2 Kings 18 (Part 2) Bible Study (Sennacherib Attacks Judah) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

I'm eager to come to this chapter with you in Second

Kings, so if you have a copy of God's Word in your hands, please

meet me in Second Kings chapter 18.

2 Kings 18 · chapter mention

Apart from David and Solomon, Hezekiah receives more

attention, more recognition than any other king in Judas history.

Really, all the kings in Israel's history and students of

the Old Testament will recall that there is more than just

three extensive chapters dedicated to Hezekiah's

administration. We also have things about him in

Second Chronicles and even in the prophetic book of Isaiah,

which means at least one thing. It is so obvious that the Holy

Spirit of God longs for us to learn much from this one man's

story. That is why we should be

excited. Because three weeks ago we only

began to uncover the wisdom and the inspiration attached to

Hezekiah's leadership and his walk with the living God.

And thankfully, the Lord has given us another opportunity

tonight to continue with this account.

And I must say, I am excited. I don't know how many times I'm

going to say it, but I'm so excited.

Not just because we were united, but because we're going to learn

a lot about spiritual warfare. If you endure this study until

near the end, you will see what I mean.

We're actually going to discover several insights of how Satan

conquers people's minds. There's much to learn even

before that. And in case we forgot, we only

touched on the 1st 12 verses of Hezekiah's achievements.

And this evening, if the Lord wills, we're going to complete

this chapter together. So we're going to read now

beginning at verse 13. Actually, before we read, I

think it would be good for us to refresh our memories, at least

to recall the main take away from our last study in this

book. The one thing that we were

impressed with concerning Hezekiah is that he was

exceptional in his obedience to the Lord, especially when you

compare him with his predecessors.

We learn earlier in Second Kings 18 that he spearheaded a

wonderful revival, A reformation to Judah in confronting issues,

compromising issues that were widely neglected by former

kings, even good kings. And so we were refreshed by this

man's wholehearted devotion to the Lord.

That is what we left with in our last study.

Now we pick up where we left off.

And this is important to keep in mind as we crack open this study

beginning in verse 13. Now we're going to read, let's

read verse 13 down to verse 16. In the 14th year of King

Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria, came up against all the

fortified cities of Judah and took them.

And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at

Lachish, saying, I have done wrong, withdraw from me.

Whatever you impose on me I will bear.

And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah, 300

talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.

And Hezekiah gave them all the silver that was found in the

House of the Lord and in the treasuries of the King's house.

At that time. Hezekiah stripped the gold from

the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorpost that

Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and he gave it to the

king of Assyria. We have seen in our study of the

Old Testament many invasions, many threats from foreign

enemies, Have we not? Concerning the people of God?

Absolutely. But the common trend in

Scripture is that these rage and these sieges followed prolonged

disobedience on the part of God's covenant people.

That's the trend. That's what makes this

particular passage so striking to us because as we just heard,

Hezekiah stood out for his bright and strong allegiance to

the true God. He was one of the few that held

fast to the Lord. And so the question that should

come to our minds is how can it be that Assyria encroaches upon

Judah and actually gains partial victory?

How is this possible? And in case there might be any

suspect that there is some hidden rebellion or compromise

in Hezekiah, there is a neighboring account that affirms

his fidelity to the Lord. This is going to be worth it.

You need to turn to the the parallel account in Second

Chronicles 32, just one verse. I'll wait for you.

Second Chronicles 32, verse one. Notice how the chronicler

depicts the same event by the Spirit.

He says in verse one, After these things and these acts of

faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria, came and invaded

Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to

win them for himself. Read slowly.

Notice that Sennacherib did not a camp against the cities of

Judah after acts of faithlessness, but after

Hezekiah's faithfulness. I thought faithfulness led to

prosperity, not problems, to blessings, not burdens, to a

smooth path forward, not surprise attacks.

That's what many Christians believe.

It's not that simple. Understand this, the blessings

of God are often packaged in ways that we would not expect.

And that is true here. And you might be wondering,

well, what kind of advantage is there to a vicious superpower of

a nation harassing the people of God?

This is the best answer I can give you.

Pay attention to this, that as much as Hezekiah did for the

glory of God, there was still so much that God wanted to do and

needed to do in Hezekiah, and it would require this big test in

order to achieve it. I'm reminded of the words of

Jesus in John 15, Two, when he speaks about every branch in him

that does not bear fruit is taken away, whereas every branch

that does bear fruit he prunes so that it can bear more fruit.

Pruning is painful. There is a cutting process.

There is a removing, there is a stripping.

It is uncomfortable. And I believe that is what's

happening here with Hezekiah. Faithful, righteous Hezekiah is

being pruned. And this is something that you

and I have to understand, especially when it comes to

interpreting the trials in our lives.

If you're not careful, you can be quick to see things that are

uncomfortable or painful as expressions of divine

displeasure or punishments. Always keep in mind that as you

are walking obediently, as you are faithfully serving the Lord

Jesus Christ, your Lord your Savior is always ready to prune

you always, as you're bearing fruit.

So pain isn't always our portion because we veer off or because

we're being disciplined for unrepentant sin.

