THE STAIRWAY OF ADAM

November 17, 2002 pm
MF Blume



2 Kings 20:1-11 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. (2) Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, (3) I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. (4) And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, (5) Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. (6) And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. (7) And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. (8) And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day? (9) And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? (10) And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. (11) And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

The DIAL OF AHAZ is a very fascinating subject in the Bible.

We heard of Joshua stopping the sun for the duration of an extra whole day so he could defeat the enemy.

Well, a similar thing happened in Hezekiah's day.

The Hebrew word for "DIAL" is "STEPS", or "DEGREES".

Some have conjectured this was a sun dial.

But it was actually discovered that stairways were found in two sets rising to meet each other from opposite directions.
This was not just a sundial with degrees on it.


Anyway, I am not here to talk about fascinating issues of the earth's days in hours and mathematics.


And these were called the "STEPS OF AHAZ." 
The story of Hezekiah's healing occurred in the days of Assyria's attacks and threats against Jerusalem.


When Hezekiah's prayer was answered for his healing, God promised him that He would also deliver Jerusalem from Assyria.

This is very important for us to keep in mind.

The healing of Hezekiah and the sign of his healing, involving the shadow going in reverse 10 degrees is integral to the message God has for us today.

That message concerns some truths God wants us to know about the work of the cross.

Why are there so many stories in the Bible that somehow relate to Jesus?


Ahaz' son was Hezekiah.

Let me tell you a bit about Ahaz.

Ahaz was king of Judaea immediately preceding Hezekiah.


2 Chronicles 28:22-25 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz. (23) For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. (24) And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. (25) And in every several city of Judah he made high places to burn incense unto other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.

In distress, Ahaz went opposite to the way he should have gone for help.


2 Kings 16:10-11 And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. (11) And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.

Taking away the brazen altar is analogous to remove the truth of Christ's sacrifice for our sins.


There were ten lavers on brazen bases behind the altar, when one entered the Temple outer court region.

And the molten sea was a huge basin containing 3,000 "baths" of water.


But his son, Hezekiah, became king after him, and restored the temple, opened its doors, cleaned out the mess inside and restored priests in their worship.

Hezekiah's life story as the king who restored worship and the temple is contained in three books of the Old Testament.


He restored worship to God like it had not been since the days of David and Solomon.

His father before him, Ahaz, was just the opposite.

When he was in distress, he did the right thing.

2 Kings 18:5 He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.

2 Chronicles 29:5-11 And said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. (6) For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the LORD our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs. (7) Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. (8) Wherefore the wrath of the LORD was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. (9) For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. (10) Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. (11) My sons, be not now negligent: for the LORD hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.

When trouble comes, you do not forsake God and worship heathen deities, since the heathens look like they are prospering.


Ahaz:

2 Chronicles 28:24 And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.

Hezekiah:

2 Chronicles 29:3 He in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the LORD, and repaired them.

The king of Assyria, represents SATAN.

Satan lured mankind in the Garden to sin and take the false fruit of the tree that would kill Adam the day he ate thereof.

Assyria, the nation over which Sennacherib ruled, allured Ahaz to go to its idols and altars.

Sennacherib sent a soldier in Hezekiah's day with an army to Jerusalem, named Rabshakeh, as Sennacherib was conquering cities throughout Judaea, getting closer to Jerusalem.


Isaiah 36:7 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?

Isaiah 36:10 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.

Isaiah 36:15-20 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. (16) 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; (17) 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. (18) 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? (19) Where are the gods of Hamath and Arphad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? (20) 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?

(Keep in mind the note about a land of corn and wine, and bread and vineyards.)

He falsely said he would take them out of the land to another land that also had bread and wine and grain and vineyards.

Sounds so much like the lies of the devil.

Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (2) And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: (3) But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. (4) And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: (5) For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Note that "Corn" in the Bible actually refers to GRAIN.


Grain and vineyards produce bread and wine.


Bread and wine speaks of Christ's body and blood -- and are emblems of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, breaking his body in the throes of death and shedding his blood.

Church, we must not allow the enemy to remove us from the PROMISED LAND OF BREAD AND WINE.


God told Hezekiah through Isaiah, that He would send a rumour to Sennacherib and get him to pull back to his own nation, and there God would cause him to be killed in his own land.


