II Chronicles 32:1–8, 20–23
After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. 2 And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to fight against Jerusalem, 3 he planned with his officers and his mighty men to stop the water of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him. 4 A great many people were gathered, and they stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” 5 He set to work resolutely and built up all the wall that was broken down and raised towers upon it, and outside it he built another wall, and he strengthened the Millo in the city of David. He also made weapons and shields in abundance. 6 And he set combat commanders over the people and gathered them together to him in the square at the gate of the city and spoke encouragingly to them, saying,7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
20 Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed because of this and cried to heaven. 21 And the Lord sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty warriors and commanders and officers in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, some of his own sons struck him down there with the sword. 22 So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies, and he provided for them on every side.23 And many brought gifts to the Lord to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward.
Prayer: Thanks be to You, Lord Jesus, Captain of our salvation, for the goodly weapon of Your Word, with which we drive the enemy before us, and can rout thrones and rulers. Create in us a zeal for Your Word, willingly to hear and learn it, that we may always have our weapon polished and ready. Grant us faith to entrust our lives to You, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
“Be Strong and Courageous!”
In Christ Jesus, who fights for us, dear fellow redeemed!
After the death of King Solomon the nation of Israel split into two separate kingdoms. The northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel, was ruled by different kings than the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah. As we read through the history of the divided kingdom, we learn about a lot of different kings. Some were faithful, some were terrible and unfaithful to the Lord, and others were somewhere in between. The Bible tells us that Hezekiah, the thirteenth king of Judah, “Did what was good and right and true before the LORD his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered” (II Chronicles 31:20–21). Hezekiah restored proper temple worship, he removed all the pagan idols that had crept in under unfaithful kings, destroyed the high places throughout Judah, and encouraged the people to faithfulness in the one true God of Israel. There had been no king as faithful as Hezekiah since King David.
In our lesson, the Chronicler sets Judah’s renewed faithfulness side by side with a daunting new development: “After these things and these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself.” Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah would have been about 701 B.C. This was terrible news for Judah. The Assyrians had swept through the ancient near east conquering lands from Babylon to Egypt to parts of what would be modern-day Turkey. Just some years before they had defeated the northern kingdom of Israel taking many Jews into exile. The mere report of the Assyrian king’s arrival would have been enough to turn any king into quivering bowls of gelatin. The Assyrians were ruthless empire-builders. They had great military power, with advanced military weapons of iron and chariots, and they were not shy about using them. According to the ancient annuls of Sennacherib, Hezekiah had earned his displeasure by not attending one of his gatherings which was for all his vassal kings and territories under his rule. This power-hungry king wanted more than just tribute money—he wanted all power and respect.
Sennacherib sent his servants to wreak havoc on the morale of Judah and its soldiers. It almost seems as if Sennacherib knew everything that Hezekiah would have done and said to his troops. Instead of speaking in Aramaic, he had his servants speak in Hebrew so that the soldiers standing on the walls might hear his taunts. He taunted and said, “Are you trusting your king? Did he tell you to trust in your God? Look at all the other nations we have destroyed—where were there gods? We will wipe you out like we have done to every other country. No nation and no god have been able to be delivered from our powerful hand. Don’t be misled by your king! Surrender or die!” Sennacherib was the king of propaganda. He knew how to exploit Judah’s worries. He even mentioned how Hezekiah had removed the many places of worship and reduced it to only the temple—for Sennacherib who believed in many gods, this was utter foolishness. The more places of worship meant making the gods more pleased. When people are worried and threatened—they go back to what they know and are used to. Certainly, the soldiers on the wall would have begun to wonder if Hezekiah’s religious reforms were so wise. You could see them saying, “We were just fine before you took all those high places away! Now the Assyrians are knocking at the door!” Sennacherib was doing all that he could to divide the soldiers from Hezekiah. If he could do this, he would have already won the battle.
Now imagine being one of Judah’s soldiers on the wall and seeing the great army, a horde of Assyrians, numbering 185,000. There would be no time for escape. There would be no way out. The enemy’s questioning taunts start to sink in. Imagine you were the king who had to defend Jerusalem. Imagine knowing the torture that would come if they could get their hands on you. Deflated. Worried. Scared. Paralyzed. These are all words that come to mind.
When Hezekiah first learned of the impending invasion, he did everything he could to prepare Judah for war. He knew he couldn’t win on the open battlefield, so he prepared the city of Jerusalem for siege. Even more importantly, he encouraged his men with what was their real defense: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.”
