dungeons into which people were thrown; there was little if any light.  

“The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars. He prevails against His enemies.” God will not tolerate sin and evil forever. At some point, God will break forth to make all things right. God will deliver those who trust in Him, but those who trust in idols will be “turned back in utter shame” because they have trusted the wrong sources of power. This is both a promise and a warning. By Isaiah’s time, there were many in Jerusalem and Judah who were mingling idolatry with ritual observances in the temple, hedging their bets spiritually. God knew who those people were and was warning them.

Why does God refer to His covenant partner as blind and deaf? Messiah will not be swayed by the things He sees or the things people say, but Messiah will discern the truth. But those in Israel who are following idols are both blind and deaf; even when God sends prophets to warn them, they refuse to see or listen.

APPLICATION: At one time or other, most of us have felt like bruised reeds or smoldering wicks, nearly ready to give up. As the chorus goes from Fiddler on the Roof, “Life has a way of abusing us, blessing and bruising us.” This chapter encourages us that even when we are at our weakest, Jesus the Messiah will still be gentle with us. The question is, how gentle are we with others?

There is a story about two junior high school boys who were walking home from school. Neither of them knew the other very well. The first boy realized that the second boy was carrying an enormous load of books and assumed that he must have been given a ton of homework. For some reason, the first boy felt led to invite the second boy to come home with him and play video games and eat supper with his family. The boys went home together, called the second boy’s parents for approval, and then had an enjoyable evening together. After that, the two boys became friends. Eventually, both boys were graduating from high school, and that’s when the second boy revealed something shocking. The reason this poor kid was carrying all those books that day had nothing to do with homework. This boy felt so lonely and unloved that he had cleaned out his school locker; he was planning to go home and commit suicide. But when the first boy invited him for video games and supper, it gave him hope, and he abandoned the idea of doing away with himself. It was the kindness of the first boy and his family that saved the second boy’s life.

There’s a saying in the American South that “Everybody is trying to swallow something he can’t get down;” in other words, everybody has hidden struggles. That high school cheer leader who is also the prom queen may have parents who don’t really love her but only love her achievements – no achievements, no love. That highly successful public figure may have a son or daughter who struggles with drug addiction or a wife slowly descending into early Alzheimer’s.

Be gentle! You never know how many people who look all right are actually bruised reeds or smoking wicks, nearly at the point of extinction. When I was in pediatric surgery training, we attended a church where one lady hugged me every Sunday and asked me how things were going. At that point, things were really very difficult. I was doing the work of two residents because the man who should have been one year ahead of me dropped out of the program. As the first female in that program, I faced a number of problems. By the time Sunday came, I was so stressed that hugging me must have been a lot like hugging a log; yet, every Sunday this precious lady continued to hug me and inquire about my well – being. Those hugs softened my spirit and gave me hope for the next week.

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came into the world to show us his Heavenly Father, to make disciples, and then to die a shameful death for the sins of the whole world. Jesus was no wimp! Just ask the money changers who felt the sting of Jesus’ whip as he drove them out of the temple. But this same Jesus also sat for hours with a Samaritan prostitute by a well in the middle of the day, teaching her the things of God. This same Jesus raised a widow’s only son from the dead, opened blind eyes, cured lepers, and healed a lame man on the Sabbath. Each one of those people Jesus healed was a bruised reed, nearly ready to give up.

Are you a bruised reed or a smoldering wick? Have you lost all hope? Come to Jesus! Let’s pray.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us are exhausted and weary! We have no hope of anything getting better and we even wonder why we continue to try to go on with our lives. Lord, You know our names, our trials, our failures, our fears. Please enter every trembling heart, soothe the hurts, heal the pains, and give new hope. We give You permission to change us. In Your mighty and precious Name, Jesus. Amen.

God’s Help to Israel

“Be silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come forward and testify; let us together draw near for judgment. Who has aroused the one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. He pursues them, going on safely, hardly touching the path with his feet. Who has performed this and carried it out, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—the first and the last—I am He.”

The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward. Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled.

