And turn your Bibles to Psalm 38, sorry, Isaiah 38 and 39.
! It's on page 598 and 599.
!
In a story that takes the narrative back to the point before the story is reached.
If you've any idea, what on earth is he talking about?
It just means flashback.
It's just a posh word for flashback.
Flashback, it's common, isn't it?
You see films or TV programs and it's a common theme.
In the middle of one episode there's a flashback.
And Isaiah 38 and 39 is a flashback.
Last week, 36 and 37, we saw the Assyrian ruler, Sennacherib, standing on the doorstep of Jerusalem.
And King Hezekiah prays to God and he's amazingly delivered.
But when we turn to chapter 38, verse 1, this is how it begins.
In those days, notice it's not specific, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death.
And the vagueness of those days is such that we don't actually know exactly when Isaiah is writing about here.
However, a few days later, a few verses later, without getting ahead of ourselves, we find that Hezekiah prays again.
And Isaiah is told by God, go and tell Hezekiah.
Hezekiah, the Lord, the God of your father David, has heard your prayer.
He's seen your tears and He will give 15 more years of life to Hezekiah.
I'll deliver you and the city from the hand of King Assyria.
And I will defend the city.
And as a result of God's mercy and Hezekiah's prayer, God promises, I will not only extend your life to Hezekiah,
but I will also rescue Jerusalem from the King Assyria.
And the rescue that you read about in chapter 39, 38, is what you read about also in chapter 36, 37.
So here's a flashback.
And I want us to come back right at the end of today's sermon and say, why?
Why has Isaiah done it like this?
Why has he not followed it chronologically?
But before that, what I want us to see is an example from, really, 2 Corinthians,
where the Apostle Paul talks about walking by faith and not by sight.
Paul writes that Christians are those who walk by faith and not by sight.
And I want us to look at this story and see what does faith look like.
Because Hezekiah, in these two chapters, gives us an example of both things.
We're going to look, first of all, at the King walking by faith,
and then we will look at the King walking by sight.
And then we'll think about why he presents it as a flashback.
So first of all, the King walking by faith.
Let's pick it up in verse 1.
In those days, Hezekiah became sick and he was at the point of death.
And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Abor, came to him and said to him,
Thus says the Lord, set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.
It's not great bedside manner, is it?
Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and he prayed to the Lord and he said,
Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart
and have done what is good in your sight.
And Hezekiah went bitterly.
It looks like, doesn't it, the grim reaper,
well, his side is about to get Hezekiah before Sennacherib will.
Because God tells the King, the King is probably in his mid-thirties at this point,
that you're going to die.
And you can tell from Hezekiah's response that he doesn't think it terribly well.
He turns his face to the wall and he prays and he weeps uncontrollably.
And in one sense we know, because this is a flashback, this is going to be a training ground, isn't it?
For Hezekiah to turn to God in prayer.
We know that he turned to God in prayer when the Assyrians were on the doorstep.
In a little bit of time.
But I think what we see in Hezekiah's life is a reminder that it can be harder to trust God
and be strong in a personal crisis than in a public one.
Or in Hezekiah's case a national one.
Now look at his prayer.
Unlike Hezekiah's prayer last week, which was such a great prayer,
there's no praise, is there?
It's a short prayer.
There's no explicit submission to God's will.
There's no explicit desire that God would be glorified.
It's just a muted cry.
A cry for help on the basis of having lived a life of covenant obedience.
Hezekiah prays here.
And he gets a response that he wasn't expecting.
Look at verse 4.
And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah.
Go and say to Hezekiah,
And thus says the Lord, the God of your father,
the God of David, your father,
I've heard your prayer.
I've seen your tears.
Behold, I will add 15 years to your life.
I will deliver you with the city out of your hand of the king of Assyria,
and I will defend the city.
Now I want you to see that grace is seeping out of this paragraph everywhere.
Hezekiah in the midst of despair and despondency.
And God says to Hezekiah,
I've heard your prayer.
