Isaiah 36:4. What confidence in this wherein thou trustest
It has often been said that the first casualty of war is the truth. That is probably true. Adolf Hitler had a war of words long before he had ambassadors, Poland, or an official minister of propaganda. He knew the importance of words. Words are the first weapon of any war. In Isaiah 36, when we find Assyria, the mighty army and empire, coming up against Jerusalem and King Hezekiah, the field commander for the Assyrian army threateningly said to King Hezekiah, “Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?” Whom are you trusting? What follows are all the arguments he had for Israel to open the gates and surrender to the enemy.
In verse 6 Assyria’s field commander says they should surrender because they couldn’t trust Egypt, “Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt.” He said Egypt was a broken walking stick that would pierce their hand if they relied on them. Was this true or false? It was true, but not trustworthy because the punchline was not “don’t trust Egypt; trust God” it was “don’t trust Egypt; surrender to us.” That is an interesting position to take.
In verse 7 the field commander speaks about God directly. He says, “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?” That was true. Hezekiah had taken away all the altars but the one that God had ordained. Either this field commander did not know that or he was trying to be dishonest with them. God had ordained but one alter, and that was in a very specific place. The others were copies of false gods and idols around them. So, destroying the other altars was an act of goodness. The field commander was using their devotion to God, which was actually lacking, against them.
In verse 10 he seems to be quoting God. He says, “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.” Was this true? Well, to be sure, Assyria was just an instrument of chastening to His own people, but God would spare this city and this people this time and He had said as much explicitly. Many of the things that the field commander said were the truth, but they weren’t the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
In verse 18 he says, “Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?” The answer was no. The Assyrians had taken everything. The problem with all these reasonings was that though some were true, some had faulty conclusions and faulty assumptions. All of them were less than the whole truth.
Today, you are under siege. The truth is under siege. You are surrounded by a majority that has proven themselves to be wrong. Let God be true and every man a liar. I want to encourage you today not to be deceived and not to be discouraged. If you keep reading this story, Hezekiah got encouragement by listening to God through the prophet Isaiah. So, you are under siege, but don’t be deceived and don’t be discouraged.
I have three observations. First, if you get God wrong, you approach everything wrong. I was tempted to say, “If you get God wrong, you get everything wrong” but that is not quite right. In the field commander’s case, he said some things that were true, but the conclusions were wrong. It is important to realize that if the people you are trusting do not regard God, they may on occasion have good answers, but they have a premise that can’t scale to all the answers they will need. We have a lot of voices in our world right now. Some of them are wise and have good conclusions to a degree, but be aware that you can’t regard everything you hear because if you get God wrong, you approach everything wrong.
Second, an enemy who can fool you, need not fight you. Long ago, Sun Tzu wrote a book on military strategy and said, “All warfare is based on deception.” Deceit itself is the point. The Bible says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” The battle is in our minds.
Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” The devil is going to come after you with what is appealing and not what is appalling. Isaiah 36:12 gives a dreadful picture of what would happen if they didn’t surrender. Then, in contrast he says in verse 16, “Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The Assyrian king said to make an agreement with me. If you do that, you will be fine, you will eat, drink, and be happy until I come and take you away.” He was trying to achieve their surrender by making appealing arguments and threatening assertions. So, an enemy who can fool you need not fight you. It is important that we guard our minds.
Third, truth is the best weapon when besieged by falsehood. Every comment this field commander made about Egypt, God, and what God had said could be contrasted with what God’s prophet Isaiah said from God directly. The way Hezekiah could know the truth was to listen what the field commander said and compare it to what God had said through Isaiah.
The same is true today. We have God’s words in written form and we can study them. So many of Isaiah’s prophecies are our history. They are certain and sure and can be relied upon. No, we shouldn’t trust in Egypt, but we also should not surrender to Assyria. If you get God wrong, you approach everything wrong. Any enemy who can fool you need not fight you, and truth is the best weapon when besieged by falsehood. So, get God’s Word in your heart.
Today, you are going to hear a lot of things, some are truth, some are false, and some are true but given in a way to conclude something that is false. Don’t be deceived and don’t be discouraged. You are under siege by falsehood every day, but God is great and God gives truth. The more we know of that the more we can negotiate life.