GOD’S KINGDOM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED
Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore
December 17, 2023
Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 20:4:
4) “For the LORD your [Israel] God is He that goeth with you [Israel], to fight for you [Israel] against your [Israel] enemies, to save you [Israel].”
God gives His covenant nation, Israel, the rules for war in this chapter. He says in verse one that when you go out to battle against your enemies, and see their weapons of war and their soldiers, don’t be afraid of the armament or them. For when you are close to battle, the priest (of Israel) shall approach and speak unto the covenant people (Israel) and say unto them (Israel) that they should not let their (Israel) hearts be full of fear or be terrified against your (Israel’s) enemy. For the LORD your (Israel’s) God will fight for you (Israel).
Let’s investigate the Bible for a story of one of Israel’s battles against an enemy. It was a battle in which they were so overwhelmed that the King of Judah (southern Kingdom of Israel) had no good option to do except one. It was a very dark moment, one of the lowest in the history of God’s kingdom on earth. The kingdom was about to be destroyed forever.
Remember what Deuteronomy 20:4 instructed Israel. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be terrified. For the LORD their God would be the one who would fight for them against their enemies. Was this advice followed?
2 Kings 19:1-5:
The nation of Assyria had taken the Northern Kingdom of Israel and almost all the Southern Kingdom of Judah into captivity. The Assyrian army had captured/destroyed forty-six of the Judaean cities, besides killing vast numbers of people, and had taken captivity 200,150 persons. There was only a small “remnant” of the people of Judah that were left, and they were in the capital city of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, because of its natural fortifications, was the only city that the Assyrians had not captured.
The Assyrians had surrounded the metropolis. All the enemy was now doing was waiting until these inhabitants of Jerusalem either starved to death or made a dash to escape. They had their massive and powerful troops waiting for such an attempt to destroy them. Or the trapped inhabitants could take the Assyrian king’s advice and surrender.
There was now no kingdom of Israel that was functioning as a nation and if Jerusalem fell, there would be no kingdom of Judah either. The stakes were high. All of Israel would be in captivity and the kingdom of God would no longer be in existence.
1) “And it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it[the Assyrian’s speech, made by Rabshaken, to the Judahites], that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
2) And he sent Eliakim, which 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.
3) And they said unto him [Isaiah], Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.
4) It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyrian his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.
5) So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah.”
Rabshakeh had stood outside the city and cried with a loud voice in the language that the inhabitants of Judah could understand. He said:
2 Kings 18:29-35:
29) “Thus saith the king [of Assyria], Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand:
30) Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
31) Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me[king of Assyrian] by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the water of his cistern:
32) Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, The LORD will deliver us.
33) Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
34) Where are the gods of Hamath, and or Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?
35) Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of mine [king of Assyria’s] hand?”
Assyria, at this time, had the most powerful army in all the known world. It had captured all of Israel except for the survivors who were in the city of Jerusalem, and it was only a matter of time until they fell, too. The enemy king’s spokesman had just given a speech in which he informed the inhabitants of Jerusalem to not let Hezekiah deceive them when he tells them to trust in the LORD. He urged them to make an agreement with the king of Assyria, and the people of the kingdom of Judah would not die. (It sounds like the statement the serpent made with Eve.)
Assyria had conquered all the countries that were nearby. None of the gods of those conquered lands had delivered them. He asked the survivors of the kingdom of Judah the following question: Do you think that your LORD God, will be the exception, and will deliver you? You will fall to us like Samaria (the northern kingdom of Israel) did.
2 Kings 18:36, 37:
36) “But the people held their peace, and answered him [Rabshakeh] not a word: for the king’s commandment was, saying, Answer him not.
37) Then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.”
Assyria had a practice of taking the idols of the nations they had conquered back to Assyria where they were assigned a place among the captive gods. They were boasting that their god was more powerful than all others, so it was vain to expect the LORD God to rescue the kingdom of Judah. This was especially true since the recent failure to rescue their brethren in Samaria.
But the people held their peace after Rabshakeh made his appeal. They obeyed Hezekiah, their king. But their officials rent their clothes at such bold threats and then went and told king Hezekiah.
When Hezekiah, the king of Judah, heard these words spoken by Rabshakeh, he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD.
