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I Thought The King Of Assyria Was Dead

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• All right, let's open our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 36. I want us to begin reading with verse one. I'd really like to read the entire chapter—only 22 verses—but we'll be looking at most of this chapter. Isaiah chapter 36. The title of the message is "I Thought the King of Assyria Was Dead," or a subtitle, "Government as God." Notice Isaiah 36 verse 1: "Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib the king of Assyria came up against all the defensed cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great army."

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• "And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest? I say, sayest thou, but they are but vain words."

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• "I have counsel and strength for war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me? Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him. But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?"

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• "Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land and destroy it. Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria."

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• "Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 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. Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?"

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• "But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, Answer him not. Then came Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh." Let me begin by making this simple statement: Government is not God. However, that does not stop governmental rulers from claiming to be God or playing at being God.

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• An interesting truth that you will observe throughout Scripture is this: The more that a nation departs from the one true and the living God—especially the one true and the living God who's revealed Himself in Jesus Christ—the more the people will come to worship government as God. It was true in Assyria, it was true in Judah, it was true in Israel, and it's true in America as well. You have to remember that when we reject the truth, and when we reject the only true path, the only thing left for us is error and lies. For instance, let me just read—you don't have to turn there—but in 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 9 through 11, God says this. Now listen carefully.

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• "Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." So when a person refuses and rejects the truth, the only thing left is error. Now, I have pointed out on numerous occasions that only God is sovereign. Only God has absolute power and absolute control. In fact, there can only be one sovereign, one absolute, and one ultimate.

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• Now, stop and think about this. And I'm going to show you this in Isaiah 36 momentarily. But in order for a government or a governmental ruler to play God and claim to be God, he must do two things. The very first thing he must do is deny the one true and the living God. And that's being done on the right hand and on the left hand in all the nations of the earth, just about. And the second thing that he must do is simply this: He must try to replace the one true and the living God by exercising totalitarian power. Now just stop and think. Since the one true and the living God is sovereign and has control over everything, that means then the governmental ruler or the government that is going to play God is going to try to be absolutely sovereign and have control over everything. In other words, they're going to have—from what you and I would call—from the cradle to the grave control.

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• So we can put it like this: the womb-to-the-tomb mentality is a characteristic of governmental insanity. And it not only is characteristic of government insanity, it also reveals their God-mentality in the sense they just simply want to control everything. So let me make this exceedingly clear: The Lord Jesus Christ, the God of glory, the sovereign, omnipotent ruler of heaven and earth, has absolutely nothing to do with such an apostate and illegal government. Such a government that plays God is not the ordinance of God. In fact, it is an idolatrous government. It is not only idolatrous, it is in rebellion to the one true and the living God, and it is a rival unto Him.

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• Now I could multiply scriptures, but let me ask that you hold Isaiah 36. We're coming back there, but I want you to look at Psalm 94 very quickly. Psalm 94 at verses 20 and 22. You should be familiar with this passage. It's very plain. Psalm 94. Look, if you would please, at verse 20 at the question that is asked. Psalm 94 verse 20, here it is: "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?"

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• Now let me just stop there momentarily. "Shall the throne of iniquity"—a throne speaks of government. But notice it is a throne of iniquity. It is a wicked civil government. So here's the question: Shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with God when that wicked civil government frames or makes mischief a law? And mischief in the Bible is another word for sin. So you could ask this question like this: Shall a wicked civil government have fellowship with Thee—that is, with the one true and the living God—when that wicked civil government makes sin legal? Now look at verses 21 and 22 to show you what he's talking about. "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood." Then he says, "But the Lord is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge." In other words, David said, I don't trust in a government like that. I trust only in the one true and the living God. Now you have to remember what God said in Isaiah 42,

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• verse 8. He said, "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." So let me spell it out for you. God is not going to recognize, approve, or condone an apostate government that is acting like God and claiming sovereign power. God's not going to recognize a government or a government ruler like that any more than He would recognize an individual like that. A man can come along and say, "There is no God." A man can come along and say, "I am God," and pretend to have power. God's not going to condone him. And certainly God is not going to condone a wicked civil government that's doing the same thing. That is why in Psalm 2 verses 10 through 12, the psalmist said this to the civil rulers:

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• "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." So David admonishes civil rulers to kiss the Son—that is, you better submit to Him, because when He's angry just a little, you're going to perish. Now when we talk about tyranny, most of the time we think about someone with a whip or a chain or someone with force. We fail to remember and we fail to consider that benevolent tyranny is still tyranny. You have to understand that a tyrant does not come out immediately with whips and rods.