“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said, ‘You are My servant.’ I have chosen and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness. Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish. You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing. For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you.

Do not fear, O worm of Jacob, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs. I will plant cedars in the desert, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set evergreens in the desert, elms and cypress trees together, so that all may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Meaningless Idols

“Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob. “Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome. Or announce to us what is coming. Tell us the things that are to come, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do something good or evil, that we may look on together in dismay. Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who treads the clay. Who has declared this from the beginning, so that we may know, and from times past, so that we may say: ‘He was right’? No one announced it, no one foretold it, no one heard your words. I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news. When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say. See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.”

In this chapter, God continues to describe Himself and to draw a sharp distinction between His nature and that of false gods.

1. God is the One who establishes nations and conquering rulers. “Who has performed this and carried it out, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—the first and the last—I am He.”
2. God has chosen Israel and will help her. ““But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said, ‘You are My servant.’ I have chosen and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness. Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish. You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing. For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you.
3. God can rearrange the landscape as He chooses. “I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.” Today there is a great deal of discussion about climate change and the events that lead to it; yet, one factor nobody is mentioning is the God who created the earth in the first place.
4. All the idols that men choose to worship are meaningless and cannot do anything. “Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.” “ When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say. See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.”

APPLICATION: If we serve the One True Living God, we serve the God who can help us. Thirty years ago, we took a clinic vehicle to Accra to buy drugs and consumables. Just as we pulled into a parking space, all four of the tires went flat! Money transfers in those days were difficult and getting money from a bank could take long hours because computerization was then in its infancy in Ghana. But three months earlier, someone had donated and now there was sufficient money in our account to purchase five new tires and an extra rim for the spare tire. This was certainly a “stream in the desert” as far as we were concerned!

In 1996 we returned to the U.S. so that I could earn my MPH at Tulane University. I rejected the idea of a government loan when they demanded I give my father’s financial information. I went to Tulane early to meet two of the professors in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. What I failed to realize was that they were interviewing me for a scholarship, a scholarship that eventually paid one third of my school fees. Our home church directed its scholarship money for that year to me, and we were able to handle everything else because my husband worked while I studied. When I graduated from Tulane, the Assistant Dean went around the reception afterwards pointing me out as the woman who came to Tulane on faith for whom God paid the bills. This lady had watched through the year as I paid my monthly installments on time and in full; she was used to missed payments and hard luck stories.

Are you stuck in a horrible mess with no way out? Turn to God and ask Him for help. Those promises He gave Israel are also for you. ““I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.”

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, there are many who need this encouraging word this morning. Open the eyes of their hearts so that they might see Your Glory and Your Power and Your Might and realize that You stand ready to help them if they will only ask. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

“To whom will you liken God? To what image will you compare Him? To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains? To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

“To whom will you compare Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He never grows faint or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out. He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak. Even youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”

These verses are the second half of the 40^th chapter of Isaiah. This chapter contains one of the most magnificent descriptions of God ever written and is worthy of further study.
1. There cannot be an idol of God because God stands beyond history, beyond creation and beyond anything that man can imagine. No matter how huge an idol might be, even if it is pure gold with silver chains or a cunningly carved block of precious wood, that idol is still merely the creation of humans.

2. God is far above all earthly beings. “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.”

3. It is God who controls all the rulers of the earth. “He brings the princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.” During the Roman Empire, when conquering rulers were parading through the streets of Rome, there was always a member of the Praetorian Guard who walked close to the ruler to whisper, “Remember, Caesar, thou too art mortal.” Proverbs 27:23 – 24 says, “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds; for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.”

