In Whom Do You Now Trust? (Isaiah 36:1-39:8)
The sermon outline can be found in the ministry guide.
When I was working, my colleagues tried to match me with a female colleague I worked closely with who was single. I admit I found her attractive, and I was considering, but she was not a Christian. The Bible is clear that Christians marrying non-Christians does not please God, and God is clear it will not be for my good. Thus, I had to face the question before me: “Will I trust God to direct me in matters of relationships, or would I take matters into my own hands and pursue a relationship with a non-Christian? In whom would I trust — my colleagues and I or God?”
Beloved, in whom do you now trust?
In your dating relationships, would you trust God to provide?
In your work, would you trust God by seeking contentment and not seeking prideful gain?
In your physical health, would you trust God as you experience decline?
In your family, would you entrust your children to God?
Do you take matters into your own hands, or would you trust our God of steadfast love and faithfulness?
In whom do you now trust?
We come to Isaiah 36-39. These transition chapters bridge one major section of the book into the next. Isaiah 36–37 look back and confirm what Isaiah has been saying that trusting God is a wise thing to do. Isaiah 38-39, however, look forward. They prepare us for what follows by showing us the failure of human faith.
The preceding chapters have been mainly prophetic poetry, where Isaiah urged us to trust God. Isaiah 36–39 are historical narratives, depicting actual events that are happening to real people in real places in history.
Isaiah answers these questions in these chapters: Does faith work right here, right now, in real life? Or is faith just a far-off vindication for believers at the end times when Christ returns? Is faith in God a good policy for real life here and now?
God is faithful to His promises to deliver His people, but we are unfaithful to God.
The big idea for today's passage is that God is faithful to His promises to deliver His people, but we are unfaithful to God.
Before we jump into the passage, there are two matters to note. Isaiah 36-39 is a historical narrative — it takes place in a historical time and space. The main actors in this unfolding narrative comprise the nations of Judea in the south and Assyria, then a major world power in the north, with the upcoming Babylon in the northeast.
Secondly, the life of Hezekiah is recorded here, as well as in 2 Kings 18-20 and 2 Chronicles 29-32. There are considerable overlaps but also some differences. What is written in the three accounts is true, however, the authors have different focuses and have emphasized and rearranged certain points to make a theological point for their readers.
What is crucial for us today from this passage is "What is God, through Isaiah, trying to say to his original readers and, by extension, to us today?"
God is faithful to his promises to deliver his people for his reputation's sake
During my seminary studies, I appreciated the time and space to examine theological matters and engage with controversies. In one controversy, the proponent of a view outside Christian orthodoxy started as a well-known, skilled, Bible-believing, theologically conservative seminary lecturer and pastor. Then, a family crisis hit, and he adjusted his position to trust instead in human reason.
Crisis tests our faith and reveals functionally what and who we place our confidence in. In Isaiah 36-67, we see Judah facing a national crisis. This chapter narrates when Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, was the king of the southern kingdom of Judah.
The fourteenth year of his reign corresponds to 701 BC. Around 701 B.C., the army of the Assyrian King Sennacherib attacked Judah successfully. Only the fortress outpost of Lachish and Jerusalem remained free. Enemies surrounded Jerusalem. King Sennacherib sent his representative, the Rabshakeh, an envoy, to bully King Hezekiah into surrender. The Assyrian envoy "stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field" (Isa 36:2).
King Hezekiah's administrators, Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah, met the Assyrian commander (Isa 36:3). This verse echoed Isaiah 7:3 when Isaiah and his son met Hezekiah's father Ahaz 34 years earlier, when the enemy armies of the northern kingdoms of Samaria and Syria were at the gates of Jerusalem. King Ahaz failed the test of faith and feared man rather than trusting God, placing his trust in the nation of Assyria. Now, the armies of Assyria were at the gates of Jerusalem, swarming and ready to destroy Judea, just as God, through Isaiah, said they would.
So, how would King Hezekiah respond? In whom will he now trust?
We see the words of the envoy in Isaiah 36:4-20. The message from the Assyrian king is a grand threat. He wants Hezekiah to give up and simply surrender. The key word in his speech in Isaiah 36:4–10 is "trust”, which occurs six times in the ESV. What the word "trusts" means to the original hearers is "to throw oneself down on one's face, to lie extended on the ground." Trust is a deep and entire dependence.
Isaiah's record of this speech emphasises trust and clarifies the question of our lives: In the hard realities of this world, will we trust God enough to remain dependent on Him, or will we put our trust in the powers of this world and surrender to them?
