We who know God should faithfully tell His truth to others.

The 38th chapter of Isaiah is Hezekiah’s thanksgiving to the LORD for extending his life for fifteen years.  Verses 9-20 are his poem of thanks.  As we read his thoughts, we see that he did not wholly understand life with the LORD after death.  Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead yet, and what He taught us about life after death hadn’t been written in the Old Testament.  Hezekiah understood what is possible only while we are living.

“The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day.”
Because he didn’t understand his future with the Lord in heaven, Hezekiah speaks of what the living can do.  He is emphasizing that “the living” are the ones who can praise the Lord.  And as long as Hezekiah is alive, he will faithfully praise God.  What had God done for him?

“Hezekiah was grateful that God restored him to health.  After the experience, he could see that it was really for his benefit that it happened (v. 17; cf. Romans 8:28).  He sensed for one thing that God’s love was with him and that God did not punish him in accord with what his sins deserved.  When he said that those who are dead cannot praise the Lord (Isaiah 38:18), he was not denying life after death.  He was simply noting that in death, one’s activities on earth are stopped and that one’s service on earth for God terminates …” [1] (BKC).

David had the same thoughts about death, thinking the dead can no longer praise Him.

“What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?  Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?” (Psalm 30:9).

Jesus changed the dynamic of life after death when He died and rose again! PTL!

“The father to the children shall make known thy truth.”
Hezekiah’s attitude is excellent, and we need to mimic it.  With the extra time God had given him, he was faithful in teaching the next generation of God and His goodness.

“…Hezekiah affirmed that while he was still alive, he would proclaim the Lord’s faithfulness (Isaiah 38:19).  Because the Lord healed him, the king said he would sing to the Lord in the temple. [2]

Believers, what does this mean for you and me?  We are alive and looking for our best days with the Lord in heaven.  But, while we are here, we have a job to do for the Lord.  We can tell others, the saved and the lost, of God’s kindnesses in our lives.  And we can be witnesses to the unevangelized of Jesus’ Gospel.

“The living can praise God, and they can share that praise with the following generations” [3] (CSB).

“Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.  For this God is our God forever and ever:  he will be our guide even unto death” (Psalm 48:13-14).

“O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.  Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not; until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to everyone that is to come” (Psalm 71:17-18).

“I will open my mouth in a parable:  I will utter dark sayings of old:  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done” (Psalm 78:2-4).

Let’s be faithful to love the Lord and honor Him by teaching the next generations about His goodness and glory!

Quote:  David, speaking to God.  “Lord GOD, you are God, and I can trust what you say.  And you said that these good things would happen to me, your servant” (2 Samuel 7:28, [4] HSB).

[1] BKC, John A. Martin, “Isaiah,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1090.
[2] BKC, ibid.
[3] CSB, Tremper Longman III, “Isaiah,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1097.
[4] HSB is the Harvest Study Bible from Harvest Ministries in Guam.