回归现实 Reality sets in

Title: Reality sets in
Date: 26th July 2020
Speaker: Rev. Wong Siow Hwee

Last week, we shared the story of how God defeated the Assyrians for his own sake and for the sake of his covenant with David. If it were a movie, it ended perfectly with a fairy tale ending to an epic story. We saw how Hezekiah fully trusted in the Lord, and just as Jerusalem was about to crumble, God wiped out the entire Assyrian army. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria who insulted God, was assassinated at home in Nineveh. Good won and evil lost. If it were a movie, it would be a feel-good story where the audience could leave feeling satisfied.

But real life is seldom scripted like a movie and today’s bible passages include four stories that peel back the curtain from our feel-good story. Reality sets in. The first two stories are actually prequels of what happened in chapters 18-19, and they reveal two events that occurred less than a year before the Assyrian invasion. Previously in chapter 19, Hezekiah was a heroic beacon of faith, unwavering in his resolve to rely on God for the salvation of Judah. But in chapter 20, we can sense a Hezekiah who is more like you and I, vulnerable to the fears of death and the pride of success. Hezekiah was reduced from a larger than life heroic figure immune to the trials and troubles of life, into a fellow human being merely trying his best to stay faithful to God. But faithfulness to God didn’t mean that everything in his life or whatever he did would be perfect.

In the first story, Hezekiah was on the verge of dying from a sickness, and prophet Isaiah came to tell him that his days were numbered and he should get his affairs in order.[1] A movie character hero might have been fearless before death, and he should have been laying down decrees that would ensure faithfulness to God for all future generations. But Hezekiah wasn’t a picture perfect hero. He reacted to news of his impending death with great sorrow, and asked God to remember his faithfulness. I don’t think he was necessarily seeking a recovery or appealing for mercy, because I think it is quite natural as humans to make peace with your maker in your final moments. But upon “seeing his tears”, God decided to extend his life by 15 years. Another reason for God’s intervention was that the Assyrian invasion was coming soon, and God wanted to save Judah through King Hezekiah. When Isaiah subsequently delivered this message to Hezekiah, it was such a stark difference to the earlier message that Hezekiah asked for a sign as confirmation. God caused the shadow to go in a reverse direction to assure Hezekiah that he would indeed recover.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong to be worried about one’s mortality. Looking at Hezekiah, I do wonder how I would react at my own dying moments. I have seen faithful Christians who departed with calm acceptance, as well as those with much regrets, still bargaining with God in grief. Have you ever wondered what would be your dying words? When the Apostle Paul was still struggling in his ministry, he said in Philippians 1: 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. But as he matured on, in his final days, he declared in 2 Timothy: 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. My personal reflection from the first story is that there are always more things to be done, even very meaningful and spiritual things; but there must come a time we must accept that our time has come, and we have done enough by the grace of God.

In the second story, the king of Babylon, Merodach-baladan sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, and all that was found in his storehouses. Like I mentioned in my sermon last week [2] , the Assyrians had their moments of weakness, whenever there were transitions of kingship. When Sennacherib first took the throne, Merodach-baladan rebelled for the second time. Hezekiah must have really kinned with the Babylonians because he perceived them as fellow rebel vassal states of the Assyrian empire. However, Isaiah gave a prophecy of judgment that one day all of these possessions would end up in Babylon. Surprisingly, this time Hezekiah didn’t react to the prophecy with great sorrow like with the earlier news of his death. He accepted the will of God and was contented with the fact that it would only happen to the future generations. [3]

In our story last week, I portrayed Hezekiah as fully committed to God, totally relying on God to fight against the Assyrians and nothing else. While that was true in terms of Hezekiah’s devotion in worship and singlemindedness in destroying all the high places, it didn’t mean that Hezekiah did nothing else to boost his defenses, unlike how some Christians refuse to see a doctor or take medication but instead hope for God’s direct healing. In this second story, we are informed of how Hezekiah built a pool and water tunnel into Jerusalem (20:20) to ensure adequate water supply in the event of a siege. He kept diplomatic relations with fellow vassal states like Babylon. I think it was wise of Hezekiah to be well prepared in terms of the “peace and security” of his people (20:19), just as how I think it is similarly good and important for people to buy adequate insurance and for the government to build up our national reserves. But we must differentiate between being prepared and being smug about such securities. In a way, it is like wearing a face mask. It is good protection, but it is never total protection. You should be wearing a mask if you are going out, but if you think that wearing one means that you don’t have to maintain safe distancing and you can attend crowded parties, then that is foolishness. In our second story, Hezekiah was overly confident of his own protections and was too short-sighted to see the danger of exposing his kingdom to the Babylonians, and his future generations had to pay for his folly.

