Life, death, prayer and God's encouragements
Text 2 Kings 20:1-11 Time 29/06/14 Place Alfred Place Baptist Church Prayer Meeting
Many years ago when I was
still quite young in the ministry I remember asking a very serious
question at a ministers fraternal about preaching. Several helpful
things were said but I remember one older minister (Paul Cook) saying
that it is important not to take ourselves too seriously. I think
that is true for all of us not just ministers.
Some of us can too easily
get a sense of our own importance. One of the things I've noticed
since my heart operation back in April is the way the church in
Childs Hill has more or less carried on as it did before I fell ill,
perhaps a bit better in some ways. God sometimes does things like
that to teach us all to look to him.
We have all heard of
Robert Murray M'Cheyne and how godly he was and a godly preacher and
yet it was when he was away in the Middle East far from Dundee that
revival came to his church under the preaching of a student – the
much lesser known William C Burns.
We mustn't take ourselves
too seriously, then, but on the other hand we must take ourselves
seriously, nevertheless. Life is a serious business – eternity
hangs on it and so much else. I'm not sure exactly what Socrates
meant when he said that "the unexamined life is not worth
living" but I'm sure he was right. Paul tells us doesn't he that
we ought to examine ourselves each time we come to communion. Examine
yourselves he says elsewhere to
see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
Now I've had a lot to
think about this year. I was listening to a lecture about Whitefield
recently. It is the three hundredth anniversary of his birth this
year. Whitefield died when he was 55. That's my age now. He probably
died from angina pectoris, which was more or less my problem, except
that today a heart by-pass operation has become routine and so I have
been given a new lease of life. Now why God would end the life of a
Whitefield at 55 and extend my life to preach however many more years
is an imponderable providence but we know that God knows best. I
don't know how much longer I will live, how many more sermons I might
preach but clearly there must be an acknowledgement of God's goodness
in this and a determination not to waste the opportunity that has
been given.
Because of what has
happened I've been thinking quite a lot this year about King
Hezekiah. As you know, he received a death sentence from God but then
in answer to his prayer he was granted another 15 years of life. I
don't find it difficult at all to identify – although God hasn't
given me, or anyone else here, a guarantee of another 15 years – or
even five years or one year or one hour.
Nevertheless, I think it
would be good to look briefly at 2 Kings 20:1-11 for a moment and
make some points from it. Although the circumstances are unique the
principles are universal.
1. Recognise that God
decides when you die and you need to be ready
We
read how In those days the
days when Assyria had been attacking Judah (Chapters 19 and 20 are
not chronological it seems – Chapter 20 shows us Hezekiah at his
best and worst) Hezekiah became ill some
sort of skin disease it seems and was at the point of
death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, "This
is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going
to die; you will not recover." The
same story is in Isaiah 38 but with a song of celebration that
Hezekiah wrote at the time. I guess Hezekiah was about 39 – not 40
then. His wicked father Ahaz was 36 when he died so Hezekiah ought
not to have been surprised, I guess. Life expectancy is greater today
but people still die at every age. There is no age at which you can
guarantee you will live on. All we know is that the longer we live
the closer we must be to the day we die. We will not have a prophet
to announce it to us but a time will come when we will need to put
our house in order and be ready to die. There may be more than one
time like that. Richard Baxter, you may know was one of those men who
was always likely to die but lived a long life into his seventies and
preached as a dying man to dying men. Some time it really will be it,
if not the first time then the next and if not the next some time
after that. We must always be ready.
2.
See the power of prayer to avert the day of death
We read in verses 2 and 3 that in
response to this Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and
prayed to the LORD, "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before
you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is
good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. We
then read (4, 5) that Before Isaiah had left the middle
court, the word of the LORD came to him: "Go back and tell
Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the God of
your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your
tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to
the temple of the LORD. Hezekiah
doesn't sound very noble here – turning his face to the wall,
weeping and seemingly boasting about how good he is. However, the
turning to the wall was simply for privacy or perhaps a turn in the
direction of the temple and the weeping and the apparent boasting is
really a concern that in the midst of Israel's troubles they should
not be deprived of their king.
The
prayer certainly received an immediate response, Isaiah having to
return even before he had left the palace with a fresh message, this
time not of death but of recovery and life. Very shortly he would be
well again. God sometimes does that – he seems to speak categorically but then there is room for change. It happens in Jonah when
despite Jonah's message the repentance of the Ninevites changes
everything.