Now, even while you are flourishing in your faith, God

might allow some pain always with a redemptive goal in mind.

And that is precisely what is before us today.

Because as much again as Hezekiah obeyed the Lord in

remarkable fashion, there was still things that needed to be

done in him. What what can be done in

Hezekiah? We heard in our last study a few

weeks ago that he, he trusted in the Lord.

He clung to the Lord, he he feared the Lord.

And if you look back at verse 5 again, I just mentioned that

yes, he did trust the Lord, but based on what we just read, it

wasn't a complete trust. That's what I think the Lord is

after here. I believe what the Lord is doing

in Hezekiah is trying to strengthen his faith in a

particular area, what area facing his enemies, facing his

enemies. And so he allows an enemy to

come to his front doorstep. And based on what we just read,

Hezekiah initially failed the test.

Didn't we see that he failed the test since his immediate

reaction was driven by fear and human wisdom?

Instead of crying out to the Lord, instead of coming before

the presence of God, he attempts to appease Assyria and he takes

the glory, some of the glories of the temple and he places it

at the feet of this Pagan king. That is not what David did when

he was threatened by his enemies.

And this man who supposedly mirrored David's faith in many

ways had a lapse of faith right here.

So I believe God exposed something and Hezekiah

particular weakness. And so he tries to make a deal

with the enemy. We read it that he says, OK,

look, I'm sorry that I withdrew from you because we read that

earlier in second Kings 18 that he sees I'm I'm no longer going

to be a vassal nation. I'm going to separate myself

from Assyria. We're called to independence.

We're called to be governed by God.

And then once a threat comes, he goes, oh, I changed my mind.

I'm sorry I stepped on your toes here.

What's the price tag? What do you want from me?

And a demand is made. He coughs it up, and what we're

going to see right here is that the enemy is never satisfied

with just some of who you are. He doesn't just want some of

what you have. He wants everything.

In the same way God wants everything, Satan wants

everything, even if he has to accomplish it step by step.

And that's what we're going to see here.

Can I mention something to you? This is just another testimony,

the validation of the accuracy and the historicity of our

Bibles. If you were to go to the British

Museum today, you would discover a large carving, a narration of

Senecreb and his achievements in this very chapter.

It's huge and it's remarkably detailed.

It's fascinating because what you'll find there again is

exactly what the Bible testifies in this place.

The campaign that we discover here is echoed in history.

It's confirmed, and this piece is massive.

It's about 12 meters wide, 5 meters long, and it was

discovered around or over 2000 years from its original

compilation. This was a wall relief that

Seneca ordered to be made in order to display his success.

And so it was in his palace, and obviously his Kingdom fell.

He passed on and history has preserved this record to our

encouragement, I believe. And the reason why historians

know that what's on those wall reliefs, and it's known as the

Lahish wall reliefs, is because there's this small Acadian

inscription above the chiseled Senekreb.

And here's what it reads. This is fascinating.

Again, Senekreb, king of the world, king of Assyria, sits on

a throne, and the spoils of Lahish are before him.

Lehish, as we just read, is the second most important and

prominent city in the Kingdom of Judah, not many miles far from

Jerusalem. And if you were to look this up,

you will find something of the Bible preserved for all the

world to see, to testify that this book is indeed true.

We're studying history here. We're not starting just, we're

not starting just moral lessons. This is true and it's before us.

So let's read on. What happens?

Verse 17, Are you with me? Verse 17?

And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the rap series, and the

rap shake with a great army from Lakish to King Hezekiah at

Jerusalem. And they went up and came to

Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and

stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the

highway to the washers field. And when they called for the

king, there came out to them a like him, the son of Hilkaya,

who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah

the son of Asaph the recorder. So Seneca the king of Assyria

smelled weakness. Hezekiah was willing to

surrender his treasure. And he goes, I'm after the whole

thing. And so he sends 3 delegates.

Now listen, these are not names what we just read in verse 17.

They're more likely titles. These are different roles.

These are different individuals who fulfilled different parts of

the Kingdom. And they approach, right?

And we know that the Rapshech, as we're going to read the rest

of the chapter, is the main spokesman.

And in response to this, Hezekiah sends his own

representative, three of them, to deal with this confrontation.

Now, when you read these names, you think, OK, OK, let me just

move on. Let me find something more

exciting. But you have to understand that

these names are not insignificant, especially the

names of the ones that we read of in verse 18, because they

reappear in our Bibles. Fact, two of the three names in

verse 18 show up in one of Isaiah's prophecies.

Before we turn there, let's read it again.

You need to highlight in your mind a couple of details that

will enrich your understanding of this passage.

Look back at verse 18 of Second Kings 18.

And when they called for the king, there came out to them a

like him, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household.

Highlight that and Shebna the secretary, highlight that and

Joah the son of Asaph the recorder.

Did you highlight it in your mind?

Good. Now go to Isaiah chapter 22

Isaiah 22:15

verse 15 and see this wonderful connection.

In Isaiah 22, the Lord rebukes the complacency and the

misplaced trust of His people in their military strength.

But just over halfway through the prophecy, the Spirit of God

shifts His focus and addresses one of the leaders in Jerusalem.

