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UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE 2 KINGS 20:1-11 Pastor Stephen Muncherian August 30, 2009 |
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This morning we’re going on in our look at
the life of King Hezekiah. We’re coming to 2 Kings 20 - starting
at verse 1.
To help to get into Hezekiah this morning - think with me about
when things don’t go the way we expect them to. These guys are all set up for a relaxing
afternoon in the backyard pool. This probably wasn’t expected. Or this. Last one: “Um, so let me get this straight, you want
to wire all this money to Nigeria? And it’s going to the widow of the late
Minister of Finance, who recently died after hiding a vast fortune from
rebels?” “Yes please. If you need
the account number I’ve printed out the email. Oh, and you’d
better make some room in my account. She will be transferring forty million
dollars into there soon.” “Ok, um… There will be a $10,000 bank fee for
that.” “No problem.” “And you’ll need to give that to me
personally.” We’re thinking about when things in our
life do not go the way we expect them to - in fact they’re worse -
disastrous. Two Sunday’s ago we were introduced to
Hezekiah - son of “daddy dearest” - the evil King Ahaz - who had led Judah
down the tubes in every way possible - especially in their relationship
with God.
We saw Hezekiah step in - after Ahaz’s death - saw Hezekiah step in
and clean up - removed absolutely everything that was evil in Judah. Hezekiah
trusted God - clung to God - acted with Godly wisdom. Did what
pleased God.
Hezekiah followed God. It was a huge 180° change of direction for the nation. Last Sunday we saw that Hezekiah -
following God - saw Hezekiah put everything on the line. Led a
rebellion against the Assyrians - a brutal people that made the Borg look
like a bunch of pacifists. When the Assyrians - with their
undefeated military machine - when the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem -
Hezekiah hung in their with God - trusted God - kept the end in
sight.
Remember this? So, how did all that end up? God takes out
Sennacherib - king of Assyria - God takes out Sennacherib and his army -
as only God can. The Assyrians are 1,000 and 1. God’s people
are saved.
God is glorified. 2 Kings 20 - starting at verse 1 - the
first thing we’re coming to here is Hezekiah’s Prayer. Let’s say that together: “Hezekiah’s Prayer.” Verse 1: In those days - while all of what we’ve been seeing was
going on - Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah
the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the
Lord, ‘Set you house in order, for you shall die and not
live.’” There was a Bible study group that was
discussing the unexpected possibility of sudden death. The
discussion leader said, “We’re all going to die some day and none
of us really knows when, but if we did know when we’d all do a better job
of preparing ourselves for that inevitable event.” And, everybody nodded their heads in
agreement. So he asked, “What would you do if you knew you only
had 4 weeks of life remaining before your death?” One man said, “For those 4 weeks, I would go out into my
community and share the Gospel to those that haven’t yet given their lives
to Jesus.” “A very admirable thing to do.”
said the leader. And, all the
group members agreed that would be a very good thing to do. A lady said, “For those 4 weeks, I would dedicate all
of my remaining time to serving my family, my church, and my fellow man
with a greater conviction.” “That's wonderful!” the group leader commented, And, all the
group members agreed that would be a very good thing to do. One gentleman in the back finally spoke up
loudly.
“For those 4 weeks, I would travel
throughout the United States with my mother-in-law in a Ford Escort, and
stay in a Motel 6 every night.” Everyone was puzzled by his answer. “Why would you do that?” the leader asked. “Because,” the man smiled sarcastically, “it would be the longest 4 weeks of my
life.” What would you do if you knew that your
death was soon - really soon. “Hezekiah - this is God’s word to
you.
Make sure your life insurance is paid up. Designate
your heir to the throne. Tie up the loose ends. Your days on
earth are gonna’ be over real soon.” Verse 2: Then he - Hezekiah - turned his face to the wall and prayed to
the Lord, saying, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked
before You in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in
Your sight.”
And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Hezekiah you’ve just reformed the nation
of Judah - rebelled against the Assyrians - trusted God in the face
overwhelming disaster - you’ve come through big time for God. You’ve walked
with God with a whole heart. Done what is right in God’s sight. Like no other
king since the great King David - and like no other king coming down the
line of history. You’re God’s man. One righteous
dude.
