Hezekiah: Brief Lessons on Church Truth, Part 8

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A Brief Outline of Lectures on Hezekiah
Read carefully 2 Chronicles 32.
Separation to the Lord is a sacred and special thing. Human reason cannot understand it and it must be maintained. The next thing was the building of the wall that was broken down, “and raised it up to the towers.” Ah, those towers! “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved” (Hab. 2:11I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. (Habakkuk 2:1)). Man would say, Come down from the watch-tower, use your own judgment; break down the wall of exclusiveness, and be one with all the false doctrine of the land. Satan hates that wall, and hates to see you sit watching before the Lord, to know His mind; and only do His will. O, how much depends on this! — waiting on the Lord in the watch — tower, or doing our own will. But not only must the wall, the hated wall be built up, but we must put on the whole armor of God. O, soldiers of the Lord, ye young men, chosen to stand before Him in these last days, study the Word. Take the whole armor. Be well equipped with the Word of God, spiritual weapons, and shields, in abundance. It is the last conflict, before we rise to meet our Lord. It is well to be informed of the enemy’s intention. Satan is specially occupied with, and determined to destroy, the assemblies gathered to the person of Christ. Such was the object of Sennacherib to take the cities of Judah. Give all diligence, in dependence on the Spirit, not, to help the enemy in his work in any one thing.
Hezekiah spake comfortably to the people, saying, “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight our battles.” At such a moment, how important to know with certainty that we are with the Lord, and He with us. No doubt, to some, all this will be utterly unintelligible. But we are meditating on the position of those who desire to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord, in the midst of all that is wrong: wrestling, not with flesh and blood, but with wicked spirits in the heavenlies.
Now we will sit down in our watch-tower, and wait before the Lord. See there the hosts of the foes encamped around, even in the heavenlies. Now, if we look within the enclosed walls of separation to the Lord, what a feeble few! But is the Lord there — is the Holy Ghost there? Yes, He who has conquered the adversary is there. The Holy Ghost sent down is there. All is well, more than all against us  ... . Take courage, be strong in the might of the Lord. It is a remarkable sight, this look from the watch-tower. You see that city enclosed in the walls of separation to Christ. That feeble company has been besieged for nearly ninety years; and, sad to tell it, Satan and his hosts have so deceived Christendom, that nearly all Christendom has besieged that little city. Yea, professing Christians have been notable captains in the attack, through ignorance, have taken service — and not a few runaways have heated the balls red hot. Yea, some of these have become the veriest Rabshakehs. Now what is all this rage against? A feeble little company, who desire to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord, and, whilst answering not a word, place their entire confidence in the Lord. And thus, through His loving care, they abide in the siege. Now, as we sit in the watch-tower, is not this little city a study?
“Thus saith Sennacherib, king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?’’ Yes! whereon do ye trust? Dreadful have been the destruction of many nations; their gods have not been able to deliver them. In like manner Satan can point to the churches of Asia. Where is the church which was at Antioch, at Ephesus, and all the assemblies in Greece? Rome also? And all the churches of the Reformation? What is their condition now? And are you the feeblest of all; or are you stronger or better than they? Wherein do ye trust, that ye abide in the siege? Solemn questions. But did any of the assemblies of Palestine, Greece, or Europe — or have any of the churches of the Reformation continued in lowly dependence on the guardian care of God the Holy Ghost? No; an arm of flesh, poor puny man, took the place of the Holy Ghost in every one of these — and hence the overthrow. Be it episcopacy, or the popular will, all was of man, and the Holy Ghost set aside. Now, as we look from our watch-tower on that little besieged city, all depends on unfeigned dependence on the Lordship of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Ghost. Mind, all the wall that was broken down must be builded up. Is it not wondrous grace to gather the weakest saints to the person of Christ, separated to Him by that wall, and kept in peace, amidst the rage of Satan, and hosts of deadly, and some, perhaps, only mistaken, foes? So useful to us is the study of this siege, that the Spirit has given us a long account of it in Isaiah 36-37.
As we have noticed here many cities of Judah were taken. This is humbling. We have known it. Many gatherings were gathered years ago, which had not built the wall of separation up to the watch-towers. A most determined attack was made — first, to displace the Holy Ghost, and set up clericalism; afterward to introduce and allow, to refuse to judge, heretical doctrine. Being a young soldier during that early war, I just remember how many gatherings were taken, I believe every one where clericalism had gotten the least footing. I believe every gathering that really trusted the Holy Ghost stood the siege, and Rabshakeh could not deny it.
Yes, what baffled the Assyrians was this trust in the Lord. And now they cry, and lie, threaten, and blaspheme. “But they held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.” What dignity in quiet faith! No spirit of defiance and boasting. No, no: rent clothes and sackcloth; deep humility. And though not noticed by Isaiah, yet that little prayer-meeting: “And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven” (2 Chron. 32:2020And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven. (2 Chronicles 32:20)). Do not forget this: our safety is in prayer in every time of conflict. Some in the siege might not know what to do, when another furious pamphlet cannonade is fired. “Why,” say you, “this is full of the grossest falsehoods.” What did Hezekiah? “Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord” (Isa. 37:1414And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up unto the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. (Isaiah 37:14)). And now he pleads with the Lord that dwelleth between the cherubim! It is written, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Yes, the mercy-seat between the cherubim is our place of victory. The enemy, with all his power, was entirely defeated. And whilst we plead there, let us never forget to plead for our dear mistaken brethren, who have been, and are, so sadly deceived by the enemy. Should these lines reach any such, let me beg of you to search the Scriptures, and ask the Lord by the Spirit using that Word, to lead you into the path that is right, in the midst of so much that is wrong. Ah, if even that path leads to the little besieged city within the re-builded walls. The doom of the Assyrian army only illustrates, or foreshadows the certain doom of Babylon the great. (Rev. 17:1818And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. (Revelation 17:18)). Thus, step by step, how remarkably this history finds its answer in the events of these last clays!
(Continued and to be Continued).