We all know what happened this past Tuesday. I don't believe I need to go over the details with you. You have all probably seen time and time again the video tapes of the two planes crashing into the twin towers of the New York City World Trade Center, and the image is probably forever seared into your consciousness.
Like December 7, 1941, September 11, 2001 is "a day that will live in infamy." Perhaps even more so. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they were attacking a military base far from the continental United States. This attack on September 11, 2001 is different. It was an attack not upon the military but upon American civilians. It was an attack not far away across an ocean but upon American soil here in the continental United States. This is truly an unprecedented horror in our national existence.
We don't yet know the full impact this attack is going to have on our nation. We do know that this is a watershed event in our nation's history. We do know that this is one of those rare events where most people will remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the disturbing news.
This event is now on everyone's mind, and rightly so. The question for us today on our first day of worship after this tragedy, is, What should our attitude be as the people of God? What should our attitude be as a people of faith?
Let me begin answering that question by reminding you of a tragedy that occurred at the Woodlands Baptist Church in Texas not that long ago. The pastor, Al Meredith, had traveled to Michigan. His mother had died the week before, and he had traveled up there to close up his childhood home. He arrived back in Texas on a Wednesday evening, only to find that a man had gunned down many of the children of his congregation at a special youth service. When he arrived at this scene of carnage, a reporter shoved a microphone into his face and asked the question, "Pastor, where was God?" Pastor Meredith responded, "He was right where He was when His Son was dying on the tree: on the throne of this universe, ruling the world for the good of His people."
We must never forget that no matter what happens, God is still ruling the universe. God is still in control. God is still working all for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
The Bible tells us to rejoice always, and in everything give thanks. You may wonder what you can rejoice about today and for what can you give thanks today. You can rejoice that God's rule has not been shaken. You can give thanks that God is still in control.
As the Psalmist expressed it in the 46th Psalm,
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. And in the 27th Psalm:
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident. And in the 23rd Psalm:
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Or, as the prophet Habakkuk, in Habakkuk chapter 3, expressed his confidence when he realized that the cruel Babylonians were about to overrun Judah,
17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls -- 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. God is always in control, always working history for good, even in the midst of what appears to be tragic. The best example of that in all of Scripture and in all of history is the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ upon that cruel Roman cross some two thousand years ago. What could be more tragic, more evil, more unfair? And yet God was in control. God was definitely working that event to the good of His people. That tragic event was the prelude to the resurrection exaltation of the Savior and is the basis for our salvation.
As Christians, our attitude in tragic times should be a genuine sorrow rooted in compassion combined with a quiet confidence that God is in control of what is happening and is working His purposes out.
But I want today to go beyond the question of attitude to the question of action. What should the people of God do when we encounter the face of terror? I think I can find no better example of what to do than the actions of good king Hezekiah leading up to and following the Assyrian invasion of Judah. This came to mind as I was deciding what to preach on today because the Assyrians were known in the ancient world for their use of terror tactics. The Assyrians impaled people and sometimes skinned them alive and did other such horrors. What should the people of God do in the face of such an enemy?
Today we are going to look at the response of King Hezekiah to the threat of Assyrian terror. King Hezekiah had seen his father cave in to the Assyrian threat. Early in his own reign, King Hezekiah had witnessed the total destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians. He ruled for years in the face of the constant threat of the Assyrian menace. We can sum up King Hezekiah's response to this ever present threat in three points: Purification, Preparation and the Prayer of Supplication.
First, we see the emphasis in our text on purification. By purification, I mean a turning of the nation from idolatry and evil to the worship and service of the living and true God. Hezekiah, to the best of his ability, used his influence as king to turn his nation back to God.
What Hezekiah did is all the more remarkable when one considers Hezekiah's father, King Ahaz. King Ahaz was one of the worst kings in Judah's history. Here is the biblical summary of the political career of King Ahaz as found in 2 Kings 16:
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. Here is what we read about Ahaz in 2 Chronicles 28:
22 Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the LORD. This is that King Ahaz. 23 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. 24 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. 25 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. And yet Hezekiah, the son of King Ahaz, was so different. In the very first year of Hezekiah's reign, he reopened the temple doors, he ordered the priests to cleanse the temple and to remove the pagan altars put there by his own father, and to restore the temple for the worship of the living and true God.
That was Hezekiah's priority as king. And I think it is no accident that he and his father also had very different responses to the Assyrians. We find Ahaz's response to Assyria in 2 Kings 16:7:
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me ..." King Ahaz basically abdicated to the king of Assyria and looked to him for help. Now contrast that with his son. King Hezekiah did not look to the king of Assyria for help. He looked to God for help. Here is what we read about King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18:
5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the LORD; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD had commanded Moses. 7 The LORD was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. We see here that King Hezekiah both trusted God and stood up to the king of Assyria. Here is an important principle: People who fear God are not overwhelmed by a fear of other people. The application is obvious. If our nation wants to stand up to terror for the long run, then our nation needs to be a nation that fears the Lord God. And that is why the churches are so important to the defense of America. If we are to have the resolve to fight evil, to make the necessary sacrifices and to persevere for the long term, we must be motivated and fortified by a fear of God. If we see God in all His greatness, then people, even terrorists, look small in comparison. But if we have no fear of God, then other people, especially terrorists, overwhelm us. The fear of God is key to our fighting the good fight to the end.
