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"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" - Mark 12:30
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Seventh Day of Unleavened Bread—2008

Trusting in God

Fred R. Coulter – April 26, 2008

Greetings, brethren, and welcome to the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We’ve been observing the Feast for seven days—eating unleavened bread for seven days—and now we come to the seventh day, which is also a Holy Day.

Now, let’s come to Exodus 34 because I would like to bring out something that is very important for us to understand concerning the value—or how shall we say—the high degree of the commandments of keeping the Holy Days in relationship to the commandments of God. Let’s come to Exodus 34:12—now this is after the children of Israel had made the golden calf and worshipped it, and God intervened and didn’t bring His judgment upon the children of Israel because of Moses’ pleading with God and God spared them, except for those directly involved in it. So remember that when Moses was up on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel were down there and they made the golden calf. But also, the very last thing—since we’re here in Exodus, let’s come to Exodus 31 and let’s see the very last thing that God was telling Moses, while the children of Israel were following the Egyptian, pagan feast—though they dedicated it to the Lord.

Exodus 31:12 “And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, ‘Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, “Truly you shall keep My Sabbaths… [Notice that is plural—same way when you go to Ezekiel 20: ‘My Sabbaths. The Sabbath and the annual Holy Days Sabbaths constitute the Sabbaths.] …for it is a sign… [that is the keeping of the Sabbaths] …between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am the LORD Who sanctifies you”’” (vs 12-13). Because there’s no sanctification in any other way except through God the Father and Jesus Christ—and that’s why Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me.’ No other way! There aren’t thousands of ways to God and we’re all on the same track of going to heaven—that is a satanic lie! So, this shows the importance of it.

Then it says that—let’s come over here to v 17: “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever… [and we’re spiritual Israel today, that’s why He says ‘forever.’] …for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.” Then He gave the tables of stone to Moses. Right at that very same time the children of Israel were committing idolatry.

So when we come to Exodus 34, God really means what He says here—but let’s understand where, in the scheme of importance also, that the Feast of Unleavened Bread fits in relationship to the other commandments of God.

Exodus 34:12: “Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the people of the land where you go, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you. But their altars you shall destroy, their images you shall break, and their groves you shall cut down, For you shall worship no other god… [so here we have the first commandment] …for the LORD, Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God; Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice to their gods, and call you, and you eat of his sacrifice…” (vs 12-15). Now, isn’t that what has happened to Christianity? Isn’t one of the hallmarks of the Catholic religion going into various heathen lands and adopting their way of doing things, but just change the name? Yes, it is. So they’re violating exactly what God said. So you cannot worship God by worshipping other gods. And you can’t take part of their way of doing things and say, ‘Well, that’s nice, that’s quaint, we’ll do it.’ So I want you to understand the importance of the Holy Days, here.

Now, v 17: “You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.” So we have the first and second commandments right here, don’t we? Notice what comes right in the middle of that. Because you see, in order to worship the true God

  • you have to worship Him on His days,

  • and you have to do it His way,

  • and you have to do it according to His commandments—not according to what we think is good; not according to opinions that we have.

And today, we are so steeped in opinions that that’s like the final authority: ‘I believe’ or ‘my opinion.’ Very few people say, ‘Well, let’s consult what God says.’

Now notice v 18: “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread…. [And what did the Apostle Paul say, as we found out on the first day? ‘Therefore, let us keep the Feast because Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. And let us keep it, not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.’ So here we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep.] …You shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, in the time of the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. All that opens the womb is Mine; all firstlings of male livestock, of oxen or sheep [that is male. But the firstling of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty” (vs 18-20). Now this is all encompassed in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now when we compare that to the fact that we are called the Church of the Firstborn, and that we are like firstborn of God. And of course, when we understand that Jesus Christ was the first of the firstborn, and His acceptance of ascending into heaven was pictured by the Wave Sheaf Offering Day, then we can take these Scriptures, put them together with the New Testament, and understand what God wants us to do. And what’s very important is this, too: As we keep the commandments of God, with God’s Spirit, with God’s Word, God teaches us. And it’s God Who is doing the teaching, because it’s with His Spirit. If you don’t have His Word and have His Spirit, all the teaching in the world, by anyone, is not going to do you any good, because you won’t understand it.

And so, we find all of these elements here, but notice what immediately follows that: “You shall work six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks…” (vs 21-22)—which will be coming up as the next Feast.

Now let’s come to Leviticus 23:7—it says: “On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any servile work therein, But you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation. You shall do no servile work therein” (vs 7-8).

Then in Numbers 28 it shows that they had offerings they were to bring on the seventh day. So offerings were taken. And God said, concerning the Feast of Unleavened Bread, concerning the Feast of Weeks and concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, that none of us should appear before God empty. Let’s go to Deuteronomy 16 [transcriber’s correction] and claim the promise that God has given. Now we know that the whole world is going down the tubes economically because they have broken the laws and economies that God has given. They don’t understand about the land-sabbath, and they don’t understand the cycle that you need a seventh year of release. That way people are not all encumbered with debt for 30, 40, 50 years. And that makes for prosperity and that makes for abundance because of God’s blessing. So look at what is happening around the world, financially. Look at all the difficulties that even all the nations are in—and they have been following the false way of Satan the devil in trying to become rich through debt.

Key #1: You never become rich through debt. The only way you have an abundance or sufficiency is you love God first, you keep His commandments and you appear before Him with an offering.

Now let’s pick it up here, Deuteronomy 16:16: “Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the LORD your God in the place which He shall choose… [And wherever God’s people gather—two or three—that’s the place that God has chosen. It’s no longer in a temple in Jerusalem, because we have God’s Spirit in us and we, with God’s Spirit residing in us, wherever we assemble together, that’s what God has chosen.] …in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the LORD empty, Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God, which He has given you” (vs 16-17).

So at this time we will pause and take up an offering, and we’ll claim the promise that God has given in Malachi 3 and 2-Corinthians 9, that God will give us sufficiency in all things.

(pause)

Just like with every Holy Day, every Holy Day has a distinct meaning in the plan of God. And the last day in the Feast of Unleavened Bread has a special meaning for us. Remember, God led the children of Israel out of Egypt. When it says, “They left Egypt” that means they were departing from Egypt. Some like to argue, “Well, you know, how long did it take them to get out of Egypt?” Well, that depends where the boundary of Egypt was. But if God was leading them and God was watching over them, Egypt had no longer any jurisdiction over them, so they were leaving Egypt—or left Egypt—which every one you want to take. And when they did, God said, “Now, I’m not going to take them the easy way, by the road of the Mediterranean Sea of the Philistines—just going up around what we would call Gaza today and go into the Holy Land that way. He said, “Lest when the children of Israel see war, they get afraid.” Because they didn’t have any armament. They didn’t have any weapons. And we’ll see that the weapons that they had later, were those they picked up when the Egyptians were drown in the Red Sea.

And also, please understand: The geography today of where the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea is different than what it was back then. Some people try and say, “Well, they came all the way across the Sinai peninsula and then they went across from where Elath is and went over into Arabia and that’s where Mt. Sinai is or was.” They would have to travel seven and a half miles and hour to get from Goshen to there by the seventh day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—and there’s no way that they could cross directly as they did as we find here.

So God led them down by the way of the Red Sea and brought them into an area that was between the Red Sea and the mountains. And Pharaoh, you know what he did, he said, “Look, what have we done, we let them go. Let’s go get them and bring them back as slaves again.” And God has a purpose in that. God wanted to show the children of Israel that in times of trouble and distress, and in times of circumstances that look like it’s hopeless, that look like God is not really knowing what He’s doing, that God always knows what He does.

And so, when Pharaoh and the Egyptians pursued they were entangled in the land. Exodus 14:9—because there’s some tremendous lessons for us here and then we are going to see one of the major lessons that we need to learn for the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, today. “So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army. And they overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi Hi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes. And, behold, the Egyptians marched after them. And they were very afraid. And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD” (vs 9-10). ‘Oh they’re coming after us.’ Forgetting all the things that they should have remembered—with all the power, with all the plagues, with all of the things that were done in Egypt, and the killing of the firstborn. Instead of trusting in God the way that they should have instead of ‘Oh Moses, look, they’re coming, you pray to God and ask God to intervene and fight for us.’

Well, they didn’t do that. So they came—v 11: “And they said to Moses, ‘Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt? Why have you dealt this way with us to carry us forth out of Egypt?…. [And then, here’s what people always do: when the going gets rough, they change their minds. They had no faith! They didn’t understand what God was doing, and they didn’t trust God. Here they were now, on the seventh day of the their trek out Egypt, and all of a sudden they’re confronted with this tremendous obstacle that looks like that Pharaoh is going to come and take them back. Now if they went back their slavery would have been much more harsh. But notice what they said:] …Did we not tell you this word in Egypt, saying, “Let us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians?”…. [Now, that’s not true! They cried out to God: ‘Oh God, take us out of this mess.’] …for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness’” (vs 11-12).

Now, is that true? How much faith did they have in God? Cannot God provide for anyone anywhere at anytime under whatever the circumstances may be if they’re trusting in God? “And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not! Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD… [And that’s the key thing that is for this day] …which He will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again! The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall be still’” (vs 13-14).

Now, here’s a great lesson for us, which is this: Regardless of the circumstances that you find yourself in, trust God! Does He know the circumstances you are in? Yes, indeed! Does He understand the difficulties you are going through? Yes! Don’t be afraid. You stand still and ask God for His salvation—which means don’t run back to the Egyptians and surrender to them. And say, ‘Okay, if you be nice to me and take me back, I’ll be good.’ No, you trust in God!

So what did God do? Let’s see what God told Moses here: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to Me?…. [Even Moses got caught up in it.] …Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward…. [Now, how can they go forward, because on one hand was the Red Sea and they were all encamped alongside the Red Sea, and on the other hand, the Egyptians came down and were between them and the mountains. So you’ve got the mountains, you have Pharaoh and his armies, and then you have the children of Israel, and then you have the Red Sea. So God said to Moses:] …And you—lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And behold, I am about to harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. And I will get honor for Myself upon Pharaoh, and over all his army, over his chariots and over his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD…” (vs 13-18).

Now we’ve seen that in the sermons leading up to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, how that there are actual historical recordings written which describe all the plagues that came upon Egypt. Now here is the final plague that comes upon them—not just the killing of the firstborn, but now they’re destroyed at the sea. So Moses did that, the wind blew all night, God caused the waters to go back and the children of Israel went across very early in the morning. Now, let’s understand something that’s important. You need to understand about how long it would take them to cross. If you’ve seen the movie The Ten Commandments, how they had a little, narrow channel to walk in to cross the Red Sea. A million, eight-hundred thousand people, it’s going to take them hours and hours and hours to cross to get to the other side if they went in a column. The only way they could do it in the short time that they had was that they were encamped along the Red Sea in this manner. And then God opened the sea very wide—and after all the earthquakes that took place leading up to it, we do not know what the Red Sea was like at that time. No one can go today and look back and say, “Oh this is where they crossed at the Red Sea.’ We only have a general description. It has to be a place where they’re alongside the Red Sea and there are mountains on the backside of them. Now some have it, they go clear on down to the southeast end of the Sinai peninsula and they go through a very narrow valley. And the Egyptians, if they had come that way, it would have taken just a very small force to keep them from coming; because if you have the high ground, the enemy’s not going to come through. So they came down and they were right up close to the children of Israel. And of course, all that night it was darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites because God sent the cloud that was leading them and put it right between the children of Israel and the Egyptians. And so, when God delivered them to the other side, then the Egyptians came in and tried to follow. And God destroyed them in the sea.

So this is a tremendous lesson for us. When we find ourselves in circumstances and difficulties, we need to draw close to God and trust God. Don’t complain. Don’t say, “God, oh I wish this” or “Oh, I wish that.” or “Oh, I wish the other thing.” You say:

  • God, Your will be done.

  • Help me to understand.

  • Bless me with Your deliverance.

  • Bring Your salvation to me.

  • Lift me out of my circumstances.

  • You are my Helper,

  • You are my God,

  • You are the one Who has fought against Satan for me.

  • You are the one Who has given Your Spirit to me that I am Yours.

  • So help me,

  • Lift me up,

  • Guide me,

  • and direct me in the way that You want me to be and the way that you want me to go.

Now, let’s come to 1-Corinthians, the tenth chapter, and let’s see that there are some lessons for us to learn—which Paul referred to showing the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the meaning that it brings to us; what it brought to them. So, 1-Corinthians 10:1—because there are many, many lessons that we can learn here, and let’s apply it. Then let’s see how God wants us to live our lives entrusting Him. And how do we trust in Him? We believe the Word of God, we believe God, we trust in Him, we look to Him for everything:

  • for help,

  • for deliverance,

  • for life,

  • for understanding,

  • and all of these things.

And when difficulties come along don’t let these things distract you like it did the children of Israel. “Oh, let’s go back to Egypt. It would have been better that we were there.” No, it says that if you trust in Egypt, you’re going to die.

So let’s come here to 1-Corinthians 10:1—Paul said: “Now I do not wish you to be ignorant of this, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea” (vs 1-2). Now this is a very interesting statement, isn’t it? How ‘our fathers’—now he also associating the Gentiles with that. Because you see, IF the Gentiles repent and they are grafted into the olive tree, they being a wild olive tree as he says there in the Rom. 10, then they bear the fruit which comes of the natural olive tree, which is the olive tree of Israel. So he says, ‘our fathers.’ He applies it to Jews and Gentiles as well.

Verse 3: “And they all ate the same spiritual meat. And they all drank of the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them. And that Rock was Christ” (vs 3-4). So we have two things there: the water came out of the physical rock, but that was pointing to Christ Who was the Lord God of the Old Testament, Who was a spiritual Rock. And that’s how they got the laws and commandments of God, by God speaking directly to them. Wonderful and tremendous, amazing thing!

Now, let’s continue on, v 5: “But with many of them God was not pleased… [Now, I think today, when we look at the state of the Church and the state of the ministry, and the state of the world, maybe there are a lot of brethren with whom God is not pleased. So now is the time to really take that to heart and begin doing the things that please God.] …for their dead bodies were strewn in the wilderness. Now these things became examples for us… [We are to learn from the Old Testament. Put the New Testament and Old Testament together and we have the unity of Scripture which teaches us what we need to learn.] …so that we might not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.’ Neither should we commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and twenty-three thousand were destroyed in one day” (vs 5-8).

So we look at that and say, “Hmmmmmmm, God really means business with His commandments, doesn’t He?” Yes, indeed! And think of what it means for us, and how God looks at us spiritually. He’s entrusted us with His Spirit. He’s entrusted us with His Word. He’s given us the knowledge of His Holy Days—the meaning and understanding of it. So God hold us tremendously responsible, doesn’t He? And of course, we have physical fornication, and then we have spiritual fornication—which he touches on here a little bit later.

“Neither should we tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted Him, and were killed by serpents…. [They didn’t believe God. When God said, ‘Don’t do this’—they did it. So, God had to intervene and make an example for them.] …Neither should we complain against God, as some of them also complained, and were killed by the destroyer” (vs 9-10). How many times did they say, ‘Oh God, why did You bring us out here in the wilderness.’ After God gave them manna, they said, ‘Oh, all we have is this manna to eat. Wish we had some flesh to eat.’ So God sent them some flesh. He sent it on two occasions. And on the second occasion they were so all involved in their lust that they were choking on it and dying because they were eating it raw and it was punishment for their rebellion.

Now notice, v 11: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages are coming. Therefore, let the one who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall” (vs 11-12). We all need to learn that lesson, don’t we? We can look back and see how many people have fallen, how many have stumbled, how many have gotten bitter or complained or left God because it didn’t turn out the way that a man said it would turn out. The truth is this: we are not to trust in any man. “God is true and every man is a liar.” That includes all of us. That’s why the only thing we have to follow is the Word of God. And only with the Spirit of Truth, and only with the Word of Truth, and only with the meaning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread—getting the sin from within OUT of us, will we be able to please God; and will we be able to do the things that God wants us to do—and understand that.

So, v 13 becomes important. Remember this regardless of your circumstances, regardless of the difficulty, regardless of the blessing, regardless of what has happened in your life, remember this: “No temptation has come upon you except what is common to mankind. For God, Who is faithful, will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear; but with the temptation, He will make a way of escape, so that you may be able to bear it.” So there’s another promise of God.

So let’s focus in on trusting God. Let’s look at something important, because one of the things that will come upon you is that people will mock you. Let’s come to Isaiah 36 and let’s see what happened when the children of Judah were confronted with the invasion from Sennacherib, and the Assyrian army. Let’s see what happened. Here’s another case where it looked hopeless, and the Assyrians had conquered country after country after country after country coming right down from where Assyria is right down toward the Holy Land, and then they bypassed the Holy Land and went down to fight in Egypt. Then Sennacherib sent one of his commander-in-chiefs to go deliver a message to Hezekiah and the Jews.

Isaiah 36:1: “And it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them…. [Now, these were the cities that were out there before you come to Jerusalem. So he came and conquered those.] …And the king of Assyria sent [Rabshakeh] the chief field commander from Lachish to Jerusalem, to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fuller’s Field…. [Then different ones came to see him.] …Then Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son, who was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, came out to him. And [Rabshakeh] the chief field commander said to them, ‘Say now to Hezekiah, “Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, ‘What hope is this in which you trust? I say, “You claim to have counsel and mastery for war…[whatever you’re saying are vain words.] …but they are only words”…. Now, in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? Lo, you trust in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; on which, if a man lean on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him…. [Because they were down there defeating them.] …But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God;” is it not He whose high places and altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?’” (vs 1-7).

Yes, because Hezekiah took away all the false gods, didn’t he? Where they were there offering to the gods, but still saying, ‘We’re doing this to the Lord.’ And then he shows how they had all these victories and all the things that they were doing—conquering all these lands and it really was quite a thing. Now sometimes we’re confronted with obstacles that look way beyond what we’re capable of handling.

Let’s come back to 2-Kings 19 and let’s see what happened. Let’s see what God did against all odds. Just like the children of Israel were there by the Red Sea. Now, let’s see what Hezekiah did, and let’s see how he responded to God—and this also gives us how we need to respond, because this gives us the lessons that we need to trust in God.

2-Kings 19:1: “Then it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard… [That is the words were said] …he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth. And he went into the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. And they said to him, ‘Thus says Hezekiah, “This is a day of trouble and of rebuke and contempt, for the children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring forth. It may be the LORD your God will hear all the words of [Rabshakeh] the chief field commander with which his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God has heard…. [Will God reprove all the blasphemous things that this commander-in-chief said?] …And you shall lift up prayer for the rest who are left.”’ And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said to them, ‘You shall say to your master, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Do not be afraid… [same message that God gave to the children of Israel at the Red Sea.] …of the words which you have heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and shall return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land’”’” (vs 1-7). So they brought back the word to Hezekiah.

Let’s come over here to v 14—let’s see what Hezekiah did. This is a good example for us. When you have problems and troubles and difficulties, don’t first try and figure out how you can get out of it, or how you can overcome it. Go to God first! Just like Hezekiah did here. And here’s what he did: He said, “Lord, it is true, he has conquered all these lands and here we are.” Verse 14: “And Hezekiah received the letters from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, ‘O LORD God of Israel, who dwells between the cherubim, You are God Himself, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made the heavens and the earth….’” (vs 14-15).

Now we have direct access to God the Father and Jesus Christ, don’t we? Now you see why prayer is so important. God does these things so that

  • we rely on Him;

  • that we trust in Him;

  • that we have confidence in Him,

and not in ourselves, and not in our possessions, and not in who we are or what we are or where we go or any of these things. We have to trust God always. Look at how he trusted in God. Look at the circumstances that were completely against any hope, and look what God did.

Notice this prayer: “‘LORD, bow down Your ear and hear. O LORD, open Your eyes and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD…. [We have to also confess the truth. ‘Yes, God, this is difficult. I don’t know the way. I don’t know how to handle it.’ And in the case of Hezekiah he said, ‘I don’t have men. I don’t have the army. I don’t have the troops. I don’t have the spears and shields and the munitions available to go out and fight this. The defense cities he’s taken all of them, we have nothing to rely upon.] …[So he says] Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, And have thrown their gods into the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, and they have destroyed them. And now, O, LORD our God, I beseech You, save us out of his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, and You only’” (vs 16–19).

Now here’s a deliverance that is on the par of crossing the Red Sea. And here also is the army of the Assyrians coming against the Jews, just like the armies of Pharaoh were coming against the children of Israel. And they had no place to go but out into the sea. Now that’s a difficult thing. And they all knew they couldn’t walk on water. And they all had to get across. They were defenseless. Same way here.

So the message comes back. God says—let’s come over here to v 34: “‘For I will defend this city, to save it…” [now you do the same thing in your life when you have troubles. Ask God:

  • to fight for you,

  • to defend you,

  • to lift you up,

  • to give you strength.

Look how He intervened here. This is something! God took care of the army. Look at this. “And it came to pass that night, the angel of the LORD went out and struck a hundred and eighty-five thousand… [Now, not only were the armies there, but they were loaded down with the spoil and with the plunder—having gone into Egypt and having fought at Lachish; having defeated the armies there. They had all the spoil and plunder that they were gathering on the way down for the final assault against Judah and Jerusalem. So they were loaded with everything. This is why God told them that they were going to have spoil beyond belief.] (Now notice): …in the camp of the Assyrians. Now when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies” (vs 34-35). How about that!

Sennacherib rose up, ready for his army to fight and they’re all dead, stiff corpses. So what did Sennacherib do? He got out of there in a big hurry. “And Sennacherib king of Assyria departed. And he went and returned and lived at Nineveh. And it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And they escaped into the land of [Armenia] Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place” (vs 36-37).

Is God able to handle the impossible problems? Yes! That’s why God brings us to circumstances that are impossible for us to handle so that we’re going to trust in God. That we go to God first. Not try and do our own devices and then go to God afterward. You go to God first and you trust in God and you pour your heart out to Him. You lay all the facts and circumstances out and ask God to intervene and help you—and he will!

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