WEBVTT - Isaiah 37

0:00:02.730 --> 0:00:06.730
<v Speaker 1>Life Audio. For more resources to help you in your

0:00:06.790 --> 0:00:13.360
<v Speaker 1>walk with Christ, please visit us at BibleStudyHeadquarters.com. You're listening

0:00:13.380 --> 0:00:17.040
<v Speaker 1>to the Chapter a Day Audio Bible. I'm John Stonge

0:00:17.620 --> 0:00:22.020
<v Speaker 1>and today we're in Isaiah chapter 37 and we'll be

0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:27.460
<v Speaker 1>reading from the contemporary English version. As soon as Hezekiah

0:00:27.500 --> 0:00:30.400
<v Speaker 1>heard the news, he tore off his clothes in sorrow

0:00:30.780 --> 0:00:33.940
<v Speaker 1>and put on sackcloth, Then he went into the temple

0:00:33.979 --> 0:00:37.940
<v Speaker 1>of the Lord. He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime

0:00:37.979 --> 0:00:42.600
<v Speaker 1>Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth

0:00:43.050 --> 0:00:47.430
<v Speaker 1>and tell me, Isaiah, these are difficult and disgraceful times.

0:00:48.030 --> 0:00:50.110
<v Speaker 1>Our nation is like a woman too weak to give

0:00:50.170 --> 0:00:52.630
<v Speaker 1>birth when it's time for her baby to be born.

0:00:53.550 --> 0:00:56.670
<v Speaker 1>Please pray for those of us who are left alive.

0:00:57.330 --> 0:01:00.480
<v Speaker 1>The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult

0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.940
<v Speaker 1>the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said

0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:07.869
<v Speaker 1>and will do something if you will pray. When these

0:01:07.930 --> 0:01:10.589
<v Speaker 1>leaders came to me, I told them that the Lord

0:01:10.650 --> 0:01:15.530
<v Speaker 1>had this message for Hezekiah. I am the Lord. Don't

0:01:15.590 --> 0:01:18.229
<v Speaker 1>worry about the insulting things that have been said about

0:01:18.270 --> 0:01:22.250
<v Speaker 1>me by these messengers from the king of Assyria. I

0:01:22.290 --> 0:01:25.360
<v Speaker 1>will upset him with rumors about what's happening in his

0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.600
<v Speaker 1>own country. He will go back and there I will

0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:33.440
<v Speaker 1>make him die a violent death. Meanwhile, the commander of

0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.949
<v Speaker 1>the Assyrian forces heard that his king had left the

0:01:36.990 --> 0:01:40.250
<v Speaker 1>town of Lachish and was now attacking Libna, so he

0:01:40.310 --> 0:01:44.310
<v Speaker 1>went there. About this same time, the king of Assyria

0:01:44.370 --> 0:01:48.110
<v Speaker 1>learned that King Terhaka of Ethiopia was on his way

0:01:48.150 --> 0:01:51.490
<v Speaker 1>to attack him. Then the king of Assyria sent some

0:01:51.530 --> 0:01:55.940
<v Speaker 1>messengers with this note for Hezekiah, Don't trust your God

0:01:56.100 --> 0:01:59.560
<v Speaker 1>or be fooled by his promise to defend Jerusalem against me.

0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:04.340
<v Speaker 1>You have heard how we Assyrian kings have completely wiped

0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.960
<v Speaker 1>out other nations. What makes you feel so safe? The

0:02:09.020 --> 0:02:14.040
<v Speaker 1>Assyrian kings before me destroyed the towns of Gozan, Haran, Rezef,

0:02:14.500 --> 0:02:18.760
<v Speaker 1>and everyone from Eden who lived in Tel Asar. What

0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:24.990
<v Speaker 1>good did their gods do them? The kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hina,

0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:30.270
<v Speaker 1>and Iva have all disappeared. After Hezekiah had read the

0:02:30.330 --> 0:02:32.780
<v Speaker 1>note from the king of Assyria, he took it to

0:02:32.810 --> 0:02:35.359
<v Speaker 1>the temple and spread it out for the Lord to see.

