Special Series #14: HEZEKIAH - Biblical Characters and How They Finished

Hezekiah's story started well, very well. He became king at age 25 and "did right in the sight of the Lord" (2 Kings 18.1-3). He removed false idols, trusted in the LORD, and clung to Him faithfully.

When Hezekiah was afflicted with a terminal illness, the prophet Isaiah told him: "Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live" (2 Kings 20.1). Hezekiah prayed desperately, and God responded by giving him 15 more years of life.

When envoys from Babylon came to visit him after his recovery, Hezekiah showed off all his treasures rather than testifying to God's faithfulness. Isaiah prophesied that all these treasures would one day be carried off to Babylon.

Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud; therefore wrath came on him and Judah and Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 32.25)

What would we do with 15 years if God added them to our lives? Would we live them for ourselves or would we live those extra years for God? Hezekiah's son Manasseh was born during these extra 15 years, yet grew up to be one of Judah's most wicked kings. This suggests that Hezekiah failed to invest spiritually in his son during his extended years.

Transcript

Dr Hal Habecker: 0:27

Well, welcome to our study again. You know, I love studying the Scriptures from the lens of aging. We'll talk more about that. But as we age, we ought to look to the Scriptures through the lens of our aging years and discover a new every day what God has for us. You know, when I was a teenager, I saw the Scripture through the lens of being a teenager or married, starting a family as the kids grow, as the kids go off to college as grandkids come. Seeing the scriptures through the lens of where God has us is important, and that's really what's behind this series. How did characters in the Bible finish in the end of life? Look at them through the lens of the aging years? Would I live like them? Would you live like them? Would I make those decisions? Would you make those decisions? And what decisions are we making? So that's the introduction to today's session. We'll be looking at King Hezekiah. But like I do with all these sessions, I like to begin with Robert Browning's poem, perhaps, like I usually say, you have it memorized by now, grow old along with me. The best is yet to be that is seeing God's purposes in our lives from his viewpoint in our aging years. God designed the latter years for a purpose, continuing to learn, continuing to gain wisdom, continue to understand how great his love is for us. I think that's what Robert Browning was all about. So when thinking about Hezekiah, I have this title, how long do you want to live? 15 more years. The wisdom from Hezekiah story is recorded in three different places in Scripture. Hope you'll take time to work through those. I'll only use one or two and selected passages, but it's a fascinating story. Hezekiah story started very well. Came about in the third year of Hoshea, the king of the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, became king. It tells his story. He did a lot of great things. That text will tell you. He broke idols, he trusted the Lord. He clung to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept His commandments. I've listed these out for you, and the Lord was with him as he did those good things. Here's what he did. He became king at age 25 and he reigned 29 more years. He did right in the sight of God. He removed false idols and altars. He trusted in the Lord. He clung to the Lord. He did not depart from faithfulness, but kept being faithful all of his life. The Lord was with him. What more could you want? The Lord blessed him. He was with him. He defeated the Philistines. He fought the enemies of God well, and he's contrasted with Hoshea, the king of the northern kingdom. When Assyria captured them because of their unfaithfulness. Look at that. He had a chance to learn from the northern kingdom how to live his life, and so far, we would say he's doing well. But then Hezekiah story takes a downhill turn. For whatever reason, something in the story now changes. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, who had just carried off the northern kingdom, by the way, comes against Judah and Hezekiah. Now watch what happens. This is in verse 15 and 16, Hezekiah begins to compromise and buy Sennacherib off by giving him money and gold and silver out of the temple. Think about that. He's trying to keep Sennacherib at bay by taking the gold and silver and precious stones and everything from the temple of God, and he sends it to Sennacherib, and tries to keep Sennacherib at bay, pay him off. You might say, what's going on in Hezekiah. It. I mean, something's awry. Why would a man do that? Here's another question. Why would we trust our money as we age? Why would we think that's going to save us? You know, we identify with Hezekiah if we do that, if we think that at that point, furthermore, the king of Assyria sends a message against Hezekiah and Judah, threatening them with war, noting that Hezekiah will not be able to deliver God's people. Something is adrift when the enemy comes interesting, the text moves on. In Chapter 19, God delivers Judah and Hezekiah from the threats of Assyria. It's a story of God's great faithfulness. Even the great prophet Isaiah confirms Hezekiah confidence in God. So once again, God delivers his people