Isaiah 38:1-22
Death Is a Guarantee…Life Is a Gift

Introduction
1. Birth is beautiful, wonderful, but it raises some serious issues. Do you know that each one of
us is going to die? The human being is the only being on this planet that go through our entire
lives knowing we are mortal and one day we are going to die.
2. Isaiah 38 Hezekiah is confronted with this enemy death. At the prime of his life (39) he’s not
ready to die. We are all going to die. Are you ready to die? In death… will you trust Me?

In death...will you trust Me? Death is a guarantee. Life is a gift.
I. THE FACE OF DEATH 38:1-3, 9-14
A. A World Shattering Report 1-3
1. His Circumstance 1
*Isaiah 38, 39 takes place prior to chapters 36, 37. Sennacherib surrounded
Jerusalem in 701 B.C. Hezekiah died in 698 B.C. In 713 B.C. at the age of 39.
*He was not ready to die!
2. His Challenge 1b Set your house in order for thou shalt die and not live. Is
your house in order? Is there something you should stop or start?
3. His Case 2-3a Hezekiah was a good king in Judah. He prayed. He was:
Faithful…whole heart…have done good in your sight. I have walked before you in
truth…with a perfect heart. I have done that which is good. Why Me? I can give
you a list that do not measure up!
4. His Cry 3b He turned his face to the wall. Hezekiah wept bitterly. If the news
is bad enough…it will hurt! Tears are an integral part of our relationship with
Jesus Christ. Tears are nothing less than God’s graciousness to you and me.
B. A World Shaping Response 9-14
Verses 9-14 tells us what he thought.
1. His Confusion 9-11
*How do you feel on a death bed? How did Hezekiah feel at 39? He feels cheated!
“In the middle of my life I’m going to die.”
*I am deprived of the rest of my years.”
2. His Consternation 12-14 He repeatedly uses like and as.
*Cut off with pining sickness. We are all going to die of something unless killed in
war or die in an accident.
*My tent pegs are pulled up and I’m not through camping.
*As a weaver…rolled up…cut off the loom…the rug isn’t complete.
*The day is half spent and you are turning the lights out.
*Like a lion…He will break my bones. It’s like being thrown to the lions. God you
are the lion! It’s authentic feelings!! God is sovereign when tragedy or crisis
strikes…a sovereign God could have averted the tragedy! What happens when He
doesn’t? God must be doing this to me. Therefore…God must be out to get me!
It is bad theology, but it is a very common feeling!
*Like a crane or swallow, so did I chatter.
*I moan like a dove…my eyes fail…I look wistfully to the heights. I stare at the
ceiling…looking for God!
*O Lord I am oppressed, come to my aid, undertake for me! Hezekiah turns to his
savior, deliverer. God is revealing Himself to Hezekiah. Not as a ‘tent puller’ or
‘devouring lion’ or ‘one cut off’…NOT AS THE AUTHOR OF DEATH!
*He is a God who loves you and me, who invests so much in your life and mine
that our tears move Him to tears… ‘Jesus wept.’ Jesus was in His prime when
He was cut down. God is not our adversary when facing the tragedies of life.
He is God we can turn to and trust, a God who hears our prayers and
through His power we can make it through the crisis.




In death...will you trust Me? Death is a guarantee. Life is a gift.
II. THE FREEDOM FROM DEATH 38:21-22, 4-8
Some live…many don’t. We all have an appointment. There is a time to be born and a time to die.
God answers Hezekiah’s prayer and gives him 15 more years.
A. The Prescription 21,22
1. You are going to die…unless.
2. God can use medicine to heal and receive the glory!
3. God is the ultimate healer. God will heal you every time but the last time. Verse 8 is
a sign…you will go up to the house of the Lord.
B. The Proclamation 4,5a
1. David thy father…is a reminder of the covenant made to the line of David. Hezekiah
had no son at the time. Manasseh was born three years later. Manasseh was a bad
king that ruled for 55 years.
2. Did God change His mind in view of Hezekiah’s prayer? He knows the end from the
beginning and therefore is never confronted by unexpected events. His will and
character is unchanging and unchangeable. Prayer does not cause Him to alter
His will or character. Prayer is effective when it calls upon God to act within His
will. What prayer does God answer? He answers the prayer that will bring Him the
most glory and advance His program, plan and kingdom the furthest.
C. The Promise 5b-6
There are two promises:
1.15 years were added.
2.I will deliver thee…I will defend this city. Chapter 35, 36: Will you trust Me?
D. The Power 7-8
I will cause the shadow on the stairway of Ahaz to go back 10 steps.
1.There was a stone staircase in the palace complex in Jerusalem. This stairway was built decades earlier by Hezekiah’s father, Ahaz.
2.Did God stop the sun for approximately 40 minutes? He could, but He did not say that would be the sign. Did God influence the movement of the sun, the earth or the shadow itself? The fact is, the Lord simply said that He would move the sun’s shadow. God could have accomplished this task by bending light or tilting the ground on which the sundial rested. The Lord was giving a direct sign that He would give the King 15 more years to live, and it doesn’t really matter how He made the shadow to reverse itself.
3.I think God did this for you and me. As mortality stares us in the face, the God who hung the sun and moon, because He loves us is even willing to bend light rays for our benefit…if necessary.
4.Here we see the character of the heart of God: He really does care about you and me. He is a God who can heal…if it is His will. He is a God who takes over mortality seriously. He sees our tears and catches them in a bottle.

In death...will you trust Me?
III. THE FEELINGS AFTER DEATH 38:15-20
A near death experience should change your view of life! You were permitted to live for a
reason!
A. His Focus 15
One who has had such an experience can only walk quietly before the Lord.
B. His Fellowship 16
His experience brought him into closer fellowship. By such sorrow men truly live!
C. His Forgiveness 17-18
His deliverance flows from a heart of forgiveness. Thou hast cast off my sins. He was
clean before God.
D. His Fervor 19-20
His living shall give Him praise…all the days of his life.

Death Gives Life New Meaning!!