Tell me if this sounds familiar. Are you in Isaiah 22, verse 15

Isaiah 22:15

with me? Let's read it.

We're going to read a few verses.

Pay attention. Give yourself to this.

Thus says the Lord God of hosts, come go to this steward, to

Shebna who is over the household.

Pause. Based on 2nd Kings 18.

Was Shebna over the household? No, he was the secretary here.

We learned that He was over the household, and say to him, verse

16, What have you to do here? And whom have you here that you

have cut out here a tomb for yourself?

You who cut out a tomb on the height and a carve A dwelling

and carve A dwelling for yourself in the rock, behold,

the Lord will hurl you away violently.

O you strongman, He will seize firm hold on you, and whirl you

around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land.

There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious Chariots.

You shame of your master's house, I will thrust you from

your office, and you will be pulled down from your station.

Pause. Apparently the Lord's not very

happy with Shebna. There's something here about the

way this man dealt with his position, utilized his

authority, that made God angry. But it doesn't end there.

Let's continue. Verse 20 In that day I will call

my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah.

Did we read of him in Second Kings 18 Now what's going to

happen with him? Verse 21 And I will clothe him

with your robe, and we'll bind your sash on him, and we'll

commit your authority to his hand, and he shall be a father

to the inhabitants of Jerusalem into the House of Judah.

And I will place on his shoulder the key of the House of David.

He shall open and none shall shut.

He shall shut and none shall open.

So let's put some of this together.

Based on this prophecy, we learned that Shebna was once

over the household. That's a very powerful position

in the Kingdom. But evidently this man Shebna

abused his position. He was so self absorbed and

that's indicated by some of the things that he did.

Notice the language here. He says, you who cut out a tomb

on the height and carve A dwelling for yourself on the

rock. So this man Shebna created

monuments for himself, and more than that, he also purchased and

acquired Chariots. Notice what the Lord says.

He says, I'm going to cast you away and you're going to take

your glorious Chariots with you. It could very well be that this

man even dipped his hand in the treasury in order to purchase

these things and acquire these things.

One thing is for certain, one thing is clear that what we

learned from this prophecy, please pay attention to this, is

that the way someone operates in their position of authority

really matters to God. And when somebody abuses their

authority, especially in God's Kingdom, it brings great

displeasure to Him. This is a good place to pause as

we serve the Lord in different ways and ask ourselves this, Why

do I do what I do for the Lord? Am I motivated for and by self?

If so, take note of this prophecy.

God observes our motives and He sees what we do with the

opportunities that have been given to us.

And especially for leaders, they have a greater accountability to

God because He will see if your service will be for His glory

and to the good of the people, or if you will manipulate it in

order to achieve more for yourself.

Now in contrast to Him, we read that the Lord exalts Eliakim and

that should serve stir us. You know why?

Because Eliakim and God promoting him shows us that the

Lord raises up someone who serves God for God.

Serving God for God and serving in the name of God for the sake

of the good of other people. In fact, did you catch how the

Lord speaks about Shebna in comparison to Eliakim?

Scroll back to verse 15. How does he start this prophecy?

He says. Thus says the Lord God of hosts,

come to this steward. Come to this steward now Scroll

down to verse 20, and when he speaks about like and notice how

there's a different approach in that day, I will call my

servant. So when it comes to shepherd, he

goes, let's deal with this steward, but with a like and he

goes, let me talk to you now about my servant.

More than that. Look what he says at the end of

verse 21, the second part, and he shall be a father to the

inhabitants of Jerusalem into the House of Judah.

Father, true father. A good father is selfless.

He is motivated for the good of his children.

He wants to prosper them, protect them, provide for them.

And what he says about like him is this.

He will be a true leader for my people.

And so again, let's ask ourselves this, am I motivated

in my service to God for God? Am I simply privileged to be

able to be an extension of His love to others, or are their

mixed desires? God takes note of it, and if you

want to be promoted in God's economy, He looks for those who

serve Him for Him. Now there's more.

Would you be shocked if I told you that Eli Kim points to Jesus

Christ? Not because I said so.

You know why Jesus said it? Oh, I love when faces look up.

What are you talking about? Do you remember where Jesus

quotes a part of this prophecy in the New Testament?

Think I'll wait. Very, very good.

The Book of Revelation turned there in chapter 3 who would

have thought that our studying second kings would connect with

our Sunday series in revelation such as the beauty and the

harmony of the Bible. Revelation 37 when Jesus

addresses the church in Philadelphia, notice his

introduction. And to the Angel of the church

in Philadelphia, right? The words of the Holy One, the

true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will

shut, who shuts and no one opens.

That's a direct quotation from Isaiah 22.

Now here's what my question was. How does this man, Eliakam in

his brief appearance in the Bible, foreshadow Jesus?

And I believe there are many answers, many directions we can

take this, but let me leave you with just one thought.

Eliakam means God rises or God raises.

I think that's significant because the love and the care

that alike him showed to God's people pointed to a greater

servant, the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

And God raised up Jesus Christ of Nazareth, not just with the

authority of one Kingdom, but with all authority in heaven and

on earth, not just to serve and to save a particular nation, but

the world. Christ with his maximum

unparalleled authority, demonstrates servitude and

humility. I like him, is just a flash in

the pan of a greater servant, a greater leader, a greater savior

who possesses greater authority. When we come to Revelation 37,

we're going to learn more about this, but for now, let's come

back to our study in Second Kings.