The reward that God has for you is... death. That certainly isn’t what Hezekiah
expected. Hezekiah turns his face to the wall -
turns his back on Isaiah - gets alone with God and breaks down in
tears.
“God, don’t you remember? All that I’ve
done for you?
How can you let my life end now? How can this be?” Ever prayed a prayer like that? Long ago - one of the first funerals I did
was for a family in the church - a funeral for their teenage boy with Down
Syndrome.
What do you say to a family at a time like that? What do you
pray? Long ago in a church far far away - there
was an elderly man - a man who had served God for years - was well loved
by his family - respected in his community. When I met him for the first time he
was living in care home. One of those homes that really are like
a private residence - a home with 5 or 6 residents - 24/7 care. He sat in a room - in that home - sat in a
room all day long - mumbling in some language. We didn’t
know what it was. Sounded like combination of Turkish and
Armenian.
Sometimes he’d get a little agitated - then he’d calm down. That was the
most of what went on. As far as I know he really didn’t know
who was around him. He died at the age of 91 - after having
spent way too long in that room. What do you say to his wife - a godly
women?
What do you pray? One minute you’re a happy family driving
home - in an instant you’re a quadriplegic. Your spouse abandons you for someone
else.
You no longer have job. Name your situation. Its just
unfair. Do you ever question God? “God, how can this be? God, what in
creation are you thinking? I’ve given my life to you and this is
what happens?” That’s Hezekiah’s prayer. He’s pouring
his heart out to God. Groanings - the deep stuff of the heart
- that Paul writes that the Holy Spirit hears - “With all that I’ve done for you, God, how
can this be?” Verse 4: Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle
court - Isaiah is at the palace with
Hezekiah.
Hezekiah turns to pray. Isaiah starts leaving - before Isaiah had gone out of the middle
court, the word of the Lord came to him - that’s one quick answer to prayer -
the word of the Lord came to him
- Isaiah - saying, “Return and say to Hezekiah the
leader of My people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, “I
have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal
you. On
the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. I will add
fifteen years to your life, and I will deliver you and this city from the
hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake
and for My servant David’s sake.”’” Let’s pause there and understand
God’s Answer to Hezekiah’s prayer. Let’s try
this together:
“God’s Answer.” First - notice how God describes Himself: “Thus says the Lord, the God of your
father David.” That combination “the Lord, the God” in Hebrew is actually one name: Yahweh. “Thus says Yahweh.” When Moses - was commissioned by God - to
bring God’s people out of Egypt - in front of the burning bush - Moses
asked God, “What do I tell Your people is Your
name?” Response, “I Am.” Yahweh. The God who exists - always. The name Yahweh speaks of intimacy -
relationship.
The always existing - eternal - God who has chosen His people - who
chooses to reveal Himself to His people - who cares in a very special way
for His covenant people - who redeems His people - out of Egypt - out of
their sins.
The name Yahweh - here in verse 5 - brings to mind the awesome
self-existent God - who has chosen to enter into an ongoing love
relationship with His people. Yahweh - God says to Isaiah - “Tell Hezekiah the leader of My
people.”
Point: They’re not Hezekiah’s people. These are the
people that God has chosen to love - even before creation was
creation.
Second - notice the first person pronouns: “I have heard.” “I have
seen.”
“I will heal.” “I will add.” “I will
deliver.”
“I will defend.” See those? God - who hears the cries of the people
He’s chosen to love - God is the only god who is able to accomplish what
He purposes to do for His people. Point: God - the Almighty sovereign God acts
on behalf of His people. Third: Notice God’s reason for answering Hezekiah’s
prayer - verse 6: “For My own sake and for My servant
David’s sake.” For God’s sake is about God’s
reputation - His name. Remember last
Sunday - while the Assyrian’s had laid siege to Jerusalem - all the
blasphemous things they’d said about God - Yahweh being no more powerful
than all the other gods of all the other peoples the Assyrians had mowed
down. If Hezekiah dies and the Assyrians come
back and over run the city it just proves that faith in Yahweh is a
joke.
The Assyrian gods are way more powerful. But God is
going to answer Hezekiah’s prayer in a way that preserves God’s
reputation. For the sake of “My servant David.” is about God’s promises. God’s working in history to fulfill His
promises to His people. David - David’s kingdom - David’s capital
Jerusalem - all that is crucially a part of what God’s promises His
people.
