Isaiah 38:1-20 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Under the Sun Summer Worship Series Sunday, July 19, 2020 “The Shadow of the Sun Moves Back”
We have become incredibly accustomed to it. Each day, the sun rises in the east, traces a path across the sky, and sets in the west. The sun as we witness it is repetitive, consistent, precise, and even measurable. For centuries, people have measured the movement of the sun and recorded observations. They have even created structures and objects that demonstrate those measurements and indicate the days and seasons and years. You are perhaps familiar with the concept of a sundial, that a shadow can be tracked in such a way that it can give a quite precise measurement of the time of day. So it is quite unusual and also quite significant when something different happens, when those measurements are thrown into confusion. And that’s exactly what happened in the account from our sermon text today, the account of Hezekiah’s illness and recovery from Isaiah 38. The shadow that was cast on the steps of Ahaz reversed course and moved back ten steps. Some Bible commentators and interpreters have understood the steps of Ahaz to actually be an instrument, a sundial, that was made for the very purpose of marking time. Others have understood it to be a staircase built for the purpose of allowing people to move up or down as needed, which also happened to serve the purpose of indicating the passing of time by the shadow that moved down the stairway. No matter what, it was a miraculous moment when the shadow shifted and moved in the way opposite of what was expected. While it fits our sun theme, the shadow from this account is not really the focus. The focus is what happens in the life of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a king of Judah, the southern part of the divided Kingdom of Israel. Hezekiah was a faithful king. He believed God’s Word and had worked to restore and repair the Temple and the worship of the Lord that took place there. But Hezekiah became sick. In fact, he was dying. And in case he was uncertain about it, God sent the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah to tell him. Hezekiah was to get his house in order because he was going to die. He was not going to survive his illness. Hezekiah would have been about 39 years old at the time. While Hezekiah was a faithful king, he was not a perfect man. We know this because no man is a perfect man, except for Jesus Christ himself. No person born, going all the way back to Adam and Eve, has been perfect. Sinful parents conceive and give birth to sinful children, and both the parents and the children ultimately die. This is the wages of sin, that there comes an end to this existence. Whether we are ready for it or not, whether we have advance warning or not, whether we have made preparations or not, sinful people die. No matter how hard we try to stop one cause of death, we certainly cannot stop them all. Hezekiah would later admit, “I thought that, only halfway through my life, I was entering into the gates of death, deprived of the remaining years of my life. I thought, I will not see the Lord— the Lord in the land of the living. I will no longer see anyone among the inhabitants of the world.” When we don’t receive warning, when things are going just fine for us, we sometimes forget about the fact that death is a constant threat. It is all too easy to get caught up in our earthly lives. We can all too easily focus on accumulating wealth or power or fame or pleasure, or just trying to enjoy our circumstances as they are. We so often neglect the lesson that Solomon taught us as we heard last week, that everything in this life passes away like a vapor. Maybe for some dealing with a pandemic has at least brought into focus the reality that we all should know: the end of my life could come at any moment, no matter how old or young I am. Sometimes, when we do remember, we try to stop it. We look for the best doctors. We worry about germs and sanitation. We avoid as many dangers as we possibly can. And I am not suggesting that in and of themselves any of these actions are wrong, but it is important to realize that they are temporary. Even with the best doctors, the cleanest hands, and the most sheltering away, we can’t stop death. But we know someone who can. Hezekiah knew the Lord. He knew the true God, and he knew that he could turn to him in prayer, even in the face of God’s own prophecy of his impending death. Hezekiah prayed.
