If you will take your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 19. Of course, we are continuing the account. Chapter 18 flows into 19. And always keep in mind as you read God's word that the chapters and verses are not a part of the original. It just pressed on. In fact, first and second Kings were one book simply referred to as the Kings. I'm thankful for the chapters and verses that really helps us if I was preaching through the Kings tonight and did not have the chapters and verses, we would take some time for me to try to get you in the same place that I am. So I'm thankful for the chapters and verses, but always keep in mind they're there to help us navigate through the word, but they are not a part of the original. So we're continuing the thought that we were working through last week in chapter 18. Remember, the Assyrians were mocking God, blaspheming God, telling the children of Israel, do not rest upon this God. He will not be able to help you. We are too strong. You will not be able to overcome. We will surely conquer and defeat this God. blasphemy, if you will, when Hezekiah received the word, he was distraught and he tore his clothes and fell into sackcloth and ashes, which is where we pick up tonight. And I want us to read verses 1 through 19. Just listen as I read and follow along with me. But listen how gracious, how trusting Hezekiah is. At the beginning, when the Assyrians first showed evidence that they were about to attack, Hezekiah looked to his armies and looked to the Egyptians, but not now. He bows before the living God, trusting the living God, going to the prophet of God, Isaiah, looking to hear a word from God and resting and trusting upon God alone, which is exactly where we need to be. Every time we go through a difficulty, and you have, and you have seen God deliver you, and you will, and you'll witness how He will continue to be with you as His child. Very comforting. Every one of us have a testimony. If you've been a Christian for any length of time at all, you have a testimony. You've seen God's work in your life, and you can look back to what He has done, and that strengthens you regarding what He will do in your life. So chapter 19, beginning with verse one. Now, when King Hezekiah heard it, that is, he heard the words of the Assyrians, the king of Assyria sent three men and basically their purpose was to taunt, discourage, blaspheme God. And when Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household with Shebna, the scribe and the elders of the of the priest, covered with sackcloth to Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amos. Of course, this is the Isaiah that we have an entire book, the book of Isaiah. And as you read the book of Isaiah, it's covering the same material that we have here. So it helps us to keep in order what we read from God's word. They said to him, thus says Hezekiah, this day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection for the children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver. Perhaps. The Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshecha. That's one of the three that were sent from the king of Assyria to hear the words of Rabshecha, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, Offer a prayer for the remnant that is left. So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. Isaiah said to them, thus you shall say to your master, thus says the Lord. Remember this morning I said over and over and over and over we read in scripture, thus sayeth the Lord. This is the inspired word of God. Just thought I would remind us of that as we continue in the text tonight. Thus says the Lord, do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land. Then Raphshecha returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libna. For he had heard that the king had left Lachish. When he heard them say concerning Tirhaka, the king of Cush, Behold, he has come out to fight against you. He sent messengers again to Hezekiah saying, thus you shall say to Hezekiah, the king of Judah, do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. He continues to blaspheme. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So you will be spared? Did the gods of those nations, which my fathers destroyed, deliver them? Even Gozan, and Haran, and Redsfeth, and the sons of Eden, who were in Tel-Essar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sirvayan, and of Hinnah, and of Ervah? Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it and went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and he said, here's his prayer, O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your ears, O Lord, and see. And listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire. For they are not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. But now, O Lord, our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know. that you alone, O Lord, are God. Well, as we saw in chapter 18, Sennacherib, who's the king of Assyria, had been marching across the land, conquering city after city, powerful cities, walled cities, cities that were well fortified, And one by one, they fell. His cruelty and brutality were terrible. You know, we read right now of the invasion of the Russians, and we read of the atrocities and the killing civilians in mass graves, but nothing to be compared to what the Assyrians did. The Assyrians were horrible, though what we read of the atrocities of the Russians are indeed terrible. It just reminds us every generation there's no end to the sins that human beings can commit against one another. It's a terrible testimony to the sinful corruption of the human heart. But the king of Assyria in chapter 18, verse 17, the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabserus and Rabshecha from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. So picture. Jerusalem is a walled city, heavily fortified, and the armies are shut in. And here comes the Assyrian army