4.  God is Creator. ““To whom will you compare Me, or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”

5. God knows exactly what is going on with us at every minute; God gives us power and God strengthens us for whatever He calls us to do. “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He never grows faint or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out. He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak. Even youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”

APPLICATION: Sooner or later, all of us find ourselves stuck in situations that seem endless without any escape. As I am writing this, I have friends who have been caught in problems not of their own making. Each time our friends solve one problem, another one immediately crops up. It’s reminiscent of the Hydra, a mythological beast that was a gigantic water-snake-like monster with nine heads, one of which was immortal…Anyone who attempted to behead the Hydra found that as soon as one head was cut off, two more heads would emerge from the fresh wound. (Encyclopedia Britannica)   

Countless people have found comfort and strength in Isaiah 40:31. God is not promising that all our problems will magically disappear or that everything will work out the way we hope. But God is promising that those who trust in Him will be given supernatural strength, even in situations that would exhaust strong young men. Through God, we can survive any tragedy, any suffering if we will put our faith in Him.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to put our trust in You, even when things look bleak, knowing that You will give us the strength to endure and to persevere. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Prepare the Way for the LORD (Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-20; John 1:19-28)

“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

A voice of one calling: “Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The Enduring Word (1 Peter 1:22-25)

A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

Here Is Your God! Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”

Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him. He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor? Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding? Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.”

 Of all the chapters of Isaiah, the 40^th chapter must be one of the best known, particularly because so many different parts of it have been quoted. George Handel drew heavily on this chapter for some of the most stirring solos in The Messiah. Countless posters, memes, etc., have encouraged people with the quotes from Isaiah 40:31. There is so much meat in this chapter that we are going to examine it in two parts. What does this chapter tell us about God?

1. God is a Comforter. ““Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.” Before Jerusalem was finally overthrown, it was no longer a holy city but had become full of idols. Men and women were worshiping the sun, fertility gods and goddesses, and practicing all kinds of witchcraft to ensnare other’s souls. When God says that the iniquity of Jerusalem has been pardoned and that she has paid double for all her sins, He isn’t joking. While Jerusalem was destroyed by the Assyrians, it was eventually rebuilt under Ezra and Nehemiah, only to be destroyed again by the Romans in 70 A.D. Why should this passage encourage us? Romans 3:23 tells us “For all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.” There is not a single one of us who does not need pardon for sins and comfort for the things we have suffered.
2. When Messiah comes, everything that is wrong will be put right. ““Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our God in the desert. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, and the rugged land a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” Who among us does not long for righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit? As governments disappoint and economies crash, our longing becomes stronger. The Messiah will do what no government programs can possibly do: put things right permanently.

• God’s word stands forever. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” No matter how good or noble a person is, that individual is still fallible and sometimes says things that aren’t true. But God’s word is truth. The first chapter of Romans describes those who have chosen to shun the truth. Romans 1:18 – 23 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. For what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from His workmanship, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.”

• God’s glory will be clearly seen by everyone. “Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm establishes His rule. His reward is with Him, and His recompense accompanies Him.” There will be no arguing with the Creator of the universe.

• God cares for those who love Him as a shepherd cares for his sheep . The Bible repeatedly refers to us as sheep. That’s no compliment! Sheep are brainless, interested mostly in the next blade of grass and in getting water. Sheep will veer into weird places from which they must be rescued, wandering off into the wilderness where they may become prey for wild animals. Face it, we all need a Shepherd.
• God’s glory and power and majesty are beyond anything we can imagine. “All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.”

APPLICATION: These verses deserve to be read slowly and meditated upon. We are created to worship something or someone bigger than ourselves; however, many of us are like those described in Romans 1. Here God is setting forth many of His attributes, wooing us to Himself.

What’s so important about the Shepherd? Jesus told his disciples that a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. The shepherd protects, comforts, heals, and guides the sheep. The shepherd leads the sheep into safe places, green pastures and still pools of water from which it is safe to drink. The shepherd cares for all the needs of the sheep. No matter how self – sufficient we might think we are, any one of us can be felled by sickness or accident. We are vulnerable in every particular.

