| Christian Life and Doctrine | April 1975 |
The Lord Our Helper
“With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.” —II Chronicles 32:8
THE setting of our text is very revealing and encouraging. The circumstances occurred during the time of the reign of Hezekiah, and we are informed that he “wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.”—II Chron. 31:20,21
At the same time “Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him. So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water? Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance. And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them.”—II Chron. 32:1-6
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, made many threats against Israel. He said, for example, “Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and burn incense upon it? Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand? Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?”—vss. 11-14
But this threatening did not frighten Hezekiah. This good king and the Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven and, as we shall see, the Lord answered their prayer and delivered the Lord’s people from the hand of these wicked aggressors. Knowing that the God of Israel was on their side, Hezekiah said to the people, “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.”—II Chron. 32:7,8
The marginal translation here says that they leaned upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. In other words, they recognized in King Hezekiah the Lord’s help, and they believed that with his leadership they would be delivered from Sennacherib and his army.
A Miracle
While Hezekiah did what he could to defend the people against Sennacherib, he realized that they would be in the same unhappy position as all the other nations of the area unless their God, the God of Israel, came to their rescue. That is why he, together with the Prophet Isaiah, prayed and cried to heaven. And this prayer received a remarkable answer from the Lord. We read that “the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side. And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.”—vss. 21-23
The Christian’s Battle
Paul says of the Christian’s battle (II Cor. 10:4) that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.” Our battle is largely against deceptions of Satan in his efforts to destroy us as new Creatures in Christ Jesus. But we can be just as certain as Hezekiah was that “with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.” The Lord had provided us with an armor—the armor of truth as outlined in Ephesians, chapter 6—and the truth today—this evil day—is more important than ever before.
King Hezekiah expressed a vitally important fact to the people under his leadership when he said concerning Sennacherib and his army that “with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.” As Christians we are in a very vulnerable position before our adversaries if we overlook this vital fact that only by the Lord’s strength can we be victorious. If we depend upon the arm of flesh, that arm of flesh will fail us. Only through the Lord’s help, and because he is greater than all that be against us, can we hope to be victorious. Let us, then, remember the importance in every time of crisis, in every threatening situation, to be reminded of Hezekiah’s words, “With us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.” May we, like God’s ancient people, lean upon these words, trusting in them as one of the reassuring promises of the Word of God that if we put our trust in him, he will bring us forth conquerors, yea, more than conquerors, through our Lord Jesus Christ.