Introduction

Terrorist in our town

What do you think people would do here in Cottonwood if there was one terrorist loose here in our town? If one guy managed to set off a couple of car bombs or I.E.D.’s and the police couldn’t find him? Here’s what I think would happen:

• People would stay home from work
• Kids would not go to school
• Shops would close
• All public assemblies would be cancelled
• Ammunition sales would sky rocket

I think that just one rogue terrorist would be enough to have our entire city literally up in arms and seeking shelter in their homes.

Now imagine this scenario:

A thousand terrorists had found their way to Arizona and had set up camp just outside of Camp Verde. They were actively training to infiltrate every city in Arizona and inflict as much damage as possible. I think that just 1000 armed men with an agenda would evoke national and perhaps even international attention. Here in Cottonwood, I think it would quickly turn into a battle zone:

• Men would start training for battle – militias would be formed
• Weapons would be stockpiled
• Sandbags and barbed wire would be set-up around homes
• We would be pleading (even expecting) the Nation Guard or the army to send over troops to make a pre-emptive strike

Let’s now think about the situation in Biblical proportions

Now think about an army of 185,000 terrorists moving towards Cottonwood. Our only defense is our own men. The national military does not even exist. It is literally us against them. This army of terroritsts has already managed to take out Payson, Rimrock, Sedona, and Camp Verde. They have either captured or killed every resident in those cities and now they plan to overtake Cottonwood.

A crowd of 185,000 people looks something like this. They are angry, hungry, armed to the teeth and are just 20 miles away. There are 185,000 trained, battle-hardened men in their army and there are only 25,000 of us if we count men, women, children and retirees. It is a hopeless situation.

If you are able to picture that scenario in your mind, then you can begin to understand what was going on in Jerusalem during the reign of King Hezekiah.

PS 46 Connection

Some scholars believe that Psalm 46 was written in direct response to the conflict between Israel and Assyria during the reign of King Hezekiah. There is a minority view that King Hezekiah may have written the Psalm himself.

We can’t be 100% certain if this Psalm was written was penned specifically for this conflict, but we do know this: Psalm 46 was either written in direct response to the conflict mentioned in Isaiah 37 or it is PERFEECTLY ILLUSTRATED by the conflict in Isaiah 37. Either way, understanding how God worked in Isael during the time of King Hezekiah is every helpful in understanding this passage. So let me recount with you this incredible story historical account from God’s Word.

Historical Context

• This story happens during a time when Israel and Judah are separate kingdom. Israel is in the north. Judah is in the south. Jerusalem is located in Judah. Both are nations of Jews, but politically, they are two separate kingdoms.
• Both Kingdoms have gone through a season of rebellion and refused to turn away from the secular idols and follow God. God warned them to return and follow Him. When they refused, God chose to bring them into a season of captivity and persecution in order to turn their hearts back to following after Him. He used Assyria as an instrument of His judgment.
• Much of Israel had been captured when Hezekiah took over as King of Judah. Right away, Hezekiah began making some changes. He saw that when his father, Ahaz, was the King, the people had strayed away from God and had followed after idols.
• Hezekiah called Israel back to repentance. 1 Kings 18 tells us that Hezekiah “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord,” and destroyed the shrines and temples erected to false gods and removed the idols that people were worshipping instead of worshipping God.
• 2 Kings 2:18 says, “⁵ He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.”
• Because Hezekiah began to walk on the path that God blesses, Judah enjoyed 14 years of relative peace. Then, Assyria showed up and wanted to expand their borders to include Jerusalem. That brief background brings us to Isaiah 36

Isaiah 36

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib (san-hey-reeb) king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ² And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh (rav—shack-aye) from Lachish (la-heeeesh) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army.

Rabshakeh is a title referring to the chief officer in the army. Skip down to verde 4

⁴ And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ⁵ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me?

Hezekiah did not recognize Sennacherib as the sovereign ruler over Judah and although it is recorded that in the past he had paid some kind of tribute or bride to Sennacherib to keep the peace, he was apparently no longer making these payments.

⁶ Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

The Rabshakeh was probing to see if Hezekiah had the backing of Egypt and was relying on Egypt’s army to protect Judah if they were to get into a conflict with Assyria.

⁷ But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?

Mistakenly, the Rabshakeh thought that when Hezekiah was destroying the shines, temples and relics of the false gods, he was destroying relics of Judaism. He did not understand that the destruction of the objects of false worship was honoring to the one true God and that Hezekiah was relying on the backing of the one true God to deliver them from the Assyrians.