For the rest of the study, it's going to look different.

I hope that's OK with you, because the rest of Second Kings

18 is a monologue. More specifically, it's a

demoralizing speech. The Rap Shaka, the spokesperson,

is going to give a lecture. He is going to say many, many

things to Hezekiah, his leaders, and the citizens of Jerusalem in

order to break down their morale, ultimately break down

their faith. In essence, what we're going to

discover with the rest of this chapter is an exhibition of

psychological warfare. And when I was looking at this

the other day, I thought to myself, why is there so much

dedicated to this man's speech? Why can there have been a, you

know, summary? Instead?

There's around 16 verses of this one man speaking to intimidate

and threaten this people. And before he shoots an arrow,

before he climbs a wall, before he does anything physical, he

goes for the mind. And here I believe is the wisdom

of God concerning our walk with Christ and how this relates.

Because if you really dissect what the rapture has says, you

will discover that it mirrors what Satan often says to God's

children. In fact, I want to look at 7

things. Seven things that the enemy does

in order to build a stronghold in your mind and mind.

For what purpose? To discourage you, to disorient

you, and to eventually conquer you so that you would give up,

surrender, and step outside of the will of God.

I suggest that you take notes because this will equip us and

make us aware of the schemes of the evil 17 things, and they're

not limited to these things, but let's not be overwhelmed

tonight. 7 main observations with the rest of this chapter

that relates to how Satan whispers notions into our minds,

which is the main arena of spiritual warfare.

By the way, where's the main battle between the forces of

evil and the forces of righteousness take place?

Here, here, here, here. This is where it happens.

And we have a wonderful look into how it takes place for many

of us #1 the enemy will make you question God's trustworthiness.

Let's look at verse 19 and the rapture Case said to him, Say to

Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria.

Pause there. Notice that he doesn't call

Hezekiah king Hezekiah, and he boasts in arrogance of the

greatness of the king of Assyria.

Did you see that? Say to Hezekiah, Thus says the

great king, the king of Assyria. And what do you rest this trust

of yours? Do you think that mere words are

strategy and power for war? And whom do you now trust that

you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting now in

Egypt that broken Reed of his staff, which will Pierce the

hand of any man who leans on it, such as Pharaoh king of Egypt,

to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, we trust

in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and altars

Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, You

shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

The essence of this tactic is to undermine the foundation of

Hezekiah's confidence, and this is a primary ambition of Satan's

he he wants you to doubt your trust in God.

And at first, the Rapture kid begins by highlighting the

futility of forming an alliance with Egypt.

But his main point is attacking Hezekiah's trust in God, and

he's going to come back to this thing with Egypt in a moment.

We're going to look at that. But notice how the power of this

persuasion hinges completely on Hezekiah is supposed limited

understanding. Here's what I mean.

Look back at verse 22. Consider the argumentation.

But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God, is it not

he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to

Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship before this altar

in Jerusalem? What is he trying to say here?

In essence, what he wants to show is that Hezekiah was in the

wrong by removing the high places, that in his reform, in

his desire to clean the Kingdom of Judah, he actually displeased

God. So who's misinformed here?

The rapture. He thought that Hezekiah was

actually in the wrong by doing this.

And if Hezekiah was ignorant of what God actually desired, he

might have believed it. Was it wrong for Hezekiah to

remove the high places? No, it was good.

It's actually, it was actually in accordance with God's will.

But notice that if Hezekiah was in the dark about this

particular facet of his faith, he could have gotten himself in

a lot of trouble. And so I want you to see right

away how the enemy capitalizes on our ignorance of the truth.

Please, I say this in love. The less you know the Bible, the

more vulnerable you are to Satan's lies.

The less you know, the more susceptible you are of not just

being confronted with deception, but digesting it, poisoning you.

And so Hezekiah was able to dismiss this because he

understood wholeheartedly that God asked this of me.

God put this in his word. But what the enemy is doing here

is essentially misrepresenting the character of God.

You did something that God did not like, and in fact, it was

something that the Lord totally wanted.

There's something else here though, that we also find that

the enemy loves to discourage us about our own obedience.

Right? Hezekiah gave his heart totally

to the Lord. He did what most kings would not

do. They would not even entertain

removing the high places. And yet this man did just that.

And the enemy loves to loves to point out how our obedience is

sometimes misplaced or maybe not enough or ineffective.

And so he loves to make us second guess what we did for the

Lord. Oh, you pray.

But come on, did you read about this revivalist, How much he

prays? Look at you.

What are you doing? Oh, you serve in the church.

Nobody cares. Nobody would even notice if you

left. Oh, you preach.

You preach week after week after week after week.

Nothing's happening, though. When people fall asleep, people

are distracted. People are familiar.

You've lost your edge. Satan loves to whisper and to

discourage us about what we do for God, and we see more.

As much as he wants us to question the value and whether

or not what we do brings the light to God's heart #2 He will

intimidate you by highlighting your weaknesses.

