“Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf”
Isaiah 36 & 37 - 9/4/05
Intro: Do you remember as kids hearing a story about three industrious little pigs? The built their own houses, and were fine until one hungry old wolf came around looking for a ham dinner! When the big, bad wolf came knocking at the door, he made a lot of threats, and did a lot that scared and intimidated those little pigs.
Sometimes we get fearful very easily. I remember one night in a board meeting at another church at the beginning of the meeting as we were talking over the agenda, one man said, “I’d like to talk tonight about whether it’s okay for the pastor to take off his coat when he preaches.” We all spent the night thinking he wanted to make the pastor keep his coat on, when what he really wanted to do was to give the pastor permission to take his coat off if it got too hot.
What do you think when you walk into work after lunch and someone says, “The boss wants to see you right away”? The first thought is, “Oh, no, what now?” Or how about when the pastor calls up and says, “I’d like to come over and see you this week.” We so quickly become fearful.
How do we deal with fear in our lives? Where’s our security? We’ve been going through the OT, looking in the prophets at the time of Isaiah, and here we see King Hezekiah deal with some great threats and we see him respond with great security. Let’s look at Isaiah 36 and see some lessons about faith and fear.
I. The Temptation to Fear is Very Real
Let’s set the stage: Under King Ahaz of Judah, the southern kingdom faced conflict with the Northern kingdom of Israel. Ahaz turned to Assyria for help. But that help had it’s price. Assyria decided it would like to conquer both Israel AND Judah.
Following the reign of Ahaz, his son Hezekiah came to the throne. Hezekiah is a good man, a godly king. He worships the Lord. 2 Kings 18:5-7 tells us Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no-one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. Hezekiah destroys the altars of the idol worshipers. He even destroys all the altars to worship Jehovah, the true God, except for the altar at Jerusalem where the Jews were supposed to go to worship.
In Hezekiah’s 4th year, the Assyrians invade. They sweep down and attack Israel under Shalmaneser, King of Assyria. They give Israel a 3 year siege, and in Hezekiah’s 6th year, Samaria, the capital city of Israel falls, and the Israelites in the north are all taken away. A few years later, the Assyrians sweep down to Judah and King Hezekiah under the Assyrian King Sennacherib. Hezekiah decided he would not pay tribute to Sennacherib, the Assyrian King. Sennacherib doesn’t like this, so he decides to invade. Hezekiah then pays him the tribute he wants, but Sennacherib still decides to attack. The Assyrian army has destroyed the towns of Judah - 46 fortified cities have been captured, 200,000 people have been taken into captivity, and the army comes to the gates of Jerusalem. That’s enough to make anyone fearful.
Now let’s look at Isaiah 36. Read whole chapter.
Why would Hezekiah be tempted to be fearful? Let’s look at what he was facing.
Physical threats:
1. The Northern kingdom, Israel, fell to Assyria 10 years before these events. This was a nation that had defeated Israel, the stronger nation to the north.
2. All the cities of Judah had fallen (vs.1). Jerusalem is the only city left that hadn’t fallen.
3. The army is right outside the city (vs.2). They could look out from the city walls and see the hundreds of thousands of soldiers right outside the city.
Emotional Discouragement - Intimidation
4. Three high ranking officials have come from the enemy king. CF. 2 Kings 18:17 - The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer and his field commander with a large army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem.
5. vs.5 - They are accused of having no strategy or strength
6. vs. 6 - They are hoping for Egypt to help, but they are told Egypt will not help, but in fact will actually harm the Jews
7. vs. 7 - They are told even God is against them.
Do you ever feel like God doesn’t even like you?
Why would the Assyrians say God was against them? Hezekiah had torn down his altars that people had wrongly built. Did you ever have a time where you did what you knew God wanted you to do, where you did the right thing, and Satan tries to make you feel bad about it?
We have friends pastoring in Florida - their associate pastor left his wife for a woman in the church - and our friends have said this is not to be allowed. Some people in the church don’t like that: they want to keep their friendship with the associate pastor and his adulterous partner. They have complained that the pastor is being unloving because he is doing what God says is to be done. Sometimes we feel bad about doing right.
8. vs. 8 - The Jews had no skilled cavalry - The Assyrians mock them - saying they will give them horses to fight with if they could come up with the men to ride them.
9. vs. 10 - They claim that God had sent the Assyrian army - they were there in response to God’s will
10. vs. 14 - They said Hezekiah was being deceitful with the people. They said he was just giving the people a false hope.
