Isaiah Chapter 38 "Hezekiah's Sickness; Isaiah Gives Answer to Prayer." This Bible Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org In this chapter we will see a little of Hezekiah's inner self, for many times we wait until their is a real tragedy in the family before we seek help from our Heavenly Father. Should he have sought the Lord's help in the first place, the crisis may have been avoided. Many times it takes a broken body to slow the person down enough to focus in on our Heavenly Father and His Word. So lets take a personal look at Hezekiah and the crises in His life. Isaiah 38:1 "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, "Thus saith the Lord, `Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.' ' " Hezekiah was not a bad king, it was that he just never paid attention to God when the times were good. Now that he sees the end of his life coming to a close in his sickness, Isaiah came to him with a message from the Lord. That message was to get his personal matters in order because he is going to die. Isaiah 38:2 "Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord," Hezekiah is about to die and when God's prophet Isaiah gave the news direct from God, He knew it would happen. One thing you can say about Hezekiah, he knew when it is time to pray and get right with God. In the last chapter, when the Assyrian army was surrounding the city, and about to starve it out, then Hezekiah went to the Lord on the Lord's terms, and prayed as a prayer ought to be prayed. For the glory of God. Hezekiah did not even ask Isaiah to intercede on his behalf before the Lord. Hezekiah went straight to the Father, and that is what we ought to do. Isaiah 38:3 "And said, "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight." And Hezekiah wept sore." Hezekiah is trying to be honest with the Lord, even though man in the flesh does not have a perfect heart, outside of our Savior. Hezekiah repented before the Lord, and tried to pour his heart out to the Lord in repentance. Isaiah 38:4 "Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying," God is using His man Isaiah to speak through. Isaiah 38:5 "Go, and say to Hezekiah, `Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, `I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years." Notice that Hezekiah did not go begging with God, but sought repentance to make himself right before the Lord. Because God heard him, and God sought to add fifteen years to Hezekiah's life. Isaiah 38:6 "And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city." The Assyrians had been at the walls of Jerusalem, and a letter was sent back to Hezekiah stating that the Assyrian army would return. God is telling Hezekiah here that not only will his life be spared and fifteen years added to his life, but God told him that the Assyrians would not be coming back, so just don't worry about them. From this time forward it would be God defending the city, and not the men on the walls. What a weight to take off this dying man's shoulders. Isaiah 38:7 "And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He hath spoken;" God is promising Hezekiah that not only will He do this for Hezekiah, but He would give Hezekiah a sign that he would know that it was God making this commitment. When God gives you a sign, He expects you to pay attention to that sign, and look out for it. Isaiah 38:8 " 'Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down' ' " In other words, God turned the time backward, not just holding the earth in place for the rotation, but actually reversed it in orbit for that ten degrees. He did this act for the sake of assuring Hezekiah that what He had committed to him, God would keep that commitment. Remember back in Joshua's day, God lengthened the day by doing the same thing. Only in Joshua's day time was added to the day to give the time to secure the victory for the children of Israel, when they were trying to secure the promise land. Isaiah 38:9 "The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:" This is a letter from Hezekiah, the king of Judah describing his feelings while he was recovering from this illness. Though Hezekiah went to the Father when he was in serious trouble, we should go to Him daily for strength and help and give Him thanks for those things that he provides for us as we live our lives. When you call upon Him daily, and express your love for Him, most of the problems that come your way just won't happen. Isaiah 38:10 "I said "in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years." Hezekiah is saying that after God had told him that he was going to die, I saw that much of my life would be taken from me. I am going to die at a very young age. Isaiah 38:11 "I said, "I shall not see THE LORD, even THE LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world." Hezekiah is speaking to himself and saying; I know that I would be taken out of this flesh body, and departed from the men and women walking in the flesh in this world. I know this will happen because the Lord told me so. Isaiah 38:12 "Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: He will cut me off with pinning sickness: from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me." A "shepherd's tent" can be taken down instantly and removed. Hezekiah knew that his life would be taken just as fast as the weaver can cut the thread. The thread used here is the thread that is cut from the end roll, and the finish of the pattern. This means that when the cut is made and over, the pattern is completed. Hezekiah's sickness was going to cut into his life before he had time to get into the maturity of his manhood. Isaiah 38:13 "I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will He break all my bones: from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me." This is a harsh way to think of God, and your relationship with Him. I hope you do not take this same attitude towards our Heavenly Father. When a lion attacks a man to take his life, it is a taring, ripping act that crushes the bones of a man. That is not how our Heavenly Father feels and acts to His children. Isaiah 38:14 "Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me." Hezekiah has completely given up and discarded his life, and given himself over to God. Though he knows that it is all over, Hezekiah still had the faith to ask God to have mercy and intercede on His behalf. It never hurts to ask God to intercede on your behalf especially when it looks like there is no hope for you. If nothing else, ask God for wisdom. God will not act unless you ask for help. Jesus told us this in Matthew 18:19; "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father Which is in heaven." Jesus instructed us in John 14:13; "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14:14 "If ye shall ask any thing in My name, I will do it." John 14:15 "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever;" John 14:17 "Even the Spirit of truth; Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." Many wonder why God has never done anything for them; they haven ever asked Him to. To not ask shows your lack of faith, and that shows God that you don't believe God will act on your prayers anyway. Isaiah 38:15 "What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul." There is a good surprise coming to Hezekiah here, as he submits himself to God's will. He is amazed that God Himself heard his prayers, and responded to him. When God responds to your prayers it is proof that He loves you, and cares for you and your needs. God put up with a lot of trouble with Hezekiah before he submitted to God; but when Hezekiah did submit to Him, God acted on his behalf. Isaiah 38:16 "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt Thou recover me, and make me to live." Our God is the God of the living whether the man is deceased or not. God created all souls, and only God can end the life of a soul. When the flesh body is done away with and the flesh body goes back into the dust of the earth, the soul goes instantly to be with the Father that send it at the time of conception. Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it." There is no soul sleeping in the grave, for when your flesh body dies, your soul still lives with the Father until after the time of judgment, and then we move into our eternal spiritual bodies, as the angels have. Only the Father can make a soul die. Jesus said in Matthew 10:28: Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him Which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Isaiah 38:17 "Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back." It doesn't matter what your sins are, God will do that for you, if you will repent them to the Father in Jesus name, and follow Him. Many people like to hang on to the little sins that they have committed after they have repented that sin. They as God to forgive them, but they can't forgive themselves. Friend, if you believe that Christ died on the cross, and that his blood shed on that cross was for the sins of yours that you confess, and you believe on His name, then why do you want to hand on to them. When our Heavenly Father said they are forgiven, that is it, they are gone forever. Only the devil and those attached to Satan want to throw your sins back into your face. Don't sit around an let anyone attack you for anything that has been repented to the Father in Jesus name, and forgiven. Of course if an apology is necessary, then give it and then forget it. If that party refuses to accept it, then that is between them and God, not you. God loves His children when they come to Him and hold nothing back, and ask Him for their help. Tell Him you love Him and know in your heart that He can accomplish what has to be done. Isaiah 38:18 "For the grave cannot praise Thee, death can not celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth." This is saying that the hope for us is when we live in these flesh bodies. We can then see our sins and confess them to Him. Once we have died and gone to the grave, it is to late to accept the salvation by His grace through the faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. There is no salvation, or life in the grave, nor is there any hope. The "death" that can not celebrate God is the Devil, and the whole reason that Christ came into this world was to defeat "death", who is the devil, Satan. This was the sole purpose that Jesus Christ was willing to go to the cross, for through his death on the cross, all the ties that Satan held on us was broken, and we then have access to the Father through our faith in Jesus Christ, and His name. Hebrews 2:14 "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that hd the power of death, that is, the devil." Friend, there is no other name under heaven whereby you can be saved, then the name of Jesus Christ. That is the only credentials that God the Father will accept, when he hears your prayers. It was the devil in the first earth age that caused one third of God's children to rebel against Him, and this is why Satan does not want to celebrate God. Satan knows that he is doomed to the pit and to hell fire, and he desires to bring your soul there with him. Isaiah 38:19 "The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known Thy truth." Hezekiah is giving it twice for emphasis, that he shall praise God and make God known to all of God's children. He will make God living Word known to all men, that it shall be passed on from father to children through all generations. Isaiah 38:20 "The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord." Hezekiah did write some of the most beautiful psalms, such as Psalm 122, 134. Isaiah 38:21 "For Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover." We can learn now what was wrong with Isaiah, and the treatment that God advised Isaiah to take to Hezekiah's doctors. Hezekiah was ready to die, and God said to take a lump of figs and make a poultice (pressed figs, as an emollient) out of the figs, and place it on the boil, and he shall recover. There is a great hidden meaning behind this. Have you made a covering and placed it over your mind concerning the parable of the fig tree? Have you placed a fig cake of truth and placed it as a plasiter on your mind, to keep you from biblical illiteracy? Included in those truths is the understanding of the events that will transpire in this generation. The poison in Hezekiah's boil was built up to the point that he was about to die. But in the natural sense, that fig cake was placed on that boil and out came the poison. He was healed by the following of God's instruction. God works in natural ways, and Hezekiah was healed by using the natural things of God's creation. Hezekiah prayed and asked God for healing, and God told him to use a fig plaister, and when he used the fig cakes it seemed so natural. Do you see how God works in natural ways? He allows us to open our eyes to the truths around us to see and understand His natural ways. Be careful to give God the credit, and not sink to the level of accepting it as happening by chance, for just as God can lengthen the days, He also can shorten those same days. Though God is supernatural, he does most of his work in a natural way. When we receive that help, make sure you give Him all the praise. Isaiah 38:22 "Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?" The degrees of the song are the sign that gave Hezekiah the knowledge that God was going to heal him. The "degrees of the song" are the degrees that filter into the minds of the people. So what is the sign? They are not the slogans used in the church world today. The signs today are the events that are coming to pass exactly as God said that they would. To Hezekiah the signs were the sun that moved backward ten degrees, and the healing by the fig plaister. To us living today it all started with the forming of the Jewish state in 1948, and the continuation of all the other events, including the forming of the one world political system, and the forming of the four hidden dynasties. We are to observe all the sign and mark them well in our minds, for they are our guide posts through these final years of this earth age. They are given so that we will not be deceived by Satan when he comes to play the role of the Antichrist.
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