THE LORD ALWAYS PREVAILS
I. His Plans Are Obscure
II. Depend Upon His Promises
III. “The Kingdom Ours Remaineth”
2 Chronicles 32:1–23
I. His Plans Are Obscure
To say that the Lord always prevails is an awfully sweeping statement, and it would seem to be negated by the fact that the Northern Kingdom had been obliterated by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser, that Sennacherib had besieged cities of Judah, now threatened Jerusalem, and unleashed blasphemy against the LORD. Later Jerusalem would fall to Nebuchadnezzar, besides which there are numerous examples of tragic invasion of Israel.
To say that the Lord always prevails, however, does not mean that we do. I point you again to the time when Joshua was contemplating the battle with Jericho: Joshua 5:13–15 (ESV) When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
The Lord would be victorious, even if Joshua was not, although in that case the Lord blessed Joshua with victory.
The plans of the Lord are obscure to us, so we don’t understand why things turn out as they do. In words similar to those He had for Job in his suffering, the Lord tells us through Isaiah, Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV)
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
And so because we cannot see, we take the Lord’s mercy on faith: Romans 8:28 (ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
II. Depend Upon His Promises
So was Hezekiah just indulging in some “Rah-Rah” cheerleading without any certainty when he told the people, “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.”
While the Lord’s specific will is obscure, rest assured that His promises never fail, and Hezekiah was trusting fully in the Lord’s promises. Isaiah 37:33–35 (ESV) “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
The Lord spoke, and it was certain. That was that. You could count on it. His promises stand sure. So Hezekiah spoke with courage and confidence. Do you suppose he knew how Sennacherib would fall? Probably not. God is under no obligation to explain. Our text gives the broad strokes: 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. Isaiah gives some more detail: Isaiah 37:36–37 (ESV) And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh.
Do you suppose this made an impression upon the ancient world, and glorified the LORD among people? Of course that was the case to a certain extent, 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.
But you must remember that this really isn’t about Sennacherib and Hezekiah, or Assyria and Judah. This is about the cosmic battle between the Lord and “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” It is about the conflict between faith and unbelief. It is about how the events of that day would impact the souls of the people involved.
So the devil was quick with his propaganda. Not surprisingly Sennacherib, who bragged about his first invasion
of Judah and exacting of tribute said nothing of his humiliation by the LORD. What God did couldn’t be hidden, so there were attempts to obscure the truth. One of the more imaginative accounts was recorded by the Greek historian, Herodotus, “Herodotus has a garbled account of this disaster that crippled the Assyrian forces. He records that Sennacherib marched against Egypt [putative allies of Judah]. During a certain night, though, field mice supposedly invaded the Assyrian camp and gnawed the quivers, bow strings, and leather shield handles, thus disarming the military force. As a consequence, many of the soldiers were killed and others fled.
III. “The Kingdom Ours Remaineth”
What is going on in the world today is the source of anxiety among many. For some in the world it is as frightening as the greatest power in the world surrounding your town and threatening to take you as a slave or run you through with a sword. For others it is a matter of economic angst, the fate of the Supreme Court, or a loss of liberty. And then there is the threat of Russia, Communist China, Islamic Jihad or North Korea. Indeed, we have seen the power of our own government brought against some who would not compromise their faith.
But ___ things we learn from this text.
The Lord always prevails. Those who blaspheme His name will eventually be humbled.
The Lord keeps His promises and does not forget His faithful children, even if His ways are obscure to us.
It wasn’t about who should be king, but about the salvation of souls.
The will of the Lord is that people turn from their wickedness in repentance, are baptized into Christ and His righteousness, and enter into the eternal peace of heaven. Whatever happens to you in this world, it cannot take away
the forgiveness of sins which Christ won for you on the cross; it cannot take away the righteousness that he worked out for you in His live.
So really in the long term you face the greatest danger, not from a nuclear attack or a mall shooting, but from a preoccupation with the things of this world to the exclusion of the Means of Grace, the gospel in word and sacrament.
So maybe your fear, your anxiety, your respect, has been misplaced. Surely this text illustrates, as Jesus taught, Matthew 10:28 (ESV) And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Do you fear, love, and trust the Lord as Hezekiah taught, or have you made an idol of the powers of this world?
The greatest power of this world cannot save you from that idolatry. But Jesus has. In his name I forgive you. In His name I urge you to think first of the cosmic battle in which we are all caught up, because we are immortal souls. In his name I urge you to think less of the powers of this world, as great as they may be. “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.”
AMEN
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