0:02:35.940 --> 0:02:41.040
<v Speaker 1>Then he prayed, Lord God, all powerful of Israel, your

0:02:41.139 --> 0:02:45.200
<v Speaker 1>throne is above the winged creatures. You created the heavens

0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.160
<v Speaker 1>and the earth, and you alone rule the kingdoms of

0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.970
<v Speaker 1>this world. Just look and see how Sennacherib has insulted you,

0:02:53.310 --> 0:02:56.940
<v Speaker 1>the living God. It is true, our Lord, that Assyrian

0:02:57.020 --> 0:03:01.300
<v Speaker 1>kings have turned nations into deserts. They destroyed the idols

0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.940
<v Speaker 1>of wood and stone that the people of those nations

0:03:03.980 --> 0:03:08.400
<v Speaker 1>had made and worshipped. But you are our Lord and

0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.799
<v Speaker 1>our God. We ask you to keep us safe from

0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.760
<v Speaker 1>the Assyrian king. Then everyone in every kingdom on earth

0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:20.030
<v Speaker 1>will know that you are the only Lord. I went

0:03:20.090 --> 0:03:22.950
<v Speaker 1>to Hezekiah and told him that the Lord God of

0:03:23.050 --> 0:03:27.120
<v Speaker 1>Israel had said, Hezekiah, you prayed to me about King

0:03:27.180 --> 0:03:30.720
<v Speaker 1>Sennacherib of Assyria. Now this is what I say to

0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.519
<v Speaker 1>that king. The people of Jerusalem hate and make fun

0:03:34.540 --> 0:03:39.970
<v Speaker 1>of you. They laugh behind your back. Sennacherib, you cursed, shouted,

0:03:40.330 --> 0:03:43.470
<v Speaker 1>and sneered at me, the holy God of Israel. You

0:03:43.510 --> 0:03:46.970
<v Speaker 1>let your officials insult me, the Lord. And here is

0:03:47.030 --> 0:03:50.910
<v Speaker 1>what you have said about yourself. I led my chariots

0:03:50.970 --> 0:03:54.320
<v Speaker 1>to the highest heights of Lebanon's mountains. I went deep

0:03:54.380 --> 0:03:58.590
<v Speaker 1>into its forest, cutting down the best cedar and cypress trees.

0:03:59.370 --> 0:04:02.230
<v Speaker 1>I dried up every stream in the land of Egypt,

0:04:02.610 --> 0:04:07.060
<v Speaker 1>and I drank water from wells I had dug. Sennacherib,

0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:11.660
<v Speaker 1>now listen to me, the Lord. I planned all of

0:04:11.740 --> 0:04:15.020
<v Speaker 1>this long ago, and you don't even know that I

0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.020
<v Speaker 1>alone am the one who decided that you would do

0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.810
<v Speaker 1>these things. I let you make ruins of fortified cities.

0:04:22.390 --> 0:04:27.050
<v Speaker 1>Their people became weak, terribly confused. They were like wildflowers

0:04:27.110 --> 0:04:30.130
<v Speaker 1>or like tender young grass growing on a flat roof

0:04:30.670 --> 0:04:34.290
<v Speaker 1>or like a field of grain before it matures. I

0:04:34.330 --> 0:04:37.880
<v Speaker 1>know all about you, even how fiercely angry you are

0:04:37.950 --> 0:04:41.779
<v Speaker 1>with me. I have seen your pride and the tremendous

0:04:41.860 --> 0:04:45.160
<v Speaker 1>hatred you have for me. Now I will put a

0:04:45.220 --> 0:04:48.680
<v Speaker 1>hook in your nose, a bit in your mouth. Then

0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.930
<v Speaker 1>I will send you back to where you came from. Hezekiah,

0:04:53.510 --> 0:04:56.489
<v Speaker 1>I will tell you what's going to happen. This year

0:04:56.710 --> 0:04:59.790
<v Speaker 1>you will eat crops that grow on their own, and

0:04:59.810 --> 0:05:02.090
<v Speaker 1>the next year you will eat whatever springs up where

0:05:02.130 --> 0:05:05.450
<v Speaker 1>those crops grew. But the third year you will plant

0:05:05.529 --> 0:05:08.880
<v Speaker 1>grain and vineyards, and you will eat what you harvest.