Hezekiah wept. He mentioned the good things that God had allowed him to do. Was Hezekiah hoping that he could bargain with God on the basis of his good works? Perhaps. He wouldn’t be the first or the last human being to do so. Maybe, however, he was worried about what would become of God’s people if they lost their faithful king. Perhaps he was rightly concerned that the reforms that he had instituted could be reversed by a king that did not follow God, a king like some who had come before Hezekiah. We know what Scripture tells us. Hezekiah wept and prayed, and God heard. God told Isaiah to turn around and go back to Hezekiah with a new message. God had heard his prayer. He would recover from this illness and live another fifteen years. God in his rich grace heard Hezekiah’s prayer and gave him what he had asked for. This “Under the Sun” lesson is most definitely a lesson about prayer. When we apply the lesson to our own lives, it doesn’t mean that we should pray that God would allow us to live longer and we will live longer. It doesn’t give us exact parameters for our prayers. Instead, it reinforces what God teaches us throughout Scripture: that he hears us when we pray. This is God, the true God, who sent his own Son to die for the sins of the world and in so doing removed every barrier to our prayers. You may recall that at the time of Jesus’ death on the cross, the thick temple curtain was split apart, visual evidence that God had fixed the separation between him and people. God in Jesus had reconciled the world to himself. And God through Jesus listens to prayer. And this wasn’t only true after Jesus lived and died. Instead, because of the death of Jesus, this has been true for everyone who believes in him as Savior, whether they lived before he did or since. Jesus himself instructs us to pray and not lose heart, to keep on bringing our requests before God, no matter how long it may take. He doesn’t want us to do that because we need to annoy God into helping us like an unfair judge. He says this because God loves to listen to the prayers of his people. He loves to help them in their time of need. He loves that their hearts are inclined to him to know and understand that only he can truly and ultimately help them. God helped Hezekiah. He promised him another fifteen years, and he backed it up with a sign. This was the shadow backing up on the steps of Ahaz by ten steps. How did it happen? God made it happen. Saying anything beyond that is speculation on our parts. God who created light and the sun and the earth changed the rules about how these things interact for a particular time. God demonstrated that he has the power to do anything, even extend the life of his follower. And that sign is recorded in these verses so that it can serve as a sign for us just as it did for Hezekiah. We don’t have a prophet of God to give us updates on his plans. We don’t necessarily get a sign when we might want one. We don’t always know whether our prayers will be answered the way that we want them to be answered or if God will do something even greater for us. But we can be absolutely certain of this: not only does God hear our prayers, not only does he know our suffering, but he also has the power to respond and the wisdom to do what is best for us. So let us pray. Let us go to God frequently, regularly, repeatedly with our cares and concerns. Let’s not think that anything is too small for our God to be concerned about it, because he is concerned about us. Let’s not think that anything is too big for us to request of him, because he is more powerful than anything we might ask or even imagine. Let’s not give up or lose heart even when it seems that God’s answers are far off, because he invites us to pray and promises to hear and answer. Let’s pray for ourselves and pray for others. And let’s use the steady and consistent behavior of the sun, marking days and seasons and years, to remind us that God is steady and consistent in his love for us and in his interest in hearing and answering our prayers. He proved it once by interrupting the steady and consistent behavior of the sun’s shadow, and he still has the power to do that and much more in our lives today.
The Text: Isaiah 38:1–20 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was dying. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says. Give instructions to your household, because you are going to die. You will not survive.” So Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3 He said, “Please remember, Lord, how I have walked before you in truth and with my whole heart. I have done what is good in your eyes.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. 2
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah. 5 Go back and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: “I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Now then, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. 7 This will be the sign from the Lord to you. The Lord will do what he has promised. 8 Watch! I will make the shadow of the setting sun that has moved down the stairway of Ahaz move back, ten steps higher on the staircase.” 4
Then the sun’s shadow moved backwards, ten steps higher on the stairway that it had just descended. 9
A poem written by Hezekiah king of Judah, after his illness and recovery.
I thought that, only halfway through my life, I was entering into the gates of death, deprived of the remaining years of my life. 11 I thought, I will not see the Lord— the Lord in the land of the living. I will no longer see anyone among the inhabitants of the world. 12 My dwelling place is being pulled down. It is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver. He is cutting me off from the loom. From day until night, you make an end of me. 13 I pondered this until the morning. He will break all my bones like a lion! From day until night, you make an end of me. 14 I chirp weakly like a swift or a swallow. I mourn like a dove. My eyes are tired from looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security. 15 What can I say? He has spoken to me, and he is the one to act. I will march slowly throughout all my years, because my heart is bitter. 16 Lord, people live because you give them life. My spirit lives through this. Restore me, and let me live. 17 The bitter things I experienced were for my benefit. Your love has preserved my life from the pit of destruction, for you have thrown all my sins behind your back. 18 The grave cannot thank you. Death cannot praise you. Those who go down into the pit cannot trust your faithfulness. 19 The living one, the living one, he praises you, as I do today. A father tells his children about your faithfulness. 20 The Lord will save me, so we will sing songs with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the House of the Lord. 10