The sermon, titled 'For My Servant David's Sake' by Scott Brown, focuses on Isaiah 37:33-38, discussing God's miraculous intervention to save Jerusalem from the Assyrian king Sennacherib. The speaker highlights this event as a 'mountain peak' in biblical history, representing God's faithfulness to His promises and His preservation of His people for His glory and for the sake of His servant David. The sermon emphasizes that God's actions are driven by His will to save and protect His chosen people, underscoring the themes of divine protection and covenantal faithfulness. It also draws parallels between the destruction of Sennacherib's army and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, affirming God's ultimate plan of redemption and the assurance that believers' worst fears will not come to pass. The sermon concludes by encouraging the congregation to recognize God's glory in all aspects of life and to find comfort in His unbreakable covenant and salvation.

Good morning. Let's read the word that the Lord will imprint on our hearts today. It is Isaiah chapter 37 verse 33 through the end. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mount against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come into this city, says the Lord.

For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake." Then the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185, 000 And when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses, all dead. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went away, returned home and remained at Nineveh. Now it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god, that his sons Adremolek and Shereezer struck him down with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat Then Esar hadden his son reigned in his place Let's pray By the God we come before you today We lay out our hearts as sinners. May we come before you in repentance, empty, and seeking to be filled with your Word, with your bread of life that you would give to us today. May you let this Word be imprinted on our hearts and may it change us forever.

Give Scott wisdom and knowledge that comes from You and may Your very words come out of His mouth to teach us and to take us to where You would want us to be. Convict us of our sins and rejuvenate us with the hope that is in Your love. Amen. If you've ever been up into a high mountain in a mountainous area and it just so happened that the clouds were below you, you were above the clouds looking out and out through the clouds are other mountain peaks jutting out of the clouds. It's an absolutely stunning experience to see something like that.

And I look at this passage of Scripture a little bit like that because across the pages of the Bible, there are scattered, you know, various mountain peaks that tower above. They stand massively to represent important matters in the history of redemption. And they stand above everything and yet underneath them, down below the clouds, is an enormous amount of activity that really has supported and defined those great mountain peaks. For example, the creation and the fall and the flood, the Tower of Babel, Abraham, Egypt, the promised land, David, Hezekiah, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Nehemiah, John the Baptist, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the crucifixion, the resurrection. All of these great mountain peaks point to other things that we find in Scripture.

And that one thing in this mountain peak and the destruction of Sennacherib's army points to the most wonderful thing of all. And so this morning we stand really at the foot of one of those mountain peaks to see the meaning of a great and marvelous act of God in history as he destroys an 185, 000 man army mysteriously overnight. And he does it with one of his angels. And this passage of scripture, of course, is important. I believe it is one of those mountain peaks or at least maybe one of the smaller mountain peaks but it's repeated three times in the Bible.

And this this story of the destruction of Sennacherib's Army is an astonishing moment in history to show you something that you must never forget about God and His plan. And that is that God has chosen a people and he will preserve them. He will keep his promises. And as Hezekiah was standing there with his people with a great threat against them, this passage, I think, stands in front of us in order to tell us that God will preserve his people, that your worst fear will not come to pass. And God here in this passage tells why he destroyed the army of Sennacherib, and it's for this purpose.

And so this event here, this remarkable event, is meant to build our faith so that we would trust in Him, so that we would know who we really are in the world, that we are God's people, that we are God's precious possession, that He's called us out by name, that He's preserving us, that He has made us a family of people in the world, that we're special people, we're very different people who think differently, live differently, walk differently, and we have a very, very different end. And this passage of Scripture describes the lengths to which God will go to try to tell His people just how special and precious they are and what he will do for them. And so this event here is meant to build our faith. And God uses this breathtaking incident of the death of the members of this army to prove things to his people. I believe that this passage is here to console the people of God.

That the people of God would see what God did at this moment of history and they would take it very personally. That they would see how good God is to preserve His people and how powerful He is. And as God is leading our church, you know, through His Word, He's laid this before us. And it's something that we dare not miss. He is holding before us an astonishing event in history that God designed to grab our attention so that we would see the meaning of it.