And not only that,
He says to Hezekiah,
I've not only heard your prayer,
I've seen your tears.
God knows every tear that you and I shed.
In fact, we've already seen Isaiah 25.
God says one day I'm going to wipe away every single tear.
And God has heard Hezekiah's prayer.
He's seen the tears,
and he tells the king,
I'm going to add 15 years to your life.
But you see,
God is not just a God that comes along and He gives us the minimum,
and leaves it like that.
No, God is not only a God who hears and sees,
and a God who adds,
but He's a God who promises to defend.
And Hezekiah had not said anything in this prayer,
about God's deliverance in Jerusalem.
But God is a God who delights to give beyond what we ask for.
Paul says in Ephesians chapter 3,
that God is able to do immeasurably,
immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.
Do you understand that?
That the God we worship today,
the God we have worshipped today,
is able to do immeasurably more,
not only than what you can ask,
but what you can dream of.
And so here in Hezekiah,
walking by faith,
it is not huge faith by any means,
is it?
But it is faith nonetheless.
And God hears,
and God defends,
and then God confirms it with a sign.
Look at verses 7 and 8.
This shall be the sign to you from the Lord,
that the Lord will do the same for what he's promised.
Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun
on the dial of Ahaz,
turn back ten steps.
So the sun turned back on the dial of ten steps,
by which it declines.
It's there, isn't it?
It's an obvious sign.
It's to assure Hezekiah that God can turn back time.
And therefore he adds 15 years in his life.
God makes a shadow go backwards on the stairway of Ahaz.
How does he do that?
Well, I don't know.
What's the point with miracles?
A miracle is persuasive as a sign from God,
precisely because you cannot explain it.
It can't be a human stunt, can it?
It has to be from God.
God, in this case,
somehow temporarily bends the sunlight.
It's not hard for him.
I hope you are unashamed of miracles.
God created the sun.
He controls it.
He can do whatever he wants from it.
And he does so here.
And with that, God therefore not only says to Hezekiah,
but he shows to Hezekiah,
let's see, I'm turning the clock back on your life.
Hezekiah, I've heard your prayer.
Now I think from this passage,
there is one question that we should be asking
before we move on,
and I hope that it's in some of your minds.
And it's the question of this.
Has God changed his mind here?
Was God actually planning to bring Hezekiah to death,
and then Hezekiah prayed,
and he says,
oh, has he?
Okay, you can have 15 more years.
Is that what's going on?
Is God being like the father
whose son is wanting to play outside
for another 10 minutes,
but it's bedtime.
And the son says,
please, please, please, dad.
And the dad says,
oh, okay, go on.
Is that what God is doing here?
There is a smooth thought.
There's a movement of theologians
called open theists.
And they would argue that God does change his mind.
And they would say,
at times God's intention is to go down
that route,
but then something happens,
circumstances change,
and he goes down another route.
But God doesn't know the future.
And so God has to wait for you and I
to decide what we're going to do,
and then he will react.
And if necessary,
God will change his plans.
And that might feel attractive to you.
It might feel that your relationship
with God will be more dynamic.
Because his actions
and your plans will interact.
But the main problem with that
is the Bible expressly forbids it.
Let me give you one clear objection.
In 1 Samuel 15 verse 29,
we read the glory of Israel.
It's referring to God.
And it says,
the glory of Israel will not lie.
God will not lie,
and he will not change his mind,
for he's not a man
that he should change his mind.
And I don't know why,
that seems, doesn't it,
pretty categorical.
God does not change his mind.
So the question is,
if that's the case,
well, what is going on in the Bible
when it appears that God does change his mind?
The Bible calls it often,
God relents.
You see that in the Old Testament particularly.
And I want to suggest to you
that the reason why this is presented to us
is actually a lesson for you and I
about the role of prayer.
That while God is in complete control of history,
and God has ordained from eternity past
everything that is going to happen,
much that is going to happen,
comes to pass because of his people's prayers.
By means of our prayer,
to encourage our faith.
