The Assyrian

Transcript

all right so

um as I pointed out uh on Sunday

um

I I entitled this Conquering the Assyrian but it's not it's not really us who conquer the Assyrian uh in in the the period that we're going to look at it's really in many respects Hezekiah or the Lord uh because of Hezekiah but really in the end it's the Lord Jesus Christ I'm going to talk about what that means to to conquer these the Assyrian we're worth known as the vanquished or in Isaiah's uh terminology uh he would refer to us as the redeemed or the remnant who uses those words quite often in his prophecy for those of you um that have been following along with me over the course of the last couple years and that's probably none

um I've been spending an awful lot of time

um taking a look at uh the Prophecies of Isaiah walking through it my brother Ben gave me a commission a few years ago to uh although he didn't realize he was doing it to uh get Isaiah under control so I've been uh plugging away and I Came Upon This section

um in Isaiah 36 and 37. it's the section where

um rap Shaker comes before

um the walls of Jerusalem and makes the pronouncements that he makes and then they bring uh the pronouncements to Hezekiah and he brings them uh before the Lord so we're going to look at those events take place and we'll look at uh what rep Shaker represents or what's an Acura represents because I think it's I think it's an important lesson for all of us especially in the time we're in right now uh the other thing I I was teasing uh Butch on Sunday uh where you know a seasonal about you know doing given somebody else's education and I said tonight's class was uh given by Brother Harry Tennant uh that was a joke it's not actually our attended class but it is in some respects uh inspired by uh something Harry Tennant once said

um that I was there for

um about 30 years ago we were at bible school and Harry was there and Harry gave an exhortation on David and Goliath and he talked about Goliath as the prototypical Philistine and he talked about the Philistine as being a type of character rather than just Goliath that that yes Goliath had these certain um attributes or whatever but he's representative of what a Philistine is

um and this is the way Harry described a Philistine based upon the story of David and Goliath he said Philistine is big and strong and ignorant I think he used the term rockhead uh because obviously David kills Goliath by hitting with a rocking rock in the head but his point was that you know when you when you think of a Philistine or you think of the Philistines this is what this is what they represent

um and they don't just represent it in the time of the Philistines we know uh many Iraq had uh even to this even to this day people that either refuse to believe in God because of

um just they don't they don't want to or they just don't think things through that was really the point that that Harry was making about the Philistine in fact Harry pointed out that the rock that David killed the Philistine with is really representative to the word of God uh it is it is the foundation The Rock I remember when Peter says uh to Jesus that he's the Christ and Peter says Upon This Rock upon this Foundation of Truth and so the point that Harry made was who had a cop Philistine is by a basic understanding of the word of God and if you remember in the times of David and and Goliath David referred to the Goliath as the uncircumcised Philistine he actually made the point several times about how this uncircumcised Philistine was not going to defeat the armies of the Living God and so why does he focus upon the idea of being uncircumcised you know party who thinks well he didn't go through the ceremonial um Act of being circumcised but it's not really about the act of being circumcised when we consider the Philistines a figure it's really about the fact that he does not understand

um the will of the flesh um you know the Philistine believes in his power in his in his strength and he doesn't really consider you know his own frailties we're going to see the same characteristic uh in in this in the Assyria and so how do you defeat you know the the this power of you know this big Philistine remember everybody was afraid of him except Dave and David wasn't afraid of them because David understood the word of God and understood what this Philistine Philistine represented and we're going to find that's true with ourselves as well when it comes to the Assyria and yet we can be influenced by uh these people because they can be so overwhelming we're going to see that actually in the story uh with rad sheikha uh and we want to be sure that we're strong enough to be able to deal strong enough in our faith and strong enough in our trust in God to be able to deal with the Philistine or with the Assyrian with Babylon as it's as it's referred to so that's what we're going to talk about today tonight

