"Is Your Back Against the Wall?"

2Kings 20:1 In those days was Hezekiah ( strengthened of Jah) sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.


20:2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,

I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

20:4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

20:5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

20:6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.



Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign as king of Judah. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. (2Kings 18:3)



He removed the high places, he brake the images, he cut down the groves, and he brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. In other words, He did away with everything that God said would not be tolerated.



The Bible says that Hezekiah trusted in the LORD God of Israel. He clave (held on to) to the Lord, he never stopped following the Lord, and he kept the commandments of the Lord. God's word was highly esteemed in his eyes and heart.



The Bible declares that the Lord was with him. It says that the Lord prospered him everywhere he went. Why? Because he refused to be like the other nations. His God was greater and worthy of total faithfulness. He wasn't blessed because of being relevant to the king of Assyria. He was blessed because he refused to be in agreement with his enemies.



As faithful to God and as good of a king that he was, Hezekiah finds that his back is against the wall, just like we may find ours at times as we are children of the Lord.



We can learn from how Hezekiah responded when his back was against the wall.



First of all, Hezekiah got a message from the Lord:

"Set your house in order."



How do I do this? Hezekiah turned his face from being away from the wall to the direction of the wall!



When your back is against the wall, turn your face to the wall! "Jesus is the wall!"



Zechariah 2:5 says: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.



The Lord changes not, He is the same, today yesterday and forever! He is a wall unto us! He was Hezekiah's wall that he turned to.



"Turn your face to the wall! Jesus is the wall!"



To Zechariah, the Lord was a wall of fire! A wall of protection! God is our protection!



2Kings 20:2 He turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord. This wall is a wall as built in a trench.



When Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed, he was like the man that digged deep!



His foundation for living was upon the Rock!



Luke 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

6:49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.



"When Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord, he was digging deeper with his God!"



His digging deeper with God is about to change things! No only that, his life will touch other lives for God!



2Corintians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

4:9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

4:11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.



"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost!"



What if Hezekiah had not turned his face to the wall and prayed?



What would have happened? He would have died fifteen years earlier!



What would have happened if Hezekiah had not sought the Lord with tears?

Isaiah would have probably have continued to walk though the middle court and finally go completely out of Hezekiah's presence.



Isaiah would have been faithful to God to come to the king with a message from God! "Set your house in order."

Because you are about to die and not live!

It's your time, Hezekiah!



God will sometimes give us a message that says to us: "Set your house in order."



Hezekiah, king of Judah, was a good king, he did a lot of good things in his life. But God still sent the prophet Isaiah with the message! "Set your house in order!"



I believe as I read in Isaiah 38:1-22, that Hezekiah had his back against the wall and had become discouraged as we do sometimes. We get our back against the wall and become discouraged and began to expect all kinds of bad things to overtake us.



We find ourselves entertaining thoughts of just going off the scene little by little, as the enemy runs us down and finally we are left with the attitude of a pessimist!



So there's nothing left to do now but to join those two members of 1st Pessimistical Assembly that have tried relentlessly to get you to come join them and just be a part of them. "Because after all, your back is against the wall!"



"LISTEN!"



"God will bring us out! If we will let Him!"



"God humbled Hezekiah with the message from Isaiah."



To Hezekiah it was and it meant! "Today is the day of salvation!"

He turned his face to the wall!

He prayed unto the Lord!

He wept sore! With anguish!



Hezekiah's weeping was as the weeping of Joseph when he saw his brother Benjamin!



Genesis 43:30 And Joseph made haste! For his bowels did yearn upon his brother! And he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there!



"Joseph turned his face to the wall! And wept!



Hezekiah's weeping was with great anguish and intensity!



It was like Joseph, who could not refrain himself! Joseph could not hold back his anguish and became a loud cry! "Cause every man to go out from me!" Genesis 45:1



And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself know unto his brethren. Genesis 45:1



And Joseph wept aloud! and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. Genesis 45:2



"Is your back against the wall?"



Well, it's time to turn your face to the wall! Pray to your God!



When Hezekiah turned his back away from the wall and turned his face to the wall, "God heard and answered his cry!"



Isaiah 38:4 (Then), came the word of the Lord to Isaiah!



Isaiah 38:5 Go, and say to Hezekiah!



Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father.

I have heard thy prayer!I have seen thy tears!



Behold!!!! (to look and see with joy!) "I will add unto thy days, fifteen years!"



Isaiah probably said to Hezekiah:

You can move your membership from 1st Pessimistical Assembly!



"You're not going to fit in there anymore!"



God said to Hezekiah: "I'm not through with you yet!"



I will deliver you!

I'm going to deliver Jerusalem out of the hand of the devil!

I will defend this city!

I'm going to make the sun go backwards ten degrees to confirm My word will be done that I say unto you!



And all your mulligrubing in coming to a stop today!



Isaiah 38:9-22 God said to Hezekiah:



I know what you've been writing in your journal lately!



What you been writing about your situation would give the people the impression that I'm against you!



"If God is for us, who can be against us?"



Isa 38:9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness:

Isa 38:10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

Isa 38:11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

Isa 38:12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Isa 38:13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Isa 38:14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

Isa 38:15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.

Isa 38:16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

Isa 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

Isa 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Isa 38:19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

Isa 38:20 The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

Isa 38:21 For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.

Isa 38:22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?





Pick up that pen and write about the kind of God that I Am!



"I'm the God that raised you from the dead!"



I'm not through with you yet! The devil is defeated!

You are alive for fifteen more years!



You thought it was all over but the crying for you!



But your not dead! Isaiah 38:19 The living! the living! "He shall praise thee! As I do this day!"



The father to the children shall make known thy truth!



Isaiah 38:20 The Lord was ready to save me! When my back was against the wall! The Lord was ready to save me!



Therefore (You know what we are going to do?")



Therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord!



? "Is your back against the wall today?"



Are you a member of 1st Pessimistical Assembly?



The Answer is Jesus! Look to Jesus!



Just turn around today!



Turn your face to the wall!



Call on His name! His name is Jesus!



Hear the Lord say:



I have heard thy prayer!

I have seen thy tears!



2Ki 20:4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

2Ki 20:5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

2Ki 20:6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.



Behold, (see for yourself!) I will heal thee!



On the third day, it will happen! It has already happened on the third day!



You will go up into the house of the Lord!



"The living, the living, he shall praise the Lord! As I do this day!



The father to the children shall make known thy truth!



The Lord was (is) ready to save me; therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord!



2Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.



"Turn your eyes upon Jesus!"