https://youtu.be/PuJxJDbAdIg
Exodus 20:2-5; "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol (covid), or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Gal 5:1; NET For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.
Psalm 119:45;I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts.
John 8:31-32; NET Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, "If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
Gal 5:13 NET For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.
1Peter 2:16; Live as free people, not using your freedom as a pretext for evil (destroying liberty), but as God's slaves.
Jer 17:5; Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
Psalm 91:1-9; (NET) 1 As for you, the one who lives in the shelter of the sovereign One, and resides in the protective shadow of the mighty king -
2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold, my God in whom I trust
3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter and from the destructive plague.
4 He will shelter you with his wings; you will find safety under his wings. His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall.
5 You need not fear the terrors of the night, the arrow that flies by day,
6 the plague that comes in the darkness, or the disease that comes at noon.
7 Though a thousand may fall beside you, and a multitude on your right side, it will not reach you.
8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes - you will see the wicked paid back.
9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord, my shelter, the sovereign One.
Eccles 8:8; No man has authority to restrain the wind, or authority over the day of their death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and evil cannot deliver evil people.
Psa 119:165; KJV Those who love your Word of truth have peace of mind and nothing can offend them.
We are presently in a study of Jonah, Nineveh and Nemesis and now Israel Judah Assyria and Nemesis where we see God's policy of grace before judgment. God always provides the opportunity for repentance before he executes judgment.
Some principles we can derive from of our brief study of Jonah, Nineveh, Israel, Judah, Assyria and Nemesis is that anyone can repent, because God extends His mercy even to the merciless and help to the helpless but judgment is always waiting in the wings because ultimately the truth wins because God is truth and He cannot deny himself. 2Cor 13:8; John 17:17; 2Tim 2:13;
Last time we were noting Rabshakeh's propaganda in Isaiah 36:18-20; 'Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations we have fought delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
v19 'Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim ? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?
v20 'Who among all the gods of these countries have delivered their land from my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem from my hands?'
The error in Rabshakeh's rationale is that he arrogantly assumes that the God of Israel is as much a myth as the idols that were worshipped by the heathen nations that the Assyrian army had conquered. But he was completely wrong. He did not realize that he was about to run up against the Real Thing.
He was using the failure of others to convince his audience that is on the wall that they were in the same category as the other nations even though they weren't. His false allegation was that if other nations have fallen to Assyria's army then you will also.
The difference, however, was rebound and resumption of the spiritual life of the dispensation in which the client nation functions and this was the case for the Jews in 701BC. The people on the wall obeyed Hezekiah and did not respond.
Isaiah 36:21; ... They were silent and did not respond because the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him."
People with doctrine in their souls cannot be brainwashed because they are not susceptible to propaganda and disinformation. A large inventory of Bible doctrine circulating in the stream of consciousness provides the discernment necessary to override any disinformation no matter how subtle.
The Rabshakeh views his previous victories not only as the defeat of nations but also of their gods. But the defeated "gods" were false god and idols made of wood and stone.
Nevertheless, when observed from the Rabshakeh's viewpoint, his propaganda was masterfully delivered. Rahshakah's message was neutralized by his inability to understand the theology of Judaism and the doctrinal truth that God uses to manage history.
He did an excellent job of propagandizing the citizens of Judah with disinformation but because of their loyalty to Hezekiah's leadership and God's Word of truth they did not allow themselves to be brainwashed.
We understand that "adversity is what circumstances do to you and stress is what you do to yourself." A corollary to that is "propaganda is what they do to you but brainwashing is what you do to yourself."
We have this same kind of propaganda in our country today. Those who worship idols are deceived and those who worship the Word of God are not deceived. This is why there is such division in our country at this time. The divergent response to the China virus reveals this.
Regardless of his failure in this situation, we must recognize that Rabshakeh's attempt to deceive the Jewish people was a masterful application of propaganda and disinformation. Rabshakeh concludes his address misinformation that is designed to propagandize and deceive the diplomats, the people of Judah, and ultimately Hezekiah into surrender.
