Isaiah 38:1

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. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, and said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore... Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go, and say to 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. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city. (Isaiah 38:1–6)

When a dying king's prayer is answered, his added years reveal the hidden sickness of the heart—and a warning to all who would finish the race well.

A Historic Interlude in Isaiah

A couple of weeks ago we were in Isaiah 36 and 37, where we saw the Assyrian army move against Judah. Chapters 36 through 39 form a historic interlude in the book of Isaiah, corresponding perfectly with passages in 2 Kings 18 and 2 Chronicles 32. These accounts line up exactly, giving us a peek into what was happening in Judah while Isaiah was writing his prophecies.

Remember, Isaiah prophesied for a very long period, through the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Though not mentioned in Isaiah 1:1, tradition holds he also prophesied during part of the reign of Manasseh, Hezekiah's son, because Manasseh was the one who ultimately had Isaiah put to death. Isaiah spoke primarily to the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Religion Without Reality

The southern tribes thought themselves more special than the northern ten tribes, because they still held Jerusalem, the temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifices. They figured they were on the right path because they had a religious formality. But all the way back in Isaiah 1, God said He was tired of their offerings, tired of them treading His courts, that their incense and burnt offerings were an abomination to Him.

They had departed from the Lord in their hearts. They would serve Him on the Sabbath and festival days, yet they were involved in idolatry, adultery, and all kinds of immoral practices. They had a good showing outwardly, but it was not a reality in their lives. So God called them to repent, warning that destruction would come. Again and again He says, Woe—judgment is coming because you have departed from My precepts.

God's Faithfulness to His Covenant

In chapters 36 and 37 we see the culmination of all that warning, as the Assyrian army surrounds Jerusalem, destroys more than forty cities of Judah, and takes many captive. Yet God ultimately defended His city. According to Isaiah 37:35, He did not defend Jerusalem because the people had been good—they hadn't—but for His own name's sake and because of the covenant He had made with David.

Although the children of Israel had broken their covenant with God, God still refused to break His covenant with them. Is that not an awesome thing to behold? Are you not thankful that God stays true to His promises to you and me? Paul tells us all the promises of God are yes and amen.

When Did This Happen?

When we come to Isaiah 38 we have another historic peek into this same time. It is believed by nearly every commentator that Isaiah 38 actually precedes chapters 36 and 37. This reminds us that the prophecies of Isaiah do not follow a strict linear timeline. We in the Western world with a Greek mindset love straight chronological lines, but the Hebrew Scriptures often move in cycles and sequences rather than chronological order.

The main reason for placing this earlier is verse 6, where God tells Hezekiah, "I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria." We know God already defended Jerusalem at the end of chapter 37, when the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in a single night. Yet here it is spoken of as if it hasn't happened yet. So we can likely place this around 703 BC, before the siege. It's important to remember these are real events in history; you can read about Hezekiah and Sennacherib even in secular sources.

A Prophet With No Bedside Manner

"In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death." During this period before the siege, Hezekiah became ill. Isaiah came to him and said, "Thus saith the Lord, Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live." Isaiah did not have the best bedside manner. There lies Hezekiah, sick in his palace bed, and the prophet simply walks in, delivers the death sentence, and apparently leaves the room.

What did Hezekiah do? He did what any of us might do. He turned his face to the wall and prayed. In the fuller account in 2 Kings, we see he wept bitterly. His prayer is simple: "Remember now, O Lord, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight."

Reminding God of His Promises

We may stumble at that prayer, because we know we do not serve God, nor are we blessed by God, on the basis of our mere works. There are blessings of obedience, yes, but God's blessing flows primarily from His grace. Yet in an Old Testament context this makes perfect sense. If you read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, God promises specific blessings to His people as they obey and follow Him.

Essentially Hezekiah is calling God on His promises: "I've walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart—would you not bless me as you said you would?" I don't think this is a wrong way to come before God. To remind God of the promises He has given us is something He actually wants us to do. But we will only know to do that if we spend time in His word and get to know Him.

God Hears Prayer

"Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go and say to Hezekiah... I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears." Underline that—I have heard your prayer. Two weeks ago we saw that when Sennacherib sent his threatening letter, Hezekiah spread it before the Lord and prayed, and God answered. Now in the very next chapter we see again that God hears prayer and answers.

Yet we must always recognize that sometimes God's answers are not in line with our desires. Just about every hand goes up when I ask if you've experienced that. Sometimes God says yes; sometimes He says no; other times He says wait, for an appointed time. But here, both in chapter 37 and 38, God says, "Because you have prayed." It makes me wonder what would have happened had Hezekiah not prayed. The prophet had said he would die—so we can only assume he would have.

