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Scripture Reading: Isa. 36; Isa. 37; Isa. 38; Isa. 39
In this message and in the following message, we will consider chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine. First, in this message, we need to see some crucial matters regarding the person of King Hezekiah. Then in the next message we will consider the details of these four chapters, including Hezekiah's seeking after Jehovah for his situation, Hezekiah's seeking after Jehovah for his health, and Hezekiah's failure in the enjoyment of the peaceful situation and sound health.
As we read the book of Isaiah, we may wonder why Isaiah inserted chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine. The first thirty-five chapters to this book cover God's loving chastisement on His beloved Israel and His righteous judgment on the nations, in order that His elect might have a turn to Him so that the created things might be restored and that the all-inclusive Christ might be brought in. At this point, everyone and everything has been fired by God, and Christ, the only one who is qualified, is here. Why, after covering these matters, does Isaiah spend four chapters to speak of a small part of the life of one person? After spending much time to consider this matter, I believe that the Lord has shown me the reason. In chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine, Isaiah gives us an example in the person of Hezekiah, the king of Judah. We may say that in the first thirty-five chapters of his prophecy Isaiah gives us the principle and that in the next four chapters he gives us an example.
After reading these chapters, it is good to consider what kind of person Hezekiah was. Hezekiah was a godly man, but I would not say that he was a man of God, a God-man. When he was threatened by Sennacherib king of Assyria and was insulted by the word of the king's servant, Hezekiah, in his suffering, brought the trouble to the Lord and offered to Him a very good prayer (36:1-20; 37:9-20). Since Hezekiah was the king appointed by God and since he was a godly person, God did something for him. God answered his prayer and performed one of the greatest miracles in human history, killing one hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrians in one night (37:22-38).
After Hezekiah received this miraculous deliverance, he became mortally ill. Isaiah came to him and said, "Thus says Jehovah, Put your house in order, for you are about to die and will not live" (38:1). Then Hezekiah again prayed a very godly prayer, saying, "O Jehovah, please remember how I have walked before You in truth, with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Your sight" (v. 3). God heard Hezekiah's prayer and answered it by healing him and saying, through Isaiah, that He would add fifteen years to his life (vv. 4-5).
The number of years added to Hezekiah's life is significant. When Hezekiah became mortally ill, he was a middle-aged man, perhaps about forty years old. For God to give him another fifteen years meant that he would live until the age of approximately fifty-five. Since God was willing to heal Hezekiah, why did He not give him another thirty years and allow him to reach the age of seventy? I believe that the reason God extended Hezekiah's life by only fifteen years was that, in the sight of God, Hezekiah was not a person who could be trusted to carry out God's purpose. Had Hezekiah been permitted to live longer, he might have caused even more trouble to God's kingdom than he did in chapter thirty-nine. During his last fifteen years, Hezekiah made a mistake that was so serious that it caused God's kingdom on earth to be lost.
Isaiah 39 shows us that instead of being a considerate and careful person, Hezekiah was hasty. His prayers indicated that he had a sober mind and was quite wise. However, after he was healed by God, he did something foolish when visitors from Babylon came to him with a gift. Receiving the gift, he showed the visitors his treasury, his whole armory, and everything in his dominion (v. 2). This was a foolish act and a great mistake. The showing of these riches, which had been accumulated by his fathers since the time of David and Solomon, became a temptation to the king of Babylon. A little over one hundred years later, the king of Babylon came and took away these riches. Hezekiah did not consider his action carefully, nor did he pray about it. He should have been careful, knowing that Babylon was Judah's enemy and that sooner or later the Babylonian army would come to destroy him. However, Hezekiah did not take thought concerning what the king of Babylon might do. This shows that Hezekiah was hasty and not very considerate or careful.
Some readers of Isaiah might think at first that Hezekiah was a person who was absolutely for God and not at all for himself. Actually Hezekiah was very selfish. This is proved by the way he responded to Isaiah's word to him in 39:5-7. "Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: Behold, the days are coming when everything which is in your house and which your fathers have laid up as a treasure unto this day will be carried away to Babylon; nothing will be left, says Jehovah. And they will take away some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, and they will become eunuches in the palace of the king of Babylon." When Hezekiah heard this, he said to Isaiah, "The word of Jehovah which you have spoken is good....For there will be peace and truth in my days" (v. 8). This indicates that Hezekiah was selfish.
Furthermore, Hezekiah was the king not of a worldly kingdom but of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of Judah was actually God's kingdom on earth, and Hezekiah should not have regarded it as his own kingdom. For Hezekiah to lose his kingdom was a small thing, but for God to lose His kingdom was a great thing. Hezekiah's response in verse 8 indicates that he had no thought for God and God's kingdom, nor did he care even for his own children. He was altogether for himself.
If we do not have the proper view of chapters thirty-six through thirty-nine, we may think that Hezekiah was quite good. He faced two great problems — the invasion from Assyria and mortal illness — and dealt with them in a way that seemed to be godly. We may feel, therefore, that if we could handle problems in Hezekiah's way, we also would be quite good. However, in giving us the pattern found in these chapters, Isaiah shows us how a person such as Hezekiah, who was appointed a king in God's kingdom, who was godly, and who prayed and received miraculous answers from God, eventually became not a success but a failure. He failed because of his self-glory and self-interest. He was full of self and was not able to restrict the self. Being a selfish person, he made a great mistake, became a failure, and was eventually fired by God.
In light of this pattern, we need to spend some time with the Lord and ask ourselves what kind of person we would be. Would we be like Hezekiah, who was hasty and was so much for himself? As we consider this matter, we must learn to say, "Lord, I would not be any kind of person; I would just be nothing. I would have You as my person and my life, as the One who lives in me that I may live You. If I want to be anything, I want to be a person like this." If we would all pray such a prayer, the Lord's recovery would have a great revival.
