Isaiah 37:1-3 - "When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them."

King Hezekiah is talking about the birth of a miracle, the birth of deliverance, the birth of a victory, the birth of healing, the birth of freedom, for God’s people in Judah.

Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sent Rabshakeh, his field commander, to the king of Judah to convince them to surrender to the Assyrian kingdom by discouraging them and making negative statements against the Lord’s people:

The devil’s number one scheme is to create fear among God’s children and cause them to lose their faith and confidence in their leader and their God.

Isaiah 36:4-5 - "The field commander said to them, “Tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: On what are you basing this confidence of yours? You say you have counsel and might for war—but you speak only empty words. On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?'

• "The great king"? That is absolutely wrong! Our God is the king of kings and Lord of Lords!

• "You speak only empty words" – we speak words of faith that are more powerful than any weapon in this world.

• "On whom are you depending, that you rebel against me?" – we depend on our almighty God.

The devil is using false and negative statements against God’s people.

Isaiah 36:7 - "But if you say to me, “We are depending on the Lord our God”—isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, “You must worship before this altar”?

• "Whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed" - Hezekiah removed the high places and altars of pagan idols to worship the real true God.

This is what so-called Christians are blaming against God’s children.

Isaiah 36:10 - "Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.’”

• "I come to attack and destroy this land without the Lord? The Lord himself told me" – The enemy is pretending that they also serve the Lord.

Isaiah 36:11,13a - "Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.” Then the commander stood and called out in Hebrew.

• The devil uses the lowest level of cheap tricks to discourage us.

Isaiah 36:14-16a - "This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you! Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’ “Do not listen to Hezekiah. This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me."

He is diverting people’s mind from their king and God and challenging people to compromise with the enemy.

Isaiah 36:16a, 17 - "Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. until I come and take you to a land like your own—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards."

The devil gives false promises and makes common people confused and depressed.

Isaiah 37:10 -13 - “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?”"

The enemy doesn’t know that we are not like other people. Nobody can compare our Jehovah to other pagan idols.

Since no one responded to his statements, he finally wrote a challenging letter to them.

Seven times Rabshakeh mentioned Hezekiah’s name. The enemy is always after the leader. If the leader is mentally discouraged, then the enemy can easily destroy the people.

Let us look, how Hezekiah and God’s people responded to the enemy:

• Isaiah 36:11 - "Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to the field commander, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people on the wall.”

The Jewish leaders tried to protect the common people from hearing the negative words from the enemy.

• Isaiah 36:21 - "But the people remained silent and said nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Obedience to our leader, our faith, and our prayer life are more powerful than vain talk.

• Isaiah 37:1 - "When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord.

We put all our pain, distress, and challenges in the presence of God, where we have our answer and solution.

• Isaiah 37:2 – 3 - "He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them."

Here we see the need and power of united prayer.

• Isaiah 37:14 - "Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord."

There is an answer for all our questions in His presence as we cast all our burdens upon Jesus.

• Isaiah 37:15 - 17 - "And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God."

Pray or perish. Hezekiah acknowledged our Lord as a prayer answering God.

Let us look at how our Lord responded to their cry and prayer:

• Isaiah 37:6 – 7 - "Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid of what you have heard—those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.”

When we are silent in such a place, God will not be silent. Whatever the enemy has spoken against God’s people, God hears that and will not stand by.

• Isaiah 37:23-24a - "Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you have ridiculed the Lord."

The Lord said if anyone touches you, he touches the apple of my eye. The Lord asked Saul, why are you persecuting me?

• Isaiah 37:31-35 - "Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; "he will not enter this city,” declares the Lord. “I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!”

God is our shield; God is our fortress and there will be a wall of fire around the city.

"This day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them."

To receive strength, the people of God did something important things.

1. They kept silent.

2. They went to the house of the Lord.

3. They called the anointed one of God.

4. They sought the Lord’s face.

5. They surrendered their challenges to the Lord.

6. They prayed to the Lord.

7. They listened to the voice of God.

And finally, a birth took place. The birth of a miracle, the birth of deliverance, the birth of victory, the birth of healing, and the birth of freedom, for the people of Judah.

Isaiah 37:36 - "Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!"

I have invisible sources to fight for me, the world cannot understand nor see it.

I believe in the supernatural; I believe in miracles and I believe in my Lord.