Isaiah 39
Boast in the Lord!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, February 5.
The final chapter in Isaiah’s “Book of Hezekiah,” composed of Isaiah 36-39, foreshadows the emphasis of the remaining chapters of Isaiah – the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. Little did King Hezekiah know that he would set the stage for such a great calamity, a century prior to it occurring, through a simple act of pride – the sin of boasting. Isaiah 39:2 records his actions, “Hezekiah was pleased, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and his whole armory and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.”
At best, Hezekiah was naïve, but that is difficult to believe knowing his story. Most likely, Hezekiah was trying to impress a potential ally against Assyria, trusting in the military adage, “An enemy of my enemy, is a friend.” That was not true in the case of the Babylonians. After entertaining the son of the Babylonian king and showing him everything in his kingdom, Isaiah rebuked him with a word from the Lord in Isaiah 39:6, “Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing will be left.”
Seize the moment and boast in the Lord, not in your wisdom, might, or wealth, for everything you have is from God. As Jeremiah, a prophet who lived through the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem, quoted of God, “Let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Importantly, Paul quoted Jeremiah in 1 Corinthian 1:31 and 2 Corinthians 10:17.
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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