Back to the story:

Sennacherib indeed did hear a rumour of Ethiopia's king ready to attack Assyria.


Hezekiah would not buy this lie that there was another land of bread and wine.

So Sennacherib defied God, anyhow.

Isaiah 37:10-13 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. (11) Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered? (12) Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Telassar? (13) Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?

Then Hezekiah, himself, prayed to God.

God told him to tell Sennacherib that He heard the blasphemy against Himself from Sennacherib.

We may feel like the enemy is bearing down hard against us.

And then God told Hezekiah:

Isaiah 37:30-32 And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. (31) And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward: (32) For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.

God would so empower Jerusalem that her fear would become boldness and laughter at the enemy.

Instead of running or giving in to the lies of the enemy, Hezekiah sought the face of God.

God challenged Sennacherib saying he was only a puppet in God's hands.
Jerusalem formerly feared, being like a woman who suffered through so much travail and labour that she could not actually birth the child when it was time.

Isaiah 37:3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.

But this woman grew in faith and boldness to laugh at and despise Assyria.

Isaiah 37:22 This is the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

Isaiah 37:31 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:

She would draw strength she never had before.

God then smote the army of Sennacherib killing 185,000 in the night.

Isaiah 37:36 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.

WATCH THIS:

Isaiah 37:37-38 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. (38) 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.

His own sons slew him while he worshipped in his false god's temple.

And they ran and hid in ARMENIA.


Praise God!

Notice Jerusalem was noted to bring forth a child without strength to do it.

But God sends reassurance that everything is going to be alright!

Isaiah 66:9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.

And then God speaks of her as a VIRGIN!


And this woman would bring forth a remnant that would dig their roots down deeply in God, finding strength beyond natural, and shoot up and bear mighty fruit.

GOD BRINGS HER FORTH TO BIRTH.

They suffered much for their commitment to God.


HE REVERSES THE CURSE!

The troubles that come from the enemy are reversed.


And all during this time, we find in Isaiah 38 that Hezekiah was sick.

Behind all these events is something that is not noted until now until after Sennacherib is destroyed.

We know this occurred all during this frightening ordeal with Sennacherib, because while Hezekiah is sick and going to die, he calls upon God, and God heals him and says...

Isaiah 38:6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

In other words, not only was Hezekiah restoring Jerusalem and temple worship, but he becomes sick while Assyria is attacking.

Isaiah 38:4-5 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, (5) Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

He died at 54, making him only 39 years old when he took sick ready to die.

But 2 Kings offers more thoughts:

2 Kings 20:5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

ON THE THIRD DAY, Hezekiah would be totally recovered and enter the temple of God!

WHAT IS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TO HAVE EVER OCCURRED ON A THIRD DAY?

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ that awarded us our salvation!

2 Kings 20:7-11 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. (8) And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day? (9) And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? (10) And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. (11) And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

So we find that behind all the victory and all the fear causing plots of the enemy, Hezekiah is healed of sickness, told to be able to enter the temple on the third day, and GOD CAUSES THE SUN TO GO UP, and BACK IN TIME ten degrees, instead of downward, normally.

And note that these are the "STAIRS OF AHAZ".

The stairs made by the father who was so wicked and went to other false gods when in distress, to his and Israel's ruin.

AHAZ represents ADAM!!!!!!!!

Adam is our great father.


But the SON OF MAN came along.


And THAT is the backdrop for seeing the CURSE REVERSED.

As Ahaz closed the door of the temple, Adam's sin caused the doors of the Garden to be shut.

Genesis 3:22-24 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: (23) Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (24) So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

But Jesus OPENED THE DOORS UP AGAIN!


Adam was driven out so he would not eat the fruit of Life after having ALSO taken the false fruit of death.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Jesus came to give life, and that meant OPENING THE DOOR TO EDEN AGAIN!

In other words, taking us back to the position Adam was given, by God -- back in time, so to speak, where God first wanted us.


Ahaz/Adam did precisely the wrong thing. 

And he built the steps.

Adam built the stairway down to hell.

BUT JESUS CAME TO give life!

He came to the point of death where He did die!

Sennacherib's LAND was the entity over which Sennacherib had POWER.

Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

Satan had POWER OVER DEATH.

