"Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, The Lord will save us. Has any of the gods of the nations saved their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of the Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of these countries have saved their countries out of my hand, that the Lord should save Jerusalem out of my hand?" (vs. 18-20)
The Rabshakeh of Assyria's arrogant boast to the people of Jerusalem goes like this: "Do not rely on God. Your God cannot save you. No gods of any of the conquered countries have ever been able to save their people. Why should Judah be any different?"
Yet Judah is different! With the prophet Isaiah's counsel, the Lord was able to turn the Assyrian army away and give the victory to the Jews. For the first time, the Assyrians did not achieve their goal of conquest, because here in Judah they finally found the God who saves!
Judah would not be so fortunate the next time a hostile empire came to call. Their escape from the Assyrian threat may have taught them the wrong message - to be confident not in God, but in themselves. They came to believe that they were invulnerable, that God would never let the city of His Temple be taken in battle, no matter how sinful His people were. Tragically, they were quite wrong about this. Their God is the One Who saves, but it is in His timetable and in His way.
Yet even through the Jews went through a lengthy exile into Babylon, they returned. They were replanted in the Promised Land and it is through them that God's Messiah was born into this world. Then they lost their nation again, this time to the Romans, and for a period of centuries rather than years. Yet, amazingly, after 19 centuries their nation was once again returned to them.
Israel's persistence throughout history demonstrates something amazing - the God of the Bible saves!
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