We are all sinners in need of pardon and forgiveness. We are all small creatures who need to worship. Even if we shun God, we are still going to fixate on something else. That to which we give the most time and energy becomes our god. Let us worship the Creator and not the Creature.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Thank You for being our Comforter, our Shepherd, our Protector, and our Guide. Help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

MEDITATIONS ON THE THIRTY-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OUR ARRIVAL IN SABOBA
When we visited Saboba, Northern Region, Ghana in February 1992, we knew that the AG Ghana Church wanted us to come to their small clinic, but we were not interested! The place was a health center in a small village at the end of the road with 11 workers and no electricity and no running water. I was a highly-trained general and pediatric surgeon; I belonged in a hospital. And so we intended to look at Saboba and then politely tell the church, “Thanks, but no thanks.” But the Holy Spirit had different ideas. When we pulled into the compound at the old mission house and stepped out of the vehicle, the Holy Spirit wrapped around us like a warm blanket, and suddenly we KNEW that we were coming to Saboba!
We returned to Saboba to work on January 23, 1993. Today marks the 30th anniversary of our arrival. That first year was brutal; I had never been in charge of a health facility in Ghana before. My prior experience consisted or working in Komfo Anokye Hospital, where my primary duties were as a doctor and a surgeon. Somehow, my new supervisors failed to introduce me properly at the Regional Health Directorate, allowing all kinds of horrible rumors to circulate. I met a host of outstanding loans because the previous In-charge had used the clinic monies to give his family members loans. The clinic type writer was with someone. The accounts officer didn’t realize that receipts and cash had to match. And there was an evil spirit in the pharmacy, forcing me to do an exorcism before I could reorganize it.
This was the situation when the Northern Ethnic Conflict broke out on February 3, 1994. We were in Accra for the West African College of Surgeons meeting, of which I was a Fellow. Due to the conflict, we didn’t make it back to Saboba until March 31, 1994. I performed my first hernia on a patient on April 1, 1994, launching our theater program. That year we notched up 192 major surgical operations. Our theater crew consisted of Charles Talan, Andrew Mawanye, and me. We sterilized things in a large pressure cooker over a coal pot on the verandah. We began transfusions after losing a 19 year – old mother with placenta previa whose placenta had been hanging out for three days while she bled. I delivered the baby and the placenta just before she died. After that, I marched into the office of the Regional Biomedical Scientist and demanded that he help me establish a transfusion program. I trained several others, and we began blood grouping and transfusions. Later on, we added HIV testing. (I had previously worked in a hospital laboratory and when we were first in Ghana, I spent time in the lab at KATH.) When we first came, the facility was known as the AG Clinic; however, once we added these other services, we re-named ourselves Saboba Medical Center to reflect our expanded work.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention Charles Talan, the late Joshua Beso, and all the other workers who served sacrificially during that difficult time and since. Some of our workers came to us as refugees from Yendi or Tamale and settled in Saboba to serve in the hospital. We crammed 37 beds, a small lab, a small theater, and a small pharmacy into that little health center building. The late Tinyie Alhassan and I handled maternity, with Tinyie doing the simple deliveries while I did the complicated ones and the C/sections. I used to spend ANC days with a tape measure hanging around my neck so that I could run back and forth from the consulting room to the palpation room. The Konkombas have a saying that “One finger does not pick up a pebble.” I was only one finger; there were many others working just as hard or even harder.
In those days, there were no hospitals in Zabzugu, Tatale, Gushiegu, Bindi, Karaga, or Chereponi. The Eastern Corridor hospitals consisted of Saboba, Yendi, and BMC Nalerigu. We had to buy most of our supplies in Kumasi or Accra, and we purchased drip fluid from the factory in Koforidua. Bob and I were the only clinic workers who could move freely out of Saboba, so we would rush out, buy supplies, and then rush back to work. While I was working in the clinic, Bob was maintaining vehicles, creating light sources powered by car batteries, and generally supervising the laborers.
We left Saboba in June 1996 so I could do my MPH in Tropical Medicine. We returned to Ghana in 1998, working first in a small clinic and then joining Ghana Health Service and working at West Gonja Hospital for five years. We returned to Saboba in February 2004 and have been here ever since.
These thirty years have brought struggles, trials, illnesses, and triumphs. At some points, we have had to be out due to Bob’s requiring various operations and then recovering from them. We have seen the hospital and Saboba grow. Our prayer continues to be that the hospital will be a place of God’s praise, a place of His glory, a place of help, a place of health, a place of hope, a place of healing, and a place of Shalom. May the AG Hospital, Saboba continue to be all of those things and may it be a lighthouse of love for all those around it!
Uncle Bob, a.k.a. “Ujamafeni “and Dr. Jean Young, a.k.a.” Uwumborayi

