A Letter From the Devil

"And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord...and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God" (2 Kings 19:14-16, KJV).

In the Old Testament, we read the story of how King Hezekiah received a letter from the devil. True, it was signed by Sennacherib — but it was sent directly from hell! In Assyrian Sennacherib means "man of sin" (also, "moon-god who multiplies brothers"). He represents Satan, the god of this world, who is determined to create for himself a vast brotherhood of God-haters.

This story is true and recorded for our learning — and it teaches us about a very old trick of the devil: "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Corinthians 10:11).

First, let's take a look at the historical backdrop of this scene. Jerusalem was under siege by the mighty Assyrian army during the time this satanic letter arrived. King Sennacherib and his hosts had carried the 10 tribes of Israel into captivity, as Israel had come under judgment for her immorality, idolatry and apostasy. The Bible says that Israel "sold themselves to do evil" and that the following resulted: "For he rent Israel from the house of David.... For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam...[and] the Lord removed Israel out of his sight.... So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria" (2 Kings 17:17, 21-23).

In this passage, Israel represents the backslidden, sin-saturated, harlot Church of today. It was full of compromise, lust, adultery, homosexuality — sheer pleasure-madness. And just as it is today, the Israelites possessed a form of godliness without power: "And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon...and placed them in the cities of Samaria.... they feared not the Lord" (2 Kings 17:24-25). A gospel of mixture was introduced among their ranks — and it went with them into captivity! "So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images" (2 Kings 17:41).

Today the devil has no need to seduce, harangue or write threatening letters to such a bunch. You see, he already controls this segment of the Church and has placed his very own "angels of light" in the pulpits. He has entrusted to them a lukewarm religion of mixture: just enough tradition combined with a great deal of wickedness.

No, the devil's focus stays on those precious ones who've set their hearts wholly on loving and pleasing the Lord Jesus! In this story, the nation of Judah represents the Lord's remnant Church here on earth. She is the target of Satan because she is under covenant with the Lord and therefore poses a tremendous threat to the kingdom of darkness.

Hezekiah, the king of Judah, was a godly man: "And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.... He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves.... He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him" (2 Kings 18:3-5).

Here is why the "man of sin" was out to destroy Hezekiah — and it is the very same reason Satan will attack you: "He [the king] clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments [obeyed].... And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth" (2 Kings 18:6-7).

"No More Tribute to the Enemy!"

Up to this time Judah was a servant nation to Assyria, which was a form of bondage. Thus the "man of sin" had yet a place in Zion. The king of Assyria taxed Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. "And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord" (2 Kings 18:15-16).

This picture of compromise can be found in God's Church today — a Church walking in fear and intimidation, accommodating worldliness in her midst, afraid to step out boldly and call sin what it is! As Hezekiah did in bowing toward the desires of the "man of sin," the Church today pays tribute to the devil with wicked music, so-called "Christian" entertainment and double standards.

Yet Hezekiah was finally stirred in his heart and said, "No more tribute to the enemy!" This was a type of Holy Ghost awakening, a calling out of a holy remnant people who would not compromise nor fear anymore. The children of Israel had once tried leaning on the arm of flesh by sending for aid from Egypt. But Egypt was no help to them at all! This was now a people — and a leadership — who had cast themselves wholly upon the Lord.

Beloved, please get the big picture: As long as this people paid tribute to the devil they remained unmolested. They had no opposition, no war. But watch what happened when Hezekiah stepped out in faith toward God — when he decided there would be no more appeasing the devil; no more halfway discipleship; no more compromise or worldly ties, regardless of the cost!

The moment you give up on the world and put your life wholly in the hands of the Lord, watch out! All hell will come against you. You will become a target of the devil and will come under siege from the "man of sin." You will be tested severely to see if you really will trust God in all things. Everywhere you look you will see the enemy standing against you.

Satan's Devices Are Arrayed Against Those Who Trust in the Lord.

The Assyrians represent today's "guides to prosperity." The devil will parade his army around your walls — powerful, gorgeous, seemingly successful in all they undertake — and you will feel walled in like a prisoner. "And the king of Assyria sent...Rabshakeh...to king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem" (2 Kings 18:17).

Let's consider Satan's devices against the remnant people, those who have decided to trust all to Him. The first trick of the "man of sin" is to question your commitment to fully trust the Lord. Rabshakeh was the king's ambassador, and his name means "drunken envoy." He mocks the godly with this taunt, "And Rabshakeh said unto them...'What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?.... Now on whom dost thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?'" (2 Kings 18:19-20). The accusation is, "God is not going to get you out of this mess. You are going down. You are in real trouble, and your faith is not going to work!"

Are you in a mess — really deep trouble? Has the devil told you God is not going to rescue you, that your faith is too weak or too little and you are as good as dead? Perhaps you are unemployed right now, and your bills are slowly mounting. You are really scared because it all looks so hopeless.

You hear the devil laugh, "In spite of all your love for Jesus, in spite of giving up the world, in spite of doing the right things and trusting in God, it's not going to work! Not for you! You are destined to fail. You are going to end up broke, hounded by creditors and headed for suicide."

Listen to the devil talk in the Old Testament: "How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants" (Isaiah 36:9). In other words, he says, "What can you do to stop this trouble? How will you make it if you can't even find a job — if you can't even see a month ahead of you, let alone your whole future? How can you possibly survive if there is an army of troubles coming in behind your present ones? Do you really believe God is going to work a miracle for you and get you out of this big mess? Give up. In fact, let's make a deal...."