While in the house of the LORD, he sent Eliakim and Shebna with the oldest of the priests in mourning clothes to the prophet Isaiah. The king hoped that Isaiah would intercede with the LORD in these desperate circumstances.
Hezekiah made a seven-fold plea for help from Isaiah.
- “This day is a day of trouble,
- A day of rebuke,
- A day of blasphemy,
- Children are come to birth, and there is not enough strength to bring forth,
- It may be that God will hear the words sent to reproach the living God,
- It may be the LORD will reprove the words which He has heard,
- Wherefore pray for the remnant that is left”—(Dake Bible).
Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of the previous three kings of Judah: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz. For almost forty years, he had borne witness to that kingdom. Hence, when the days were the darkest for Judah, they didn’t want the same fate that the house of Israel had suffered--destruction of their nation. Isaiah was their last hope to ask for the intervention by their God.
Isaiah did have a word of the LORD to give to King Hezekiah. It was, to not be afraid of the words with which the servants of the king of Assyria had blasphemed the LORD God of Israel. For the God of the Judahites will cause the Assyrian king to hear a rumor and he shall return to his own land and will die by the sword.
That was what Isaiah, the prophet of God, told the men representing the king of Judah. When Rabshakeh went back to his king (of Assyria), he found that the king, Sennacherib, was fighting several different nations.
So, Rabshakeh, this time, wrote Hezekiah a letter saying that the king of Assyria could not march against him at once, for he was engaged in battles against several other nations. But he added a warning to king Hezekiah that he would not be deceived by His LORD God. He expands his inductive argument as proof of the irresistible might of Assyria, by an enumeration of four more recent conquests.
REVIEW OF WHAT IS HAPPENING
Now, let’s stop right here and give some thought as to what has happened. The Assyrian army has already conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and almost all the southern kingdom. There was a small remnant of survivors in the capital city of Jerusalem waiting to be taken prisoner by the Assyrians, as soon as the men of Judah were too weak to defend against the mighty Assyrian army.
The Assyrians were waiting till the Judahites ran out of food or gave up. One of the men of the Assyrians shouted a warning in the language that the Judahites spoke. He said to make an agreement with the king of Assyria and do not believe your king when he tells you to trust in your God for your protection. For Assyria has defeated all the nations, and their gods did nothing to defend them.
Hezekiah tore his clothes and went to the house of God. He sent word to Isaiah and asked him to intervene. Isaiah did and sent him the reply that the God of Israel had said that Sennacherib would not enter the city but would hear rumors and go home and there he would be killed.
But before that happened, Rabshakeh sent Hezekiah a letter saying much of what he had said in his speech that he gave earlier. Hezekiah received his letter from his messengers and read it.
HEZEKIAH’S SECOND VISIT TO THE HOUSE OF GOD
After reading the letter, Hezekiah once again did what he usually did—he took his problems to his LORD God. He went to the house of the LORD and spread the letter before his LORD. Then Hezekiah did something that he hadn’t done the first time he entered the house of the LORD.
The first time he sent some of his servants to Isaiah. This time he didn’t. He, himself, took the responsibility of his nation. He said a prayer of 134 words and asked his God to deliver his nation. And his prayer was answered by God.
First, what did Hezekiah say in his prayer?
2 Kings 19:15-19:
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Hezekiah made a very short prayer. He didn’t make an hour-long prayer, or even a half-hour prayer with many long words. It is a prayer that can be said in 30 seconds or less. What happened after Hezekiah made this prayer? Prayers made to our God do not have to be wordy and extensive to be successful.
The Bible doesn’t tell us how long it took after Hezekiah’s prayer, but after a short time, Isaiah sent a message to Hezekiah. The Bible doesn’t tell where Hezekiah was, but the messengers found him.
Isaiah wasn’t in the house of God with Hezekiah. They were in two different places. The first time, Hezekiah sent messengers to Isaiah. This second time, the reverse happened. Isaiah sent word to Hezekiah that the LORD God had heard his prayer.
Hosea, another prophet of God, who prophesied during the same four kings of Judah (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah) that Isaiah did, made several major predictions about this same situation. Hosea, who prophesied for about sixty years, began during the reign of Jeroboam II of the house of Israel. He foretold what was going to happen at the end of the reigns of the following kings of the house of Israel: Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah and Hoshea.