You think about this.
God did not have to tell Hezekiah,
did he, about his impending death.
He could have just done it.
So why does God tell him?
Well, in part, God tells him,
I want you to set your things in order.
But as you go through the Old Testament,
you find that God occasionally tells people
what he's intending to do,
precisely as an invitation to pray.
He does it with Abraham.
Regarding Sodom in Genesis 18.
He does it with Moses,
right after the incidence of the golden calf
in Exodus 32.
He does it with the prophet Amos in Amos 7.
And here God seems to be doing it with Hezekiah.
God is inviting Hezekiah to pray.
So as one person has put it,
God's prayer is suggested by God,
moves God,
the ruler of all,
God is the one who suggests prayer.
He works through our prayers.
But He is sovereign over everything in the end.
So God here comes out,
He condescends to our level,
to allow us to be part of His attainable purposes.
Through our prayers.
Why?
Because God wants to build our faith.
He wants it to be a strengthener of our faith.
Prayer matters to God
as we seek to walk by faith
as Hezekiah is here.
Now that is unlikely, isn't it?
It is unlikely that any of us would have expected
at the end of the chapter
that by the time we get to verses 5 and 6
we would hear these gracious words from God.
Coming out of the sad wrapping of verse 1.
Hezekiah didn't expect it either.
But in verses 9 to 20,
Isaiah gives us the king's prayer,
or the king's writing as it's called.
About this experience of walking by faith.
And the verses,
I don't know if you picked them up as I read them,
they read like a psalm in many ways.
I think there are a number of parallels.
I think Hezekiah plagiarized David
at numerous times in this prayer.
I don't have time to look at it in detail,
but just look at a few things
and what it means to walk by faith.
First of all,
walking by faith does not gloss over reality.
Look at verse 12 to 14.
Hezekiah acknowledges
some very stark realities about life.
Number one,
he recognizes that life is fragile.
He talks about life being like a shepherd's tent.
He says,
my life has got no more permanence than a tent.
He talks about the decisiveness of death.
He uses the picture of tapestry.
That once the pole pattern has been woven,
the thread is slipped.
The tapestry is rolled off.
And that is like our lives.
And God is the one who brings that moment.
But when the tapestry is rolled up,
it is His decision.
He talks about that stark reality.
He talks about that in the midst of suffering,
it sometimes feels that God is against us.
It sometimes feels that God is hostile to us.
So he describes here feeling that God is like a devouring lion.
He also talks about the reality that our prayer feels feeble.
Absolutely feeble.
Hezekiah feels here that he's praying.
He's doing absolutely nothing.
Hezekiah is unafraid to deal with the stark reality of how he feels.
And that's a good reminder, isn't it?
That when we come to God in prayer,
He expects us to come as we are.
He wants us to come as a little child comes to their parents.
Tells them what they're thinking and what they want.
That's the picture that the Bible has of us coming to God in prayer.
And so by walking by faith does not mean you cleaning up your prayers beforehand.
Because you think that God only wants to hear the sanitized version of your prayers.
God already knows the messy version of your life, doesn't He?
He knows how much mess you and I are in,
so we should tell Him.
And Hezekiah gets that here.
He points to the stark reality of how he feels,
but then he moves on from that to his perception of God's mysterious ways in his life.
Look at verses 15 and 17.
He says, what can I say, God?
You've spoken to me.
You've done these things,
and now I understand that the suffering that I went through,
it had a purpose in my life.
It's been an incredibly intense thing,
but he recognizes it's been for his benefit.
Actually, he uses the word shalom there.
But this suffering is for my overall peace.
It feels completely counterintuitive.
But he says, now I understand that you are doing all these things
because I've come to a new awareness of your love, Lord.
Does that connect with you?
That in the midst of your suffering,
or even after your suffering,
that you sense that you know God.
And you sense,
God, I know how much you love me
because of what I went through.
It's hard to see it in the midst of it, isn't it?
