2 Kings 18

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0:00 We're spending these couple weeks talking about the Lord's Prayer with the kids because I'm kind of stuck on this idea in the Lord's Prayer where Jesus encouraged us to pray thy kingdom come and thy will be done. Thinking about it, like coming out of the season of Easter, we still have these Easter banners up, the white for liturgical color, for celebration, and he has risen banner that Meghan Miller made for us because the season of Easter runs for seven weeks.

0:33 Historically, the church has said this is now the second Sunday of Easter and we'll celebrate the resurrection of Christ for seven weeks. The number seven is the number of completeness in the story of Scripture. The season of Easter runs for the seven Sundays. We're in the second Sunday of Easter now and thinking about this reality that Jesus was dead all the way dead in the grave and then completely alive, eating meals with people,

1:05 appearing to folk, flesh and bone, body and soul alive, completely alive. Us send it into heaven and he says he ascends in order to dispatch the Spirit so we know that though we can't see him, we know he lives now. And though he is not here, he promises to return. And when he returns, he sets up the reign of God, unbroken, unimpeded, unmitigated, forever in which we might live.

1:39 The season of Easter, the seven Sundays of Easter, we take special time to remember that Christ's resurrection is the completed work of salvation which secures for all of us eternal rest with him in the new heavens and the new earth. And so the interesting thing to me in the reality of that season is dealing with this encouragement that Christ gives us to pray that his kingdom would come now, that his reign

2:11 would come now to this earth. And as I was thinking about why is that a question, the first place I came to was actually in John chapter 18. I can just tell you the story or you can follow along if you got quick fingers and can punch it in. In John chapter 18 verse 23 and following Jesus is in front of Pilate. Remember how he got here?

2:42 He celebrated the Passover. John says where he showed the disciples the full extent of his love and then they walk in the evening out of the upper room through the quiet streets of Jerusalem, down out of the walled city, through the little ravine which where they would burn all of the trash up to the other side of the hill where the Garden of Gethsemane is. That's where he prays. Remember in the evening he goes, leaves a group of disciples, takes the three a little

3:14 bit closer says would you guys stay up and pray with me? You're my best friends. I'm going to go over here. He's in the most troubling stressful point of his life and his friends. They don't have the fortitude to pray with him. They just kind of fall asleep. And then in that garden there outside of the city in the evening Judas brings the Sanhedrin, the rulers of the keepers of the law of Judaism and he turns Jesus in. They take him in on a trumped up trial. They bring several people until they finally get a phrase that they feel like is blasphemy

3:48 and punishable by death and then they take him to Pilate and that's where we are in the story in John chapter 18 verse 23. Jesus is before Pilate and Jesus Pilate enters back into his headquarters again after trying to convince the Pharisees, just let this guy go. He hasn't done anything wrong. They're like, no, this is it. We've got to take him out. And so then Pilate comes back to Jesus. So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, are you the

4:21 king of the Jews? And Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you about me? I love how calm he is and inquisitive. Pilate says, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus is like, did you come to that idea or did somebody tell you that? That's interesting. Right? Then Pilate answered, am I a Jew? He said, he's like, dude, why would I come up with that idea? Basically, am I a Jew? Your own nation and chief priests have delivered you over to me.

4:55 What have you done? And this is the part that got me here for this morning. Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to you, over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world. And Pilate said to him, so you are a king? And Jesus answered, man, you say that I am a king for this purpose I was born into this born, and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth and

5:27 everyone who listens to the truth listens to my voice. And Pilate says, what is truth and walks out the door? Pilate is like, dude, I don't know what you're talking about. It's not helpful to me right now and leaves. And then that seals Jesus' fate. He says, my kingdom is not of this world otherwise a folk would have been fighting for me. So, when Jesus teaches the disciples to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done. He's talking about a kingdom not of this world, right? But he's asking that kingdom to come into this world, which is like, it's not clear

6:07 for me what that means, right? Like part of how the first generation of Christians got themselves in trouble was because they were grappling with the idea in what way is Jesus king? If Jesus is king, do I have to bother with the emperor at all? And under whose authority do I live? Which rules do I follow? If Jesus is king, what does it mean? And Jesus is saying that he's the king, but also that the kingdom's not here, but it's

6:41 somewhere else, but we should ask for the kingdom to come here. And it gets confusing. And I like this idea of in this world, but not of it is a famous phrase. If you go back in my scriptures, just a page to John chapter 17, this is just before Jesus gets arrested. And he's praying out loud. This is a famous prayer. It's called the High Priestly Prayer, where Jesus prays out loud a long prayer so that everyone can hear and write down what he said.