Hosea 1:6, 7:
6) “And she [Gomer, wife of Hosea] conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him [Hosea], Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.
7) But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.”
Hosea tells a major difference between the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Only the house of Judah would be shown mercy. The LORD their God would save them not by any military action, not by any battle, but He would save them without any help from the Judahites.
But the house of Israel would be taken captive, and many killed. Their kingdom of the house of Israel would cease, but the kingdom of Judah would continue. But it would only be a remnant kingdom. God would display His mercy on the house of Judah. The last Adam would be born to a pure-blooded virgin of the tribe of Judah that was of these remnant survivors.
Did the king of the House of Israel pray to the LORD God of Israel? It doesn’t appear so, as they were worshipping Baal, and not the LORD God of Israel. They relied on their military. They were doomed to defeat because the obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed His covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They hadn’t heard them, nor obeyed them in all their history (2 Kings 18:12).
The LORD God of Israel had no mercy on the House of Israel; but He did have mercy on the House of Judah (Hosea 1:6, 7). What did Isaiah say that the LORD God of Judah said in answer to Hezekiah’s prayer, regarding Sennacherib, king of Assyria?
2 Kings 19:21-28:
21) “This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him[Sennacherib]; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee[Sennacherib], and laughed thee [Sennacherib] to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee[Sennacherib].
22) Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel.
23) By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees there of: and I will enter into the lodging of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel.
24) I have digged and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of My feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places.
25) Hast thou not heard long ago how I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it? Now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities into ruinous heaps.
26) Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
27) But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against Me.
28) Because thy rage against Me and thy tumult is come up into Mine ears, therefore I will put My hook in thy nose, and My bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.”
God informed Isaiah that He was aware that the Assyrians had blasphemed Him. God reveals what Assyria had been able to do was by His will and permission and not theirs. His people needed chastening and He had planned to bring it about by using the Assyrians.
God knows about each person. There are four things that He knows about all men:
(1) Their abode,
(2) Their going out
(3) Their coming in, and
(4) Their rage against Him.
The kings of Assyria were in the habit of putting a ring or fishhook through the flesh of their more distinguished prisoners, then attaching a rope, and leading them about with a bridle. In Assyria the ring or fishhook was passed through the lower lip. Thus, God threatened Sennacherib with the punishment he had inflicted on others many times. God did not do this literally, but it expresses figuratively the complete defeat and humiliation of Sennacherib whenever he would be judged by Him.
2 Kings 19:29-31:
29) “And this shall be a sign unto thee [survivors in Jerusalem of the kingdom of Judah], Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves, and in the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof.
30) And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
31) For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion: the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall do this.
What was the sign that was given to the remnant of Judah who were dwelling in Jerusalem? The kingdom of Judah would be free from any siege and could roam the fields to gather such food as grew of itself for the rest of this particular year and the next. After that they would sow and reap again in a normal way. There would be a remnant who would be saved from the Assyrian army and live normal lives in the land of Judaea.
2 Kings 19:32-34:
32) “Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city[Jerusalem], nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.
33) By the way that he came, by the same shall here return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD.
34) For I[the LORD God of Israel] will defend this city [Jerusalem], to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.”
The Assyrian king was to return to his homeland the same way he came. He would not enter Jerusalem or do any fighting in it. He would just leave without any arrow being shot. It would be the LORD God who would defend Jerusalem, not the men of the kingdom of Judah.
Isaiah’s message to Hezekiah was over. God had spoken.
2 Kings 19:35:
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.”
That night, that very night of the day in which the prophecy was uttered, God fulfilled it by sending an angel who killed 185,000 Assyrians. That consisted, in comparing the number of Assyrian soldiers killed, with equaling the number that America lost during both World War I (116,516; 1917-1918) and the Vietnam War (58,209; 1965-1973)in ten years of fighting, compared to just one night. This forced Sennacherib to withdraw from Jerusalem immediately.
God fought for His covenant people to save them from complete destruction. Does anyone doubt that this didn’t happen? Does anyone doubt that the angel who killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night is unemployed? Does anyone doubt what kingdom was the LORD God’s?
