There’s something about people, typically, that makes us have a great distaste for inconsistency. We simply like to know what we’re getting or where we can classify someone or something. The coach struggles when his team is inconsistent. Friendships grow rocky when you don’t know what to expect from one another. And children’s entire lives can be thrown off altogether (it seems) if their schedule becomes inconsistent. There is simply something within us that screams at the sight of inconsistency.

This is a big reason why, I believe, we have such a problem with the two chapters we are looking at this morning that deal with an episode in the life of Hezekiah. Hezekiah could rightly be described as a good king in the life of Judah. In order to find one who was like him in his pursuit of righteousness and disdain for holiness, one would have to go all the way back to David. The Scripture tells us of his labors in cleansing the temple, restoring temple worship, and removing pillars and places of idol worship. And if one would have to back to David to find a king like him that had come before him, 2 Kings 18:5 tells us that “there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him.” In short, he was a good king, and his faith displayed in the events recorded in chapters 36-37 (which William looked at last week) provides for one of the most exciting stories in all of Scripture. Yet then you have our text this morning, one in which Hezekiah gives us a picture of some of the most selfish images you will see in all of Scripture. And to top it off, these chapters (which include events that most commentators actually believe occurred prior to those events in chapters 36-37) are the final chapters that Isaiah gives us about the life of Hezekiah. It would be like going to the funeral of a faithful Christian man and bringing light to his most heinous sin. So, why is Isaiah doing this? Why end with these chapters?

There may be many answers to this question, but I at least want to mention two. The first one I will look at for a majority of our time, and then we will look at the second near the conclusion of our time. The first is that this text provides for us some lessons in regard to temptation. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:11 (speaking of the sins of those in the Old Testament) that such things were written down for our instruction. And I believe this text serves us in this way as we look at it this morning. I think it provides for us great warnings in light of temptation as this section is a record of Hezekiah sinning.

However, the exact way he has sinned can be a bit confusing if we simply look at the text in front of us. We read of Hezekiah’s sin and lack of trust in chapter 39. There, we are told that an envoy from Babylon came to visit Hezekiah because he had been healed and God had performed a great miracle. That is what we have read in chapter 38. However, when they get there, Isaiah writes, “Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the sliver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them” (39:2). Then, by Isaiah’s response that followed, we see that Hezekiah had done wrong. He had sinned. But how?

This answer might be more easily seen in light of the parallel story found in 2 Chronicles 32:24 ff. In this text we read in verse 25 that Hezekiah had become proud after he was healed and tat when the envoys came it was for a time of testing. Specifically, we read in 2 Chronicles 32:31, “And so in the matter of the envoys of the princes of Babylon, who had been sent to him to inquire about the sign that had been done in the land, God left him to himself, in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart.”

Therefore, as Hezekiah had this opportunity to point to the glory of the Lord in the presence of those representing a foreign nation, he ends up simply showing off in a prideful way all of his blessings. He ends up showing himself not as one who was seeking to rely on the Lord in the face of Assyrian threat, knowing God was the sovereign Lord of all, but rather as one who could be a formidable ally to Babylon, should they decide to revolt against Assyria.

Thus, having understood one aspect of his sin a bit better, what are the lessons we can learn in regard to temptation?

First, we are reminded in this text that because the call of Scripture is to a lifetime of trust, and therefore it is not enough for us to rest on past successes

We have noted already that Hezekiah was a man of great success – both in human terms and divine. He was greatly blessed and he had been greatly obedient. However, he could not afford to think of himself as having somehow achieved, somehow succeeded, so that he no longer was called to obedience.

I think we see a hint of this, however, even in the early verses of chapter 38. Isaiah had come and told him he would die, and Hezekiah’s response was to cry out to the Lord for healing and deliverance. Yet listen to Hezekiah’s appeal. He prays in verse 3, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” Then we read at the end of that verse that he wept.

Hezekiah was quite aware of his past successes. In fact, he reminds the Lord of them at the point of this news of impending death. It even could remind one of Peter’s claim to Christ that they had left everything, a bargaining chip, if you will, for blessing. But there is a danger in believing your past successes and forgetting that the call to a Christian is lifelong obedience.

I know of a minister, who by all accounts, has been a successful minister. He has labored in the same church faithfully for years, seen hundreds come to know the Lord under his ministry, and watched a church of few become a church of many under his ministry. And now, he is in the waning years of his ministry. When he was young, I heard stories of him being like a bulldog in his desire to obey the Word and fighting to see the church conformed to the Word. Now, however, when confronted by individuals about issues in the church that are contrary to Scripture, he will at times acknowledge the need verbally to the individual and ignore it in every way possible after the meeting.

How can such a thing happen? I think it is because great is the temptation to forget that we are called to radical obedience to God’s work for the long haul, until our life is finished, and to think that past successes can serve to cover a multitude of present transgressions.

No doubt, many are the individuals who have committed grave sins and justified them because they felt like their life of obedience in difficult times brought them to a point of deserving such. Easily found is the man who commits adultery and justifies it by telling everyone how faithful and longsuffering he’s been in a marriage to a wife who has been not a little difficult to be with or the person who justifies the juicy gossip because she’s known had this information for months without telling anyone.

