37 ISAIAH THE VOLUNTEER WITH COURAGE

Isaiah is an outstanding prophet in several respects. He had great literary skills as is reflected in the beauty and force of his poetic expression, his deep insights and the accuracy of his predictions about Messiah. Some of the most beautiful explanations and interpretations of the ministry of the Messiah in the Bible are in the book of Isaiah. In this teaching, however, we will focus on two other aspects of his greatness, one, that when he was deeply moved by his spiritual experience he volunteered to go with God’s message to a resistant people and, two, that he was not afraid to tell the king what the king needed to hear. He was not a man-pleaser; he was a man with God’s message.

Isaiah 6 tells the story of Isaiah’s call to the prophetic ministry. He saw the glory of God in the temple and as a result of the experience realized his own unholiness. Verse five of that chapter says, “‘Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’” The Lord ministered to him by sending an angel with a specific message for Isaiah recorded in verses 6 and 7 which say, “6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah was evidently encouraged and made confident with that message because in the next verse God asks whom He might send and Isaiah volunteers. That verse says, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’” In the next verse God tells him that his listeners will not gladly receive his messages. It says, “He said, ‘Go and tell this people: “Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’” And that is just what happened. As we read the story of his exchanges with king Hezekiah and if you read the record of his experiences in the book of Isaiah, you will see that Isaiah did not have an easy road, yet he persisted and unflinchingly declared God’s messages. Isaiah’s call teaches us that the recognition of a need can constitute a call. Isaiah recognized a need and volunteered to serve. That is a great example. See a need and respond by volunteering.

Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah. He then reigned very well and fortified Jerusalem through a series of great military projects for fourteen years, when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came against Judah and began a series of threatening exchanges with him. Eventually, as is recorded in 2 Kings 19, Hezekiah took a threatening letter he received from Sennacherib to the temple and prayed the prayer recorded in 2 Kings 19:14-19 “14 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. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: ‘Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 16 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. 17 It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. 18 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. 19 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”” It was a wonderful prayer. God heard it and guided Isaiah to send a message of comfort to Hezekiah concluding with this powerful statement in verse 34, “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.” Then what happened? A great miracle occurred. Verses 35-37 say, “That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.”

That was one very powerful and wonderful answer to prayer. But then the story changes from victory to a subtle stubbornness, passive resistance and disobedience on the part of Hezekiah. Many readers of this story miss this change and assume that the Hezekiah, who had done so well, continued to do well, but that is not the accurate interpretation of this part of Hezekiah’s career. We have to interpret 2 Kings 20:1-19 in view of what other parts of the Bible say, in the next chapter which show the results of Hezekiah receiving 15 more years of life and 2 Chronicles which tell of his pride and how God left him to see what he would do. Here is what 2 Chronicles says and we will keep that in mind as we look at 2 King 20. 2 Chronicles 32:24-26 say, “In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign. 25 But 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. 26 Then Hezekiah repented of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the Lord’s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah.” Hezekiah was largely successful but in his pride he made huge political errors. 2 Chronicles 32:31 says, “But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.” The Bible interprets the Bible so, we have to take what Chronicles says into consideration when we interpret 2 Kings 20. When the envoys from Babylon came to Jerusalem, Hezekiah revealed his selfish and prideful heart. With this understanding, let’s look at how Isaiah deals with Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. Isaiah was a true man of God as we will see.

2 Kings 20:1-3 say, “In those days Hezekiah became ill 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.’ 2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 'Remember, 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.” Here are three reasons why we can understand that Hezekiah was resisting God and praying according to his own agenda and preferences. 1. He prayed the opposite of what Isaiah had told him. 2. He bragged. “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” and 3. He wept bitterly; not in contrition, devotion, humility, pleading with sincere intercession, but because he did not like Isaiah’s message, did not what to die and out of resistance to God’s will and the anger in his heart, with his face turn against the wall he wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had fully left the palace, God sent him back with another message for Hezekiah. God would heal him and give him 15 more years. Isaiah even gave him a choice as to what sign that he would receive to indicate that God would give him 15 more years. Hezekiah chose for the shadow on the stairway to go backwards ten steps. Here is what verses 9-11 say, “Isaiah answered, ‘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?’ 10 ‘It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,’ said Hezekiah. ‘Rather, have it go back ten steps.’ 11 Then the prophet Isaiah called on the Lord, and the Lord made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.”