And so I pray that we would be able to see it. Now as you know we're in the historical section of Isaiah chapters 36 through 39 and during these chapters here there are three major events that are identified. There's the destruction of Sennacherib and his army which was actually prophesied several times, probably at least five times so far in Isaiah. And then in the coming chapter, there's Hezekiah's sickness, which also relates to this very same issue that we're dealing with here, because God gives Hezekiah 15 extra years of life for the exact same reason that he destroyed the army of Sennacherib. And He's going to teach us this thing again as we move into this disclosure of this terrible sickness that overcame Hezekiah and God gave him 15 more years of life and he does it for the very same reason that he killed Sennacherib's army and then finally There's a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

And so now also let's just recognize that in the flow of the literature here, we are in the midst of a letter of encouragement from Isaiah to Hezekiah. And the passage that we're in now finds us with the end of that letter of encouragement in verse 35. Do you see that? The letter of encouragement ends in 35 and then in 36 to the end is the fulfillment of the prophecy that went before because Isaiah's letter is a prophecy to Hezekiah to comfort him while the armies of Sennacherib are at the gates of the city. He gets this remarkable letter telling him what is going to happen.

But then the prophecy breaks at the end of verse 35 and in verse 36 is the fulfillment of the prophecy. So I hope this helps us get our coordinates about the passage. This is a true story that is meant to change us. It's a dramatic example of the zeal of the Lord of hosts and I pray that we'll see the zeal of the Lord for us. The point, there are many points here but one of them is that your worst nightmare is not going to happen Because God has associated Himself with His people, and He will preserve them by keeping His promises.

And how will He do it? This will happen because of the most powerful force in the universe. And that powerful force is God's will to save sinners. His will to name names of those he would redeem in his church. And this will of God to save is summarized in ten words that are in our text.

And I'll read them to you because they really form the whole essence of the message that is here. He does it for this reason, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. This is the will of God to save a people. So with that as an introduction, let's move into the text. Verse 33, you see this prophecy.

Remember, we're still in the prophecy as we find ourselves in verse 33. There's the failure of Sennacherib that is announced. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria He shall not come into the city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with the shield nor build a siege mound Against it and he begins with thus sayeth the Lord which is different than thus saith the king of Assyria, which we have encountered in particular in chapter 36. Now this would have been a remarkable moment in the life of Hezekiah. Imagine a gigantic army that has already destroyed all the cities of Judah is now outside of the city of Jerusalem and the leader of that army has not changed his mind.

He wants to come in and destroy everything. And then Hezekiah receives a prophecy from Isaiah. This letter, this letter, this most remarkably comforting letter to tell him something that is astonishing. Have you ever received a letter like that? A letter in which there was such news that it took off all the pressure.

It completely eliminated all the concern and the fear. It just completely wiped everything out that was concerning you. That was what this letter must have been like. You cannot miss the impact that this letter might have had upon Hezekiah receiving this letter. Essentially, this letter is saying, your greatest fear is not going to happen.

Your greatest fear is not going to happen because of God and his name and his promise to David. Now in these two verses there are five negations. He will not come in, there will be no arrows, there will be no shields, no siege mounds, and no entry. No, no, no, no. It's not going to happen.

Imagine the smile on that man's face. Imagine the skip in his gate as he went to go tell his wife about all this stuff that has just been prophesied. It would have been a very, very encouraging letter. I think we should take this letter very personally. That it really, it is a very encouraging letter for all of us.

Think of your most terrifying enemy. Hezekiah had one as well. And yet here we find this remarkable note of encouragement. You know, it must have been like that for the Romans when they read the words of the Apostle Paul when he said, "'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." When the Romans received that letter, they heard the word no many times. Not this, not that, not this, not that, not this, not that can separate you.

And Hezekiah receives a very, very similar letter and why your nightmare, your worst nightmare is not happening. Because God has associated Himself with his people and he will preserve them and he will keep all of his promises. And how will it happen? It'll happen by the most powerful force in the universe and that is the will of God to save and he does it for his own sake and for David's sake. And then we find in verse 34 a prophecy that Sennacherib will return to Nineveh by the way that he came the same he shall return and he shall not come into this city says the Lord.

So now there's the prophecy upon the eyes of Isaiah as he reads this letter that Sennacherib is going to go home. In other words, no arrows, no shields, no siege mounds, no nothing, and he's going to turn around and he's going to go home. And history reports that Sennacherib did return to Nineveh. He continued his boasting though. He didn't learn anything from the experience, from all we can tell.

