THIS is the question put to godly Hezekiah, King of Judah and Jerusalem, and his people at Jerusalem by a heathen and wicked King, in the person of Sennacherib of Assyria, namely, “Whereon do ye trust?” (II Chron. xxxii. 10). The circumstances under which this question was asked are, of course, vitally important in order to understand the spirit of it.
Jerusalem was at the time a quiet habitation and truly prosperous under the blessing of God, through the instrumentality of Hezekiah, for we are told that “In every work that he began in the service of the House of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered” (II Chron. xxxi. 21). “But after these things and the establishment thereof” (II Chron. xxxii. 1), Sennacherib invaded Judah and sought by his mighty army to capture and overthrow Jerusalem. And so this pagan force aimed its enmity and power at the very heart of the Church of God, the House of God, the service of God, and God’s people and their spiritual, as well as their temporal privileges. Hezekiah, a pious man, first of all takes practical steps, at Jerusalem, to resist the enemy and defend the city, by way of counsel with his princes, leading to activity in stopping water supplies to the enemy and repairing breaches in the walls, and making darts and shields in abundance. But this was but one feature of his activity in face of the enemy, and a subsidiary one, although reasonable and necessary. He primarily concerned himself in a greater view of defence against the heathen enemy. He addressed himself to the people under his care, in the divine providence, regarding heavenly help and assistance thus: “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there is more with us than with him: with him is an area of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles” (xxxii. 7 and 8). How wisely the people responded to this declaration which was at once encouraging and God-honouring, for “The people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, King of Judah” (verse 8).
The foregoing has application as to how the Church of God has been circumstanced in her history time and again. And to-day the witness, peace, prosperity and existence of the true and faithful Church of Christ is threatened by mighty and varied enemies, including Roman Catholicism to educated atheistical propaganda; and what comes in between is equally dangerous. But the Church must hold fast to the Bible as the Word of God, be deeply concerned as to having a converted ministry exercised by men having a call from the Lord, retain the simplicity of New Testament worship, and endeavour to exercise government and discipline scripturally, and to expect that they who profess to be believers upon the Lord Jesus Christ walk according to the holy doctrines of the Gospel. But this is not, by any means, all that the Church is to be exercised with regard to. The people of God must, above all, seek grace to emulate Hezekiah, and to look to and rely upon the divine, gracious and almighty Head and King of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ, and this by a humble faith. And then the “arm of flesh” of the enemies of the Cause of Christ will be confronted with “the Lord our God to help us.” Herein lies the Church’s strength and encouragement.
Now it appears that Sennacherib, the enemy, heard of the assertions of Hezekiah and his call to the people of Jerusalem to rely on the Lord their God for help. And so he sends his servants to Jerusalem, to Hezekiah, and all the people therein, with this scoffing question, “Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?” (verse 10). He supports this question with another, by which he seeks to undermine the confidence of the people in Hezekiah’s pious utterances, as follows: “Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the King of Assyria?” (verse 11). Further, this heathen enemy affects to challenge Hezekiah’s wisdom and right to charge the people of Judah and Jerusalem as follows: “Ye shall worship before one altar” (verse 12). This was, of course, the altar of the living God, the God of Judah and Jerusalem. And Sennacherib’s wicked propaganda as aforesaid is followed by arguments that as the gods of other nations could not prevent their destruction before the power of his godless fathers, neither would Judah’s God be able to deliver Hezekiah and the Jews in Jerusalem from his hand. “How much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand” (verses 14 and 15). Now in all this argumentation there is discernible the character of the twofold mode of attack upon the Christian faith and the Church of Christ by the enemies thereof to-day. In a general view we have on the one hand critical, scathing and even scoffing attacks upon those who manifest the true and holy fear of God and love to Christ Jesus and His Inspired Word. This takes one form at any rate, questioning the wisdom of their unreserved belief in the Bible as the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation, attacking the doctrines of the Word of God upon which the believer trusts as saving truth and scorning their practices which are after godliness and the fruit of a precious faith in God as revealed in Christ as the God of their salvation. “Whereon do ye trust?” Then, on the other hand, the enemies of the Church of God are active in propounding and publishing views which are derogatory and dishonouring to God, especially as to God in the Person of the Son. For instance, is it not averred from many quarters that we ought not to give credence to the truth of the Incarnation of the Son of God, the atoning nature of His death, and the reality of His actual resurrection from the dead, etc? Such, in effect, launch this question against the Church of Christ, “Whereon do ye trust?” thinking to break down the belief and defence of the Gospel in the minds of the people of God.
What did the people of God, in Jerusalem, have recourse to in face of this Satanic question? The answer is, they had recourse to God in prayer. “And for this cause Hezekiah, the King, and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, prayed and cried to heaven” (verse 20). They looked to heaven for help and strength and defence, as a people threatened by godless opposition, and for the preservation of Jerusalem, with all the privileges involved. This, then, must be one of the outstanding exercises of all who love the preservation, peace and prosperity of the Cause of Christ and His Gospel to-day. The spirit of prayer and constant watchfulness and prayer were never more needed. God alone is the refuge, strength, and help of His people. The Church will continue to enjoy her spiritual privileges and freedom, just as God will be her defence. And so in the spiritual and believing exercise of prayer to God, through Jesus Christ, the Mediator Priest of the Church, there is an answer to the question, “Whereon do ye trust?”
And finally, what do we learn as to the result of prayer, engaged in against Jerusalem’s powerful, boasting and confident enemy? First of all, the Lord cut off the mighty men of valour in the army of Sennacherib by the services of an angel. And secondly, the God of Hezekiah and Judah, cut off into eternity Sennacherib himself, while worshipping in the house of his false god. And the instruments of this judgment were his own sons (see II Chron. xxxii. 21, 22). What a display of divine wrath and power in relation to the King of Assyria! What a manifestation of God’s mercy and care and power in the behalf of Hezekiah and Jerusalem! “Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the King of Assyria . . .” (verse 22). And so the Lord will in His own way, and in His own season, deal drastically with the enemies of His Word, people and Church who are to be designated as enemies to-day, inasmuch as that they are primarily God’s enemies. He will not turn a deaf ear to the cries of His people, who are concerned for the honour of His Name and the preservation of those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation of sinners. And many will learn by experience and to their eternal grief, that the trust of the children of God was indeed not misplaced. “None perish that Him trust” (Ps. xxxiv. 22: metrical). The apparent visible weakness of the Church of Christ at times in her history may embolden the wicked to despise and attack her, but the King of Zion, the Lord Jesus Christ, will reign till all His enemies are made His footstool. And so let the people of God seek divine strength and wisdom to rely confidently and patiently upon Him, as their rock of defence, at all times.