Trembling and Taunting

“The Prince of Darkness grim
We tremble not for him
His rage we can endure
For lo! his doom is sure
One little word shall fell him.”

Martin Luther’s great Reformation hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” recognizes the powerful spiritual warfare faced by all believers. The enemy’s “craft and power are great,” says Luther. Yet this hymn also affirms that there is a God-given means to defeat the enemy.

When Rabshakeh, spokesman for the armies of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, came to offer terms of surrender to Hezekiah and Israel, he unleashed great words of taunting. The might and power of Assyria were foreboding enough that the mocking words carried the force of a real threat. So scary were the words that the envoys of Hezekiah appealed to Rabshakeh to speak in Aramaic so that the soldiers might not understand the predicament before them.

Instead, Rabshakeh became even more vulgar with his proclamations of doom for Jerusalem’s residents (36:12). His heckling revealed true dangers ahead. But he made a mistake when he mocked the Lord and His power to save Jerusalem.

Unlike his envoys, Hezekiah did not seek to silence the enemy. Rather, he humbled himself in fear before the Lord and His word. He recognized that God is sufficiently able to handle the army of Assyria. God heard his prayer, and by supernatural guidance, Sennacherib’s army pulled away from Jerusalem and Sennacherib met his death.

Both Hezekiah and Martin Luther knew that the Word of the Lord—Jesus, the Word of Life—is more powerful than the attacks of the enemy (see John 1:1; Heb. 4:12). Like Isaiah’s word to Hezekiah, the Word of Truth is the sword against our foe.

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Dr. Timothy Arens, VP and dean of Student Life, has been faithfully serving our students for over three decades. Join us in thanking God for Dr. Arens’s commitment to Moody and the wealth of experience and knowledge he brings to campus.

BY Dr. Eric C. Redmond

Dr. Eric C. Redmond serves as a professor of Bible at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and as associate pastor of adult ministries at Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, Ill. He is married to Pam and they have five children. He is the author of Say It!  Celebrating Expository Preaching in the African American Tradition (Moody Publishers), Where Are All the Brothers? Straight Answers to Men's’ Questions about the Church (Crossway), a commentary on Jonah in the Christ-Centered Exposition Series (B&H Publishers), and a study guide on Ephesians in the Knowing the Bible series (Crossway).