Isaiah 37:21

The Bible says in Isaiah 37:21-27, “Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria: This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.”

In these verses the Lord God explains why He answered Hezekiah’s prayer and punished “Sennacherib king of Assyria.” The first reason given is that Sennacherib hated the people of God, and in so doing he also hated God. The Lord said to Sennacherib in Isaiah 37:23, “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.” God loves His people. Those who hate God’s people have positioned themselves in opposition to the will of God and to the heart of Almighty God. Jesus said in John 16:27, “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” Christians are commanded to love other Christians. The Bible says in First John 2:10-11, “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” It is a very serious matter when someone does not love the people of God. The real reason that someone does not love the people of God is that they do not love God. And the real reason that some people actually hate the people of God is because they actually hate God Himself. That is why the judgment of God will come against these people who have such hatred. God is love. He will punish the haters. The Bible speaks of this very situation in Revelation chapter 6 and it says in Revelation 6:9-17, “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Another reason that God punished “Sennacherib king of Assyria.” Is because Sennacherib did not give credit to God for the benefits that had been bestowed upon Sennacherib. There may be nothing worse than being ungrateful. If you have accomplished something, it is only by the help of others that you have been able to do so. Of course, the one who has given you the most help is God. God gave to you your abilities, and He also gave you the energy and the health and the opportunities to fulfill your abilities. If you are not thankful to God, then you have the worst of all ingratitude. The Bible says in Psalm 100:3, “Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Sennacherib gave himself credit for all that he accomplished. Only arrogant and ungodly people do that. Notice that Sennacherib said in Isaiah 37:24, “By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof.” He used the first person singular over and over. Anyone who does that is being ungrateful to God.

The Bible says in Isaiah 37:28-32, “But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest. And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.” God always makes the right decision, and if He decides to punish or to judge, we know it was the right thing to do.

The Lord said in Isaiah 37:28, “I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in.” God knew everything about Sennacherib, and He knows everything about each of us and about those around us. God said, “I know thy abode.” He knows what we are doing in the privacy of our homes, and He knows what we are doing when we leave them. Realizing the truth of God’s continued presence wherever we are, should help us to have better behavior. God sees, God hears, God knows. Be careful. He is watching, and He is the Judge of the whole earth. There are some people who need to think more carefully about the presence of Christ with them even in the secret places of their own abode. Some people need to think about this truth and repent and change their ways. Others need to think about this truth that Christ is always with them everywhere they go and rejoice because they are never alone.

The devil is a very powerful angel, albeit of the fallen variety, and he has much hatred against those who believe in Jesus. Also, most people of the world, including those in power, do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, and any of them can easily become a tool of the devil to strike out against believers with hatred and persecution. But God will preserve His people. God will do whatever it takes to preserve those whom He loves. That is why He speaks with such determination about a “remnant” in Isaiah 37:31-32. He says, “And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.” We may be few in number compared to those of the world, but we have the power of Almighty God to protect us. We will be taken care of because “the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.” The word that is translated “zeal” tells us that the Lord is very passionate about the “remnant.” He loves the remnant and He will care for us. He will put all His passion and ardor into doing so. It is interesting that the word that is translated “zeal” is also often translated as “jealousy” in the Old Testament. For example, it says in Psalms 79:5, “How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?” God loves the whole world, but He has a special love reserved for His believers in Jesus Christ. Those who oppose the disciples of Christ, will have to deal with “the zeal of the Lord of hosts.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 37:33-38, “Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.” An army of tens of thousands of Assyrians had surrounded the city of Jerusalem, but God said that not one arrow would be shot. This shows us that the Lord is involved in the details, and it shows us that nothing happens on this earth unless God allows it to happen. No good thing happens unless God allows it to happen, and no bad thing happens unless He allows it to happen either. That is because God is omnipotent and omnipresent. He is in control. Knowing this should help us live by faith, and if we are going to live by faith, then we must accept everything that happens around us by faith. We must give thanks to the Lord Jesus for everything that He allows to happen, whether we think it to be good or not. That is where Romans 8:28 comes in. It says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God and to those that are the called according to His purpose.”

Everything that happens God permits to happen, and He is so powerful that He is able even to take the bad things and make them have a good outcome. Often we do not see the good outcome, but we will some day; and maybe that day will be the judgment day when we all stand before Jesus Christ and He tells us the reasons for all things. There are also things that do not happen because God is there and does not permit them to happen. There are many bad things that would have happened, but God prevents them from happening, just like the arrows that were never shot by the Assyrians at Jerusalem because God would not let them shoot those arrows. That is probably the reason that the antichrist has not yet come into power. The Bible says in First John 2:18, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” Why have none of these “many antichrists” taken over and become “the” antichrist? The reason is that God has not allowed it to happen. It will happen, but not until Jesus lets it happen. That is exactly what is being said in Second Thessalonians 2:7, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”

It is wonderful to be a Christian through faith in Jesus Christ. He loves His children, and He is in control in this world. He will guide His children, and He will only allow that which is best for them for His glory. Amen.

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