{"id":25573,"date":"2023-03-17T22:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T05:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-37_8-38-copy\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07T21:40:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T04:40:19","slug":"isaiah-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/isaiah-38\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Facing A Wall?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaiah 38 \u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

There are so many powerful lessons we can learn from today\u2019s passage in Isaiah 38.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:1-2 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the\u00a0LORD,<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0 After receiving some grim news that he will soon die, Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays to the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0You may be facing a wall right now as well, but you can pray to the LORD who is greater than that wall you are facing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:3 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Remember, O\u00a0LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 3:\u00a0 Hezekiah appeals not to the mercy of God but to the memory of God.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want to die right now.\u00a0 Scholars say that at this time Hezekiah is probably about 39 years old.\u00a0 Back then people associated a king\u2019s long life with God\u2019s blessing and associated a short life with sin.\u00a0 Of course, when you consider Stephen in Acts, Abel in Genesis, John the Baptist and Jesus Christ himself, these were some of the most God-honouring individuals whose lives were cut short, showing that how many years you have on this earth is hardly ever an indicator of how spiritual or good you are.\u00a0 Still, Hezekiah felt like it was sad and unfair that he would die so young, especially considering that he was a much more God-centered, God-honouring king than any king before him (2 Kings 18:5-6).\u00a0 His was an honest prayer to God.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:4-5 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the word of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0came to Isaiah:
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the\u00a0LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 4-5: \u00a0Once again we see the difference that prayer makes.\u00a0 God specifically wants Hezekiah to know that He has heard Hezekiah\u2019s prayer and as a result will give him 15 more years.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 God cares for people individually.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 God is not removed from our suffering.\u00a0 He hears your every prayer and sees your every tear.<\/p>\n

–\u00a0 Did God change His mind?\u00a0 1 Samuel 15:29 says that \u201cHe who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.\u201d\u00a0 So what happened here?\u00a0 Why did God at first tell Hezekiah that he was going to die and then add 15 years to his life after he heard Hezekiah\u2019s prayer?\u00a0 I believe it was always within God\u2019s mind to let Hezekiah live longer.\u00a0 \u00a0Some think God was testing Hezekiah, and likely so.\u00a0 Because God stands outside of time and space and sees things from every vantage point, I don\u2019t believe God was necessarily reacting and unexpectedly changing course once He heard Hezekiah\u2019s prayer.\u00a0 Rather, in God\u2019s sovereignty God has chosen to create a universe where our choices matter.\u00a0 In other words, our choices do lead to real consequences and yet God is still able to incorporate our choices and their consequences into His plans such that His original purposes are always fulfilled.\u00a0 Though it is tough for finite humans like us to understand the mechanics of how that all works, the Bible teaches that God is sovereign (in control) and that we are also free to make our own choices.\u00a0 Mysteriously both of those things \u2013 God\u2019s sovereignty and our free will \u2013 are real.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:6 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 6:\u00a0 This verse, combined with verse 1 of chapter 39, suggests that the events of this chapter 38 came before the events of chapters 36-37.\u00a0 Why does Isaiah put them in this order?\u00a0 Why describe the way God responded to Hezekiah\u2019s prayer to deliver Jerusalem in chapters 36-37 and then flashback to an earlier time when God healed Hezekiah?\u00a0 We\u2019ll look at that tomorrow when we unpack chapter 39.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:7-8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘This is the\u00a0LORD’s sign to you that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will do what he has promised:
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.'” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 7-8:\u00a0 Some scholars believe that the stairway of Ahaz was a staircase-like structure that was used to tell time, like a sundial.\u00a0 If that is the case, then the LORD miraculously causing the sun\u2019s shadow to go back 10 steps on the stairway of Ahaz was likely God\u2019s way of saying to Hezekiah: I\u2019m going to turn back time and put an extra 15 years on your clock.<\/p>\n

How exactly did God cause the sun\u2019s shadow to go backwards?\u00a0 We don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Some suggest that this was a matter of optical refraction which sometimes causes people to see, for example, two suns.\u00a0 However way it happened, we know that if anyone can do it, God can.\u00a0 If there is a good, rational basis to believe that God could make the greatest miracle of the Bible \u2013 i.e. the creation of this universe out of nothing \u2013 could happen, then it is not irrational to believe that God could make something smaller, like the sun\u2019s shadow going back, happen as well.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:9-14 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I said, “I will not again see the\u00a0LORD, the\u00a0LORD, in the land of the living; no longer will I look on mankind, or be with those who now dwell in this world.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid!”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 9-14:\u00a0 Back in Hezekiah\u2019s time, Jews generally\u00a0believed that after you die, at the end of time there will be a general resurrection of all believers.\u00a0 However, in the meantime between death and that end time resurrection, a dead person\u2019s soul would be stuck in a place called Sheol.\u00a0 \u201cSheol\u201d (which means \u201cempty or hollow\u201d) was thought to be this grey, weary, unappealing place lacking purpose and joy, a place where souls just wait like at a bus stop or a doctor\u2019s office.\u00a0 So the idea of going immediately to \u201cSheol\u201d or the idea of an end time resurrection that was so far away was little comfort for those who were facing death.\u00a0 That is why here in verses 9-14, Hezekiah, writing 7 centuries before Jesus, speaks of how desperate and hopeless he felt as he faced death.\u00a0 Unlike his ancestor King David (Psalm 16:10-11), King Hezekiah had no hope of eternal life (v11).<\/p>\n