and his terms. So even though Sennacherib is pains, even though Hezekiah is paying Sennacherib off. God still covets his king's faithfulness, and Hezekiah is faithful to God. It's crazy. He prays. It's a great prayer in chapter 19, read it, and when they go out the next morning to see the enemy, it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 Assyrians. And when the men rose in the morning, behold, all of them are dead. So Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh, and it was as he was worshiping in the house of Nish rock his God, that these guys killed him with a sword, and his son becomes king. So God takes care of Sennacherib his own way, and he takes care of Hezekiah enemy, the Assyrians, 185,000 of them. So in light of paying Sennacherib off with gold and silver out of the temple. Now God comes back and he delivers Seneca, I mean, delivers Hezekiah when he prays, you say, well, maybe everything's okay now, but chapter 20 takes another sad turn, and it's intriguing, interesting to me. Here's the story. Hezekiah is afflicted with a mortal or terminal illness. The prophet Isaiah gives him this message, set your house in order for you shall die and not live. Interesting. The text does not tell us exactly how long he would have lived. I don't know if God told him, But Isaiah said, you're about to die. We simply know that he had some kind of terminal illness and death was imminent. So you see these things in Hezekiah life. He's faithful, and then he pays off Sennacherib, and then God delivers him. What's Hezekiah learning? Apparently, there's something to miss in Hezekiah his life. I think that's why he goes back and forth and God says, Hezekiah, you're going to die. Set your house in order. By the way, that's another thing. Set your house in order. We all know we're going to die sooner or later. That's the sixth essential of the seven essentials. And finishing well, prepare when you won't for when you will not be here. Set your house in order. Do it. Do it now. Do it long before God brings our lives to an end. So Hezekiah response was probably somewhat like any response that you and I would have. He wanted more days. He did not want to die. I mean, isn't that the way we would want? We want more life. We want more time with our families, more time to use our skills and to enjoy what God has given us. He prayed desperately, and God responded to his prayer. Here's the here's the quote. Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed to Lord, saying, Remember now, oh Lord, I beseech you how I walk before you in truth and with a whole heart and have done what is good in your sight. And he wept bitterly. Well, it's not totally the case. Hezekiah used the temple's money to pay off Sennacherib. So mostly, he may have thought I did good, but God sees things that aren't so good in our lives, that are in our heart, that are underneath. Nevertheless, God heard his prayer, and he responds by giving him 15 more years. And he confirms that answer in a miraculous way. Isaiah says, Do you want the shadow of the stairway to go back or forward? And Hezekiah says, Well, I wanted to go back. Reverses it 10 steps. So Isaiah, the prophet, cried to the Lord, and he brought the shadow. On the stairway back 10 steps which it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz. Now interesting God, supernaturally, does something for him, extends his years, but Hezekiah heart still takes a sad turn the words of Hezekiah sickness and miraculous extension his life goes as far as Babylon. The king of Babylon sends a letter of encouragement and gifts to Hezekiah. You know, it's interesting, God prolongs Hezekiah life, and the king of Babylon hears about this success in his life. I mean, who wouldn't want to tell the story of how God delivers me 15 more years, extends my life in a miraculous way? So the enemies hear about this Babylon hears about this so they send gifts, and people arrive to see Hezekiah and celebrate what God had done on his life and but Hezekiah actually shows off everything that he thinks made him famous, silver, gold, spices, a house of armor, everything of the treasures in his house. Look at this. Hezekiah listened to them and showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. It's interesting he invites the enemy in to see all that God had blessed him with. Parenthetically, I need to say he didn't give any of the credit to God, at least it's not recorded. He's, in a sense, showing off who he is and how important he is. You know, you talk about your own significance. What is your sing? What is my significance? Is it in the things that I accomplish in this life. Is it in the riches that I have my retirement accounts, the things that I have enjoyed, the things that I have done, and do I, in a sense, show them off to people as a way of hanging on to my old identity? We'll see that in the Apostle Paul later on, Hezekiah had his emphasis on the wrong syllable. As is often said, never seems to occur to Hezekiah to be a witness to the Lord God for His faithfulness, for all he had been and done for Hezekiah, especially in giving him 15 more years to be a faithful servant. Now that's the text of Scripture. Watch this. But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud, therefore wrath came on him and Judah and Jerusalem. How tragic you know. You start out in your younger years serving God faithfully, you're tested, and you try and pay the enemy off to extend