2 Chronicles 32

2 Chronicles 32. We are going to read the whole chapter. It's narrative, so it's a bit longer than some passages, but bear with me.

3 Chronicles 32.

3 Chronicles 32.

4 Chronicles 32.

5 Chronicles 33.

6 Chronicles 33.

7 Chronicles 33.

7 Chronicles 33.

8 Chronicles 33.

8 Chronicles 33.

8 Chronicles 33.

8 Chronicles 33.

9 Chronicles 33.

9 Chronicles 34.

9 Chronicles 34.

10 Chronicles 34.

10 Chronicles 34.

10 Chronicles 34.

11 Chronicles 34.

12 Chronicles 34.

12 Chronicles 34.

thirst when he tells you the Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria

has not this same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and

Jerusalem before one altar you shall worship and on it you shall burn your sacrifices do you not

know that what I and my father have done to all the peoples of other lands were the gods of the

nations of those lands at all able to deliver their lands out of my hand who among all the

gods of those nations that my father devoted to destruction was able to deliver his people from

my hand that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand now therefore do not let Hezekiah

deceive you or mislead you in this fashion and do not believe him for no God of any nation or kingdom

has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers how much less will

your God deliver you out of my hand and his servant said still more against the Lord God and against

his servant Hezekiah and he wrote letters to cast contempt on the Lord the God of Israel and to

speak against him saying like the gods of the nations of the lands who have not delivered their

people from my hand so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver his people from my hand and they shouted

and they shouted it with a loud voice in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who

were on the wall to frighten and terrify them in order that they might take the city and they spoke of

the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth which are the work of men's

hands then Hezekiah the king of the king and Isaiah the prophet son of Amoz prayed because of this and

cried to heaven and the Lord sent an angel who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers

in the camp of the king of Assyria so he returned with shame of face to his own land and when he came into

the house of his God some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword so the Lord saved

Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the

hand of all his enemies and he provided for them on every side and many brought gifts to the Lord of it

of to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah so that he was exalted in

the sight of all nations from that time onward in those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the

point of death and he prayed to the Lord and he answered him and gave him a sign that Hezekiah did not make

return according to the benefit done to him for his heart was proud therefore wrath came upon him in Judah

and Jerusalem but Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart both he and the inhabitants of

Jerusalem so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah and Hezekiah

had very great riches and honor and he made for himself treasuries for silver for gold for precious

stones for spices for shields and for all kinds of costly vessels

storehouses also for the yield of grain wine and oil and stalls for all kinds of cattle and

sheepfolds he likewise provided cities for himself and flocks and herds in abundance for God had given

him very great possessions the same Hezekiah closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed

them down to the west side of the city of David and Hezekiah prospered in all his works so in the

matter of the envoys of the princes of Babylon he would have been sent to him to inquire about the

signs that he had done in the land God left him to himself in order to test how he could test him

and to know what was in his heart now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and the good deeds behold they

are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz in the book of the kings of Judah and

Israel and Hezekiah slept with his fathers and they buried him in the upper part of the tombs of the sons of

David and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death and Manasseh his son

reigned in his place this is God's word please pray with me father we thank you for your word we thank

you that we can come before it this afternoon that we can learn of it we pray in this time you would

open our hearts by your Holy Spirit to receive the word that you have given us today bless us we pray

in Christ's name amen

the kingdom in which we were yes

yes we're going to talk about that in a moment actually

the kingdom in which we reside matters doesn't it we know this intuitively even in our modern day

if the dwelling in the united kingdom is very different from dwelling in the kingdom of Saudi

Arabia or the kingdom of North Korea if that's a kingdom I don't know I didn't study geography

but what really matters is which kingdom you reside in this is actually the the point of our passage and

it's really the point of of the whole bible it's a it's a recurring theme throughout scriptures what

kingdom do you reside in where do you live the people of Judah and Assyria would have naturally

understood this in ancient times that your kingdom and where you lived dictate what kind of life you

would live if you lived in Assyria then you lived pretty confidently you're you're living in the superpower

of the day you're living in the greatest superpower at that time that the world had ever seen

nothing could touch you you enjoyed peace you enjoyed prosperity if you lived anywhere else

in the world at the time you probably lived in fear you lived in deep insecurity because you were

you were faced you were a target for the Assyrians this is the world that Hezekiah lived in this is the

world of Judah to understand this passage we have to place ourselves not in the place of Hezekiah

but as a normal person living in Judah sitting up on the wall fearing for our lives

where do we look for hope we look to the king don't we the kingdom you reside in matters because the

king who rules it matters who is who is your king last week we saw the juxtaposition of of two kings

we saw Hezekiah and his father Ahaz if you were with us you remember Ahaz represented every kind of

of worldly weakness he he lived in fear he ruled out of political convenience he set up idols for his

people to worship hoping that they could save him from from the rising tide of the Assyrian military

force Hezekiah on the other hand displayed faith in God the God of the Bible the God of his forefathers