God told David that when David died David’s son would rule after
him.
That David’s son - Solomon - would build God a temple and that God
and Solomon would have a father son intimate relationship. Even when
Solomon turned away from God - God promised David that Judah and the city
of Jerusalem would remain with Solomon - the kingdom with David’s line -
would be established by God forever. (2 Samuel 7:8-17; 1 Kings 11:12,13) Promises that we know are fulfilled and
being fulfilled in King Jesus - in the new Jerusalem that’s coming. (Mark 10:47;
Revelation 21:1-7) God - here in verse 6 - God’s answer is
about God’s reputation and God’s fulfilling of His promises. Pulling all that together - God’s
answer:
God knows Hezekiah’s heart. God deeply loves Hezekiah. And, God
deeply loves His people. But God’s response - His healing of
Hezekiah - isn’t about Hezekiah - it’s about God. The almighty
sovereign eternal God - Yahweh - doing what the almighty sovereign eternal
God purposes to do because He - the almighty sovereign eternal God - has
chosen to do it. Grab this: In his prayer - Hezekiah centers on his
own achievements and activity for God. In His answer - God centers on
Himself. That may rock our boat a tad. When we pray
- way too often we’re expecting God to answer with what we’re looking for
as an answer - based on our expectations of how life should be. And if God
does - answer with the answer that fits within the box of what we’ve asked
for - somehow we get the idea that God’s answer is about us. God’s answering prayer is about God - who
is sovereign - who lovingly chooses to listen to us - His people -
and to respond - even to weave the desires of our hearts into His
purposes. Let’s go on. Verses 7 to
11 focus on Hezekiah’s Healing. Let’s stay that together: “Hezekiah’s healing.” Verse 7: Then Isaiah said, “Take a cake of
figs.”
And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. Hezekiah’s going to die. He’s got some
kind of fatal skin disease. The standard treatment at the time was
to put some kind of pudding like concoction - a paste made out of figs and
who knows what else - to smear that on the sore. Its like
putting yogurt on a sunburn. Folk medicine. In Hezekiah’s case it worked. Complete
recovery. Verse 8: Now Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What will be
the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house
of the Lord on the third day?” Do you remember the time Jesus was in
Capernaum and He was teaching in His house and there was a large crowd in
the house and spilling out into the street. There were the four friends who cut the
hole in the roof and lowered their friend - the paralytic - lowered him
down into the house right in front of Jesus. Remember
that? Jesus - seeing the faith of these five men
- tells the paralyzed guy, “Your sins are forgiven.” The teachers of the law that were there
get all bent out of shape. “How can He say that? The only One
who can forgive sins is God.” Jesus says, “Look, what’s easier? To say to the
paralyzed guy, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Or, ‘Get up, pick up your pallet and
walk.’?
So you’ll know that I have authority to forgive sins - I’m going to
give you a sign - evidence - because forgiving sin is an unseen thing -
internal - a paralytic walking is seen thing - a sign that the unseen
thing has been accomplished.” I’m paraphrasing this a tad to make a
point. Jesus tells the paralytic, “I say to you, get up, pick up your
pallet and go home.” Which he did. (Mark
2:1-12) Are we together? The outward
sign demonstrates the inward reality. That’s what Hezekiah is looking for. He’s
healed.
By God’s grace the fig pudding thing worked. That’s been
seen.
But - what he’s been promised is not seen - 15 more years. How does
Hezekiah know that God has done that? Been there? When life takes an unexpected
turn?
When the future is unclear? “God if you’re up there give me a
sign.
Help my struggling faith.” Verse 9: Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to
you from the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that He has
spoken:
shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?” So Hezekiah
answered, “It is easy for the shadow to decline ten steps; no, but let the
shadow turn backwards ten steps.” This is who? This came out
Friday.
Maybe you saw this? Bill Gates and a dozen scientist
submitted patents for technology to reduce the danger of approaching
hurricanes. Hurricanes are fueled by
what?
By
warm water. Theory is that cooling the waters
surrounding a storm would slow a storm's momentum. According to the patents - a whole lot of
tub-like barges would be placed directly in the path of an oncoming
storm.
Each barge would have two conduits, each 500 feet long. One conduit
would push the warm water from the ocean's surface down. The other
would bring up cold water where it lies deep undersea. Change the
water temperature - slow down the storm. (1) The experts said, “Might be possible. Might not be
very effective.