um this is the one I moved and I I wasn't going to talk about it originally but you know what it I I think it's an important uh point to make given how many people we know that are going through such incredibly difficult uh moments in their lives people that we love and care for and people who we can understand uh might be struggling in their faith as they see these incredible uh difficulties um coming into their lives and I want you to consider what happens with these three men this is the point where uh rap shaker has made his his pronouncement from the wall and we'll look at that a little bit later and remember they bring

um rap sheika's statements to uh Hezekiah

and notice what it says and notice first of all the type of characters we're talking about here it says then came like him the son of hilkaya that was over the household that is he was the head of hezekiah's household

shebna described

that is that he was the recorder in hezekiah's um Kingdom and joa the son of asaph so he was one of the sons of ASAP the recorder which means he was like the historian in hezekiah's household and they bring it to Hezekiah with their close rents and told him the words of RAB Shaker and I want you to consider the magnitude of this moment first before we consider what that means about with the close rent

I mean Assyria at this point had literally just destroyed everything along its way

um it had wiped out Israel it had wiped out all the other kingdoms nobody was able to stand before it and and Assyria is

um a people that that wipe it out for their own purposes we'll even see that in some of the some of the texts just because they can and they were they were uh unusually cruel and unusually bitter and unusually um self-absorbed and so it was a terrifying thing

to have the army of Assyria sitting outside the walls of Jerusalem and when you consider what they did here I think there's two motivations that that

um drove them to this point about renting their clothes I think there's two main motivations that would grab you at A Moment Like This and they're slightly different and I think one dominated the other and the two the two emotions are this first of all there's anger you know remember they even ask them to speak to you know speak to us in our language in your language because we can understand that that's why we don't have to have all these people here in it and Rabbi Sheikh God said absolutely not

um but so it would be understandable they would be furious that this man would come and make these threats and make these

um benign offers of you know letting them sit by their fine and fig tree and give them a horse and all these kind of stuff but certainly these men would know would not be true that that's not what it would be about at all that would be very enticing to a people who were so petrified by their existence and feeling so walled in and so um enclosed in this situation and of course the other emotion would be fear

you could be extremely afraid of the fact that the Assyrian was about to attack your city and I actually think that the predominant emotion that they brought before Hezekiah was fear and I'll tell you why

because fear is slightly different than anger anger is uh intellectual fear is guttural and so when you are angry you you take on what somebody says and you consider it sometimes you consider it obviously instantaneously or very very quickly and other times you consider it slowly and it starts to get you angry but when it comes to fear fear is instantaneous fear is is raw emotion and I think that's exactly what's being happening here and I'll tell you why I feel that way it's not just you know my opinion although I think it is what it is but notice it says that they came to write to Hezekiah not in rent their clothes

but with their close rent

in other words they'd already torn up their clothes they had already responded I think in a very guttural in a very emotional uh moment of extreme fear

and

when we talk about what the Assyrian represents

he's going to represent the way the will way of the world or the will of The Flash or the power of the flesh depending on your perspective and it can be petrifying

what happens with the flesh think about our brothers and sisters right now going through tremendous physical trial and the fear that lies before them as they think about you know you know they're abandoning their family or going through you know the Pains of surgery or the Pains of of suffering and all that it can be a terrifying terrifying experience the flesh can be terrified

and we can understand that and and this is in no way judging that fear is is not sincere or shouldn't happen but you and I brothers and sisters

have a remarkable Opportunity by the grace of God

to overcome fear or to or to or to

um ease the burden of fear if you will in the last week I talked to three of our brothers all three going through tremendously difficult difficult trials

and all three of them said the same thing I can't fathom what it would be to go through these trials without my faith and what they're talking about is it's scary enough as it is I can't I can't imagine what it would be like if I had no faith if I didn't understand what the flesh was all about and I didn't understand that there was something Superior something greater than the will of our own flesh or the mortality

of our own flesh

and so and so the fear is real

and yet we are truly blessed

even those Among Us who are going through the deepest and most difficult of Trials

to know that there's something greater than what this flesh provides and that's exactly what happens when it comes to conquering

