KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES || Lesson 6 

KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES – Lesson Six

Isaiah 38:9-20 – ⁹A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

¹⁰I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years?” ¹¹I said, “I will not again see the LORD, the LORD, in the land of the living; no longer will I look on mankind, or be with those who now dwell in this world. ¹²Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me. Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me. ¹³I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me. ¹⁴I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am troubled; O Lord, come to my aid!”

¹⁵But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul. ¹⁶Lord, by such things men live; and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live. ¹⁷Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back. ¹⁸For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. ¹⁹The living, the living–they praise you, as I am doing today; fathers tell their children about your faithfulness.

²⁰The LORD will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the LORD.

V.9 – Hezekiah’s recovery was preceded by a “miracle.”  Isaiah 38:7-8 – ⁷“`This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: ⁸I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.'” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

Note 2 Kings 20:8-11 – ⁸Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the temple of the LORD on the third day from now?”

⁹Isaiah answered, “This is the LORD’s sign to you that the LORD will do what he has promised: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or shall it go back ten steps?”

¹⁰“It is a simple matter for the shadow to go forward ten steps,” said Hezekiah. “Rather, have it go back ten steps.”

¹¹Then the prophet Isaiah called upon the LORD, and the LORD made the shadow go back the ten steps it had gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.

His illness:  Isaiah 38:1-2 – ¹In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

²Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD,

The nature of his illness:  Isaiah 38:21 – Isaiah had said, “Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

V.10 – In the prime of my life – The Matthew Henry’s Commentary states: “Hezekiah was now about thirty-nine years of age, …”  This is confirmed by the following:

2 Kings 18:1-2, 13 – ¹In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

¹³In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of death and be robbed of the rest of my years? –  Parallel passage:  Psalm 102:23-24 – ²³In the course of my life he broke my strength; he cut short my days. ²⁴So I said: “Do not take me away, O my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.

V.12 – My house – (AMP) My [fleshly] dwelling is plucked up and is removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life as a weaver [rolls up the finished web]; [the Lord] cuts me free from the loom; from day to night You bring me to an end.

Other descriptions of the body:  (a) John 2:18-21 – ¹⁸Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”

¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

²⁰The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

Application: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 – ¹⁶Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – ¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 – ¹⁶What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

¹⁷“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” ¹⁸“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

(b) 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 – ¹Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ²Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, ³because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ⁴For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

(c) 2 Peter 1:13-14 – ¹³I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, ¹⁴because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.

As our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me – John 21:18-19 – ¹⁸I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

V.17 – You have put all my sins behind your back – Compare Isaiah 38:2-3 – ²Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ³“Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Application:  Let us thank the GOD OF MIRACLES for the following:

Colossians 2:13-14 – ¹³When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.