Understanding the infallibility of the utterances of God.
Text in View: II Kings 18:31-35 NKJV
If we must fulfil God’s purposes for our lives, then we need to gain better insight into the integrity of God’s word and His promises. Every believer needs to understand the depths of integrity and infallibility of God’s pronouncements and His words compared to the lack of potency of man’s words and promises.
The king of Assyria positioned himself as God during this episode in the history of the kings in the Bible (II Kings 18:31-35). He wanted to assume the position of God. Everyone in His territory saw him as a god and they repeated whatever he said as if God was speaking. He was a brutal tyrant and a representation of everything bad.
A significant number of secular institutions, even men, especially of high calibre and status in our world today, have presented themselves as gods. They have allowed their positions to keep them in a dark place, thinking they can do whatever they like. Even if those things are not in accordance with the commands of God, they believe they have all the capacity, authority, and power to do what they like.
Even some believers who have given their lives to Jesus think that decisions can be taken based on their emotions, feelings, or how they feel things should be. This is without considering what the Holy Spirit is saying to them about whatever the matter is about.
We need to understand that “when God says” is different from “when man says”. “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corithians 2:10). The king of Assyria sent a message to King Hezekiah of Judah, threatening that he could do what Hezekiah’s God can do. The king of Assyria tried relegating God, the King of Heaven. He said he could do better than God. (II Kings 18:32b-33). And was trying to win the King of Judah and his people unto his side so that he can selfishly exploit them, taking everything that belongs to them.
The king of Assyria almost stole the peace of the people of Judah, which is against what the Lord had been saying to them after He rescued them from the hands of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. But Israel and Judah went into idolatry, and the punishment was captivity and slavery by the hand of this wicked tyrant of a king. So, the moment any believer allows himself or herself to be tricked by the enemy, away from the path of righteousness, holiness, and true worship of Jesus, the enemy takes advantage immediately and moves against such a believer. He is then able to gain access to their lives and takes them into the captivity of fear, intimidation, lack of peace, anxiety, and depression, and hardly will such a believer have any fruits of the Spirit reflecting in them.
It is therefore very crucial to allow the voice of God to supersede the voice of men in our ears. Our ears must be attentive to the voice of God, and we must not allow ourselves to be driven by what men say. The king of Assyria only spoke, but none of his threats were manifested. Rather, what happened was that the voice of God prevailed over the voice of the king, as God gave victory to His people at the end of the day and took them away from captivity. Christ has come to give us life in abundance (John 10:10), but the choice is ours. The voice of the world leads to the path of condemnation and destruction.
Let us choose wisely today and respond to “thus says the Lord” and not “thus says the man”.