But in hindsight,
I think we can often look and see God's grace
and his love are apparent in so many ways.
Even in the valley of the shadow of death,
I will not fear.
Why? Because you are with me.
But I think the most important insight
that Hezekiah gets
comes in verse 17.
In verse 13,
he feels God's hostility towards him.
But in verse 17,
he says,
now I understand that I am a recipient of God's love.
It was my welfare.
And so,
the question is,
what brought the change?
How do you move from being a recipient of God's wrath
to being a recipient of God's love?
And the answer to that question
comes in the last line of verse 17.
You see what it says?
For you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
You've put all my sins behind your back.
The only way for God
to move from being a God of wrath towards us
to being a God of love towards us
is by having our sin dealt with.
Hezekiah doesn't explain how that happens.
But he knows that his sin
no longer stands between him and God.
Because God has taken that sin
and He's thrown it behind His back.
Lose your sin,
plunge right in.
He's thrown it behind His back.
He's taken care of it.
And so Hezekiah goes from the stark acknowledgement
of how he felt
to understanding the mysterious ways
of God's grace.
And then he says,
I'm going to tell everyone about it.
He wants to tell his offspring.
He doesn't actually have a son at this point.
But he knows that he's in the land of the living.
But he's really alive now.
And he needs to tell everyone
how great God is.
Here is a testimony
of what it looks
for a life
to walk by faith.
It's not clean, is it?
It's certainly messy.
But it acknowledges,
yes, there is mess in my life,
but God, you are at work.
And what a difference a chapter makes.
Because chapter 39 appears
as if 38 might well never have happened.
Because in chapter 39,
Hezekiah begins to walk by sight.
Look at the opening two verses
of chapter 59.
At the time,
Meridot Baladan,
the son of Baladan,
king of Babylon,
sent envoys with letters
and a present to Hezekiah,
for he assured
that he had been sick and had recovered.
Hezekiah welcomed them gladly.
And he showed them his treasure house,
the silver, the gold,
the spices, the precious isle,
his whole armoury,
all that was found
in his storehouses.
There was nothing in his house
and all his remnant
that Hezekiah did not show them.
Now, if you've been with us
through the series of Isaiah,
if you know the book at all,
you will know
that there are two superpowers
in the world.
There is Babylon
and there is Assyria.
And they were vying supremacy
at this time.
And when I told you
that the king of Babylon
now was Meridot Baladan.
You think that that name is bad,
his friends actually called him
Marduk Aplah Adina II.
We get the shorter version.
But to the Assyrians,
this man was a terrorist.
In his own mind,
Meridot Baladan was a freedom fighter.
He was a freedom fighter,
devoting his life
to the freedom
and the liberation of Babylon
from the Assyrian army.
And Meridot Baladan
cheers through the grapevine
that Hezekiah is becoming home.
So being the caring and concerned
king of years,
he sends Hezekiah letters
and a gift.
We're not exactly told
what the contents of the letters were,
but we can see from Hezekiah's reaction
that it wasn't kind of
sorry to hear you've been here
let's do lunch sometime
when you're better.
That wasn't the letter.
In fact, the letter led
Hezekiah
to display
all his resources.
and all the arm strength
of Judah
to a ruler
like Meridot Baladan.
It probably means
that the letter
could only mean one thing.
It means
that the letter said
will you join me
in rebellion
against Assyria?
And Hezekiah
falls for it.
The choice
could not have been more clear.
Walk by faith
in the Lord
or walk by sight.
Have the promises
of God
or the promises
of man.
And Hezekiah
falls into a new sickness.
But this sickness
is spiritual amnesia.
And he forgets
God's promises.
And it's not just
forgetfulness
it is huge pride.
Look at Hezekiah's response
to Isaiah's question
in verse 3.
Then Isaiah the prophet
came to Hezekiah
and said
what did these men say?
And from where
did they come to you?
And Hezekiah said
they have come to me
from a far country
from Babylon.
And he said
what have they seen
in your house?
Hezekiah answered
they have seen it all
that's in my house.
