I told our VBS campers that Isaiah was a great prophet, speaking to the people about what God said, AND that Isaiah foretold that Jesus was coming – Jesus the Messiah! I wish I had thought of this rhyming for the class: “Hezekiah Isaiah Messiah – I Tell Ya!” Yes so we need to know that 700 years before Jesus was born, they were talking about Him.
Hezekiah was a king who listened to God (most of the time) and consulted Isaiah to help him know if God approved of this or that. People lived in the moment – but Prophets lived in and on count of the Messiah – He was foretold to come out of a remnant of Judah – to be a Savior for His people AND for the Gentiles.
We know what they only would hope for – we know Jesus DID come. We DID hear from Him – and we will again – and we can always, in His Word. We can tell the world now – like Isaiah did – we can profit in the prophets and savor the Savior…
We can have HOPE. Jesus was their Savior and ours… Messiah – I Tell Ya!
Amen
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Isaiah 42:1-7
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”
This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
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King Hezekiah
2nd Kings 18:5-8
Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. And the Lord was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.
2nd Kings 19:5-7, 14-19, 30-31
When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.’”
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Hezekiah’s Prayer
Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.
“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”
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Isaiah prophesied:
Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.”
Debbie Upper 