and they surround the city. You have soldiers on the wall and Rabshakeh comes to taunt the soldiers on the wall. He was probably chosen because he was fluent in Hebrew. And he could speak the language of the Israelites. And so he's speaking in a manner to discourage them. And he was blaspheming the living God. So he's declaring the impotence of God, the inability of God to help his people. And so as we enter this chapter, The words have been brought to the king, to Hezekiah. Hezekiah hears what they're saying and he's distraught. He tears his clothes. He falls into a terrible anguish. He's distraught not only because of the threat of the safety upon Jerusalem, but because the name of God is being blasphemed. It should be that you should be able to endure all manner of insult upon you. We tend not to do that well. We become very personally offended. Paul says, be ye angry and sin not. There is some anger that is not sinful. Some anger that's righteous, some anger that is necessary. What is the difference between sinful anger and holy anger? Well, the answer is simple. Sinful anger is when you personally feel that you have been offended because what you're doing is you're raising yourself up, you're declaring, I am worthy of more than I am getting. You have dared to insult my throne and I will not lower myself from my throne. So we become very offended. We lash out at other people. We become angry at other people. That's sinful anger. Righteous anger, on the other hand, is when we see individuals blaspheming God, insulting God. We should be angry when we see justice defiled. We should be people of justice. We should love justice and we should hate inequity. We should love holiness and hate evil. We should call good good and evil evil. We should never be guilty of calling evil good or good evil. And so there are times that we should have, another term we give to it is righteous indignation. To be angry at sin, angry when men insult the living God. God says, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children under the third and fourth generation. He is a holy God. So Hezekiah was distraught. He was angered, but not because of personal insults. He's upset because these people are daring to blaspheme the living God. So he hears the words of Raphshecha and he responds. Now, remember the first time when the Assyrians were marching towards Jerusalem. He responded by raising alarm for his military. But not now. This isn't his response now. Now his response is a prayer response. And his despair turns to prayer. And again, that's how we should respond. We should always respond in prayer. So Hezekiah affirms that the Assyrians have destroyed the gods of the nations. There's no doubt about that. He says in verses 17 and 18, truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands, and they've cast their gods into the fire. But then he says, but we all know that they are not gods at all. They're merely the work of men's hands. In verse 18, they've cast their gods into the fire, but they're not gods. They're the work of men's hands. They're fashioned out of wood. They're nothing. They're trinkets. They're wooden statues. And they have been cast into the fire. They have been destroyed. But you, O God, you will not be destroyed. You will not be insulted. They will not prevail over you. So Hezekiah prays, and then he makes one of the most important statements of theology. If you know any theology at all, this is what you must know. So here's the most important statement of theology, and it's simply this. God alone is God. Is that simple? It's profound. It is the most basic statement of theology. God alone is God. So verse 15, the Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Then he repeats it in a different way in verse 19. Now, O Lord, our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, our God, That should be our life. You alone, O Lord, our God. We should be reminded of that every time we tremble, every time we we fall into fear, as we begin to ponder, can anything be done? We need to be reminded. But oh God, you alone are God, and I will trust in you. So let's look at what Hezekiah does here. It's a brief prayer. All of our prayers do not have to be lengthy prayers. It begins in verse 15, and it ends in verse 19. So a very brief, concise prayer but full of meaning. So the first thing he does is he remembers that God is the God of Israel. So verse 15, O Lord, the God of Israel. In other words, he remembers that he is in covenant relationship with God. That covenant is a promise. God never breaks promise. We're in a covenant relationship with God. And God never breaks, promise. So he had entered into a covenant with Abraham. That's the beginning. He promises Abraham a land and a seed through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Of course, his seed was was not Ishmael, but Isaac. But ultimately, the seed would be the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a promise of redemption, a promise to be the people of God through the Savior. And that's always been the case. They were a people of God through the Savior. Not all Israel was of Israel, not just because they are connected to Abraham, but it is those who are of the faith of Abraham. That's the people of God. So you can have a whole generation that perished in the wilderness because not all Israel was of Israel. But the true Israel are those who are of the faith of Abraham, and that includes us. So God pledged to Abraham to be his God. And the covenant was affirmed to Isaac, the son of Abraham. Genesis 26-24, the Lord appeared to him the same night and he said, I am the God of your father, Abraham. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant, Abraham. So he affirms the covenant to Isaac and reminds Isaac, I made a promise, I have a covenant and I will keep covenant. And then the covenant was affirmed with Jacob. Only with Jacob, the covenant continued to be revealed, continued to be unfolded. So with Jacob, Jacob's name is changed. What's his name changed to? Israel, he becomes Israel. So now you have the beginning of Israel, the covenant people of God. And Jacob would have 12 sons and those 12 sons would become the 12 tribes of Israel. So we read in Genesis 32, beginning with verse 27, and he said unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince has thou power with God and with men and has prevailed. And Jacob asked him and said, tell me, I pray, thy name. He said, wherefore is it that you ask after my name? And he blessed him there. Well, God remembered covenant and he remembered his people. And God told Abraham that the people would be in captivity for 430 years. And indeed they were. But God did not forget his people. They fell into a horrid condition. They were no longer in favor in the land of Egypt. They became slaves and servants and treated horribly. But God doesn't forget covenant. So we read in Exodus 2 verses 24 and 25, and the Lord heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and God had respect unto them. Why did he have respect unto them? Were they godly? Were they sinless? Were they worthy? No. God made covenant. So he remembers his covenant and has respect under them. Exodus 5.1. Afterward, Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let my people go. Why? How is it that they are God's people? By covenant, because God had pledged covenant. and God remembers covenant and they are his people and he is their God. So let my people go that they may celebrate a feast to me in the wilderness. And then finally, Exodus 20. And now we are about to hear the Mosaic Covenant and the codifying of the law of God written upon stone tablets. And we read at the very beginning of the Ten Commandments. We read this Exodus 20, verse 2. I am the Lord thy God. which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and then thou shalt have no other gods before me." So Hezekiah here is affirming that God was the God of Israel. And he's praying on the basis of his covenant relationship with God. And so he prays, O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above this cherubim, you are the God, you alone." So he's praying on the basis of covenant. He says, now, O Lord, our God. And by the way, do you not do the same thing? We do. We pray in terms of relationship. What do we say in the Lord's Prayer? Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. How many times when you pray as you go before God, you say, oh, my father, oh, my God, we are praying on the basis of his covenant promises unto us and he is our God and we are his people. And we pray like that. Oh, God, my God, you have absolute right to say that as a child of God. Oh, God, my God. as you pray to him. He also refers to God as the God who sits above the cherubim. What in the world does he mean by that? Again, in verse 15, O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim. Let's say it's a common expression, common designation of the holiness of God who sat upon his throne within the veil of the tabernacle. And it is a covenant statement of the holy character of God. And so we read such as in First Samuel, chapter four, verse four. So the people went to Shiloh, and from there they carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who sits above the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. Second Samuel 6, 2. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him to Baal Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called by the name, the very name of the Lord of Hosts. Who is enthroned above the cherubim? Well, you know what the ark looked like, right? You know, the ark was kept within the holy place, sometimes referred to as the holy of holies behind the veil. Only the high priest could enter to offer a sacrifice of atonement behind the veil. But within the holy place was the throne of God in the form of the Ark of the Covenant. God is the Covenant-keeping God. This is the Ark of the Covenant. And the lid of the Covenant. What's the lid of the Covenant referred to as? What's it called? Anyone? The Mercy Seat. So, God sits on the Mercy Seat. And upon the lid of the Ark were these two cherubim. And the cherubim, of course, these are created beings, angelic beings, God created cherubim and seraphim. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the vision of the throne room of God and the seraphim are hovering with six wings above the presence of Christ. But these cherubim, They are creative beings, but they are created for the sole purpose of declaring the holiness of God. So they are upon the lid of the tabernacle, the mercy seat, and their wings extend over and touch in the center. And the expression is, God who sits above the cherubim. In other words, he is enthroned upon the ark, the ark of the covenant. It is symbolic of the presence of God, the holy presence of God within or among the people of God. So Hezekiah is making a statement of the presence of God with his covenant people. That's the essence of prayer. Only the people of God have access to God, the privilege of prayer. We cheapen prayer when we have a national day of prayer and just anyone can go and pray and anyone at any time has the right to pray before God. Well, that's not necessarily true. And Hezekiah is recognizing it's not the Assyrians who are praying to God, though they could. If they repented, if they trust the promise of God, trusting God's covenant promise through his son, who was yet to come, but they didn't do that, but the children of Israel did. And so Hezekiah is recognizing we are the people of God. God has made his promise to us. The God who sits above the chair of him, the holy, holy, holy God, Oh, God, would you hear my prayer? But God's dominion, and remember the ark, the mercy seat, the cherubim, the tabernacle, ultimately the temple, the presence of God, all symbolic that God is the God of Israel and the Holy of Holies was symbolic of the presence of God among his