The cost would be prohibitive.” But think about that. The concept
of little old man just nudging a hurricane sounds so immense. Fig pudding on sores is one thing - man
made remedies that God uses. The shadow is going to go down the
steps anyway.
Moving the rotation of the solar system - maybe even moving
creation backwards - that’s a God thing - something only God can do. No
barges.
Just Divine authority - the almighty sovereign eternal God at
work. A
sure sign that God is in this - even for 15 years. Verse 11: Isaiah the prophet cried to the Lord, and
He brought the shadow on the stairway back ten steps by which it had gone
down the stairway of Ahaz. There’s this email that goes around every
year or so which says that NASA has found a missing day. Have you seen
this?
The email claims that NASA has been - what? Using
computer models of the solar system to wind the planets forward to where
they’ll be a year from now - 10 years - 50 years - whatever. Purpose being
- being able to see where stuff out in space will be in the future so that
our spacecraft can avoid bumping into something. So - the email says - someone got the
bright idea - if we can wind the solar system forward to see where stuff
will be - let’s try winding it backwards to see where stuff was. And - lo and
behold - as they did that they discovered that some time was missing -
amazingly just the same amount of time as recorded here in 2 Kings 20:11
and another passage in Joshua where God stopped the sun. Well - if things are too good to be true
they’re what?
Probably are - too good to be true. There’s absolutely no truth to the
email.
Think about it. If we wound the clock backwards we
wouldn’t know that there was missing time because it wouldn’t show up -
because its missing. Oh - by the way - if you get that email
please don’t send it to me. I’ve seen it. Many
times. We don’t know what steps Hezekiah is
talking about.
Probably something Ahaz built - the location of which we don’t
know.
Maybe someday some archeologist will come across some steps that’ll
have some dedication plaque on it “Made By Ahaz.” We don’t know how much time it took for
the shadow to go ten steps forward or to go ten steps backward. What size
were the steps?
How deep? So - we have no way of knowing just how
much time is missing here anyway. And that isn’t the point. The point is
that the almighty sovereign eternal God - Yahweh - takes the time (pun
intended) - takes the time to make it happen. That God
would even offer Hezekiah a choice like this is amazing. (S8E1) And yet, God
lovingly reassures Hezekiah that He - the almighty sovereign eternal God -
really has healed him and given him 15 more years. How many of you have seen the movie The
Hiding Place?
Or, read the book? True story. About
who?
Corrie ten Boom and her family - living in Nazi occupied Holland -
World War II - working with the “underground” to help save the lives of
countless Jews. They end up getting arrested. The family
gets spread around in different concentration camps. But Corrie
and her sister Betsie end up together at Ravensbrück. This scene is in a dorm in
Ravensbrück where Betsie is leading a Bible
study. ("The Hiding Place" 1:51:31 to
1:54:31)
When life takes an unexpected turn for the
worst - what answer is there? How do we make sense of it? Corrie’s
answer:
“We cannot answer. All I can say
is that the same God that you are accusing - of willing such tragedy - such horror -
came and lived in the midst of our world,
was beaten, and He was mocked, and He died on the cross, and He did it for
love… for us.” That’s a tough reality. Isn’t
it? Each
of us weighed down - bound by the inexplicable crud of this world. God’s answer
- God so loving each one of us - that God the Father sends His only Son to
death on the cross. “And why do you think your God of love
sent you here?” “To obey Him.” God’s love that compels obedience - even
to death. “If you know Him you don’t have to know
why.” God answers Hezekiah with a reminder of
His love - His deep compassion and eternal commitment to His people and a
demonstration of His almighty sovereignty over His creation. God lovingly
responding to Hezekiah’s prayer. Hold on to this: God’s love and sovereignty do not change
because of our circumstances - even circumstances when we question what
God wills. Thinking about your life and your
relationship with God. In the two worlds that exist
intertwined - the obvious crud of this one - and life lived daily with the
living loving sovereign God - do you know His love? Will live
trusting His sovereignty? Will you continue to obey
Him.
Each day - regardless of the circumstances - will you allow Him to
draw you deeper and to make stronger your relationship with Him?
1. cnn.com 08.28.09 _____________________ Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. |