um the Assyrian so so keep that in mind as we um continue through this class

I want to talk a little bit about the Assyrian in Isaiah uh it's an interesting thing to look at the at Assyria and the Assyrian in Isaiah because he disappears The Country disappears and the person disappears

um Assyria is mentioned over 40 times in Isaiah of course Assyria is mentioned you know in Kings and in Chronicles and I mean yeah Syria is mentioned in multiple places in the in the Old Testament and yet it's never mentioned by the way in the New Testament there were some prophecies about the Assyrian in the New Testament but a serious self is never mentioned in the New Testament and yet it's mentioned 40 times

in Isaiah but it's never mentioned after Isaiah 38 actually that's that's wrong it's never mentioned after Isaiah 37. um and it's and it's it's never mentioned in the New Testament so where does it go that's an interesting process because the Assyrian as as an individual is long gone but this hearing has a characteristic um is not

and these the word Assyrian and this is what sort of first captured my imaginations I was looking at Isaiah at least in the King James version it often mentions this I think it's eight times yeah mentions this person the Assyrian and it's not talking about a specific individual it's talking about a type of individual I'll show you a passage that shows that in just just a minute but it's mentioned eight times in Isaiah that's mentioned 13 times over time overall all by the profits

but it's only mentioned once after chapter 37. and in that case it's in the past tense it's in Isaiah 52. I think I have that slide coming up as well so even the Assyrian disappears even though his characteristics

um do not

it I mentioned there it says only one time in uh is it mentioned after 37 because 37 is where you know Hezekiah brings

um you know the message before the Lord uh to the Lord saying he's insulting you and the Lord says I'm going to take care of him actually he had Prof it had been prophesied prior which we're going to look at and then he does and when when when web Shaker goes back and we're told about you know sinach is killed by his sons which we'll look at a little bit later that's really the end of a series you know Assyria is as soon after conquered by the Babylonians and then Assyria disappears and remarkably disappears so much that for centuries people didn't believe that Assyria actually existed they thought it was a it was a Biblical myth it wasn't until centuries upon centuries later that they started finding finding these um archaeological finds of the country of the nation of Assyria before many people even believed it was really there they thought the Bible had just made it up uh for some reason but this is the passage in Isaiah 52. and this is where it shows that you're talking about the Assyrian as a characteristic and not as an individual notice what it said it says thus saith the Lord God my people went down afford time into Egypt and sojourned there and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause

well you can be assured it was not an Assyrian or person from Assyria that that passage is talking about I don't think there are any Assyrians in Egypt at the time that that the Israelites were down in Egypt or if they were it certainly wasn't going to be one person for 430 years that was oppressing uh the children of Israel it's talking about a type of character that was oppressing them in Egypt and you see this connection actually between Egypt and Assyria quite often in Isaiah's prophecy and elsewhere and it's an interesting connection both in its in its comparison and in its contrast now I'll tell you why I say that is it interesting contrast between Assyria and Egypt and the contrast is this Egypt has been is and will always be there right Egypt never moves it's one of the most ancient civilizations of all time and despite all the changes that take place over centuries upon centuries upon centuries but Egypt is still right there it never goes anywhere meanwhile Assyria was not there than it was there then it was gone it was gone for good so there's a very big contrast between Assyria and Egypt as far as a place itself

and yet in characteristic they're very very much the same and here's what the two things represent and I'll hopefully I'll be able to prove this more and more as we go along before we know what Egypt represents I know I've made this point many times before but we always know what Egypt represents because what Egypt represents again has always been there is still there and will still be there for who knows how long and that is Egypt represents the power of the flesh or the will of the flesh and you say What's the difference well it the difference is how you look at those pyramids if you look at those pyramids and say this is one of the Seven Wonders of the World this is one of the great human achievements of all time look what Humanity can do then it's about the power of the flesh