He had to come to this point in order to destroy the one who had the power of death THROUGH DYING.

Hezekiah's recovery was on a THIRD DAY!

And it was a sign and backdrop that God would defeat the Assyrians.

Ararat was associated with the place the sons went after Sennacherib was slain.

The curse is reversed!

That is associated with Satan's defeat.

THE VIRGIN DAUGHTER, THE CHURCH, WOULD LAUGH AT THE DEVIL.

1 Corinthians 15:55-58 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (56) The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (57) But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (58) Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

THE STAIRWAY OF ADAM THAT WE ALL WALKED DOWNWARD UPON, HAS BEEN
TRAVERSED IN REVERSE.

The stairway down to hell turned into the stairway up to heaven!

Adam's stairway was taking us downward from glory, but Jesus came and reversed the curse, and had us walk backwards, and up the stairway of Adam to the position God gave to Adam, AND HIGHER, before Adam sinned!

Thank God for the work of the cross!


NOTES FOR STEPS OF AHAZ:

Adam Clarke Comentary (notes on 2 Kings 9:13) wrote:

On the top of the stairs - The Chaldee, the rabbins, and several interpreters, understand this of the public sun-dial; which in those ancient times, was formed of steps like stairs, each step serving to indicate, by its shadow, one hour, or such division of time as was commonly used in that country. This dial was, no doubt, in the most public place; and upon the top of it, or on the platform on the top, would be a very proper place to set Jehu, while they blew their trumpets, and proclaimed him king. The Hebrew מעלות  maaloth is the same word which is used 2Ki_20:9-11, to signify the dial of Ahaz; and this was probably the very same dial on which that miracle was afterwards wrought: and this dial, מעלות  maaloth, from עלה  alah, to go up, ascend, was most evidently made of steps; the shadows projected on which, by a gnomon, at the different elevations of the sun, would serve to show the popular divisions of time. See the notes on 2Ki_20:9 (note), etc.

John Gill, predecessor of Charles Spurgeon in teh church at London, wrote:

2Ki 9:13 - Then they hasted, and took every man his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs,.... That is, under Jehu, that he might be raised higher, and put on an eminence above them, agreeably to the high rank and dignity he was raised unto, and which they hereby acknowledged; and that he might be conspicuous to others: and this was done upon the top of the stairs, the first and highest of them, which led up either to an upper room, or to a scaffold erected for this purpose; the Targum is, on the degree of hours, a sun dial, a stone on which were engraven the twelve hours of the day, and which, by the sun's shadow on it, it might be known what hour it was; and at, or upon this stone, they laid their clothes, for Jehu to sit upon; not their wearing apparel, but carpets, or pieces of tapestry, or such like things:


Keil And Delitzsch wrote:

2Ki 20:11
Isaiah then prayed to the Lord, and the Lord “turned back the shadow (caused it to go back) upon the sun-dial, where it had gone down, on the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.” אחז מעלות cannot be understood, as it has been by the lxx, Joseph., Syr., as referring to a flight of steps at the palace of Ahaz, which was so arranged that the shadow of an object standing near indicated the hours, but is no doubt a gnomon, a sun-dial which Ahaz may have received from Babylonia, where sun-dials were discovered (Herod. ii. 109).

Jamisson, Fausett and Brown said this:

The word in the original is "degrees," or "steps," and hence many commentators have supposed that it was a stair, so artfully contrived, that the shadows on the steps indicated the hours and course of the sun.


The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge wrote this of the verse:

http://www.biblestudytools.net/Concordances/TreasuryofScriptureKnowledge/?reference=isa+38:8
the sun dial Hebrew the degrees by, or, with the sun. Or, as the Hebrew might be rendered, "the steps of Ahaz." The researches of curious travellers in Hindostan, observes Bp. Stock, have lately discovered in that country, three observatories of similar form, the most remarkable of which is to be seen within four miles of Delhi, the ancient capital of the Mogul empire. A rectangled triangle, whose hypotenuse is a staircase, (apparently parallel to the axis of the earth,) bisects a zone, or coping of a wall, which wall connects the two terminating towers at right and left. The coping itself is of a circular form, and accurately graduated, to mark, by the gnomon above, the sun's progress before and after noon.