people. God cannot be confined to a room, to a tabernacle, to a temple, to an ark. But it was symbolic of the holy character of God. You do not enter into the presence of God lightly. Only the high priest could enter into the holy of holies. God is a holy God. And so all of this is symbolic of God's covenant, that he is the God of Israel and they are his people. But understand this, and this is the point that Hezekiah is making. God's dominion is not limited to Israel. Now, Hezekiah makes this point clear. On one hand, he's praying to God by way of his covenant relationship. He was the God of Israel. So in verse 15, O Lord, the God of Israel. Verse 19, now, O Lord, our God. And again, that's how we pray. Oh, Lord, our God. It's how Solomon prayed. First Kings 3, 7. Oh, Lord, my God. But Hezekiah is affirming that God is the God of all the earth. And that's a terrifying thought. He is the God of all the earth. When He speaks in the commandments, Thou shalt have no other God before Me. That wasn't just given to Israel, not just given to us as His covenant people. It's given to every human being upon the face of the earth. Every knee shall bow before the King. Jesus Christ will come in judgment. Every human being will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and all will give account. He is the Lord of all the earth. He is the King of kings, and all will answer to Him. So in verse 15, Hezekiah announces, O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the chair of them, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. In other words, you're not only the God of Israel, You're the God of Assyria also. And the Assyrians have blasphemed your name, and they have not given you the honor that you deserve. They exist by your power, O God. Verse 19, O Lord, our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God. That needs to be heard by every man, woman, and child upon the earth. Every human being is subject to the living God. Romans 13 tells us that the governments of the earth are the ministers of God. They are given a delegated authority. And their purpose is to maintain justice. Their purpose is to provide protection under the people of God and to rule in righteousness, to maintain law and order. And we have a duty to obey. But they have a duty, and they need to be reminded, they have a duty to obey the law of God. They have a duty to recognize that they are the servants of the living God, functioning and operating at his bidding. It is a delegated authority, and they must submit and obey the living God. All the laws of our land should be that which is consistent with the law of God. It's not always like that, is it? But they are subject to God. And they will give account to God. So it's as if Hezekiah is saying, do they dare blaspheme the living God? Verse 16, incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. This was not a self-centered prayer like sometimes ours can be. It wasn't, oh God, hear me. This is my need and spend 20 minutes rehearsing my need and my concern. This is all about God. This is all about, oh Lord, listen and hear their words that they have sent to reproach you, God. So vindicate yourself, God. Would you honor your name upon the earth? Dale Ralph Davis says, one of my many, many quotes of Dale Ralph Davis, he says, when the driving passion of our prayers is Yahweh's honor, a strange confidence begins to seep into them. We should pray for the honor of God. As the psalmist would say, David, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy great name. It's all about God and his honor. Would you make your name known upon the earth, O God? Well, God is The only God, the true God, the one God. Human history testifies to human idolatry. We are, as Calvin would say, idol factories. We invent idols, we serve idols, we set up idols, idols in our heart. Anything that we have in our life that we will not let go of, that we will not repent of, that we will not submit to God has become unto itself an idol. We all have them. We can give them many names. Sometimes it's simply what we call besetting sin, sin that we return to, sins that we continue to embrace. We can sometimes refer to them as our darling sins, sins that are precious to us. I'm reminded on the Lord of the Rings where Gollum has the ring and he looks at the ring and he refers to it as my precious. We have many precious idols in our life that are hard to dispose of. We love them and treasure them and it's hard to dispose of them. And as Americans who have a high standard of living, Our treasures, our earthly possessions can very easily become our idols. We begin to worship the creature that is the created thing more than the creator. So Paul says in Romans 1, for even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and forfeited animals and crawling creatures, worshiping the creature more than the creator. And Hezekiah affirmed this truth. He says in verses 17 and 18, Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. They're not God's, but the work of men's hands. He's just testifying all these nations and their idols that they trusted in, they're nothing. And they have been destroyed and will be destroyed. But we know, and Hezekiah is affirming, that God is the source of all things. He is the creator. In Genesis 1. we find the first statement about God in the Bible. And the first statement about God is three simple words. It begins our Bible, In the beginning, God. That's the first statement of the Bible. Following that is a reminder, and this God is the creator. But it begins, In the beginning, God. When you speak of the beginning, it speaks of the beginning of time. There was a beginning. There was a time, if you can describe it like that, when there was nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing but emptiness. Nothing but God. And in the beginning was God for all of eternity. You can't even measure it because it's infinite. And for all of the endless expanses of