but if you look at those pyramids

and what you see is a real big gigantic tomb

and it's about the will of Flesh because in the end that's what happens to the will of the flesh it dies and the pyramids are a tribute to man's mortality not man's greatness it all depends on how you see it and maybe it's a little bit of both in some ways but most people that see the pyramid say look what man can do look what he can create look what he can create and what does he represent so that's what Egypt represents it represents the power of the will of the flesh Assyria is almost exactly the Assyrian is almost exactly the same thing and this is why the word Assyrian is so important by the way because what Assyria represents is the power or the will of the individual when you see Assyria represented as an individual as the Assyrian or even a Syrian self represented in the first person or third person singular that's because Syria is about the power of the individual that Brazen strong powerful mighty

individual who has no respect for anything but themselves and remember we live in or no you know this we live in a world more today than ever before where the power of the individual is glorified

not by you and I because we understand the will of the flesh but by the world that's around us think of the celebrities think of the the the wealthy think of the politically powerful the people I idealize even though they are of no character to idealize or even if they were you wouldn't you wouldn't even know I'll tell you an interesting story I mentioned this once probably before but we were at a wedding one time uh several years ago and Mark Wahlberg was at the wedding now I don't know Mark Wahlberg he might be a fine individual I have no idea anything about him but I know he's a famous person and I've seen some of his movies

but there he was at the weather one of our relatives was obsessed with the fact that Mark Wahlberg was there he couldn't let it go he's like where did he go where did he move do you think he's leaving and I'd be like I don't care what he's doing nor does he care what I'm doing but this relative just couldn't handle the fact that somebody like Mark Wahlberg would be in the same building as them

that's that's the glorification of this Assyrian I don't know that Marcus and Syria he might be a beautiful guy I don't know but that's the way we treat people in this world today who have power who have influence it doesn't matter that they're the lowest form of of human being if they get power and they've been influenced we we worship the ground or the society who lives and works meets the ground that they walk on so that's the similarity between the Egyptian and the Assyrian in verse chapter 10 it says this oh notice one thing there on that Isaiah 52. notice it says that he oppressed them without cause

that's that that's an attribute of the Assyrian is the Assyrian does what he does because he can there's no like there's no like moral imperative driving them along that's sort of the difference between the Assyria and the Babylonian by the way because the Babylonian will put out a a an appearance of being civilized the Assyrian doesn't care he oppressed them without cause he did it because he could and there are and we certainly know there are people who are cruel just because they can be cruel and we certainly never want to be that type of person so in in Isaiah 10 verse 24 says this therefore thus saith the Lord God opposed o my people that dwellest in Zion be not afraid of the Assyria

he shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manner of Egypt so the the connection is very close between what an Assyrian is all about in what Egypt is is all about but notice he says it's it's an interesting way that that Isaiah writes this or the Lord presents it it says don't be afraid of this year and he'll Smite you and he'll he'll he'll uh lift his staff against you don't be afraid of that and so what does he say he said you know what he's saying is you don't have to be afraid of it because he's just like the Egyptian and guess what you get out of Egypt the Lord took you out of Egypt the Lord will take you away from the Assyria that's what that that passage is talking about so let's take a quick peek at Assyria itself I just sort of want to reiterate the fact that you know the Assyrian is this proud boastful strong uh self-absorbed we'll see it in some passages in just a minute and yet for most of its time it was just a tiny little country didn't really have anything wasn't really anything special and then it Rose to power as it Rose to power it glorified it glorified uh itself or himself if you will now I don't know about the dates on this I just pulled this off the internet but it's an interesting comparison notice it says from 1800 to 1600 it was that small little dark green country in around Nineveh uh Calhoun and Asher ashers was their main god

and then in um 1244 to 1208 more or less was the period of of the um well by saying is Right TIG Las palisa I think is how you pronounce it he was one of the first great Kings of Assyria and he started to expand

um Syrian dominance in and around the Tigris and Euphrates and then it was for centuries it was just that period of time and then around the period of sennache but I don't think 699 to 627 is correct but it's not really all that important what we're talking about we're talking more about the Assyrian and the country but then of course it expanded itself came down