Hezekiah Shows His Treasures (2 Kings 20:12-19)

At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard about Hezekiah’s illness and recovery. And Hezekiah welcomed the envoys and showed them what was in his treasure house—the silver, the gold, the spices, and the precious oil, as well as his entire armory—everything that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his palace or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?”

“They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”

“What have they seen in your palace?” Isaiah asked.

“They have seen everything in my palace,” answered Hezekiah. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of Hosts: The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

In those days, when a neighboring sovereign was sick and recovered, it was common to send a delegation as a public relations gesture. When the crown prince of Babylon heard about Hezekiah’s recovery, he sent envoys and a gift. While Hezekiah could have received these men nicely, given them a feast, and sent them on their way, he chose to show off all the treasures of his kingdom.

Once the Babylonian delegation returned home, Isiah went to Hezekiah and asked him what he had done. Hezekiah explained that he had entertained men from Babylon by showing them everything in his kingdom. By this point, Isaiah must have been shaking his head in sorrow.

“Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of Hosts: The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, will be taken away to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” When Hezekiah heard this prophecy, did he repent of his pride and beg God for mercy? No! Hezekiah wasn’t concerned about his descendants, not even the fact that they would be castrated to serve as eunuchs in the palace of the Babylonian king.

In many respects, this is a shocking story. Hezekiah is a man of faith who has trusted God to deliver his people and him from one of the fiercest armies in existence. Hezekiah has brought in sweeping religious reforms. Why after all those good acts would Hezekiah settle for “peace in my time?” Why wouldn’t Hezekiah care about the fate of his descendants? This story takes place right after Hezekiah recovers from his near – fatal illness. Perhaps Hezekiah doesn’t actually have any heirs to the throne at this point. Perhaps Hezekiah’s only offspring are from his concubines. Whatever the situation, Hezekiah seems old and tired, desiring only to have peace for the remainder of his life after surviving the confrontation with the Assyrians and a catastrophic infection.

APPLICATION: How much do we really care about those who will follow us? Do we take thought for our children and grandchildren and for our younger professional colleagues, or do we respond like Hezekiah, “Just give me peace in my time.” King Louis XV of France is frequently quoted as having said, ““Après moi, le déluge” when speaking of those who would succeed him. The phrase means “after me, the flood,” and is said to indicate a total lack of interest in the fate of those coming after him.

A friend is one of a number of children in a large family in which the father played favorites, giving some children resources while ignoring others. Although our friend’s father died several years ago, the anguish from his arbitrary choices continues to fragment the family. This is one of several such problems of which we are aware. But is this how our Heavenly Father wants us to act?

Repeatedly, God says that He does not play favorites and that His love is sufficient for everyone. Jesus reminded his disciples that God makes the rain fall on both the just and the unjust. If we are to truly behave as obedient children we cannot think only of ourselves but must consider those around us and those who will succeed us.

King Hezekiah was a man of great faith, but near the end of his life, he responded in selfishness, rather than in faith. What might have happened had Hezekiah refused to show off? Would his descendants have been safe? What might have happened had Hezekiah received Isaiah’s prophecy and then begged God for mercy for his descendants? We only know that Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in every particular. Now the question is posed to us: will we respond in selfishness or in faith?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to trust You for all of our lives and to make wise decisions that will bless our descendants and not curse them. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery (2 Kings 20:1-11; 2 Chronicles 32:24-31)

In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

And the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying, “Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.’ This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.

Hezekiah’s Song of Thanksgiving

This is a writing by Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery: I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.” I said, “I will never again see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; I will no longer look on mankind with those who dwell in this world. My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me. I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me. I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.” What can I say? He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done this. I will walk slowly all my years because of the anguish of my soul. O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life.

