Miracles and Mistakes, Isaiah 38-39, OT S1:E472

0:00Welcome to the Family Bible Journey. Whether you're a first-time listener, one of our regulars, or one of those who is committed to either reading through or journaling through the Bible with us, thanks for listening. This is episode 472, Season 1 of the Family Bible Journey Old Testament Podcast. Today we're looking at Isaiah, chapters 38 and 39. The title of today's podcast is Miracles and Mistakes. In our key verses for today, Isaiah, chapter 38, verses 1 to 8, and then chapter 39, verses 5 to 8, where we read. In those days, Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. In Isaiah the Prophet, the Son of Amos, came to him and said to him, Thus says the Lord, Set your house in order for you shall die and you shall not recover. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord and said, Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you

1:04and faithfulness and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight and Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah. Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, The God of David, Your Father. I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and the city out of the hand of the King of Assyria and will defend this city. This should be the sign to you from the Lord. That the Lord will do this thing that He has promised. Behold, I will make this shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz. Turn back 10 steps. So the sun turned back on the dial. The 10 steps by which it had declined. This is the word of the Lord. So today as we close out this first section of Isaiah, we are going to look at these two different readings, independent of each other. So we are going to have the rest of our key verses here later in the episode. But here in this part of the chapter in chapter

2:0938, we see King Hezekiah get the very things that many people pray their entire lives to the Lord for. One, he receives healing from a deadly disease and the Lord lengthens his life by 15 years as an act of mercy. And we aren't going to speculate into the reasons why the Lord did that. We just know that he did. And it was a gift that many people often plead for healing and relief from afflictions and diseases, especially diseases that are either threatening the life of someone or if it's a chronic disease or a chronic condition that causes a lot of pain and suffering. And the vast majority of folks never get that healing. So Hezekiah here, he gets that miracle that so many people pray for. He also gets to see a miraculous sign that the sun is going to go backwards in the sky to demonstrate that

3:16God was going to answer his prayer affirmatively. And this is another thing that many people spend their lives wanting and searching for a sign from the Lord that they would know through some supernatural intervention that God was listening and God was answering their prayers. And Hezekiah is one of the very few human beings who's ever received either the miracle of healing or a miraculous sign. He receives both in chapter 38. And we are reminded as he receives these signs that he was a good and a faithful leader. He had gone to war against the idolatry of his father. He had faithfully led the people of Judah and Jerusalem through the siege and stood up to the might of the major world power at the time of the Assyrians. He had seen God's holy angel destroy 185,000 of the Assyrian soldiers and one night through a wasting disease. He was in many regards one of the greatest kings that either Israel nor Judah would ever have.

4:21But as we're going to learn in chapter 39, even though he was one of the greatest kings that they had ever had, even though he received his miracle of healing and the miraculous sign that so many pray for, he ends up being no better than anyone else. Because in chapter 39, we are going to see unvoice come from Babylon. This is an official diplomatic delegation. And when the Babylonians who at this point in time had big plans for world conquest, but as yet were a far off country and not much of any seeming apparent threat to the nation of Judah. When these unvoiced come, he brags a little bit. He shows off everything that his fathers had accumulated in the temple, the treasuries, the wealth of the entire nation of Judah. And this is what Isaiah says in chapter 39,

5:22beginning in verse 5 to Hezekiah after showing these Babylonian unvoiced all that he possessed. Our reading begins. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up to this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father shall be taken away, and they shall be unix and the palace of the king of Babylon. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, the word of the Lord that you have spoken is good, for he thought there will be peace and security in my days. And so what do we learn from this episode? Other than Hezekiah, he was a failable human being. And he wasn't so concerned about things after his time as he was the things of his own life. And as he got older, he got comfortable

6:23and in some ways maybe got a little spiritually relaxed by trusting potentially in that great wealth that he had accumulated, trusting maybe in the deliverance of God that he didn't earn or deserve or merit, but that was a gift of God's grace and mercy. He ends up making this tragic mistake for the kingdom by allowing these Babylonian envoys to see absolutely everything all of the wealth of Judah. And this is going to be a real problem for future generations, because the Babylonians are going to prove to be every bit as cruel and ruthless as the Assyrians, and where the Assyrians fail in conquering Judah and Jerusalem, the Babylonians are going to succeed. And we're going to read a lot more about this in the prophets of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jeremiah being the prophet who is left in Judah as the Babylonians come and destroy the country. Ezekiel going to be one of those

7:29prophets who was taken as an exile to Babylon. And so we're going to have two mighty major prophets prophesying at the same time, one from Jerusalem and Judah, the other one in exile. And so we're going to get different perspectives on the suffering of God's people during that time that Babylon is going to come and fulfill this word of Isaiah the prophet, which isn't going to happen for about a hundred years into the future. And so we are now to the point where we are closing chapter 39, which means that we are at the end of the first part of the book of Isaiah. This section of Isaiah, I refer to it as a many old testament, 39 chapters for the 39 books, the Old Testament, lots of woes, lots of wrath, lots of condemnation, lots of God's judgment with promises of grace and mercy and deliverance sprinkled throughout. But here in chapter 40, we are going to begin to see a tremendous pivot where Isaiah is going to be transcending

8:35his own lifetime. And indeed, he's the realities of the earthly life because the Holy Spirit is going to reveal to him in a number of ways, a number of powerful and crystal clear passages. What the future is going to bring for God's people. And we're going to learn a lot about the redemption that God has prepared for his people. Now that the Babylonians who are ultimately going to destroy the nation of Judah are on the scene, Isaiah is going to be brought into maybe you can even say a prophetic ecstasy and getting to see the glories of God, the Father in heaven, learning many of the specific ways that God is going to deliver his people as their Savior, as their Redeemer. And he is going to get to tell us things about the next line that give us as God's people today, lots to look forward to and lots to hope for as we look forward to receiving the inheritance and the blessings that God has prepared for all of His saints in the

9:37glories of heaven above. If you appreciate the faith and perspective of the family Bible journey and you'd like to learn more about how I'm able to help congregations around the country as they deal with the difficulties and the opportunities of ministry, go to the website of genesisgroup.com. That's g-e-n-y-s-y-s-dashgroup.com or look on YouTube where you can watch our videos and hear what other people are saying about our work. Our blessing for today. May you seek the love and mercy of the Lord, knowing these are the source of everlasting life, not just the healings and the signs that so many run after. I'm it.