The Prosperity of Righteous Rebellion Text: 2 Kings 18:7-8
Introduction: The Anatomy of a Godly King
We live in an age that is deeply suspicious of authority, and yet simultaneously craves a savior in a suit to fix all our problems. We are allergic to the idea of kings and kingdoms, unless of course the king is a duly elected bureaucrat who promises to deliver us from our responsibilities. But the Scriptures are not embarrassed by kings. The Scriptures are a book about a King, a Kingdom, and the King's royal sons and daughters. And because this is so, God in His wisdom has given us case studies in the Old Testament, portraits of what it looks like when a man fears God and governs well. He has also given us cautionary tales of what happens when they do not.
Hezekiah is one of the bright lights in the long, and often dim, history of Judah's monarchy. He inherited a mess. His father, Ahaz, was a world-class idolater and a political coward. Ahaz had shut the doors of the temple, set up pagan altars on every street corner in Jerusalem, and, in an act of craven political submission, had declared himself the "servant and son" of the king of Assyria. He had made a covenant with death, mortgaging his people's future to a godless empire in exchange for a temporary and illusory security.
Into this disaster steps Hezekiah. And the first thing we are told about him, in the verses preceding our text, is that "he did what was right in the sight of Yahweh." He trusted God. He held fast to God. He obeyed God's commandments. He tore down the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and even broke into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because the people had turned it into an idol. Hezekiah understood that the first duty of a godly ruler is to ensure that God is worshiped rightly. All political reformation begins with liturgical reformation. All national restoration begins with true worship.
Our text this morning is the direct result of that foundational piety. What we see in these two verses is the fruit of Hezekiah's faithfulness. And what is that fruit? It is prosperity, victory, and liberty. It is a portrait of what happens when a leader understands that his primary allegiance is not to a foreign potentate, or to the polls, or to pragmatism, but to the living God. This is not just ancient history; it is a timeless lesson in the grammar of godly government.
The Text
And Yahweh was with him; wherever he went he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
(2 Kings 18:7-8)
The Foundation of All Success (v. 7a)
The first clause of verse 7 is the bedrock upon which everything else is built.
"And Yahweh was with him; wherever he went he prospered." (2 Kings 18:7)
This is the great theme of covenantal blessing. "Yahweh was with him." This is the same thing that was said of Joseph in Potiphar's house and in prison. It was said of David as he faced Goliath. It is the promise of Immanuel, God with us. This is not a sentimental platitude. It is the central engine of history. When God is with a man, or a family, or a nation, things happen. When He is not, they do not. It is as simple as that.
And the direct consequence of God's presence is prosperity. "Wherever he went he prospered." We must be careful here. Our generation has been poisoned by two opposite errors. On the one hand, we have the health-and-wealth gospel, which treats God like a cosmic vending machine. You put in your tithe and your faith, and God is obligated to spit out a Lexus. This is a reductionistic, transactional heresy. On the other hand, you have a sort of pious Gnosticism that is suspicious of any earthly, tangible blessing, as though poverty and failure were automatic marks of holiness. This is also a falsehood.
The Bible teaches what we might call Deuteronomic blessing. God told Israel that if they obeyed His covenant, He would bless their basket and their kneading bowl, their flocks and their fields. He promised them victory over their enemies and influence among the nations. Faithfulness, in the biblical economy, begets prosperity. The great danger, as Deuteronomy warns, is that the daughter often devours the mother. Prosperity leads to pride, pride leads to forgetting God, and forgetting God leads to judgment. But the blessing itself is not the problem; our sinful hearts are the problem. Hezekiah's prosperity was not the result of a clever economic plan. It was the direct result of his prior spiritual reformation. He sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things were added unto him.
Righteous Insurrection (v. 7b)
The first and most dramatic evidence of Hezekiah's prosperity is a courageous act of political defiance.