There's nothing
in my store or houses
that I could not show them.
Isaiah asked
three questions
interestingly
Hezekiah doesn't answer
the first one
about what the
Babylonian delegation
had said.
But look at his answer
to the question
of where they come from.
It's quite weak
in our English translation.
It basically says
they came from
the far country
to see
little old me.
Little old me.
There's two points
of emphasis.
They came
from such
a far country
to see
me.
Imagine them
coming all this way
to see poor little me.
Imagine
Merodec
Baladon
the mighty
king of Babylon
wanting little
old me
as an ally.
If he'd
battered his eyelids
at the end
of verse 4
it wouldn't have
been out of place.
It's totally pathetic.
It's as if
chapter 38
does not take place.
And he demonstrates
in all of our lives
what does it mean
to go from
faith in the
real crisis
to unbelief
when you're back
in the mundane
and your ego
gets struck.
All of us
we know
don't we
there's something
really gratifying
when someone
important
takes an interest
in us.
For all of us
it's really
heartwarming
when you matter
to important
people.
And he assures
Hezekiah's downfall
his forgetfulness
of God's word
and his pride.
Alec Mateo
puts it
forgetfulness
of the word
of God
is the prime
enemy of faith.
Pride in one's
importance
runs in a close
second.
Isaiah's response
could not be more
bleak
could it in
verses 5 to 7
hear the word
of the Lord
of hosts
behold the days
are coming
when all that
is in your
house
all that your
fathers have
stored up
to this day
will be carried
off to Babylon
nothing will be
left.
Some of your
own sons
who come from
you and whom
you will
father will be
taken away
and they shall
be eunuchs
in the place
of the kings
of Babylon.
It couldn't be
more clear
defeat is coming
captivity is coming
exile is coming
and notice
Isaiah's impeccable
logic here
Hezekiah
okay you want
to commit all
that you have
to Hezekiah
that all that
you have
well it will
go to Babylon
here's what
Hezekiah
happened when
Hezekiah refused
to walk by
faith
and instead
he decided
he could walk
by sight
let me finish
let me conclude
why the flashback
this all happened
didn't it
to Hezekiah
before his
finest hour
when he trusted
God
to defeat
Sennacherib
and the Assyrians
and so the question
is why would
why would
Isaiah
change the order
wouldn't it have
been better
a better ending
to finish the
narrative section
with Jerusalem
saved
and 185,000
of those pesky
Assyrians
wiped out
and Hezekiah
trusting God
wouldn't that
have been
the natural
end
well it might
have been
if it was
even I
but not
for Isaiah
because Isaiah
places these
two chapters
next to chapter
40 for a reason
chapter 40
is a major
new section
of the book
but when
chapter 40
begins
can you guess
where Judah
is
Judah is in
exile
in Babylon
it's going to
pick up the story
sometimes after
chapter 39
but the point
is clear
God made a
promise here
and He will
bring it to
fulfilment
but there's
another reason
why Isaiah
inserts the
flashback here
and the reason
why I think
that he puts it
here is because
Hezekiah was
one of the best
he was one of
the best
let me read you
what it says
in 2 Kings
chapter 18
verse 5
it says
Hezekiah trusted
in the Lord
the God of
Israel
so that there
was none
like him
among all
the kings
of Judah
after him
nor among
those who
were before
him
Hezekiah
was the
great king
and it was
after his
pride and
his forgetfulness
of God's
word
that that
precipitated
the exiles
of Babylon
Isaiah's point
is this
it's only a long
while I've
got there
is that
Hezekiah
is not the
king who
is going to
save Jerusalem
don't put
your trust
in Hezekiah
that even
the best
of kings
is mortal
and fallible
I've needed
an illustration
all week
of if we
can't trust
in dot dot
dot
who can we
trust in
the best
illustration I
can think of
is Ryan
Giggs
Ryan Giggs
is a Welsh
footballer
