Hezekiah: Isaiah 36-39 (7)

Pray Psalm 81.1, 2.
Sing aloud to God our strength;
Make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob.
Raise a song and strike the timbrel,
The pleasant harp with the lute.

Review Isaiah chapters 36-39.

Reflect.
1. How would you describe the relationship between Hezekiah and Isaiah?

2. What can we learn from Hezekiah, both to emulate and to avoid?

Meditate.
Hezekiah was king for twenty-nine years. For all those years, Isaiah served as the Lord’s prophet in Jerusalem, and he and Hezekiah seem to have had a fairly good relationship. These chapters focus on decisive moments in Hezekiah’s reign: the defeat of Sennacherib and the visit of the Babylonian envoys. These two situations serve as a symbol of the people of God and the choices they have to make: between trusting the Lord and glorifying Him, and leaning on their own skills, wits, and resources. When they trust the Lord and heed His Word, He never fails. When they become more interested in themselves, they fall victim to pride and idolatry, and end up bringing the judgment of God on their heads.

Hezekiah’s experience also serves, for the people of Israel, to exalt God and His Word and power, in ways that would encourage and prepare the remnant for what they would have to endure under the Babylonians. Hezekiah’s prophesying, and God’s works of victory and healing, laid a foundation for what will follow in chapters 40-66, which contain some of the most hopeful and inspiring promises in all of prophetic literature.

The challenge these chapters put before us can be phrased in a few questions: In the face of trials, threats, and tribulations, will we trust the Lord and His Word, or will we depend on our own best ideas and resources? Do we understand the power of prayer, and are we making the best possible use of this privilege? Will we confront sin in the Body of Christ, and repent of it in our own lives, or will we just blink at it and turn away? Are we going to live merely for ourselves in the present, or for God’s Kingdom and the generations to come?

These questions need to be asked every day, remembering, as we do, the story of Hezekiah.

Prepare.
1. What happened to Hezekiah over the course of these chapters? Can what happened to Hezekiah happen to us? How can we guard against that?

2. Why was Isaiah able to remain faithful to the Lord, when many prophets and teachers had turned away from Him to court the favor of men? What can we learn from Isaiah about faithfulness?

3. What’s your primary takeaway from Isaiah 36-39?

Often, when means are abundant and many things can be done for subordinates to admire, the mind exalts itself in thought. But in so doing, it also provokes the anger of the judge, even though the acts of iniquity may have not been overt. For the one who judges us is within, as is that which is judged. When, then, in our hearts we transgress, what we are doing within ourselves is hidden from men. And yet in the eyes of the Judge we sin. Gregory the Great (540-604 AD), Pastoral Care 1.4

Help me, Lord, to keep Your promises before my mind, that I might always…

Pray Psalm 81.
Use this psalm to review God’s work of bringing you to Himself. Plead with Him to open wide your mouth, so that you might feed on His Word and walk in all His ways today.

Sing to the Lord.
Psalm 81 (St. Petersburg: My Hope is Built on Nothing Less)
O sing for joy to Jesus our strength; to Jacob’s great God shout joyfully at length! 
And strike the drum, and offer a song; all instruments, your glad music prolong. 
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!” 

Let every kind of instrument play to celebrate God’s deliverance today. 
It is His statute and His command to worship and praise all over the land. 
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!”

Declare His mercy, tell of His grace; our enemies flee the look of His face. 
In mighty deeds strong witness He gave, and powerf’ly did His chosen ones save.
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!” 

God set us free from bondage to sin and graciously brought us near Him again; 
He rescued us whenever we cried and often our falt’ring confidence tried: 
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!” 

“Let no false gods among you be found; but scatter their altars over the ground. 
Pursue not wealth, nor leisure nor fame, but worship the Savior’s glorious Name: 
O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!” 

For You are God, Your Name is the Lord, who faithfully keeps His covenant Word,
Who rescued us from bondage and pride; our mouths He would fill, we open them wide. 
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!” 

“My people would not listen to Me, but hardened their hearts most hideously; 
I cursed them for their hard-hearted ways to wander in darkness all of their days: 
O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!”

Now let us all abandon our ways and listen to God, and offer Him praise! 
Our foes He will so quickly subdue, extending His hand to save and renew. 
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!” 

Then even those despising the Lord would falsely obey and follow His Word; 
In vain they seem to follow His way, yet judgment awaits on God’s chosen day. 
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!’

The finest foods for us He will buy, and furnish us an abundant supply; 
How sweet our lives can be in the Lord, when only we heed His glorious Word. 
“O Israel, hear, admonished now be; My people, repent, return to Me!”

T. M. Moore

Where do the prophets fit with the rest of Scripture? How can I be a better student of God’s Word? Our course, Introduction to Biblical Theology, can help you gain a better approach to and understanding of the Scriptures. Watch this brief preview video, then register at The Ailbe Seminary and enroll in this free online course.

Each week’s lesson in our study of Isaiah is available as a free PDF download at the end of the week (click here). Get a copy for yourself and send the link for the download to your friends. Plan to meet weekly to study Isaiah’s important message.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006).All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).