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• No, the carrot always precedes the stick. And then the velvet glove is shown before the iron glove is felt. And many times, an unsuspecting and ignorant people are seduced into tyranny and totalitarianism. And let me make this statement very clear: Many times an unsuspecting and ignorant people ask for tyranny and totalitarianism. They want it. I want you to hold Isaiah 36, but look in your Bibles very quickly.

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• First Samuel chapter 8, this passage. I've preached from it a number of times, and I'm not going to preach from it now, but I'm just going to show you how an ignorant people will ask for tyranny. They have no idea what they're asking for. In 1 Samuel chapter 8, beginning there with verse 4, Samuel now is old, his sons are not following in his path, and look what happens. 1 Samuel 8 verse 4: "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways."

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• "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee."

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• Now, I want you to note how God counted this as a personal rejection. And I've showed you before in 1 Samuel chapter 12 very plainly where they rejected God as king and they were wanting a man as king, that is for sure.

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• Now, the interesting thing: In verse 5, they said, "Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." Well, originally they said, we just want to be like everybody else. We don't want to be different. We want to have a man as a king. Well, now here's what God did. God told Samuel, you explain to them the difference between Me ruling over them and a man ruling over them. And so in verses 9 through 18, Samuel explains that. And if you will read that passage carefully—I don't want to take the time to read it now—there's one word that is repeated over and over about the man: "He will take. He will take. He will take. He will take." Everything in these verses, their king takes. That's tyranny. That's totalitarianism. By the way, when you had God ruling over you, all God did was give, give, give. Now man is going to do it and all he's going to do is take, take, take.

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• Now look in verse 19, if you would. Let's read verse 18. Here's what he said: "And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day." God said, you wanted the man to rule over you. You wanted a little tyranny, totalitarianism. I'm going to let you have it.

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• You can have it until you are so sick. And when you start crying, I'm not going to listen to you. Now watch verse 19. After all of the explanation, "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us." Now look why, verse 20: "That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us,

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• and go out before us, and fight our battles." Now it's no longer just wanting to be like the other nations. Now they want someone who's going to go out before them and fight our battles. So here is the crux of the whole issue. Here's a people that did not wish to be responsible for themselves. They wanted government to take care of them. And probably we could say that we are exactly like Israel of old today because we do not want to plan. We do not want to prepare. We do not want to protect ourselves. What we want is a king or a civil ruler to do that for us. And so the mentality of the modern-day Christian, and especially the modern-day American, is this: that the government will take care of us. And we don't really need God because the government is going to take care of us. And what we've done, we've made government our God. Government is going to feed us. Government is going to nourish us. Government is going to take care of our health, our education, our welfare, our retirement, every aspect of our lives.

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• We don't need God. We just need government. And the truth of the matter is this: most people have made government their God. For instance, you look at the average American, you look at the average professing Christian. When he is in need, he doesn't cry to God in prayer. He applies to the government for benefits. When he's in danger, he seeks governmental protection. When they're disturbed, they seek governmental consolation. If you really and truly want to know who your God is, then you need to take notice of who you cry to when you're in need and when you're in danger. I want to give you a quote that may absolutely shock you. Many people have come to trust government as God. Representative Elijah Cummings said this—I'm going to give you the full quote—but he said, "People come to government to feed their souls." Here's this whole quote. Listen to this. He said, "People do not seem to understand that so many people come to government knowing that they're not going to make the kind of money that they would make in the private sector.

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• But they come to government to feed their souls." Wow. So according to Representative Cummings, it is now government that feeds their souls. Now think about this. If government is able to feed the souls of those who are employed by it, obviously, according to Representative Cummings, it can feed the souls of others as well. I like what he said: "People do not seem to understand that so many people come to government knowing that they're not going to make the kind of money that they would make in the private sector." Oh, oh, why is it there are so many millionaires and multimillionaires in Congress? How is it that a man can enter into government service practically broke and come out extremely wealthy? Well, let me tell you something. The truth is government cannot feed anyone's soul. It may feed one's bank account. It may feed one's ego or desire for power and control and the opportunity to exercise dictatorial power, but it cannot save them, nor can it make them holy or make them godly. It certainly cannot make them spiritual.