Note the prideful Assyrian envoy's boastful words, "Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria" (Isa 36:4). He sneers, "Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war?" (Isa 36:5). He mocks the negotiations he expects from Hezekiah, comparing them with his "great army" (Isa 36:2).
But ironically, "mere words" were the Assyrian king's undoing. The Lord caused him to hear a "rumour," prompting him to call off his attack (Isa 37:7).
His claim in Isaiah 36:10 that the Lord has sent him is also a half-truth. Yes, ultimately, the sovereign Lord sent him, but he implies that the Lord is his ally. This arrogance violates God's third Commandment (c.f. Exod 20:7) as he took God's name in vain, and dooms his selfish empire-building.
King Hezekiah's officials offer a feeble response (Isa 36:11), emboldening the Assyrian envoy to bully the people all the more (Isa 36:12), speaking in the language of Judah in his following speech to taunt the people directly. In his speech in Isaiah 36:13–20, the keyword is "deliver," which occurs seven times. Would the Lord God of Judah be able to deliver them? Would God save? Isaiah's account emphasizes this word to contrast this world's false promise of deliverance with God's real deliverance. The Assyrians even dared to offer the very blessing God intended for his people (Isa 36:16). Their only condition is that God's people surrender to them, which would mean the people forsaking their trust in and rebelling against God.
The leaders of God's people are deeply shaken by the terrifying boasts of this evil power confronting them (Isa 36:21–22). But King Hezekiah responds humbly and wisely in Isaiah 37:1-7.
In response to King Sennacherib's threat, King Hezekiah tears his clothes in grief and enters the Jerusalem temple. He sends Eliakim, Shebna, and the leading priests to the prophet Isaiah for help. Hezekiah's message describes the day as "distress, rebuke, and disgrace" (Isa 37:3). He admits Judah's weakness (Isa 37:2–3). But what matters more to Hezekiah than their fate is that the living God is being mocked (Isa 37:4) — God's reputation was being smeared.
The prophet Isaiah responds and reassures Hezekiah that the Lord will faithfully intervene on their behalf (Isa 37:5–7). God is in control, so he can even change the Assyrian king's thoughts: "I will put a spirit in him" (Isa 37:7). Sennacherib's words were blasphemous, and God plans to cut him down. Hezekiah does not need to defeat Sennacherib. God will defeat him back in his own country, where he thought he would be safe (Isa 37:7; c.f. Isa 37:38)!
The next event that happens occurs in Isaiah 37:8-38.The Assyrian army is temporarily drawn away from attacking Jerusalem, but the Assyrian envoy wants Hezekiah to know they will return in force (Isa 37:8–13). The arrogant invader takes a fatal step, however, in Isaiah 37:10, when he insinuates that God is a liar — "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you” — saying that God will not (He does not care) or cannot (He is unable) keep His promises to keep Jerusalem safe from Assyria. He pridefully exalts Assyria as if Assyria controlled the world (Isa 37:11–13).
King Hezekiah wisely knows that his primary business is not with Assyria but with God (Isa 37:14–29). He takes the letter from the King of Assyria, and went before God in the temple, and spread it before God (Isa 37:14-15).
He describes the Lord as "enthroned between the cherubim" (Isa 37:16)— a phrase referring to God's glory appearing above the lid of the ark of the covenant behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place of the tent of meeting (c.f. Ex 40:34). The creator God is enthroned over all earthly kingdoms, and that includes Assyria.
Hezekiah calls on the Lord to listen to Sennacherib's ridicule and then act. Sennacherib has defied the living God. Hezekiah prays not that Judah will survive but "that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord" (Isa 37:20). He prays that God will act to keep His promise to deliver Jerusalem for God's reputation's sake. And God declares that prayer is Hezekiah's key to true power: "Because you have prayed to me . . ." (Isa 37:21).
In response to Hezekiah's faithful prayer, God promises that Jerusalem will survive this emergency and even laugh at the Assyrians (Isa 37:22). God affirms that He, not Assyria, is the true Lord of history (Isa 37:23–27). And He promises to judge Assyria's proud defiance with a painful and humiliating defeat (Isa 37:28–29).
