Jerusalem’s Deliverance Foretold
When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the LORD. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.”
When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’”
When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.
Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the Cushite king of Egypt, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my forefathers deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, or of Hena or Ivvah?”
Hezekiah’s Prayer
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
“It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”
Sennacherib’s Fall
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word the LORD has spoken against him:
“The Virgin Daughter of Zion
despises and mocks you.
The Daughter of Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers
you have heaped insults on the Lord.
And you have said,
‘With my many chariots
I have ascended the heights of the mountains,
the utmost heights of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the choicest of its pines.
I have reached its remotest heights,
the finest of its forests.
I have dug wells in foreign lands
and drunk the water there.
With the soles of my feet
I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
“Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched before it grows up.
“But I know where you stay
and when you come and go
and how you rage against me.
Because you rage against me
and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came.
“This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah:
“This year you will eat what grows by itself,
and the second year what springs from that.
But in the third year sow and reap,
plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Once more a remnant of the house of Judah
will take root below and bear fruit above.
For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,
and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
“Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria:
“He will not enter this city
or shoot an arrow here.
He will not come before it with shield
or build a siege ramp against it.
By the way that he came he will return;
he will not enter this city,”
declares the LORD.
“I will defend this city and save it,
for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”
Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer cut him down with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.
My Understanding: This is a continuation of the story that began in chapter 36, which the Lord gave me his understanding of in a writing titled, “Deceptive Spirits.” The characters again are:
1. The King of Assyria – Satan
2. The King of Jerusalem – Jesus Christ
3. Jerusalem – the true church; the redeemed of the Lord; the saints of God
4. Assyria – Satan’s kingdom where Satan has his throne
5. Isaiah – the Lord’s servants and witnesses
The king of Assyria has conquered all the earthly kingdoms of this world, so now he has his sights set on conquering the saints of Almighty God. The book of Daniel, and the book of Revelation, in particular chapters 13-14, teaches us what we should expect with regard to these last days before the return of Christ, as well as Jesus Christ and the apostles gave similar warnings as to what we should expect to have happen to us as true followers of Jesus Christ. The king of Assyria was and is out to destroy God’s people, true Israel, i.e. true believers in Jesus Christ as Messiah and Lord. In chapter 36 we read of all the many ways in which this king of Assyria mocked God and his people, lied and manipulated, and tried to persuade God’s people to come over to his way of thinking, instead of them following the Lord their God, and instead of placing their hope and trust in the Lord.
He is the voice of Satan who speaks his lies to our hearts all the time and tries to get us to fear man, to give up, to believe we cannot hear the voice of God speaking to us, and that man has to be God’s voice to us, and that we have to follow man without question and do what he says, and to think we are too weak to be used of God. Satan’s goal is to stop the spreading of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and he will pull out all the stops in order to do that. Right now he has lied to and has convinced the church that they must follow man’s teachings and philosophies for how to build businesses as a means for building churches, but all they are building are man-made businesses, because that is not how God builds his church. Satan (the king of Assyria) is the same voice that has taught the church to worship the government and military of the USA without question, and to believe all their lies so that they won’t know all the evil that is going on behind closed doors.
He is the voice that has taught the church to water down the truth of the gospel and to make it more palatable so that people will accept it, but what they are accepting is no gospel at all, and is a false hope that will send them straight to hell. He is the voice that has convinced the church that life is about entertainment and possessions and having fun with their friends, and that having people like you is more important than whether or not you ever tell them the truth about their sins and their need to repent and to believe the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He is the voice that says we need to drug up our bodies and to numb our minds in order to solve the troubles of our minds and hearts. The voice of truth says that Jesus Christ is our healer and our deliverer, and he is able to do more than we can possibly imagine. He is the one who created us, so he knows our minds better than anyone. If Satan can numb our minds with drugs, entertainment, alcohol, pornography, TV, movies, games, electronic devices, etc. then he has us right where he wants us in the palm of his hand. He has successfully kept us from living for and following our Lord Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands, and he has kept us from spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ so that man might be saved and might spend eternity with God in heaven.
Grieving and Mourning
When King Hezekiah heard what all the king of Assyria was saying, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent the leaders underneath him, all wearing sackcloth, to Isaiah. They told Isaiah what Hezekiah said: “This is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the point of birth and there is no strength to deliver them.” Wow! I identify with that both on a physical and a spiritual level. They asked Isaiah to pray for the remnant and for God Almighty to hear the mocking words of the field commander and to rebuke him who was obeying his master, the king of Assyria (Satan). And, I believe Jesus Christ, the king of Jerusalem, is calling out to his servants and witnesses right now for us to come to him in humility and repentance and to call on him to save his remnant from the deception and lies of the king of Assyria (Satan). I am praying, weeping and wailing over the church that has fallen under the deception of Satan - that God will save them from that deception and will open their blinded eyes to see the truth of Satan’s lies that they have believed and to know the truth that will set them free. Amen!
So, Isaiah did pray to God and God gave this response: “Do not be afraid of what you have heard – those words with which the underlings” – the dogs – “of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! I am going to put a spirit in him so that when he hears a certain report, he will return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down by the sword.” And, the Lord God is giving the same message to his children today. We are not to fear the lies of Satan coming against us. We are not to fear what man might do to us, because we are the Lord’s and he is quite capable of taking care of his own. Nothing can touch us unless God allows it and he allows it for a purpose, and even then he will be there with us to give us strength and courage and to see us through it to victory over our enemy Satan. The devil is going to arrest many of us and put us on trial and he will trump up all kinds of evil lies against us, but we are not to fear. We are not to yield to Satan’s lies but we are to trust in the strength of the Lord and not deny the name of Jesus Christ! The battle is the Lord’s!