2 Kings 19:36-37:
36) “So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.
37) And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
Sennacherib did engage in battles against Armenia, Babylonia, Susiana, and Cilicia after this great slaughter of his army by God’s angel. But he confined himself to his own part of Asia and never again attempted to invade Palestine or threaten Jerusalem. Several years after the invasion of Palestine, as Sennacherib was worshiping in the house of his god, his sons stabbed him to death.
Sennacherib might have conquered all the other gods and their lands, but he didn’t conquer Judah’s God! God had mercy on the house of Judah.
THOUGHTS ABOUT THE WAR
Let’s think about what happened. The Assyrians were fighting the Israelites. First, they attacked the northern kingdom. Hoshea was the king at the time of Assyria’s invasion. The nation had been in existence for 260 years and none of their nineteen kings had been godly. None of their kings were of the correct descendants, i.e., the descendants of David. The nation and each king just got progressively worse than the previous king. The nation just got eviler as the days rolled on. There was no repentance coming; judgment destruction and abandonment were forthcoming. There was no more mercy for the House of Israel. It was exactly as Hosea had prophesied. They had other gods that they served.
First, Hoshea, the king, paid tribute to Assyria. Then, about seven years later, the king gave pharaoh of Egypt presents and ignored the nation they were making periodic payments to. This led to another Assyrian invasion in which the ten tribes were taken into captivity or killed. The Israelites wound up in the cities of the Assyrians, never to return.
What sins had the house of Israel committed that force their LORD God to place such a disastrous punishment? The Bible gives twenty-five sins that caused their deportation:
- Sinned against the LORD by fearing other gods,
- Walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out for similar behavior,
- Walked in the sins of the kings of Israel by making and worshipping golden calves,
- Committed secret sins which were not right in God’s sight,
- Built high places in all their cities,
- Set up images on every high hill and under every green tree,
- Set up groves on hills and under trees,
- Burnt incense in all the high places, copying the heathen,
- Performed wicked things to provoke God to anger,
- Served idols contrary to God’s law,
- Would not hear God,
- Hardened their necks as their fathers had done,
- Did not believe in the Lord,
- Rejected His statutes,
- Rejected His covenant that He had made with their fathers,
- Rejected His testimonies which He testified against them,
- Followed vanity,
- Became vain,
- Went after the heathen round about to follow them,
- Left all the commandments of the Lord,
- Worshiped the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and planets,
- Served Baal,
- Caused their sons to pass through the fire,
- Used divination and enchantments,
- Sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger (2 Kings 17:7-18).
Are there any similarities to what is happening in the nations of Israel today? Have the nations of Israel rejected His covenant that He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Have we caused our sons to pass through the fire? Not exactly, but we have done worse. We murdered them while they were still in the womb!
We have sinned against the LORD by fearing other gods. We have rejected His statutes. We are walking in the statues of the heathen, not believing what our LORD had instructed us. In fact, it seems that the Israelite nations of today are committing more sins against their LORD, than the ancient house of Israel did. When are not even aware of who we are and who the enemy of God is!
And what about the House of Judah? Had they committed many sins against their LORD too? Many of the tribes of Judah(Benjamin,
Levi, and Judah) were taken with the ten tribes. The ones that were not killed were taken into captivity. There had only remained the survivors who had fled to Jerusalem and were awaiting the end of their nation.
The house of Judah had followed the ten tribes of the northern house of Israel, but they had the correct king. He was a descendant of David. They had the right priest, descendants of Levi. The had the right place of worship, the Temple of God.
There had been about two dozen prophets and one prophetess (Huldah) who are mentioned in the books of Kings and Chronicles during the division of Israel into two kingdoms. In the introduction of Isaiah, we have many others listed which are mentioned elsewhere.
Only seven of the fifteen writing prophets from Isaiah to Malachi lived and prophesied during this time of national division. Only Hosea and Amos were prophets to the ten tribes before their captivity; and five of the seven in Judah before that part of the kingdom’s captivity. The other prophets either lived and prophesied before the division of Israel into two nations or following the captivity of the ten tribes to Assyria. The Bible is about the history of Israel.
