Isaiah 38:1

Isaiah 38:1

The Bible says in Isaiah 38:1-5, “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” These verses definitely show the power of prayer. Jesus raised up people from the dead, but He also keeps people from dying when otherwise they would have died. He is the Giver of life. He gives life, and He takes it when He will. That is another truth that this passage shows: the great privilege that life is. Life is a blessing, life is an opportunity, and life is a gift from God. Life should be lived to its fullest because it is so short, and no one knows when the gift will be taken away. Enjoy the gift while you have it, and make the best of it while you can. Of course, the best use of life is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and go the way that He has for you in life.

The Bible says in Isaiah 38:6-8, “And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.” The degrees mentioned here are probably the measurements on a sun-dial. For this to happen the earth would have had to reverse its rotation for a number of minutes or hours, or some other spectacular solar event that we cannot understand. All that we know is that it really did happen. This was a tremendous miracle for the Lord to have performed. It shows how much the Lord wanted to comfort King Hezekiah, and let him know that his prayer would be answered. Of course, this incident is recorded in God’s Word so that all believers can be reminded that God does answer prayer. The prayer of one person can change the world because God listens to His believers and God takes action based upon what the believers ask Him to do. God keeps His Word. We can be sure of that. That is why it says in Isaiah 38:7, “the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 38:9-15, “The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.” One of the things that we see in these verses is that King Hezekiah was awakened to the truth of his own mortality. He said in Isaiah 38:10, “I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave.” In other words he came to realize in a very personal way that his life was limited. He was facing death. It would be good if more people were aware of their own mortality like that: aware that they are approaching death. Because even if death is many years away, everyone will die and no one knows when they will die. Hezekiah did the best thing that anyone could do when they realize that life truly is short: he turned to the Lord. Here are the facts that everyone in the world should remember: life is short, death is sure, and each soul will spend eternity in either heaven or hell. For those who turn to Jesus and trust in Him for forgiveness, the assurance of living in heaven for eternity is guaranteed. To believers this seems like a no-brainer, but how sad it is that some will come to the end of life having never faced this truth. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

The Bible continues to quote King Hezekiah and says in Isaiah 38:16-22, “O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD. For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?” It is very interesting what King Hezekiah wrote as the reason to keep living. He said to God, “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.” Hezekiah gave two reasons to live: to “praise” God, and to hope in His “truth.”

How many people have as a goal of their life to praise God? In order to praise God you must be able to live by faith. In order to praise God you must believe in Him and in the promises that Christ has made. In order to praise God in life, you must be able to praise Him for the bad things that you think happen to you as well as the good things. Have you ever praised God when something bad happened to you? If you really believed that Jesus was Almighty, you could praise Him. If you really believed that Jesus loved you, you could praise Him. If you really believed in Romans 8:28, you could praise Him. The Bible says in Romans 8:28, “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.” God enjoys our praises. There are so few people on this earth who give Him the credit for His power and love that is always present in their lives. King Hezekiah had some great understanding when he realized that what he needed was to say to the Lord in effect, “I will be one person on this earth who will praise You if You allow me to live longer.”

Of course, King Hezekiah also mentioned in his prayer that if he were allowed to live longer, he would hope in God’s “truth.” The whole world is deceived. The devil is a great liar, and the lies of the world’s ways have entered into so many people so deeply, that they do not even know that they are deceived. One of the ways that the devil keeps people held by this deception is to keep them from the wonderful truth of the Word of God. That is why the authority and truthfulness of the Bible is always under attack. That is why the teaching of the Bible was taken out of schools in America. And that is why there are so many false teachings even in the supposedly conservative Christian churches. Psalms 119 is a great chapter in the Bible that emphasizes the importance of God’s truth. For example, it says in Psalms 119:9-13, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.” King Hezekiah realized that one of the main purposes of life is to learn the true meaning of the Word of God.

The Bible says in Isaiah 39:1-7, “At that time Merodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen: there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shewed them. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” King Hezekiah opened up his treasures and showed them to the king of Babylon. That showed a lack of wisdom on Hezekiah’s part. Did he not understand the selfish and lustful nature of the people of the world, and especially of the king of Babylon? It appears that King Hezekiah was vain about his material possessions. It was important to him to show “the house of his precious things” to the King of Babylon. Pride goes before a fall.

In addition to the lack of wisdom and the vanity, we also see in this passage of scripture that King Hezekiah made a great mistake in regards to an important Bible principle. The mistake that he made has been made by many Christians over the centuries: too close of a contact with the world. Babylon in the Bible is always symbolic of the worse society and the worse country that mankind can develop in this world. The goal for a Christian is to be “in the world, but not of the world.” Hezekiah brought the world into “the house of his precious things.” A Christian who has a testimony in this world must find a way to keep the world and its philosophy and its pursuits at the proper distance. The Bible says in First John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” When we see how displeased the Lord was with Hezekiah, then we realize how important it is to the Lord that we learn to be separate from the world. When we have the right kind of separation from the world, only then can we be testimonies for the Lord; and it is very important to Him that we be testimonies to the lost people of the world because He wants to save everyone, and He uses the testimonies of believers to do that. Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-16, “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

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