The Day God Changed His Mind
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Introduction: This afternoon you are watching the Olympics and enjoying a relaxing day with the family. About 4:30 you begin to feel ill and by 9:00 you must be taken to the emergency room at the hospital. From there you are placed in a private room and for the next several days undergo a battery of tests and X-rays. Finally on Thursday the doctor in charge brings you the news. You’ve got a fast-spreading cancer and are not expected to live more than three weeks. He tells you there has never been a documented case of anyone recovering from this kind of malignancy. He suggests you see your lawyer, your insurance agent, and your pastor, probably in that order.
What thoughts go through your head in the next few hours? Would you calmly quote the Apostle Paul’s well-known affirmation, “To me to live is Christ and to die is gain?” Or how about the same Apostle’s statement that, “I prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord?” I seriously doubt if those would be your first thoughts.
Perhaps your response would depend somewhat upon how old you are, but just for the sake of argument, let’s suppose you are in the prime of life, forty years old, of course. Let’s further suppose that you have a spouse and several children, a good job and a ministry of some sort. What do you think about first? Your children, probably. “What’s going to happen to my kids? Who will love them as I have? Will they be provided for? And what about my wife, or husband, as the case may be? Will he be able to handle the household chores and provide the patient nurturing the children need? Will she be able to manage our assets to her best interests and those of the children? Will he or she remarry, and will the children like their stepfather and stepmother?”
“And what about work? I just started that new project and so much of it is still in my head. How will anyone else be able to put it together? Will the company’s pension be enough for my family, and will it be adjusted to account for inflation? And what about my Sunday School class? There’s that new couple that just recently received Christ, and they’ve been looking to me so much for mentoring?”
“Good grief! Why in the world has this happened to me anyway! I know a dozen people in my Sunday School class who aren’t half as committed or productive for the Lord as I am. Their whole lives seem to revolve around money and materialism; sometimes I wonder why they even come to church. Why couldn’t it be one of them? That might at least serve as a warning to others who are just playing at church.”
“What are my parents going to do? They’ve really been relying upon my advice during their retirement. Dad has a bad heart and I wonder if this news is going to do him in. Mom’s going to worry immediately about whether she’ll still get to see the grandchildren.”
What would go through your mind? Probably most of these things, and then one more. “Maybe I’m the exception. Perhaps I will be the first to recover from this disease. Perhaps tomorrow someone will discover a cure for cancer. Maybe the doctor misdiagnosed my case.”
Most people go through similar steps of denial when death seems inevitable. But what if God were the one, rather than a doctor, who informed you of your certain demise? What would you do then? I have a sneaking suspicion that most of us would respond in a way that is not too different from how Hezekiah responded. I stress that because I think there is a tendency to come to this text with more criticism than compassion for Hezekiah. A balance of the two might be more in order.
Let’s begin our study of Isaiah 38 by looking first at
Good news and bad news (38:1)
Here’s the message Hezekiah receives in 38:1: “In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are going to die and not live.’” The time reference is quite vague: “in those days.” The fact of the matter is that the events recorded in chapter 38 probably occurred before the events of chapter 36 and 37, which we examined two weeks ago. Isaiah seems to be presenting this material thematically rather than chronologically. We can roughly figure the date of this chapter from the fact that Hezekiah received 15 additional years to live, plus the knowledge that he died in 687 or 686 B.C. So, this probably occurred just the year before the Assyrian invasion.
At any rate the king contracts a mortal illness. The nature of the illness is not divulged, although from the 21st verse we learn that one of its symptoms was a boil or open wound of some sort. The Lord sends the prophet Isaiah to tell the king that the illness is going to be fatal and he had better set his house in order. I believe we should see this as an act of grace on God’s part. Few people get such a clear warning that their time is up so they can put their affairs in order. It might be good for all of us to think through what we would do to put our house in order. Or better yet, perhaps we ought to keep our house in order all the time. It involves more than leaving proper wills and testaments; it also means making sure that one’s family is instructed in the ways of the Lord. The financial part is easy compared to that.
I have stated that I see good news and bad news here. And perhaps the best way to express that is by means of a little apocryphal story that goes like this: An angel came to a man one day and said, “I’ve got good news for you and I’ve got bad news—which do you want first?” The man said, “Thank you, I’ll take the good news first.” “All right,” said the angel. “The good news is that your name is in the Book of Life and God is preparing a mansion in heaven for you. The bad news is that you’re going there tonight.”
Now theologically every one of us would say that that’s not bad news but good news. But as we have already demonstrated, most of us react humanly, not theologically, when faced with the trials of life, especially the possibility of life ending, and I think we need to understand how the good news of immortality with God could be considered bad news by this good king.
