It seems like (in any leaning situation) the teacher gleans more knowledge than even the students! In the case of the Website here … the readers, you dear readers.

Well, last night as I prepared for today’s Lesson … I learned how dramatically marked the difference really is between Isaiah chapter 39 and Isaiah chapter 40.

Let me show you.

Isaiah 39:5-7 (the chapter only has 8 verses) relates: “Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. “

The Wrath of God!

Then, without any chapters divisions in the original Isaiah Scroll, immediately God says (Isaiah 40:1) … “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.”

The Grace of God!

Wow!

This too … the Judgment Verses are spoken by one person, the verbs being singular.

But the Comfort Verses are spoken by several persons! Those verb bring plural!

“But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Romans 5:20, triple Grace instead of singular judgment!

One voice of condemnation, though inspired and truthful.

Three voices (maybe Voices) of comfort, keeping consonant with the manifold Mercy of our great God!

Three voices, Brother Bagwell?

Isaiah 40:3 … “The VOICE of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Jesus is coming!

Isaiah 40:6-8 … “The VOICE said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: the grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.” The eternal Word of God!

Then Isaiah 40:9 … O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy VOICE with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!”

Triple Grace!

Triple Comfort!

Triple Love!

From our Triune God!

Wow again.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I am getting excited about our Isaiah “Class,” more than ever!

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There has been a lot said about the NATIONS of the world, going all the way back to Isaiah chapter 13. (I never realized what an International Prophet this great man of God really was.) Of course, a sizeable amount of that Material concerns Judah and Jerusalem, the “home front” for Isaiah.

And even the way Chapter 39 ends, with a “focus” on Babylon, is quite significant. (Babylon, the NEXT NATION that will try to dominate (persecute, if not annihilate) Judah.

Remember, he (Isaiah) ministered under the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. After which the leadership quality in that little Land deteriorated rapidly. With King Josiah being the only significant “bright spot.” All the others being dismal failures. Yes, Manasseh (who reigned 55 years) finally repented, but it was nearly a case of “too little, too late.”

In other words, Judah is heading toward National Calamity. The “Babylonian Captivity,” to be exact.

Yet in all those decades of chaos, Isaiah chapters 40-66 promise “better days” ahead, in the distant future anyway, for Judah. For Israel really, the whole Nation!

This is one reason Isaiah is often called the “Evangelist” among the Old Testament Prophets. He says a lot (at times in Type and Symbol and then at times by Direct Inference then actually by Name) about Jesus!

All I am saying today is that Isaiah chapters 40 onward should be the most exciting part of the book.

In fact, look at the opening words of chapter 40, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.” Verses 1 and 2, thrilling!

What a change of pace!

The Lord willing, we shall begin this fairly long (but equally profitable) journey tomorrow morning. Twenty-seven more chapters!

Let’s all be willing learners!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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King Hezekiah of Judah is a much more complex character than I ever realized! (Maybe that’s partly because there is so much Material about him in Scripture! Quite a biography! I mean in the Book of Second Kings and both Volumes of the Chronicles, as well as Isaiah and Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah too!)

In Isaiah 38 the King got some bad news, from the Lord at that! (“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for THOU SHALT DIE, and not live.” Isaiah 38:1, sounding pretty ominous!)

But Hezekiah prayed! Oh, did he! Maybe I should say he prayed and prayed and prayed! (“Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and PRAYED unto the LORD.” Isaiah 38:2) And cried! (“And Hezekiah WEPT sore.”)

Then, true to His Word (“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3) … God answered that prayer! (From the Lord, through Isaiah the Prophet, to Hezekiah the King: “Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I WILL ADD unto thy days FIFTEEN YEARS.” Isaiah 38:5)

Fifteen more years!

A new “lease on life,” so to speak.

But then (now Psalm 106:15 is coming to mind … “And He, the Lord, gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.”) … comes Isaiah chapter 39. (You can review it in more detail by studying yesterday’s Lesson.)

King Hezekiah foolishly received a delegation from the (wicked) King of Babylon and showed them everything he owned! Even down to his silver and gold reserves! (Like wagging a bug juicy carrot in front of a wild rabbit! Or fresh, red meat in front of a wolf!)

For this indiscretion God rebuked Hezekiah. More than that, God punished him. And his whole nation, Judah! (God wants us loving and worshipping and impressing HIM and HIM alone!) As is recorded In Isaiah 39:5-7 … “Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

Wow! (It’s that “wages of sin” thing again! That “Be sure your sin will find you out” Syndrome, Law of Almighty God!)

Families dead, thousands of them!

Judah’s (God’s people) honor tarnished!

Her identity nearly erased!

National calamity!

And here is how Isaiah received that “bad” news! (Information every bit as disturbing as the King’s “bad news” last chapter! About setting one’s house I order! About preparing to die! But it’s his Nation this time, not him personally.)

At first Hezekiah’s words sound pretty mature! A good attitude! “Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, GOOD IS THE WORD OF THE LORD which thou hast spoken.” Isaiah 39:8a

Almost on as high a plane as Job’s “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” But in Hezekiah’s parlance: “Though God slay my Nation, my progeny, I WILL TRUST IN HIM?” (Note the ?, not a ! here.)