um destroy Israel uh even went all the way in into Egypt and became a much bigger country and then by 627 of course the Babylonians come in Wipe Out the Assyrians and the Assyrians basically uh fall off the map if you will they basically just disappear from there

now this is what the Lord says about the role of the Assyrian and notice Isaiah writes this in Isaiah 7. so Isaiah 7 is the one where he's speaking to ahaz

um remember when he tells ahaz don't worry about um Syria and Israel

um they're out they're at the fullest field and he says don't worry about them they're they're not going to do anything so so Israel is still is still around at this point in time and yet Isaiah makes this prophecy in Isaiah 7. look what he says and he's speaking to he's speaking to Judah but it's also true of uh Israel as well in the norm he says the Lord will bring upon you and upon your people upon your father's house such days as have not come since the days that Ephraim departed from Judah the king of Assyria in that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt it's an interesting way of saying he's going to call the Egyptians up uh and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria so he gives the Egyptians

um sort of the um description of being like a fly which is an interesting description we all know what flies are we know that flies Buzz around your face and they're irritating and they're in the way but they don't really do anything right you slap at them and they go away or you slap at them and they die or whatever but they're just an irritant but Assyria he calls a b and a b is different than a fly it might still Buzz around you but it's got a sting right a a fly uh unless you're you got the green heads up in its switch doesn't really bite uh but the B does the B can sting in Assyria uh definitely packed a Sting the Israelites knew about it everybody knew about the sting of Assyria it was a military uh violent uh group of people in chapter 8 he says he says this uh now therefore behold the Lord bringeth upon them the Waters of the river strong and Men Mighty I strong and many even the king of Assyria and All His glory that's how he saw it which we're going to see in a minute and he shall come up over his channels and go over all his Banks and he shall pass through Judah he shall overflow and go over he shall reach even to the neck and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breath of the Land O Emmanuel there's so much uh Wonder just in that passage alone we have to whip through it quickly but notice below the Lord or Isaiah is saying that Assyria comes in like a virtually like a flood right and it just it just wipes out we're seeing the floods in California and you just got to get out of the way right and that's the way Assyria was going to come in it was going to flow over the channels and flow over my neck and notice how it says it's going to pass through Judah it shall overflow and go over and reach even

to the net

not the head but right up to the neck and that's just what happens with Assyria and and Judah right when when RAB Shaker comes he's right up to the neck it's also by the way what happens with the King of the North when he comes upon Israel comes right up to the neck and stretches out his wings and filled the breath of the land that's exactly what the northern kingdom uh the the King of the North is going to do in in the time of of the end

and notice but notice who he's speaking to oh Emmanuel as the Lord Jesus Christ one of the rare uses of that of that phrase by the way um it's only used two or three times and it's used here and that's because it is a manual that conquers the Assyria gonna come right up to the neck oh Emmanuel and you are going to conquer them and that is just what happens but that's not the way the Assyrian sees it right oh so first first the Lord talks about Judah and it's Pride Isaiah chapter 10 is an interesting chapter because it covers first the pride of Judah and then the pride of the Assyrian and then the remnant those those redeemed people that had the Lord not call the redeemed people we would have nothing to talk about today truthfully so first he talks about the pride of Jude

and his complaint about the pride of Judah is repeated again and again and again and again and again we see this all the time notice what it says woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees and the writers who keep writing oppression to turn aside the needy from Justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right that widows may be their spoil that they may make uh the fatherless their prey what will you do in the day of punishment in the room that will come from afar that is Assyria to whom will you Flee for help and where will you leave your wealth and the complaint that the Lord has with Judah and with Israel repeatedly is a lack of compassion pride and a lack of compassion we see it again and again and again in prophecies we see it with the Lord Jesus Christ talking to the people of his time you have no compassion the Lord has blessed you and yet you look at it as if somehow you have accomplished something as opposed to the Lord's blessing and you don't share you don't protect you don't care you're not humbled by What the Lord Has Done done for you we must never never be a compassionless people compassion for our fellow man compassion for our brothers and sisters we must be first and foremost a compassionate caring community and and in many respects we are so often we are I mentioned I spoke to Three Brothers last week all three of them couldn't stop talking about all the cards that they received or the love that they've received all the concern the money the prayers they they couldn't be more um overwhelmed with the response that they've been receiving uh as they go through their their trials and their difficulty and yet sometimes we can we can be so

