A Boomer in the Pew

The Day One of God's Angels Destroyed 185,000 of the Mocking Sennacherib's Army

Bible in a Year Series - Day #206 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Isaiah 37-39.

I am currently sitting in the Atlanta airport, after getting up at 2:45 a.m. to catch a plane.  ACK!

I only have a few minutes to write my post today, so I am going to reprint my post from last year.

However, let me say this.  What a great story on so many levels.  A good king prays, and God answers in a very powerful way.

From last year...

Sennacherib is a bad dude.  He has been conquering kingdom, after kingdom, in 700 BC.

He now sends his emissary to Judah, where the prophet Isaiah, and King Hezekiah lived, and told them that before he was done they would be "eating their dung, and drinking their urine".  "Furthermore", says the emissary,  "your God is no better than all these other gods, who fell at my feet, and I am gonna kick your God's butt too!"

Well, this creates a panic in Judah, because this Sennacherib dude is a major bully.  He has conquered every land in his path.

King Hezekiah is major league shaken' in his boots, and sends for Isaiah: 

“Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

Isaiah then tells King Hezekiah to chill:

"Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Then King Hezekiah prays to the LORD:

"And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20 So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.”

Then, Isaiah comes back and says, "Thus says the Lord!...concerning him [Sennacherib]" This is somewhat long so here is the link, but I particularly liked this part:

“‘I know your sitting down
and your going out and coming in,
and your raging against me.
29 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.’

Then God follows through:

“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. 35 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

36 And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Our God is a mighty God, he reigns in heaven on high.  And even incredibly more, this God, is our Father.

When we are standing toe to toe, with the Sennacheribs of our lives, this story is a great reminder.

This historical account of God's workings, from 2,800 years ago, strengthens my soul today.

Do you Believe in Isaiah's Prophecy of the end of all Creation?

Bible in a Year Series - Day #205 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Isaiah 34-35.

The book of Isaiah tells of the destruction of Israel, Judah, and then speaks of a final future destruction of creation itself with all of its inhabitants.

Chapter 34 is very difficult to read.  Who can understand such things? 

To complicate things, at least in my mind, I can hear false preachers thumping their pulpits looking to scare people out of their money.

Like it or not, Isaiah has made it very clear.  There are two groups of people in this future judgment:

• the judged
• the ransomed

Now, a decision by almighty God is forced upon us:  choose.

I suppose, when staring at this final day of the Lord, and trying to wrap one's mind around creation being torn asunder, and the unrighteous being slaughtered by God, and sent to an eternal living judgment in hell, we must keep in mind that it isn't like he didn't warn us about such a day.

Just as in the destruction of Israel, and Judah, God sent centuries worth of prophets warning people to stop defying their Creator.

So too, for thousands of years, God has also given us this warning of a final day of judgment.

The great problem is that our fallen natures are prone to scoff at such things. 

"This is nonsense", says our human reason!

And again, it all boils down to a choice.  Do we believe in God?  Do we believe that the Bible contains God's word to us?

As Josh McDowell has written in his many books, there exists, to the serious student, a mountain of evidence that requires that we make a decision.

Furthermore, to simply stick our heads in the sand and make no decision is not only cowardly, but is always a foolish thing to do.

If we go all the way back to Joshua, as God was preparing the Promised Land for Israel, Joshua stood before all Israel and said the same thing:

"...choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

I'm with Joshua on this one.  How about you?

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves?

Bible in a Year Series - Day #204 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Isaiah 31-34.

How was your worldview shaped, and where do you now turn when you find yourself in need of true truth?

Did you know that, according to the Barna Group, a majority of Americans believe that the phrase, "God helps those who help themselves" is found in the Bible?

This little phrase, evidently actually coined by Benjamin Franklin, seems rather benign.  But isn't it interesting that over the centuries this phrase has come to be believed by most, and even believed to be part of God's holy word?

Furthermore, because this phrase has indeed become a part of the American psyche, a great many will defend this worldview without really understanding all of its implications.

So, does God help those who help themselves? 

I suppose it depends on how we are going to define "help themselves". 

Certainly God has made it clear that if we don't work, then we don't eat.  So, in this sense, this maxim seems to be true.

But, if we take this maxim to a matter of faith, then it is clear that God would take issue. 

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord! (Isaiah 31:1)

The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together. (Isaiah 31:3)

One of the many charges that God brought against Israel and Judah is that they continually placed their faith in things other than God.  This included false gods, themselves, and even other nations.

In this particular case, the nation of Judah is afraid of Assyria and amazingly turns back to their former captures (Egypt) for help, rather than calling upon Yahweh.

