{"id":3458,"date":"2019-06-05T20:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-06-06T03:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=3458"},"modified":"2019-06-02T00:39:28","modified_gmt":"2019-06-02T07:39:28","slug":"2kings_19_20-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2kings_19_20-37\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s God Who Decides"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings 19:20-37 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 19:20-37. Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 19:20 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.<\/p>\n

On verses 20-21:\u00a0 Here God responds to King Hezekiah’s plea for help against King Sennacherib of Assyria.\u00a0 Through the prophet Isaiah, God sends a reassuring message to Hezekiah.\u00a0 First, the Lord tells Hezekiah that He has heard Hezekiah’s prayer (v20).\u00a0 Second, the Lord tells Hezekiah what He has spoken against Sennacherib.\u00a0 The Lord’s message to Sennacherib begins with the words:\u00a0\u00a0“The Virgin Daughter of Zion\u00a0despises you and mocks you.\u00a0The Daughter of Jerusalem\u00a0tosses her head as you flee.” (v21)X<\/a><\/p>\n

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

1. God hears the prayers of His people.
\n2. God is committed to defending His people when they are under attack.
\n3. Despite all the ways that God’s people had been unfaithful to Him, God amazingly still calls His people “the virgin daughter of Zion” and the “daughter of Jerusalem” (v21).\u00a0 How could God do that with a people who have been bent on rebelling against Him and worshiping other gods?\u00a0 Yet that’s what God does for us.\u00a0 He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins, such that if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, God sees Christ’s righteousness covering your sin.\u00a0 Through Jesus God calls “holy” those who have not been holy, and “pure” those who have not been pure.\u00a0\u00a0Just as God’s mercy enabled God to call Judah the “Virgin Daughter of Zion”, it’s the mercy of God that enables God to call us His children.<\/strong><\/p>\n

2 Kings\u00a019:22\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Who is it you have insulted and blasphemed?\u00a0Against whom have you raised your voice\u00a0and lifted your eyes in pride?\u00a0Against the Holy One of Israel!<\/p>\n

Verse 22:\u00a0 Both King Sennacherib’s field commander and King Sennacherib himself spoke words casting doubt on the Lord’s ability to save the people of Judah.\u00a0 In 2 Kings 18:33-35, Sennacherib’s field commander called the Lord weak and undependable.\u00a0 In 19:10-13, Sennarcherib himself suggested that the Lord is a deceiver.\u00a0 Verse 22 shows that God took those words personally and saw them as an insult and as blasphemy.<\/p>\n

What is blasphemy?\u00a0\u00a0Blasphemy is speaking evil of God, saying things about God that are untrue and that disparage His character.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God takes seriously and personally what you say about Him.<\/strong>\u00a0 As Jesus says, He will hold us accountable for every careless word we speak (Matthew\u00a012:36).<\/p>\n

2 Kings\u00a019:23\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n23\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0By your messengers\u00a0you have heaped insults on the Lord.\u00a0And you have said,\u00a0“With my many chariots\u00a0I have ascended the heights of the mountains,\u00a0the utmost heights of Lebanon.\u00a0I have cut down its tallest cedars,\u00a0the choicest of its pines.\u00a0I have reached its remotest parts,\u00a0the finest of its forests.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23-28:\u00a0 \u00a0Sennacherib attributed all his power and success to himself.\u00a0\u00a0Notice how many times the word “I” appears in verses 23-24.\u00a0 Yet God responds to Sennacherib’s self-absorption.\u00a0 First, God clarifies that it was He who planned and enabled Assyria’s dominance (v25).\u00a0 Second, God says that considering how Sennacherib rages against the Lord with his boasting and blasphemy, the Lord will humble Sennacherib and bring him low.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Whenever a person has power, remember that it’s ultimately because God in His sovereignty has chosen to allow that person to have power.\u00a0 So\u00a0stay humble and remember that any success or power you have is ultimately because God decided in His mercy to let you have such success and power.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

As\u00a0Psalm 75:4-7<\/strong>\u00a0says:
\n4\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0To the arrogant I say, ‘Boast no more,’\u00a0and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horns.
\n5\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Do not lift your horns against heaven;\u00a0do not speak with outstretched neck.'”
\n6\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0No one from the east or the west\u00a0or from the desert can exalt a man.
\n7\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0But it is God who judges:\u00a0He brings one down, he exalts another.<\/em><\/p>\n

2 Kings 19:29-31 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n29\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0“This will be the sign for you, O Hezekiah:\u00a0“This year you will eat what grows by itself,\u00a0and the second year what springs from that.\u00a0But in the third year sow and reap,\u00a0plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
\n30\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0Once more a remnant of the house of Judah\u00a0will take root below and bear fruit above.
\n31\u00a0<\/span><\/sup>\u00a0For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,\u00a0and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.\u00a0The zeal of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0Almighty will accomplish this.<\/p>\n

On verses 29-31:\u00a0 Hezekiah and the people of Judah were facing the threat of extinction by the Assyrians.\u00a0 Yet here, after promising to bring down King Sennacherib of Assyria, the Lord further promises that rather than seeing the demise of their nation, the people of Judah would eat what their land naturally produced for two years, and then in the third year they would return to their regular sowing and reaping.\u00a0 In other words, by God’s grace and “the zeal of the Lord Almighty” (v31), Judah would continue on as a nation and survive this Assyrian threat.\u00a0 The Lord gets even more specific in verses 32-34, promising to defend Jerusalem and save it, and further promising that Sennacherib will not enter the city but will return from where he came.\u00a0 In this case, “unstoppable” Assyria would not even shoot another arrow against the people of Judah.<\/p>\n

After the Lord has made these lofty promises, that same night the Lord strikes down 185,000 men in Assyria’s camp.\u00a0 Sennacherib withdraws from Judah.\u00a0 Some time later Sennacherib is assassinated by his sons while worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch.\u00a0 God was faithful to His Word.\u00a0 Whereas Sennacherib boasted that the Lord would not save Judah, it was Sennacherib’s god Nisroch that could not save Sennacherib.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God is faithful to His promises and specializes in great rescues.<\/strong>\u00a0 Likewise, when we seemed destined for destruction, God delivered us.\u00a0 He sent Jesus Christ to be our hero and to defeat our enemy on our behalf, so that we could continue to live in freedom.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, You alone decide who to exalt and who to bring down.\u00a0 Thank You that 2,000 years ago You decided to stoop down to make us great when You sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins.\u00a0 Thank You that we were the beneficiaries of the greatest rescue story of all time.\u00a0 Since it is ultimately because of Your mercy and grace that we experience any success or influence in our lifetime, may we always be humble in the way we speak and act.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 19:20-37. Let’s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 19:20 (NIV)\u00a0
\n20\u00a0\u00a0Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the\u00a0LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses 20-21:\u00a0 Here God responds to King Hezekiah’s plea for help against King Sennacherib of Assyria.\u00a0 Through the prophet Isaiah, God sends a reassuring message to Hezekiah.\u00a0 First, the Lord tells Hezekiah that He has heard Hezekiah’s prayer (v20).\u00a0 Second, the Lord tells Hezekiah what He has spoken against Sennacherib.\u00a0 The Lord’s message to Sennacherib begins with the words:\u00a0\u00a0“The Virgin Daughter of Zion\u00a0despises you and mocks you.\u00a0The Daughter of Jerusalem\u00a0tosses her head as you flee.” (v21)X<\/p>\n

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

1. God hears the prayers of His people.
\n2. God is committed to defending His people when they are under attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3458","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\/3458","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=3458"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3460,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3458\/revisions\/3460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}