On Whom Are You Depending to Defeat the Evil Tyrant?

He begins by asking a key question: “What are you relying on?” In his mind there is no possible answer. But like a master intimidator skilled in the arts of psychological warfare, he seeks to get inside the heads of the people of Judah. He asserts that their military strategy is nothing more than “mere words.” Isn’t it interesting it is all the royal spokesman is using at that moment! This man is seeking to undermine Hezekiah’s words with his own words. Then he addresses the possibility of Egypt coming to aid Judah. Remarkably, the royal spokesman says the same thing God has been saying: Egypt cannot save you. He calls Egypt a “splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it” (v. 6).

Finally, the royal spokesman goes for the jugular: their faith in the Lord. He mixes error with truth in his verbal assault, saying that Hezekiah removed the Lord’s high places (the Lord hated them) and commanded that the people worship at one altar (true), and that the Lord commanded Assyria to invade (sadly true). He also mocks the military weakness of Judah, saying that even if Assyria were to supply Judah with horses, they would not have enough skilled men to ride them. What hope could they possibly have?

At this point, the royal spokesman raised his voice even louder and sought to crush the confidence that the warriors on the wall had in Hezekiah and in the Lord. He said Hezekiah was trying to deceive them that the Lord would deliver them. He urged them to surrender, promising them peace and prosperity if they did. Here he is most satanic, promising pleasure in return for enslavement. Of course, the Assyrians were notorious for breaking such promises and leaving cities in ashes with piles of heads stacked high.

Isaiah 36:18-22

But here, evil overreaches itself, as it always does. Just as Satan overreached his power by seeking to ascend to sit on the throne of God (Isa 14:13-14), so the royal spokesman’s words soared in an attempt to topple God’s rule over the nations. He has already implied, “The Lord will not rescue you.” He now moves into blasphemy: “The Lord cannot rescue you!” His logic is based on history: None of the gods of other nations has ever been able to deliver their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria, so why should the “god” of your puny land be able to do so? This blasphemy, especially since it was believed by Sennacherib and all the Assyrians, is the very thing that will bring down Assyria at the walls of Jerusalem. He has committed a fatal error, and God will respond to it by slaughtering his evil empire. The delegation that the spokesman addressed returned to Hezekiah with their clothes torn as a sign of their humiliation in the sight of the Lord. Their humble repentance and faith would be the conduit of the Lord’s deliverance.

The blasphemous royal spokesman’s words amazingly get to the central issue in life: “What are you relying on?” While this was an important military question, it is even more poignant spiritually, as a far greater tyranny threatens us: Satan, sin, death, and hell. As we face the overwhelming power of these vicious tyrants, we must feel the weight of the royal spokesman’s penetrating question: “What are you relying on?” It seems we live in a world of people who are leaning on many different “splintered reeds” as they face the impending terror of judgment day. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, etc. will pierce those who lean on them—so will materialism, Darwinism, and academic philosophy. Those who are depending on their good works to save them will be pierced. Stunningly pierced will be those who leaned on a pale reflection of true Christianity—nominal Christians—who will find their superficial “commitment” to Christ was a fatally false hope. The piercing will begin with Jesus’s words on that day: “I never knew you. Depart from me” (Matt 7:23).

It is eternally vital for each person to take stock of his or her true condition before God and ask, “What am I truly relying on to deliver me from Satan, sin, death, and hell?” The only true Deliverer is Jesus Christ.

We end by reverting to the idea of Isaiah 36 as an allegory of Satan’s assault on our souls by his alluring, insulting, persuading, intimidating words. Ever since the garden of Eden, Satan has sought to trap us by his words. In his approach to Eve (Gen 3:1-5) he used three timeless strategies of speech: (1) questioning God’s word (“Did God really say . . . ?”); (2) contradicting God’s word (“No! You will not die.”); (3) employing partial truths to tell a bigger lie (“God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”). Satan still does the same three things every day: causing people to doubt God’s Word, contradicting things taught in God’s Word, and crafting religious systems that incorporate some truths in overall systems that are false (like Islam’s teaching of monotheism).

Beyond this, Satan loves to promise us a delightful life if we will just come out of our fortress of holiness and surrender to him. He seeks to undermine our will to fight by getting us to forsake holy resolutions. Someone who is seeking to stop drinking, stop using Internet pornography, or stop reacting with sinful anger, Satan will assault by intimidation: “Sin will always be your master; you’re mine, I own you, and you will never get away. What hope do you have of resisting me? I will relentlessly come after you until you yield as you always have in the past!” His words flow like poison through the rivers of this world’s thought systems, and some of the pollution inevitably seeps into the wellsprings of a Christian’s mind. We must learn to “resist him, firm in the faith” (1 Pet 5:9).