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• Now listen to me: if government can really feed your soul, and if government can make you holy and godly and moral and right, we should have the most godly nation on earth, for we have the biggest bloated government on the face of the earth. And instead of being holy and godly, it is the most corrupt, unbiblical, unconstitutional, unwise, and perverted government on earth. We no longer have statesmen; we have politicians. We no longer have men of principle; we have men of paper that are capable of being bent and shaped in any form that the situation and money demands.

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• I titled this message "I Thought the King of Assyria Was Dead" simply because of that which he claimed and that which he said as he was seeking to enslave and control and dominate the people of God. And by the way, the same thing is being done today. And you're going to see the king of Assyria is not dead. I want you to go back in your Bibles to Isaiah 36, because we're going to look at this passage and I hope that you can put two and two together.

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• Sennacherib wanted Jerusalem to fall into his hand like a ripe plum. He had had success in capturing some of the other defensed cities of Judah. But since Jerusalem was the capital, it was the prize and he wanted the capital. Notice verse 1: "Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defensed cities of Judah, and took them." Now, Sennacherib right now is busy trying to conquer some other individuals and some other cities. And so what he does, he sends Rabshakeh with a rather large army to intimidate the inhabitants of Jerusalem and actually to get them to surrender without a fight.

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• Now in doing so, what he does is he applies psychological warfare. If you understand psychological warfare, you will understand what is happening in America today. Because we are being warred upon through psychological warfare—psyops, as they call it. So, I want you to notice how Rabshakeh now is trying to seduce King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem into surrendering to Sennacherib without a fight. What does he do first?

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• I want you to note he seeks to destroy their confidence in themselves, in others, and also in the one true and the living God. Look in verse 2, and we're going to read through verse 7 now. Watch—remember now, he's now seeking to destroy their confidence in themselves, others, and the one true and the living God. Verse 2: "And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?"

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• In other words, what are you trusting? How can you even think that you're going to be delivered from the king of Assyria? How can you even think that there's a possibility that you can succeed in fighting against Sennacherib? So, he says, "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" He said, "I say, sayest thou, but they are but vain words"—that is, if you're saying it. "I have counsel and strength for war. Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?" Notice what he said. You don't have any strength. You don't have any counsel. You're weak. You're anemic. You're helpless. Don't tell me that you're capable of fighting me. You're not. So he's destroying his confidence in himself. Now watch. Verse 6: "Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt;

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• whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him." Ah.

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• Now he says don't have any confidence in anybody else. King of Egypt's not going to help you. And in fact, if you lean upon him, he's going to hurt you. He's going to hurt you even more. So there's no help from the king of Egypt. Look in verse 7: "But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God: is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?"

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• Now here's what Rabshakeh is doing. He's saying, first of all, to Hezekiah, you can't win. Secondly, he's saying to Hezekiah, nobody's going to help you. And now he's saying, look, you can't even claim to trust in God, because look at all the altars that you've taken away. No one's going to help you. Not even God is going to help you. Now, it is true that Hezekiah had taken away all of those altars. However, every altar that Hezekiah took away was in violation of God's law. All of these altars that he took away were idolatrous altars that had been placed on the hilltops and on the mountains. God never commanded altars to be put on the hilltops and on the mountains. And so what Hezekiah did, he destroyed all of those idolatrous altars and he told the people, you can only worship at the one altar here in Jerusalem. Because that is the one that God ordained.

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• Now, I want you to note something. And I think this is really important. It's important to note that while the wicked may have a general concept of God, they do not have specific knowledge of God, His law, and His covenant. Thus Rabshakeh then mistakenly believed that Hezekiah's obedience to God was disobedience and that God would be displeased with him for destroying those idolatrous altars. And the fact is God was pleased with Hezekiah that he destroyed those altars.

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• So the very first thing he does is he comes up and he says, you can't win. You can't fight, you have no strength. You can't depend on anybody else, and even God is against you. So you might as well give it up right now.