David this week we meet another king Sennacherib who is the epitome of worldly power so we've seen

worldly weakness today we see worldly power he's rich he's got military might and he oozes confidence

doesn't he he can talk a good game we see him do that here Sennacherib's military machines been rolling

through the the surrounding countries uh systematically taking control of more territory eating up the

nations taking control taking people into slavery uh and destroying everything in its path and now

they come to Judah with their superior power and their superior might and they're on the doorstep of the

capital Jerusalem imagine if you were there imagine if you're one of the people of the city

sitting up on the wall that you've just finished building preparations for a siege have been made uh the

people have gathered uh have have closed up the water supply people have gathered in to the walls

gates have been secure and your king is in command but you're still looking out and bearing down on you

is the greatest military force in the world how confident are you how sure are you

and then on top of all that the chatter begins doesn't it hezekiah tells his people first be strong

and courageous he gathers them together and says be strong and courageous do not be afraid or dismayed

before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him for there are more with us than with him

with him is an arm of flesh but with us is the lord our god to help us to fight our battles

and the people took confidence from these words of hezekiah the king but then we hear the message of

of the king of Assyria sennacherib don't we can you really trust your king can you really trust your

king are you sure he isn't deceiving you he has you worshiping only only one god and look at all the

gods that the other nations have worshiped and we've taken all of them over and he makes actually an

interesting point doesn't he hezekiah has spent years bringing spiritual reform to judah he's brought

about a great reformation in that land he's repaired the temple and restored worship he tore down the

altars to idols and he made sacrifice to one god the god of israel he he celebrated the passover feast

he gathered people from from lands even outside of judah to come and worship the god of creation

see the assyrians actually in their propaganda speak truth don't they they have the facts right

but they draw the wrong conclusions from those facts look at at verse 19 and they spoke of the god of

jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth which are the work of men's hands

which kingdom do you trust in verse 19 uh draws a distinction between the nations the assyrians

look at every god as exactly the same that there that every god there's no there's no difference

between the gods every god is the same every god is weak and every god is something that we can easily

overcome the bible makes a very different claim though doesn't it all the various gods of the nation are the

same in that they're they're rubbish made by the hands of men but the god of jerusalem is different

there's a direct claim that the god of jerusalem the god of hezekiah and his people is the one true god

and as a result there are only really two kingdoms the the kingdom of the one true god

and then the kingdom of of everyone else see the fatal mistakes the assyrians make is the same mistake

that we make in our own culture today our world today isn't all that different from 2500 years ago

we might think it's different we might be technologically more advanced but we still want

to believe that all the gods are created equal and that the person who wins the cultural battle for

relevance must be right that all religious belief is just the creation of the imagination of ancient

traditions and it's only useful to you if you find it useful but the god of the bible makes a very different

claim he claims that it it is him and then everyone else this hasn't changed in 2500 years since the days of

hezekiah there are only two kingdoms the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of god in which do you reside

see the mistake made by the assyrians is every bit as fatal today as it was then we see that in the the

next paragraph how how does hezekiah respond to sennacherib he doesn't confidently respond what back

bring it on we're ready good luck finding some water and he doesn't just turn around and surrender either

does he but he turns to the very god that sennacherib has just finished mocking hezekiah prays in verse 20

and then a funny thing happens his prayers answered isn't it verse 21 and the lord sent an angel who cut

off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of assyria so he returned with

shame of face to his own land and when he came into the house of his god some of his own sons struck him

down there with the sword the book of second kings and of isaiah say that the angel of the lord struck

down 185 000 in the assyrian camp this is an incredibly dramatic deliverance for judah and the natural

question on our minds is do we believe this do we believe this actually happened the way of the

bible says it happened let's step away for a moment from our story and let's talk about that question

for a minute do we believe this actually happened i think there's there's two compelling reasons i'll

give you today why i believe this and i think you should too the first of all and the best reason is

it's the god's word if it's god's word uh spoken to his people then we should believe it i believe it is

god's word it's consistent between the accounts and the message is consistent with the character of

god as he's presented himself previously it's a message that is different from that of any other

god isn't it he is a god who saves and delivers his people from his enemies and their enemies he's a

god who's living and active in his creation that's what he does throughout scripture that's what he does

here in this passage that's exactly what what we should expect him to do and want him to do

see the quality of the overall message is different and it speaks a truth that is unique

but the second reason some of you will still say maybe that's great but i still find that hard to

believe and that's fine let's look at at the external evidence that's already been mentioned

if you go up the road to the british museum you'll find an extensive collection on the assyrian empire

and in amongst this collection you're going to find a pair of of they call them prisms they just

look like little little stone towers and on these prisms is is writing one of them is called the

taylor prism you can look it up and on this is is an account of sennacherib's military uh exploits

and how he all the places he went and took over all the the the treasure and things that he brought back

and he mentions in passing jerusalem and he mentioned the tribute that was paid to him by hezekiah

