The document provides an overview and summary of Isaiah 34-39 from a sermon given at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. It discusses the historical context involving King Hezekiah of Judah rebelling against Assyria, the confrontation with Rabshakeh representing Sennacherib, Hezekiah's prayer to God, and God's response promising to defend Jerusalem for his own sake and for David. Key themes are God hearing and answering prayer, defeating the enemies of his people, and bringing hope and salvation.

2. Isaiah 34-39
God Listens
October 18, 2020
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

3. What’s the number one thing?
The Glory of God!
1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do all to the glory of God.

4. • Grogan, Geoffrey W., Isaiah: The Expositor’s Bible
Commentary, Zondervan, 1986
• Guffen, Gilbert L., The Gospel in Isaiah, Convention
Press, 1968
• Keil-Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament -
Isaiah, Eerdmans, 1866
• Knapp, Christopher, The Kings of Judah and Israel,
Loizeaux Brothers, 1908
• Watts, J. D. W., Word Biblical Commentary: Isaiah,
Word Books, 1985
References

5. • Wright, G. Ernest, The Book of Isaiah: The Layman’s
Bible Commentary, John Knox Press, 1964
• Young, Edward J., The Book of Isaiah: A
Commentary, Eerdman, 1965
• The New American Standard Bible has been used.
• The New King James Version has been used.
References

6. Before we hit the historical events in chapters
36-39, it would be good for us to mention 34
and 35.
Chapter 34 is a warning of utter destruction of
Edom, but the warning seems to be for all
nations.

7. 1 Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!
Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world
and all that springs from it.
2 For the Lord’s indignation is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to slaughter.
Isaiah 34:1-2 NASB

8. Chapter 35 is a beautiful passage that may refer
to the remnant returning to Jerusalem from
Babylon, but it’s language may better fit the
redeemed of all times returning to Jerusalem.

9. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord will return,
And come with joyful shouting to Zion,
With everlasting joy upon their heads.
They will find gladness and joy,
And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 35:10 NASB

10. Back in Session 3, we were primarily in Isaiah 7.
King Ahaz of Judah was being threatened by
Syria and Israel. Isaiah told him to trust the
Lord for deliverance and offered him a sign
from God. Instead, Ahaz reached out to Assyria
for aid.

11. Assyria, ruled by Tiglath-Pileser III, invaded and
conquered Syria and Israel (732 BC) but they
also forced Judah to pay heavy tribute.
Overtime, this made Judah an easier target for
conquest.

12. Last week, Session 6 spanned Isaiah 28-33.
Assyria, now ruled by Sargon II, had attacked
the Philistine city, Ashdod. (711 BC) This
neighbor of Judah had been allied with Egypt.
Isaiah warned Judah, now ruled by Hezekiah,
not to ally with Egypt. (Isaiah 30 & 31)

13. The historical setting for Session 7 is the
rebellion of Hezekiah after Sennacherib became
king of Assyria. We believe these events played
out in 701 BC. Prior, Hezekiah had tried
forestalling the destruction of Jerusalem by a
big payment of tribute to Assyria and alliances
with Egypt.

14. The passage that begins in Isaiah 36 is almost
word-for-word what we see beginning in 2 Kings
18:13. Much scholarship has been expended
trying to discredit the unity of Isaiah. One of the
claims is that the compilers of Isaiah
incorporated material from 2nd Kings.
Conservative scholarship affirms that Isaiah’s
material is original to Isaiah.

15. 1 Now it came about in the fourteenth year of King
Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against
all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.
• The Annals of Sennacherib says that he took 46
walled cities and countless villages.
Isaiah 36:1 NASB

16. Sennacherib was the son of Sargon II and came
to power at his father’s death in 705 BC. Much
of his attention was demanded by repeated
rebellions by Babylon. He reclaimed the
southern portion of Babylonian territory in 700
BC. This distraction encouraged revolt in the
Levant.

18. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from
Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a
large army. And he stood by the conduit of the
upper pool on the highway of the fuller’s field.
Isaiah 36:2 NASB

19. Three officials went out to meet the field
commander sent out by Sennacherib.
His speech was a masterpiece of psychological
warfare, but it also contained a challenge aimed
toward the Lord of Hosts.

20. 4 Then Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah,
‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, “What is
this confidence that you have? 5 I say, ‘Your counsel
and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now
on whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against
me? 6 Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed,
even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into
his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all
who rely on him.
Isaiah 36:4-6 NASB

21. 7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is
it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah
has taken away and has said to Judah and to
Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8 Now
therefore, come make a bargain with my master the
king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand
horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on
them.
Isaiah 36:7-8 NASB

22. 9 How then can you repulse one official of the least of
my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots
and for horsemen? 10 Have I now come up without the
Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? The
Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy
it.’”’”
Isaiah 36:9-10 NASB

23. The Rabshakeh has been speaking in Hebrew.
At this point Hezekiah’s three officials ask him
to switch to Aramaic so the populace will not
understand his threats. The Rabshakeh’s
response is to speak even louder and to address
his words more directly to the citizens listening
on the wall.