Truly, we can trust God. God confirms his promises to Hezekiah with a sign (Isa 37:30–35). As the people of Judah recover from the devastation of the Assyrian invasion, through the prophet Isaiah, God tells King Hezekiah to expect two years of disrupted agricultural activity, but sowing and planting will resume after that (Isa 37:30). The land will continue to provide the abundant crops they need through God's attentive care (Isa 37:30–31). God's zeal for His people, not their zeal for him, will get them safely through (Isa 37:32). People in Judah will prosper. Hezekiah need not fear the Assyrian king. Sennacherib will not succeed against Jerusalem (Isa 37:33-34). The God of Israel is Jerusalem's defender; no political ruler can defeat Him.
God preserves Judah to maintain His covenant faithfulness to David. In 2 Samuel 7:12–13, God promises a future king from David's line who would rule forever, so "for the sake of David," the Lord will defend Jerusalem and preserve the remnant in Judah (Isa 37:35).
God's ultimate purpose for preserving His people is His faithfulness to His promises, leading to the true and better David, Jesus our Messiah (Isa 37:33–35). Human opposition to God, even at its most formidable (like the mighty Assyrian army), comes to nothing (Isa 37:36–38). Isaiah 37:36 simply states that a single angel of the living God defeats 185,000 human enemies. The outcome is inevitable when God is on our side! And even as Hezekiah went into the temple of the Lord and got help (Isa 37:14), Sennacherib goes into the temple of his god and gets assassinated (Isa 37:38).
God is not mocked.
The national crisis recounted in Isaiah 36–37 proved God's faithfulness. God is faithful to His promises to deliver His people for His reputation's sake.
The key to application is the taunt, "In whom do you now trust?" (Isa 36:5). Beloved, we constantly live by faith, either faith in God or something else. There is no neutral ground.
Yesterday's faith in God belongs to yesterday. In whom do you now trust?
Yesterday's faith in God belongs to yesterday. In whom do you now trust? In the struggle you are facing now, in whom do you trust? We will come to those moments when nothing will be enough, but what is from God will be. After we have done all we can and should, and life demands of us still more, nothing but God Himself will be enough.
Beloved, whatever your challenge may be right now, God is with you in it. Trust Him. Look for Him. He will not fail you. Our culture will cloud our vision of God, confuse our thinking, and pressure us not to take God at His word but to shave the risky edge off our faith. Some voices always whisper that God is not a solution; He is a problem. So the question before us is both important and urgent. Whose voice will we believe, whose wisdom will we follow, whose hope will we cherish and live for?
In whom do we now trust?
We need to prepare for crisis. Crisis will come; it is not a matter of if but when. Are you prepared for the test of faith when a crisis hits? Trust is a way of life, not a spur-of-the-moment thing. We live by trusting in God daily in ordinary things so that our confidence in God is well-tested when a crisis comes.
Beloved, whatever your challenge is today, it is a gift of God. He wants you to see His deliverance for His glory. Realize the meaning of what is happening to you. God is in your crisis.
Maybe you have not been trusting Him. Perhaps you feel deeply disappointed in yourself and tired of your life. Maybe you have wasted years of opportunity. How do you get going again?
The Bible says that God has made Christ Jesus our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). Jesus is enough for all your needs. Begin by trusting Him to forgive you even for your lost opportunities. He is a deliverer. Trust Jim for that—now.
To my unbelieving friends, the message is urgent: You are facing a crisis. In whom do you trust? You must come to faith in the Lord because if you live your lives without faith in Him or His word, not even your good deeds will count, and you will not survive the judgement to come. Trust that Jesus Christ died on the cross in your place for your sins, turning away God's just anger against our sin and rebellion. God's power raised Jesus Christ on the third day, so that if we place our trust and confidence in Him, His work and His person, we, too, will have a new life. If this is your desire, please speak to any of the pastors or Elders, or your Christian friend who brought you here and we will gladly talk to you about the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Beloved, one way of trusting God is to rely on Him in our prayers, just as Hezekiah trusted in and desperately pleaded with God for deliverance. How does God's faithfulness to His promises shape our practice of prayer? Our prayer life functionally reflects our trust in God.
Do we pray often and in complete dependence?
Do we gather for corporate prayers?
Do we pray regularly in our small groups when we meet?
Do we pray individually in private?
Or are our prayers brief and perfunctory?
Beloved, also make it a point to gather regularly as a church. Do not trust the voices who think it foolish to gather as a church on Sunday mornings when you could be sleeping in. Trust instead in God's means of grace for us. The preached word of God and the gospel heard will strengthen our confidence in God. Our community as a church can and should speak the gospel to one another and let God's words strengthen our trust in Him.
In whom do we now trust?