7:12 And it's like he's praying on behalf of the people of God to God. And he says a lot of things in there, but I want to call our attention to one little section in John chapter 17, starting around verse 9. Jesus says, I am praying for them, talking about his people on earth. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

7:46 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. And I am coming to you, Holy Father. Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction that the scriptures might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in them.

8:18 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. But I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Jesus is saying, hey, I'm leaving God, and coming to you, I'm coming out of the world, but these people are with me. They don't belong here, but they are here.

8:51 So that phrase in the world, but not of it, comes from this high priestly prayer where Jesus is trying to describe, he is trying to affirm to God, but say out loud that his disciples might write it down. These people find themselves in the world, but they don't belong in the world. So Lord, hold them together as a people in a world where they don't belong. And you know, this is a refrain for the people of God through the whole story of Scripture.

9:27 Right? The first ones created as image bearers, gardeners of the world, caretakers of creation, bearers of the image of God to all humanity, then in the great tragedy of the human story are exiled from the place they belong and apart from the garden, sojourners in the world waiting till they can come back to the garden that they were made for.

9:58 The whole story of the people of God, of the story of Scripture, the meta-narrative in which we live is one of people apart from the place where they belong in exile. And so that these people in exile in mass start to forget their identity. They believe they are their own God, that they don't have a God who loves them, protects them, provides for them, that they don't have a place, that this world is all there is.

10:30 So they might as well take what they can get while they can get it in mass they forget. And so God starts a people group that he'll have a special relationship with and this people group will be his. And how does he do it? He takes them out of their land. He says, Abram, leave the place where you're from, become an exile again and count on me in exile. You'll have nothing but the promise of God. Move away from the place where you have comfort and taken care of.

11:01 Move out as exile and count on me. And then this group of people goes in again into Egypt, foreign country, go here into the dangerous country and count on me. And then leave enslaved and go and be a nation, take over other nations and count on me. And Jesus in the High Priestly Prayer is saying something similar for the benefit of the people left behind before he leaves that they might remember.

11:35 They are a people away from home. They are a people destined for someplace else. Well, the invitation for you as people of Easter is to believe that Christ has set something up for real. You know, look with me just forward in Acts.

12:08 Peter mentions this in Acts chapter 2. Verse 29, this is a great sermon. Acts chapter 2, you know, the big Pentecost sermon, big deal. 3000 people get saved. Peter with all the confidence of the newly dist-patched Spirit of God stands up in Jerusalem and says a bunch of things. But if we start at verse 29, he says, brothers, I may say to you with the confidence about the

12:46 patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day, being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set some of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. Jesus, God, this Jesus, God raised up. And of that we are all witnesses.

13:20 Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promised of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing, for David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Verse 36, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain, let all the house of Israel,

13:52 therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Peter is trying to say that God has always been in charge, the King of kings, the Prince of peace, the Lord of the hosts of armies, but he did something unique in the person of Jesus, what came down that you might know by name and face who is in charge. He came down here and lived among you, ate food with you, raised your children from the dead,

14:29 healed your sick, preached good news to the captives. Jesus came down that you might know face to face who is king and he said, there be no confusion, this Jesus whom was killed, God raised from the dead and is seated now as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, which is like really cool. So what do we do?

15:01 That was to lay the groundwork for the story that I really like from the from 2 Kings. So Jesus, the idea that the people of God are sojourners in the world isn't new with the high priestly prayer, right? Adam and Eve were sojourners in exile, Israel is a nation of sojourners taking

15:32 over foreign lands, then they're exiled out of their home, the people of God are not at home until they are home with the Lord. But that is not new with Jesus, that's always been the case. What's new is that we know now because he came down and stood among us who the king is, it's Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, raised by Joseph, friend of John and Peter, and James, right? Caretaker of Lazarus and supporter of Mary and Martha, Jesus of Nazareth,

16:12 King. How might we live as though he were king? Second Kings. Let's look at the story, Second Kings 18. I'll go quick, sorry. I like the story and I was like researching it again and the more I read it, the more I liked it, which is like not always the case. Sometimes you don't remember exactly the story because you just remember the parts you like. But this story is really great. So in Second Kings

16:45 18, we're in this season of Israel's life where David had expanded the reign and then pretty quickly the generations after him fought over who would take over the reign is separated into the northern the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom was much larger, 10 and a half tribes, 10 tribes. The southern kingdom, Judah, this is the northern kingdom is called Israel, the southern kingdom is called Judah, it has like two tribes, it has Jerusalem and then Benjamin and Judah and that's

17:17 it. Two tribes, then 10 tribes called Israel or Samaria just outside of there and they have larger. They fall first. So in the story here in Second Kings chapter 18, Assyria has just conquered and we're hearing the story of Hezekiah who's the king of southern kingdom Judah. And what happens when you read these king stories is very quickly they tell you right at the front was he a good king or a bad king. And the bad kings are the ones who follow after all the other gods

