“Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”” Isaiah 38:21-22 ESV
Reflection: what is on top of your mind today?
Let’s use our imagination just for a moment. Imagine you are in prison, actually on death row, guilty of a very serious crime. A murder. And then with only days to live, before your set execution date, you receive news that you have been given clemency, you are free to go. It is hopefully very difficult for us to image such a situation, but just try for a moment. When ready, close your eyes and see yourself step outside the prison walls, into freedom. What that would feel like. Then think about what you would do first, what do you think would be top of mind for you? Celebrate your freedom with family and friends, perhaps? Go for a walk in nature or along the beach? Have a gourmet dinner at a top restaurant? Maybe go to church?
After crying out to the Lord, Hezekiah who only had days to live, was given new life by the Lord; an additional 15 years. And, even before he had been healed from his sickness, before he could even see that the word of the Lord would come to pass and heal him, we see in our focus verses today what was on top of his mind. “Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”” Isaiah 38:22 ESV. His deepest longing, his desire, was to again be able to be in the presence of the Lord. The previous verse tells us about his sickness, calling it “a boil” or some sort of open infection, prevented him according to the Law to enter the house of the Lord. He was considered “unclean”.
There is an interesting parallel to our lives here to consider. By ourselves, by our own flesh and sinful condition, we are in a way on death row. We are “unclean”, unable to be in the presence of the Lord. We need to be clean, to be consecrated and holy, in order to enter His presence. We cannot do this by ourselves, however religious we become. However good we think we are compared to others. Our only hope is to be given mercy, clemency through Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice, His perfect atonement for our sins. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 ESV. We have, in this picture of what happened to Hezekiah, been given new life, eternal life through Christ. It is God’s own doing, not our own. And through Christ, we can enter the presence of the Lord. Jesus is the only way to the Father; no priest, no saint, no church building, no religion can do it. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 ESV
Only through Christ.
Hezekiah received physical healing, and a longer life, after pleading with the Lord. He needed to be clean so that he again could enter the presence of the Lord. And it is the same for us. So, with this new life we have been given through Christ, this freedom, what is on your top of mind to do? What do you long for more than anything else? To enjoy more of what the world can offer, satisfying the desires of the flesh? Or, like Hezekiah, is your soul longing to be in the presence of the Lord?
