Deal of the Century

“Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards.” (Isa 36:16-17 AV)

The deal of the century!  Something looks eerily familiar about this deal.  Not that I wish to digress, but a ruler is suggesting the people sign over their government to him and he will let them enjoy their life just as it is.  And, when he decides to finally take them to his land, it will be just as good.  Sound familiar?  The king of Assyria has come to invade Jerusalem.  Hezekiah, king of Judah is trying to encourage the people not to fear the threats of this invading king.  One argument after another is failing.  The king of Assyria claims to be stronger than the God whom they trust.  He points to the false gods of other nations as though they were real.  Being defeated by his armies, he believes the God of Judah is just as hopeless.  This king even goes so far as to state the LORD sent him because the people has failed.  Just as he did to Israel.  This claim above is the last of the arguments.  If they will surrender, then their lives will never get worse.  It will only get better.

This is a great illustration of temptation.  Sin has a way of promising things it cannot deliver.  When meditating on this passage, I cannot help but think of the believer more so than the lost.  Those who have lived a life in the protection of the Christian home are tempted away from it by this very argument.  It promises we don’t have to give anything up.  All the blessings realized and owned will still remain even if we sign over our lives to sin.  The promise of security which we already possess doesn’t make sense.  Why sign away our lives to sin if we already have that which is best for us?  At least the king is honest in that he admits they will be carried away into his land.  The promise is a false one.  The promise that life will continue as it always has or even better than it has is a lie.  The hardships they might be facing now, coupled with the blessings of obedience, will all become a curse if they believe the word of a king who simply wants to consume them.

When we leave the center of God’s will, no matter what the allure, it is a mirage.  It won’t be better no matter how much the world or the devil try to convince us otherwise.  The real question is:  why do we want to believe such foolishness?  But we do.  Again, not to be political, but the masses simply believed the line our leaders told us and not we are going down the road of more and more government control.  What made us think we would be freer?  What made us think we would be better off?  Temptation is a strong enemy.  It is not honest.  It is not forthright.  It is not going to have any compassion on us whatsoever.  It will promise the moon and consume us down to nothing in return.  It will claim there is little to no risk.  It will claim it only has our happiness at heart.  It will claim it knows better than we do.  It will claim other similar things to our faith have not worked.  So, why not trust it?  This lie is as old as the garden of Eden and we have not learned our lesson yet.  This particular event ends well.  The King of Judah placed the threatening letter from the king of Assyria before the LORD and the people decided to trust the LORD.  185,000 enemy combatants died that night without Judah having to raise a sword.  The king of Assyria was assassinated upon return to his city.  It is always better to trust the LORD than to believe the lies of temptation.