Expository Sermon on chapter from
2 Chronicles and Isaiah
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 7/19/2025
©2025 by Maylan Schurch
To watch this entire worship service, go to this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5fAnnAX3DI
Please open your Bibles to the book of Second Chronicles, chapter 28.
Most of you know that I’m suggesting that we read the Bible through this year based on the chronological reading plan, which is much as possible puts the Bible passages together so you can see the parallels. You can always find out where we are in the reading when looking in your bulletin, where the box will give you the exact date of a certain passage.
As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t literally follow the day by day approach, but I do read all the passages as I get a sermon ready.
I was really intrigued this week as I read about Hezekiah. He is mentioned not only in both Second Chronicles and in Second Kings, but also in Isaiah. And because in this one week I could read everything the Bible had to say bout him, I learned insights I might not have learned otherwise.
Hezekiah was an amazing king. He took it upon himself to pick up the pieces of his wicked father’s royal rule, and put the nation spiritually back together. And he mostly succeeded.
However, I called this sermon “Hezekiah’s Hazard.” He faced several hazards, but only one was really dangerous. I think when we discover what this hazard is, you’ll agree with me that it’s a hazard which can definitely be a danger for us as well.
But first of all, let’s look at a couple of hazards which could have turned out badly for Hezekiah, but which did not.
We need to start by looking at Hezekiah’s father, who ruled roughly 700 years before Jesus was born. Notice what the Bible says about Hezekiah’s dad.
2 Chronicles 28:22 – 25 [NKJV]: Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the LORD. This is that King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, saying, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
As far as I’m concerned, we could call this Hezekiah’s first “hazard.” (The dictionary defines a hazard as “a danger or risk.”) Here comes what I would call Sermon Point One.
Hezekiah’s first hazard was a dad who rejected God.
Why is this a risk or a danger? Because oftentimes we are shaped by the environment we grew up in. And King Ahaz was so evil that Hezekiah didn’t have a good role model to rule God’s nation.
But it’s still possible to become a devout follower of God even with such a background. Hezekiah – along with the Holy Spirit – made it work.
So what you do, if your own parents weren’t followers of God? Do you give up, and say, “Don’t expect a whole lot out of me. My background isn’t the best.” Hezekiah could have said that. But Hezekiah knew what was right, and he vigorously made some changes to the way his own father had done things.
2 Chronicles 29:1 – 11: Hezekiah became king when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father David had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. Then he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them in the East Square, and said to them: “Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the LORD our God; they have forsaken Him, have turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and turned their backs on Him. They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the LORD fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering, as you see with your eyes. For indeed, because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, our daughters, and our wives are in captivity. “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense.”
And the next couple of chapters go into great detail about all of the work that needed to be done. But everybody got busy, and people were amazed at how quickly the temple was readied for worship.
In fact, to get a summary of how effectively this was done, let’s go to chapter 31.
2 Chronicles 31:20 – 21: Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered.
So, Hezekiah’s dad was a miserable role model. But did that end up being a hazard for Hezekiah? No. Instead, this young adult king transformed it into an opportunity.
So what do I do, now that I’ve heard how Hezekiah responded to his first hazard? Well, if I am a father myself, I need to grow deeply serious about the example I’m setting for my children.
And if my own father wasn’t perfect, I need to remember that Hezekiah looked to a higher “father figure” than Ahaz. Hezekiah took God’s fatherly counsel far more seriously than he was able to take the counsel of his own earthly dad.
In other words, am I willing to turn my heart away from my ancestors’ practices if they go against what God says?
Are there any areas where I have started ignoring what I know the Lord wants me to do? God’s own words had dictated to Moses what should be done with the temple. God’s own word spoke the 10 Commandments, which are still in force today. Can I have a Hezekiah’s holy zeal to turn my heart and my family toward back to God?
I don’t know if Hezekiah ever said, “Well, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.” Because look at what happens just after that happy summary statement we’ve just read.
2 Chronicles 32:1: After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself.
Just like that, another Hezekiah hazard.
In fact, that’s Sermon Point Two.
Hezekiah’s first hazard was a dad who rejected God. His second hazard was an enemy’s threat.
I mean, the first hazard was challenging enough. What Hezekiah did there was to convince his own countrymen, who had the knowledge of God in their background, to turn back to their God and follow His will.
But a foreign enemy’s threat takes the danger to a whole new level. Assyria cared nothing for God. The Assyrian army was notoriously vicious and cruel to any nation they captured.
All you have to do is Google “atrocities of the Assyrian army,” and you will find article titles like “The Assyrians – Appalling Lords of Torture.” They were merciless. And when King Hezekiah understood this potential hazard, he got right to work.
Verses 2 – 8: And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come, and that his purpose was to make war against Jerusalem, he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city; and they helped him. Thus many people gathered together who stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land, saying, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?” And he strengthened himself, built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, and built another wall outside; also he repaired the Millo in the City of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. Then he set military captains over the people, gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate, and gave them encouragement, saying, “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
But the hazard isn’t over yet. Because Hezekiah wasn’t the only one who was doing the talking. The Assyrian leaders were persuasive reasoners as well.
Verses 9 – 15: After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying, “Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: ‘In what do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem? Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, “The Lord our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”? Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on it”? Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand? Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand? Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’ ”
So here we have some pretty effective torturers who are also pretty effective talkers. And anyone who did not have Hezekiah’s deep understanding of the history of how God works would have found himself nodding his head and saying, “Good points. Those are good points. What hope, after all, do we have?”
