90. The LORD Will Surely Deliver Us

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Hymns: RHC 335 Keep on Believing 336 Only Believe 337 Never Give Up

Isaiah 36

1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder. 4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? 6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? 8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. 11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. 12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? 13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. 15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; 17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. 22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

The LORD Will Surely Deliver Us

OUTLINE

  • Enemy’s Words Designed to Shake the Faith 

INTRODUCTION

Isaiah the prophet was called to be the mouthpiece of the God of Israel to His people in Judah during the reigns of Judean kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. His prophetic ministry will see the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Ephraim in 722 B.C. with events that lead to the Assyrian army soon knocking at the doors of Jerusalem, ready to decimate it.

It was a test for the people of God in the time of their vulnerability to trust the LORD or to give in to the enemy. 

Isaiah painted the picture of the destruction of the nations that war against the LORD, the God of Israel, the Maker of heaven and earth from Isaiah 13-34. With chapter culminating with the destruction of the world’s army marching against Jerusalem during the end of the 7-year Great Tribulation and their destruction.

Earlier, he painted the picture of the rebellion of Judah against their God (Isaiah 1-5, 7-12), and the reign of the LORD in the days leading to Israel return to the land after the destruction of the 2nd Temple in A.D. 70 and the coming Millennium (Isaiah 2, 11) in Christ’s Second Coming and of course, his call to the ministry in Isaiah 6.

His ministry spans the entire scope of human history from the time when his ministry began in the Divided Kingdom.

He would lead us to understand the solution to man’s insoluble problems, namely, his sin nature, that is in Isaiah Christ – The Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14), Christ’s roles in His ministry in His First and Second Coming (Isaiah 9:6-7), Christ the Branch and His anointing by the Spirit of God (Isaiah 11:1-4) to rule the earth in the time of His Millennium.

Isaiah 7:14 (KJV) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6-7 (KJV) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 11:1-4 (KJV) And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Can His people not trust Him to care for them? Is He not able, as the Creator and Sustainer of the heaven and earth to care for them? 

True repentance is the yielding of the heart to God in submission to His care, turning away from self-help, self-confidence and self-praise that characterize the fallen nature of man after Satan or Lucifer, the fallen angel.

Isaiah 14:12-15 (KJV) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Isaiah had chided His people that to come back to Him and not trust themselves or their allies – Egypt, Assyria (proved to be their enemy), and Babylon, the arms of the flesh, and in chariots.

Isaiah 31:1 (KJV) Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

Isaiah 7:17-19 (KJV) The LORD shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes.

Judah refused to trust in the LORD and the LORD will show how devastating it is to trust in the arms of flesh and the gods of this world.

In fact, it was predicted even before entering the Promised Land. The LORD tells Moses that, after his death, the covenant which he had taken so much pains to make between Israel and their God would certainly be broken. 

That Israel would forsake God (v16). And we may be sure that if the covenant between God and man be broken the blame must lie on man, it is he that breaks it; we have often observed it, that God never leaves any till they first leave him. Worshipping the gods of the Canaanites (who had been the natives, but henceforward were to be looked upon as the strangers of that land) would undoubtedly be counted a deserting of God, and, like adultery, a violation of the covenant. 

Thus, still those are revolters from Christ and will be so adjudged, who either make a god of their money by reigning covetousness or a god of their belly by reigning sensuality. Those that turn to other gods (v18) forsake their own mercies. This apostasy of theirs is foretold to be the effect of their prosperity (v20): They shall have eaten and filled themselves; this is all they will aim at in eating, to gratify their own appetites, and then they will wax fat, grow secure and sensual; their security will take off their dread of God and his judgments; and their sensuality will incline them to the idolatries of the heathen, which made provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it. [Matthew Henry]

In Isaiah 36-37, will come the test for His people. Will they trust in the LORD and His laws or will they concoct their laws and go their own way? The first is safety and the second is destruction.

  • Enemy’s Words Designed to Shake the Faith 

1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph’s son, the recorder.

A people may be in the way of their duty and yet meet with trouble and distress. Hezekiah was reforming, and his people were in some measure reformed, and yet their country was at that time invaded and a great part of it laid waste. 

We must not wonder if, when we are doing well, God sends afflictions to quicken us to do better, to do our best, and to press forward towards perfection. 

Hezekiah was not only a pious king, but prudent, both in his administration at home and in his treaties abroad. His affairs were in a good posture, and he seemed particularly to be upon good terms with the king of Assyria, for he had lately made his peace with him by a rich present (2 Kings 18:14), and yet that perfidious prince pours an army into his country all of a sudden and lays it waste. [Matthew Henry]

It is good for us therefore always to keep up an expectation of trouble, that, when it comes, it may be no surprise to us, and then it will be the less a terror. 

2 Kings 18:14-16 (KJV) And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house. 16 At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold fromthe doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

God sometimes permits the enemies of His people, even those who are most impious and treacherous, to prevail far against them. The king of Assyria took all, or most, of the defenced cities of Judah, and then the country would of course be an easy prey to him. 

Wickedness may prosper awhile, but cannot prosper always. 

4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? 5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? 6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. 7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? 8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. 9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

Proud men love to talk big, to boast of what they are, and have, and have done, nay and of what they will do, to insult over others, and set all mankind at defiance, though thereby they render themselves ridiculous to all wise men and obnoxious to the wrath of that God who resists the proud. 

