Hezekiah is one of my favorite people in the Bible. Second Kings 18:5 says, "There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him." Hezekiah was the son of Ahaz and was king of Judah. At this time the children of Israel were divided into two kingdoms, Judah and Israel.

According to Second Chronicles, the very first thing Hezekiah did when he became king was to open the doors to the Temple and have them repaired. He then instructed the priests and Levites to consecrate themselves and the Temple. Passover is celebrated in the first month. In this case neither the priests nor the Temple was consecrated in time for the Holy Day. King Hezekiah decided to celebrate Passover in the second month and the Lord approved.

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah's reign, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked the cities of Judah. Sennacherib, in his arrogance, sent a letter to Hezekiah telling him to surrender because his god was no different than the gods of all the cities that Sennacherib had conquered. Hezekiah took the letter to the Temple and "spread it out". It was probably in scroll form.

Hezekiah said, in effect, "Lord, did you see this?" Of course, the all-knowing Creator knew what was in the letter. The prayer of King Hezekiah is found in Second Kings 19:15-19. His prayer concludes with, "Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God."

Hezekiah did not ask the Lord to protect himself and the people of Jerusalem. He asked the Lord to defeat the arrogant Sennacherib for the sake of the Name of the Lord, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that He alone is God. Hezekiah prayed that the honor and victory would go to the Lord. That night an angel struck 185,000 men of the Assyrian army with death. Sennacherib went home in utter humiliation.

During the time of the Tribulation many terrible events are described as occurring in Israel and Jerusalem. We tend to think that because the Lord has chosen the Jews that they will be supernaturally protected during the Tribulation. Some will be protected, but many will die. (Zechariah 14:2, Revelation 11:13). We must remember the purpose of the events described in the Revelation is to bring final and ultimate victory to the Lord, that His Holy Name will be honored forever.

A similar situation occurred when Moses was on the mount receiving the law and the children of Israel were worshiping the golden calf (Exodus 32). The Lord said He would destroy them all and start over with Moses. But Moses pointed out that the Egyptians would say that the Lord brought the people out of Egypt, but could not protect them. Moses reminded the Lord of His promise to Abraham. He wanted the Name of the Lord to have the victory.

We Christians are not important. The Jews are not important. All glory and honor and praise and victory belongs to the Lord.