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Today's reading
December 14, 2024
Picture: Compounding Afflictions
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Isaiah 37:21-23, 28-29, 33-36; Isaiah 38:1b-3, 5b-6
Hezekiah spent his days watching the horizon for the Assyrian army and praying for deliverance from God. As he waited for what seemed to be inevitable conflict, his health began to fail. The entire nation was racked with grief as affliction compounded. Hezekiah was bedridden, about to succumb to this mysterious disease when Isaiah sent this message.
"'Thus says the LORD: Set your
house in order, for you shall die, 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 in
faithfulness and with a whole heart,
and have done what is good in your sight.'
And Hezekiah wept bitterly."
​
Isaiah 38:1b-3 (ESV)
Lord in his mercy chose to give Hezekiah 15 more years of leadership in Judah. Giving him this promise,
"I have
Heard your prayer; I have seen your
tears. Behold, I will add fifteen
years to your life. I will deliver
you and this city out of the hand of
the king of Assyria, and will defend
this city."
​
Isaiah 38:5b-6 (ESV)
Hezekiah was miraculously healed. He continued steadfast in prayer trusting God's promise for deliverance when Isaiah shared this message from God that was directed towards Assyria.
" Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel:
Because you have prayed to me
concerning Sennacherib king of
Assyria, this is the word that the
LORD has spoken concerning him:"
"Whom have you mocked and
reviled?
Against whom have you raised your
voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
Against the Holy One of Israel!"
​
"'I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
Because you have raged against
me
and your complacency has come to
my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came."
​
Isaiah 37:21b-23, 28-29 (ESV)
The message of hope multiplied as Isaiah continued. The people of Judah expected to see siege walls and tents outside their city gates slowly suffocating their city. However, Isaiah shares that for the next three years they would plant and harvest on that land. Somehow this invulnerable army would be dealt a critical blow by the God of Judah.
​"Therefore thus says the LORD
concerning the king of Assyria: He
shall not come into this city or
shoot an arrow there or come before
it with a shield or cast up a siege
mound against it. By the way
that he came, by the same he shall
return, and he shall not come into
this city, declares the LORD. For I
will defend this city to save it, for
my own sake and for the sake of my
servant David."
​
"And the angel of the LORD
went out and struck down 185,000
in the camp of the Assyrians. And
when people arose early in the
morning, behold, these were all
dead bodies."
​
Isaiah 37:33-36 (ESV)
This defeat was so devastating that Sennacherib fled to the Assyrian capital. One day he was the temple, pleading with his gods, trying to understand the staggering turn of events that had unfolded before him. While he was praying, two of his bodyguards snuck up behind him and assassinated him, establishing the throne of his son.
These prophecies and histories stand as dazzling witness to the fact that God sees, hears and responds to the cries of His people. Ultimately intervening 600 years after these moments by entering our world as a child in order to offer salvation to all who call on his name.
This is Christmas to you.