0:05:09.700 --> 0:05:12.619
<v Speaker 1>Those who survive in Judah will be like a vine

0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:16.480
<v Speaker 1>that puts down deep roots and bears fruit. I, the

0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.940
<v Speaker 1>Lord All-Powerful, will see to it that some who live

0:05:20.060 --> 0:05:24.840
<v Speaker 1>in Jerusalem will survive. I promise that the king of

0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.760
<v Speaker 1>Assyria won't get into Jerusalem or shoot an arrow into

0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.120
<v Speaker 1>the city or even surround it and prepare to attack.

0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:36.039
<v Speaker 1>As surely as I am the Lord, he will return

0:05:36.100 --> 0:05:39.500
<v Speaker 1>by the way he came and will never enter Jerusalem.

0:05:40.350 --> 0:05:42.430
<v Speaker 1>I will protect it for the sake of my own

0:05:42.550 --> 0:05:45.570
<v Speaker 1>honor and because of the promise I made to my

0:05:45.670 --> 0:05:50.169
<v Speaker 1>servant David. The Lord sent an angel to the camp

0:05:50.230 --> 0:05:54.830
<v Speaker 1>of the Assyrians. and he killed 185,000 of them all

0:05:55.070 --> 0:05:58.620
<v Speaker 1>in one night. The next morning, the camp was full

0:05:58.660 --> 0:06:02.800
<v Speaker 1>of dead bodies. After this, King Sennacherib went back to

0:06:02.860 --> 0:06:06.279
<v Speaker 1>Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. One day,

0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.580
<v Speaker 1>he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nishrak,

0:06:09.839 --> 0:06:14.700
<v Speaker 1>when his sons Adrammelech and Sharizer killed him with their swords.

0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:18.760
<v Speaker 1>They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son

0:06:18.900 --> 0:06:26.300
<v Speaker 1>Esarhaddon became king. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for

0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.600
<v Speaker 1>your word, and we thank you for the privilege of

0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.070
<v Speaker 1>being able to look at it. We thank you, Lord,

0:06:31.110 --> 0:06:34.029
<v Speaker 1>that even though there are those who mock you, there

0:06:34.070 --> 0:06:38.090
<v Speaker 1>are those who dismiss your power, you display that you

0:06:38.170 --> 0:06:41.830
<v Speaker 1>are all-powerful when we look at this chapter. You also

0:06:41.890 --> 0:06:45.339
<v Speaker 1>display that you have the affairs of humanity under your control.

0:06:46.010 --> 0:06:48.680
<v Speaker 1>And Lord, we recognize that people question that and people

0:06:48.740 --> 0:06:50.779
<v Speaker 1>doubt that, but we pray for those of us who

0:06:50.820 --> 0:06:54.080
<v Speaker 1>believe in your Son, Jesus Christ, that you'd help our

0:06:54.180 --> 0:06:57.060
<v Speaker 1>trust in you to be strong no matter what circumstances

0:06:57.140 --> 0:07:00.240
<v Speaker 1>we may face. Help us to walk with you, help

0:07:00.300 --> 0:07:02.200
<v Speaker 1>us to love you, help us to trust in you,

0:07:02.690 --> 0:07:04.790
<v Speaker 1>and help us to put you first in all areas

0:07:04.850 --> 0:07:07.630
<v Speaker 1>of our lives. We're grateful, Lord, for your love and

0:07:07.670 --> 0:07:10.470
<v Speaker 1>for your presence, and we're grateful for this chapter of

0:07:10.510 --> 0:07:13.010
<v Speaker 1>the Scripture to be able to read and meditate on

0:07:13.070 --> 0:07:18.360
<v Speaker 1>together today. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.