First, the OT mind considered longevity to be the reward of an obedient and faithful life, and an untimely death to be a judgment for sin. Hezekiah is only 39 years of age, so it’s not hard to see why he feels devastated. Second, Hezekiah has no heir at this point in his life, but he surely is aware of the promise of God that the Davidic dynasty was to be permanent until Messiah arrived. He must have felt something like Abraham felt when God commanded him to sacrifice his son after he was promised that he would be the father of a great nation through that son. How are God’s promises going to be fulfilled? Of course, there’s one thing all of us need to learn, and that is that God doesn’t need our help to fulfill his promises. He is quite capable on His own.
Third, the OT saint like Hezekiah had minimal knowledge about the afterlife, and therefore had minimal hope regarding it. There is no fully developed theology of heaven in the Old Testament—only vague hints about the blessed state of the righteous. And don’t forget that there was no clear explanation about how God would expiate human sin through the death of his Son. So even a righteous man like Hezekiah tended not to have the level of assurance of his salvation that the NT believer is able to enjoy. The prospect of death is always fearful for one who is not sure of his relationship with God.
So, it’s not too difficult to see that the announcement from the prophet Isaiah was both good news and bad news.
The second scene in our story begins in verse 2. I have called it …
Good reactions and bad reactions (2,3)
Rarely are we consistent in our attitudes toward the vicissitudes of life. We may show great courage when confronted with a major setback and then the next day fall apart at a minor inconvenience. We may one moment work furiously to solve the problem and the next moment collapse, paralyzed by depression. So, it shouldn’t surprise us that Hezekiah too responds to the good news and bad news with both good reactions and bad reactions.
His best reaction was, of course, to go to God in prayer. Too often we save that for last when nothing else has worked. But for Hezekiah that was the first thing he did. Verse 2 has been interpreted by some as though the king was acting childishly, pouting by turning his face to the wall. I think it is just as possible that he was merely trying to get alone with God. He is seeking to shut out all impressions of the outside world and to concentrate his thoughts upon God alone.
We also see a good reaction from Hezekiah in that he was honest with God in his prayer. With loud weeping he tells God how tragic it would be, in his estimation, for a godly ruler who had lived his life righteously before God to be taken in the very prime of life. After all, it might cause the wicked to flaunt their wickedness, since they often seem to prosper despite their lifestyle.
Now I remind you that Hezekiah is pretty much telling it like it is when he claims in verse 3, “I have walked before Thee in truth and with a whole heart have done what is good in Thy sight.” His father had been a wicked king who had nailed shut the doors of the temple and built altars and high places for the people to use in worship, which was a direct violation of God’s commandment. But Hezekiah had torn them down, had reopened the temple and had nurtured the nation in the law of the Lord. There is nothing in the world wrong with his telling God how devastated he is at the prospect of seeing his obedience go for naught. In fact, there is never anything wrong with being honest with God. Even if your feelings are wrong, it’s OK to tell God about them.
But there are some bad aspects to Hezekiah’s reaction as well. One is theological. The king assumes apparently that death is always a judgment for sin. It is not. Certainly, there are times when God cuts short a person’s normal span of life because of blatant rebellion. One thinks of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, of Herod in Acts 12, of certain participants in the Lord’s Supper at Corinth, and of many Old Testament examples, like Korah, Achan, and the two sons of Eli. But the Bible makes it explicitly clear that not all death, even untimely death, is the direct and immediate result of human sin. Job’s children died, not because they were sinful but because God was testing Job’s faith. Lazarus died that Jesus Christ might display his power and be glorified. Ultimately, of course, the reason death is part of the human condition is because Adam sinned, but it is useless and counterproductive to attempt to tie every death to a particular sin.
Hezekiah’s second bad reaction is the way he prayed. Though we are not specifically told so in the text, the implication of this whole story, plus the parallel passages in 2 Kings 20 and 2 Chron. 32, is that Hezekiah begged God to let him live. And there is no hint that the begging included an acknowledgement that perhaps it might be best for everyone, even Hezekiah, if God were to take him now. I think it is always dangerous for us to assume that we know what is best for the future, even regarding the issues of life or death. We will see in a few moments what the implications were of this bad reaction.
Now the third scene in our text can be expressed as …
Good results and bad results (4-8)
Beginning in verse 4 we come to the fact that there were good and bad results to the good and bad reactions of Hezekiah to the good and bad news delivered by Isaiah. Verse 4 says that “the word of the Lord came to Isaiah.” If we examine the parallel account in 2 Kings 20:4, we find the added information that “before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the Word of the Lord came to him.” Talk about a quick answer to prayer!