You have restored me to health and let me live. Surely, for my welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back. For Sheol cannot thank You; death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness. The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.

Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.” And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”

Hezekiah was mortally ill, suffering from sepsis from a boil. In the days before antibiotics, such sicknesses could be deadly, killing within days. With no other recourse, Hezekiah cried out to God for help and healing. God not only heard, but He gave Hezekiah a sign by lighting up the steps of Ahaz so that the shadow on the steps of Ahaz moved back ten steps. (There is nothing to indicate that God actually prolonged that day.)

Isaiah advised the king’s physicians to apply a poultice of figs to the boil. This advice was excellent, because the high sugar content and the moisture in the figs would help draw out the inflammation and cause the boil to rupture and drain. Figs might also contain enzymes that would help cure a bacterial infection. The boil was cured and Hezekiah lived another fifteen years.

But what were the implications for the kingdom of Judah when God added fifteen years to Hezekiah’s life? It was during those fifteen years that king Manasseh was born. Manasseh was not only one of the most wicked kings to ever rule Judah, but he was also the one who had the prophet Isaiah assassinated in a gruesome fashion. Why Manasseh later wound up as king is unclear. Didn’t Hezekiah have any other sons who could have succeeded him? Did Hezekiah favor Manasseh as the son of his old age and a miraculous child because Manasseh was born after Hezekiah’s healing? We don’t know; all we know was that Manasseh succeeded Hezekiah and Manasseh led Judah into flagrant idolatry. Ultimately, God allowed the kingdom of Judah to be destroyed because of that idolatry.

APPLICATION: Considering the fact that Hezekiah fathered Manasseh during that additional fifteen years, was Hezekiah’s healing a good thing or not? What would have happened had Hezekiah not prayed and had he died from his boil? Despite the reforms that Hezekiah had already brought, there were undoubtedly those in Jerusalem simply waiting for the opportunity to plunge back into idolatry. It’s possible to tear down all kinds of shrines, Asherah poles, etc., but if people are continuing to worship demons in their hearts, they will find any excuse to do so. And demons don’t leave because you tear down shrines or burn sacred trees. No matter who succeeded Hezekiah, sooner or later, the people of Judah and Jerusalem would have reverted to idol worship.

Several years ago, we were working in another part of Ghana when there were a number of tragic events that took place in a certain part of the town in which we were living, an area close to a local church. I was praying about this problem when I had a vivid mental picture of a huge fetish tree swarming with little demons. Checking with one of the pastors, I learned that such a tree originally occupied the property on which the church later was built. I suggested to the pastors that they needed to pray and cleanse the land because even though the tree was gone, the demons were still there. The church did so, and the tragedies abated.  

Hezekiah believed that when he died, he would be cut off from those he loved as well as from the Lord. But we are living on the other side of Calvary. Because Jesus Christ came to live as a man, to die for our sins on the cross at Calvary, and to rise from the dead, we who believe in him have eternal life. For us, death is not the end of the story. But all those who refuse to believe in Jesus are in the same situation as Hezekiah was; for them, hope ends at the grave. Eternal hope or temporal-which will you choose?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help all those who read these words to put their trust in You and in Your Son Jesus Christ and the completed work of Calvary. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.  

Isaiah’s Message of Deliverance (2 Kings 19:1-7)

“On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the LORD. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz to tell him, “This is what Hezekiah says: Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace; for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them. Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to defy the living God, and He will rebuke him for the words that the LORD your God has heard. Therefore lift up a prayer for the remnant that still survives.”

So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, who replied, “Tell your master that this is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

Sennacherib’s Blasphemous Letter (2 Kings 19:8-13)

When the Rabshakeh heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Now Sennacherib had been warned about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has set out to fight against you.” On hearing this, Sennacherib sent messengers to Hezekiah with the order: “Tell Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other countries, devoting them to destruction. Will you then be spared? Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed rescue them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and of the people of Eden in Telassar? Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer (2 Kings 19:14-19)

So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God. ”

Sennacherib’s Fall Prophesied (2 Kings 19:20-34)

Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you. Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypress trees. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests. I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble. Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against Me. Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’ And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above. For a remnant will go forth from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

So this is what the LORD says about the king of Assyria: ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it. He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’” 

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians (2 Kings 19:35-37; 2 Chronicles 32:20-23)

Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned home to Nineveh and stayed there. One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.”

