With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God.
Hezekiah and the Assyrians
The story of Hezekiah and his preservation is one of the most vivid and thrilling. Rightly interpreted, it echoes the words of our text to all time. The king of Assyria is a representative character. The powers of this world are joined against the children of God, and they are variously commanded. Some Sennacherib rises from hour to hour and threatens, often with formidable front and fell purpose. But God’s people may always say, “There be more with us than with him,” etc. (Monday Club Sermons.)
We look too much to men
Oliver Cromwell was but a gentleman farmer, but the exigency of his time was such that he took up arms on behalf of his country. He was a man of prayer, and went to the battlefield from the prayer meeting. After one great victory, he writes to Parliament, “God brought them into our hands God is not enough owned. We look too much to men and to visible helps. This hinders our success.”
The arm of flesh
I. The character of our enemies described by an arm of flesh.
II. The source, of our support, and cause of victory. “But with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our battles.” This denotes--
1. Possession.
2. Presence.
3. Support.
4. Victory.
5. The Father is with us.
6. The Son is with us.
7. And the Holy Ghost is with us.
III. The result of God’s manifested presence. “And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.” (T. B. Baker.)
Conditions of victory
I. At the negative side.
1. Numbers are no surety. Gideon’s army had to be reduced before it could conquer the Amalekites.
2. Worldly wisdom, policy, shrewdness, enterprise, will not ensure success.
3. Unlimited creature resources of every kind are insufficient.
4. The most seemingly favourable outward circumstances, as to time, place, auspices, expectations, combinations, oftentimes but deceive into carnal security and insure the worst kind of defeat.
II. At the positive side--the assured, unfailing conditions of victory in the sense of Righteousness and Godliness.
1. We must have God on our side. There must be no doubt on this point.
2. We must be careful to be on God’s side.
3. This brings out the point which the Apostle John emphasises so strongly (1 John 5:4-5). (J. M. Sherwood.)
And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.--
Words to rest on
I. The kind of man whose words are likely to be rested on. He must be--
1. A great man.
2. A good man.
3. A courageous man.
4. A hearty man.
5. In such a case God will add His sanction by granting success and he will be a prosperous man.
6. A man who has respect for God’s word.
II. In the second place let us turn the other way and look at the kind of people who rest on such a man’s word.
1. Children do so with their parents.
2. Illiterate people who cannot read.
3. Unconverted persons who have no spiritual discernment.
4. Persons who naturally run in a groove. Having attended at such a place of worship, and having been brought up in the midst of a certain set of godly people, they scarcely deviate one jot from the teaching that they have received. Almost by the necessity of their nature they rest on what they hear.
5. Persons who profess always to do their own thinking. If you will trace them home, they are in nine cases out of ten the veriest slaves that ever lived. They are the bondservants of some heretic or other who has put it into their heads that in following him they become free men.
III. The kind of words you may rest on. You may safely rest on--
1. Words which urge you to faith in God.
2. Words which are the words of God Himself.
3. Words which are sealed by the Lord Jesus.
4. Words which have been blessed to other men.
5. Words which breathe a sense of rest into the soul. (C. H. Spurgeon.)