He will intimidate you by highlighting your weaknesses.

Look at verse 23. Now come now, make a wager with

my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you 2000 horses, if

you were able on your part to set riders on them.

How then can you repulse a single captain among the least

of my master servants when you trust in Egypt for Chariots and

for horsemen? So as you and I wait for the

Lord for anything, Satan loves to highlight how impossible it

seems. And the one way he does is by

reminding us of what we're not and what we lack.

Look at these taunts once again. Hey, you want to go to war?

You think you actually have a chance?

I'll do you a favor. I'll give you 2000 horses.

Oh, but I don't even think you have enough trained men to ride

them. Actually, now that I think about

it, I don't think you can even put up a challenge against one

of my weakest captains of the lowest of the ranks in my army.

So what is he doing here? He is trying to under score and

try to point out where Hezekiah is deficient, where he is weak

and the enemy does does this with many of God's servants.

You're not smart enough, you're not attractive enough.

You don't have the personality or he might highlight your lack

of resources. You're not able to do anything.

A great effectiveness, a great reach.

You don't have enough. Where's your spiritual support?

Who? Who are the people with you that

are backing your vision, your ministry, who appreciate you,

who partner with you? Where are they?

You're insignificant. You always come short.

You do nothing of worth for God's Kingdom.

You're no threat to the Kingdom of darkness.

Speaking of weakness, notice how He brings up Egypt again.

Now, we can't pinpoint the extent of Hezekiah's willingness

to partner with Egypt. Was it just a thought?

Was there actually talks of it? Either way, it was wrong for

Hezekiah to even consider partnering with Egypt.

We've seen this throughout our study of the Old Testament.

God always wanted to be the primary and exclusive help to

His people, and it was a constant temptation for the

Israelites to reach down to Egypt and ask for some aid.

It could be the Hezekiah actually opened up the

possibility and how humiliating would it have been for him to

hear from another enemy that he placed his trust and something

or someone apart from God. If we go with that Hezekiah

actually did this, then this was another mistake on his part.

This is where he fell short in his faith.

But here's what we have to understand in the context of the

enemy approaching Hezekiah with this, it teaches us that Satan

loves to bring to your attention your past failures.

He enjoys it to rub it in your face as a constant reminder, not

just for you to remember it, but but to bring it to your

attention and showing how it affects how God will relate to

you. You failed.

You're stained. This is a blemish on your

reputation forever. God doesn't want to deal with

you. God will never forget what

you've done, what you said. And so don't expect him to come.

Don't expect him to intervene. Don't expect him to show you the

same strength of love. You blew it.

It's over. So he keeps bringing up Egypt,

Egypt, Egypt. And the way I see it is he

always, the enemy, loves to rub in your face something that

you've done wrong. And that weakens us, that

paralyzes us, that discourages us from trusting God and having

the boldness to serve God. So many people are tormented by

their past and we see it being played here.

Let me say one more thing. The enemy enjoys coming to us

and not just highlighting our weaknesses, but when we are

weak, we're going to do some very basic math.

Now is that OK? Go back to Second Kings 18 verse

2 Kings 18:2

2. We read about Hezekiah.

He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned

29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abby, the

daughter of Zechariah. So how long did he reign?

For? A total of 29 years, right?

When did Assyria invade Judah? Scroll down to verse 13 again.

This is what we opened up our study with.

In the 14th year of King Hezekiah, Seneca, king of

Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and

took them. Now, I believe most of us in

here are familiar enough with Hezekiah's story to remember

that at some point in his account, we learned that he

became deathly ill. Remember this, right?

And in great desperation, he turns.

He faces the wall while he's laying in bed.

He cries out to God. God graciously responds to his

plea and grants him what? 15 years more of life?

15 years more of life. So are we making the connection

here? So we know thou that if the

total of years of his reign was 29 years and the 14th years when

Syria invaded and when he was sick God promised him 15 more

years, then what year was Hezekiah deathly sick?

What year? The 14th year that Hezekiah was

terminally ill, the same time Assyria came to invade him.

And in case you doubt that conclusion, go to chapter 22nd

Kings. This is the chapter that we will

look at together in a few weeks that unveils this testimony of

his healing. But look at what he is told in

Second Kings 20, verse 6. And I will add 15 years to your

2 Kings 20:6

life. I will deliver you and the city

out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend the

city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.

So while this man is in bed, not knowing if he's going to live

another day, God also promises that he's going to see victory

over the Assyrians who are surrounding Jerusalem.

Was Hezekiah in the early stages of his sickness?

Here in Second Kings 18, perhaps we don't know what phase, but I

wouldn't be surprised that if this man was dealing with his

sickness when Assyria came to threaten him.

Because the enemy is vicious, he is merciless.

He will bring his greatest force when you are at your lowest,

even if your weakness is physical, he will take advantage

of that to assault your mind, to discourage your spirit, to beat

you up. So this man is dealing with a

lot and it makes us aware of how the enemy works.

We only dealt with two. We still have 5 more.

I hope you're OK with that. Let's come back to Second Kings

2 Kings 18:25

18, verse 25. Moreover, is it without the Lord

that I have come up against this place to destroy it?