Hezekiah offers an amazing battle cry! When most kings seek to inspire their troops—they point to their past military victories, the weaknesses of their enemies, the preparations that they have made, or the glory of victory. But not Hezekiah. He points them to the Lord, who was unlike the gods of other nations. He was the true God who would help and fight for them. He was the only reason for them not to fear or dismay. When the great Assyrian army was at his doorstep, Hezekiah didn’t waver from his trust in the Lord. He put his kingdom, his nation and people, into the Lord’s hands. And he was not disappointed. God heard Hezekiah’s prayer.
There are two important lessons that we can take away from this account. The first is that we need to rely on God for all our needs great or small. Hezekiah serves as a wonderful example of this. But earlier in II Chronicles, we learn about King Asa who was quite faithful like Hezekiah. He had promoted the true worship of God and put his trust in God for many battles. Yet, in one instance, even though the Lord had helped him before, when he was about to be invaded, instead of asking for God’s help, he made up a plan to get a foreign king to fight his battle for him. While his plan worked, it displeased the Lord because Asa didn’t trust in him. He trusted in his own plans and efforts.
As Christians, you and I both know that we need God’s help. We need to go to him in prayer and entrust our lives to him. But it’s easy for us to act like King Asa when troubles come. Instead of going to the Lord, who has always been faithful to us, we try to solve it on our own. We forget to even offer a short prayer in situations of distress, great or small.
When we think about how powerful prayer is and how God commands us to pray and promises to hear us, it would be a little embarrassing if we knew how many minutes we spent each day in prayer in comparison to how many we spent worrying or trying to solve life’s different battles. I know it is for me and maybe it is for you too. We are sinners who easily forget where our help comes from when we face trouble—whether small problems like an argument with a friend or spouse or a great problem like crop failure or a terrible sickness. And that is why it’s so important for you and I to be regularly in the Word of God. We need to be reminded with examples like Hezekiah—that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46)! The Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. It is the sword of the Spirit!
This gets to the second point from our lesson. For us to be prepared for life’s battles, we need to be making regular use of God’s Word and Sacrament. It’s no coincidence that the author of Chronicles mentions Hezekiah’s faithfulness before this event—he was in the Word and worshipping God. This is our best defense against our old wicked foe, the world, and our own sinful flesh. Hezekiah had the Lord’s spiritual armor on before he had any man-made armor.
When we face life’s battles without strengthening and equipping ourselves with God’s Word and Sacrament, we are like soldiers going to war in their pajamas. The devil and our sinful flesh take advantage of this—exploiting our weaknesses, trying to pit us against Christ our King like Sennacherib attempted to do between Hezekiah and his men. “He won’t be able to help you. You stand no chance. Your sins are too great. This world is too powerful. You are all alone. Give up.” At times, it’s easy for us to give into these doubts and worries. How can we be sure that God hasn’t given up on us? How can we be certain that the Lord is with us?
The Lord himself has given us a sign: “’Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” God himself became a human being to rescue us. He humbled himself to be born of a virgin so that he could fight the battle we had lost. We were standing against insurmountable odds—the devil had us in his clutches. But Christ, the Lord of glory, threw himself into the pit. Despite living a perfect and sinless life—he endured the suffering and punishment of the greatest sinner to ever live. By his blood shed on the cross, Jesus has atoned for every one of our sins. Our sins of worry and doubt, disbelief and fear, lust and vanity, greed and hate. He crushed Satan’s head and has silenced every one of his accusations against us. Your sins are forgiven. Jesus our resurrected and ascended Lord gives us hope. He will raise our bodies from the grave. Death is not the end. Even more, while we live here on this earth, our Savior, who sits at God’s right hand, intercedes on our behalf. He promises to be with us till the end of the age. You and I are never alone. Jesus, our Immanuel, is with us.
And so, the Apostle Paul encourages us to stand in the power of his might, putting on the full armor of God. Wear the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness—which silence the devil’s attacks and cover you with Christ. Carry with you the Gospel wherever you go, and take up the shield of faith—so that when the devil and our sinful flesh try to bring you doubt or fear, you remember your Savior’s Word—“I will never leave you nor forsake you,” “Your sins are forgiven,” and “nothing can separate you from the love of God.” It’s through his Word, and his body and his blood given unto you, that he assures you of his love and forgiveness, mercy and strength.
Without Christ, we lie helpless under the compulsion of many tyrants. We are hounded by our sinful flesh, harassed by the unbelieving world, and enticed to sin by the devil or accused of guilt. Without Jesus, we are hopeless in the fight. But in Christ, we stand with him who has trampled our enemy underfoot, carried everything that condemns us to the cross, and overcome the world. Certainly, the One with us is more and greater than our enemies. As the Apostle John writes, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” So, “Be Strong and Courageous… Do not be afraid or dismayed… for there are more with us than with him. 8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” Amen!