17:51 and don't trust that they are ruled by a god who can handle his business, that they need maybe the chariots of Egypt or the money of Babylon or the Persians or whoever's taking them over. And Hezekiah is a good king chapter 18. In the third year of Hosea son of Elah king of Israel Hezekiah the son of A has king of Judah began to reign. He was 25 years old when he began to reign

18:25 and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zachariah and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the asheerapoles. These are all ways that they worshiped other gods. He just did that and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent

18:55 that Moses had made for until those days the people of Israel made offerings to it. It was called Neshotan. Did you catch that? The serpent that had been a deliverance in the desert they had turned into an idol and started to worship. But the main thing that you need to hear is Hezekiah as he's young 25, 26 without the pressure of anybody coming on him gets rid of all the other worship places that they worship. Hezekiah recognizes that the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the

19:30 one in charge before he's in trouble and lives accordingly. Lives as though the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could protect him though other gods might seem more appealing or interesting. He doesn't hedge his bets and keep the other things he commits to the one. When we're asking what does it look like to live as a people who are destined for someplace else who know who the king is who's in charge. Hezekiah is a good king and he knocks out all other worship except for the

20:02 one to god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We're going to skip forward so that we get. In the 14th year verse 13 of chapter 18, in the 14th year of king Hezekiah, Sinakarab king of Assyria came against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria and at Lachishan said, I've done wrong, withdraw from me and whatever you impose, I will pay. This is bold. So the king of Assyria has conquered Israel. He's conquering everybody.

20:37 He's taking over the world. This dude, the known world. Any place you can walk to, and he's now surrounded all of Hezekiah's fortified cities and taken them for all intents and purposes. And rather than Hezekiah, we're going to fall like the rest of them. What do you want? We'll just be your vassal. He's like, hey man, what's it going to take to pay you off to get you to leave? Pragmatic. He's like, I'm a small military country. I'm not going to take

21:07 over this guy that's conquering the whole world. And let's see, maybe I can just pay him off and he can go. It's kind of a bold move because he doesn't just fold, but it's also pragmatic and practical. He gives him a price. He's got to take down the gold overlayment on the doors and melt it down. He's got to take everything he's got and send it to the king of Assyria, but he does it. And then Assyria comes back. They take the money and they're like, why are you so bold? Who are

21:39 you counting on? If you go forward, they send an emissary to Jerusalem and stand outside the walls like the, you know, like the Monty Python scene where they stand outside the walls and taunts the guys, right? It's like that. They come outside the walls of Jerusalem and they start talking to Hezekiah's guys and Hezekiah's guys are like, hey, could you not speak to us in Hebrew because everybody on the wall can hear the Hebrew? Could you speak to us in Aramaic? And then they shout

22:13 to the guys on the wall in Hebrew. Your king Hezekiah is a fool. Don't believe him that your God will deliver you. He's don't believe him. They say, let's see here. Make your peace with me. Oh, they say, and do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you, saying the Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered this land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? What are the gods of Hamath and Arpat? Where are the gods of Sepherem and Hana and Ivana?

22:47 Have they defended Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have ever delivered their lands out of my hand and that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? He's like, God's don't work and your God won't work either. Immediately when Hezekiah hears this, he puts on sackcloth and ashes and runs to the temple and is like, dude, we got a Lord. His response is to go to the Lord when reasonable defeat comes to His

23:23 doorstep. When things are fine, He got rid of the idols. When things were fine, He trusted in God and had to have actively put His confidence in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when things were fine. When things were hard, He did the same. He goes sackcloth and ashes and asks the Lord, what should I do? sends some emissaries to Isaiah, the prophet at the time. Isaiah is like,

23:58 hey, tell them that everything is going to be fine. Don't worry about it. Okay, great. He's like, I'm going to distract them. The emissaries go back to Assyria and when they've been gone, they got in a little skirmish there in Assyria. So they think he may be taken care of, but they send a letter back to Hezekiah and they're even more pissed now. They're like, who are you trusting in? Why would you trust in them? And so Hezekiah then comes and prays again, chapter 19, verse 14. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it and Hezekiah went up to

24:32 the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. This is a famous scene where He takes these letters. He brings all the letters into the temple and lays them at the feet of the temple and prays in front of them. And says, Lord, what am I supposed to do here? I can't defeat these guys and they're not going away. What does it look like for us to live as though we have a king that we belong to a group of people,

25:07 that were in the world, but not of it, that we have a king who provides for us and protects us. It's not to solve problems on our own. It's to build whatever for us looks like dependence on provision, protection from the king, whose name is Jesus, son of Mary, from Nazareth. Dad and ascended. Hezekiah goes to the king, doesn't know the king's name, just knows he's God of Abraham, Isaac,

25:45 and Jacob, doesn't know his face, but has the promise of what he might do for him and goes anyway. You and I have seen what the king can do. Defeat death. Heal. Provide, restore. Good news to captives. We have seen it. Jesus, son of Nazareth, testified, risen and appeared to 500,

26:18 testified and preserved the faith through the generations. Maybe even provided for you in the past. Hezekiah took down the idols when times were good and when times were hard, did not solve the problem on his own, but went to the king for the answer. The king answers. When they send the letter, then they're like, all right, dude, you're not rolling over, then we're coming.