The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy

it. Here's point #3 the enemy will

make it seem that God is the one turning against you.

And this tactic is much more common in the Christian

experience than most realize. Notice that he's not just

persuading Hezekiah that his success in overtaking these

fortified cities was permitted by the Lord.

He goes further and says, I've been commissioned by the Lord.

God told me to do this. Are you going to fight against

God? Are you going to resist the

Lord? Well, you know, I just surrender

and realize that this is a court in accordance to His sovereign

will. And in like manner, the lesson

here is that Satan loves to confuse us by making it seem

that his ways are God's ways. More specifically, this is how

it's going to resonate now that his voice is God's voice.

I can't tell you the amount of people that I've talked with who

have allowed Satan's condemnation to be understood as

God's conviction. What's the difference between

the two, by the way? Because both remind you of your

sin. Both touch on some area in your

life that is not in accordance with God's will.

But one offers hope in the other doesn't.

One offers reconciliation, the other doesn't.

One offers relief in the other doesn't.

So if there's any guilt that I feel, let me just use this for

an example. If there's any guilt I feel of a

particular sin in my life, and though I have confessed and

though I've repented of it, I am still feeling that guilt, You

can be sure that that's not God pressing that on your chest.

That's not the Holy One keeping you awake at night.

And what we love, what Satan loves to do here by way of

demonstration, Demonstration. An example, an illustration is

that he loves to make his voice seem like it's gods.

For you to be more ready to accept it and to deal with it

and to live with it, burdened and bothered for the rest of

your pilgrimage on earth, suffocating you, stealing your

song, disorienting you and how you understand His pleasure and

His delight. Now you're serving God to try to

win His approval instead of from the place of approval #4 He will

instill fear in you with a range of threats.

Look at verse 26. Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah

and Shebna and Joah, said to the rapture, K, please speak to your

servants in Aramaic, for we understand it.

Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the

hearing of the people who are on the wall.

So now they interrupt this man's monologue.

The leaders there who were sent out by Hezekiah stop him.

They've had enough. They realize that what he is

saying is detrimental to the faith of the people.

And so they say, listen, can you do us a favor?

Were were those who deal with international conversations and

trade and politics? We know how to speak Aramaic.

Can you speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrews so that these

people don't have to endure this?

Can you have some grace? Or how wrong they were to think

that they can get some mercy from the enemy.

And so they make that request and it's quickly shut down by

what we read in verse 27. But the Rapture has said to

them, has my Master sent me to speak these words to your master

and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall who are

doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own

urine? Is he being vulgar here?

I think it's more than that. He's actually telling them

what's going to take place if they don't surrender.

Because if you are under a siege, you tend to do desperate

things in order to survive. In many cases, when a city is

surrounded for such a long time, people will even eat their own

filth. We've even seen how the people

got even come down to the point of eating their own children.

So this is not so extreme. And so he says this is what is

going to happen. I'm actually here to speak to

all of them. In fact.

He raises his voice. He speaks in their presence in

verse 28. Then the rapture gets stood and

called out in a loud voice. Oh, you don't want me to talk to

them? Let me, let me.

Let me do you a favor, OK? Hey, I'm here for you all.

Merciless, vicious, cruel. Let me remind you what this

point is. Number 4.

The enemy loves to instill fear in us with a range of threats in

an effort to keep us from honoring God and staying on the

path of faithfulness. Satan will often direct his

intimidation toward what we care about the most.

I remember how hearing the testimony of a minister who

planted a church in a very difficult area and it was

thriving. It was growing.

So many testimonies of people being delivered from the most

incredible things. And at some point, as this

ministry was climbing in success, this man's child, one

of their children went off into the world and lived in deep grow

sin. And there were so many fears and

frustrations that developed because of that, to the point

where this minister's wife began to try to persuade the husband,

let's just quit the ministry. Why continue in this?

And she was primarily afraid of of her other children following

in the same direction that Satan would grab a hold of them.

And so in her rationale, she thought the best way to do this

is just to remove ourselves from the front lines and just move on

and protect our family. And this is what this man was

dealing with. And even his own spouse was

already captivated by a lie. You keep serving God and watch

what I'm going to do to your family.

Watch what I'm going to do to your spouse.

Watch what I'm going to do to your kids.

I'll destroy them. I'll destroy you.

And Satan loves to threaten us by bringing to mind what we,

what we love, what we cherish, the people that we feel so

strongly about. You want to trust God.

You'll never have enough money to support your family.

Oh, oh, you want to, You want to serve the Lord?

Watch how your spouse will be deprived of a meaningful

marriage. Watch.

Oh, you really want to honor God?

You, you, you. You don't just want to make

money. You actually want to be in the

church and do things for the Kingdom of God.

You know your health is going to decline, right?

And so on and so on and so on. He's so clever.

He is so insightful that he will bring to your mind things that

you care about the most and threaten you in that area.

That's what he does here. The, the leaders, these are good

leaders. They were worried about the

people. And they said, just just deal

with us. Said no, no, no, I'm after them.

Oh, you, you care about them. Watch #5 Let's read verse 28

down to verse 30. Then the rapture has stood and

called out on a loud voice in the language of Judah.

Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

Thus says the king, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he

will not be able to deliver you out of my hand.

Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The

Lord will surely deliver us, and the city will not be given into

the hand of the king of Assyria. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for

thus says the king of Assyria, make your peace with me and come

out to me. Then each one of you will eat

his own vine, and each one his own fig tree, and each one of

you will drink the water of his own cistern #5 #5 #5 The enemy

will try to divide God's people with false assumptions and

accusations. Now this is warfare.

We've been dealing with personal warfare, but we are now looking

at an insight of warfare on a corporate level.

And this is still just as important to understand because

God has called us to live this faith with the body of Christ.

We're not called to do this in isolation.

In fact, to be in isolation is a tactic of Satan himself.

We're called to do this as a unit, as a family, as an army.

So what is he doing here? Notice three times in a row he

says what? Do not let Hezekiah in rapid

fire succession. Do not let Hezekiah, do not let

Hezekiah. Do not let Hezekiah convince

you, lead you, promise you, comfort you.

What is he doing here? He's trying to divide the people

from their leadership division. Division is one of Satan's

favorite weapons, but it doesn't just happen like that.

I argue that this teaches us at least one way comes about before

division even begins. Satan fosters tension.

Tension and the way tension emerges is sowing doubt about

one another without any substantial evidence.

The same thing happened with the Corinthians and the Apostle Paul

when these false teachers were trying to pull the Corinthian

church away from the leadership of Paul.

And by doing so, they did so rather by mocking his

credentials, belittling him, but more viciously putting into

question his motives for ministry.

And one of the things that they tried to tell the Corinthians

was, you know, Paul, he's actually doing all this for

money. He actually just wants to make a

buck off of you. Paul had to defend himself in

the 1st letter to the Corinthians in that specific

regard. And so the enemy loves to pin US

against one another. And one of the ways he does that

is especially when there's a lack of communication and loving

confrontation. So and so.

See the way they looked at you, Oh so and so they didn't answer

your message. They don't really care about

you. Oh, Pastor so and so.

Oh, yeah, yeah. That he's really all about this.

Oh, oh, the people that you serve, they, they don't really

want true faith. They don't really want the word

of God. They're, they're they're

actually in your church For these reasons.

And so he wants to do exactly what we see here, make enemies

from within, divide and conquer. And in this way he could weaken

them. If he can get the people to not

listen to Hezekiah, then they would try to persuade him to

surrender. Come on, let's just give up.

Do you know what the Assyrians do to their victims?

He is so clever and unfortunately, he has succeeded.

And many churches just with this lie, just by using slander and

gossip and backbiting and trying to assess people's motives.

And here's a person who might be going through hell at home.

And the way you're interpreting is that person's rude.

Be discerning church. Be careful, church.

Be loving church. Love hopes all things love,

believes all things. Love is not quick to make

conclusions about people's characters.

Love investigates and is patient.

This is why knowing God's word is important.

We're we're looking at Satan's playbook.

We're not done yet. Number six, let's read verse 31

again down to verse 32. Do not listen to Hezekiah for

thus says the king of Assyria, make your peace with me and come

out to me. Then each one of you will eat of

his own vine, and each one of you will eat of his own fig

tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own

cistern. Until I come and take you away

to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land

of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that

you may live and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah

when he misleads you by saying, the Lord will deliver us number

six. If the enemy can't get you to

surrender with fear, he will persuade you with exaggerated

and deceptive promises. There's two phases to this

appeal, and it's an attractive one.

Did you hear the catalog? Did you hear of the way of life

that was made possible for these citizens of Jerusalem?

Notice in verse 31 he says, come out to me.

That's the first step. Come out to me and make your

peace. And then the verse 32 until I

come and take you away to a land like your own land.

So just just start with one step, just one compromise.

Entertain this one thing that you know is wrong.

And I'm going to give you something if you do that.

And more than that, I'm going to give you so much, so much more.

It only gets better and better the more you believe me, the

more you step away from God's will, God's word, you indulge

the flesh. You believe the things that God

says don't believe. I'm going to make this better

and better for you. And cloaked in this, He says,

I'm going to take you away from your land.

But it's sandwiched between all these promises and all these

rewards and all these blessings. Here's what I discovered when I

looked at especially verse 31, the first step, he brings up two

specific things that are echoed and other places in the Bible.

Here's the difference that God promised them.

Here's an example. In Micah there's a prophecy of

what's going to take place when Messiah comes to take over the

throne of David successfully and eternally.

And here's how he describes this reign.

It's what we know to be the millennial reign.

And Micah 4, three to four. He, being the Messiah, shall

judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong

nations far away. And they shall beat their swords

and the plowshares and their Spears into pruning hooks.

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation either.

Shall they learn war anymore? Verse four, Look at this.

But they shall sit, every man under his vine and under his fig

tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the

Lord of hosts has spoken. So this picture really describes

a time of unusual peace and prosperity.

You actually find a similar description when Solomon was

ruling and reigning in Israel. And this prophecy says the one

greater than David, the one greater than any other king, is

going to bring an unusual peace and prosperity again that will

outshine any other era. What were the two things?

