Discover the riveting saga of King Hezekiah in our latest episode, where we uncover the duality of his faith and fallibility. It's a tale that strikes a chord, revealing how even the mightiest of biblical figures can stumble, humanizing them and bringing solace to us all. The astonishing events in 2 Kings 20—Hezekiah's dire illness, his poignant plea to God, and the subsequent miracles that occur—are not only testament to the divine's mercy but also a testament to the unconventional ways God interacts with the world. The sundial's backward movement, a divine sign, perplexes and challenges, pushing the boundaries of our comprehension of the natural order.
As we journey through this chapter, I invite you to reflect on the essential truth that glory belongs to God for every triumph. Just as Elisha's servant had his eyes opened to the might of heavenly hosts, we too pray for such clarity in recognizing and honoring God's hand in our lives. This episode is a heart-to-heart, a call to humility, and a prayer for discernment, as we seek to navigate our spiritual walk with grace. Engage with us further on our Facebook discussion group, where we continue the conversation, and don't miss the teaser for our next installment in the 2 Kings series, delving into chapter 21.
SOAP Bible Study Method- https://www.brandoncannon.com/soap/
Bible reading plan- http://www.experiencerlc.com/the-bible/
Free weekly newsletter- https://www.brandoncannon.com/
Social:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebrandoncannon
Instagram: https://instagram.com/brandoncannon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandoncannon
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theBrandonCannon
The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Discover the riveting saga of King Hezekiah in our latest episode, where we uncover the duality of his faith and fallibility. It's a tale that strikes a chord, revealing how even the mightiest of biblical figures can stumble, humanizing them and bringing solace to us all. The astonishing events in 2 Kings 20—Hezekiah's dire illness, his poignant plea to God, and the subsequent miracles that occur—are not only testament to the divine's mercy but also a testament to the unconventional ways God interacts with the world. The sundial's backward movement, a divine sign, perplexes and challenges, pushing the boundaries of our comprehension of the natural order.
As we journey through this chapter, I invite you to reflect on the essential truth that glory belongs to God for every triumph. Just as Elisha's servant had his eyes opened to the might of heavenly hosts, we too pray for such clarity in recognizing and honoring God's hand in our lives. This episode is a heart-to-heart, a call to humility, and a prayer for discernment, as we seek to navigate our spiritual walk with grace. Engage with us further on our Facebook discussion group, where we continue the conversation, and don't miss the teaser for our next installment in the 2 Kings series, delving into chapter 21.
SOAP Bible Study Method- https://www.brandoncannon.com/soap/
Bible reading plan- http://www.experiencerlc.com/the-bible/
Free weekly newsletter- https://www.brandoncannon.com/
Social:
Facebook: https://facebook.com/thebrandoncannon
Instagram: https://instagram.com/brandoncannon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandoncannon
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theBrandonCannon
The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, 2 Kings 20 and today's kind of an odd one. So we're going to call it miracles and messes, miracles and messes, or maybe messing up. We're going to see how Hezekiah is awesome. He's still human, and I don't know about you, but every time the Bible lets us know that some of the people in it are human, it just makes me feel better. I don't mess up as bad as anybody else in the Bible did, right? So, if you like what we're doing here, though, before we get into that, make sure you like, share, subscribe to YouTube channel, make sure you leave us a 5 star review on the podcast. Also, gather with us at the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook.
Speaker 1:We have an amazing team of people that are doing a wonderful job, and it is just a delight to read their devotions every single day, and we've had some people ask us recently about our not RLC, that's RLC Bible Breakdown Merchandise. Well, it is coming. Please be patient with us. It is coming. It takes a long time to get that kind of stuff going, but if you would like to, let us know, because letting us know how many people are interested in such things helps us to understand some different dynamics. And so if you would like like if we were to make some RLC shirts or RLC different things, let us know what kind of merchandise you would like to have and let us know if you're interested in merch at all. You can let us know that by going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion and commenting on one of the devotionals, or on YouTube, by going down below the video and letting us know down in the comments, and that helps us to know kind of what we're aiming at when we do this.
