"Just a Little MOre TIme"

Just A Little More Time

2 Kings 20:1-7 (NKJV)

Sometimes hidden in the midst of a story or an unusual event in the Bible, we find these people of God crying out to Him in prayer and we see through these prayers the mighty power of God. Through these people, we have seen that prayer truly does make a difference. Church, these prayers are reminders to you and me that God is still a powerful God and He is still a God who answers prayer. If we really want God’s power to move in our lives and in our church, then we must get down on our knees in prayer and pray to a great and awesome God. Pray that He will do great and mighty things with and in our lives, as well as in our church. Today, we look at another example of a prayer that made a difference. Today, we will take a look at King Hezekiah.
Hezekiah was king of Judah for 29 years 716-687 BC. More space is devoted to Hezekiah in Scripture than to almost any other king since the time of Solomon. The parallel accounts of this story can be found in Isaiah 38 and 2 Kings 20.
The Bible says that of all the Kings who descended from David, he was the greatest.

We read in 2 Kings 18:5-7a (NKJV), “He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments, which the Lord commanded to Moses. The Lord was with him; and he prospered wherever he went.”
Hezekiah was great in many respects. He was a great political leader who delivered Judah from the chaos of the reign of his father Ahaz. He was a great builder and his aqueduct which brought water to Jerusalem can be seen today. He was a great man of letters, having gathered together much of the sacred writings in Books like Psalms and Proverbs. But most of all he was a great religious reformer, a mighty man of God. He had the courage to destroy the serpent Moses made because the people made an idol of it. He opened the doors of the House of God, closed by his wicked father. He reinstituted the long-neglected feast of Passover. He also destroyed the high places where pagan idols were worshiped.

So, Hezekiah was a great King. And when you read about his life, you realize that King Hezekiah faced four “Crises” in his reign. 1. He faced the crises of choice. Early in his kingship, he chose to forsake the idols of his fathers. Therefore, he tore down the idols and rebuilt the city of God.

2. He faced the crisis of invasion. The Assyrians came right to the walls of Jerusalem and threatened to enter the city and destroy it. Had it not been for the power of prayer it might have been conquered. 3. He faced the crisis of prosperity. Foolishly, he displayed all his personal wealth and treasures of the kingdom. 4. Finally, at the very height of his power, when he was only thirty-nine years old, when his nation was surrounded by the armies of Assyria, a time when they needed his leadership the most, he is sick in bed with a severely infected boil. We see that God sent the Prophet Isaiah to Hezekiah with a message. Isaiah was fixing to be the bearer of bad news. This news that Isaiah brought him was the news of his impending death. So, now we see Hezekiah is faced with the most personal crisis of all: the crisis of death.

What message of encouragement can we find from the way he faced death… Watch and learn.

I. The Message Of The Prophet (v.1)

Hezekiah has become ill and was at the point of death. Up to this time, they had been treating him and taking care of him. Isaiah, the prophet, comes to him and tells him “Thus says the Lord…” In others, words Isaiah was telling Hezekiah you don’t need a second opinion because God said. Note the harshness of the announcement. Isaiah was giving him a message that had no hope and no comfort.

There seemed to be no way out because this was God’s Will. Then the second part of the message comes. Isaiah says, “Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.” In other words, you’re going to die so get ready; take care of anything you need to take care of. So when Isaiah told him to set his house in order, it literally meant to pick out a man to succeed your throne before you die.

Not many of us get this kind of notice when it comes to our death. The reality is that spiritually speaking, setting your house in order should be taken care now and not right before your death because we don’t know when we are going to die. If everybody got a notice of when they were going to die, they would wait to get their lives in order right after they received the notice. The bible tells us “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.” Make sure that your life is in order now by receiving the salvation of Jesus Christ, don’t wait.

Now let’s look at the…

II. The Motive Of The Prayer (vs. 2-3)

Notice the words, “he turned his face to the wall and prayed.” Some commentaries say he was tuning toward the temple making the statement that if he could have gotten out of bed, he would have made his way to the temple to pray this prayer.

Others suggest that because he could not retreat to his normal place of prayer, to be alone with God, he did the next best thing. He turned toward the wall and away from the people who were in the room with him so that he could communicate with God one on one. Either way in time of trouble, Hezekiah turned to the one that he needed to turn to which was God. What a great example for us, Amen? So many of us in times of trouble turn to other people or things. Many times, we blame God for our trouble. But the very thing we need to do is turn to God in our times of trouble just as Hezekiah did.