This passage is long, but it’s such a great story that there is no way of chopping it into little bits without spoiling the ending. The Assyrians are at the gates of Jerusalem, threatening to destroy it, screaming threats to terrorize the citizens. All the other fortified cities of Judah have already been taken, and there is no possibility of assistance from elsewhere. Things are desperate. With nowhere else to go, Hezekiah enters the temple and prostrates himself before the Lord, begging for divine intervention. “Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all these countries and their lands. They have cast their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone—the work of human hands. And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God. ”

Hezekiah realizes that this battle is not merely a physical one, but a spiritual one, and that the spiritual component is far more important. When Hezekiah sends a message to the prophet Isaiah, God gives Isaiah a very strong rebuke to Sennacherib, informing Sennacherib that God created him to destroy the countries he has already destroyed but that God is now going to turn him around, evicting him from Judah. When God promises to put a hook in Sennacherib’s nose, it is because this is what Sennacherib has been doing to all the kings he has conquered. Finally, God assures Hezekiah, “‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow into it. He will not come before it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it. He will go back the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’” 

The story ends in a very satisfying fashion. Overnight 185,000 soldiers die, possibly from a cholera outbreak. Sennacherib hears rumors that other kings are coming to attack him. Sennacherib returns to Nineveh and stays there, but two of his own sons assassinate him while he is worshiping in the temple of the demon he follows. (It’s likely that weapons might have been forbidden in the temple, rendering Sennacherib defenseless against such an attack.)

APPLICATION: Who doesn’t like to see the helpless delivered miraculously and a tyrant get his comeuppance? What a stirring prophecy Isaiah gives in this story! The part we don’t know is the dialogue between Isaiah and God when God gave Isaiah this prophecy. “Lord, you want me to say WHAT??? Lord, You do know that these are the Assyrians, don’t you? Look at that army? How are you going to handle 185,000 seasoned soldiers?” One of the scariest parts of being a prophet is trying to make certain that you have everything word perfect. This prophecy is undoubtedly one of the boldest that Isaiah was ever given, because many of his prophecies were reserved for a later time when he would no longer be alive. But this prophecy was to be fulfilled immediately. If Isaiah got it wrong, he was going to fail spectacularly.

One final thing to note is God’s promise to deliver Jerusalem. “I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”  David has now been dead for several hundred years; yet, God’s love for David is so great that He mentions David as one of the reasons for defending Jerusalem. This is because God promised David that He would do so, and God is a promise – keeping God. Hezekiah doesn’t refer to God’s promises to David in his prayer; God is the One who remembers.

Perhaps today you are facing difficult challenges. Troubles have overtaken you, problems created by others are now falling all over you like building blocks from a giant child’s block set. You feel trapped with no recourse. You can readily identify with Hezekiah. Take hope! Take courage! The same God who delivered Hezekiah and Jerusalem from one of the greatest armies on earth still answers prayers and still delivers. Your Creator is powerful and there is no problem too difficult for Him. Go to God as Hezekiah did, spreading out your problems and trusting that He will hear and answer. As Isaiah said earlier, “So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.” That Cornerstone is Jesus Christ; anyone who trusts in Him will never be shaken. Let’s pray!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us are struggling with problems that seem insurmountable. These problems have besieged us just as the Assyrians did the city of Jerusalem. But You are a God who sees and hears and knows everything. Lord, save us for Your Name’s sake. Let all who read these words run to You as their ultimate Shelter. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13-37; 2 Chronicles 32:1-7)

“In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah. And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh, (Hebrew Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer; here and throughout chapters 36 and 37, as well as 2 Kings 18 and 19) with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stopped by the aqueduct of the upper pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field. Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder, went out to him.