The prophet shares three results of Hezekiah’s prayer. God decided to add fifteen years to his life. There’s probably no better time than this to wrestle briefly with the theological problem inherent in the fact that God apparently changed His mind. In verse 1 God says, “you shall die and not recover.” But in verse 5 God says, “You will recover and live 15 more years.” This is despite the fact the Scripture clearly teaches the immutability of God. Numbers 23:19, for example, reads, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has he said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Or 1 Sam. 15:29 reads, “The Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” How is it then, that we have a clear and seemingly incontrovertible case of God changing His mind here in Isaiah 38?
I believe the problem is in perspective only. God sometimes attaches conditions to His promises, but He does not always express those conditions to us. It seems clear that God had determined to bring Hezekiah’s life to a close unless the king should turn in prayer and beseech God for His life. Only God did not tell him that such a supplication would avert impending death. If God had told him that, the response of Hezekiah would not have been a voluntary response of faith, but rather a reflex action to the condition. In other words, God did not really change His mind; rather His original intent was to take the king’s life only if he failed to turn to God.
What this explanation enables us to do is to affirm the biblical doctrine of both the immutability of God and of the power of prayer. Had Hezekiah failed to pray and ask God for mercy, he would indeed have died at age 39. But since he met God’s unspoken condition, he was granted life until age 54. I wonder how many times we fail to enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings because we fail to take things to God in prayer. Sometimes we operate on the terribly mistaken notion that what God has decreed is going to happen whether we pray or not, failing to recognize that there are many contingencies that God has built into His plan for the universe. Yes, He ultimately knows the end from the beginning, and He is sovereign over all, but an important part of His decree is that prayer can bring to pass a different set of results than would occur if they had not prayed.
Now before I began chasing down that theological rabbit trail, we were enumerating the three results of Hezekiah’s reaction to the news of his impending death. The first was that he would live 15 more years. By the way, God not only commanded healing; He also commanded a means of healing. In v. 21 we are told that Isaiah had said to Hezekiah, “Let them take a cake of figs, and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” This in no way lessens the miraculous nature of the recovery, for God is often pleased to use means in the performance of His works. The second result, in verse 6, is that God would deliver Jerusalem from the hand of the king of Assyria. We saw two weeks ago in chapter 37 how God fulfilled that promise.
And the third result is a sign. Verse 7-8 read, “And this shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will perform this word that He has spoken: 8 Behold, I will make the shadow on the stairway, which has gone down with the sun on the stairway of Ahaz, go back ten steps.” So, the sun’s shadow went back ten steps on the stairway on which it had gone down.
This sign stirs up its share of scientific questions. It is not quite clear exactly what happened. Apparently outside the palace of Hezekiah there was a stairway that served as a sort of sun dial. The steps were graduated in length so that when the sun shone on some kind of object near the steps, its shadow would advance to a different step each hour. We learn additional facts from 2 Kings 20, where we are told that God offered to cause the shadow to advance 10 steps or recede 10 steps, to which Hezekiah responded, “It is easy for the shadow to advance—it does that every day. Make it go back.” And God made the shadow back up ten steps.
Now some get quite excited conjecturing how God brought this about. Did he alter the course of the sun, or change the rotation of the earth, or simply modify the refraction of light? I don’t know and I really don’t care. Whatever happened was obviously a miracle and miracles by their very nature are unexplainable by natural law.
The three results we have looked at appear to be good results. But I think an argument could be made for the fact that the first result—the fifteen additional years of life for Hezekiah—turned out, in most respects, to be a bad result. Let me explain. In 2 Chron. 32 there is another historical account of this same incident that sheds further light on it. Verses 24 & 25 of that chapter read as follows: “In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill; and he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah gave no return for the benefit he received because his heart was proud; therefore, wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.” The good result of additional days was turned into a bad result when Hezekiah failed to give God all the glory but rather became proud. We will see more of that matter next Sunday, Lord willing.
Related to that bad result is another, namely that during this fifteen-year period Hezekiah had the son he so desperately desired to sit on his throne. That son was Manasseh, who was twelve when he began to reign at the time of Hezekiah’s eventual death. He reigned for 55 years and was the most wicked king ever known to either Israel or Judah. Listen to the words of 2 Kings 23: “The Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath with which His anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.” In the following chapter this additional observation is made: “Surely at the command of the Lord judgment came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not forgive.”
It is obvious that in those last fifteen years of his life Hezekiah was a miserable failure as a father. He blew it in respect to the single most important assignment God gives to any man—to bring up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The good result of 15 additional years turned into a bad result in the life of Manasseh, his son and heir.