Look at his prayer in verse 3. The motive behind Hezekiah’s prayers was that he wanted to live. There are a number of reasons he might have wanted to live so badly. His family, he had no son to inherit the throne and his riches. It might even have been because he was only 39 years old at the time. But Hezekiah didn’t use any of these reasons or any reason. Instead, Hezekiah said “I’m too good to die. I have walked in truth and have done what is good in your sight.” Some say he said this because he did not have assurance of eternal life. I personally disagree with that. By reading about his life and the things he did, he was a believer. Whatever the reason, his prayer was answered, and he lived to bear a son named Manasseh who arguably would become the most evil ruler in Judah’s history.

Bible students have debated for years whether Hezekiah should have prayed for healing and whether his recovery was God’s perfect will or his permissive will. Sometimes God does answer prayer when the answer is not the best thing for us (see Ps 106:15). Those who feel Hezekiah was wrong, point out that the king’s final fifteen years involved his sinful alliance with the Babylonians and also the birth of Manasseh, who turned out to be Judah’s most wicked king. Had Hezekiah died, Judah would have been spared the Babylonian compromise and the evil reign of Manasseh.

On the other hand, others point out that Hezekiah had no heir to the throne when Isaiah gave the message of doom, so that his prayer was not for himself alone, but for the nation. “Set your house in order” in verse 20:1 literally means, “Pick out a man to succeed you to the throne.” God had promised that Judah would always have a descendant of David on the throne, and Hezekiah was holding God to His promise. All of his sons were born in the closing fifteen years. It is true that Manasseh was a godless king, but then we must admit that his great grandson Josiah was a great man of God. Had Hezekiah died, there would have been no Josiah.

Now let’s look at the…

III. The Miracle Of The Poultice (vs. 4-7)

This prayer of the godly king was answered immediately. Isaiah had not gone out of the midst of the city when the word of the Lord came to him to return to the king, tell him that the Lord would cure him in three days and add fifteen years to his life. He would also deliver him from the power of the Assyrians and defend Jerusalem. Hezekiah based his plea on his past goodness; God based his answer on Hezekiah’s prayer and tears.

The phrase “Prepare a poultice of figs…” means a lump of figs. So, Isaiah ordered a lump of figs to be laid upon the boil and Hezekiah recovered. He applied a well-known and useful remedy to the severely infected boil. The thing we must understand is that the healing power did not come from the lump of figs, but rather the miracle and healing of Hezekiah was the work of God. And with the healing, came the vow that God was with Hezekiah.

IV. The Meaning Of The Postponement (v.6)

A person who has been confronted with death often has a greater understanding of life. They realize how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken from you. God chose to give Hezekiah 15 more years. God changed his mind, which He has a right to do because He is God. The question is why? I believe the reason why the change is the same reason God does anything. For his glory!!

Church by now we should realize that nothing is too hard, too big, or impossible for God. The question is do we believe that?!? We must remember that God is “Elohim” which means He is a mighty God. He is “Yahweh” which means He is the one who was, who is, and who will be. With God all things are possible. When we pray, God sees our hearts, He hears our prayers, and He acts according to His Will.

In closing, why did God spare Hezekiah’s life? Why did he give him 15 more years to live? To me the answer is easy. Point blank, plain and simple God was not done with Hezekiah yet and guess what, God is not done with you yet either! And he is definitely not done with this church yet either. Today, we looked at surrendering our time to God. Listen and learn, to me you have not done your time until God takes you home. Until God decides to take you home, set the example! Surrender your time! Be the light!

Two other things I believe we can take from this story. The first one is that Hezekiah in a sense, prayed for God to protect him from dying at that moment. God answered that prayer by adding 15 years to his life. I’m not saying we need to pray to God for protection from death because I believe that when it’s our time, it’s our time.

However, we can learn from Hezekiah when it comes to praying for protection for our life and this church. We need to pray for protection from temptation, from sin, and more importantly from the evil schemes of Satan.

The second thing we can learn is that we need to have our house (life) in order now. Take care of business now by making Jesus the Savior of your life. Let your heart become Jesus’ home. Someone once said that the wise man prepares for the inevitable. Death is the inevitable! Prepare now! Jesus is the right preparation.