Father God continually watches over His Children, as a Shepherd watches
over his flock!!!
2 Kings 18:1-8 (NCV)
1 Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king during the third
year Hoshea son of Elah was king of Israel.
2 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he
ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
3 Hezekiah did what the Lord
said was right, just as his ancestor David had done.
4 He removed the places where gods were worshiped. He smashed the
stone pillars and cut down the Asherah idols. Also the Israelites had been
burning incense to Nehushtan, the bronze snake Moses had made. But Hezekiah
broke it into pieces.
5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord,
the God of Israel.
There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or
after him.
6 Hezekiah was loyal to the Lord
and did not stop following him; he obeyed the commands the Lord had given Moses.
7 And the Lord was with
Hezekiah, so he had success in everything he did. He turned against the king of
Assyria and stopped serving him.
8 Hezekiah defeated the Philistines all the way to Gaza and its borders, including the
watchtowers and the strong, walled cities.
The King of Assyria was enraged that Hezekiah dared to refuse to serve
him, so he sent his chief commander to try to scare King Hezekiah and the
people with insults!!! This man
deliberately insulted both the King and THE GOD OF ISRAEL!!!
This man lied on God and said that God had sent them to destroy Jerusalem and take the
people captive!!! God is NOT deaf and HE ISN’T SCARED OF
MEN!!! The Lord heard every word and
every insult!!!
2 Kings 18:22, 28-32 (NCV)
22 You might say, "We are depending on the Lord our God," but Hezekiah destroyed the Lord's altars and the places of worship. Hezekiah told Judah and Jerusalem, "You must worship only at this one altar in Jerusalem."
28 Then the commander stood and shouted loudly in the Hebrew language, "Listen to what the great king, the king of Assyria, says!
29 The king says you should not let Hezekiah fool you, because he can't save you from my power.
30 Don't let Hezekiah talk you into trusting the Lord by saying, 'The Lord will surely save us. This city won't be handed over to the king of Assyria.'
31 "Don't listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, 'Make peace with me, and come out of the city to me. Then everyone will be free to eat the fruit from his own grapevine and fig tree and to drink water from his own well.
32 After that I will come and take you to a land like your own—a land with grain and new wine, bread and vineyards, olives, and honey. Choose to live and not to die!'
"Don't
listen to Hezekiah. He is fooling you when he says, 'The Lord will save us.'
When King Hezekiah sought God for help, God told him NOT to worry about
the King of Assyria and his insults!!!!
2 Kings 19:5-8 (NCV)
5 When King Hezekiah’s servants got
to Isaiah,
6 Isaiah said to them, “Say this to
your master: ‘This is what the Lord
says: Don’t be afraid at the words you heard, which the officers of Assyria’s king have used to insult me.
7 I’m about to put a spirit in him,
so when he hears a rumor, he’ll go back to his own country. Then I’ll have him
cut down by the sword in his own land.’”
8 The field commander heard
that the Assyrian king had left Lachish.
So he went back to the king and found him attacking Libnah.
God always hears the cries of HIS PEOPLE!!! HE WILL COME AND SAVE THEM from their enemies!!!
2 Kings 19:9-11 (CEB)
9 Then the Assyrian king learned that
Cush’s
King Tirhakah was on his way to fight against him. So he sent messengers to
Hezekiah again, saying,
10 “Say this to Judah’s King
Hezekiah: Don’t let the God you trust in persuade you by saying, ‘Jerusalem
won’t be handed over to the Assyrian king.’
11 You yourself have heard what
Assyrian kings do to other countries, wiping them out. Is it likely that you
will be saved?
Hezekiah went to the temple to pray to The Lord!!! He petitioned and worshipped the Lord for
deliverance for himself, the people and Jerusalem!!!! God heard his cries and honored his prayers!!!
2 Kings 19:14-24 (CEB)
14 Hezekiah took the letters from
the messengers and read them. Then he went to the temple and spread them out
before the Lord.
15 Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying, “Lord
God of Israel,
you sit enthroned on the winged creatures. You alone are God over all the
earth’s kingdoms. You made both heaven and earth.
16 Lord,
turn your ear this way and hear! Lord,
open your eyes and see! Listen to Sennacherib’s words. He sent them to insult
the living God!
17 It’s true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have destroyed many nations and
their lands.
18 The Assyrians burned the gods of
those nations with fire because they aren’t real gods. They are only man-made
creations of wood and stone. That’s how the Assyrians could destroy them.
19 So now, Lord our God, please save us from Sennacherib’s power! Then
all the earth’s kingdoms will know that you, Lord,
are the only true God.”
20 Then Isaiah, Amoz’s son,
sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, Israel’s God, says: I have heard your prayer
about Assyria’s King Sennacherib.
21 This is the message that the Lord has spoken against him:
The
young woman, Daughter Zion, despises you and
mocks you;
Daughter Jerusalem
shakes her head behind your back.
22 Whom did you insult and ridicule?
Against whom did you raise your voice
and pridefully lift your eyes?
It was against the holy one of Israel!
23 You’ve insulted the Lord with
your messengers;
you said, ‘I, with my many chariots,
have gone up to the highest mountains,
to the farthest reaches of Lebanon.
I have cut down its tallest cedars,
the best of its pine trees.
I have reached its most remote lodging place,
its best forest.
24 I have dug wells,
have drunk waters in foreign lands.
With my own feet, I dried up
all of Egypt’s
streams.’”
It is God who allows man to be great and NOT man himself!!! Without God man can NOT accomplish any great
thing!!!
2
Kings 19:25-28 (NCV)
25 “ ‘King of Assyria, surely
you have heard.
Long ago I, the Lord, planned these
things.
Long ago I designed them,
and now I have made them happen.
I allowed you to turn those strong, walled cities
into piles of rocks.
26 The people in those cities were weak;
they were frightened and put to shame.
They were like grass in the field,
like tender, young grass,
like grass on the housetop
that is burned by the wind before it can
grow.
27 “ ‘I know when you rest,
when you come and go,
and how you rage against me.
28 Because you rage against me,
and because I have heard your proud words,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth.
Then I will force you to leave my country
the same way you came.’
TO ALL OF THOSE THAT RANT AND RAVE AGAINST THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, I say, “Beware!!!” “Look at what God did to The King of Assyria and remember God is NOT DEAD!!!”
2 Kings 19:32-34 (CEB)
32 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Assyria’s
king: He won’t enter this city. He won’t shoot a single arrow there. He won’t
come near the city with a shield. He won’t build a ramp to besiege it.
33 He will go back by the same way
he came. He won’t enter this city, declares the Lord.
34 I will defend this city and save
it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
It is God that has power over ALL, to speak LIFE or to speak DEATH!!!
2 Kings 19:35-37 (NCV)
35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and killed one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up early the next morning, they saw all the dead bodies.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria left and went back to Nineveh and stayed there.
37 One day as Sennacherib was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with a sword. Then they escaped to the land of Ararat. So Sennacherib's son Esarhaddon became king of Assyria.
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