The Rabshakeh said to them, “Tell Hezekiah that this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is the basis of this confidence of yours? You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. On whom are you now relying, that you have rebelled against me? Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before this altar’?

Now therefore, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses—if you can put riders on them! For how can you repel a single officer among the weakest of my master’s servants when you depend on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? So now, was it apart from the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD Himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.” But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with med and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine and his own fig tree, and drink water from his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”

But the people remained silent and did not answer a word, for Hezekiah had commanded, “Do not answer him.” Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and they relayed to him the words of the Rabshakeh.”

The Book of Isaiah is amazing because it contains a great deal of first-hand information about the Assyrian attempts to conquer Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah. Isaiah was in Jerusalem at the time and witnessed these events. At the time of this story, the Assyrians have taken all the fortified cities of Judah, leaving Jerusalem by itself. Now King Sennacherib’s highest – ranking military officer, the Rabshakeh, has come to Jerusalem.

The first ploy the Rabshakeh uses is intimidation; look at his arguments. 1. The Rabshakeh claims that Hezekiah’s only strategy is to rely on Egypt and gives a classic description of the Egyptians at that point. “that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it.” 2. Hezekiah is trusting in God; however, Hezekiah has been removing all the pagan idols from Jerusalem. Here is where the Rabshakeh’s argument begins to fall apart. The Rabshakeh assumes that the altars and Asherah poles that Hezekiah has removed were dedicated to the God of Israel; meanwhile, nothing could be farther from the truth. 3. The Rabshakeh claims that God has ordered him to conquer Jerusalem. Hmmph! This is a fascinating argument coming as it does from a man who doesn’t understand the difference between demonic false gods and the God of Israel. It’s quite possible that some “god” has given the Assyrians instructions; however, it is not the God of Israel.

“Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand? How then can the LORD deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”  

This is where these arguments fail. God has delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians at a time when that was one of the largest standing armies in the world. God has subsequently delivered both Judah and Israel on multiple occasions. While it is true that the Assyrians have conquered Samaria, the Samaritan citizens have abandoned the God of Israel, choosing to worship pagan demons instead. By refusing to worship the Living God, the Samaritans have sealed their own fate.

The Rabshakeh paints a lovely picture of how peacefully the citizens of Jerusalem will live until the Assyrians carry them off to another land. But these are the ASSYRIANS, the same guys who behead as many people as possible and keep track of the severed heads as a form of keeping score. These are the same warriors who skin leaders alive and who cut them to pieces and subject them to all kinds of other tortures. Anybody foolish enough to believe this argument is likely to die a miserable death. No wonder the representatives of King Hezekiah choose to remain silent!

APPLICATION:  Make no mistake. The Assyrian threat to Jerusalem was very real. Hezekiah didn’t need the Rabshakeh to tell him that Egypt was likely to fail him; Hezekiah was bright enough to realize it for himself. Hezekiah sent some of his best people out as envoys but took the precaution of advising them not to respond, no matter what the Assyrians said. Things really did look bleak for Jerusalem and its king.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation similar to that of Hezekiah’s? Perhaps you are heading an organization and suddenly find that those who have promised to help you have deserted you, leaving you vulnerable to attack. Perhaps you find yourself besieged by critics employing some of the same arguments used by the Rabshakeh. What can you do?

Hezekiah’s envoys were wise enough to remain silent, no matter the level of provocation. Being able to remain silent in the face of attack is a precious attribute. The envoys were also wise enough not to believe the Assyrian promises. By this point, Samaria and other fortified cities lay in ruins. Why would Jerusalem be any different?

This chapter ends with the envoys reporting to Hezekiah in extreme grief with their clothing torn as a sign of mourning. Little did they realize what God was about to do for them. Sometimes we too must wait on God, hoping that He will deliver us and wondering if deliverance will really come. But God has never disappointed those who trust in Him. Tomorrow we will learn the rest of the story.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, encourage all who read these words that You have never deserted anyone who has trusted in You. This does not mean we might not suffer, but it does mean that You will be there with us in our suffering and that You will give us hope and deliverance. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.