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• Secondly, remember this is psychological warfare. In verses 8 through 9, Rabshakeh seeks to belittle and decry any martial ability that the people have. Verse 8: "Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?" Now, when he says, "now therefore give pledges," the word "pledges" there is to be understood as hostages.

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• The verb properly means to mix or to mingle, and then to exchange commodities by barter or traffic, and then to become surety for anyone, to exchange with them, to stand in one's place, like to pledge or to pledge one's life, or to give security of any kind. So what he's saying is this: you give us some hostages. We're going to deliver you 2,000 horses if you are able on your part to put riders on them. We'll give you the horses.

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• Now, let me tell you. You talk about psychological warfare. Here is what Rabshakeh was actually saying. You think you can fight? I'll bet you—I'll bet you—I will wager with you that if I were to give you 2,000 horses, you could not mount men on them. Or if you could mount men on them, they wouldn't have the knowledge and the horsemanship to fight against us. They could not turn away one captain of the least of my master's servants. Wow. He didn't think too much of their fighting ability.

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• And so he's decrying, he's mocking, and he's making fun of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He's saying, you're so feeble. You're so weak. If we furnish the horses, you couldn't do anything. You have to remember also, according to Deuteronomy 17, one of the things that the kings of Israel were forbidden to do was to multiply horses. So in one sense of the word, God had forbidden them to have a large standing army, especially an offensive one. Why?

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• Because their trust was to be in the Lord of hosts, the Lord of the armies. Their trust was to be in Him, and not in armaments or anything like that. So secondly, then, he's saying, look, you can't fight. Even if we give you something, you can't fight.

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• Now, do you understand that the American people have been fed the same line and have swallowed hook, line, and sinker? You've heard the old adage, "You can't fight city hall." You can't stop big government. They have all the big guns. They're too big, they're too powerful, and they're too many. That's what we're led to believe. Simply stated, the current mentality is this: It doesn't do you any good to try to fight against them. Doesn't do you any good to try to hold them within the bounds of the Constitution or within the bounds of the Bible. No. Why? Because to too many people, government has become God. It has become omnipotent. It has become all-powerful. It has become all-sovereign and therefore it is unaccountable. Such is absolutely nonsense. God is the only God. Government is not God. It never has been God and it never will be God. And it's psychological warfare when the government comes around and says you can't fight against us. You can't win. Give up. Let us control you.

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• Thirdly, Rabshakeh and Sennacherib erroneously claim divine authority for their actions and their attack on Jerusalem. Look, if you would, in verse 10. Rabshakeh says, "And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land and destroy it." Now, while it is undoubtedly true that God sent Assyria against Israel—and you'll read that in Isaiah 10—it is not true that He sent them against Jerusalem. God did not send Assyria against Jerusalem. He did send them against Israel, but not against Jerusalem. And the evidence that God did not send them against Jerusalem is that He intervened on behalf of Jerusalem and defended it and destroyed the Assyrian army.

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• So let me put this out very plainly: Simply because someone claims authority, or simply because someone claims divine authority, does not mean that they have it. I have a good friend that years ago had some t-shirts made, and on the front were just simply two words written very large: "Question Authority." Stop and think about that. Question authority. Just because someone claims to have authority does not mean that they have it. And just because someone has a little authority does not mean that they have authority to demand that you do certain things in certain areas when it exceeds their little authority. Obviously there's no such thing as the divine right of kings. When someone says that he's ruling by divine right and that God has put him on the throne to rule over everyone and subjugate everyone—no.

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• There is no king, there is no ruler, there is no government that can do as it pleases and escape the righteous judgment and accountability to God. Only God is king, only God is sovereign, only God is absolute. And here's what He said in Psalm 82 verses 6 and 7—you don't turn there—but God is speaking to the rulers and He said this: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." Yeah. You think you are God? Our God says I'll prove that you're not God because you will die like men. And so Sennacherib now is applying psychological warfare and he's claiming divine authority that God sent him to destroy Jerusalem when He did not.

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• Fourthly, I want you to notice: He seeks to intimidate, mortify, and horrify the populace through crude and vulgar expressions of that which his government intended to do to God's people. Look in verse 11: "Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand it: and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall. But Rabshakeh said, Hath my master sent me to thy master and to thee to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you? Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us."