built up ourselves

that we forget that the Lord hates the fact that you can be given what we're given and yet be proud and yet being exclusive and yet be be

self-centered we we can never we can never be that and we shouldn't that we should never be that

is my speech

then he goes on verse 5 and he says this

now again he's saying this before any of this takes place and it's Isaiah's prophecy so it's Isaiah is prophesying this in the time and Isaiah wasn't prophesying in a closet Isaiah was in the courts of Jerusalem and what he was saying was being heard and not even just by by the Israelites right because RAB Shaker when he comes in speech he knows what's been going on in Israel he is very educated in what's been going on in Israel and so here's Isaiah in chapter 10 he says this oh Assyrian the rod of mine anger and uh and the staff in their hand is my indignation I will send him against a hypocritical Nation that's Judah and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take a spoil and take a prey into tread drown like the mire of the streets he says I'm going to send them and how do you know that it's true that he's going to send them because they can't and so they themselves should have known

the Lord said you're going to come down and you came down and so you know that's me the center but that's not what they do the very next verse says this

but he does not so intend

and his heart does not so think

but in but it is in his heart to destroy remember that verse earlier about about uh how he was in Egypt and to cut off all nations not a few for he says are not my commanders all Kings as my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria shall I not do to Jerusalem and to her Idols as I had done to Samaria and her images for he says

by the strength of my hand have I done and by my wisdom

for I have understanding I remove the boundaries of peoples and plunder their Treasures like a bull I bring down those who sit on Thrones and that's the Assyrian like a bull I do it why because I'm bigger I'm stronger I'm smarter I'm wiser

you can't stop me and so I do it and that's the Assyrian and that can be petrifying sometimes

when you consider the Assyrian as the way of the flesh when people are that confident then that sure and that's successful

and then all of a sudden there they are before you it can be scary that's the way the flesh is

the flesh can be bold it can be confident it can be sure and then there it is standing before you but this is what the Lord says

when the Lord this is not the rest of them when the Lord has finished all of his work on Mount Zion and not Jerusalem he will punish the speech of the Arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his Stout Warriors I love it and I'll tell you why it's so it's so captivating because he had this Assyrian represents all the pride of the flesh that big strong guy they they love to fight lions that was their their Pastime was to go out and fight and kill Lions that's the type of character we got and so what the Lord says is this is what I'm going to you big strong Assyrian I'm gonna waste you away that flesh that you are so proud of I'm just gonna make you sick and it's just going to wear the you away and it's going to prove to you there is no power in the flesh right so God will say that wasting sickness among his Stout Warriors and under his Gloria burning will be kindled like the burning of Fire the light of Israel will become a fire the light of Israel

will become a fire to the Assyrian and His holy one aflame that's Christ and it will burn and devour his thorns and Briars that is that is his wickedness and his remember the beasting and all that in one day

well that's interesting what day one day

what day we'll obviously look at what that day is you probably already know

in verse 14 chapter 14 he says I will I will break the Assyrian Isaiah 14 verse 25. I will break the Assyrian in my land upon my mountains tread him unto foot then shall his yoke depart from often in his burdened apart from off their shoulders so he's going to send Assyria down and Assyria is going is going to Vex Israel he sent them but but he's going to take them away

he's not going to destroy through the Assyrian he says in verse 31 verse 8 then shall the Assyrian fall notice this

