When Fear Takes Over: Deliverance :21-38

I. God addresses those who instigate fear; 37:21-29.

21 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 king of , 22 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. 23 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! 24 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. 25 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.' 26 "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. 27 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. 28 "But I know where you stay and when you come and go and how you rage against me. 29 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.

Isaiah tells us that God gave His answer because Hezekiah prayed. God promises to judge the king; God promises to save His remnant; God promises to deliver Jerusalem; and God makes it clear that He does all of this for His own glory.

Sennacherib, has said, "Don't you know who I am? Don't you know what I have done to other nations? You should be afraid of me." God turns the whole thing around: "Don't you know who I am? Don't you understand the infinite power I have? You should be afraid."

It is not that the Assyrians defeated other nations because the gods of the nations are merely idols; they won because the God of the Jews allowed it. God will drag Sennacherib back to Assyria and have him assassinated.

God scoffs at human pride, arrogance, and accomplishments because He is Creator of all. Success in the past inciting fear and intimidation is not a guarantee that it will continue in the future. As a matter of fact, God promises that it will not. At some point God always says enough is enough and brings His judgment. All who live in spiritual defiance and who instigate fear should fear God instead.

What is God wanting you to bring to Him in prayer? Believers claim to care passionately about certain things and people that cause fear of loss, anger, and frustration. Yet do we care enough and believe God’s Word enough to pray an extra hour a day about it?

God knows every moment of your life and all you have thought and done. Although that deserves His wrath, He offers salvation and forgiveness through Jesus.

II. God encourages His people in the midst of fear; 37:30-32.

30 "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. 31 Once more a remnant of the house of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. 32 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.

God offers words of assurance to Hezekiah and to the remnant of Judah that survives. God promises to provide food for them as farming and harvests steadily return to normal. Although God has permitted a large amount of devastation to take place, He will not allow total destruction to occur.

God is still in the act of saving a remnant for Himself from a world full of fear and destruction. He offers salvation through faith in what He has done through Jesus. God has provided us a sign that He will keep His promise of salvation in the resurrection of Jesus and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit in each believer.

III. God reveals that He is over all; 37:33-38.

33 "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. 34 By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city," declares the LORD. 35 "I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!" 36 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! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god , 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.

Sennacherib will not enter the city: he will not shoot even one arrow; he will not come against the city with shield; he will not build a siege ramp against it. For all the terrifying power of the seemingly undefeatable army of Assyria, God's simple word overrules all things.

The reason God will act is for His sake and for the sake of David. God, who was mocked and blasphemed by Sennacherib protects His glory and honor. This was Hezekiah’s prayer. Because of God’s plan to redeem the world through Christ, the Son of David, He will defend Jerusalem from the Assyrians.

The angel of the Lord is sent out, and in one night he slaughters 185,000 Assyrian troops. The great Assyrian king breaks camp and quickly heads back to the safety of Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian empire. Sennacherib's sons assassinate their father while he is worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch.

Faith is a commitment to trust the will of God for whatever He may ask you to experience. God continually reminds people that they are not God in this life. But at the end of all things, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, some in praise and others to damnation.

God will not be mocked by human pride, power, success, determination, or intimidation. Fear is lout in what it threatens to bring to your life if you don’t change, trying to force you to react and focus on yourself. But God is greater and God’s Word conquers all. He shows fear what it truly is. Tables will be reversed.