11. vs. 16 - They were given great tempting promises if only they would give in.
Often Satan makes the wrong choice look attractive. If only we bend the rules a little. . .
12. vs. 18 - They say that God is powerless against the Assyrian army.
Social Alienation: Peer Pressure
In vs. 13 we see them trying to incite the people of Jerusalem against Hezekiah.
Did Hezekiah have a reason for fear? We might certainly think so. But remember his resource:
II. God Gives Strength in Times of Temptation
1. Hezekiah found strength in memorials of God’s faithfulness - As the army sends their messengers, they come to the same field where Ahaz met Hezekiah a number of years ago. Look back in Is. 7:3 READ IS. 7:3-9
Ahaz is given promise by God that God is going to win the battles for them. Isaiah met Ahaz at this same field where Hezekiah’s men meet the Assyrian army. Surely Hezekiah must have thought back to God’s faithfulness in the past and gained strength for the present.
In our lives, we need to continually remind ourselves of the faithfulness of our God. It is easy to be forgetful. I Cor. 10 tells us the events of the OT are written down for us as examples. How has God proven himself in your life before? Trust him to work again for you today and tomorrow and the next day!
2. Hezekiah finds strength in humbling himself and worshiping.
Read 37:1-4 - Hezekiah responds to the threats by immediately turning to God. So often we try to worry and fret about problems that we should be turning over to God. Casting all our cares on him, for he cares for us. He sees himself unable to win the battle. He doesn’t start with a pep talk to the troops. He falls on his face before God for help. That’s where each of us should spend much more of our time.
3. Hezekiah gains strength from the encouragement of others. - In vs. 7, we see Isaiah gives the promise that the king will leave the city and be killed at home. In verse 9 we see the king of Egypt coming to offer help. When we are struggling and turn to God, He gives us encouragement and hope from others.
III. We need to respond to fear in faith
So, how does a godly king repond to crisis? Hezekiah was a man who responded with faith and trust. We find him resisting the Assyrian king. We see him having a strong confidence in God. The Assyrians mocked his faith in God. Look at verse 4, The field commander said to them, "Tell Hezekiah: "`This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have strategy and military strength--but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me? Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. And if you say to me, "We are depending on the LORD our God" --isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem"?
*Faith means turning to God for deliverance
In a parallel passage in 2 Kings 19, we see Hezekiah turns to the Lord. When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. They went to the prophet Isaiah who inquired from God. Look in verse 6 - Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master, `This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard--those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am going to put such a spirit in him that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.'"
Hezekiah knew that God was going to work on his behalf: he prayed and his prayers were answered. He knew that God was going to come through for him. But there is another part of responding in faith that we need to see.
*Faith means taking practical steps toward deliverance.
Hezekiah also took practical steps himself. You may have heard the phrase, “Pray like everything depends on God, but work like everything depends on you.” That’s what Hezekiah did!
*Hezekiah paid tribute to the king of Assyria 2 Kings 18:14 - So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: "I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me." The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
*Hezekiah prepared the city - 2 Chron. 32:1-8
After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking to conquer them for himself. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. A large force of men assembled, and they blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?" they said. Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields. He appointed military officers over the people and assembled them before him in the square at the city gate and encouraged them with these words: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah the king of Judah said.
Hezekiah is a wonderful example for us in facing uncertainty. We trust fully in the Lord, we pray for him to work, but at the same time, we need to take steps of personal preparation that we can to be ready.
Satan tempts us to fear, God gives us strength, We respond in faith, but we need to
IV. Be prepared for Satan’s attacks to continue
Look at 2 Kings 19:9-13 - Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him. So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them: the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?”
- Even when the king sees he is losing his hold, he continues to threaten. Satan will continue to attack us, even when he knows he is fighting a losing battle. And he roars like a lion, seeking to devour us.
V. In spite of continued attacks, God can still give the victory.
Once again Hezekiah responds to threats by turning to God. 2 Kings 19:14-20
He appeals to the power of God, the honor of God, the uniqueness of God, the triumph of God
As a result of Hezekiah’s faithfulness, Jerusalem is spared. read 33 - 38
The Assyrians will not come into the city
They will depart
The people of Israel will have plenty of food to eat
God provides them with a miraculous deliverance.
Concl: How do we respond to threats? Are we fearful? Or do we trust in the Lord?
Let’s learn from Hezekiah to always turn to God when we are tempted to fear. Have a radical faith in God. Our God is big enough to handle any problem that might come our way!