One amazing example of this is the narrative of King Jehoshaphat.

Therefore, I think a better worded maxim would be:

God helps those who place their trust in Him, and lives their lives according to His precepts.

Who knows, perhaps Benjamin Franklin's maxim will be replaced by mine.  It could happen!  :)

God: Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem

Bible in a Year Series - Day #203 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Isaiah 28-30.

As painful as it is to watch this period of history, this chronological journey through the Bible is really helping me to gain a better perspective on how all of this ties together.

Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped! (Isaiah 29:1)

As I was reading the 29th chapter of Isaiah this morning, I remembered that this scene will play out again many centuries later with Messiah lamenting of Jerusalem.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:37-39)

In both of these occasions, God brought destruction to Israel.

Although this judgment seems harsh to the unlearned, our current journey through these many prophets gives us a better understanding of God's heart.

It is very difficult to understand the weeping of God's heart here, and in Hosea for example, and to fit that together with the mighty roaring lion that will soon destroy Jerusalem, and has already destroyed Samaria.

I suppose we better learn that God hates sin, yet loves the sinner.  Shortly, in coming chapters of Isaiah, God is going to make it clear that we must choose:  judgment or salvation.

Ah, here's the rub isn't it.  Our fallen nature abhors being told what to do.

We will be the captains of our soul.

However, the One who created us has a differing reality, and it is good for us to spend time contemplating these things.

Listen as God Sings to you From Hosea 14

Bible in a Year Series - Day #202 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Hosea 8-14.

I find Hosea's poetry to be most beautiful.

The first three chapters of Hosea describe the indescribable love of a husband toward and adulterous wife.

In chapters 4-13, God, as the righteous attorney and judge lays out his case against Israel, and through the lips of his Prophet Hosea, tells of their impending doom through the armies of Assyria.

However, the last chapter Yahweh again pleads for his bride Israel, "turn from your wicked ways, and I heal you and take you again in my arms.  If you do, then your beauty will be like the olive tree, and I will be to you like the dew."  (my paraphrase)

Here is Hosea 14 put to song by the 1970's group Lamb:

Book of Hosea: A Gut Wrenching View of God's Bride in the Arms of Another Lover

Bible in a Year Series - Day #201 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Hosea 1-7.

One of the most excruciating circumstances one can find themselves upon is to see one's bride, the love of your love, in the arms of another lover.

It will absolutely tear your heart out, and leave you screaming in the night with pain.

Yet, amazingly yet, try to imagine what kind of love can endure this torture, swallow the immense pain, and have the forgiving strength to start over again at the very innocent beginning.

How can you enjoy the rapture of the first kiss after such betrayal?  How can you again enjoy the first ecstasy of the wedding night?

The book of Hosea is about exactly that.

Israel, God's metaphorical wife, has become the harlot, and has been found in the bed of another man (the false god Baal, and many idols).

We have seen a great deal of Holy God's judgment as he has dealt with his wayward bride Israel, but I can't think of an episode where we are privy to such a tender display of God's heart.

And to help the Prophet Hosea understand this, most surprisingly God instructs him to marry a harlot so that he might have his heart torn asunder, and only then clearly understand the message that God will deliver through him.

I can't read these pages without weeping.

Dear reader, you can not understand God's love unless you understand his searingly painful marriage to the harlot.

Here is how God lovingly responds to his harlot:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
15 And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord." (Hosea 2:14-20)

I stand mute, and weep, as I gaze upon this manner of love.

Oh my soul, how greatly are you loved by Yahweh!

Behold the Power of a Godly Mother in Hezekiah's Life

Bible in a Year Series - Day #200 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: 2 Kings 18:1-8, 2 Chronicles 29-31, Psalm 48. 

If there ever was a king who should have been messed up in the head from the beginning, it was the young 25 year old King Hezekiah.

His father, King Ahaz, was one of the worst kings of Judah in that he brought back Baal worship, tore down the implements of God's holy temple replacing them with idols, and even sacrificed one of his sons to Baal.

Further, God was not happy with all of this and sent Assyria and Israel down to confiscate some of Judah's lands, and even took away thousands of Judah's citizens into exile.

What a mess!

Yet amazingly, through all of that indescribable horror, here comes young King Hezekiah full of vigor for Holy God.

Certainly, this was the hand of God. 

But it didn't escape my notice that King Hezekiah's mother (Abijah) was mentioned.  Further, the Scriptures tell us that Abijah was the daughter of Zechariah, who was the spiritual counselor to another of Judah's fairly decent kings, King Uzziah.

I just have to believe that Abijah played a significant role in keeping this young Hezekiah away from the evil influences of Ahaz, and brought him up to fear the Lord.