They will each have their own vine and sit under their own fig

tree. Look again at verse 31 of Second

Kings 18. What did the enemy promise?

He said, OK, come to me then each one of you will eat of his

own vine and each one of his own fig tree.

But he doesn't stop there. And each one of you will drink

the water of his own cistern. What is he saying here?

Oh, God will give you this. I'll give you more.

Oh, your God is all about joy and peace.

Yeah, I'll give you real ecstasy.

I'll give you real purpose. I'll give you a real sense of

desire and delight. And that's what people are

believing about temptation this very hour.

They believe that if they step away from the Lord that they're

going to gain, that whatever they are looking for is going to

be far greater than what God offers.

This is how the enemy lies. Don't wait for marriage.

Just let yourself loose. You're, you're an animal.

You have instincts. Just have as many partners as

you want. Fulfill your fantasies.

And we're all familiar about the different temptations that he

brings to us. Lastly, you've been so patient.

Verse 33 down to verse 35, the rapture case says, Has any of

the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the

hand of the king of Assyria? Where the gods of Hameth and

Arpad, where the gods of Sephar, Vayim, Hina, and IVA, have they

delivered Samaria out of my hand?

Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands

out of my hand? That the Lord should deliver

Jerusalem out of my hand #7 Finally, the enemy will

frequently return to his favorite lie, make you doubt,

and question the trustworthiness of God again and again.

This time it looks a little different.

First, he dares to put the God, the true God, the Lord, on the

same level as other deities. This is where he really crossed

the line. He's going to get himself in a

lot of trouble for doing this, but that's what Satan is telling

many people today. But there's something more

strategic than that, because these Israelites could have

easily just that. Those are fake gods.

They're false deities. They have no power.

They can't compare to the true God.

But this spokesman brings it closer to home.

What does he say? Look again at verse 34.

The last question, have they delivered Samaria out of my

hand? Samario is the neighbor up North

Samaria at one point. Was attached to the Kingdom of

Judah. They were once one nation with

the same God. And though yes, they did give

themselves over to idolatry and false gods, If this people were

so overwhelmed by these lies, if they were not informed, if they

were not aware, they could have began to rationalize in the

following way. Well, yes, Samaria, essentially

their histories in the truth. Their history is in the covenant

keeping God. Why?

Why didn't the Lord deliver them from Assyria?

How did God allow them to be taken captive and removed from

the land? If it happened with the northern

Kingdom of Israel? What makes us think that it

can't happen to us? I'm going to tell you how slimy

Satan is that he will even at times.

Look at you. Look at me, turn your attention

to others who supposedly bear the name of Christ, who might

even genuinely bear the name of Christ, and say if God couldn't

do it for them, what makes you think he'll do it for you?

Look at so and so in the church. Look what happened to their

children. What makes you think it won't

happen to yours? Look at so, so struggling with

this disease and this sickness and here you are believing God

to do something in your body. Did he do it for them?

What makes you think that God's going to answer your prayer?

If God was a successful for that church, what makes you think

he'll make your church prosperous spiritually?

He loves to compare. He he loves to do these things.

So by bringing up Samaria, I think he wanted to really make

it seem as though we're hopeless and again, to doubt the

trustworthiness of God. How does this story end?

Let's look at the last two verses, verse 36.

But the people were silent and answered him.

Not a word for the King's command was do not answer him.

Then Ally came, the son of Helkaya, who was over the

household and Shovement, the secretary, and Joe, the son of

ASAP the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn

and told him the words of the rap shaky.

If you have the King James, the new King James, you know how

verse 36 would read. But the people held their peace

either way. This is what it means that not

one soul inside those walls made any decision based on what they

were being told by the enemy. They stood firm, they were

careful. They were slow.

Did it impact them? Clearly they ripped their

clothes. But this is just the beginning

of how Hezekiah and his people will respond to these threats

and how they will overcome. You have to come next week to

see it though. Let's pray,

Lord, if there is even one of these lies that resonate with

any of us in this place, we pray that today it would lose its

clutch, it would lose its power. We pray today for freedom, that

we would be totally liberated from any lie, any deception, any

trick of the evil 1 And Lord, help us be reminded, help us be

able to call to our own attention these truths when we

are engaged with warfare, when we are confronted with with

things that we know are not from you.

So Lord, we give you glory and thanks for how you have equipped

us tonight, and we pray that we would never forget it.

We pray that these things would be etched on our hearts for the

rest of our warfare with the Evil 1.

And Lord, tonight as your church, we stand in victory and

we choose to rejoice in Thanksgiving for how You have

spoken to our hearts. Lord, you are good, and we do

trust in You. We've sang so much of it before

the study, and Lord, we want to say it in prayer.

We trust in You, we trust in your forgiveness, we trust in

Your provision, we trust in Your promises, We trust in everything

that Your word has to say, and we pray that we would never

lapse in our faith. We want to be always pleasing to

You in every season, trusting You in every sphere of our

lives. And we believe Lord, that you've

spoken to us for this goal, for this end in mind, that we would

be complete in our reliance on you.

In Jesus name we pray these things, Amen and Amen and Amen.

Let's stand and worship the Lord and give him glory.