I have tried to evaluate why it is that such seemingly good results that God promised turned into such bad results. And I find myself wondering whether the root problem doesn’t lie in the fact that Hezekiah demanded something of God rather than simply expressing his desires, along with a willingness for his own desires to be subservient to God’s perfect will. To explain that, let me ask you to compare Hezekiah’s prayer with Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane or Paul’s prayer that his thorn in the flesh be removed. Both Jesus and Paul prayed earnestly. In fact, Jesus sweat great drops of blood as He asked that the cup of death be removed from him. And Paul prayed earnestly on at least three separate occasions that the physical disability plaguing him might be removed. But neither of them demanded that God answer their prayers. Jesus said, “Not my will, but thine be done.” When God answered Paul with the assurance that “My grace is sufficient for you,” he responded, “Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” And even when facing death this same apostle said, “To die is gain.”
Contrast that with the attitude of Hezekiah. There is no indication of a willingness to accept God’s perfect wisdom, just a moaning about the condition that had befallen him and a demanding kind of request that God do something about it. God did, of course, even though he didn’t have to, but I wonder if God doesn’t sometimes go ahead and answer our demanding prayers, even when the result is not best for us. If we have not couched our prayers in an overriding willingness to accept His will for our lives, then we may have prayers answered which, if we were omniscient, we would never want to have answered.
Let me share a couple of other biblical examples that may be analogous to Hezekiah’s situation. Israel demanded a king because all the other nations had kings. All they had were some scraggly old judges. As a matter of fact, God was their king, but they couldn’t see Him or touch Him or follow Him into battle, so they wanted a visible, human king. God sent Samuel to warn them about the results of their demand for a king—taxes, conscription, slavery, war. But the people continued to beseech God for a king. And God gave in and granted them their request. Saul became their king, and he promptly led them into spiritual disaster.
Another example is found in Psalm 106 where the Psalmist writes about the urgent prayers of the children of Israel that God would give them decent food, rather than the manna which He had provided. And the Bible says that God gave them their request but sent leanness to their souls. Friends, we must be careful here. There is certainly a place for earnest, urgent prayer, but there is no place for making demands upon the Lord. You may get what you have asked for, but it could turn to dust in your hands. The seeming good result of answered prayer may turn out to be a bad result in the long run.
The fourth and final portion of our chapter is devoted to a psalm or hymn written by Hezekiah, which I have referred to as:
Good Hymnology but Bad Theology (9-20)
We do not have time today to analyze in any detail the hymn of praise which Hezekiah composed as his thanksgiving to God for the news of 15 additional years, plus deliverance from the Assyrians. However, I do want to point out the general construction of the psalm and some of its highlights. The first half, verses 10-14, describes his feelings and thoughts when he got the first message, namely that he was going to die. The second half, 15-20, describes his thoughts and feelings at being granted the extra time. Let’s read this hymn:
9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
10 I said, “In the prime of my life
must I go through the gates of death
and be robbed of the rest of my years?”
11 I said, “I will not again see the Lord himself
in the land of the living;
no longer will I look on my fellow man,
or be with those who now dwell in this world.
12 Like a shepherd’s tent my house
has been pulled down and taken from me.
Like a weaver I have rolled up my life,
and he has cut me off from the loom;
day and night you made an end of me.
13 I waited patiently till dawn,
but like a lion he broke all my bones;
day and night you made an end of me.
14 I cried like a swift or thrush,
I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens.
I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”
15 But what can I say?
He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this.
I will walk humbly all my years
because of this anguish of my soul.
16 Lord, by such things people live;
and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health
and let me live.
17 Surely it was for my benefit
that I suffered such anguish.
In your love you kept me
from the pit of destruction;
you have put all my sins
behind your back.
18 For the grave cannot praise you,
death cannot sing your praise;
those who go down to the pit
cannot hope for your faithfulness.
19 The living, the living—they praise you,
as I am doing today;
parents tell their children
about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,
and we will sing with stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
in the temple of the Lord.
Hebrew experts tell us that these words from the pen of Hezekiah constitute some of the most beautiful poetry in the Hebrew language. It is likely that, having recovered, the king appointed a day of thanksgiving in the Temple. As part of the worship service, he himself steps forward and either reads or sings this hymn of thanksgiving so that his friends can rejoice with him.
Theologically, however, the hymn leaves much to be desired, at least from the standpoint of a New Testament saint. And I hasten to make clear that by questioning Hezekiah’s theology, I am not in any way impugning the accuracy or integrity of Scripture itself. The doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture asserts for us that this hymn was written by the one whose name it bears and that it accurately represents what he originally said. It does not guarantee that Hezekiah was right in all that he said. After all, Hezekiah was not a prophet or an inspired author of Scripture. He is merely being reported by an inspired author.