Then the King added these last, selfish words! “He (the Lord) said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.”

Wow!

“Yes, my grandsons will die in an enemy attack! But at lease my remaining years will be good!”

The nation’s economy “under my watch” will continue to prosper!

Yes … “There shall be peace and truth in my days.”

Suddenly, what at first appeared to be a good attitude proved sour!

Selfish!

Immature!

Wow!

Fifteen more years … an answer to prayer! But years in which Hezekiah perhaps made the biggest (and most costly) mistake of his life, career, administration!

Yes … God granted his request (to live longer) but perhaps send “leanness” to his soul (and his Nation’s) because of Hezekiah’s not submissively yielding to God’s perfect Plan for his life.

Not everyone will agree with my assessment of Hezekiah’s blunder, his big mistake. I just think sometimes we can “push” it too far concerning prayer … when God has made His Will plain in the first place.

Think about it.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh, by the way, wicked (future) King Manasseh was born to Hezekiah curing this added fifteen year span too! (Fifty-five years of degradation for Judah!)

A very dangerous fifteen-year addition!

Wow!

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“At that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah: for he had heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. And Hezekiah was glad of them, and shewed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.” Isaiah 39:1-2

The Assyrian Empire is waning, but world politics seldom exists as a vacuum. And the Babylonians were waiting “in the wings” to assume hegemony! They would next rule the then-known world.

So … in today’s Lesson the aspiring Babylonians send a delegation to King Hezekiah, with devious goals in mind.

Under the “guise” of a gift for the recovering King (whose life had recently been spared and extended by the Lord) the representatives of Merodachbaladan wish to “spy” on Judah.

And unsuspecting (or maybe just naïve or maybe “lifted up in pride” due to such unusual international attention) Hezekiah talked (and showed) way too much to his covert potential enemies!

Big mistake, which Isaiah the Prophet will (soon) soundly rebuke!

“Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, ALL that is in mine house have they seen: there is NOTHING among my treasures that I have not shewed them.” Verses 3 and 4, Isaiah obviously at the moment not being “in the loop” of intimate Palace business.

But Isaiah certainly was “in the Loop” with Almighty God!

“Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days come, that ALL that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: NOTHING shall be left, saith the LORD. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Isaiah 39:5-7

He showed them ALL. And some day they would come and take his ALL! Oh, how gullible we Christians can be!

Hezekiah, who once trusted the Assyrians too much … now has trusted the Babylonians too much!

When will we ever learn?

Proverbs 3:5-6 … “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

I personally do NOT believe the Devil is omni-present and omnipotent and omniscient! (My living God is all That, and a whole Lot more!) But not Satan.

And sometimes, I suspect, the more we can keep our mouths shut around evil and wicked people … the better off we’d be!

Whatever his motive, Hezekiah blabbed too much!

And his ill advised “openness” led to the pronounce of future judgment on his progeny and his people.

Proverbs 30:32 might apply to each of us in this context. “If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, LAY THINE HAND UPON THY MOUTH.”

Ephesians 4:27 says: “Neither give place to the devil.”

In many cases … “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: BUT HE THAT REFRAINETH HIS LIPS IS WISE.” Proverbs 10:19

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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What an answer to prayer! God added fifteen years to the life of King Hezekiah!

“Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” Isaiah 38:5, deliverance from a terminal illness!

And those bygone years … belonging to an age when God gave “signs” … watch what happened next: “And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. And this shall be a SIGN unto thee from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he hath spoken; behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.” Isaiah 38:6-8

(Today, with us having the completed Word of God, Old and New Testaments, God does not communicate as much in “signs,” but rather in the precious Revelation we call “Scripture.”)

But the “signs” God gave King Hezekiah are nonetheless thrilling! Confirming miracle number one: the Assyrians are gone! No more trouble from them! The Same God Who can heal bodies can also control the political landscape! (The next enemy Judah will face, the Babylonians, no longer the Assyrians!)

Confirming miracle number two: the sun will digress backwards, ten degrees! This Same God then can also control the world of astronomy. Amazing!

And, best I can tell, these two “signs” were God’s idea!

Wow!

Surely this occurrence illustrates to us the Significance/Importance God places in His Word, especially during these last days! (I believe there are no “signs” whatsoever pointing to the Rapture. By that I mean that great “Catching Away” could occur any minute, any second! Nothing remains to be “fulfilled” before that Event could transpire! The “signs” of Matthew 25 and 25 all relate to the literal Second Coming of Jesus to earth.)

Today here’s all we need to confirm God’s future plans. “Thus saith the Lord …!” The Bible, inspired Holy Writ! Infallible, we believe.

Be sure to take some time today and invest it in that Book. Pursue some daily (regimented) study program to better learn the Scriptures. Be often “in the Word.”

After all, it’s better than any system of “signs and wonders.” To this (ineffable) extent: “I will praise Thy Name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: FOR THOU HAST MAGNIFIED THY WORD ABOVE ALL THY NAME.” Psalm 138:2

Enough has been said.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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