And he continued to boast for the next 20 years. And we know that because his return to Babylon, or his return to Nineveh is well documented in ancient Near Eastern artifacts. And one of those is the Taylor Prism, this large prism, multi-sided prism that has writing on it that explains what happened. Here's what he wrote on the prism. He's speaking of himself.

Sinakarib, the great king, the mighty king, the king of the world, king of Assyria, king of the four quarters, the wise shepherd, favorite of all the great gods, guardian of right, lover of justice, who lends support, who comes to the aid of the destitute, who performs his pious acts, Perfect hero, mighty man, first among the princes." This is what he's saying about himself. I don't think he was listening to his wife that much. But he continued to boast. He says, as for Hezekiah the Judaite, who did not submit to Mayok, 46 of his strong walled cities as well as the small towns of their area, which were without number, by leveling with battering rams and bringing up siege engines, by attacking and storming on foot by mines and tunnels and breeches. I besieged and took them, two hundred and one hundred and fifty thousand people, great and small, male and female, horses, mules, asses, camels, cattle, sheep without number.

I brought away from them and counted the spoil. Hezekiah himself was like a caged bird, but I shut him in Jerusalem, his royal city." Well he went home and wrote all that stuff, but he did go home and he did continue his boasting. He didn't listen to the Lord. He just continued on. We should expect this to happen in this world.

Men will see the mighty hand of God and they'll hear the Word of God and they'll go home unchanged. You know this is going to happen today in every true church that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some people will go home unchanged. They will hear the words of God and it won't affect them at all. But imagine seeing your own army being destroyed and not even hearing.

Only the Spirit of God can open up a heart. And then at the end of verse 35, we see Isaiah's prophecy that he will defend the city. He says, for I will defend this city to save it. So he's going to defend the city. Now this city is the city of Jerusalem.

And God has inspired the writers of Scripture to mention this city, the city of Jerusalem, 767 times in the King James Version, 626 times in the Old Testament, 141 times in the New Testament. This indicates God's special care and attention upon Jerusalem. When you hear the word Jerusalem, it means many, many things. And God calls Jerusalem the city of God in Psalm 46, the city of the Lord in Isaiah 60, my holy mountain in Isaiah 11, the mountain of the Lord in Zechariah 8, the throne of the Lord in Jeremiah 3, the city of the great king in Psalm 48, the city of joy in Jeremiah 49, the city of praise in Jeremiah 49, the city of peace in Hebrews 7, Great among the nations in Lamentations 1. The perfection of beauty in Lamentations 2.

And so this is a great city. God is going to protect his city. This is code for I'm going to protect my people. I'm going to protect Jerusalem, my city, my city set on a hill, which is composed of my people. Because this whole passage is really a note of encouragement for how God is going to preserve His people.

And how your greatest nightmare is not going to happen and He will rescue you and He will do all His will for His own glory and for your salvation. So there's this protection. He says, I am going to defend this city. There's just something about God is going to defend his people. You know, last week in the news there was a report about an invisible force field around the earth.

You know, that the scientists have discovered an invisible shield surrounding the Earth that exists about 7200 miles outside the Earth. And there are rings around the Earth that forms the Earth's magnetic field, and the purpose of the ring is to block killer electrons from entering into the deeper earth's atmosphere. So that was in the news last week. But there's this perhaps some kind of protective field, a magnetic field. Well this is the same idea that we find here that God is going to defend and He is going to protect His city.

There's a supernatural protection around the people of God. Wherever you go, there's a force field. Nothing can touch you unless God would have him touch you. But nothing will bring about your greatest fear to be cast into hell, to experience eternal darkness and grief because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is going to preserve his people.

He says that he will save it. He will defend it and he will save it. This is, I believe, a picture of salvation. You know, Isaiah said that the difficulties of his people would be difficult and it would be like they would just come up to their neck but it would not overcome them. It's not that they wouldn't experience difficulty, but that their difficulty would not destroy them because He will save his people.

In Isaiah chapter 62 verse 6 you see this very same thing. For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest until her righteousness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp that burns. The Gentile shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory." This is the protection of God toward his people. Why? Because God has associated Himself with His people and He will preserve them.

He will keep His promises. Why? Because of His will to save. That is summarized in these words in the coming verse, for my own sake and my servant David's sake. And that brings us into the second half of verse 35, where we find this great statement, this central statement.