The first theological inadequacy we meet is the despair that faces the king at the prospect of death. While we do not wish to be unduly harsh with Hezekiah, no believer needs to utter words such as found in verse 11: “I shall not see the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living; I shall look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.” While technically true, the perspective is so inadequate. After death we will not see the Lord in the land of the living, but we shall see Him in a way far better than we shall ever see him here on earth. After death we shall not look any longer upon the inhabitants of the world, but we shall see those true believers who have gone on before us, and we shall even see those who outlive us when their appointed time comes.
Related to our comments on verse 11, we find similar inadequacies in the king’s thoughts in verse 18: “For the grave cannot thank Thee, Death cannot praise Thee; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Thy faithfulness.” Such a view is far from what we read about in the book of Revelation, where the redeemed sing tremendous songs of praise to God and serve Him joyfully even after death. Again, I acknowledge that Hezekiah didn’t have the advantage of the truths contained in Revelation, but at the same time we must be aware that his views expressed here are inadequate for us.
I think too that Hezekiah’s choice of an analogy to describe God’s decision to take his life is inadequate at best. In verse 13 he says, “Like a lion—so He breaks all my bones.” The Scriptures tell us that “precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints.” We do not need to liken such a loving Father to a lion that pounces upon a man and crushes all his bones.
To Hezekiah’s credit we must point out that in the thanksgiving portion of his hymn he corrects some of his earlier perspective. In the last part of verse 15 he acknowledges that he must now walk humbly before God for the rest of his days. The NASB has apparently mistranslated that verse, and the NIV is superior: “I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.” In other words, his near death has taught him some lessons he never wants to forget.
I notice too at the end of verse 17 that the king recognizes the basis for God’s grace to him: “Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.”
Good principles for bad times
There are probably many principles that we could derive from this fascinating account. I would like to suggest just three.
Life is a gift and our days lie fully in the hands of God. Psalm 90 includes a prayer of Moses to this effect: “Teach us to number our days, that we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 39:4 adds, “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the extent of my days, Let me know how transient I am.” There are no guarantees of old age for any of us. True, all other things being equal, we might expect three score years and ten, but rarely are all other things equal. Furthermore, it is never simply a matter of good luck that some live to be octogenarians, nor of bad luck that some die in childhood. All our days are determined in advance by God. Psalm 139 teaches that in clear terms: “In Thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” Job 14:5 adds, “Man’s days are determined, the number of his months is with Thee, and his limits Thou hast set so that he cannot pass.”
This truth is not given to us so that we would take a fatalistic attitude toward life. It is given that we might not despair when sudden death overtakes a loved one or when our own life is threatened. We can know that not one day of our life will be taken or added without God being fully aware and having His purposes in it. It is also given to relieve guilt for those who may feel that they could have done more to save another person’s life. When God says a person’s time is up, all the medical care in the world’s greatest trauma center will not result in one more day of life.
Prayer should be fervent but it must not be demanding. There is no need that we should not feel comfortable taking to God in prayer. And as Jesus so clearly taught in the parable of the importunate widow, it is alright to bring our requests to God again and again. But always there should be an attitude of submission to the will of the Father. Always there should be an implied, if not spoken, “not my will but Thine be done” attached to our prayers.
Death is an ending, but it is also a beginning for those in the family of God. Barbara C. Ryberg has written a poem that I feel expresses so many of the New Testament thoughts of death:
“When I am gone, remember I’m with Jesus,
Then do not mourn because I’ve passed away.
Life holds so many griefs and disappointments
And will you cry because I did not stay?
Tis only for a spell we must be parted
Not many years on earth to us are given
And when my Savior tells me you are coming
I’ll go with Him and welcome you to Heaven.
Grieve not because the eyes that looked upon you
Shall never see your face on earth again.
Rejoice because they look upon the Savior
Who gave His life to ransom sinful men.
Weep not because I walk no longer with you
Remember, I am walking streets of gold.
Weep for yourselves that you awhile must tarry
Before the blessed Lord you may behold.”
Conclusion: What is our conclusion this morning? Perhaps it should be this: our God is a good God and a sovereign God. He has our best in mind, but that best includes and involves an active prayer life to which God is willing to respond in remarkable ways. “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man does avail much.” But at the same time, it is only wise for us to subsume our desires to His perfect will. May God press these lessons home to our hearts.
DATE: August 5, 1984
Tags:
Miracles
Prayer