Isaiah 36:1-12

We now come to a historical break in Isaiah. The next four chapters will bridge the first half of Isaiah with the last half. Chapters 36 and 37 give a fitting conclusion to the first half. In these two chapters, all that Isaiah has said up to this point is validated. Chapters 38 and 39 will be a springboard for the final chapters of Isaiah.We begin by seeing the massive Assyrian army surrounding Jerusalem. They are in a helpless, hopeless situation. Every resource and advantage has been stripped away from them. The only resource left that can defend them from the Assyrians is God. And God will most certainly deliver them.For us, there are great lessons to be learned and applied to our lives. We will see the insurrmountable odds that the enemy can bring against us. We will see the spiritual warfare that comes against us from the enemy. We will see how we are to fight these brutal spiritual battles. But most important, we will see the faithfulness and ableness of God.The battle belongs to the LORD. There is not a foe who can stand against the LORD of Host. We belong to God and the victory has already been won. We simply need to put on the full armor of God, stand strong in the faith we have been called to, know God's word and obey God's word. In so doing, we will see the incredible victory that we have through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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1 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defenced cities of Judah, and took them.

2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.

3 Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder.

4 And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?

5 I say, sayest thou, (but they are but vain words) I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?

6 Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.

7 But if thou say to me, We trust in the LORD our God: is it not he, whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

8 Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them.

9 How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10 And am I now come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? the LORD said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.

11 Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

12 But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?