This is really the defining statement in the prophecy, for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. And this gives the answer, the definitive answer to why God destroyed 185, 000 Assyrians. You know, We've been talking about this for weeks. It was mentioned at the very beginning because this whole prophecy points to this event that points to another event, another high peak, all the things going on under the clouds point to this great peak. It's David.

And this is why God is is doing this thing with the Assyrian army. You know, why did God do it? This is the question that we should ask for everything we see in the Bible. Why? There's always a reason.

If you look at any event in history, any army that has ever marched, any political leader that's opened up his mouth, any nation, any city, everything points to something else. God has arranged history for that. History has one single purpose, and that is to display the love of God, to rescue a bride and to preserve that bride and to carry that bride to the very end. That is the whole message of the Bible. That's the whole message of history.

And you know, many of you young people are reading your history. Make sure you understand this, Hermeneutic, that every event points to the fact that God is preserving his church in the midst of a threatening and wicked and perverse generation and that he so loves his people that he will Make all of history such that your worst nightmare will not be experienced and you'll see heaven the glory. Now this is why God did this remarkable thing and He gives reasons here for it. He says that he is doing it for his own sake, for my own sake. God's zeal is for his own sake.

And God is doing everything he is doing for his own glory. Isaiah chapter 37, earlier on in this passage, points this out in verse 26. Did you not hear long ago how I made it from ancient times that I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should be for crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins. Therefore, the inhabitants had little power.

They were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field and the green herb, as the grass of the housetops, a grain blighted before it is grown. But I know your dwelling place, you're going out and you're coming in, and your rage against me. Because your rage against me and your tumult have come up to my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back the way that you came." He designed this long ago in order to proclaim the glory of His own glory. God does everything for His own sake.

Everything that is happening in your Life is for His sake. He refines His children for His own sake. You may have thought that these trials were really all about you. Well, they do affect you. But you are not the final purpose of your trials and your victories and your joys.

They really are designed to point to one greater thing and that is God's God's glory and there's always some greater good that God is pursuing in everything that's happening and that is his own glory and you need to think about all of your life that way what is going on in your life and what is that greater good that God is pursuing because he's pursuing his own glory and everything and whatever difficulty whatever trauma whatever fears whatever cares that you might have you have to recognize that God has placed them sovereignly in your life so that they would point to a greater glory. What is that greater glory? And if you can't understand that, you will never know how to endure the difficulties of this life that are here. In Isaiah 49, this same claim is made that everything happens because it glorifies God. Isaiah 48 Verse 9, for my name's sake I will defer my anger, and for my praise I will restrain it from you, so that I do not cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have tested you as in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake I will do it, for how should my name be profaned and I will not give my glory to another." Here he explicitly says He brings trials of refining fire upon His people for His own sake. And you thought it was all about you, and it isn't about you at all. This is why we sing, this is my Father's world.

It is about God's glory. You know, when you think about your job, it wasn't designed for you. It was designed for the glory of God. When you think about your marriage, it wasn't designed for your glory. Through the ups and downs, it was so that His love would be glorified.

When you think about your children, they were not designed for your glory, but through the joys and the sorrows and the victories and the failures, His fatherhood would be glorified. God is glorifying Himself in everything. You know, often our vision of our lives is, it falls so short of reality. And that God and everything that He is doing in our lives is to rescue us from our own glory. You know, this is why you can trace almost every single problem in your life to pride.

Because you're seeking your own glory. Why is it that we have difficulty in our marriages with our children? Why do we have difficulty in anything with our bosses? We seek our own glory. Why do you have a wife that's unsatisfied?

Her glory is greater in her mind than God's. Why do you have a husband who's falling short in his understanding of everything, because he's so obsessed with his own glory. Why is he so mad? Why is he so unfulfilled? Why is he so frustrated?

It's because he's obsessed with his own glory. And so we find that this happened. Sennacherib's army was destroyed in order to glorify God. He did it for his own sake. And then he also did it for the sake of David.

This is the second great reason that's given. For my servant David's sake. For my own sake and my servant David's sake. So this whole idea of David, who is David? Because God did this because of David.

Now in 2 Chronicles, Hezekiah is compared with David. Hezekiah is a son of David. The Word of God was given to David, and God made promises to David, and what happened with Sennacherib was part of God fulfilling his promises to David. That's the whole logic that we find here. And there are two, I believe that there are two issues here in this matter of David, and I'd like for us to review both of them so that we understand why he said, and for my servant David's sake.

