Articles
The Way Out Of Captivity
The Scriptures tell us it was in the “fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them” (2 Kings 18:13). Earlier, in the fourth year of Hezekiah's reign, King Shalmaneser had begun a siege of Samaria that lasted for three years before taking it, and then took the whole of the northern kingdom into captivity because of their persistent disobedience to the Lord's commands (2 Kings 18:9-12). Now, it looked as if they would do the same to Jerusalem and Judah.
When the subsequent Assyrian king Sennacherib had besieged the fortified cities of Judah, and Hezekiah initially agreed to pay whatever the Assyrian king asked, thinking it was dissuade him from continuing the siege (2 Kings 18:14-16), but that did not dissuade him, but probably emboldened him to try for more. He sent his army general and two servants to Jerusalem, and they spoke to Hezekiah, asking, “What confidence is this in which you trust? You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?” (2 Kings 18:19, 20), and then challenged him again, saying, “But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” (2 Kings 18:22). He would continue: “Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria’” (2 Kings 18:29, 30), and, “do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?” (2 Kings 18:32-35).
The Assyrian king was certain his recent victories were guaranteed to assure yet another victory, this over those in Judah and Jerusalem, because he saw God no more powerful than any of the false gods of the other cities he had already conquered, and resistance was futile. As yet, he had seen nothing that would convince him otherwise. Not yet. He was confident in his boasting against Hezekiah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, and saw submission as their only hope of survival.
We know, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story, however. We know that Hezekiah “tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord… sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet,” and asked, “Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left” (2 Kings 19:1-4). We know that Isaiah did indeed seek the Lord's help — and got it. We read, “the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh” (2 Kings 19:35, 36).
From this story, we may learn some important lessons about our spiritual condition outside of Christ, the victory we may achieve over our spiritual enemy who has us held captive, and the power behind it all that makes this possible.
First, We Are Captive. It has been said that the devil's greatest lie is convincing so many people he doesn't exist; how true! Most people who live in the world and who live for no one but themselves think they are really the 'free' ones and it is the Christian who lives as a slave, but hear the word of God on this.
Paul noted to those in Rome, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16). We are either slaves of sin, or slaves of righteousness, but we are serving one or the other! Jesus adds, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34), and Paul speaks of those outside of Christ as those in “the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Tim. 2:26).
It does not matter what we think about our spiritual condition or state; the truth is, outside of Christ, we are enslaved by the devil — captive to sin. Just as Jerusalem was besieged by the Assyrian king, we are besieged by our spiritual enemy and adversary, the devil, and sin has a hold on us we cannot break in and of ourselves.
Some Will Not Escape. As we noted with those in Samaria, they were taken captive by the Assyrian king and they were carried away; but let us also note why, for that is an important parallel. The text tells us, “they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them” (2 Kings 18:12). Since sin is, by definition, “the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4), then what we must acknowledge is the fact the people of the northern kingdom transgressed God's law, and refused to repent — even when it meant their captivity! As long as they rejected His commands and refused to obey, there would be no deliverance!
This is an important point that must not be overlooked in speaking about the possibility of deliverance from sin's hold on us! The first thing we must acknowledge is we must make a change of heart! We must make a conscious decision to cease following after sin, and a conscious decision to start following God. This was at the heart of the message Paul preached; as he described it, he said he taught all that they must “repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance” (Acts 26:20). Without that repentance, there can be no deliverance from the very thing we continue to do! God will not deliver us from something we continue to pursue [sin]!
Those in Jerusalem proved their repentance by tearing their clothes and putting on sackcloth and ashes [a sign of great mourning], and then seeking God's answer.
Deliverance Comes From God. As with those in Jerusalem, the deliverance was, for those on the outside, unimaginable but — for those who knew God — not only possible, but powerful and possible beyond doubt. They were not disappointed, and neither should we be.
Note in the words of Paul the great deliverance brought about by God to those who had obeyed: “you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered…having been set free from sin…now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:17-23). Though we were helpless (Rom. 5:6), He was [and is] powerful enough to deliver us from sin, and He will if we are willing to repent and seek His ways.
Don't remain a slave to sin when such a deliverance is possible! —— Steven Harper