Speaker 1:Okay, right, if you want to open your Bibles to 2 Kings, chapter 20, we're going to see how Hezekiah is now on the other side of that victory against the Assyrians and some things happened to Hezekiah, but I love his trust in the Lord and what the Lord can do. But then on the other side he's still boneheaded, he's still making some mistakes, just like the rest of us. And so we're going to read this and read one of the most interesting amazing miracles that I've read up on over the course of years, and we still don't know how God did it, but we know that he did Just like partying the Red Sea. We have no idea how he did it, we just know that he did. But there's one here that baffles scientists and there's a couple of things, and so I'm not going to tell you some of the different ways. That makes it pretty plausible how God would do this, because this is a wonderful opportunity that the more we dig, the more we find that, if you're interested in it, you're going to do some of your own research, and we'll get into that in just a moment. But let's start with 2 Kings. Chapter 20, verse 1 says this About that time, hezekiah became deathly ill and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amos, went to meet him.
Speaker 1:He gave the king this message. This is what the Lord says Set your affairs in order, for you're 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 oh, remember, o Lord, how I've always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you. Then he broke down and he wept bitterly. But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the message came to him from the Lord Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him this is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor, david, says I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. I will heal you. In three days from now, you will get out of your bed and go to the temple of the Lord. I will add 15 years to your life and I will rescue you from and the city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city from my honor and for the sake of my servant, david. Then Isaiah said make an ointment from figs. So Hezekiah's servant spread the ointment over the boil and Hezekiah recovered. By the way, that's disgusting. I don't know what was going on with that boil, but it's now gone.
Speaker 1:Verse 8, meanwhile, hezekiah said to Isaiah what sign will the Lord give to prove that he will heal me and that I will go to the temple of the Lord three days from now? Isaiah replied this is the sign from the Lord to prove he will do what he has promised. What would you like? The shadow of the sundial to go forward 10 steps or to go backward 10 steps? Well, the shadow always moves forward, hezekiah replied. So that would be easy. Make it go 10 steps backward instead.
Speaker 1:So Isaiah the prophet asked the Lord to do it, and he caused the shadow to move 10 steps backward on the sundial of Ahas. Pause, what? So? We don't use sundials anymore? But what Hezekiah was being asked is he was like so to prove to you that God's going to do this. It would need to be a miracle, right? Because what he's saying is, if it's like that, it would rain tomorrow and it's already cloudy outside, well, god's not going to get the glory for that, because you'd be like, well, that was just a natural thing. So he was like I'm going to do a miracle for you to prove it to you.
Speaker 1:What do you want? Do you want the sundial to move up 10? 10 steps? So in other words, for time to speed up for a second, or do you want time to go backwards? Do what? Do you understand how time passes on our planet? Time passes because the rotation of the Earth spins and it takes 23 points, something, something hours. It's not quite 24. It might even be a hair over 24. Either way, it's not quite 24 hours, but in roughly 24 hours the Earth spins in a circle, and that is one day.
Speaker 1:So what Hezekiah is asking God is God. I want you to stop that spin and make it go back. Well, can I tell you? Naturally that's impossible, because part of the spin has to do with gravity, with the sun, with the moon, all these kinds of things, and if our Earth stopped for a single second, everything would be destroyed. So he's asking a big ask, an ask that is bigger than what he realizes. You understand this is back before they understood how all of planets and stuff like that work.
Speaker 1:He has no idea what big thing he's asking for. You know what God says Sure, yeah, no problem. Well, I absolutely believe in miracles. I'd have no idea how this happened, but if you would like to learn more, go online and type in the scripture and read some of the different resources behind this and read what all. There's several different possible plausible things that happen. But to understand the miracle that Hezekiah was asking for and God said yes, what an amazing thing. It reminds me of how many times we've asked God to do things and we had no idea what we were asking for. We asked God to let the situation work out, but 1,000 things had to happen in order for that to happen. But God is so faithful that he did it. Let's move on after this. Verse 12,. This is where Hezekiah messes up.