Death Through New Testament Eyes

It is interesting that Hezekiah wept so bitterly when death came. As New Testament believers we sometimes share the mindset of Paul in Philippians 1:21—"to live is Christ, and to die is gain." We look at death differently, because Jesus, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:10, "brought to light life and immortality through the gospel."

Consider John 11. Jesus' friend Lazarus had died, and Martha said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus said, "Your brother shall rise again." Martha replied, "I know that he shall rise in the resurrection at the last day." That was the majority view among the people, though they didn't fully understand it. The Sadducees denied the resurrection altogether, and even those who believed were confused and feared the afterlife—until Jesus came.

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Ten out of ten people die physically—unless your name is Elijah or Enoch. So Jesus is not speaking of physical death but of eternal separation from God. First Corinthians 15 tells us the sting of death is gone. The unbeliever rightly fears death and dislikes funerals, because there we are confronted with our own mortality. But for the believer there is no fear, for death is simply passing from this life into eternity with the Lord. When you breathe your last breath here, you breathe your first breath there.

Fifteen Added Years and a Sign

For those living under the Old Testament, even followers of God, there was a fear of death, and we see it in Hezekiah's bitter weeping. But God heard his prayer and saw his tears, and said, "I will add unto your days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria."

Most people don't know the day of their death—only perhaps someone facing execution. But Hezekiah was given a countdown. If you knew exactly how much time you had, how might it change the way you live? For some it changes life for the worse: "I've got fifteen years to live it up." For others, the nearness of death changes them for the better. I think of our dear friend Mike Callahan, given six months to live with a brain tumor, who lived seven years and confounded the doctors, serving the Lord powerfully because he knew his time was short. To live is Christ—that should be every believer's mindset, whether we know our day or not.

Was God's word in verse 1 wrong, then? No. Sometimes God gives a word to change our direction. My older brother Alan was on crystal meth nearly every day for years. After a week-long binge during which the doctors believe he suffered heart attacks, the Lord spoke to him: "If you do this again, I'll take your life." That word changed his entire life; he's never touched it since, though he lives with a permanent heart condition. Years before, he had told me he wanted to wrestle with God like Jacob. I warned him Jacob limped for the rest of his life. I think Alan did wrestle with God—and he limps still—but that word was transformative.

As a sign, God offered to move the shadow on the sundial of Ahaz. Hezekiah, knowing the sun moving forward ten degrees was no miracle, asked it to go backward ten degrees—about forty minutes of time added to the day. A perfect sign for a man whose days were being added to his life.

The Song of Hezekiah

Verses 9 through 22 give us the writing of Hezekiah, his song after recovery. In the first verses he pours out the bitterness of his distress, crying out like a crane or a swallow, mourning like a dove, his eyes failing as he looked upward to God in anguish. Even here we sense the confusion that surrounded death and the afterlife in the Old Testament.

He says, "Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back"—a beautiful picture. Yet he also says, "the grave cannot praise thee, and death cannot celebrate thee," which we recognize is not exactly true. After we die we will be with the Lord eternally, praising Him. What was a mystery in the Old Testament is now revealed in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Notice two good intentions. In verse 15, "I shall go softly all my years"—I'll walk carefully and follow the Lord. And in verse 19, "the father to the children shall make known thy truth"—I'll pass on God's truth to my children. Then in verse 21, Isaiah tells the servants to lay a lump of figs as a plaster on the boil. Ultimately God healed him, but He used a means. So when believers face illness and the medical community offers help, I have no problem with taking medicine and praying that the Lord will heal. God has given doctors and scientists their understanding, and He is to be thanked, for He is the giver of life.

Good Intentions Unfulfilled

But what actually happened in those fifteen years? Turn to 2 Kings 20 and 21. Hezekiah was about thirty-nine when he became sick. After his death, his son Manasseh reigned—and Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, meaning he was born after Hezekiah's healing and the fifteen-year extension.

What became of Manasseh? "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord... and built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he reared up altars for Baal... as did Ahab king of Israel." Ahab was the most wicked king the northern tribes ever had. Manasseh undid all the good his reforming father had done. It is not too far a stretch to surmise that Hezekiah, despite his intention in verse 19, did not do a good job making known God's truth to his child. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Worse still, the Lord declared through His prophets that because of Manasseh's abominations He would bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of all who heard would tingle, wiping Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish. Ultimately, because of the sin of Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, Judah and Jerusalem would go into captivity in Babylon.

Imposing Our Will on God

It makes you wonder—maybe Hezekiah should have simply accepted the word of the Lord as good, even though he didn't like it. Perhaps that was the word the Lord truly desired for Hezekiah and his people. I am taken back by this, because it raises a sobering concern: that we can in some way influence God by our prayers in a direction He ultimately does not want us to go.