Beware of the lie that past obedience can justify present disobedience. Dare we forget that the call is not to obey at certain points so that we might sin in others but to lifelong obedience. A consistent witness must be formed over a lifetime but can be destroyed in a matter of minutes.

Second, we are reminded that we must be constantly armed and ready for temptation

When I was younger a friend and I had firework wars with his brother and brother’s friend. We didn’t have cars or jobs, so such an event required long hours of preparation. We would gather up our money from every place we could find it, determine the number and kind of fireworks we could afford, and walked to and from the gas station at the end of the road to get our supplies. We then stood face-to-face with our opponents, determined the war was on, and ran to our respective bases to mount our attack.

On one occasion, my friend and I declared war, ran to our base, and then decided to walk about twenty yards away to discuss our plan of attack. The problem was that we left our huge bag of fireworks sitting on the ground at our base. Thus, in only the matter of a few moments, we were greeted by the cry of victory by our enemy as he ran toward our bag and threw a lit match into it. Needless to say, we were able to watch one of the most enjoyable firework displays we had seen (for when do people ever light all of their fireworks at once?), but we also had clearly lost the war as we were out of ammunition altogether.

Our problem was that we had forgotten that after we declared war in that face-to-face confrontation with our enemies, we were at war. It mattered not whether we felt we needed to plan more; we were at war. So, it is easy for Christians to forget that we are constantly at war.

In our text, it seems, Hezekiah had overcome a great threat – the threat of death. God had delivered him and had told him that he would bless him in delivering him from the Assyrians. And even foreign nations were coming to visit him and marvel at what had occurred in his life. Yet, in the midst of all of these glorious things was about to come great temptation, and Hezekiah’s sin would lead to the ultimate captivity of his people by the Babylonians.

In fact, God’s blessings formed the occasion in which temptation would come. Had God not spared his life, chapter 39 would never occur, and had God not blessed Hezekiah with such riches, he would not have shown them off in front of the Babylonians. Therefore, it is a good reminder that there is not a time in which temptation cannot come strongly, and it is a good reminder that we must constantly be armed against such.

For the Christian, we are constantly at war. There is simply no peacetime in the Christian life this side of the resurrection. This is why Paul urges believers in Ephesians 6:10-20 to put on spiritual armor for spiritual warfare. It matters not whether things have been going great or terribly, temptation can leap up at any time and in any circumstances. Often has temptation been its greatest when everything seems to be going well in every area of life. Therefore, the call for us is to daily arm ourselves for temptation.

Finally, we are reminded that if we focus on ourselves and that which will occur in this life (and in our lifetime) only, we will fall into great errors of judgment and great sin

Something that is grossly apparent in these chapters is that Hezekiah is very self-focused, caring only for what will occur in relation to himself and in his lifetime. First, as Isaiah comes with the news that he will die and the command to set his house in order (38:2), his response is simply wailing. We have already mentioned that it might have been better if he had not received his request, for he goes on to sin greatly, but we might also note here that Hezekiah sees no grace in such a message.

Now, I am not arguing that a message of death is to be greeted with a party, but God was allowing him the warning to get things in order before his death. Far too often do we see the tragedy of unexpected death that leaves a spouse behind uncared for and helpless. Hezekiah would have been able to prevent such, but only sees it as a tragedy against his life. Then, though he does praise the Lord in his writing we read in verses 9-20, we know from 2 Chronicles that this occasion led to personal pride for him. And we know from this text that he went on in continually being self-centered. In fact, even when Isaiah tells him that his own descendants will be captives and Eunuchs in Babylon, his response is self-centered. His response is one of the most sickening statements in Scripture as he says, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good,” and Isaiah adds, “For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my days.’”

Hezekiah serves as a warning for us of the great sin that will occur in our lives if we fail to allow our vision to be beyond ourselves and our lifetimes. It is only by looking beyond ourselves that we will find strength to endure faithfully in times of great suffering, especially in what looks to be our final days. But we must be the kind of people who labor not only for what God is doing with us and in our lifetime but also for the causes he might be working in others’ lives and in time after we are gone.

Therefore, Hezekiah’s story in Isaiah 38-39 serves as a warning for us in regard to sin and times of temptation. However, I think there is one other reason Isaiah ends his account of Hezekiah with this episode. It is this: I think Isaiah 38-39 serve as a clear statement that Hezekiah was not the one in whom Israel should ultimately put their hope. He was not the Davidic Son who would reign forever and ever. Isaiah 38-39 serve to remind us that we still must look for another who is coming – David’s greater Son, the Christ. And it is in him that our ultimate hope lies. Ultimately, we are not justified by God because we lived a good life here or sinned at crucial points but whether or not we have trusted in his Son who is our righteousness and whether or not we have been given hearts that love our Lord and want to obey him. Therefore, this morning may we find ourselves receiving these warnings in regards to times of temptation, but may we also find ourselves rejoicing in our Lord who has lived righteously for us and died to pay the penalty for our sins. May we worship him now as we come to the table. Amen.

HEZEKIAH'S TEMPTATION AND A CALL TO WAR