Skip down to verse 13. The Rabshakeh tries to demoralize the people. He begins speaking loudly in Hebrew so that they can all hear and understand. Here’s what he says )Verse 13)

¹³ Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵ Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁶ Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim (sa-fair-ya-eeem)? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰ Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

The Rabshakeh was saying not only to Hezekiah, but all his people who had gathered that day that the God of the Bible was not more powerful than the false, pagan gods. And he was saying that the God of the Bible was by no means more powerful than the armies of Assyria. The Rabshakeh was not just threatening the Jews, but he was calling their God impotent.

²¹ But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

Jerusalem had not more than 25,000 people in it. It was just smaller than Cottonwood. The Assyrian army was camped outside the city and had at least 185,000 armed, trained men. It would seem to be a hopless situation except for the fact that Judah had the living God in their army.

Isaiah described their distress like a woman ready to give birth, but not having the strength enough to go through labor. Isaiah pleads with the Lord and the Lord speaks to Isaiah. In Chapter 37, verse 6 the Lord is now speaking:

⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

God plus 1 is always a majority.

God is the defender of His people and the defender of His glory.

Turn with me to Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Judah did not boast in fortresses and armies. They were not putting their trust in kings or weapons or technology. While the Assyrians placed their confidence in their large army, Judah had a far better refuge. When the Lord stands with His people, His power is far greater than the most powerful weapons devised of by men.

God is a dependable refuge for those who follow him, worship Him and obey His commands. He does not always remove us from the trials we face. Here’s what He does for His people: He does give us strength to face the battle and he’s fighting right alongside us. He’s not just around, but He is a “a very present help in trouble.”

All other refuges are refuges of lies and false hope. God alone is our all in all. Compared to God’s power, all other power is weakness.

In Isaiah 37, Israel was in a tight place. They were in a dark corner. They were backed against the wall. They did not have the physical resources to escape, but they served an incredibly powerful God. When the Assyrian officials threatened jerusalem, Isaiah tellls the king (Isaiah 37:6), “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard…”

The earth may change. The mountains may be thrown violently into the sea. There may be earthquakes and tidal waves, but all things are under the sovereign control of our Lord! Life is uncertain, but God is our certainty in uncertain times!

Knowing that God alone holds the power to deliver Judah, Hesekiah goes up to the temple, humbles himself and prays. Look at Isaiah 37:15

¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib (san-hey-reeb), which he has sent to mock the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. ²⁰ So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

God is our source of strength during difficult times.

Turn back to Psalm 46 verse 4

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
⁵ God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
⁶ The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

The scene in this psalm shifts to a scene inside the city of Jerusalem where the people are confined because an enemy army is encamped all around them. Water was the life blood of a city and especially important to a city like Jerusalem that depended not on a river for water but on a spring just outside the city walls.

But more important than water to a city under siege are the spiritual resources God alone provides for his people. When God’s people turn to the world for help, it always results in even worse trouble. But when God’s people humble themselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from their wicked ways, then God brings about all His supernatural resources and delivers them against all odds.

In Hezekiahs case, God immediately spoke through Isaiah and said these words (Isaiah 37 23)

²³ “‘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!

Skip to verse 28

²⁸ “‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
²⁹ 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.’

Then God, in a demonstration of his far superior power send out one angel and shows once and for all who is in charge and who is most powerful and who is the true king and ruler of earth. Look at verse 36

³⁶ 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.

God will be exalted in the Earth

The third scene in the psalm in on the fields surrounding Jerusalem where the Assyrian soldiers lay on the ground dead. No natural explanation. No signs of a battle or a massive invading army. God simply sent one angel and struck them all dead. And then he invites His people to observe the demonstration of His far superior power:

Psalm 46: 8

⁸ Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.

The Lord had personally defeated and disarmed the enemies of His people. They were so totally demolished that they could not attack any more. Hezekiah and his leaders had umbled themselves and prayed.   These powerful men admitted to God that they were powerless without Him and they asked for His help. When they creid out to God, He listened and responded for the glory of His name.

“Be Still” literally means, “take your hands off! Relax!” God is in control, He protects His people when they cry out to Him and He will glorify His name.
¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”

It must have been overwhelming to stand in the midst of that fallen army. It must have been eaily quiet. 185,000 men, fully armed laying in the dirt dead. In that stillness, there was no doubt who was God. In the midst of the undefeatable army laying on the ground totally defeated without a single arrow having been shot, the words “be still and know that I am God” must have had weighty significance.

Certainly they were muttering under their breath these word:

¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Life Application

God will often allow us to be up against a wall or backed into a corner so that our faith will grow and so the He will be exalted. If you are facing an overwhelming situation that only God could get you out of, then you are exactly where God wants you.

When you are forced to say, “if God does not come through for us, we are doomed,” then God gets all the glory when the breakthroughs are made. God received glory when the victory obviously does not come as a result of our strength but when He alone can be attributed for the victory.