This is why Jesus tells us to pray for God's will to be done. Our prayers are not to impose our will upon God but to bring us in line with His. I have counseled people who prayed fervently that a certain person be the one God wanted them to marry, only to realize afterward that they had imposed their will, not the Lord's. We see the right model in Jesus Himself in Gethsemane, who prayed three times, "If there be any other way, let this cup pass from me," yet said, "Not my will but Your will be done." I wonder if Hezekiah would not have been better off surrendering his will to the Lord.

The Test From Babylon

Chapter 39 begins: "At that time Merodach-baladan, 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." Note in the margin 2 Chronicles 32:31, which reveals this was a test: "God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart."

Hezekiah was glad—pleased and excited—when the envoys came. Babylon was the junior superpower, second only to Assyria, and would eventually overtake it. Judah and Hezekiah were like a little podunk country, nothing—the kind of nation you have to hunt for on a map. Now great Babylon takes notice of him. So he showed them everything: all the silver, gold, spices, precious ointment, the house of his armor—nothing in his house or dominion that he did not show them.

Pride Exposed

Then Isaiah came and asked where these men had come from. Hezekiah, clearly excited, said they came from a far country, from Babylon, to see him. Isaiah asked what they had seen, and Hezekiah answered, "All that is in my house have they seen." Then Isaiah delivered the word of the Lord of hosts—a gentle reminder that Hezekiah was enamored with the pomp and rumor of an earthly king while his own God is the Lord of all things.

"Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house... shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left... And of thy sons that shall issue from thee... shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." The envoys had likely been noting the weak entry points, the secret chambers, the treasures. When God tested Hezekiah's heart, He exposed foolish pride and blinding arrogance. Hezekiah had been healed of a temporal, physical sickness, but the true sickness was a sickness of pride.

This is the king first introduced as a great reformer, victorious over the Philistines and the Assyrians—"185,000? That's me; I'm the one who laid that letter before the Lord." A powerful prayer life, yet wicked pride still in the heart. That is sobering.

Careless Indifference

These things would be fulfilled in the days of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Most notably, Daniel—of the king's seed and the princes' children, well-favored, skillful, and wise—was carried to Babylon with Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, in direct fulfillment of Isaiah's word. When Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem around 586 BC, he took the wealth of the temple and the king's house to Babylon.

And how did Hezekiah respond? "Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken." But then, "for there shall be peace and truth in my days." Do you see the arrogance, the careless apathy? It won't happen for another 114 years—it's my descendants' problem, not mine. It's the mindset of every administration: that's for another president to figure out; at least I'll have a good legacy. At least there will be peace in my day. Careless indifference is a sin we often don't think about, but it is a sin nonetheless, and it reveals Hezekiah's heart.

Finishing Well

For all that Hezekiah started well, he did not finish well. How many of you have ever run a distance race? At the start everyone is excited, and many people start fast and look great until halfway through. Apart from a few—the Kenyans most especially—it is easy to start well. But it is not about the start. Paul, in his last letter, said, "I have finished the course." To the Galatians he wrote, "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"

Scripture is filled with those who started well but failed to finish. King Uzziah reigned gloriously for fifty-two years, yet near the end his heart was lifted in pride; he forced his way to offer incense in the temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead, and he died alone in a leper's house. Demas, Paul's fellow laborer in Colossians and Philemon, later "forsook me, having loved this present world." Many in the body of Christ have started well and tonight are casualties of war—and perhaps a name just came to your mind.

Run With Endurance

Ezekiel 3 tells us that if we see a righteous person fall, we are to go to them like a watchman on the wall and turn them back. If the Lord has brought someone to your mind tonight, go and call them back. But Galatians 6 says do so in gentleness and meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted—for the enemy will look for an opportunity to take you out too.

Hebrews 12 gives the great exhortation: "Seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." He endured the hardest race—the cross—despising the shame, and did not tap out, but sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Paul said in Philippians 3, "Not as though I had already attained... but I press on."

The story of Hezekiah is given to us as an exhortation. His failures are written in God's eternal word—how many of you would want your failures recorded for everyone to read? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10 that these things were written for our admonition, "upon whom the ends of the age have come," and then adds, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." They are written not so we can say, "That foolish Hezekiah," but so we might learn. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall; and having done all, to stand, stand therefore.

Closing Prayer

Father, we love Your word, and we thank You and love You, the God of this word. We pray that You would help us to stand against the wiles of the devil. Help us to put on the whole armor You've given us—the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel, that we take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. Help us to endure to the end, to make a good showing. We want to cross that finish line, Lord, even if, when we cross it, we fall flat on our face into Your arms—we don't care. Help us to run with endurance. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.