First, we see Hezekiah's efforts to purify His nation. He put an emphasis on a new national piety, on the worship of the living and true God. Then we see his military preparation for the coming of the Assyrians. That is indeed interesting because some people think that if you are trusting God, then you don't need to do anything to protect yourself from your enemies. Does faith in God mean that we do nothing? No, that is not faith but presumption.
Faith means that we dedicate ourselves to fulfilling our responsibilities because we know that our effort will not be futile if God is with us. Instead of being a motivation for doing nothing, faith in God is a motivation for throwing ourselves zealously into the work that needs to be done. We work hard when we know our work will be blessed. We work hard when we know our side will prevail. And so faith in God motivated Hezekiah to prepare not only spiritually but also militarily.
We read in our text about some of Hezekiah's preparations. He stopped up the streams so that the Assyrian army would not have easy access to water. He constructed a tunnel from the spring of Gihon outside the city walls to the pool of Siloam within the city walls. You can go to Jerusalem today and see that tunnel. Back before workers had pneumatic drills and jack hammers, this tunnel was carved through 1,748 feet of solid rock. That was a major undertaking. And he restored the walls, and he revived the military.
What is the responsibility of our government in a time such as this? It is to be prepared to confront the evil aggressor and to protect the civilian population. Here is what we read in Romans chapter 13:
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Jesus said to turn the other cheek, but He was there forbidding personal vengeance. We should never interpret these words about turning the other cheek in such a way as to contradict the equally biblical teaching that the state is to execute wrath on those who practice evil. This more than anything else is the God given duty of the civil government.
I believe recent events will be a wake up call that our government needs to keep sharp this sword of justice which God has entrusted to it. We need to keep this sword sharp, and we also need as a nation to have the courage to use it when our national security is threatened by the forces of evil.
There is a book in the Bible whose primary message is about the repair of a national defense system. It is the book of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah is about the effort to restore the walls around the city of Jerusalem, and walls in the ancient world were a primary means of military defense. In the book of Nehemiah, we read about the people working and sacrificing to rebuild this defense system.
First, we see the purification of the nation. Then we see the government of the nation preparing for the coming struggle against terror and evil. And the last thing we see in our Scripture text for today is the prayer of supplication.
Hezekiah rebelled against the King of Assyria and would not serve him. In response to this, the King of Assyria invaded Judah twice. At the first invasion, Hezekiah tried to buy off the King of Assyria. Hezekiah sent to Assyria a huge amount of silver and gold (2 Kings 18:14). That solved the problem, but only temporarily. Appeasing terrorists never really solves the problem; it just puts off dealing with it for a time. Hezekiah wasn't perfect; he made his mistakes. The King of Assyria soon invaded again. This second time, the more seasoned Hezekiah responded not with more appeasement but with military preparation and prayer. We have already examined the military preparation, and now we will look at the role played by prayer.
In the height of the Assyrian threat against Hezekiah, the King of Assyria sent Hezekiah a letter filled with threats and blasphemy. Hezekiah's response was to go to the temple of God, to spread the letter out before God, and to pray. And here is his prayer as recorded in 2 Kings chapter 19:
15 ... "O LORD 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. 16 "Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 17 "Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, 18 "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. 19 "Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone." Of course, God gave Hezekiah the help he asked for. God delivered him from his enemies. God sent His angel to slay 185,000 of the soldiers in the camp of the Assyrians. The King of Assyria returned to Ninevah, the capital of Assyria, where two of his sons assassinated him while he was worshipping in the temple of his god.
Our leaders today need to follow the example of King Hezekiah and lead us in prayer. We as a nation need to pray for God's help and for God's protection. We need to remember that apart from God, the task before us is truly beyond us.
Over the last few days, some have said that America will be alright because we believe as a people in ourselves. Some have said over the last few days that America will be alright because we are the only remaining military superpower. No, that is not what we should be saying. What we should be saying is that America will be alright because we believe in God. And if God is for us, who can be against us? If our enemies are also God's enemies, and if we are God's friends, then we will be alright. What we should be emphasizing at this point is our national motto, which is "In God we trust."
We shouldn't look at our military might and boastfully say, Look what we have done with the power of our hands! No, we should acknowledge that all that we have comes from the Lord. Apart from Him, we can do nothing.
We should be praying for help. And we should also be praying that God will use this time of trouble to work in people's hearts. We should pray that God will renew the faith and commitment of the people of God. We should pray that God will cause those who have not yet believed to see the uncertainty of this world, the shortness of life, and their need for a Savior.
One event that shaped the character of the South was a revival that occurred among the soldiers in the Confederate army. In the early days of the war, many Confederate solders were filled with bravado and self-confidence. As the war wore on, these solders saw that their best efforts were not always sufficient. They learned their limitations. They were humbled. It was after the battles when thousands upon thousands were slaughtered that the soldiers began turning in mass to Jesus. Yes, the South lost that war, but God used that revival to have a transforming effect on Southern culture.
God can use the trial we are in now in the same way. We need to pray that God will use our current time of danger to turn people to Himself.
What can we do in response to the threat of terror? We need to promote as best we can the worship of the living and true God. We need to remind our leaders of their responsibility to provide for us the sharp sword of justice, which includes a prepared and strong military to defend our nation and to execute justice against the evil doer. And last, but of course not least, we need to be a people of prayer. We can't do it all. We can't just throw money at problems. We need the help of the Lord our God.