Thought for the Week

For a prophet to be considered a prophet, speaking the Word of the Lord, he must issue prophesies (predictions) that are specific and 100-percent accurate. To prophesy that something is going to happen somewhere, is not enough. Nor is it enough for a prophet to say something is going to happen in hundreds of years from now because no one will know if that prophesy is going to come true. Isaiah did indeed prophesy of coming things. He prophesied a man named Cyrus would free Israel. He made this prophesy before Israel was in captivity and before Cyrus was born. The prophecy did come true. Isaiah also prophesied that “a virgin would conceive and be with child.” This was a prophecy concerning the virgin birth of Jesus and it was made some 700 years beforehand. It also came true. But in order for a prophet to be considered a true prophet, he had to make prophesies that were specific and 100-percent accurate, and could be confirmed in his lifetime. Isaiah did just that. We will examine one such. King Hezekiah was on the throne of the southern kingdom (Judah). He was about halfway though his reign but of course he did not know that. Israel had a major enemy, the kingdom of Assyria. Hezekiah was a good king. He obeyed and served God. Unfortunately, when Assyria made demands for large sums of money, Hezekiah paid those bribes. Assyria, as is rue of so many dictatorships, kept the bribes but did not keep their promises. They came back for more bribes. Hezekiah and Israel were broke. Assyria had swept south, conquering all the nations in their way. They arrived at the territory surrounding Jerusalem and sent a delegation of high ranking officials to Jerusalem. They made exaggerated boasts about their king, Sennacherib. They mocked Israel about trying to find human allies from Egypt, saying he king of Egypt would do them more harm than good. They boasted that even Israel’s God would not hear them because they had destroyed the worship places for him. They did not know Israel’s God. They thought Him to be simply a god like those worshipped by other nations; a god made of wood or stone, concocted by human hands and imaginations. They were aware Hezekiah had destroyed some of the places people had set up to worship against the will of God. They warned the people not to listen to King Hezekiah, saying he would deceive them. They warned they would wind up eating their own human waste and bodily fluids. They spoke in Hebrew. Hezekiah had sent his own delegation of dignitaries. These men asked the Assyrians not to speak in Hebrew but rather in their own language which the Israelite delegation could understand. The Assyrians refused but rather shouted all the louder, hoping to bring fear to the hearts of the common people. No one responded to them because Hezekiah had ordered that no one speak to the Assyrians. The Assyrian delegation wrote out their demands and the Israelite delegation took it to Hezekiah. They had torn their garments as evidence of their fear and when he read the demands, Hezekiah also tore his garments. He then took the documents into the Temple, spread them out before the Lord and prayed a prayer of supplication to the Lord. God answered through His prophet Isaiah. His answer was:

Scriptures to Read

Isaiah 36:1-6

Isaiah 36:7-10

Isaiah 36:11-15

Isaiah 36:16-22

Isaiah 37:1-7

Isaiah 37:8-20

Isaiah 37:33-38