By J.C. Philpot
Preached at Zoar Chapel, Great Alie Street, London, on Thursday Evening, July 25, 1844
"O Lord, by these things men live; and in all these things is the life of my spirit." Isaiah 38:16
The words I have just read, some of you may remember, are a part of "the writing" that King Hezekiah penned after "he was recovered of that sickness" which Isaiah the prophet was sent to declare was unto death. But when the Lord, in answer to Hezekiah's prayers and tears, reversed the sentence, and raised him up once more to health; and not only so, but enabled him to say, "Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back"--then, that there might be a lasting record of the Lord's dealings with him, and a standing word of consolation to Gods afflicted people, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he penned this writing. Thus was his triumphal chant; the song of his deliverance which he sang upon the "stringed instruments in the house," and to the honour and praise "of the Lord." (Isa. 38:20.)
Before, then, I enter into the spiritual and experimental meaning of the words of the text, it will be necessary to trace out a little of Hezekiah's experience, that we may know what he intended, when he used this expression, "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit." The term, "these things," is clearly the key of the text, and has a reference to certain dealings of God upon his soul; in order, therefore, to know what he meant to convey by it, we must take a glimpse at these dealings of God with him.
Hezekiah, let it be remembered, was a gracious character before God brought on him the heavy trial recorded in this chapter. (Isaiah 38.) But he was where many of God's people are, though he knew it not: he had not been plunged deep enough into a knowledge of his own ruin, helplessness, and hopelessness as a fallen sinner. He wanted what Mr. Hart speaks of in his experience; (he uses a strange word, but a very expressive one;) he says, "After this my, shall I call it reconversion?" Many of God's people need this reconversion. They want a second plunge; and until they have had this second plunge, they do not, for the most part, know gospel mysteries deeply.
I shall endeavour by tracing out the experience of Hezekiah to explain my meaning more fully; and thus show how consistent it is with the teachings and dealings of God the Spirit on the heart. Hezekiah, as I have hinted, was a partaker of grace before the heavy trial came on him recorded in this chapter. And you will perceive most marked traits of his being a spiritual character, if you will read what is said of him in the corresponding passages in the books of Kings and of Chronicles; for there we have many proofs of his being one that feared God. For instance, we find in him a great zeal for the Lord, in breaking down the images, and cutting down the groves. It is also expressly said of him, that "he trusted in the Lord;" that "he clave to him, and departed not from following him;" and that "the Lord was with him." (2 Kings 18:47.) How earnest he shewed himself that the house of God might be opened, (which had been shut up by his father Ahaz,) every part of the temple purified, its worship and sacrifice restored, and the Passover duly celebrated. (2 Chron. 29.)
And we see how his love extended beyond Judah; he sent post, we read, even from Dan to Beersheba to gather together to the solemn feast those that feared the Lord of the tribes of Israel. He was a man of a tender conscience also; one who knew something of real brokenness and contrition before the Lord; for when the blasphemous letter came from the King of Assyria, we find him rending his garments, clothing himself in sackcloth, and going into the temple to spread out the letter before the Lord; and not merely spreading out the letter, but also pouring out his soul in cries and groans, in prayers and supplications, that God would vindicate his own cause, and deliver him and his people from the hands of Sennacherib. (Isa. 37.) Besides this, on the very eve of the trial came the deliverance. God heard his cries, smote the army of the King of Assyria, and gave Hezekiah this striking testimony that he had heard his prayer, by cutting off a hundred and fourscore and five thousand of that mighty army which had threatened him and Jerusalem with total destruction.