eternity, There's God. The God. The only God. And then He creates. In the beginning, God spoke. And all things came into existence. Then God said, let there be light. And there was light. He formed matter. He formed the elements. And He fashioned them and shaped them. He made the earth. And He took the earth that was in Tohu wa bohu is the Hebrew. Never forget those words. They're so fun to say. Tohu wa bohu. It means without form and void. He took the matter that he had made and he shaped it. The earth was without form and void, a shapeless mass. Then he takes the shapeless mass and he fashions it and perfects it. And he says, it is good. He's the creator. All things find their source in him. I mentioned them a lot because they're fascinating. The philosophers of Athens. And all they did all the time was ponder something new. And they gave respect to all the gods. And in case they missed one, they had an altar with the inscription on it, to the unknown God. And Paul corrected their faulty theology, because he's not unknown at all. He is the God, the only God, the God, the one before whom they would bow. And Paul says in Acts 17, Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. He cannot be confined. He cannot be limited in any way. And then he says in verse 28, Paul, For in Him we live. and move and exist. That's the new American standard. I like the KJV there. For in Him we live and move and have our being. That's our God. Our being is wrapped up in Him. Who in their right mind would turn against so great a God? It's amazing. And God says, look, you've fallen into wretchedness. There's none righteous, no, not one. All we like sheep have gone astray. We are wicked beyond imagination. We're all subject to an eternity of suffering. But God says, I love my son, second person of the Godhead. I love my son, the eternally begotten of the Father. And I give my son to redeem my people from their sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But as I've said many, many times, the gospel is not an option. The gospel is not a choice. The gospel is never simply offered in the sense that you can take it or leave it. If it's good for you, you can. You know, people will say, well, you follow God and I'm glad for you. It's good for you, but it's not really good for me. No, it's not an option. It's never presented in that way. God commands all men everywhere to repent. And who in the world would deny this God. That's the essence of Psalm 2, by the way. Psalm 2 says all human beings have rebelled against God. The kings of the earth have rebelled against God. They pretend that they can get away with rebelling against God and they can get away with rejecting the son of God and pretend that they have no duty towards him. And so Psalm 2 simply says, You know, the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, that is against Yahweh, against God and against his anointed. Second person of the Godhead, the Christ is who this is referring to, the anointed one, the Messiah. The seed promised to Abraham that through this seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed. But the kings of the earth refused to bow before the anointed one. And they said, let us tear their fetters apart. In other words, they see serving God as a bondage and we're going to break free of the bondage. Let us cast away their cords from us. They've tied us up and we're going to break through and declare our liberty. that here's God's opinion of them. It was God's opinion of the Assyrians and all who will not bow before him. He who sits in the heavens laughs and he scoffs at them. Ha, ha, ha, what foolishness. Human beings will rise up and pretend that they can overcome me. Ha, he scoffs at them. What foolishness to say, bow before my son. And they say, we will not have the anointed one. They think they can get away with rejecting the gospel, but they will not. And then he will speak to them in his anger. and terrified them in his fury, saying, but as for me, I have installed my king. Who's the king? The Lord Jesus Christ. And he's the king of kings. He's the king, capital K, of kings, small letter K. He is the chief king, the ultimate king. the primary king, the king of all kings. And he's the Lord, capital L, of lords. He is the Lord, the supreme one. Well, as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. Now, Jerusalem was referred to as Zion. The mountain of God is basically a hill. But the temple was built on the hill. And this was considered the presence of God. Of course, now it is given its fullness. It is the heavenly Zion and we are the children of Zion and we serve the king. So upon Zion, my holy mountain, I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. He said to me, capital M, that is, he said to Christ, You are my Son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance. And that's what God has pledged in the eternal covenant of redemption The father has chosen a people, his elect. He has pledged to give these people to his son as his inheritance or as his bride. And the son would then go and redeem these people. That's God's covenant plan. So ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. Here's the conclusion. So now, therefore, it's like, you know, he's giving these terrifying statements and then he speaks to the kings again. In graciousness, God doesn't have to speak to men, but he speaks in graciousness to the kings and gives them opportunity to repent. Now, therefore, O kings, show discernment. Stop being stupid. Show discernment. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son. Again, I like the King James here. You know what the King James says here, right? Kiss the sun. Isn't that great? Kiss the sun. Our highest expression of affection, of giving ourselves to an individual. Well, do homage to the sun that he not become angry and you perish in the way for his wrath may soon be kindled. And then the conclusion. How blessed are all who take refuge in him. Oh, kings of the earth, show discernment. Stop being ignorant. Stop this foolishness. Kiss the sun. Do homage to the sun. Bow before your king. So Isaiah described the supremacy. Now, this is the same Isaiah that Hezekiah has sent his emissaries to. I want to hear a word from God. Here's what Isaiah says. Isaiah 40, verse 28. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. And his understanding is inscrutable. He's Lord. He is God. He is God alone. This means that all men owe him homage. And God is worthy of all worship and praise. Rabshakeh's fatal flaw was simply this. He actually believed that God was Israel's God. And Israel had their weak, frail God, just like all the other nations had their God. He failed to comprehend that God is God alone, and that Israel's God had to be his God, and he had to bow before this God. You see, he didn't think that he had any duty to give allegiance to Israel's God. And that was his fatal flaw. Americans don't believe. that they owe homage to the living God. They believe they can get away with blaspheming Him. They hate Christians because we actually stand opposed to all of their idols, the things that they adore, the systems that they have installed. And they despise us. But what they are despising is the God we serve. So Sennacherib and Rabshakeh owed God supreme worship, and their blasphemy was against an infinite God, the God who's boundless, that's beyond our comprehension. God's law was given to Israel, but not just Israel, but to all men. And God alone is the Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth. So Hezekiah's prayer was the prayer that we should voice and voice continually as we face life's challenges. It's simply this, oh God, the God, show yourself mighty. Do you pray like that? God, show yourself mighty. And he's shown himself mighty in your life over and over. I can testify in my life how many times God has shown himself to be mighty. Mighty in his presence, mighty in his deeds, mighty in his defense, mighty in his protection, mighty in his care for me. I can say, oh God, my God, Show yourself mighty. Show yourself mighty that the people of this world will glorify you and stand in all of your presence. And while all the gods of the earth have proven themselves to be as nothing, may all the kingdoms of the earth know that there is a God, the God, the only God, the almighty God before whom they must bow. So Hezekiah is in a terrible situation. He is. The all-powerful Assyrian army is threatening to destroy Jerusalem. This wasn't a light thing. I mean, they were a powerful army, and they have destroyed every other city. And they are now outside the walls of Jerusalem. From every external observation, there's no hope. They had no strength to defend themselves from so great a force. Hezekiah describes a situation that is simply beyond him. Verse three, this day is a day of distress, rebuke, rejection for the children have come to birth and there's no strength to deliver. It's like a lady who has gone into labor and the child must come forth, but she doesn't have the strength to deliver and she's sitting or she's in her helplessness. What can be done? Well, it's from there that Hezekiah found deliverance. And the answer is clear. God is the God of all the earth. So may we hear that lesson. God is the God of all the earth. He is your God. And through the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the right to call him your God. that you can say, oh, my father, because of the adoption of the spirit, you are a child of God. And so we're tempted to fear. We do this. It's sin, but we still do it. We fear. But we must not forget that God has ordained every detail, every detail he has ordained. And he hears our prayer. He comes to our defense and he's able to deliver. And he loves us and cares for us. He may deliver in ways that you do not expect, perhaps in ways that you have not prayed for. But understand this. He's working for your good. Romans 8 28 should not be dismissed. And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. So Hezekiah prays, verse 20, or God says to Hezekiah, verse 20, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because you have prayed to me about Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, I have heard you. That's what he says to us. Because you have prayed, I have heard. So pray with confidence. You're a child of God. You have the right, by covenant relationship with Him, through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator, prophet, priest, and king, you have a right to approach the throne of God. And that is your privilege as a child of God. So you can go before Him and pray. James says, in the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. And God tells Hezekiah, because you have prayed, I have heard. And again, many of these coins have a flip side. So you might then assume the other side says, because you have not prayed, I have not heard. But we're more interested in what's actually written. Because you have prayed, I have heard you. And we must remember this as we live upon the face of the earth. May others see it in us. May they see our confidence. We trust the God, the only God, the supreme God, the creator, the owner of all things. He's our God. Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you for such words. Father, they're so encouraging. Hezekiah was in a desperate hour, a difficult situation, yet he prayed. And there are times, Father, that we face such situations and we pray. And your word to Hezekiah is your word to us because you have prayed I have heard. Help us to pray with confidence, with expectation, but trusting, not praying to change you or to change your mind or to dictate what we think that you should do, but simply to, as Hezekiah did, to lay it out before you and pray, oh God, would you do your holy will. Bless us, Father, as we continue to live our life. May we live it to your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. You're dismissed.