26:51 They bring a whole crew of people. I don't know what like 185,000 soldiers look like in the ancient Near East, but that's a lot of people, right? Like 185,000. I'm thinking just the other day, we were talking about the swamp seats like 90,000. So it's like two of the Gaters Stadium in Gainesville walking. I imagine most of them walking. Maybe some of them had him. That's a lot of people,

27:24 right? And they're coming down towards Jerusalem. And God tells them, don't worry about it. We go in chapter 19 down to verse 32. 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 way, he shall return.

27:58 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. God is often acting to protect his own reputation. He does not want Assyria and the known world considering that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is just like the others. And the word is getting around that all these gods are defeated by Assyria. And the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob says, that will not be the

28:29 word about me. Because I am interested that all people come to realize I am the God they can trust. I'll defend my name. This is what he means when he says, I'll do it for my sake. That all the people might know he is the God they can trust him. So he defends Jerusalem for his sake and for the sake of the servant David, because he made a covenant promise to David that one of his descendants would always sit on the throne and God keeps his promises. So those two reasons, he's going to defend

29:00 Jerusalem, he says, and then look at the next line, verse 35, and that night, the angel of the Lord, we've met him before, went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when the people rose early in the morning behold, these were all the dead bodies. Then the king of Assyria went home. God says, I will defend. Amazing. I don't know that this certainly wasn't the only

29:36 solution God could have come up with. And I don't think it was the one that Hezekiah had imagined, though I'm sure he took it. I don't think you in places of trouble will know how God will defend. And it may not always look like what we'd expect or what we would draw up. That's not the point. Because we're not the king. We just know the one who is. And so when we get letters of confusing,

30:10 doom, or prognosis, we lay the letters before him and say, what would you have me do, just like Hezekiah? So God defends Jerusalem miraculously. Then the very next section, then the very next story, is how I got to the story of Hezekiah to begin with. It's famous. Isaiah several years later comes dispatched by God and God in care and concern for one dude, Hezekiah. He's like,

30:46 Hey man, get your affairs in order because the sickness that you have now will lead to death. You're welcome. Isaiah leaves. Hezekiah is like, I'd rather not die right now. So he runs into the temple and asks the Lord, Hey Lord, come on. I'd rather not die right now. Before Isaiah gets out of the court, Hezekiah's court. So Isaiah comes in, speaks the word. Hezekiah runs to the temple, prays to God. Isaiah's back walking home. He delivered the word. Before he leaves the court

31:19 of King Hezekiah, God tells him, Hey go back, go back. Tell Hezekiah, I'll give him 15 more years. So Isaiah goes back. Hezekiah, you get 15 more years. Hezekiah says, I'll take it. Lifts 15 more years, dies peacefully. Rules for 29 years. God cares about defending big cities and little people. The question I get is, why? If the kingdom is not of this world,

31:54 if it's because we're all going some other place, why give the years? Why defend the city, fold it up and go. I mean, the short answer is of course, whenever you ask, why does God do something? The short answer, yeah, He wants to. I don't know why, right? But if I had to speculate, it's the same reason He does it when He says, For my sake, I'll defend the city.

32:26 There are those who are His who haven't realized it yet. And when they walk around and see Hezekiah recovered from a sickness that he was not supposed to, and they say, Hezekiah, how did it happen? You said, Oh, you guys, I got to tell you, I know the king.

32:56 When the story goes around, that little Judah, tribe and a half of Judah, with a couple walled cities, turned away 185,000 Assyrians who are taking over the known world, and everybody's like, how did Judah do that? They're like, turns out Judah knows the king. Sometimes the king comes in, into a world where we do not belong in order to move on our behalf, because He loves us,

33:34 and I think, because He's still grabbing some into the kingdom. He's still pulling some in. How do we live under the reign of God? We settle with ourselves in the large in times of peace and stress. In public decisions and private, we settle in our heart and mind. What does it mean to trust that I am not in charge? God is. And then we wait to see what He might do, and who else He might call.

34:12 Let me pray that we could be those people. Hey Lord, thank you for the promise of Easter, resurrection and ascension. Rain in our lives. Call us your own today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.