HEZEKIAH: GOD BRINGS VICTORY

I. :14-37 Colossians 2:13-15 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 (To read all about , see: 2 King 18-20; 2 Chronicles. 29-32; 36-39)

A. King Hezekiah has been our topic for the past few Sundays. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Assyria was the evil super power of their day, conquering nations and expanding their empire from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. The Assyrian war machine was essentially unstoppable and their reputation for cruelty is documented in their own histories and artifacts.

B. Hezekiah was reigning at the time Israel (the northern ten tribes) were conquered and exiled by Assyria. He saw Judah invaded and 46 of her cities fall at the hands of king , including Judah's prized city of Lachish. Now the massive army of Assyria is encamped outside of . Their imperial spokesman, Rabshakeh, has given Hezekiah an ultimatum to surrender or face extermination. :27 sums up Rabshakeh's nasty taunts: “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and to drink their own urine?”

C. Hezekiah responds by ripping his garments, donning sackcloth, and going to the temple to cry out to God. He also dispatched his key priests to get the Word of the Lord from Isaiah the Prophet. Prophet, priests, and king are all seeking the Lord for an answer. 2 Chronicles 32:20 sums it well: "Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven."

D. 2 Kings 19:14-37 (ESV) is Hezekiah's prayer and God's Word through Isaiah...

1) V14-16: 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the 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. (He begins with worship) 16 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. (Hezekiah contends that the Assyrian king has not only insulted Judah, he's insulted and mocked the Most High God!)

2) V17-20: 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, O Lord, are God alone.” 20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. ("I have heard your prayer!" How many of you would rather God hear your prayer and say "no" then for Him ignore your prayers altogether?)

3) V21-22: 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him (Sennacherib): “She (Judah) despises you, she scorns you--the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you--the daughter of Jerusalem. 22 “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! ('When you mock and threaten my children you're mocking and threatening Me!')

4) V23-28: 23 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord, and you have said (Foolishly boasted), ‘With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon; I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its farthest lodging place, its most fruitful forest. 24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.’ 25 “Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? ('Guess Who's responsible for your alleged success?') I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins, 26 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown. 27 “But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me. ('I know where you live!') 28 Because you have raged against Me and your complacency (OV arrogance; insolence) has come into 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. (An unearthed Assyrian obelisk depicts the Assyrians with four captured enemy kings with hooks in their noses. God is now saying the tables will be turned!)

5) V29-30: 29 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. (Complete deliverance with full recovery.)

6) V31-34: 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this. 32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city (Jerusalem) or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.” (Remember Romans 8:31: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Without God you cannot win! With God you cannot lose! So what's gonna happen?)

7) Hezekiah has prepared Jerusalem for a fierce defense. He's extended and fortified walls, manufactured weapons, and trained his people for battle. He's diverted water from springs outside the city walls thru a masterfully engineered tunnel, readying his people for a long siege. 2 Chronicles 32:7-8 (ESV) are Hezekiah's words to Judah even before Isaiah spoke: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah." (Someone said, "Fear is faith in something or someone other than God." But camped just outside Jerusalem is a relentless army that does not lose. No one can rescue them but God!)

8) V35: 35 And that night the angel of the Lord (singular not plural) 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. (185,000 is the combined population of Fairfield and Perry Counties! The death toll at Hiroshima was 140,000! The U.S. combat death toll for the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, WW I, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq & Afghanistan, combined, was around 155,000. One angel takes out 185,000! Just think what two could do! Or a myriad! When Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus upon Jesus' arrest, Jesus says in Matthew 26:53: "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels?")

9) V36-37: 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. (Modern day Mosul in Iraq) 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

E. So what might the Lord be saying to us with regards to the woes of life we face? It's tough to sit with your loved one and hear the doctor say their time is short. Even tougher when the person is you. It's hard to have to move your parents into a nursing home. It's even harder when you're the one being moved there. It's heart-wrenching when a child or grandchild is taken suddenly from your life. "The smaller the coffin the heavier it is to carry!" Few things are worse than: finding out your best friend has been cheating with your wife; or you're falsely accused and facing the loss of a stellar career; or you see everything you've worked for suddenly taken from you by theft or betrayal or some horrible disaster. Would these find you prostrate before God and crying out to Him like Hezekiah and Isaiah?

F. Through the sacrifice of Christ, His death on the cross, He has triumphed in every way that truly matters. He's won victories we could never achieve for ourselves. He's conquered sin and death and secured for us eternal life! All other triumphs and victories pale in comparison! The next two verses are powerful:

1) Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT) 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross.

2) 1 Corinthians 15:50-57 (NLT) 50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. 51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. (Isaiah 25:8) 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (Hosea 13:14) 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Jesus triumphed over the grave and we will too!)

* Close with Prayer...

Scriptures, Videos, & Bonus Stuff

2 Kings 19:14-37 (ESV) 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the 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. 16 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, O Lord, are God alone.” 20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: “She despises you, she scorns you--the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you--the daughter of Jerusalem. 22 “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! 23 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, ‘With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon; I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its farthest lodging place, its most fruitful forest. 24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.’ 25 “Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins, 26 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown. 27 “But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against Me. 28 Because you have raged against Me and your complacency has come into 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. 29 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this. 32 “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. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.” 35 And that night 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. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. 37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Colossians 2:13-15 (NLT) 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for He forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, He disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by His victory over them on the cross.