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• "This city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria." Now, I want you to note what he did. He said, you know what's going to happen? If you don't submit, if you do not come out and surrender, you're going to be eating your own dung. You're going to be drinking your own urine. We're going to surround you. We will starve you out. You're talking about a bad experience. If you fight against us, if you make us, then you're in trouble. We're going to make it as hard upon you as we possibly can. If you will not take the easy way out, we're going to make it hard. You know, I have known individuals who've tried to fight an unjust charge in our judicial system.

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• And inevitably, the prosecutor will say something like this: "Well, if you don't cop a plea, we're going to throw the book at you." It doesn't matter whether you're innocent or not. We just want to get this over. You just plead to something. And if you don't, if you make us—if you make us work—we're going to throw the book at you. Just stop and think of all the horror stories that you have heard recently and that you have read about recently, where if you and I and the American people do not give up our liberties for security, how we're going to suffer. In other words, if we do not allow Homeland Security and the TSA and the BATF and a host of other governmental alphabet agencies to do as they please, and if we do not bend to their will and their way, then the terrorists are going to win and we're going to be slaughtered.

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• That's what they're telling us. That is psychological warfare. And all it is, is a means of dominion and control. So he comes up and says, if you make us fight, it's going to be bad for you. The wise thing to do is just surrender and submit and let's get this thing over with. Fifth—and here's the point that I really wanted to get to today—Sennacherib seeks to demonstrate his godhood. Listen carefully. Sennacherib seeks to demonstrate his godhood with his promises and his protection. Listen carefully.

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• Essentially, like all governmental rulers, he states, "You need me if you wish to live, love, prosper, and be happy." That's what he told these people. Not in those exact words, but look at it in verses 16 and 17: "Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me"—that is, surrender, submit, bring me a present. And look what he said: "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." Now, interestingly, Sennacherib says to the people of Judah, Jerusalem, "Surrender, come out." And then he says this: "And then you can eat every one of his own vine and every one of his own fig tree." In 2 Kings 18 verse 31, Sennacherib says exactly the same thing.

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• Now, if you know Scripture, if you know your Bible, you should immediately understand how blasphemous this statement is coming from Sennacherib. The very first time you read in the Bible about eating from your own vine and sitting under your own fig tree is found in 1 Kings chapter 4. It is expressive of the peace and prosperity during the reign of Solomon. I want you to hold Isaiah 36—I'm sorry, hold Isaiah 36—but go back in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 4. 1 Kings chapter 4.

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• And look, if you would, there beginning with verse 24. 1 Kings chapter 4 and verse 24. We're reading about Solomon now. Solomon in the Bible is a type of Christ. Notice verse 24: "For he"—that is, King Solomon—"had dominion over all the region on this side of the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side of the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him." Now watch: "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon."

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• Now this phrase, sitting under your own vine, under your own fig tree, denotes a happy, safe, quiet, full, and peaceable enjoyment of all outward blessings. It was not necessary to dwell in the fortified cities for fear of the enemies. During the reign of Solomon, which pictured the reign of Jesus Christ, there was peace and there was prosperity and there was safety and there was comfort and everyone was free to enjoy the fruit of his own labor and live wherever he wanted to live.

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• Out in the country it didn't matter. They were not fearful of the enemy's coming. Their security and their protection and their profit and their provision was from the Lord of hosts. He was blessing them. He was protecting them. And Solomon's reign here pictures the reign of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

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• Now, let me show you. Turn in your Bibles to the little book of Micah, a minor prophet, the little book of Micah, right before the book of Nahum, and of course, right after Jonah—Jonah, Micah, Nahum. I want you to look in Micah chapter 4, beginning there with verse 1. Micah 4 and verse 1. I told you that the reign of Solomon pictured and typified the reign of Christ the Messiah. Now look what it says. Micah 4, beginning there with verse 1.

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• "But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks."

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• "Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it." Note, if you would please, what Sennacherib said was very important. It was also very blasphemous. Sennacherib was saying to the people, "If you will surrender to me, if you will come out to me, if you make me your Lord and your God, I will take you into a land like yours and you'll be able to sit every man under his own vine and every one under his own fig tree and eat." Sennacherib's claim was a claim to be the Messiah. It was a claim to be the Anointed One.