Speaker 1:Soon after this, meorda Baladin, the son of Baladin, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah his best wishes and a gift, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been very sick. Hezekiah received the Babylonian invoice and showed him everything in his treasurer's houses the silver, the gold, the spices and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and show them everything in his royal treasuries. There is nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him when are those men want? Where were they from? Hezekiah replied they came from the distant land of Babylon. What did they see in your palace? Isaiah asked Pfft, they saw everything. Hezekiah replied I show them everything. I own all my royal treasuries. Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah Listen to this message from the Lord. The time is coming when everything in your palace, all the treasurers stored up by your ancestors until now, will be carried off to Babylon. Everything will be left, says the Lord. Some of your very own sons will be taken into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylonian, of Babylon's king. Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah this message you have given to me from the Lord is good, for the king was thinking At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.
Speaker 1:The rest of the events of Hezekiah's reign, including the extent of his power and how he built a pool and dug a tunnel to bring water into the city, are recorded in a history or the book of the history of the kings of Judah. Hezekiah died and his son, manasseh, became the next king. What a mess. So what we have here is we have envoys from Babylon come to just hey man, how you doing, you feeling better? And Hezekiah we don't know exactly why, but possibly out of pride said Not only am I doing good, I'm doing great, look at how great my kingdom is. And what he did was is he actually showed this future invading army where his weak spots were, how much he had, what he was able to withstand and what he wasn't. And that's why Isaiah comes to Hezekiah and he's like why did you do that Now? Now they know exactly how to defeat us. This is what's going to happen. And then, when you understand that this guy is still human, you know what he basically does is he says Ah, isn't going to happen to me, it's going to happen to somebody else. And that's exactly what happens. We find out in a few chapters that Assyria never takes over Judah. They took over Israel. They don't take Judah. The Babylonians take over Judah.
Speaker 1:And so what is this lesson from us, from both of these? Number one is if your prayer doesn't scare you a little, there's a chance it's insulting to God. God can do more than we can ask, think or imagine. We don't have to just look at the Bible to see amazing miracles that God has done. If you're part of a church, ask your Christian community amazing miracles that God has done. If God can do that, nothing is impossible with him. A miracle is when God interrupts his divinely orchestrated natural law to do something supernatural. The God who created it all is very much able to change it all at his first whim and decision. God can do that in your life, and so, first of all, the lesson would be trust the Lord with the big things of your life, not just the little things that don't matter, but pray for miracles Now. Ultimately, god is in charge. He's going to do what he's going to do, but we never know if God is going to use our prayers to enact his ways. And so we pray and we trust him. At the same time.
Speaker 1:The other half of this is don't be stupid stupid. Don't be stupid stupid. Think about this for a moment. When you're blessed, when God has blessed you with something, be careful who you share those stories with. Be careful who you share your blessings with. Now don't get me wrong. I am not at all advocating to not be generous. You should very much be generous. But be very careful. When you brag, when you're celebrating God's goodness, when you're sharing your testimony of God's faithfulness, be careful who you share that with, because not everybody's your friend, not everybody's going to celebrate God with you. There are some people who are going to resent you because of what God has done, and so be careful who you share your testimony with, because not everybody's your friend.
Speaker 1:Let's trust the Lord for miracles and also trust the Lord to show us who is with us and who is not, because if not, you could get into a mess. Let's pray together today, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your goodness, your kindness, your mercy. Thank you, god, for miracles. Thank you, lord, for all the miracles that you have done in our life. So many miracles that we can't even imagine the thousand things that you do every day that just give us the chance to be here. I pray for more. I pray we will believe for you to do the impossible in our life. Also, god, I pray you'll help us to stay out of our own way. Lord, sometimes we just we talk too much, sometimes we get in our own way by saying things and bragging, and all that when really it all goes to the Lord. I wonder if it would have been different, god, if Hezekiah had shown all these treasures but then said these are all from the Lord. If that would have made a difference. I pray, lord, that when we celebrate your goodness, we always give you the glory. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and don't forget.
Speaker 1:God's Word says in 2 Kings, chapter 6, there was a moment when Elisha and a young man were surrounded by an enemy army and that young man was afraid. But Elisha said in verse 16, do not be afraid, for there is more on our side than on theirs. Then Elisha prayed O Lord, open his eyes and let him see. And the Bible said that when he did, this young man saw that around that invading army was a larger army of the heavenly hosts and he realized God was bigger than he could have imagined. My prayer for you is that the Lord will open your eyes so you can see. God is bigger than you can imagine. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 2 Kings, chapter 21.