God
does as he pleases in response to our prayers, of course, but when we
pray he often responds positively. That has certainly been my
experience. I have prayed to be spared a little longer and so have
many others and God appears to have responded positively. Let's be in
no doubt about God's power to avert death even when it looks as
though that is impossible.
3.
Thank God that he is able to add to a person's life in order to get
glory for himself
In verse 6 God says to Hezekiah
through Isaiah I will add fifteen years to your life. And I
will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria
the announcement of Hezekiah's
death had come right in the midst of that crisis I will
defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.
God rarely makes a promise on
its own. Here we see at least two commitments beyond the initial one
to spare Hezekiah's life. The most obvious is the extra 15 years –
that would still only bring Hezekiah to 55 but it was 15 years more
than had seemed likely. Another 15 would bring me to 70. I would be
very thankful for that. Then there is the promise of deliverance from
the Assyrians. What a great promise that is for Hezekiah and his
people.
All
this God says he will do for my sake and for the sake of my
servant David. It is important
that we always keep in mind God's ultimate purpose – to glorify
himself and his Son Jesus Christ. Why was Hezekiah spared? That there
might be more glory to God? Why have I been spared? That there might
be more glory to God. Why have you been spared? That you may glorify
God.
4.
Be prepared to make use of all legitimate means to prolong life
Then in verse 7 we have a verse that
some rather pious people would be tempted to leave out. How did
Hezekiah get healed? By prayer you say. I have already acknowledged
the importance of prayer in my recovery and all of us have to say
that we are alive today partly because of prayer. But look at verse 7
Then Isaiah said, "Prepare a poultice of figs."
They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered. God
uses means and prayer is not the only means he uses. Without the
poultice of figs Hezekiah would not have recovered. Without a by-pass
op I might not be here tonight. All of us – with food and drink and
medicine how different our situation might be. Let's not forget that
very practical point. I fear that some Christians have a latent
suspicion of medicine, as if it is a lesser providence to be healed
by medicine than to be healed purely by prayer. That is a
misunderstanding of how God intends the world to work.
5.
Sometimes God will give a sign to encourage us that all is well
In verse 8 we are told that
Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, "What will be the sign that the LORD
will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the
third day from now?" He did
not lack faith but he knew Isaiah was a prophet and he looked for
some sort of sign to encourage him in his faith. Isaiah
answered straightaway
(God had obviously communicated
this to him) This is the LORD's sign to you that the LORD
will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps,
or shall it go back ten steps? Isaiah
refers to the stairway of Ahaz which Hezekiah could presumably see
from his sick bed. Some think it was some sort of sun dial but it may
have just been a staircase. Hezekiah says (10, 11) It is a
simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps, … that
is simpler Rather, have it go back ten steps. Then the
prophet Isaiah called upon the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go
back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. How
quickly the miracle happened, how it happened and how equilibrium was
restored we have no way of knowing but a great miracle it certainly
was and it confirmed Hezekiah in his faith. We do not expect God to
do such miracles today. He has already sent his Son to die and raised
him from the dead. What more miracles could we want? However, God
does give us encouragements to trust him, especially when we have
been through tough times. I suppose little Gwilym my newborn grandson is such an
encouragement to me. God has spared me to see him and may be I'll see
more grandchildren. He knows. The same with you. You only have to
look and you will see tokens of God's kindness in your life even
though you may have been tested – almost lost your life even. What
reason we have then to give thanks to him.
One
final thing to add here is that it is salutary to think that it was
in these final 15 years that not only did God deliver
Hezekiah and Jerusalem
from the hand of the king of Assyria but,
as we see here, he foolishly invites the Babylonians in to spy on his
land. It is the Babylonians who would eventually take Judah into
exile. In 2 Chronicles 32 it also says that Hezekiah's
heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him;
therefore the LORD's wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem. It
is in this period that wicked Manasseh is born (three years after
this event). Although Manasseh did repent in the end we are told more
than once that the LORD did not turn away from
the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of
all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger. The
affect of Hezekiah's bad example on his son cannot be overlooked.
Even here there is a silver lining, however, as not only did Manasseh
repent but it is through Manasseh that the line of Messiah comes.
Both Hezekiah and Manasseh were direct ancestors of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When God announced Hezekiah's death it was nevertheless his
intention that he should live to father this child, an ancestor of
Christ.