Therefore, we now see Judah in the throws of a revival, and King Hezekiah's name is mentioned alongside the great King David.

My grandmother held great influence over my life, and it was she who singularly, and faithfully keep the name of God continually before me.  Further, she constantly told me how she would pray for me every night.

What a blessing for King Hezekiah to have Abijah's influence, and what a blessing for me to have my Grandmother Eliza.

More Than A Skeleton by Paul L. Maier

I just finished reading More Than a Skeleton, by Dr. Paul L. Maier. This is my second Maier novel, the first being A Skeleton in God's Closet.

Both of these books read like a good Grisham novel.  Both center around the church, and have been called by some "theological thrillers".

"When Joshua Ben-Yosef, an Israeli from Galilee --- born in Nazareth to parents Mary and Joseph --- begins assembling 12 followers, attracting crowds and performing miracles, the world takes notice. Could Dr. Melvin Merton have been correct about the imminent return of Christ? It seems everyone is a believer in this "Messiah," including Weber's wife, Shannon --- especially when Joshua performs the "ultimate sign" by raising his disciple from the dead. Plagued by skepticism, Weber may be the only one who can intervene before the very foundations of the Christian faith are shattered."

These novels are very easy reading, yet will force you to contemplate your own belief system when you peer at Christianity's potential undoing in both of these novels.

Both would make great summer reading, and I highly recommend them both.

Up next, I am going to read Maier's historical novels The Flames of Rome (about Nero), and Pontius Pilate.

I'm looking forward to them both.

The Prophet Isaiah Foretells a Coming Final Apocalypse

Bible in a Year Series - Day #199 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Isaiah 23-27.

We have been viewing Isaiah's prophecies about God's judgment of the nations surrounding Israel, as God has been making it clear that His people must not place their faith in nations.

Now, with great wonder, we come to what has been called the Isaiah Apocalypse. (Isaiah 24-27:13)

Here we can see:

• A final judgment of all the earth
• Satan (Leviathan) being slain
• A final city (heaven) for God's chosen
• The redemption of Israel
• A bodily resurrection of mankind
• Death swallowed up forever

When you read these words, what thoughts go through your mind?

I am reminded of conversation with a dear Arizonan Jewish friend who said, "I am jealous that you believe in an afterlife".

I now wonder if he has ever noticed these words from Isaiah?

It seems to me that these prophecies of Isaiah will produce one of two things: a scoffer or a grateful worshiping child of God.

God: It is Foolish to Place Your Faith in Nations

Bible in a Year Series - Day #197 & 198 - This post is part of a year-long series where we are reading chronologically through the Bible.  Click here to learn more.  You are most welcome to join along at any time.

Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: Isaiah 13-17, & Isaiah 18-22.

From the ESV Study Bible:

"The prophet helps Judah to see the nations of the day as entirely subject to the sovereign rule of God. Five oracles reveal God ruling over Babylon and Assyria (13:1–14:27), Philistia (14:28–32), Moab (15:1–16:14), Damascus/Israel (17:1–18:7), and Egypt (19:1–20:6). The OT prophets have numerous oracles about other nations (see chart). These display the basic biblical conviction that as universal Creator, the God of Israel is not limited to Israel but holds all nations accountable for their deeds (cf. 13:11; Rom. 3:29–30)."

The world had changed greatly from the time of Kings David & Solomon.  For centuries, with a few exceptions here and there, God's chosen Israel has liven an apostate life.  Over, and over, and over we have seen a pattern of apostasy followed by repentance. 

This time, however, things will be different.  Israel, and her 10 tribes, now ceases to exist, and Judah is not far behind.

Israel's history is replete with miraculous examples of God protecting his people, but in the 8th century B.C the king's had taken to withering from powerful nation's and paying them very expensive tributes rather than being slaughtered.

In our verses today, God, through the prophet Isaiah, is making it absolutely crystal clear that he is God of all of his creation.  If fact, he will demonstrate this fact through many oracles foretelling of his bringing down, and bringing up the nations at his prerogative.

When we live in the world's only true superpower, it is quite easy to place our faith in our government and our nuclear bombs to keep us safe from evil doers. 

And certainly God is the architect of our current state, but we must learn the lesson of the Scriptures and understand that God alone is our shield.

If we persist in our own arrogance, and continue the path that wealth so often brings, then perhaps we too someday will lose God's blessing and find ourselves enslaved by another nation.

I suspect that most on the street would think this thought pure lunacy.  But one only needs to read history to see this pattern played out over, and over.

Are we so vain that we think we too are above God's righteous hand?

Yahweh is Lord of all.