Again and again the Assyrian messengers pounded this message home, even shouting it over the walls of the city in the Hebrew language, so anybody who was close by could hear.
Verses 16 – 19: Furthermore, his servants spoke against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah. He also wrote letters to revile the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.” Then they called out with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and trouble them, that they might take the city. And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth—the work of men’s hands.
As I mentioned, part of Hezekiah’s story shows up in Isaiah as well. In fact, let’s finish the story by going to Isaiah 37, and start with verse 14. By this time, the Assyrian leaders have sent a letter to Hezekiah and his officials. This letter contains the same reasoning and the same threats we’ve just heard.
Notice what Hezekiah does when he gets that letter. He realizes that all the military preparations he has made can only go so far. So he decides to take this latest letter to his own Commander in Chief.
Isaiah 37:14 – 20: And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. Then Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying: “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD, You alone.”
Hezekiah was facing a threat from enemy forces. The enemy forces had tried to verbally intimidate him. But does Hezekiah try to reason with them, or intimidate them? No. Hezekiah makes his case to the God of heaven.
I was thinking as I read these verses this week that maybe if we face a hazard like this – whether it is from an enemy or from someone else – maybe we should do what Hezekiah did. Maybe we should come before the Lord, maybe even with a symbol or writing or photo or something, that might relate to the matter, and just lay it out before Him. And then just open our hearts and talk to Him about it.
We need to keep in mind that when Hezekiah talked to the Lord, he used some of the same reasoning that Moses and other Bible people used when talking to the Lord. Moses’ effective strategy in reasoning with God was to remind God of His (God’s) reputation. And Hezekiah at the end of his prayer does the same thing.
In fact, I think it would be a good idea to get better acquainted with God’s Bible promises, and their contexts. We have to be careful about simply grabbing a compiled book of Bible promises, and opening it up, and letting our finger land on a random promise. Because maybe that promise, in its context, doesn’t really talk much about the issue we’re facing. That’s why it’s so important really burrow into the Bible, dig into it, and see how real Bible people reasoned with God.
When the prophet Isaiah learns about Hezekiah’s prayer, he sends back an encouraging message.
Verses 21 – 29: Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word which the LORD has spoken concerning him: “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back! “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. By your servants you have reproached the Lord, And said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter its farthest height, To its fruitful forest. I have dug and drunk water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.’ “Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins. Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown. “But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me. Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have 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.” ’
Glance down at verse 33:
Verses 33 – 38: “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the LORD. ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Let’s not ever have a diminished view of what God can do. God can do exactly what He wants to do, even if it seems vastly impossible. Let’s remember what Hezekiah said to his people to encourage them – “There are more with us than are with them.”
I’d like to look at just one more hazard Hezekiah faced. In the first few verses of Isaiah 38, we hear the famous story of Hezekiah’s illness, and how the Lord told him he was going to die. But Hezekiah prayed earnestly and even shed tears, and the Lord gave him 15 more years of life. That was a hazard, but it’s not the “Hezekiah hazard” I’m going to close with.
In fact, I think this this last hazard of Hezekiah was maybe the most dreadful of all. Let’s pick up the story at the start of Isaiah 39.
Isaiah 39:1 – 4: At that time Merodach-Baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah was pleased with them, and showed them the house of his treasures—the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory—all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say, and from where did they come to you?” So Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a far country, from Babylon.” And he said, “What have they seen in your house?” So Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”
Hezekiah’s first hazard was a dad who rejected God. His second hazard was an enemy’s threat. His third hazard was himself.
Hezekiah conquered the first hazard by turning away from his earthly father’s ways to his Heavenly Father’s heart.
Hezekiah conquered the hazard of the enemy’s threat by bringing that hazard into God’s presence and pleading for divine help. (Keep in mind that we all face an enemy’s threat – the enemy of our souls. But that enemy has already been defeated by the death and resurrection of Christ. We need to take any of the devil’s attacks directly to the One who has vanquished him.)
But Hezekiah had made no effort against the third hazard – the hazard of himself, of his selfishness, his pride, his desire to exalt himself in the presence of his Babylonian visitors.
And Isaiah immediately calls him on it.
Verses 5 – 7: Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’ ”
Now by rights, this should have terrified and re-converted Hezekiah, the one who had faced down his father’s legacy, and had then faced down a cruel world power.
But, chillingly, Isaiah’s dire prophecy seems to have no effect at all on Hezekiah’s selfishness. Because look how he responds to Isaiah’s words.
Verse 8: So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.”
Look at how horribly Hezekiah’s outlook has shrunk. As he faced his first two hazards, his outlook was vast and wide, and included the welfare of the nation and the reputation of God, the very “great controversy” itself. But now his outlook has shrunk to only the size of his selfishness. “The bad things aren’t going to happen during my lifetime, so what do I care?”
Well, it’s time for us to return to our lives outside this room. There are hazards out there, and from Hezekiah we have learned how to deal with them. But remember especially the hazard Hezekiah didn’t fight – the hazard of self. Let’s take that hazard into the presence of the same God who can deal with anything else the devil throws at us.
Our closing song reminds us exactly how powerful our God is. Martin Luther, who wrote the lyrics, calls Him a fortress, and his song tells us how to find safety there, even from our selfish natures.
Closing Song: “A Mighty Fortress” – #506