Arkansas State press., 1947-05-30

0.l2.lT.
MEMORY SELECTION For thus
said the Lord God. the Holy One OF
Israeli In returning and rest shall we
be saved In quietness and In confidence
shall be your strength. Isaiah 30:l5.
Perilous times had come upon the
southern part Of the divided king
dom known as Judah. There had
been period of outward prosperity
under King Uzziah. but the inward
decay Of the people made 1t an
empty thing.
Judah, like Israel, was on the
downward path which was to lead
to ultimate captivity and judgment,
The occasional reign Of good kings
seemed to stem the tide bit; in
fact, the great king Of whom we
study today. Hezekiah, gave Judah
fresh lease on life and enabled
her to outlive her sister kingdom by
nearly century and half.
Judah experienced real revival
Of faith in God under Hezekiah Gil
Kings 1916; II Chron. 29:3D. The
temple was cleansed. the priesthood
renewed and reconsecrated. and the
great feast of the Passover kept
once more. This undoubtedly ex-
plains the new life which came to
Judah In an hour when the nation
seemed about to disintegrate.
l. The Enemy's Threat (l9:5, 81.
For the background here one
must read the previous chapter.
Hezekiah. having tried to throw of
the yoke OF Assyria. had seen SEN
naeherib and his armies sweep over
the land. Thinking to stop him and
to save Jerusalem. he sent great
gift amounting in value to millions
Of dollars. The gift was accepted,
and then Sennacherib treacherously
seiged Jerusalem.
Rabshakeh, Sennacherib' mes
senger to Hezekiah, not only threat
ened the nation, but blasphemously
denied the power Of God. Such was
the awful situation Hezekiah faced
a. he went to the temple, and sent
trusted servants to inquire of Isaiah
what he ought to do.
The response was prompt and
definite. We may learn from this in
cident that in an hour Of confusion
and danger 1t Is well to take time to
And out what the Lord has to say
about things He knows what to do!
II. The Lords Answer u9:7. 80
80.
God has only to blow on the
mighty, clustering moHarchs Of THIS
world and they come to their end,
definitely and conclusively. The
blast" Of the Lord ". y is enough
TO care for thatl And remember, he
Is still ready to act on behalf Of his
people,
On the plains Of Philistia the
mighty host of Assyria met the
angel Of the Lord, and they never
awoke from their sleep. The loss OF
1876, 900 men sent Sennacherib home
to Nineveh broken and fearful, and
there he met his own violent death
How much we need the encour'
agement of such an event as this ir
our own day when the mighty o.
this earth seem to speak so boldly
and confidently against the name Of
the Lord. His children must Otter
hear the blasphemous threats Of un
believers and bear the burden o,
their scorn.
Let us remember that we dC
serve a God who can with a glance
Of his eyes throw into confusion al
the enemies Of his mighty name
Let us be strong to fight the victori
Gus battle in his name!
Hezekiah knew the sweetness o.
victory as he trusted In the Lord. Il
we could only rest the matter there
But the weakness Of the flesh come:
10 the fore as we see
iii. The Kings Folly go: l2-lD
Babylon. one Of the great Gentle
enemies Of Assyria. wanted to cul
.ivate the friendship Of Hezekiah, Sc
an embassy was sent to express JOY
at his recovery from a serious i'll
ness.
II was the Lord who had healed
him tsee 20:1-lD in a miraculou:
way. but now Hezekiah did the fool
ish thing of trying to cultivate the
help Of men.
To impress these possible allie,
from Babylon, he showed them all
his wealth. He evidently wanted
them to return to their ruler with 6
story Of the might and glory Of
Judah.
Poor Hezekiahl He only made a
fool Of himself, prepared the way
for the ultimate taking OF his pos
sessions and his people by the Baby
lonians.
The lesson to be learned here /:
not only that Boosting is folly Cal
though that is always true). blu
also that IL Is the height Of folly t
put ones trust in the arm Of flesh
No matter how mighty the force:
Of this world may be, or how won
derful II might seem to have theii
favor toward the cause of the
church, let US be clear that II Is III
God that we have our strength-anc
IN him alone.
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