your life, and God shows up miraculously again and again in your life. Why don't we remember those things? And now it takes a turn again. God gives you an opportunity to praise Him for what has happened, and you end up celebrating yourself. Isaiah, the prophet, brings a word of warning and judgment to Hezekiah for being so self focused. His prophetic statement should have sent a shudder through the very heart of Hezekiah, instead of taking the news of judgment on his sons and his house of treasures being taken away as truths that would lead him to greater dependence on God for both himself and his family. He simply takes Isaiah S word as a promise to him that he would live out his remaining years peacefully. He is thinking only of himself. This causes us to ask this question, what would I do with 15 more years? If I was in Hezekiah shoes, what would you do with 15 more years? Would we live them out for ourselves, or we? Would we live those extra 15 years for God? You know, the story ends with Hezekiah is great act of building the water conduit. If you go to Jerusalem, you can walk through Hezekiah tunnel. Doesn't mean in those last years, even though, in spite of your unfaithfulness, you can still do great things for God. And he did to deliver Jerusalem, but he simply dies and is buried and his son, Manasseh, takes his throne. Now this is an important lesson to watch, note, Manasseh became king at age 12. That means that he was born three years into his father's 15 year life extension. Therefore he grew up in the season of Hezekiah, life that was spent mostly on himself. He. It's interesting to further note that Manasseh had no interest in living for God. He simply did evil in the sight of his Lord. Well, maybe that's because he saw in his last days, his father wasn't living for God either. And his brothers were sold into Egypt, I mean, into Babylon. They were taken there, into captivity. But nevertheless, Hezekiah says, Well, I'm going to die at peace. Well, he did, but there was a lot of sadness at the end of his life. So I have a couple lessons here, four of them, in fact, it's important to note that the first part of Hezekiah life was pleasing to God. He loved and obeyed him holy. Why would one stop living that way? So let's purpose in the years of our life, as they unfold, we want to keep living for God as as as strongly as we did in our earlier years. Why would we? You know, it's often true, when a man or a woman trusts God, their lives are changed. They're new creatures, and they're ecstatic about their Christian faith. But as the years roll on, sometimes we lose the sense of ecstasy and joy that was once there when we first trusted God. Maybe that's the story of Hezekiah. Why would we stop that as we age, I think the latter years, as we trust God boldly and joyfully. That's the best message to share with our families and others around us. Number two, finishing well means that God calls us to live a life of faithfulness every day and every year of our lives. Again, Hezekiah started well, but he did not finish well. The last 15 years something happened. You know, I this is very personal to me. We don't know when the last 15 years of our life will be, do we, but I would like it to be said of me that the last 15 years of his life, he was as firmly convinced of God's reality in his life than he ever was previously. Number three, illnesses can distract us from being faithful. Don't let them stay faithful for the last years of your life, the last 15 years, or whatever years God gives you, are opportunities to continue to trust Him, even in the middle of illnesses. You know God wants to be real to us during our trials of the importance of living a life of faith into one's final years, as a demonstration of loving God for the sake of your family. Like Joseph did, Hezekiah didn't do that for his family in comparing the parallel passage of Second Chronicles, the writer says it this way, in those days, Hezekiah became mortally ill, and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received, because his heart was proud. We talked about that therefore wrath came upon him and on Judah and Jerusalem. However, Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come on them in the days of Hezekiah. So Hezekiah really repents at the very end of his life. You know, his kids are still carried off to Babylon, sadly, and he still dies, but in the very end, he did humbly repent. Why we did some great work in Halloween that passage of the water in Jerusalem. The last 15 years of his life, again, were, were mostly living for himself, for finishing well, think about this. God gave him 15 more years, but most of those 15 years were lived in Vanity, losing a sense of vision for all that God desires to do through our lives to the very end, and while there was some repentance, which we just saw, those final 15 years were not what they could have been. May I say that again, those final years were not what they could have been for Hezekiah, I think of Howard Hendricks quote, spiritual failure is never a blowout. You don't see that in Hezekiah life, in a sense, but always the result of a slow leak. Hezekiah seems to have lived this way with a slow leak in his life during those last 15 years. May God help us to learn from Hezekiah life and finish well and not to be distracted. We want to fulfill God's plan in our aging years to the very end, and may God's Spirit help us to live that way. Amen. Amen. You.