Who Dares Mock God {Isaiah 36:1-39:8}
10:22 PM
In Isaiah chapter seven, the kingdom of Judah is being threatened by surrounding nations. God sends the prophet Isaiah to king Ahaz to deliver a message telling him to have no fear and stand strong. For the plans of the enemy, “shall not stand, nor come to pass.” (vs. 7:7) But instead of trusting God, Ahaz turned to the Assyrians, (with disastrous results), for protection. Now some 34 years later the son of Ahaz, Hezekiah, is king and Judah is once again being threatened. This time it’s by the Assyrians themselves led by king Shennacherib.
After Sennacherib and his army capture the fortified cities of Judah, Sennacherib sends his messenger, Rabshakeh, to deliver some serious smack talk to King Ahaz. The message mocks God saying, “Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the Lord would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (vs. 36:20) Hezekiah sends men to Isaiah and like He did with his father, Isaiah gives Hezekiah a message from God. He tells Isaiah, “Do not be afraid.”(vs. 37:6) God is going to put a spirit in Sennacherib so that he'll hear a rumor and return to his own land, where he'll end up getting killed. And because, unlike Ahaz, Hezekiah prayed, trusted, and obeyed God, during the night the angel of the Lord went into the camp of the Assyrians and killed 185,000 men. Suffering such a great loss forced Sennacherib to return to his own land where he was murdered by his sons who then claimed his throne.
Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” As powerful as Sennacherib thought he was, neither his army nor his threats could stand against God. He quickly found out that the Lord is not one to be played with, and reaped the consequences of his mockery. The Bible has much to say about mockery. It is described as a “behavior and attitude shown by the fool (Psalm 74:22), the wicked (Psalm 1:1), the enemy (Psalm 74:10), the hater of knowledge (Proverbs 1:22; 13:1), the proud (Psalm 119:51; Isaiah 37:17), and the unteachable (Proverbs 15:12)....gotquestions.org
Only those who hate God would dare mock Him. Surely no Christian would do such a thing...right? Preacher Charles G. Finney wrote, “To mock God is to pretend to love and serve him when we do not; to act in a false manner, to be insincere and hypocritical in our professions, pretending to obey him, love, serve, and worship him, when we do not.”
No true believer has to pretend to love God. Yet even though our devotion to Him is strong, we’ve all been guilty of behavior that could be called many things, except godly. I myself have disobeyed God, not walked as Jesus teaches, and at times acted more like a Pharisee than a Christian. And even though I may not have threatened Judah or her king, my actions are as much a mockery as Sennacherib’s.
Think of Messiah Jesus. He was mocked by Herod and his men (Luke 23:11), by the Roman soldiers (Mark 15:20; Luke 23:36), by the thief on the cross (Luke 23:39), and by the Jewish leaders. (Matt. 27:41). And even though He had twelve legions of Angels at His command who could have destroyed those who taunted Him, (Matt. 26:53), He endured the ridicule and scorn. He endured for you and me and for all who call Him Savior. I am humbled by His sacrifice and pained by the thought of my actions which mock the Lord and grieve the Spirit.
But thankfully we serve a loving God who, when we confess our sin and repent, is faithful to forgive and restore our fellowship with Him. We live in a society where God is not welcomed and both He and His followers are openly ridiculed. We are the ambassadors of Jesus. The world is constantly looking at us to see if we practice what we preach. By living lives of integrity, sowing seeds of the Spirit, and being examples of the grace of God, instead of seeing mockery and hypocrisy, the world will see shining lights that glorify our Father! (Matt. 5:16)
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