It means two things. The first reason that God destroyed Sennacherib's army the way he did was for the sake of proving the reliability of God's promises to David. That's the first reason that David will prevail, that the kingdom of man will fall down, but the kingdom of Jesus Christ will prevail. So here Isaiah is reading this very encouraging letter and telling him that his promises to David will be preserved. Hezekiah would be very well aware of what that was all about.

Hezekiah knew he was a son of David. His father and his grandfather, they all are in the line of David. And so he understood this. Now there are three texts of Scripture I would like for us to actually turn to in order to explain this. And the first is 2 Samuel chapter 7.

And I'd like your eyes to find verse 12. 2 Samuel 7 verse 12. And here we find the significance of the promise of David and why Isaiah would say that the Assyrian army was destroyed for David's sake and here it is. This is the promise of God to David verse 12 second Samuel 7. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body.

And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever I will be his father and he shall be my son So this is a promise to David. But it's also conditional. Do you see that in the next verse? I mean, in the middle of verse 14.

If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men." And this is the exact situation that the children of Judah are finding themselves in now. God has chastised them. But, verse 15, But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed before you. And your house and your kingdom will be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." And here, the destruction of Sennacherib's army is to prove God's faithfulness to David, that there are promises to David, but when there's rebellion there will be chastisements, that God will discipline His children and then they will turn.

But what's holding it all up? It's this promise of God. It's not their righteousness that holds it up. It's His promise. It's His covenant made to David that holds it up.

This is the basis of your salvation if you believe in Jesus Christ. It's not your righteousness. It's God's covenant made to David and his fulfillment in Jesus Christ, in his shed blood on the cross for your sins. It is His covenant in His blood that makes the promise stick. And then also to Isaiah 53 verse 3, turn to Isaiah 53.

Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David. Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander of the people. So here again is this idea of the covenant made to David. Here he calls it the sure mercies of David.

Hezekiah saw the death of Sennacherib's army because of the sure mercies of David. That's why it happened. It's not just a remarkable moment in history. It is so remarkable. It's beyond astonishing.

You know, I was talking to one of the young men who did the Tuesday morning teaching. I said, as you're teaching us about this passage, don't get lost in the fact that 185, 000 people died. That's not the point of the story. It is an element of the story that points to the point of the story. And the point of the story happens to be the sure mercies of David, that your salvation doesn't depend upon you, it depends upon God.

It's relying upon His covenant and His covenant alone, not your own righteousness. This is why it's such a comforting message here. And I hope it's comforting to us as a church. You look at yourself and your failures and the needs that you have and your pride, recognize, recognize the mercy of God, the sure mercies of David. Sennacherib's army was destroyed in order to encourage you, but there's an everlasting covenant.

And God is going to destroy your enemies, and your worst nightmare is not going to happen. And the third passage is in Psalm 132. Find verse 10. Well, let's begin at verse 8, actually. Arise, O Lord, to your resting place.

We're in Psalm 132 verse 8. Arise, O Lord, to your resting place, you in the ark of your strength. Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy." So there's this picture of the people of God shouting for joy. It's such a happy moment. Why?

For your servant David's sake. This exact phrase that Isaiah used, he took from Psalm 132. Isaiah is quoting Psalm 132. For your servant David's sake, do not turn away the face of your anointed. The Lord has sworn in truth to David.

He will not turn from it. I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. If your sons will keep my covenant and my testimony, which I shall teach them, The sons also shall sit on your throne forevermore. The Lord, for the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place.

This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation.

And her saints shall shout for joy. There I will make the horn of David grow. I will prepare a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame. But upon himself his crown shall flourish." These are the sure mercies of David.

I know there are people in this room who have been named after David. This is what you have been named after. The sure mercies of David. God's unbreakable covenant. God's salvation by grace alone.

By a covenant not by works, but a covenant of grace and a people who've been preserved, a people who are connected with Him, a people that are so connected with him that he sees them as his own and he saves them, he protects them, he protects them their whole life long because he's made a covenant with them. This is why this is an encouraging letter and it wasn't just encouraging to Hezekiah, it should be so encouraging to us. Now there's a second meaning here that's intertwined with this first. The second meaning and the reason God destroyed Sennacherib's army is to declare the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Absolutely, that's true.

