You claim to have a strategy and strength for war, but these are empty words. In whom are you now trusting, that you have rebelled against me? Sermons
1. THAT IT IS APT TO DE VERY IGNORANT. Rabshakeh made a large and even ludicrous mistake respecting the action of Hezekiah in his iconoclastic policy. He thought the Jewish king was doing that which would excite the anger of Jehovah, when he was really securing his Divine favour (ver. 7). Contemptuous men are often found to be ignorant: and, naturally, if not necessarily, so; for they imagine themselves to be above the necessity to inquire and ascertain, and their assumptions are soon discovered to be false. Those who are too proud to learn must be content to be numbered with the foolish. II. THAT IT SINKS INTO IMPIETY. Rabshakeh held up to derision the idea that Jehovah could preserve Jerusalem (ver. 15), and classed the Lord of heaven with the helpless deities of Syria (vers. 18-20). The arrogant spirit is essentially an irreverent one. Men that look with scorn upon the human soon come to regard themselves as independent of the Divine. They are not deified in the daring and presumptuous form which was once known; but they assume to themselves a power, a control, a providence, which belongs only to the Lord of our hearts and lives. Hence we find - III. THAT IT MAKES FATAL BLUNDERS. The king for whom Rabshakeh was speaking and whose haughty determination he was announcing never did "come and take away" to his own land these despised Jews who were on the walls of Jerusalem. He returned with haste and humiliation into his own land. The scornful will find that events do not fill up their bold outlines; on the contrary, they will entirely traverse them: their pretensions will be overthrown, and their promises and their threats left unfulfilled. Expel the contemptuous spirit from the heart: it is an evil thing in itself, and it works evil to him that cherishes it. 1. It is exceedingly unlovely; it is utterly unbecoming in any child of man who, be he what he may, stands on the same level of fallibility on which his fellows stand. 2. It meets with the deep displeasure, and will bring down the strong rebuke, of God. He resists the proud and humiliates them. 3. It is only worthy of the disregard of man; all wise people, when they are treated with arrogance, return a rebuking silence, like these sensible sons of Jerusalem (ver. 21). - C.
Now on whom dost thou trust? That question may not be without importance in matters of ordinary life. We have all to trust our fellows, more or less, and I suppose we have all had to smart in some degree, as the result of it. We may trust the mass of men in trifles without any serious consequences; but when it comes to large sums, when the whole of a man's fortune, for instance, is staked upon the character and reputation of someone else, then it is not altogether an unimportant question, "On whom dost thou trust?" Many have rested on some choice friend, and found him play the Judas! How often have our dearest counsellors turned away from us as Ahithophel did from David! How frequently have we confidently rested upon the integrity, friendship, and fidelity of some person whom we thought we knew and could trust, and we have found that "Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." Use discretion in all your transactions in life, as to how far you will trust the sons of men.( C. H. Spurgeon.) 1. I think I hear some answer, "I do not know that I have thought about the matter at all; I hope it is a long time before I shall die, and there is no need to trouble myself before it is necessary, and, therefore, I put the matter off." Do not you think that you are very foolish? There is a gate to death, ay! and to hell, too, from the place where you are now sitting. Suppose you were sure of a long life, would you wish to delay being happy? 2. I hear one say, "I thank God I am about as good as most people; when my poor neighbours have needed charity, they have never found a churl in me. I hope I can say it will go well with me, and if it does not, sir, it will go badly with a good many." I am afraid it will go badly with a great many; but I do not see what consolation you ought to get out of that, for company in being ruined will not decrease, but rather increase the catastrophe. The sum and substance of your confidence is, that you are trusting in yourself. Now, do you really and honestly think that you are of yourself sufficient to bring yourself safe to God's right hand? I think your conscience can remind you of some slips and flaws. 3. "I trust in my priest; he has been regularly ordained; he belongs to an Apostolic Church; he tells me that he will forgive my sins if I confess them to him, and that when I come to die he will give me my viaticum." Do not be misled; your priest might as well trust in you as you trust in him. 4. "Well, God is merciful. He is not so severe as to be unkind towards us, and we dare say, though we may have a good many faults, yet as He is a very good and gracious God, He will forgive our sins and accept us." If you go to God out of Christ, you will find Him to be a consuming fire, and instead of mercy you shall receive justice. 5. "Well, sir, I do not say that I can trust to my works, but I am a good-hearted man; I am a man of good intentions, and though I have a great many faults, yet I am good-hearted at bottom, and I think God will look at my heart, and will put me right at the end, notwithstanding my slips and wanderings by the way." It will turn out, I am afraid, to be a delusion and a snare. Your heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Do not talk about its goodness any more, for when you do, you give God the lie, and how can you expect to go to the heaven where God is, when you are thus insulting Him all the while? II. THE CHRISTIAN'S ANSWER. "I trust," says the Christian, "a triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." To some this does not look like a real trust. "Why, we cannot see God," says one. "How do we know all about this Trinity? Is this a real trust?" Cannot you trust in a thousand things you have never seen or heard? Some of you may be earning your living by electricity, but you never saw it. Some have said, "But does God interfere to help His people? Is the trust you impose in Him so really recognised by Him that you can distinctly prove that He helps you?" Yes, we can. We can say, also, by way of commending our God to others, that we feel we can rest upon Him for the future. III. SOME WORDS OF ADVICE TO THOSE WHO ARE SO TRUSTING. 1. Drive out all unbelief. If we have such a God to trust to, let us trust with all our might. 2. Let us seek the Holy Spirit's help in this matter. The Author of our faith must be the Finisher of it also. 3. Let us try to bring others to trust where we have trusted. 4. We must prove our faith by our works. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) ( C. H. Spurgeon.) People Asaph, Eliakim, Hezekiah, Hilkiah, Isaiah, Joah, Pharaoh, Rabshakeh, Sennacherib, ShebnaPlaces Arpad, Assyria, Egypt, Hamath, Jerusalem, Lachish, Samaria, Sepharvaim, Washer's FieldTopics Authority, Battle, Counsel, Depending, Design, Empty, Hast, Lips, Mere, Military, Power, Rebel, Rebelled, Rebellest, Rely, Revolted, Sayest, Speak, Strategy, Strength, Support, Trust, Trusted, Vain, WarOutline 1. Sennacherib invades Judah2. Rabshakeh, sent by Sennacherib, solicits the people to revolt 22. His words are told to Hezekiah Dictionary of Bible Themes Isaiah 36:5Library A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox. [In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it … John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Jesus Heals Multitudes Beside the Sea of Galilee. Sennacherib (705-681 B. C. ) The Holy City; Or, the New Jerusalem: Isaiah Links Isaiah 36:5 NIVIsaiah 36:5 NLT Isaiah 36:5 ESV Isaiah 36:5 NASB Isaiah 36:5 KJV Isaiah 36:5 Bible Apps Isaiah 36:5 Parallel Isaiah 36:5 Biblia Paralela Isaiah 36:5 Chinese Bible Isaiah 36:5 French Bible Isaiah 36:5 German Bible Isaiah 36:5 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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