The king of Judah was in despair. When king Hezekiah heard the Assyrian messenger crying out to not trust the LORD God of their people, the king “rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of God.” Do you think that he remembered Deuteronomy 20:4?
Deuteronomy 20:4:
4) “For the LORD your[Israel] God is He that goeth with you[Israel], to fight for you [Israel] against your [Israel] enemies, to save you[Israel].”
Israel became once more just one kingdom: the remnant of the house of Judah. The house of Israel was no more. It was scattered into foreign lands. But Judah, much like the Battle of Blood River in South Africa, was saved by a miraculous event by Almighty God. That was all that was left of the kingdom of God.
The Battle of Blood River was fought on December 16th, 1838. In honor of this battle, whose anniversary was yesterday, we will say a prayer written by our late pastor, Mark Downey:
“O Father in Heaven, our brother Naphtali in South Africa was once delivered by thy mercies from the merciless heathen, surrounded and outnumbered; and yet it was their faith that must have caught your attention, their vow to covenant with their Creator was for a season, and another generation knows not the Battle of Blood River. We will remember Lord. We will proclaim to the world that our God, the God of Israel, reigns. Lord, your sovereign grace rises above all known things in the mind of man. For that truth, we humble ourselves in the earnest expectation of thy Word, that we may repent as a people and turn our face to the promises and a better day. We give thanksgiving as all things work together for good. Let us see the good and practice it daily. Surely what is happening to Naphtali is likewise befalling us. We beseech thee to refresh our memories; of a truth we confess Hosea 4:6, “Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Therefore, at this late hour, we pray for divine intervention and a great awakening. Amen.”
What happened to the land that the ten tribes dwelt in after their captivity in Babylon? There were so many from the house of Israel that were gone that there had to be some people who had to replace them. The solution was to bring immigratedstrangersinto the forsaken land to protect it from lions and other wild animals. So, the Babylonians took some of their own people to replace the Israelites who were taken captive in the northern portion of the kingdoms, i.e., Samaria.
According to the books of Ezra–Nehemiah, about 70 years later in 538 BCE, the men in the house of Judah who had been captive in Babylon were allowed to return to the Land of Judah, due to Cyrus’s decree. Initially, around 50,000 returned to the land of Judah following the decree of Cyrus as described in Ezra, whereas most remained in Babylon.
But according to both Ezra and Nehemiah, there was a lot of miscegenation going on so that Ezra did what Hezekiah had done—he rent his garment and his mantle, plucked off the hair off his head and off his beard, and sat down astonished! Nehemiah described the same situation in his going back to build the walls of Jerusalem. Miscegenation was rampant among these 50,000. So, the true, pure remnant of Judah became even smaller. But there would be a pure-blooded woman from the tribe of Judah, from the family of David who would be chosen to be the mother of Jesus Christ.
Then over a century before Jesus Christ was born of Mary, John Hyrcanus [High Priest] made a major mistake. After capturing two cities of Idumea and subduing all the Idumeans; the king permitted them to stay in the nation of Judah if they would circumcise themselves and make use of the laws of the Hebrews. The Idumeans [Edomites] gladly agreed and soon they were in control of the nation of Judah; politically, religiously, economically, culturally, etc. The same thing happened in Germany, and now has come to pass in the United States.
WHAT ABOUT TODAY?
Are we in a similar situation that both the house of Israel and Judah were in several thousand years ago. God had no mercy on the house of Israel, but He had mercy on the house of Judah. The kingdom of Judah didn’t kill one Assyrian soldier out of 185,000.
But their king did the correct thing. His prophet did the right thing. Their officials did the right thing. God fought for them. He sent His death angel who killed many Assyrians in one night, just like he did at the first Passover and at Blood River. He will do it again if He must.
Deuteronomy 20:4:
4) “For the LORD your [Israel] God is He that goeth with you[Israel], to fight for you [Israel] against your [Israel] enemies, to save you [Israel].”
Can the LORD keep His promise to His covenant people of protection from their enemies. He has many, many times. And will once again. The kingdom of God will never be destroyed. It will always exist and eventually will be the kingdom that will be the reigning kingdom. For its king will once again be the “King of kings.”
Revelation 19:16:
16) “And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.