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.
- (By the way, that story about NASA correcting a problem with a
rocket using the information of Joshua stopping the sun for an
extra day's worth of time is a hoax and never happened)
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.
- These steps were ingeniously made to act as degrees to measure
the time by the shadow of the sun moving along them.
This was not just a sundial with degrees on it.
- This is a very important point for the sermon today.
- Do not miss this point:
- Ahaz had stairs made that were aligned with the axis of the
earth.
- And there were two sets of steps that rose up and met each other
at the top, and they were built so that the shadow of the sun would be
measured in time by the STEPS on the STAIRWAY.
- Such buildings were actually found in the mid-east (see notes
below).
- And the time going normally forward would be measured by the
SHADOW GOING DOWN THE last set of stairs.
- So Hezekiah said that is nothing special, and asks God to make
the shadow GO UPWARDS, BACKWARDS.
- Two sets of stairways rose to meet one another from opposite
directions.
- The stairway was built in such a way that a particular shadow
would rise on one side of the stairway and reach the top and begin
descending down the other stairway.
- Each step was made to act as a degree to measure time according
to which step the shadow was on at any given moment.
- One man noted that if there were 360 steps altogether (days of
the Old Testament Hebrew year), and the shadow went back ten steps, as
in Hezekiah's story, working it out in mathematics would make the sun
to have gone back 20 MINUTES!
- Now, the fascinating thing about this is that the difference
between the 365 some days in OUR years, would amount to TWENTY MINUTES
PER DAY, from a Hebrew 360 DAY year.
- Hmm..........
Anyway, I am not here to talk about fascinating issues of the earth's
days in hours and mathematics.
- The point is that time went backwards as measured by a shadow
climbing up stairs, instead of normally going downward on the side of
the stairs that had the shadow descend normally.
- A day lasted longer than it was normally going to last.
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.
- 2 Kings 20 tells us it was "in those days".
- So the healing of Hezekiah is a backdrop and background to the
preceding chapters where we read of Assyria threatening Hezekiah, king
of Judaea.
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.
- Everything in the Bible points to Jesus Christ and the salvation
He brought to mankind.
- From Genesis to Revelation, it's all about Jesus.
Why are there so many stories in the Bible that somehow relate to
Jesus?
- Why did not God simply tell us about Him dying in the Book of
Matthew, and leave it at that?
- It was because God wants to show us the truths of the cross and
what salvation does for us from every angle conceivable.
- Each story shows an aspect of the salvation of Jesus from a
different angle.
- Let us see what God has to tell us about salvation in the story
of Hezekiah's healing, and the sign of the stairway of Ahaz.
Ahaz' son was Hezekiah.
Let me tell you a bit about Ahaz.
Ahaz was king of Judaea immediately preceding Hezekiah.
- He was quite wicked.
- He actually shut up the doors to the temple, and put out the
lamps, removed the brazen altar, took the laver off its bases, took the
molten sea off the twelve oxen figures, and set up an idolatrous altar.
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.
- He shut down the temple of God and forsook God, reaching
out to the false gods of Syria.
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.
- Take away the cross, church, and there is no remission of sins.
There were ten lavers on brazen bases behind the altar, when one
entered the Temple outer court region.
- If the altar represents Christ's death on the altar of the cross,
what would the lavers of water represent?
- Baptism in Jesus' name INTO the death of Christ, washing away our
sins (Acts 22:16).
- And Ahaz removed the bases for the lavers.
- We cannot remove water baptism from the Gospel!
And the molten sea was a huge basin containing 3,000 "baths" of water.
- "Bath's" were units of measuring liquid in those days.
- And this "sea" sat upon the shape of twelve oxen.
- Three pointed in each of the four compass directions.
- The twelve oxen also portray a part of the Gospel.
- Jesus commissioned His twelve apostles to preach to the world the
message of repentance and remission of sins in His name, and that the
promise of the Father would come upon those who obey (Luke 24:47-49).
- This is what Peter preached in Acts 2:38.
- The apostles' doctrine must be preached to all the four corners
of the earth.
- The twelve oxen pointing to each compass point represents the
Apostolic doctrine being sent to all the world.
- The apostle's doctrine is the foundation of the church.
- The SEA rested on those 12 oxen.
- And its wonderful that 3,000 people obeyed Peter on the day of
Pentecost when He preached for them to repent, be baptized in Jesus'
name and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
- Like the sea on the oxen's backs, holding 3,000 baths of water.
- (It is also true that a "bath" of water was the measure for one
person, as noted elsewhere in scripture).
- Ahaz removed the sea from the oxen.
- We cannot abandon the Apostolic foundational doctrine!
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.
- 2 Chronicles chapters 29 - 32
- 2 Kings chapters 18 - 20
- Isaiah 36 - 39
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 did that to see those gods help him, but they were to his
ruin and Israel's ruin.
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.
- This man threatened Jerusalem to surrender.
- He told Jerusalem that should they say the Lord will help
them, they ought to know that Hezekiah tore down the Lord's high places
and altars, and told the Jews to worship in the temple alone.
- This was a lie.
- Hezekiah tore down false altars of false gods.
- God's will was to worship in the temple and sacrifice
there only.
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.
- "Kernals" of barley and wheat.
