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

Welcome 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

and 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

38, 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

God 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.

But 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,

beginning 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

and 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

prophets 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

his 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

glories 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.