Page 79 - Isaiah Student Worktext

we ever should get to the point where we don’t expect God to work mightily. Sometimes we see
healing, most times we don’t, because death is the end of all men. Ecclesiastes 7: 2

Hezekiah’s second reaction is not so good and foretells his failures in Chapter 39. He ‘reminds’ God of
all that he has done for Him. God doesn’t need reminded and He is certainly not impressed with what
we’ve done for Him in light of what He has done for us.

V. 4-6 First of all, it’s not that God changed His mind or altered His plans. His warning to Hezekiah was
like the warnings to Israel throughout the book of Isaiah. Repent or else…in this case, humble yourself
to Me or else.

God granted the king fifteen more years. How would most of us feel if God gave us an expiration date?
Could knowing that we have 15 more years be a problem for the first 14 years and 51 weeks, then we
start doing what we’re supposed to do in the final week?

We will see the impact of God granting Hezekiah extra time. God knew what would happen long before
He sent the news of impending death to the king.

However, from this passage we can learn some things: 1) God can heal anyone, any time. 2) The prayer
of a righteous person is powerful. James 5: 16

V. 7-8 Although not mentioned here, it is in the other accounts of the same event. Hezekiah asks for a
sign so that he can be sure of God’s promise. The sign is something that couldn’t be coincidence or
natural. The sun literally went backward.

There are instances in scripture where people asked for signs Judges 6: 33-40. For us, when God makes
a promise to us, there is no need for a sign. Trust Him to do as He has said.

V. 9-20 Likely something that Hezekiah wrote later, this is a poem or a song that details his despair
when he first heard the news, to a song of praise after God answered his prayer.

In V. 10, he laments that he was going to be ‘deprived’ in the prime of his life. V. 16-17 give praise to
God for restoring him, for delivering his soul from ‘the pit of corruption’.

In V. 17, Hezekiah also points to the fact that God has removed the king’s sins from him and cast them
behind God’s back. The song ends with the acknowledgement that God alone could save him, and that
he was saved for a purpose: to sing God’s praises all the remaining days of his life.

V. 21-22 Just as Jesus sometimes healed with a word, sometimes with mud and spit, sometimes with a
touch, God brought healing to Hezekiah in a different way. A poultice of figs on ‘the boil’. This is the
first indication of the type of illness that plagued Hezekiah. Boils are very painful, but not generally
fatal. It was perhaps the first evidence of the sickness that would have killed him if not for God’s
intervention.

Regarding illness, this is an interesting quote: “A paralyzed but forgiven man will spend eternity walking
and leaping and praising God in heaven. An Olympic athlete who dies in his sin will spend eternity in
outer darkness, weeping and gnashing his teeth in agony.

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