King Hezekiah held firmly to God during the national crisis in chapters Isaiah 36-37, but in Isaiah 38-39, in his crisis, he selfishly betrays the future of his nation. Isaiah's point is that God is the only one who will never fail us. Now the personal crisis described in the next two chapters shows our unfaithfulness.
We are unfaithful to God, pridefully pursuing our reputation
I have heard preachers and pastors talk more about themselves than about God. I always feel uncomfortable when it happens as they seem more interested in their reputation than God's reputation.
Beloved, if we are honest, we all struggle with pride in our hearts. Pride is the first and primary sin. Adam and Eve, in their pride, wanted to overthrow God from His rightful position and usurp the throne. They did not want to trust God was good and will provide for them. Instead, they wanted to be like God and get all the glory. Pride is the antithesis of faith in God. Beloved, where is our boast if our deliverance is by faith?
In Isaiah 38-39, we see King Hezekiah's struggle with pride. While Bible commentators are clear that chapter 39 shows Hezekiah's pride and faithlessness, they are divided on how to read Isaiah 38. Some read it negatively: reading 2 Chronicles 32:25, which revealed Hezekiah's heart was proud, into this passage. Others see chapter 38 as Hezekiah's action and prayer reflecting a sincere and faithful response.
I hold to Chapter 38 as reflecting Hezekiah's honest struggle and lamenting his mortality. Yet, he sincerely called out to God in prayer. However, at the end of the chapter, Isaiah 38:21-22 show Hezekiah wavering in faith and his double-mindedness.
In Isaiah 38:1-8, King Hezekiah becomes deathly ill (Isa 38:1). Through Isaiah, the Lord tells the king to put his affairs in order before his death. The king prays that God will remember his faithfulness and devotion during his reign (Isa 38:3). God deals with Hezekiah in grace, mercifully adding fifteen years to his lifespan (Isa 38:5), and the king and Jerusalem would be spared Assyrian conquest (Isa 38:6).
In confirmation, God gave a sign. God performed a miracle — the sun turned back on the sun dial of Ahaz ten steps (Isa 38:7-8). God was working in Hezekiah's life with surprising divine intervention.
Will Hezekiah steward his incredible gift wisely? In Isaiah 38:9-20, Hezekiah writes of the ordeal that happened to him. He says his terrible sickness was like approaching the gates of death (Isa 38:10). He lamented that if he died, he would no longer live in the land of the living and see other people (Isa 38:11). His nearness to death was like a shepherd's tent being pulled down.
Hezekiah was perishing, yet in his distress, he called to the Lord (Isa 38:14), and the Lord answered. The king's health was restored (Isa 38:16). If Hezekiah died, he could no longer praise God in the land of the living; however, his renewed strength allowed him to continue to worship God and thank him for his faithfulness (Isa 38:18–20).
Then Isaiah makes an unusual statement in Isaiah 38:21-22. Isaiah 38:21 gives the instructions to treat Hezekiah's illness. Isaiah 38:22 has Hezekiah asking for a sign again, after God had provided a miracle and turned back on the sun dial of Ahaz ten steps.
Isaiah makes his final statement at the end of the chapter to emphasize Hezekiah's divided heart. He is trusting the Lord, but not entirely. Even after God's promise of healing (Isa 38:5), the miraculous sign (Isa 38:8), and Isaiah's practical remedy (Isa 38:21), Hezekiah's faith is still uncertain — he asks again for confirmation. He is "a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (c.f. Jas 1:8). His hesitancy about God is the reason for the collapse of his character, revealed in Isaiah 39.
In Isaiah 39, we see the visit of envoys from Babylon. The King of Babylon, Marduk-Baladan, heard that King Hezekiah had recovered from a severe sickness. Therefore, he sent envoys to Hezekiah, probably seeking some alliance. When the Assyrians threatened Hezekiah, he stood up to their bullying, by God's grace. But now, when the Babylonians flatter Hezekiah, he falls for their trick due to his pride. Hezekiah gave the Babylonian envoys a tour of his storehouses and armoury, showing them everything (Isa 39:2).
Hezekiah's showing off his riches and power was a terrible mistake. With unguarded vanity, he shows off his sacred treasures (Isa 39:2–4). He does not see how the Babylonians are taking mental notes, adding up these incentives for returning to invade Judah and take it away as plunder (Isa 39:6).
