Christ Church Bentonville

The fact that the Lord had heard Hezekiah, saw his tears, and answered his prayer should have had such a profound effect on him that it would change how he approached what happened next.  But it didn’t.

Hezekiah’s prayer didn’t alter God’s plan, it was a part of God’s plan.  God’s mind didn’t change, the circumstances did. His prayer was an ordained means to God's ordained end that would be for His glory and not only  Hezekiah's good but ours as well.

Through Hezekiah, we learn it is a privilege to pray because through prayer God invovles us in what He is doing.

The enemy of the Lord's covenant people has a consistent pattern of attack - undermining the people's position, highlighting their weakness, holding out false promises, then denying the faithfulness of the Lord. Judah's dilemma is our dilemma: will we trust the word of worldly powers, or the word of the Lord of heaven and earth?

The Lord is the Lord of all nations, and there is coming day where His boundless wrath will be poured out on His enemies and the enemies of His people. But an even better renewal is promised to all who turn from sin to trust in the redemption offered in Christ - a new creation free from sin, sickness, and sorrow and filled with glory and joy.

Isaiah's foresees a brighter day for the people of God in which their faith will be sight and they will see the beauty of the promised King!

The Lord rebukes Judah for their failure to wait for and on Him.  But what is truly remarkable is the fact that He waits on them despite their disobedience. 

Isaiah address both hard-hearted sinners who deny judgment is coming and proud hypocrites who deny they are worthy of judgment and declares that the only hope for all sinners is the Lord Jesus Christ. 

We don't sing in worship to connect with God.  We sing in response to the fact that God has connected Himself to us in and through Christ.

We are all on walking on one of two paths.  We are either walking in our own self-sufficiency which leads to desolation or in Christ's all-sufficiency which leads to consolation.  

As we’ve seen throughout this series of oracles, though there has been a great deal of judgment, there has also been a glimmer of hope in each one; and this one concerning Tyre is no exception. 

The Lord, through Isaiah, continues to drive home the point that reliance upon anything or anyone other than Christ, particularly ourselves, is futile.