The “underling” withdrew when he heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, and he found the king fighting against Libnah. Satan is not going to give up easily, but we must resist him in the strength of the Lord. We must put on the full armor of God and take our stand against his wicked schemes and he will flee for a time, but he will regroup and he will come back, so we can never drop our guard. The king of Assyria once again mocked God and told Hezekiah not to let God deceive him. Wow! Those are words right out of Satan’s mouth that I have heard coming out of the mouths of men, too. And, then he began to boast in his own strength and again to try to cast doubt on God’s promises. Doesn’t this sound just like the snake in the Garden of Eden tempting Eve not to believe God? We must not yield to these lies of Satan! We have to check out what is true and what is false so we are not intimidated into accepting the lies and denying the truth.
Hezekiah’s Prayer
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. We need to do that, too, whenever we hear anything or read anything. We need to inquire of the Lord as to what he thinks about the situation and for him to show us what is true and what is false. Journaling helps with this greatly, because when Satan lies to us, we can go back and read what the Lord has taught us through his word and we can refute Satan’s lies with the truth. And, know that Satan will take the truth and will twist it to his advantage, so beware! Hezekiah prayed:
“O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
“It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”
And, this is how we need to be praying, too, not that the Lord would deliver us from persecution, famine or death, but that he would deliver us from Satan’s lies and deceptions and our eyes will be opened and we will hear the words of the Lord speaking to us and we will walk in his truth and we will be about the master’s business in sharing the gospel message of Jesus Christ and of his salvation to a world who is headed for hell.
The Fall of Satan
God will permit Satan, the beast and the false prophet to reign on the earth for a time, times and half a time and to kill the saints of Almighty God, yet we are not to fear him or what he might do to us, but we do need to pray that the Holy Spirit of God will not allow us to yield to Satan and to his lies but that we will have the mind of Christ and the strength of the Lord saying: “This is the way, walk in it!” We must be strong and not fear, because Satan’s greatest weapon against us is to use his lies and deceptions to get us afraid so that we back down. Don’t yield! And, don’t ever give up, because the battle is the Lord’s! And, the battle is for our minds and our hearts. Be strong in the strength of the Lord!!
There is a day when Satan will meet his doom and all those who followed after his lies. When Satan and his followers attack the saints of God, they are really attacking Jesus Christ. He will feel he is empowered and that he is the one giving himself the strength to overcome the people of the world and to conquer them, but he cannot do anything but what God permits it and God has a day of judgment already prepared for him and his followers. So know that there is no question about who wins this battle. Jesus has already won! Claim the victory that is ours in Christ Jesus, our Lord, over this enemy Satan. God knows everything that goes on. He knows about all the dirty secrets and lies and deceptions and plots of evil that go on behind closed doors. One day it will all be brought into the light and God will expose the motives of men’s hearts and will reveal the truth for what it is. He knows those who are raging against him and against his saints. Nothing escapes his notice. He will bring Satan and his followers to justice and he will ultimately rescue his people physically, too, from Satan’s grip, when he returns for his bride and he takes us to be with him in glory forever and ever. Amen!
Then, the Lord gave instructions to Hezekiah which he then passed down to his people on how they were to survive during what appears to be reference to the 3.5 years of the second half of the tribulation when Satan reigns on the earth. The Lord, from when he first began giving me dreams and visions with regard to these final days on the earth, gave me a picture of cities of refuge where the remnant would live during the second half of the tribulation. This passage appears to apply that there is a place of safety where the remnant can grow food and can survive. They will take root below appears to suggest that they established some type of community, and the bearing of fruit above also fits with the promises I believe the Lord has given me from his word that there will be a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God and God will visit his people in revival and that many hearts will turn to the Lord during this time. He gave me the picture of the fishermen Jesus told to cast their nets out into the deep and they caught more fish than their boats could hold. I believe this is a picture of the salvation of human lives for eternity.
Yet, whether or not this is speaking of an actual physical city of refuge and actual food and survival or if this is speaking metaphorically today to how God will provide for his people, the city of God, and how Satan will not be able to infiltrate our ranks anymore because our eyes will be opened and we will recognize the traitors and the fakers. This does not mean Satan will not bring physical harm or death to the children of God, but that he will no longer be able to use his darts of deception and lies against them because they will bond together to fight off his lies and to believe the truth of the gospel. The Lord will defend us spiritually against all Satan’s attacks and he will deliver us from lies and deception so that we are free indeed, and he will do this because his servants believed him and his word and they prayed in faith believing God for this deliverance. And, we must believe God to daily deliver us from Satan’s evil attacks against our minds and hearts, against the truth of God’s word, and against the Lord’s servants in trying to convince them that he has power over them. We need to refute his lies with the truth of who we are in Jesus Christ. The battle is the Lord’s!
Jesus, I am Resting, Resting / Jean Sophia Pigott / 1845-1882
Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.
O, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea!
O, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Belovèd,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart;
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings:
Thine is love indeed!
Ever lift Thy face upon me
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting ‘neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,
Earth’s dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father’s glory,
Sunshine of my Father’s face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,
Fill me with Thy grace.
Jesus, I am resting, resting,
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
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