24. 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to
your master and to you to speak these words, and not
to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their
own dung and drink their own urine with you?
Isaiah 36:12 NASB

25. 13 Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in
Judean, and said, “Hear the words of the great king,
the king of Assyria. 14 “Thus says the king, ‘Do not let
Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver
you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord,
saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us, this city shall
not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
Isaiah 36:13-15 NASB

26. 16 ‘Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for thus says the king of
Assyria, ‘Make your peace with me and come out to
me, and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and
drink each of the waters of his own cistern, 17 until I
come and take you away to a land like your own land,
a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and
vineyards.
Isaiah 36:16-17 NASB

27. 18 ‘Beware lest Hezekiah misleads you saying, “The Lord
will deliver us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations
delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
19 ‘Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where
are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they
delivered Samaria from my hand? 20 ‘Who among all
the gods of these lands have delivered their land from
my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from
my hand?’”
Isaiah 36:18-20 NASB

28. The impact of this speech was devastating to
those who heard it. They stood silenced. When
the officials told Hezekiah, he tore his clothes,
covered himself with sackcloth and entered the
house of the Lord. Then he sent distinguished
messengers to Isaiah.

29. 6 Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your
master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do not be afraid because
of the words that you have heard, with which the
servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. 7
“Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he shall hear a
rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him
fall by the sword in his own land.”’”
Isaiah 37:6-7 NASB

30. When Rabshakeh returned to find his king, a
rumor had been heard that an army was coming
up out of Egypt. Rabshakeh put his words in a
letter and sent it by messengers back to
Hezekiah. In it, he again disparaged the Lord.

31. 14 Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the
messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of
the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
Isaiah 37:14 NASB

32. 1 Samuel 4-6 tells the story of the Ark of God
being captured in battle by the Philistines. God
is able to fight His battles.
Is God without power?

33. 1 Samuel 17 tells the story of David facing
Goliath and the army of the Philistines.
Is the Lord of Hosts unable to act?

34. 1 Samuel 17:47 NASB
47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord
does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is
the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”
Is the Lord of Hosts unable to act?

35. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, 16 “Oh Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, who art enthroned above
the cherubim, Thou art the God, Thou alone, of all the
kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and
earth. 17 “Incline Thine ear, O Lord, and hear; open
Thine eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to all the words
of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living
God.
Isaiah 37:15-17 NASB

36. 18 “Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated
all the countries and their lands, 19 and have cast their
gods into the fire; for they were not gods but the work
of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have
destroyed them. 20 “And now, O Lord our God, deliver
us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth
may know that Thou alone, Lord, art God.”
Isaiah 37:18-20 NASB

37. Please notice that Hezekiah has acknowledged
that the Lord is God. Hezekiah is not. He has
asked God to act to deliver Judah; not because
they are worthy but so that God might be
exalted and recognized.

38. Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah that the Lord had
heard his prayer.
Isaiah 37:22-29 is God’s response spoken
against Sennacherib.

39. 22 this is the word that the LORD has spoken
against him:
“She has despised you and mocked you,
The virgin daughter of Zion;
She has shaken her head behind you,
The daughter of Jerusalem!
Isaiah 37:22 NASB

40. 23 “Whom have you reproached and
blasphemed?
And against whom have you raised your
voice
And haughtily lifted up your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
Isaiah 37:23 NASB

41. 24 “Through your servants you have
reproached the Lord,
And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I
came up to the heights of the mountains,
To the remotest parts of Lebanon;
And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice
cypresses.
And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest
forest.
Isaiah 37:24 NASB

42. 25 ‘I dug wells and drank waters,
And with the sole of my feet I dried up
All the rivers of Egypt.’
26 “Have you not heard?
Long ago I did it,
From ancient times I planned it.
Now I have brought it to pass,
That you should turn fortified cities into
ruinous heaps.
Isaiah 37:25-26 NASB

43. 27 “Therefore their inhabitants were short of
strength,
They were dismayed and put to shame;
They were as the vegetation of the field and
as the green herb,
As grass on the housetops is scorched
before it is grown up.
Isaiah 37:27 NASB

44. 28 “But I know your sitting down
And your going out and your coming in
And your raging against Me.
Isaiah 37:28 NASB

45. 29 “Because of your raging against Me
And because your arrogance has come up
to My ears,
Therefore I will put My hook in your nose
And My bridle in your lips,
And I will turn you back by the way which
you came.
Isaiah 37:29 NASB

46. Isaiah 37:30-35 is God’s message through Isaiah
for Hezekiah and the remnant in Judah.

47. 30 “Then this shall be the sign for you: you shall eat this
year what grows of itself, in the second year what
springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap,
plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
Isaiah 37:30 NASB

48. 31 “And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah
shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32 “For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and
out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of
hosts shall perform this.”’
Isaiah 37:31-32 NASB

49. 33 “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of
Assyria, ‘He shall not come to this city, or shoot an
arrow there; neither shall he come before it with a
shield, nor throw up a mound against it. 34 ‘By the way
that he came, by The same he shall return, and he shall
not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. 35 ‘For I will
defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My
servant David’s sake.’”
Isaiah 37:33-35 NASB

50. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh, just as the
Lord had told Hezekiah. He built his great
capital city there with wondrous palaces and
temples. It was in one of those temples,
roughly 20 years later, that he was murdered by
two of his sons who sought his throne. And yes.
They did use swords.

51. • God will win the victory!
• His name will receive honor and glory!
• He hears us when we speak and sees us
when we enter His presence.
• When we pray seeking His glory and
according to His will, He will grant our
petition.
What can we take away?

52. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16-17 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His
Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the
world through Him might be saved.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me.”

53. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this
life to pay the penalty for our sin.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the “second death”
explained in Revelation 21:8.

54. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the
lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
• Anyone who’s lifestyle is one or more of the sins listed in Revelation
21:8, will experience the “second death,” if they do not repent.
• To Repent means to turn around, to go in the opposite direction, to turn
away from sin and believe in Jesus.
Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.

55. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will
be his God and he shall be My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explain to us how to be overcomers.

56. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and
believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

57. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Do you have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900
or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/