July 22
2 Kings 20:1-11; Isaiah 38:1-8; 2 Chronicles 32:24-31; Isaiah 38:9-22; 2 Kings 20:12-19; Isaiah 39:1-8
Two great kings. Both facing imminent death. Two prayers sent up to their Heavenly Father. Two vastly different results. Jesus, the “King of Kings”, had come to the end of His earthly ministry. He had already discussed with His followers that He would be going away. Now in His last moments before His crucifixion, in prayer to His Father we read in Matthew 26:39, “He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.””. He knew there was no other choice, for the salvation of the world rested upon His shoulders and His perfect sacrifice. We see His response in 26:42, “ Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.”” This cup was the cup of God’s wrath poured out on the sins of mankind. The wrath that we deserved would soon be applied to the perfect King on the cross.
But we read of another great king, King Hezekiah, as we read in 2 Kings 18:3,5-6, “ He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done… Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time. He remained faithful to the Lord in everything, and he carefully obeyed all the commands the Lord had given Moses.” But at the young age of 39, we read in Isaiah 38:1-3, “ About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’” When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.” We see God’s response to his prayer in 38:4-5, “ Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord: “Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life,”.
Hezekiah did not fully comprehend eternity, that is why he said in Isaiah 38:18, “ For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to the grave can no longer hope in your faithfulness.” But notice the truth from his lips in the verse before this in 38:17, “ Yes, this anguish was good for me, for you have rescued me from death and forgiven all my sins.” What he didn’t realize was that his sins were forgiven because the other king, Jesus, around 700 years later received a different answer to His prayer, and boldly went to the cross to pay the ransom for the sins of Hezekiah as well as every other person who ever walked the earth, past, present, and future. In his remaining fifteen years, Hezekiah made some serious mistakes, which would lead to this message from Isaiah in Isaiah 39:6-7, “ ‘The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ‘Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.’” To which we see this good king’s surprising response in 39:8, “Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the Lord is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.”” What a difference from our great King of Kings, as we read of what He accomplished on the cross in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV), “ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: