The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet 1705 Zephaniah kc 2-1

 Yes, the shadow of the sundial did once go back 10 degrees
for a sign as King Hezekiah desired.

Have you ever noticed that precious metals such as gold and silver and precious gems like diamonds and rubies do not lie in abundance out in the open fields for passersby to just reach down and pick up? No, those "riches" are hidden deep in the heart of the earth and IF you desire to have them you must labor and search for them and dig them out! And so it is with the precious riches found in the Word of God that lie at a deeper level beneath the surface. Those riches are reserved for the workman who studies and shows himself approved and who rightly divides the Word of God (2 Tim. 2:15).

To that end, keeping in mind that the main subject of the Book of Zephaniah is the minatory, i.e. the warning, of the 7th Trump, let's get out the picks and shovels and do some digging and see how we may be enriched by this discovery.

The first thing we uncover is that Hezekiah was quite a "gem" himself in the eyes of our Father, for Hezekiah did that which was right in the sight of the LORD.

2 Kings 18:1
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.

[2] Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah.

[3] And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.

That is some pretty heavy company to travel with, i.e. to be likened unto the servant whom God said was "a man after mine own heart" (Acts 13:22).
[4] He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
Hezekiah rid the nation of idolatry and even assembled the people before the Lord to keep the Passover after it was too late to keep the Passover on the 14th day of the first month. This he did in the second month and God honored it! Get your shovels out and go dig in 2 Chron. 30:13-26 and see how Hezekiah's purpose was to unite the tribes of the North with the tribes of the South and how he prayed on the behalf of the "unclean" who came to partake of the Passover. Rich, rich!
[5] He trusted in the LORD God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
Hezekiah loved the LORD not in words only but in the mighty works he did by sticking to the Word of God and keeping all His commands.
[6] For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses.
The same applies to us today for as it is written in Hebrews 13:8, " Jesus Christ (is) the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Here are Christ's own words showing what one does who truly loves Him along with Father's promise to be with those who do!
John 14:21
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
And so Hezekiah loved the LORD and kept His commandments and the LORD was with him as promised in the writings of Moses!
2 Kings 18:7
And the LORD was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.
What an example Hezekiah was! This servant of God was afraid of NO ONE and the reason is clear, because just like David who had the courage to stand against Goliath, Hezekiah "trusted in the LORD God of Israel" and "took a stand" against the mighty king of Assyria, a type of antichrist in these last days. You should read all of 2 Kings chapters 18, 19 & 20 concerning the courageous manner in which king Hezekiah stood firm and held his ground in Jerusalem in spite of the fact that all the other cities of Israel had fallen to the king of Assyria because they had transgressed the Word of God and turned to idolatry. In fact the messengers* of the king of Assyria came and told Hezekiah NOT to trust in his God. But God had told him through the prophet Isaiah not to be afraid of the king of Assyria because He would handle it, i.e. cause him to fall. Hezekiah believed the Word of God. Here is what the messengers* spoke to Hezekiah:

* Note: "Messenger" is what the word "angel" means and we know that when the king of Babylon (Satan as the false-christ) is cast out of heaven to this earth in Rev. 12:7-9 that his angels (messengers) are cast out with him. They shall try to convince God's servants to forsake their God and submit to the king of Assyria, i.e. antichrist!

2 Kings 19:10
Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Oh contraire! When the Word of God states how something shall come to pass, THAT is exactly how it shall come to pass even if some supernatural angel appears and tells you otherwise! This is extremely important to our understanding for these last days. Take Heed!
[11] Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered?

[12] Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar?

[13]Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?

All the gods of the "interfaiths" did not help the nations, did they? Nor shall they today! So when you hear "You had better join their ranks with your Christianity, which is just like all the other religions", pay no attention! That is EXACTLY what you shall hear in these last days from the messengers of antichrist, even as we hear it NOW from the messengers of the first beast! As a current event update, remember in August of 2000, the week before the Millennium Summit in NYC, 1000 priests and bishops and seers and pastors and preachers and gurus from all the nations stood together and submitted to the beast. It was the largest and most diverse gathering of religious leaders in the history of mankind!