But the people "were silent and answered him not a word; because the king's commandment was, 'Do not answer him.'" We have noted that Rabshakeh's speech was laced with propaganda and we have also noted the site of his discourse as the "conduit of the upper pool on the highway on the fuller's field."
Rabshakeh had chosen this location because he wanted to remind the people that during the reign of Hezekiah's father Ahaz, Isaiah had delivered his prophecy that the Assyrians would invade Judah from this location. Isa 7:3;
Rabshakeh had done his research well and thought that by positioning himself in this location the people would recognize that Isaiah's prophecy had come true but he missed the fact that Isaiah never prophesied the fall of Judah, only the fact that Judah would be invaded.
Rahshakeh's failure results from his arrogant assumption that the invasion infers defeat so tells the people that they are going to be destroyed if they don't surrender willingly. When truth is conflated with a lie you have a lie. This is what deceivers do.
Invasion is the 4th cycle of discipline not the 5th cycle of discipline so there is still time to repent and the Jews did. Hezekiah's representatives tear their clothes and put on sack cloth and take the message to Hezekiah who also tears his clothes and puts on sack cloth
Isa 36:22; (NET) Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace supervisor, accompanied by Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph, the secretary, went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn in grief and reported to him what the chief adviser had said.
This is the same response that we saw in Nineveh in response to Jonah's prophesy. Jonah 3;5-9; God is immutable (Heb 13:8;) this means God always responds to repentance in the same way. Psa 51:17; James 1:18; 1John 1:9;
God paused the cycles of discipline for the Assyrians (Jonah 3:10;) because they repented. He did not pause the cycles of discipline for the Northern Kingdom of Israel because they did not repent. (2Kings 17:6;)
We will see that He pauses the cycles of discipline for Judah because God is always faithful. This is the kind of repentance that needs to occur in client nation USA if the advance in the cycles of discipline that is occurring in our nation is going to be paused. 2Chron 7:14; Isa 66:2b; 1Pet 5:5-7;
Isa 37:1; NET When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went to the Lord's temple.
Hezekiah demonstrates his complete trust and dependence on God by going into the temple, he shows that the nation could do nothing to deal with the Assyrians. Their destiny was completely up to God. He also sent his top leaders Eliakim and Shebna along with the leading priests to tell Isaiah what had happened.
Isa 37:2-3; (NET) Eliakim the palace supervisor, Shebna the scribe, and the leading priests, clothed in sackcloth, sent this message to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz:
3 "This is what Hezekiah says: 'This is a day of distress, insults, and humiliation, as when a baby is ready to leave the birth canal, but the mother lacks the strength to push it through.
The men informed Isaiah of the dire situation, asked for a word from the Lord to rebuke the Assyrians, and then asked the prophet to pray for them. Hezekiah was thereby acknowledging that the Lord spoke through Isaiah.
In their report to Isaiah they use the same imagery of distress that Isaiah had previously used about a woman who is about to deliver a baby but has no strength and would die in the process to describe the situation. (Isa 26:17-18;)
Isa 37:4;(NET) Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things that Rabshakeh has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. So pray for this remnant that remains.'"
Hezekiah's hope was that when the True God of Israel hears the blasphemy that Sennacherib sent by Rabshakeh that He will punish him (Nemesis) and Hezekiah asked Isaiah to offer a prayer for the pivot that remained.
Isa 37:5-7; (NET) When King Hezekiah's servants came to Isaiah,
6 Isaiah said to them, "Tell your master this: 'This is what the Lord says: "Don't be afraid because of the things you have heard - these insults the king of Assyria's servants have hurled against me.
7 I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land."'"
Isaiah tells Hezekiah's staff not to be afraid of the Assyrians because God had heard the blasphemy and he goes on to tell them that the Assyrian king will return home and be killed there. God assures Hezekiah that the blasphemy of the Assyrian has not escaped His attention and that God cannot, and will not, ignore it. Net note 11