"And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him." (2 Kings 18:7)
This was not a rash decision. Assyria was the undisputed superpower of the day. They were a brutal, merciless empire known for flaying their enemies alive and making pyramids of their skulls. To rebel against Assyria was to invite annihilation. And remember, Hezekiah's own father, Ahaz, had willingly entered into this vassal relationship. He had run to Assyria for help, saying, "I am your servant and your son" (2 Kings 16:7). Hezekiah, by this act, repudiates his father's covenant with the pagan empire. He was declaring that Judah had only one Father, and one King, and it was not Sennacherib.
This was a righteous rebellion. We are taught in Romans 13 to submit to the governing authorities, for they are established by God. But what happens when the governing authority commands what God forbids, or forbids what God commands? What happens when the state sets itself up as God? In such instances, rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. Hezekiah's father had bound Judah in an unholy alliance that compromised their worship and their loyalty to Yahweh. Hezekiah's rebellion was not anarchy; it was the reassertion of a higher allegiance. He was refusing to bow to a lesser king in the name of the High King of Heaven.
This is a profoundly important principle. All earthly authority is delegated authority. God gives authority to parents, to employers, and to civil magistrates for particular ends. When they use that authority to command wickedness, they are acting outside the scope of their God-given charter. At that point, they cease to be legitimate ministers of God and become usurpers. Hezekiah understood this. His defiance of Assyria was not just a political act; it was a theological statement. It was an act of faith, trusting that the God who was "with him" was greater than all the armies of Assyria.
Extending the Kingdom's Borders (v. 8)
Hezekiah's faithfulness did not stop with internal reformation and external defiance. It overflowed into decisive, victorious action.
"He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city." (2 Kings 18:8)
This was not an act of imperialistic aggression. The Philistines were ancient enemies of God's people who had taken advantage of Judah's weakness under Ahaz to seize territory (2 Chron. 28:18). Hezekiah is now going on the offensive. He is reclaiming what was lost. He is pushing back the borders of chaos and extending the borders of God's ordered kingdom. A faithful king does not just play defense. He takes dominion.
The description of his victory is comprehensive: "from watchtower to fortified city." A watchtower was the smallest, most remote military outpost. A fortified city was the strongest center of enemy power. The meaning is clear: Hezekiah's victory was total. He cleared the entire region, from the smallest settlement to the largest fortress. This is what happens when God is with a leader. He doesn't do things by halves.
This is a picture of the Christian life and the mission of the Church. We are not called to huddle in a defensive crouch, hoping the world leaves us alone. We are called to go on the offensive. We are to strike against the works of darkness, to reclaim territory for King Jesus, from the smallest watchtowers of private sin and unbelief to the fortified cities of corrupt institutions and rebellious cultures. The gospel is a declaration of war against the Philistines of this world, and we are promised that the gates of Hell itself will not withstand our assault.
Conclusion: The Greater Hezekiah
The story of Hezekiah is a glorious one, but it is ultimately a signpost. Hezekiah was a good king, but he was not a perfect king. Later in his life, he would fall into pride, and his kingdom would eventually fall. His story, like all the Old Testament stories, is meant to make us long for the true and better King.
Jesus Christ is the greater Hezekiah. He came into a world that was in bondage to a tyrannical ruler, the prince of the power of the air. He inherited a people who were in an unholy covenant with sin and death. And what did He do? He did perfectly what was right in the sight of the Lord.
And Yahweh was with Him. At His baptism, the Father declared, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." And because God was with Him, wherever He went, He prospered. He prospered in His teaching, in His miracles, and ultimately, in His work on the cross.
He led the ultimate rebellion. On the cross, He rebelled against the king of Assyria, that ancient serpent, Satan. He refused to serve him, and through His death and resurrection, He broke the tyrant's power forever. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Col. 2:15).
And He struck the Philistines. He launched an offensive against the kingdom of darkness, and He is victorious from the smallest watchtower to the most fortified city. He is reclaiming all things for Himself. He is extending the borders of His kingdom, and He has commissioned us, His church, to be His army. The promise to Hezekiah is our promise: If we are faithful, if we tear down the idols in our hearts and in our land, if we refuse to bow to the tyrants of this age, then Yahweh will be with us. And wherever we go, we will prosper, not for our own glory, but for the glory of the greater Hezekiah, King Jesus, who reigns forever and ever.