This happened to Sennacherib to foretell a greater event, a greater event called the resurrection of Jesus Christ. To prove this, turn to Acts chapter 13. Paul gives a speech in Acts chapter 13 where we see with clarity that the promise to David was ultimately fulfilled in the resurrection and the reign of Jesus Christ. When you hear the word David, think resurrection, think glory, think heaven. Yes, David was a man.

He was an imperfect man. But he pointed to something greater in the same way that all believers, though imperfect, though they have names, they point to a greater name, to a greater glory. Begin in verse 15. After reading the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And then in verse 16, Paul stands up and he says on, he motions with his hand and he gives a speech, and he gives a historical speech, by the way.

In verse 17, he first of all makes a stop on salvation from slavery in Egypt, this deliverance from bondage, And then he speaks of the era of the judges in verse 20. And then in verse 21, he speaks of the times of the kings. And he says, and afterward they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin for forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king." And then in verse 23 it says, "...from this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus. And then he speaks of John the Baptist after he speaks of the kings and David.

And then he speaks of Christ in verse 29, and this is where I want us to read. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning them, they took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb. But God raised him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are his witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings that promise which was made to the fathers.

God has fulfilled this for their children in that He has raised up Jesus. So, Sennacherib's army was destroyed in order to foretell the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God saved His people in the days of Hezekiah. He is going to save his people through the resurrection. That's the logic.

And he goes on. And that he raised him from the dead, verse 34, No more to return to corruption. He has thus spoken, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Therefore, he also says in another Psalm, you will not allow your Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep and was buried with his fathers and saw corruption.

But he whom God raised up saw no corruption." So there you have it. This is why the army was destroyed. For these two reasons. In order to proclaim God's faithfulness to his promise to David and to proclaim the power of the resurrection. And David will destroy the enemies of God.

Sinakrev destroys 46 cities, but he's not allowed to destroy Jerusalem. He spared the city. God did because of his promise to David. This is the promise in Jesus Christ. And that's why He said, I will defend this city.

There are other places you can stop to see these things. You can go to Psalm 89, verse 29. You can go to many places to see this promise of David. But here's where I want us to stop, just on this point, before we go to the next idea here. And that is that this is about the resurrection.

This is what Job prophesied when he said, I know that my Redeemer lives and He shall stand at the last day on the earth. And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God." It was prophesying 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, but now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection from the dead. For as an Adam all die, even so, in Christ all shall be made alive." And in verse 51, in 1st Corinthians 15, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in the moment, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed, for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." This is an exact picture of what happened with Sennacherib. His troops died and they rotted there on the ground and the people of God were saved through the sure mercies of David. And then after this prophecy, then there's a historical fulfillment. So there's a break in the prophecy. Now the letter is over.

Letter done. And now we see the fulfillment of it in verses 36 through 38. So there's a shift in language. It has been written for the past, now it, or for the future, and now it is written in the past tense, the thing has already happened. Verse 36, this astonishing moment.

Then the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 185, 000. And when the people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses, all dead." So here we have the most astonishing military event in history. It's described in one sentence of understatement. Unbelievable. The parallel passages in 2 Kings 19.

You know, Lord Byron wrote a poem called The Destruction of Sennacherib with the angel killing this army and he has this rhythmic style, this poem that moves like, you know, was the night before Christmas and all through the house. Like that, I'll read it. The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, and his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold. And the sheen of their spheres was like stars in the sea when the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green, that host with their banners at sunset were seen.

Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown. For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed, As the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, and their hearts but once heaved and forever grew still." That's the dramatic moment. What an amazing moment. Mysteriously in the night. Isaiah had been prophesying about this.

Read it in Isaiah 10, 33 and 34. It's all there. And how did they die? Josephus says it was a disease. Herodotus, the great historian of the ancient Near East, says that there was a plague and field mice gnawed through the quivers and the bow strings and the shield straps of the soldiers making them suddenly vulnerable to their enemies.

Well, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says an angel killed them. That's what happened. So you can interpret Herodotus through the Word of God. It was an angel.

You know, In the current season of Christmas, most people like to think of angels as having wings. Most of them are fat little babies, pink, white, you know, sweet and cute. Guess what? That's not exactly the kind of angel we have here. The word, angelos, messenger in the New Testament, the word in the Old Testament, malak, messenger, ambassador.

The question is, who was this angel? Was this a Christophany? Some commentators regard this as a Christophany, where Christ was appearing in his pre-incarnate state. Others, this was an angel sent from God. This terminology is often referred to as the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity.

