Solidarity and Salvation: Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7 - Christ the King Sunday

Hezekiah had been king of Judah for 14 years when King Sennacherib of Assyria invaded the country and captured every walled city ² except Jerusalem. The Assyrian king ordered his army commander to leave the city of Lachish and to take a large army to Jerusalem.

The commander went there and stood on the road near the cloth makers' shops along the canal from the upper pool. ³ Three of the king's highest officials came out of Jerusalem to meet him. One of them was Hilkiah's son Eliakim, who was the prime minister. The other two were Shebna, assistant to the prime minister, and Joah son of Asaph, keeper of the government records.

¹³ Then, in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, he shouted out in Hebrew: Listen to what the great king of Assyria says! ¹⁴ Don't be fooled by Hezekiah. He can't save you. ¹⁵ Don't trust him when he tells you that the Lord will protect you from the king of Assyria. ¹⁶ Stop listening to Hezekiah. Pay attention to my king. Surrender to him. He will let you keep your own vineyards, fig trees, and cisterns ¹⁷ for a while. Then he will come and take you away to a country just like yours, where you can plant vineyards and raise your own grain. ¹⁸ Hezekiah claims the Lord will save you. But don't be fooled by him. Were any other gods able to defend their land against the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ What happened to the gods of Hamath, Arpad, and Sepharvaim? Were the gods of Samaria able to protect their land against the Assyrian forces? ²⁰ None of those gods kept their people safe from the king of Assyria. Do you think the Lord, your God, can do any better?

37 As soon as Hezekiah heard the news, he tore off his clothes in sorrow and put on sackcloth. Then he went into the temple of the Lord. ² He told Prime Minister Eliakim, Assistant Prime Minister Shebna, and the senior priests to dress in sackcloth and tell me:

³ Isaiah, these are difficult and disgraceful times. Our nation is like a woman too weak to give birth, when it's time for her baby to be born. ⁴ Please pray for those of us who are left alive. The king of Assyria sent his army commander to insult the living God. Perhaps the Lord heard what he said and will do something, if you will pray. ⁵ When these leaders came to me, ⁶ I told them that the Lord had this message for Hezekiah: I am the Lord. Don't worry about the insulting things that have been said about me by these messengers from the king of Assyria. ⁷ I will upset him with rumors about what's happening in his own country. He will go back, and there I will make him die a violent death. (Contemporary English Version)

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Ten days ago, Putin’s army withdrew from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, which they had occupied since February.

I don’t think anyone, especially Putin, expected that the war would last this long, and that the Ukrainian resistance would be so fierce…except for the Ukrainians.

They’ve endured centuries of wars, corrupt governments, brutal occupations, and even genocide. 

The real secret of their strength, I believe, lies not so much in the sophisticated weaponry the United States and other nations have been providing them, but in their solidarity with their fellow citizens.

This was something I learned about earlier this year when I attended a prayer service at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in West Leechburg. A member there told me how the congregation had, for many years, been raising money to build their tiny church—but every time they had saved just enough to break ground, there was a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine—and every time, they sent the money home.

If that isn’t proof that Godly love is stronger than evil, I don’t know what is.

A crisis very similar to the one in Ukraine is occurring in today’s sermon text. The year is 720 BCE, and the Assyrian Empire, under King Sennacherib, has just conquered the Northern Kingdom of divided Israel. Now, they are laying siege to several major cities in the Southern Kingdom, including Jerusalem. Before they wage a conventional war against the city, they wage a psychological war, to demoralize the people and wear down their resistance. 

One of Sennacherib’s officials, called the Rabshakeh, stands before the people of Jerusalem and shouts, “your king, Hezekiah, has failed you! Don’t trust him; he’s lying to you! Pledge your allegiance to my king, because he’s going to make your lives more prosperous than you’ve ever known.”

But he’s not content just to tear down Hezekiah. he goes after God, too: “the Lord Your God can’t save you from our might! In fact, your God fights for us, not your king!”

None of these things were true, of course. Hezekiah was a righteous king who walked with God. Of all the kings to rule in the Southern Kingdom, I’d put him in the best three. As for God fighting for the Assyrians, that’s more ridiculous than it sounds. 

But when you have a gigantic, evil empire bearing down on you, it’s not so ridiculous. Let’s be honest—the tiny Southern Kingdom is no match for mighty Assyria. The chances of God’s people successfully holding them off were slim to nil. 

Hezekiah is so destressed by Rabshakeh’s speech that he tears his robes, goes to the temple, and implores the prophet Isaiah to pray for them. God’s answer is this: “I am the Lord—and I will not be mocked. Don’t listen to what they say; listen to what I say.”

God then strikes down 185,000 Assyrian troops. Sennacherib returns home, humiliated—only to be assassinated by his children. But the real victory isn’t in what happened to the enemy. The real victory was won by trusting God; by sticking together, and by obeying God’s Word.

This is a fine example for us today as face the crises of this present moment. We’re faced with the biggest budget increase, and the biggest projected shortfall, in all our history. Prices keep rising, the stock market keeps falling; and if financial trends continue their present trajectory, it will not be long before we are unable to do ministry as we do it today.

It’s no secret how traditional churches like ours are quickly becoming a thing of the past. 

Right now, the devil is waging a psychological war within our hearts and minds, so that we greet the future not with hopefulness and faith, but with fear and despair. It’s a big win for the devil if we give up on God, if we give up on each other, and if we treat ministry as a lost cause.

We should never be content to keep doing what we’ve been doing, because if we are, we’re resisting the growth God wants to give us. 

I wish I could say that God will quickly eliminate all our problems like he eliminated the Assyrians, but that’s not reality. 

When Assyria Fell, Babylon arose—and soon, they will move in and conquer the Southern Kingdom. Putin may have withdrawn from Kherson, but his war is not over. 

Just the same, many dangers, toils, and snares await us on our way to the Promised Land. 

But remember—God will not be threatened by the things that threaten us. God’s victory is won today when we face the threats, the challenges, the changes, and the hurts—trusting God, sticking together, and obeying God’s Word. We have the Gospel. We have each other. God has given us the gifts we need to be faithful and effective in healing and transforming lives.

Ask anyone who’s attended GriefShare lately; they can tell you what God has been up to. Ask anyone who volunteers at the clothing closet; they can tell you what a difference that ministry is making. 

Now is our moment to show our fears who’s God. We do the work of ministry, not because we need to survive, but because we have gifts to share. We embrace crises and trials as opportunities for God’s faithfulness to be revealed. We give generously of ourselves towards God’s work, because we can’t buy things or experiences that equal the joy of the Lord. 

No trials or troubles will last forever, but God’s endures from age to age. With God, with each other, and with so much goodwill, the challenges in our church and the crises in the world don’t stand a chance Against the awesome love of God.

Footnote:  I say “Putin’s army” as opposed to the Russian Army, because the War on Ukraine is his war and and not that of the Russian people.