But thus they think to make themselves feared, though they make themselves hated, and to carry their point by great swelling words of vanity, (Jude 16).

 Jude 16 (KJV) These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

The enemies of God’s people endeavour to conquer them by frightening them, especially by frightening them from their confidence in God. Thus, Rabshakeh here, with noise and banter, runs down Hezekiah as utterly unable to cope with his master, or in the least to make head against him. It concerns us, therefore, that we may keep our ground against the enemies of our souls, to keep up our spirits by keeping up our hope in God. 

It is acknowledged, on all hands, that those who forsake God’s service forfeit his protection. If that had been true which Rabshakeh alleged, that Hezekiah had thrown down God’s altars, he might justly infer that he could not with any assurance trust in him for succour and relief (v7), we may say thus to presuming sinners, who say that they trust in the Lord and in his mercy. 

Is not this he whose commandments they have lived in the contempt of, whose name they have dishonoured, and whose ordinances they have slighted? How then can they expect to find favour with him?

It is an easy thing, and very common, for those that persecute the church and people of God to pretend a commission from him for so doing. Rabshakeh could say, Have I now come up without the Lord? when really he had come up against the Lord (Isaiah 37:28).

Isaiah 37:28 (KJV) But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me.

Those who kill the servants of the Lord think they do His service and say, Let the Lord be glorified. But, sooner or later, they will be made to know their error to their cost, to their confusion.

11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews’ language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. 12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent meto the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? 

Proud and haughty scorners, the fairer they are spoken to, commonly speak the fouler. Nothing could be said more mildly and respectfully than that which Hezekiah’s agents said to Rabshakeh. Besides that the thing itself was just which they desired, they called themselves his servants, they petitioned for it: Speak, we pray thee; but this made him the more spiteful and imperious. 

To give rough answers to those who give us soft answers is one way of rendering evil for good; and those are wicked indeed, and it is to be feared incurable, with whom that which usually turns away wrath does but make bad worse. 

When Satan would tempt men from trusting in God, and cleaving to him, he does so by insinuating that in yielding to him they may better their condition; but it is a false suggestion, and grossly absurd, and therefore to be rejected with the utmost abhorrence.

When the world and the flesh say to us, “Make an agreement with us and come out to us, submit to our dominion and come into our interests, and you shall eat every one of his own vine,” they do but deceive us, promising liberty when they would lead us into the basest captivity and slavery. One might as well take Rabshakeh’s word as theirs for kind usage and fair quarter; therefore, when they speak fair, believe them not. Let them say what they will, there is no land like the land of promise, the holy land. 

13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews’ language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. 15 Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 16 Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; 17 Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 

Nothing can be more absurd in itself, nor a greater affront to the true and living God, than to compare Him with the gods of the heathen; as if He could do no more for the protection of His worshippers than they can for the protection of theirs, and as if the God of Israel could as easily be mastered as the gods of Hamath and Arphad, whereas they are vanity and a lie. 

They are nothing; He is the great I AM: they are the creatures of men’s fancy and the works of men’s hands; he is the Creator of all things. Presumptuous sinners are ready to think that, because they have been too hard for their fellow creatures, they are therefore a match for their Creator. This and the other nation they have subdued, and therefore the Lord himself shall not deliver Jerusalem out of their hand. But, though the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth, let them not strive with the potter. 

It is sometimes prudent not to answer a fool according to his folly. Hezekiah’s command was, “Answer him not; it will but provoke him to rail and blaspheme yet more and more; leave it to God to stop his mouth, for you cannot.” They had reason enough on their side, but it would be hard to speak it to such an unreasonable adversary without a mixture of passion; and, if they should fall a railing like him, Rabshakeh would be much too hard for them at that weapon.

18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The LORD will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? 21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. 22 Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

It becomes the people of God to lay to heart the dishonour done to God by the blasphemies of wicked men, though they do not think it prudent to reply to those blasphemies. Though they answered him not a word, yet they rent their clothes, in a holy zeal for the glory of God’s name and a holy indignation at the contempt put upon it. They tore their garments when they heard blasphemy, as taking no pleasure in their own ornaments when God’s honour suffered.

Hezekiah instructed his officials to keep quiet and not answer the enemy.

Proverbs 9:7 (KJV) He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man gettethhimself a blot.

Proverbs 9:8 (KJV) Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

Proverbs 13:1 (KJV) A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.

Proverbs 15:12 (KJV) A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise.

Proverbs 19:25 (KJV) Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that hath understanding, and he will understand knowledge.

Proverbs 21:11 (KJV) When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.

Proverbs 21:24 (KJV) Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.

Proverbs 22:10 (KJV) Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

Isaiah 29:19 (KJV) The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 29:20 (KJV) For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

Hezekiah humbled himself and brought the matter to the LORD in prayer.

Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV) Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 5:7 (KJV) Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

1 Peter 5:8-9 (KJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

1 Peter 5:10 (KJV) But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

God allowed the enemy to test His people but in every temptation, He provide a way of escape. His people are to seek Him for the way out.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV) There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

I Know the LORD Will Make a Way for Me (2x)

If I look to Him in prayer, darkest night will turn to day

I Know the LORD Will Make a Way for Me.