I'm not sure. It was an angel that came from God. That's what it was. Whether it was the Lord Jesus Christ or not, it was definitely an angel that was fulfilling the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tend to think that this was the Lord Jesus that came that night.

But it's a very interesting discussion. Angels were mentioned all over the Bible. It's a complex discussion, and analyzing the language can be difficult. But the killing was done by the angel of the Lord. And this is a manifestation of God that's almost impossible for human senses to really understand that God would come and do this.

Jesus Christ, as a result of His will, can stop your breathing in an instant. He can stop everyone's breathing in an instant around you. Everyone. This is the power of Jesus Christ. We need to believe in the real Jesus.

You know, There's often this belief in the Jesus that makes you successful, the Jesus who's your life coach, the Jesus that helps you pass your test, the Jesus that makes you likable, the Jesus that fixes your marriage. But here we have the will of the Lord Jesus Christ either expressed through an angel or by himself who is killing thousands and thousands. In Revelation he has a sword coming out of his mouth, He has a voice like the sound of many waters. You know, every knee will bow. He's the ruler of the kings of the earth.

This is Jesus Christ. And he kills this army. You know, Wesley's hymn, gentle Jesus, meek and mild. I don't think he was there on that day. This is a powerful, mighty God.

And then the flight of Sennacherib, after this army falls to the ground, Verse 37, so Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, departed and went away, returned home and remained at Nineveh. He went home and he stayed home. Interesting, God didn't kill Sennacherib that night. He killed his army, but he didn't kill Sennacherib. Isn't that amazing?

Why? It says in 2 Chronicles 32 that he fled shame-faced. And you know, archaeology is the benefactor of the Bible. Biblical archaeology confirms all this. Sennacherib's life in Nineveh is well-documented.

He erected temples. He engraved stones, put them on walls to leave a record behind. He did go home. And then, in verse 38, we see his worship. Now, it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisrock his god.

Nisrock is derived from a Hebrew word given to a plank of wood and tradition says that there was a plank of wood from Noah's ark that Sennacherib worshiped as an idol in the temple of Nisrock. Whether that's true, the Bible doesn't say. Nisrock was a demonic idol. He was an eagle-headed human figure and was the most prominent of the gods in ancient Assyria. If you go to the British Museum, you can see this God all over the place in reliefs and various other representations.

He's worshiping. Interesting, you know, you have two men. Two men who worship. Two men who go into a very different temple, very different things happen. And so he's murdered at the end of verse 38.

His sons, Adramalek and Sherezer, struck him down with a sword and they escaped into the land of Ararat. He was assassinated in 681 BC, 20 years after his army fell to the ground. Amazingly, There are Syrian tablets that record the very same thing. Hezekiah receives gifts of honor. Sennacherib goes back to Nineveh and he's finally killed.

While he's there, his pride continues to swell, unabated. He goes back home and he continues boasting about himself. His pride continued to swell, but no matter how great it would swell, God was in the shadows timing his destruction. He was storing up wrath for the day of destruction. The wicked mind always thinks that he can go away and keep on, but God is there.

He's the hound of heaven. He's not far away. He's orchestrating everything. And while Sennacherib's pride continues to swell, so does the wrath of God. It grew and it grew and it grew and so at the same time the wrath of God grew as well.

This is always the end of those who run from confronting their pride. You know, really, the reason that anyone is ever saved is they recognize their pride. They recognize that they've been saying, my will be done. They recognize that they're proud and They think that they can save themselves by their great personality and their wonderful gifts and how well they've been able to make their way in the world or how righteous or how scholarly, biblically, they've become. They know so much and they can do so much and they've served so much.

This is pride. The first step in salvation is the destruction of pride. Where you say, oh Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. That did not happen to Sennacherib. And then Sennacherib was replaced.

We read it in verse 38. Then Esar had in his son, reigned in his place. You remember the prophecy of Isaiah back in Isaiah 33, 1. Woe to you who plunder, who have not been plundered. He met his end.

Well, OK, so that's the story. What a story. Let's run to some applications here. This narrative points to something we need to really understand, and that is that we're God's people, that God has chosen his people and he's delighted to bequeath the sure mercies of David upon his people and because of that He preserves us. Because He made a covenant with us, He will fulfill it, and He will preserve us, His people.