Grain and vineyards produce bread and wine.
- Rabshakeh said he would take them all out of THEIR land of bread
and wine to ANOTHER land of 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.
- In other words, do not be removed from the promises God
gave to you because of the body and blood of Jesus Christ being offered
for your salvation!
- It all speaks of the cross of Jesus!
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.
- At this point, let me stress that the story of Hezekiah's healing
took place DURING THESE DAYS.
- Keep in mind that that healing and promise was the backdrop for
these events in Jerusalem's deliverance from Assyrian oppression.
Back to the story:
Sennacherib indeed did hear a rumour of Ethiopia's king ready to attack
Assyria.
- So, with his troops in Jerusalem, he tried to scare Jerusalem to
let go right away so he could get the troops and fight against
Ethiopia.
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.
- He called Jerusalem a virgin daughter, His own, who would laugh
at him in derision.
- He said He'd put a hook in the nose of the wild beast of Assyria,
and put a bridle in its mouth to haul it back with ease.
We may feel like the enemy is bearing down hard against us.
- But when we call upon God, God tells us we are going to be
laughing at the enemy very soon!
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.
- And if the king could boast of drying up waterways, God spoke of
drying up the Red Sea!
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.
- Her roots were going down into the source of strength, God.
- And she would not only birth, but stretch upward in glory and
majesty and bring forth fruit.
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.
- The Hebrew for ARMENIA is ARARAT.
- This is the mountain where Noah's ark rested after the flood.
- AND THIS MOUNTAIN'S NAME MEANS "THE CURSE IS REVERSED".
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!
- How can you have a birthing if the woman is a virgin?
- Hmmm...
- Sounds like another event!
- Christ was born of 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.
- Like a woman going through much travail to bear a child.
- But it is not to no avail.
- God steps in and He brings forth the birthing.
- We must stand and suffer sometimes for standing.
- But its not in vain.
- God will step in and take over!
HE REVERSES THE CURSE!
The troubles that come from the enemy are reversed.
- The sons' slaying this wicked king, and their fleeing to Ararat,
indicates the thought of "the reverse of the curse" entering the
picture.
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.
- So sick he would die.
- And he calls upon God to heal him.
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.
- The father who closed the doors of the temple.
- Who turned out the lamps.
AHAZ represents ADAM!!!!!!!!
Adam is our great father.
- He went to the wrong tree and ate the forbidden fruit, just as
Ahaz went to false gods.
- And spiritually-speaking, HE BUILT A STAIRWAY THAT WOULD GO
DOWNWARD because of it!
- Humanity would DEGRADE.
- Mankind went DOWNHILL.
But the SON OF MAN came along.
- Jesus.
- Hezekiah represents JESUS.
- And His name means STRENGTHENED BY GOD.
- And Christ is taken to die on the cross, as Hezekiah was sick to
the point of death.
- And as Hezekiah is told he would be healed and enter the temple
in three days, Jesus dies and resurrects in three days to enter the
MOST HOLY PLACE OF HEAVEN, when he told Mary to not touch Him, for He
had yet to ascend to the Father.
- Into the temple!
And THAT is the backdrop for seeing the CURSE REVERSED.
- As Sennacherib's sons slew their father in his own false temple
of idolatry at home, and fled to Ararat, Satan was defeated in his own
temple of hell, and the curse was reversed.
- Mankind's descent into hell on a stairway going down, depicting a
day coming to an end, was CHANGED by Jesus Christ!
- The shadow went UPWARD, depicting the upward climb of man back up
the downward stairs, back in TIME to a place of victory.
- Christ took us all the way back to the way things were in the
time of ADAM, BEFORE Adam sinned.
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!
- Jesus is the WAY.
- As Adam was the obstruction!
- Jesus was LIFE, as Adam was DEATH.
- Jesus was TRUTH, as Adam was a LIE.
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.
- He did not reverse man's age or so forth.
- But time going back simply meant that the way things were before
Adam sinned so long ago were restored.
- LIFE WAS GIVEN.
- Jesus brought us back!
Ahaz/Adam did precisely the wrong thing.
- "Things not to do when in distress."
- He went to false gods as Adam went to a false tree and its false
fruit.
- And God told Adam that fruit would cause him to die.
- And Ahaz went to false gods to his RUIN!
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!
- But it reversed the curse!
- The enemy was defeated.
- Curses came because of the sin of Adam and Eve in falling to the
direction of the serpent.
- Jesus came to deal with the curse and remove the curse, by
actually reversing it!
- Instead of the living coming down to a death, there are the dead
going upwards to LIFE in resurrection power!
Sennacherib's LAND was the entity over which Sennacherib had POWER.
- One's LAND is what one has POWER over.
- And Sennacherib was defeated in his own land.
- In the place of his own 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.
- And Jesus destroyed the devil IN HIS OWN LAND, so to speak.
- In his own house!
- In his own Kingdom!
- In the place of his own power!
- Jesus descended into the nether parts of the earth, into hell,
and destroyed the devil THROUGH DEATH, the very thing the devil had
power over.
- And now Jesus has the keys of hell and the grave!
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.
- God brought us back, upwards, to glory and eternal life again!
- God gave Ahaz RUINATION due to his choice to serve false gods.
- But He gave Hezekiah LIFE!
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.