he's a hero
to boys
of my
generation
he only
retired
playing
to me
about 2
years
at the age
of 38
or 39
he's a
hero
and he
was so
clean living
he didn't
go to all
the parties
he wasn't
like Lee
Sharp
and the
other
man
united
players
he wasn't
allowed to
do an
interview
for years
he was
everybody's
hero
mothers
liked their
boys to
like Ryan
Giggs
older sisters
thought that
he was
gorgeous
boys wanted
to be like
him
everybody
loved Ryan
Giggs
he was a
national
hero
and then it
turned out
didn't it
about 4 years
ago that he
had been
sleeping with
his brother's
wife
and numerous
others
and the
behind this
incredible
facade
was actually
a pretty
immorally
bankrupt
man
and so there
was a blog
post I remember
reading it
that said
if we can't
trust in
Ryan Giggs
who can we
trust in
Isaiah in
chapter 39
is leaving us
with that same
question
he's saying
if you can't
trust in
Hezekiah
who can you
trust in
and Isaiah
is going to
help you
answer that
question
in chapter
40
but let me
give you
the answer
now
you look at
the last
temptation
of the
Lord Jesus
when the
devil came
to him
took him
to a high
mountain
and he
said
he showed
him all
the kingdoms
of the
world
and he
said
I'll give
them to
you
if you
bow down
and worship
me
and Jesus
said to him
away from me
Satan
for it is
written
worship the
Lord your
God
and save
him only
and Satan
dives down
to find
if he can
see any
pride in
Jesus
that might
make Jesus
grasp for
control of
the kingdoms
of the world
and he says
all this is
for you
Jesus
if you
will only
bow down
to me
but there
was no
pride in
Jesus
and in
addition
Jesus
was not
quick to
forget
God's
word
was he
instead
he quotes
it back
at Satan
in this
case
Deuteronomy
6.13
and he says
worship the
Lord your
God
and save
him only
Jesus
resists
temptation
because he
wasn't
proud
and he
didn't
forget
the word
of the
Lord
and he
understood
that he
was the
answer
to Isaiah's
implicit
question
that if you
can't trust
in Hezekiah
who can you
trust in
and the
answer is
only Jesus
and it's
the message
of the Old
New Testament
again and
again
and it's
the message
of the New
Testament
over and
again
because Jesus
is the
true king
and all
the kingdoms
that Satan
offered Jesus
were his
already
because he's
the true
king
but Jesus
understood
to secure
the crown
of being
king
meant first
he would
go to the
cross
why
because Jesus
is the
missing piece
of Isaiah
38 verse
17
that we
refer to
by Hezekiah
that how
could Hezekiah
go from
being a
recipient of
God's
wrath
to be a
recipient of
God's
grace
why
because he
says God
has thrown
all my
sins behind
his back
but he
doesn't
explain how
he doesn't
explain why
and we're
not certain
he understood
why
and how
but we do
because the
answer is
Jesus
because the
king is also
what we saw
last week
the servant
and this
king is also
the saviour
and he had
to come and
go to the
cross
and there on
the cross
he bore the
wrath that
you and I
deserve
because you
and I have
spiritual amnesia
and over and
over and over
again you
and I
are proud
little people
over and over
again
and he bore
it all
so that you
and I would
not be
recipients of
God's wrath
but recipients
of his wrath
so that all
that God
would pour
into our
lives is
grace and
mercy
and the
problem is
without
Jesus
this morning
your sins
have not
been hurled
behind God's
back
you are still
under the
weight of
them
you carry
them everywhere
you go
and the penalty
for those sins
you will carry
into eternity
unless you can
find someone
to bear them
for you
and so who
are you going
to trust
who are you
going to trust
not the
Hezekiahs of
this world
not the
Brian Gibbs
of this
world
whoever else
you want
to put
into that
little
blank
but say
I am going
to trust
Jesus
because only
Jesus can
deliver me
from sin
only Jesus
can rescue
you and me
from exile
because He
is the
true king
He is the
true king
He is the
one
brothers