earlier in hezekiah's reign it's not mentioned in this passage but it is in others but oddly enough

there's no mention of conquering jerusalem and there's no reason given for him stopping there

and going home he just basically says you know what we we got to jerusalem and we turned around and

went home if you actually uh look at at the map next to this exhibit you see the little line of of

the kingdom of assyria and it stopped just short of jerusalem so let me ask you this

why would the greatest military power of the day a power that had been unstoppable a power that up to

that point had been eating up smaller kingdoms like candy suddenly stop at one of the weakest nations

in the world why would they stop and not take it something happened and what i'm suggesting to you

is that the historical data in our museum is exactly what you would expect to see if the biblical account

is true it's a basic law of human nature we magnify our triumphs and we minimize our defeats don't we

everyone does this for example just to give you a couple modern examples first of all george washington

george washington is the real life harry potter of america my my home country he's the boy who lived

every child growing up in that nation knows his name and what he did a few weeks ago i received a

meme if you don't know what a meme is it's a picture from the internet with funny words written on it

usually an observation about life and on this it was a picture of george washington and it said

i was for brexit before it was mainstream

i found that funny like you did and so i sent it off to uh we'll just say an english friend of mine

he's a member of our our congregation and his response he texted back to me immediately with

who's that who's that who's that i was shocked you know this is a guy everybody knows uh everyone

knows his name what he did but it makes sense when you think about it the american revolution

is probably taught very differently here than it is in the states because we we magnify our victories

we've minimize our defeats it's natural to humanity i do this myself in my home we like to play board games

and there's a game that i'm particularly good at it's called candy land you don't want to play me

in candy land what happens when i win at candy land i jump up i dance around and i start singing songs

about how i'm the greatest daddy who ever was and there's never been a daddy like me because i can

beat a four-year-old at candy land what happens when i lose at candy land i don't know i don't recall

that ever happening you see how this works sennacherib is the daddy who's been defeated by

a four-year-old the thing that that never should happen happened and he's no and he has no reasonable

explanation for it so he just ignores it but on the other hand the bible actually gives us a very clear

and very reasonable explanation for it doesn't it the god of the universe is present and active in his

world and he intervenes to save his people he does the very thing that we would want our king to do

verse 22 the lord saved hezekiah and the inhabitants of jerusalem from the hand of

sennacherib king of assyria and from the hand of all his enemies and he provided for them on every side

which kingdom are you living in which kingdom do you want to live in do you want the kingdom of the

strong but arrogant or do you want the kingdom that rests on the god who saves

see what we ultimately see here is that the kingdom where you reside matters because the king that you

serve matters the reason this story speaks to us is because it it speaks to the deep truths about how

our world works and how our world has always worked in life you will serve a king and that king will in

turn serve you what do you hope your king will do we hope that our king will conquer don't we we hope

that our king will rule and that he'll reign that he'll destroy all of his enemies that he'll offer us

safety and security and meet all of our needs that's what humanity has longed for since adam that's what

we still long for today when you're when you look at our world and you're you're disgusted by white

supremacist marching in america you're really longing for a better kingdom aren't you when you

look at brexit and you're angry no matter which side of the issue you fall on you're really longing

for a better kingdom when you're grieving the loss of a spouse or a child you're longing for a better

kingdom when you're pursuing power popularity money relationships or anything else in this world

you're really longing for a better kingdom we spend our lives trying to to make our world what we

think it should be we have good intentions but it never seems to work out does it but the good news

for you today is that the god of the bible offers us a better kingdom and it begins with a better king

we see at the the very end of of this passage in the closing verses that hezekiah did a lot of other

good things but he also struggled with his own pride he was by all human standards a good king but by the

standards of god he still fell short and if the residents of judah were trusting in hezekiah then they

had missed the point of his kingship hezekiah was a signpost that was pointing forward to a greater king

a king he trusted in and prayed to in his darkest hour hundreds of years after hezekiah god would send

the ultimate king and his son jesus christ to deliver his people from their our greatest enemy

the enemy that dwells in each and every one of us our sin and with our salvation christ promises us

that new and better kingdom the kingdom that we've longed for if you've tried if you're tired of

longing for a better kingdom then christ invites you today to enter into his kingdom and he makes a

great promise about this kingdom and at the very end of the bible in the book of revelation chapter 21

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

he says this uh this is the the vision of of john the apostle i heard a loud voice from the throne saying

behold the dwelling place of god is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people

and god himself will be with will be with them as their god he will wipe away every tear from their

eyes and death shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former

things have passed away and he who was seated on the throne said behold i am making all things new

and he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true what kingdom are you living in

what kingdom do you desire the promise of the gospel is the promise of a new and greater kingdom a

kingdom that that fills uh and heals and meets the deepest longings of our hearts if you're here this

this afternoon and and you want to enter this kingdom then trust in christ jesus the king he offers you

hope he offers you uh the the the promise of forgiveness of sins the cleansing of sin and to meet your deepest

longings please pray