After the Babylonian envoys leave, Isaiah, the prophet, asks Hezekiah what the men want, where they came from, and what they saw on their visit. When Hezekiah answers truthfully, Isaiah makes a startling pronouncement: The time will come when everything in the palace will be taken to Babylon (Isa 39:6). Furthermore, some of Hezekiah's descendants will be taken away and made eunuchs in the Babylonian court (Isa 39:7).
Though this prophecy is disheartening, Hezekiah takes comfort that the prophecy will not come to fulfilment in his lifetime. There will be peace and security for the rest of his reign (Isa 39:8).
Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, whose army came against Judah beginning in 605 BC and destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 586 BC, taking the people of Judah into Babylonian exile.The Jewish exile in Babylon, now inevitable because of Hezekiah's pride, will form the background of Isaiah 40–55.
Hezekiah's final word is a stab in his nation's back (Isa 39:8). He does not mind that later generations will suffer, for his life will end comfortably. Moreover, Hezekiah's descendants will be taken away and made eunuchs, which means that the line of David would be threatened.
What betrayal!
Indeed, only God always remains faithful. History records for us that Hezekiah was a good king overall. Isaiah 38-39 show that despite Hezekiah's achievements as recorded in 2 Kings 18-20 and 2 Chronicles 29-32 — he cleansed the temple, restored temple worship, reinstituted the Passover, organized the priests and brought in contributions to the temple, sought the LORD and followed God's commandments.
He was not only mortal - he would die- but also ultimately proved unfaithful. But Hezekiah was unfaithful to God, pridefully pursuing his reputation.
We are unfaithful to God, pridefully pursuing our reputation.
Isaiah is pointing out that Hezekiah is not the prophesized Immanuel child that will save God's people; we have to look to Isaiah 40-55 for the faithful and true servant of the Lord.
Beloved, our faith can be tested during crisis and peace. When we face tests, how can we live in ways that show we truly trust God and his promises?
Beloved, how often do we take credit for what goes right in our lives and blame God for what goes wrong? When we end up in an impossible situation and somehow get out of it, who gets the credit in the eyes of the world — us or God?
Even beyond that, what are we showing to the world? Are we showing them our accomplishments or even our spirituality? Who gets the glory?
The person who has cultivated a life of trust, who knows that everything they have is a gift from God will constantly deflect the praise and honour from themselves to God. If that kind of praise of God is not occurring, then, I need to ask myself if I truly believe that what I am and have is a gift or if I believe I produced it either through my physical effort or, worse, through my spiritual effort.
Pride is robbing God of His glory, beloved; let us not be glory robbers. Seek humility.
Beloved, the fruit and growth we see in our church is from God, and he alone should get the glory; we need to be aware of pride, especially when we see the good things happening at GBC. Pride is robbing God of His glory, beloved; let us not be glory robbers. Seek humility.
Remember Hezekiah and his achievements cannot save the world; only Christ can. Neither can your achievements or mine.
Who is getting the glory?
Finally, I speak to Christians who struggle with their experience of faith. Friends, I speak to you who find your faith wavering. Remember, the zeal of the Lord accomplished the deliverance of the people of Judah. The sovereign, powerful God is zealous for those He calls His own. It is not the strength of our faith but the strength of the object of our faith — our creator and sovereign God who is faithful to His promises to deliver His people that we trust.
Would you trust in God?
Trust God, who is faithful to us in and through the true and better King Jesus. Jesus is the only trustworthy one. Remember that Jesus Christ is the only one who is faithful and true (Rev 19:11). Remember that the cross of Christ was the gushing forth of the ocean of God's mercies for sinners. It is the costly display of the love of God at the cross of Christ that restores our souls.
When our faith is weak, God's love is strong.
That is the gospel.
Believe it.
Let us pray.
Bibliography:
Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.
D. A. Carson, ed., NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018.
Mitchell L. Chase, "Isaiah," in The NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible, ed. R. Albert Mohler Jr. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2021.
Barry Webb, The Message of Isaiah: On Eagles' Wings, ed. J. A. Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today. England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996.
J. Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 20, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999.
John N. Oswalt, Isaiah, The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2003.
David Jackman, Teaching Isaiah: Unlocking Isaiah for the Bible Teacher, ed. Robin Sydserff, Teach the Bible. Ross-shire, Scotland; London, England: P.T. Media; Christian Focus, 2010.
Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. and R. Kent Hughes, Isaiah: God Saves Sinners, Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005.
Ortlund, R. (2023). Isaiah: Commentary: Ray Ortlund: TGCBC. The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/commentary/isaiah/#section-1