Good morning Believers in Christ Jesus.
We give glory to God for the gift of another brand new week, we thank God for the privilege of life and for His unending mercy and grace upon us always. Praise God!
Happy Sunday to you all.
Isaiah Chapter 39 concluded.
We learnt from our yesterday’s study how King Hezekiah, shortly after his recovery from deadly sickness, made a terrible and costly mistake by opening the door of King’s store houses to the envoy of Merodach-Baladan (King of Babylon).
The Bible says he was trying to impress him because he sent a letter and envoys to greet him on his recovery from sickness. 2Chronicles 32 and 2Kings 18 and 20 covered this story.
Hmm…what a trojan horse…Unfortunately, he fell for it.
I was researching on the names of this King of Babylon and what I found was shocking…
From The Passion Translation of the Bible:
Merodach-Baladan means “god of blood and slaughter, mars, wars and murder.”
While Baladan means – “bal is his lord.”
You will all agree with me that the king of Babylon at that time was bearing a terrible name. And it is their custom in those days to name their children according to his or her mission on earth. So their name is a full description of who they were.
That’s exactly who Merodach-Baladan (king of Babylon) was. In fact, the Assyrians called him a terrorist.
So, you can all see the type of person that king Hezekiah open the door of the king’s store houses of treasures to; showing his envoys all the golds, silvers, and even the armory – their military strength.
Where was the prayerful King Hezekiah again?
Someone who always prayed to God concerning every matter. Someone who would consult Prophet Isaiah to hear from God, which was the normal thing to do those days.
He got carried away and lost all his spiritual senses, because everything had started to become rosy – He was miraculously healed and saved from enemies and was even granted extra 15 years to live on earth. He was dwelling in his comfort zone and his kingdom was peaceful, but misused them all.
Then the devil struck him again through his subtlety – a trojan horse from Babylon.
How have we also allowed the devil to crawl into our family, ministry, business, marriage, relationships, etc because of carelessness?
Remember that it is usually when men are in their comfort zones that the devil usually makes a move to strike. Remember King David, when he slept with Uriah’s wife and eventually murdered the innocent man and took his wife? It was during comfort zone.
Moses warned the people of Israel in Old Testament against the danger of forgetting the Lord when in comfort zones – Deuteronomy 8:11-20.
Now, let’s read about the consequences that King Hezekiah faced.
Isaiah 39:3-8 TPT
Then Isaiah the prophet visited the king and said to him, “What have you done? What did these men say and where did they come from?” Hezekiah replied, “They are envoys from distant Babylon.”
[4] Then Isaiah asked, “What did they see in your palace?” “They have seen everything in my palace,” responded Hezekiah. “I showed them everything in my royal treasuries.”
[5] Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is what Yahweh, Commander of Angel Armies, has to say to you:
[6] ‘The days are coming when all the treasures in your palace and all the wealth that your ancestors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon; absolutely nothing will be left,’ says the Lord.
[7] ‘Some of your own sons who come after you will be deported, be castrated, and become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'”
[8] Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word Yahweh has spoken through you is good and right.” For he thought, “At least for me, there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”
Can you now all see one of the major reasons the Jews were taken captive to Babylon?
In fact, the Bible gave us more details of the consequences of his actions in 2Kings 20 and also 2Chronicles 32.
One of which was that in that comfort zone (addition of 15 years to his lifetime), he gave birth to a son called Manasseh. Probably, he got carried away and didn’t teach him the way of the Lord and that child became wayward.
When he took over the Kingdom from his Father, the Bible says he did so many evil things.
2 Chronicles 33:1-3
[1]Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem:
[2]But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
[3]For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
Please, read the whole chapter for the details.
Now we can see why God wanted to allow him to just pack and go about 15 years back at that time. But God gave him another chance and he misused it.
God is giving the whole world another chance at Salvation also. Unfortunately, a lot of people are still taking God for granted, living their lives carelessly.
The truth is, judgement day is coming when the wheat will be separated from the weeds and the Kingdom of God will be fully established. Are you in that Kingdom already in Christ?
This is a rhetorical question everyone of us needs to answer and act upon.
To be continued…Glory be to God.
Our Prayers for everyone on this platform reading this message:
👉None of us will make any costly mistake that will subject our generation to eternal agony and damnation, in Jesus name.
👉Even in our comfort zones, may we receive the grace to stay connected to God in Word and prayers, and doing greater works for Him, in Jesus name.
👉Every good thing everyone on this platform needs to scale through this pandemic period successfully, receive them now, in Jesus name.
👉Great grace be unto you all.
Bible readings for today: Romans Chapters 14, 15 & 16 with Proverbs 22:17-29
I call you blessed now and always.
Sunday May 10, 2020 (DDMI)