The first two stories happened before the Assyrian invasion, while the next two stories happened afterwards, sequels to our story from last week. The third story was about Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, a name which means “forget” (Genesis 41:51). Despite the fact that Hezekiah was co-regents with Manasseh for about 10 years before his death, it seemed like Manasseh did not learn or remember any of his father’s faithfulness to God, and instead he was just as idolatrous as his grandfather Ahaz. 2 Kings 21: 9 But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites. [4] The breaking of the holy covenant wasn’t just in worship but also in social justice. 16Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord. As a result, God pronounced a judgment that the southern kingdom of Judah would also be destroyed, just like what happened to the northern kingdom Israel.

The last story is a short story of Hezekiah’s grandson, Amon, who was just as evil as Manasseh. Unlike Manasseh who was co-regent with Hezekiah for 10 years and reigned by himself for another 45 years, Amon only reigned for 2 years before he was assassinated. His sudden death led to his son Josiah taking over the throne at 8 years old. We will continue the story of Josiah next week.

Although the stories of Manasseh and Amon can be interpreted on their own as them being unfaithful kings just like King Ahaz, I wish to connect it to the story of Hezekiah to reflect on intergenerational faith development. We might wonder why it was so easy to ‘forget’ (Manasseh) the miraculous salvation of God that happened in the previous generation of Hezekiah. You might even think that such ingratitude will never happen to you; that if you ever experience such a personal and dramatic direct intervention from God, it will surely stay with you for life. And this is perhaps why we are so fond of telling stories of miracles in our evangelism. We think that the bigger the miracle, the more memorable it should be.

But history has repeatedly proven that witnessing miracles are no guarantees of lasting faith. Psalm 78: 12 He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. 11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. It was therefore not surprising that Manasseh also forgot what God had done and reverted to the idolatry of the previous generations before Hezekiah. In a way, it was like the resurgence of cases once the lockdown ended in many countries. Even in Singapore, complacency is already setting in even while the long battle against the Covid-19 pandemic continues. The beaches at East Coast Park and Sentosa were extremely crowded over the weekend, with many groups comprising more than 10 people from extended families or friends congregating. [5] So, we must never underestimate our ability to forget, no matter how miraculous the event or how painful the experience. In fact, the human mind is very quick to justify whatever it is that we desire to do, instead of remembering the lessons we ought to learn.

This is why the laws of the covenant put a strong emphasis on remembering. Not just for oneself, but also for future generations. Psalm 78: 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

I am reminded of an experience visiting an elder. The elder was getting weaker by the day, and we both knew that her days were numbered. The elder told me that she had a deep regret; that despite her efforts, her child was a non-believer. I was not familiar with her circumstances, and I did not know how to respond at that time. I left with a heavy heart after praying for her and that memory lingers on till today. In my reflection of the stories today, I am reminded of this elder even though it has been years since her passing. If I were to return to that moment, I would say: it was enough that she tried her best to pass on her faith even till her dying moments, ultimately her child was responsible for his own decision. It was enough for her to just keep her child in her prayers all the way.

In comparison, she had surpassed Hezekiah with her child’s faith being her deepest concern. We might recall from the second story that when Isaiah told Hezekiah that his descendants would be exiled to Babylon, 2 Kings 20: 19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there would be peace and security in my days?” His lack of concern for the future generations was also reflected in the first story when faced with his impending death. His top concern was his own death and not the future of his son Manasseh who was only 6 or 7 at that time. Although Manasseh was responsible for his own evil, but unlike my belated response to the departed elder, I don’t feel that Hezekiah had given his best to pass on his faith despite his own undoubtable faithfulness to God. As a parent myself, I know that parenting is never easy, and I do not wish to add an additional burden of guarding your children’s faith. But if you look at the life of Hezekiah, you might discover this: that ultimately his greatest achievement of repelling the Assyrians and destroying all the idolatry counted for nothing, when it did not continue on to the next generation. You and I may not be as heroic as the Hezekiah we witnessed last week, but we can be heroes to our own children, when they witness the faith in our lives, and inherit that for their own future generations.

[1] This could be one of the reasons why his son Manasseh started to become a co-regent at the young age of 12 years old (21:1). Manasseh was probably designated as the successor at this juncture when he was still 6 or 7 years old.
[2] http://www.jubilee.org.sg/sermons/?sermon_id=1032
[3] On hindsight, this may be part of the reason why he was so quick to give up all these treasures when the Assyrians invaded (2 Kings 18:14-16), since he knew they would eventually be lost to the Babylonians anyway.
[4] The pronouncement was stated similarly to how Jeroboam I had led the northern kingdom astray (1 Kings 14:16).
[5] https://mothership.sg/2020/07/beaches-extremely-crowded-masagos/

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