1 Corinthians 15:50-57 (NLT) 50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. 51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. 54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Film Clips & Other Links

Angel Kills 185,000 Assyrians - David Platt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wmz2UVyt8Q

Hezekiah, Sennacherib, and Big Surprises - Dr. Bruce Gore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O5RHbq3BLI

Grisly Assyrian Record of Torture and Death - Erika Belibtreu http://faculty.uml.edu/ethan_Spanier/Teaching/documents/CP6.0AssyrianTorture.pdf

"Hear My Cry Oh Lord" (Psalm 61) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqbWzOJ0D34

Bonus Stuff

Isaiah 36:1-22 (ESV) 1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder. 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? 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. 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”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’” 11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?” 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? Have they delivered 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?’” 21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Isaiah 37:1-38 (ESV) 1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’” 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 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.’” 8 The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9 Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’” 14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 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, 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.” 21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to Me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: “‘She despises you, she scorns you--the virgin daughter of Zion; she wags her head behind you--the daughter of Jerusalem. 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! 24 By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest. 25 I dug wells and drank waters, to dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt. 26 “‘Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities crash into heaps of ruins, 27 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops, blighted before it is grown. 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.’ 30 “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 33 “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. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.” 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. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

On Mocking God By S. Michael Houdmann https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-not-mocked.html

Question: "What does it mean that God is not mocked?"

Answer: To mock God is to disrespect, dishonor, or ignore Him. It is a serious offense committed by those who have no fear of God or who deny His existence. The most easily recognized form of mockery is disrespect typified by verbal insults or other acts of disdain. It is associated with ridicule, scoffing, and defiance. Mockery is a dishonoring attitude that shows low estimation, contempt, or even open hostility.

In the mockery is a behavior and attitude shown by the fool (Psalm 74:22), the wicked (Psalm 1:1), the enemy (Psalm 74:10), the hater of knowledge (Proverbs 1:22; 13:1), the proud (Psalm 119:51; Isaiah 37:17), and the unteachable (Proverbs 15:12). A mocker goes beyond mere lack of judgment to making a conscious decision for evil. Mockers are without a spirit of obedience, teachability, discernment, wisdom, worship, or faith.

Those who mock God will mock the people of God as well. The prophet "became the laughingstock of all my people" and was mocked "in song all day long" (Lamentations 3:14). Mockery of God's prophets was commonplace (2 Chronicles 36:16). Nehemiah was mocked by his enemies (Nehemiah 2:19). was mocked by the youths of (2 Kings 2:23). And of course our Lord Jesus was mocked—by Herod and his soldiers (Luke 23:11), by the Roman soldiers (Mark 15:20; Luke 23:36), by a thief on a cross (Luke 23:39), and by the Jewish leaders who passed by the cross (Matthew 27:41).

It is easy for us as believers to point the finger at those outside the church who mock God. But the most subtle mockery of God, and the most dangerous, comes from those of us sitting in church. We are guilty of mockery when we behave with an outward show of spirituality or godliness without an inward engagement or change of heart.

Charles G. Finney, a preacher in the 1800s, wrote about the effects of mocking God: "To mock God is to pretend to love and serve him when we do not; to act in a false manner, to be insincere and hypocritical in our professions, pretending to obey him, love, serve, and worship him, when we do not. . . . Mocking God grieves the Holy Spirit, and sears the conscience; and thus the bands of sin become stronger and stronger. The heart becomes gradually hardened by such a process."

God warns that mockery of what is holy will be punished. Zephaniah predicted the downfall of and , saying, "This is what they will get in return for their pride, for insulting and mocking the people of the LORD Almighty" (Zephaniah 2:10). Isaiah 28:22 warns that mockery will cause the chains of Judah's sin to become stronger and that destruction will follow. Proverbs 3:34 says that God will mock the mocker but give favor to the humble and oppressed. Second Kings 2:24 records the punishment that befell the youths who jeered Elisha.

This is what it means that God is not mocked. There are repercussions for ignoring God's directives and willfully choosing sin. Adam and Eve tried and brought sorrow and death into the world (Genesis 2:15–17; 3:6, 24). Ananias and Sapphira's deception brought about a swift and public judgment (Acts 5:1–11). Galatians 6:7 states a universal principle: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows."

God cannot be deceived (Hebrews 4:12–13). Achan's sin (Joshua 7) and 's flight (Jonah 1) were not unknown to God. Jesus' repeated words to every church in Revelation 2—3 were, "I know your works." We only deceive ourselves when we think our attitudes and actions are not seen by an all-powerful and all-knowing God.

The Bible shows us the way to live a blessed life, sometimes by the good examples of godly men and women and sometimes by the negative examples of those who choose to follow another path. Psalm 1:1–3 says, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."

Recommended Resource: Knowing God by J.I. Packer

- While he is not the author of every article on GotQuestions.org, for citation purposes, you may reference our CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.