When Its Almost Over

The most helpful thing about reading the Bible is to learn about the many times God's people were almost done for and it turned out fine or even better than expected in the end. Isaiah 36 introduces us to a moment in Judah's history where it seems that their history is almost over. 

Isaiah 36:1 (ESV) In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.

Have you ever sensed the enemy standing at your door? And I'm not talking about your front door. I'm talking about your bedroom door. He's taken ground, he's encroached upon your life and you feel overwhelmed by a sense of seeming inevitable end. You will be there. It happens to some of God's best. In this case, it happens to Hezekiah. For the first time since the first verse of Isaiah's writing, Hezekiah's name shows up in the text. It is quite interesting that it happens to show up at the dark moment of Sennacherib's invasion. This is the truth about trouble. It puts the spotlight on you when you least desire it. 

Sennacherib sends a message in this chapter to the people under Hezekiah's reign:

Isaiah 36:4–7 (ESV) And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?

How insulting to be taunted by someone in front of your subordinates. But again, it happens to some of God's best. When Christ, God's SON hung on the cross, the rulers and religious leaders taunted Him in full view of his disciples and Mary. 

There are a few deceptions in Rabshekah's words and it's instructive to point them out. 

Isaiah 36:8 (ESV) Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

The enemy offers peace. There is never peace with him. He comes to steal kill and destroy. 

Isaiah 36:10 (ESV) Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.” ’ ”

The enemy pits you against God. What the messenger says here is true according to Isaish 10:5-6. Assyria was God's tool to chastise Israel. But true theology helps us understand that even what God brings into our lives that opposes us is useful to shape us and draw us closer to Him, not set us against Him. 

Isaiah 36:16–17 (ESV) Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

The enemy offers you what only God can guarantee you. These blessings are the blessings of those who obey the Lord, not those who negotiate with the devil. 

Isaiah 36:18 (ESV) Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

The enemy typically beefs up his resume to intimidate us. It doesn't matter what he says about himself, we need to remember what God has said about him - satan is defeated and his doom is certain. There may be moments God lets the enemy lead you to the end of yourself but it's just the beginning of God in you, the hope of Glory!

What is the proper response in all these vicious messages from our enemy?

Isaiah 36:21 (ESV) But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

Don't converse. That was the woman's mistake in Genesis 3. And in the next chapter Hezekiah does what we need to do in those moments when the enemy seems to be breathing down our neck.