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• In making such a claim, he was usurping the position and power of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ can provide for His people. Only Jesus Christ can protect His people. Only Jesus Christ can promote His people. And when government claims to be God, it is not only idolatrous, it is blasphemous. And all who make such promises are idolaters and blasphemers. Sennacherib said, "Just come out. Treat me like God and I'll treat you like you're God's people. Just surrender to me,

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• and you'll have peace and safety." Now, I want you to go back to Isaiah because I want you to see with your own eyes the attitude that God had toward what Sennacherib said. Of course, they come back to Hezekiah and tell him the words of Rabshakeh. Hezekiah now goes to the Lord in prayer and he also sends word to Isaiah to pray. But look in Isaiah 37 and verse 4. He sends Isaiah to pray, but look in verse 4. Here's what he says: "It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left." So, Hezekiah understood that Sennacherib was reproaching God when Sennacherib said, "You surrender to me and you can sit every man under his own vine and under his own fig tree." Well, look in verse 6: "And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall ye say unto your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me."

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• God counts it as blasphemy when government tries to be God and act like God. Skip down to verses 23 and 24. Here's what God says to Sennacherib: "Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of

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• his border, and the forest of his Carmel." Look what he said. You've reproached me. You've blasphemed me. And you've said by your own strength and by your own chariots, you've come up and you're going to conquer my people. Oh? Skip down to verse 28. Here's what God tells Sennacherib: "But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest." Now notice if you would, every passage that I've read says that it is a reproach to God, it is blasphemy, it is a rage against God, it is a tumult against God, and God said, "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. Since you're trying to act like God and play God and claim to be God, I'm going to put my hook in your nose.

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• I'm going to put my bridle in your lips and I'm going to bring you back exactly the way that you came. You're not going to pitch a mount up against Jerusalem." Skip down to verse 33: "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake." Now watch.

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• "Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." What did God say? "I'm going to put a hook in your nose. I'm going to put a bridle in your lips. I'm going to take you back and I'm going to show you that you are not God." And his own sons murdered him. Why? He's playing God. I only have two applications. Here they are. The first one is this: When we look around the world today, at the nations,

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• we have to discover and have to realize the king of Assyria is not dead. He is alive in most civil rulers that wish to deny God and play God themselves. We have to remember that the Lord Jesus Christ will not share His glory with another, especially with a false god. The Sennacheribs of this world will soon learn that they're not God. God will judge them. And just like Sennacherib, they'll end up being ridiculed and scoffed. Their vain attempt to play God will end very badly. And just like God said in Psalm 82, "Ye shall die like men." You think you're God? God said, "I'll show you that you're not God." I want you to stop and think of all of our civil rulers and politicians that are attempting to play God. May I suggest that you watch their final end, because God will destroy them and demonstrate very clearly they're not God.

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• The second application is this: We have to be very careful that we do not render unto man the praise and honor that belongs to God alone. He must receive all praise, all honor, all worship, and all glory. We're to be forever dependent upon Him. And we prove our dependence upon God as we trust Him and obey Him. He is our salvation. Let me put it to you very plainly: God is our salvation spiritually, physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, and if there's any other way of salvation or any other thing of salvation, He is that too. Salvation is in God alone. And when you look to man, and when you look to government, you're looking at the wrong source. God is God. Man is not God. Government is not God. We don't look to government for our provision or our protection. We look to God.

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• I thought the king of Assyria was dead. But he just moved to Washington, D.C. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we thank You for Your love and Your grace and Your mercy and Your Word and Your truth. And we know, Father—we know by Your grace and Your mercy—that government is not God. Thou and Thou alone art God. Beside Thee, there is none other. We bow our knees to the Lord Jesus Christ and we worship Thee. And Lord, when we get to eat under our own vine and under our own fig tree, it's because of Your blessings and Your protection. Help us, Father, to live for Thee. In Thy name we ask and pray. Amen.

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• Amen.

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• I thought the king of Assyria was dead. But he just moved to Washington, D.C. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy and your word and your truth. And we know, Father, we know by your grace and your mercy that government is not God. Thou and thou alone art God. Beside thee, there is none other. We bow our knees to the Lord Jesus Christ and we worship thee. And Lord, when we get to eat under our own vine and under our own fig tree, it's because of your blessings and your protection. Help us, Father, to live for thee. In thy name we ask and pray. Amen. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T17:52:02Z