However, you and I don\u2019t need to face death with such despair the way that Hezekiah did.\u00a0 That is because Jesus\u2019 death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave give us a new understanding and hope concerning what happens after we die.\u00a0 If you have trusted Jesus as your Saviour, when you die, you don\u2019t go to a place called \u201cSheol\u201d and just wait there for an indefinite period of time.\u00a0 Rather, when you die, your spirit and soul immediately go to heaven to be with Jesus, leaving your earthly body behind.\u00a0 (As Jesus said to his criminal who was crucified beside him, \u201cToday you will be with me in paradise\u201d.)\u00a0 One day, when Jesus comes again, He will give us new resurrection bodies to go along with our spirits and souls in heaven (1 Corinthians 15).<\/p>\n

With that in mind, you could say that there are 3 stages in a Christian\u2019s existence: (1) present in the body but away from the Lord (life on earth); (2) present with the Lord but away from the body (life in heaven before Jesus returns); (3) present with the Lord with a new resurrected body (life in God\u2019s kingdom after Jesus returns).\u00a0 Pastor David Pawson would say about these 3 stages, \u201cIt is good here, it is better there, it is best then,\u201d while for the unbeliever, the experience is the opposite: \u201cit\u2019s bad here, worse there and worst then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:15-20 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Lord, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live.
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The living, the living–they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the\u00a0LORD.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 15-20:\u00a0 Having experienced God\u2019s healing, Hezekiah responds by saying \u201cI will walk humbly [literally, walk slowly] all my years because of this anguish of my soul\u201d.\u00a0 In other words, after going through this ordeal, Hezekiah would cherish every day of his life so much more.\u00a0 In these verses Hezekiah expresses how the pain he went through (\u201canguish\u201d as he calls it in verse 15 and 17) actually had its benefits.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God always has a purpose in the pain we experience, and He will ultimately use it to benefit us rather than to harm us, if we would have a teachable, humble attitude toward Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:21 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 21:\u00a0 While we don\u2019t know the exact disease that Hezekiah suffered from, we do know that\u00a0his sickness had something to do with a boil.\u00a0 Most likely it was an infected boil that had caused sepsis throughout his entire body.\u00a0 To bring about Hezekiah\u2019s healing, God uses a \u201cpoultice of figs\u201d, which is a mushy fig mixture that would be applied to the boil on Hezekiah\u2019s skin.\u00a0 Some scholars believe that this poultice of fix was a common medical compound used to extract infections.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 There are times when God will use natural means to accomplish a supernatural end.\u00a0 As Pastor Gary Hamrick says, if God could use a fig newton to heal Hezekiah, then we should not shun doctors or medicine.\u00a0 God is always the ultimate healer, and He can use various means as He chooses to bring about that healing.<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:22 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the\u00a0LORD?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 22: Some find that verse 22 is awkwardly placed here, since Isaiah already talked about God giving Hezekiah a sign in verses 7-8.\u00a0 Thus they conclude that verse 22 must have been added later.\u00a0 However, in verse 22 Hezekiah is quite possibly asking about a different sign than verses 7-8.\u00a0 In verses 7-8 God tells Hezekiah about a sign to show that he will live another 15 years.\u00a0 In verse 22 Hezekiah is asking about a sign to show that he will not only recover and live, but also worship in the temple again.\u00a0 That is because even after being healed of his skin disease, Hezekiah would still need to wait for a priest to declare him to be clean and ready to rejoin the assembly of worshippers (Leviticus 13:6-28). \u00a0So Hezekiah is wondering if there will be a sign to signify that later event.\u00a0 Notice that Hezekiah didn\u2019t just want to be healed physically of his disease; he wanted to be restored to his worship community, his \u201cchurch\u201d.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 The full restoration God wants to bring you isn\u2019t just about your body healing; even more it is about your spirit being able to worship God with others again.\u00a0\u00a0You\u2019re not fully alive until you’re worshiping God with others.\u00a0 For God made you for more than just a healthy body.\u00a0 He made you for healthy relationships with God and people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, thank You that because of Jesus I have the hope of eternal life with You and hope of heaven right after I die.\u00a0 Since real life is not just about having a healthy body but about worshiping You with others, I pray I would never take for granted the time You give me to worship You with my church family.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

There are so many powerful lessons we can learn from today\u2019s passage in Isaiah 38.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Isaiah 38:1-2 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0In 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\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the\u00a0LORD,
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-2:\u00a0 After receiving some grim news that he will soon die, Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays to the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0You may be facing a wall right now as well, but you can pray to the LORD who is greater than that wall you are facing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25575,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25573\/revisions\/25575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}