2 Kings 20:1 KJV — “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.”
The phrase, “sick unto death” is rendered by some Bible translations as, “sick and at the point of death,” “deathly ill,” “mortally ill,” or “sick with a terminal illness” et cetera. But regardless of how well the preacher tried to present this message to King Hezekiah, the king’s illness would be terminal. This message was made more ominous because it was “hand” delivered by the uncompromising prophet Isaiah, God’s mouthpiece.
Sickness or illness, aside from its therapeutic influence of making us more spiritually sensitive after years of carousing and wantonness like that of the prodigal son, is most often the harbinger of death (it signals approaching “death).” And the sound of the word, “death” frightens or makes us feel morbid. The prophet Elisha, however, had an attitude of equanimity towards his illness, “Elisha was in his last illness…,” in fact, King Jehoash saw the impending death as a means of Elisha’s passage into glory — “I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel” ready to usher Elisha home (2 Kgs 13:14 NLT)!
And, contrary to what “the prosperity preachers” (our modern day “450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah,” 1 Kgs 18:19) would have us believe that Christians are supposed to have a “pain-free life” especially, when one “sow a seed” of either the “almighty” British pound or the American dollars or Euros with a resounding thud in their offering plates, no where did we read the prophet Elisha asking God for a life extender or bemoaning his illness though his corpse even raised someone up from the dead (2 Kings 13:21). It is typological of God’s manifestation in human form, Jesus Christ whose resurrected body has been raising up those who were “dead in trespasses and sin” (Eph 2:1).
The problem is our culture has bequeathed to us a warped view of death. When someone dies in his or her sleep, we say the person died a sweet death, but if it was caused by an illness or an accident, we say, he or she died a horrible death. But the person is dead, and has no more concern or memory of the how and why. We human beings are really a funny bunch with our thwarted systems of self-evaluation.
Hezekiah was one of the privileged few in the Bible to whom God said, it is time to leave the earthly stage, “set your house in order,” that is, appoint an executor to manage your estate, give your final instructions to your household. Here is King Hezekiah’s final chance to determine what legacy he would leave behind.
This is the time to seek forgiveness from those whom you have wronged. It is the time for husbands and wives to be transparent and bring out their secret sins and apologize to one another. It is the time for parents to be humble and vulnerable to their children and admit that sometimes they have treated their children out of selfish motives. It is, also, the time for children to go before their parents and confess their times of willful rebellion, disobedience, and irreverent behaviours.
As the wise woman of Tekoa reminds us, “We are all going to die,” and just as surely as “there is a time to be born” so also is “there a time to die” (2 Sam 14:14 GWT; Eccl 3:2). There is no earthly guarantee or an insurance policy against the day of our death, neither does death discriminates against a particular race or colour or status in life: It happens to all, rich or poor; baby, little child, teenager, young adult, adult, and old people.
Regrettably, rather than Hezekiah saying, “Thank you, Lord, for the heads up and not letting me squander the rest of my life on vanity,” like most of us, he ignored God’s advice to make his will and burial arrangements. His instinct for self-preservation kicked in—the fear of death. He was fixated on the threat to his mortality. So, he prayed to God to extend his life and God did. I do not know of anyone else in the Bible who prayed such a prayer. Hezekiah prayed and cried to God, paraphrasing, “Hoo, hoo, God l don’t want to die yet, you know how l love you…” Pleaaaasssseee, give me some more time to get a really good estate lawyer, then l will be ready to die.” God seemed to say, “Alright, l will give you an extra fifteen years to do what it is you need to do.” But be careful what you pray for as the warning goes.
From Hezekiah’s prayer and God’s response, we learn a vital lesson on the power of prayer and the prayer of power that it is the most potent tool God has given to believers. In fact, prayer is so powerful that we rarely use it. Yet, too powerful that it can become a double-edged sword in our hands. We can pray for what would destroy us and our home as we see happened to Hezekiah.
What happened next was one of the most tragic stories in the Old Testament! Within that “injury time,” that is, the extra fifteen years, Hezekiah gave birth to a son by the name of Manasseh which means “causing to forget” (Gen 41:51). And this child, as his name implies, practically, made the whole nation of Judah to forget about, not only his father’s legacy, but the goodness of the God of Israel! He led them into a time of unprecedented apostasy (1 Kgs 21:26; 2 Kgs 16:3; 21:2, 10, 16; 24:4).
This son, Manasseh, destroyed all the works his father had done for God. He worshipped idols more than any king of Judah and led the people into sin for most of his 52 years reign as king of Judah (2 Chron 33:9). Had Hezekiah simply said, Yes to God and set his house in order, who knows, Judah might have been spared the Babylonian captivity. Although Manasseh later repented, the damage had already been done (2 Chron 20:12-17). He could not undo every evil he had instituted no matter how hard and sincere he later tried. It is one thing to write a sleuth of new executive orders, it is another thing to try to change the people’s hearts which he had no control over. No amounts of sacrifices can replace disobedience.
And now what about those whom Manasseh had led into hell? This is why it is important to know God intimately for yourself and to not yield to peer pressure. Unbeknownst to you, the cool dude that led you into wild parties, introduced you to alcohol and drugs might later repent and become born-again while you are still “stoned” with drugs and on your miserable way to hell. At least, you can sing along with Frank Sinatra in his “My Way” album, “And now the end is here…I did it, I did it my way…”
My message for you today is to set your house in order, but you might say, “this is not for me, at least for now, l do not have a family, or l am too young to get married. Or, at any rate l do not own a house yet and I have no real estate to set in order. Well, let me tell you that everyone of us is a homeowner and property manager. Your body (heart, life) is your house which the Bible says is a temple of God where His Holy Spirit dwells or desires to dwell if you are not yet born again (1 Cor 6:19). Therefore, set your heart in order, repent of your sins, retrain your thoughts, evict illegal tenants of sinful secret habits such as: lies, gossips, anger, hatred, malice, lust, envy, jealousy, greed, gluttony, adultery, to name a few.
Now is the day of salvation, now is the time to evaluate where your life is heading. Now is the time to take stock of your life and open up the barricaded door of your heart so that Christ may come in. He will help you set your house in order through repentance, and wake you up in newness of life through baptism by immersion in water in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins (Acts 2:38). What more? He promised to give you His Spirit to enable you live a new and holy life.
The Bible is unequivocal on the fact that death is a common destiny of humanity, and that there is life after death, where every human being that have ever lived—the good, the bad, and the ugly—shall all be arraigned before the judgment seat of Christ–the Lion of the tribe of Judah who sits enthroned on high in Heaven. “So, what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak” (Heb 2:3 NLT). Furthermore, “If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners” (1 Pet 4:18)? Finally, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31 NIV). You do not want to stand before Christ without setting your house in order and without the mark of His blood and His indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the one Day when baptism in the name of Jesus Christ becomes eternally important. You would wish you had done what the apostles of Jesus Christ commanded on the day of Pentecost to set your house in order, for a lot of people, it would be too late.
My followers, whoever listens to you is listening to me. Anyone who says “No” to you is saying “No” to me. And anyone who says “No” to me is really saying “No” to the one who sent me” (Lk 10:16 CEV).
Let me end with an old Pentecostal chorus,
“Seek the Lord while He is near!
Because there’ll come a day when you want to pray
and God’s not going to be around.
Your prayers won’t be heard.
So, seek the Lord and all of His Word.”
God bless you.