And we are His people. And that means, I mean, our presence in this world matters. And the way that we carry ourselves in this world matters. And whether we really understand the sure mercies of David or not will determine how we carry ourselves in this world. Whether we carry ourselves as humble yet confident in God, full of His Word, faithful, obedient to Him, it matters who we are in the world.

God has made us a people. And this story is about the preservation of His people because he's connected with his people. God loves his people. He loves Jerusalem and he is going to take care of Jerusalem. But at the same time, we are his people.

We are present in the world. We are on a particular watch now. We have a job to do. We are on his watch here. We are a particular people.

We're connected with him. We live differently. We think differently. But in the background of that are the sure mercies of David. But how do we live in the world?

And we have a presence in this world, in this community, as Christians. You know, I had a remarkable opportunity two nights ago to ride around Tommy Vastel's beat in downtown Raleigh in the middle of the night. And I saw things I hadn't seen in a long, long, long, long time. And I've never seen more young girls in their 20s drunk in my whole life. He said that the drunk girls outnumber the boys two to one in downtown.

He just drove me around all the bars, all the places. Tommy's been working downtown his whole life. He knows every corner of it. His job is to make sure that there's a presence in downtown so that it doesn't burst into flames and come unglued. That's his job.

He doesn't do it. He has, and he makes sure that there are men in every place where anything can crop up. And it's the bars and some of the other places around there. And so he's telling me about how important the presence, their presence is. He says, if you withdraw the presence, then everything comes unglued.

So what they do, what his job is to make sure is that everybody knows that they're there. They're driving around, they're walking around, he's constantly putting people here and there so that they'll, so that there's presence. Because when they're there, evil is constrained. And I view the people of God somewhat like that. That we are a presence.

We are the people of God. He has named us by name. He's called us according to His purpose. He's placed us here in this world to preach his glorious gospel, to live according to the power of the promises of the sure mercies of David, to think differently, to live differently, to talk differently, to proclaim the glory of Jesus Christ and to recognize his glory for everything. We're placed in this world for that.

And all around us, death and destruction is taking place, but we are a presence in the world. This whole matter of The sure mercies of David is all connected to the people of God, that there are a people of God in the world and God will protect them. Here's what I just want to say. Let's be a fearless, happy people in this world and let's be the presence that we ought to be. God has designed that we would constrain evil in the realm that we have.

You think about the power of presence. You know, I kept wondering, where are these young women's fathers? They're not there. What would they be like if their fathers were there? If their fathers walked beside them?

What would it be different? Very different. Presence matters. As we go into the new year, we're gonna have prayer week in the second week of January. We're going to focus prayer week on this whole matter of our presence in the community here.

Our work of evangelism, our love for the lost, our patience with those who don't know Christ. We are God's people in the world. Why did God destroy the army of Sennacherib to say that God's people are safe? God will protect His people. In this story, the people of God are not the losers.

And they're not the losers because of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the force field that God has around his own people. God is going to win this battle. And God is going to defend his people. And God is going to destroy all those who rage against him. It's interesting, you know, the Assyrians invented crucifixion.

The Assyrians invented crucifixion. And it was used to be raised up as a standard of their own destruction. I think we should also recognize God delivers those who don't deserve to be delivered. God delivered a king who put his trust in princes. You know, God had already promised that he would defeat the Assyrians.

He said, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. But his faith seemed to be weak at times. But God is a God of grace toward those whose hearts are truly turned toward him. And Hezekiah did trust Huach in Egypt and then later in Babylon. But his heart was toward the Lord.

God delivers those who do not deserve to be delivered. Another application is something I think that should help us with our thinking about everything and that is that God's glory is uppermost in his affections. That God is putting his glory on display in so many different ways throughout history. And here is another one of those occasions. I think we should also be comforted.

You know when we get to Isaiah 40, Comfort, yes comfort my people says your God, speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. This happened to Sinakarou for comfort, for the comfort of the people of God, to understand their iniquities, to understand their warfare and who it is who saves them. This is such a passage of comfort. Where is your comfort? Is it in the irrevocable promises of God?

Or is it in the ways of man? All of this happened because God has associated Himself with His people and He will preserve them by keeping His promises, and your greatest fear will not come to pass. Let's pray. Your mercies so sure, Your power unquenchable, Your love unbreakable, Your covenant forever. Oh Lord we praise you for your great salvation.

Amen.