The next scene in this drama relates the story of the visit of envoys from Babylon. Evidently the recovery of Hezekiah had impressed not only the people of Judah, but news of it had reached Babylon. Here is what  verses 12-13 say, “At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of Hezekiah’s illness. 13 Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.”

Hezekiah took his guests to his storehouses and armory and bragged about their possessions and military equipment. What? Did those treasures and that military equipment bring healing to Hezekiah when he was sick or victory on the battlefield when Sennacherib attacked? No! Why did Hezekiah not take his guests to the temple and show them where he had laid out the letter he had received from Sennacherib and tell about how the Lord God, the God over all the kingdoms of the earth, who made heaven and the earth, had killed 185 thousand Assyrian soldiers in one night. Why did he not tell how Sennacherib had returned to his home and was killed by two of his sons while he was worshipping in the temple of a false God in Assyria?

So Isaiah asked Hezekiah what did those men say and where did they come from? What did they see in your palace? Hezekiah truthfully told them, “From a distant land,” “They came from Babylon.” “They saw everything in my palace,” “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.” What Isaiah said next should have driven a sword into the conscience and spirit of Hezekiah. It should have made him burst out in tears and react violently against the horrible news of what would happen to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Isaiah delivered a stunning and brave word from the Lord to Hezekiah. It is recorded in verses 16-18. “Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: 17 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 18 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

As we read above, this terrible message should have struck great sorrow, repentance and brokenness into the heart of Hezekiah. A true leader will not only be concerned about the present generation, but also the next generation. Hezekiah seems to have no concern for either. He does not care that in the next generation great sorrow and loss will prevail. See what verse 19 says: “‘The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,’ Hezekiah replied. For he thought, ‘Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?’”

Epilogue  Now lets see what happened in the next generation. When we see the sad results of Hezekiah not dying when the prophet said to put his house in order and prepare to die, we must certainly conclude that Hezekiah made a serious mistake and prayed the wrong way. Many things Hezekiah did right and he is known to have been a good king, but the mistakes he made in his pride during the extended years he lived brought great ruin to Jerusalem and all of Judah. Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. Remember 15 years were added to Hezekiah’s life. This means that three years after Hezekiah should have died, Manasseh was born. Since Manasseh was born three years into the 15 years of Hezekiah’s extended life, then we can conclude that Manasseh was not a part of God’s good plan for Jerusalem and Judea. What kind of a king was Manasseh?

Here is what 2 Kings 21:1-6 say, “Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years. His mother’s name was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” 5 In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.”

Later God sent other prophets, not Isaiah, with this explanation of the evil done during Manasseh’s reign, Verses 10-16 say, “10 The Lord said through his servants the prophets: 11 “Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. 12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and give them into the hands of enemies. They will be looted and plundered by all their enemies; 15 they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”16 Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

As mentioned earlier in this teaching, the Bible interprets the Bible. When we read of the terrible things that are recorded in 2 Kings 21 it helps us understand that what is recorded in chapter 20 is a record of mistakes that brought on the horrible results revealed in chapter 21. If you are a serious Christian leader you will, I believe, have two reactions. (1) Hezekiah should have listened to Isaiah and (2) Isaiah was a courageous man of God who stood firmly for the right things. The time and manner of Isaiah’s death are not specified in either the Bible or other primary sources. However the Talmud says that he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh. Two early Christian scholars refer to Isaiah’s death at the instruction of Manasseh. Both Justin Martyr and Tertullian refer to the tradition that Isaiah met his death by being sawed in half. This tradition about Isaiah was probably in the mind of the author of Hebrews 11:37 when he wrote, “They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— .”

From what we read in 2 Kings 21 we can see that Manasseh would not have liked Isaiah. Isaiah would have represented what was righteous, good and godly. Surely Manasseh would have been glad to have this man killed. Whether the tradition of Isaiah’s death by Manasseh’s command is true or not, it remains a clear fact that Isaiah volunteered for his career as a prophet of God and that in righteousness he stood firm in his commitment to God’s messages and the full delivery of those messages.

Isaiah was a great prophet for many reasons. In this lesson we have looked at only two; he volunteered and stayed true to the message God wanted delivered. What an example!