fall with the storm with the sword

not of a Mighty Man

and the sword not of a mean man

shall devour him in other words I'm not going to send something something bigger than an Assyria to destroy the Assyrian now the Babylonians destroyed the syrians and they were bigger and strong but we're not talking about Assyria we're talking about the Assyrian we're talking about that character in the flesh he says I'm not going to send I'm not going to send a bigger stronger man to be you know the next big great man to defeat because then nothing is learned then it's just who's the next big thing it's like watching the Jurassic Park movies every next movie the the monsters the the dinosaur is going to be even bigger than the last one and then he eats the one from the last movie that's not that's not the Lord God

he says he's not uh not a mighty man not a mean man Mighty and mean that's the Assyrian that's not what I'll send because he sends the meekest of men

but he shall flee from The Sword and these young men shall be discomforted okay so let's take a look at what happens in chapter 30 36 in the few minutes we have left

chapter 36 verse 1 says this now it came to pass in the 14th year of the king of Isaiah that's the natural Kingdom of Sierra came against the defense cities of Judah and took them so you have you have that Assyrian wave uh coming into into Israel and into Judah and he takes everything around them and starts splashing up against the walls of Jerusalem

so he says so rap Shaker comes before the walls of of Jerusalem and he starts making his pronouncement right he says say you now to Hezekiah thus say the great king the king of Assyria what conferences is confidence is this wherein thou trust us thou trust us in the staff of this broken Reed on Egypt where if a man lean it will go into his hand and Pierce it so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him and that's true that's true every time you trust in in Egypt it comes back to bite you because Egypt is the way of the flesh

so that's what happens when you trust in the way of the flesh that's what happened when Abraham went down into Egypt uh he got bit right that's that's the way uh Egypt worked so what so what um Bob Shaker what's in that group is saying is true and so what what's what they're going to do is going to say these are all your arguments I'm gonna just I'm going to dispel dismiss all your arguments in a word why because I'm the Assyrian that's why

he says this in verse 7. but if thou say to me we trust in the Lord our God

is not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah have taken away and said to Judah and Jerusalem you shall worship before this Altar and that's true too

he did take away the high places and there were a lot of people that liked the high places and Hezekiah took him away because Hezekiah did it by the will of the Lord but ramsheka the Assyrian he's going to twist it around remember how upset you were when he took the high places away yeah that's the guy that did it and you're gonna you're gonna put your trust in him you know you didn't say he he's

um a representative of the Lord you liked your high places

and your Altos and he came in and he took them all away I'm skipping through because we're short on time I was going to the whole chapter but verse eight uh now therefore give pledges this is this is incredible the way he puts he puts this because this is the Assyrian as well promise the world and give nothing now therefore give pledges I pray thee to my master the king of Assyria and I will give thee 2 000 horses if thou be able to I parked a set right as upon them and am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it the Lord said to me go up against this land in this and destroy it and see how there's a little hint of Truth the Lord did send Assyria see how much red chicken knows about the way Israel Works he knows about Hezekiah taken away by places he knows about the prophecies that Syria is to come down but he got twist it just a little bit to take it from the word of Truth to his own to his own purposes that's the Assyrian and we see it all the time in the world we live in oftentimes in religion sometimes even in ourselves

verse 16 how can not Hezekiah for thus saith the king of Assyria make an agreement with me by a present in Lord give me a little something and come out to me and ye everyone and eat ye everyone of his Vine and every one of his fig tree listen this is perfectly fine you come out give me a little something to to keep me happy I'll let you eat for your Vine and your fig tree and you can drink from your own cistern until of course I come and take you away to land like your own it's just it's just like Iran is not a big deal a land with corn and wine a land of bread in the land of Vineyards all perfectly reasonable just like those Israelites that would say in the wilderness we should go back to Egypt we should go back you know we had lentils and we had olive oil we should go back but you were in slavery and he's trying to convince you to be a slave to the Assyrian

beware lest Hezekiah persuade you and saying the Lord will Deliver Us hath any of the Gods of the Nations delivered his land out of the land of the kingdom of Syria so how can you trust in your God all these other countries did too