Then witness how the National Cathedral in our nation's capital was used for the first time in history to present an "interfaith" service on Sept. 14, 2001.

Here is what king Hezekiah did and said regarding the "heat" put on him from the "messengers" concerning the MAJORITY, i.e. all the nations round about:

2 Kings 19:14
And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.

[15] And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.

There is ONLY one God, the true God of Israel! ALL others are NO GODS! Have you not read what John says in both his gospel (Jn. 3:36) and his epistles: 2 John 1:9 "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son."

You can be sure that is not "Politically Correct" and the PEER pressure (Pol., Ed., Econ., Rel.) to conform will be tremendous! Watchmen, listen to the beautiful prayer of Hezekiah, "Strengthened of Yah"!

[16] LORD, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.
God shall deal personally with those who bring reproach to YHVH, the God of Israel! How DARE someone call a Jihad, a holy war, against this nation!
[17]Of a truth, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,

[18] And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.

They are ALL man-made religions! Even the majority of what is called Christianity is really just Churchianity, i.e. "religion" made of men's hands, i.e. out of the traditions of man and not the Word of God.
[19]Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.
Oh dear Christian brothers and sisters, contained is this verse is the "mighty work" that God shall do in these last days through which "All the world, ALL NATIONS, shall come to know that there is ONLY one God, the great "I AM", the God of Israel, the creator of both heaven and earth!" (We just read in the great Book of Habakkuk concerning His great plan for the nations in these last days.)

Again, you can and should read 2 Kings 18-20 for yourself. You have your own shovel, don't you? There is much "hidden manna" here to be found in verses 20-34 of chapter 19 concerning these last days if you have eyes to see and ears to hear. Nevertheless, God did hear Hezekiah's prayer and it came to pass the Angel of Lord took care of things. God can handle it! Have NO FEAR!

2 Kings 19:35
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
In 2 Kings chapter 20 we uncover so much hidden wealth of knowledge and spiritual insight that we cannot possibly carry it all in this study of Zephaniah. However, before the deliverance we just read of in the previous verse (2 Kings 19:35), Hezekiah became deathly ill and God sent Isaiah to tell him to get his house in order, he's going home, i.e. he is going to die! Here is what Hezekiah did:
2 Kings 20:2
Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,

[3] I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

This is such a touching account of this servant of God lying on his death bed. Here is what happened next:
2 Kings 20:4
And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

[5] Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold,I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.

[6] And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

[7] And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.

God healed Hezekiah's burning inflammation and he recovered, i.e. was now "Strengthened by YHVH"! Hezekiah then sought an understanding and a sign from the Father through His prophet Isaiah concerning his miraculous healing.
2 Kings 20:9
And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?
Isaiah asked Hezekiah if it was his "desire" that the shadow of the sundial to go forward 10 degrees or go back 10 degrees.
[10] And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down [forward] ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.

[11] And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

What are these ten degrees which had gone down in the dial of Ahaz, Hezekiah's father? This refers the 15 Psalms, 120-134. If you are fortunate enough to have a Companion Bible you will find a detailed outline and explanation of these Psalms which are called the "Songs of Degrees", in appendix 67.  Here is what Dr. Bullinger writes in appendix 67 concerning these "degrees":
The only "degrees" of which we read in the Bible are "the degrees" on the sundial of Ahaz, by which the shadow of the sun went backward in the days of his son Hezekiah, as a sign from Jehovah that he should recover from his sickness, while Jerusalem was surrounded by the armies of the king of Assyria, and Hezekiah was under sentence of death from the King of Terrors (see 2Kings 20:8-11, and the Structure of the chapters in Isa. 36-39).  Scripture knows of no other steps or "degrees" that can be connected with the shadow of the sun. (Companion Bible, appendix 67, pg. 97)
Again, it is not expedient within the scope of this study to uncover all the riches concerning what Father would have us know about Hezekiah, "strengthened of Yah", for they are far too plentiful indeed. However, the watchman of these last days should pay close attention to what we have learned so far and also to these Songs of Degrees. You now know where to dig so get to work!

In our next study we shall burrow into the great Book of Zephaniah and discover what happens at the sound of the 7th Trump!

See Pamphlet 1706

To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.


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