A God Different from All Others

Readings:
II Kings 18
John 20:1-18

Focus:
II Kings 18:35:"Among all the gods of the nations, is there one who saved his land from me? So how is the Lord to save Jerusalem?"
John 20:17b:"Go to my brothers, and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

The king of Assyria had already conquered many Middle Eastern countries, among them the kingdom of Israel. Now the Assyrians were besieging Judah, and the king of Assyria sent an intimidating message to be read in Hebrew, the language of the common people, before their city walls. He scorned the God of the Judahites, saying that this God was no better than the gods of any of the other peoples he had conquered, and that he would conquer them as he had conquered the others.

But the king of Assyria did not know that this time, he was facing a real god. With the exception of the kingdom of Israel, the other kingdoms he had conquered had worshipped false idols made of wood, metal, and stone. In Judah, however, the god that was worshipped was the living God. And this God had power that the king of Assyria had not even dreamed of.

This God had so much power that he could come himself in the form of a little baby, taking upon himself human flesh, and grow into a man, and then die a painful, humiliating death, in order to take upon himself the punishment for every human being's sins. And then after that, this God had so much power that he could rise from the dead.

This is a God that we can give our whole hearts, our whole lives to.