and then that wonderful verse in verse 21 where it says but they held their peace and answered him not not a word

for the king's commandment was saying answer him not so Hezekiah had built up enough of a reputation enough of a trust enough uh Good Will with his people enough understanding that he was truly with the Lord even though rap Shaker was was sitting in there call up calling upon them nobody said a word and of course then they bring before Hezekiah

um what rap Sheikh had said and of course we're quickly paraphrasing that we know that they go away and then they bring papers of what he does and Hezekiah brings it before the Lord but notice what happens with Hezekiah after they come those three

um Faithful Men

who are in such fear because of rap Shaker in his words and because of the power of the Assyrian and it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it that he rent his clothes say well is that fear I don't think it is because it says and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord

and of course they sent for Isaiah and Isaiah says don't worry about it we'll take care of this guy why because you recognize that I come first thus saith Hezekiah this day is a day of trouble and a rebuke could have blasphemy for the children I come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth in other words we're right there at the point of faith and yet they're afraid that's that that's what he's saying we're right there

foreign

and so he brings and so he brings the words into the temple and leaves them before the Lord and the Lord says you've done the right thing Hezekiah I'm going to drive out the Assyrian and send him back

because you put your trust in me

and brothers and sisters I mentioned that the Assyrian is about the power in the will of the individual

and I mentioned that the individual is the very one who conquered the Assyrian because when the Lord Jesus Christ went that day on that cross

he nailed the power and the will of the flesh to the cross

he said even life itself

has no value without God

he crucified that very will that very spirit that very

self-centered willful passionate me first perspective was nailed fully and completely to the cross and here's the beautiful thing about it for you and I brothers and sisters

we understand it

by the grace of God we understand what was nailed to the cross that day wasn't God nailed to the cross

it wasn't payment for God's Wrath

that was the will of the flesh that they nailed to the cross and as we go through our trials and as we look at the difficulties around us and we see the power of the Assyria and all that he can do

you and I

recognize

that it's meaningless

that it's already been conquered in our savior the Lord Jesus Christ

and just to prove how it was really all about the Flesh in the first place in Isaiah 37 verse 37 it says so that snacker if king of Assyria Departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh and it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of nishrash his God that adrenalic and whatever his son smote him with the sword is there any more base

meaningless fleshless way to die

than your own Sons kill you and they escaped into the land of wherever and their other brother took place this is what a Mike Micah says Micah mentioned the Assyrian and this is what he says

and this man

shall be the peace

when the Assyrians shall come into our land

the Lord Jesus Christ nailed the Assyrian on the cross that's why he's never mentioned in the New Testament

Hezekiah brought sennacher's words before the Lord and the Lord eliminated the Assyrians the Lord Jesus Christ inhaled the Assyrian on the cross and our challenge brothers and sisters is not in the recognition of the Assyria and it's certainly not in being impressed by the in Syria I I I've never met any brother or sister that was impressed by the world and what it has to offer it's the influence of the Assyrian that sometimes can grab hold of us because fear is natural it's understandable it's powerful and sometimes we can find ourselves with the influence of the world I certainly have found it myself where I felt trapped in a situation because the world has put me in and I think Lord why am I trapped I've never put it this way but why am I trapped with the Assyrian we never are

even if this life doesn't continue you and I are never trapped by the Assyria

because we believe in the man that nailed the Assyrian to the cross and we believe that we will be raised in his name in that day whether we die tomorrow next year 10 years from now whether we suffer persecutions whether we go through hardships in our life whatever they are is there anything more

painful

than what brother Dan expressed when he talked about seeing his son's heart stop while he was looking at him

And yet when the moment happened all Dan did was pray I mean he was petrified

but he prayed

that's the God we worship that's the person we that's the the God we believe in and that's what our Christ Our Savior has done for us

so we never have to be afraid of this Theory just like it says None of the passage don't be afraid yes mycha he'll beat you don't never defeat you because Christ is already defeated him