Now the devil adds a new twist — and tells you that God is the one behind all your troubles, not the devil. He tries to tell you God is getting even with you, that He is mad at you. The enemy's messenger claimed, "The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it" (2 Kings 18:25).

This is the devil's slickest lie. He makes you believe God has forsaken you and turned you over to trouble and sorrow. He wants you to think all your problems are the result of God's punishment for your past sins. But don't believe it — not in this case! Only Satan is out to destroy you.

Our Lord is a deliverer, a fortress. Isaiah said that He is sent "to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified" (Isaiah 61:3).

No, you are not going down! You are simply under attack and are being barraged by the enemy's lies because you've set your heart to truly trust in the Lord. Satan is trying to destroy your faith in God.

Another device Satan will use to intensify his attack on you is by trying to focus your attention on his victories over other Christians. "Hath any of the gods...delivered at all.... Where are the gods...have they delivered?" (2 Kings 18:33-34). Satan will boast, "I am more powerful than your God. I brought down your biggest evangelists and seduced them into gross sin. I turned some of them into money-crazed liars. So what makes you think you can escape my power?"

This is the same voice that came from Assyria: "Who are they among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?" (2 Kings 18:35).

Satan will bring to your mind all the Christians who claimed to be trusting God but who suffered trouble, sickness and even death. He will point out some dear old trusting saint, perhaps an elderly widow, who is always in pain and has so little to live on that she seems crushed by it. He will say, "These people trusted God, and look what it got them! Those fallen televangelists were supposed to be so close to the Lord, and look how they ended up! If preachers can't make it, how can you? What makes you think God is going to answer you when so many spiritual Christians are falling?"

I know of one Pentecostal preacher who fell for this lie of the enemy. It happened one day as he sat in his minister father's tiny mobile home. His dad was over 75 years old and ill, had no savings and was barely getting by financially. He was what used to be known as "preacher poor." This minister told me the devil whispered to him, "See how God pays his faithful shepherds? You will end up poor just like him. He was and is godly — yet he is ending his life in deep poverty."

At that moment the preacher son told himself he would never be poor. A demonic spirit entered him, and from that time on he became a wheeler-dealer, doing all he could to turn a dollar. He got into shady deals. He admitted he was driven by evil spirits. They haunted him every waking hour saying, "You don't have to be poor!"

This man is still in the ministry today, but he is utterly miserable. He is losing money left and right because all his deals eventually turn sour. His dad will probably die poor but happy in the Lord, while he himself will probably leave this earth full of bitterness and unbelief.

Satan Will Try to Make You a Deal!

You see, one of Satan's tricks is to paint a fantastic picture of what your life could be like if you make a deal with him: "Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying, 'The Lord will deliver us'" (2 Kings 18:31-32).

"Make an agreement with me...come out to me," the voice of the devil says. In other words, "There's no need for you to be a nobody, no need for you to suffer unjustly. Just come out of your narrow, straight-laced ways and I will fix things for you! You are going to prosper! I'll give you all the money you need — corn, oil, wine. No more bills. No more 'just making ends meet.' I'll open the bank for you."

Beloved, don't be deceived: Every compromise you make in your walk with Jesus is a "going out" to the devil. You are cutting a deal, making a bargain — and you're selling your soul in the process. What a crooked salesman the devil is! He tells you, "just one little deal and all your problems will be solved. You deserve a break. You have suffered enough and now it's your turn to make it!"

"I [will] come and take you away to a land like your own land" (verse 32). He says, in other words, "You can take God with you! You will have to make some changes, but you will still be you. It won't hurt anything. You can have it all — Jesus and a deal."

Yet if you buy into this lie you will be the devil's slave from then on. There is no land of wine and oil or paradise as he promised. The minute you come out to him he will slap chains around your neck and hands and lead you off to Babylon. You will never get what you thought you'd get. Instead, you'll get the whip and chain, broken promises and despair! You'll get a taskmaster, a slave driver, for a father. The satisfying water he promised you is actually poisoned. Here is the real truth about compromise: It will get you a stay in the Betty Ford Hospital. It will get you the fate of Elvis Presley or John Lennon, who spent the last five years of his life stoned. You will live under complete bondage, a slave to the devil and his whims.

A Letter From the Devil

Finally, as a last resort, Satan will send you a threatening letter! "And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord" (2 Kings 19:14).

The messenger who delivered the letter was the devil's envoy. It was a letter of reproach to the living God, designed to make God's people fearful. It was the incarnation of the devil's laugh, as he mocked them and said, "I am going to cut you down, make you a reproach and destroy everything in your house."

Have you received your own letter from the devil? Those divorce papers you received was Satan saying to you, "Read it, Failure! What good does it do to serve God and deny yourself? It didn't save your marriage. It's all your fault. It could have been avoided. Phony! Failure! Give it all up!"

That pink slip on the job was also from the devil. "So that's what you get when you follow Jesus, huh? A swift kick? Nobody wants you. You're too old, too much of a has-been.

You're going down, you'll lose everything you have. You won't have any rent money or be able to care for your family. You're finished!"

Or what about that letter from an attorney? "Pay up now or face criminal charges. Your time is up." It is a letter of shame and reproach to try to make you fearful and alarmed.

And what about that X-ray? There it is in black and white: You have a terminal disease. AIDS! Cancer! Lupus! It's hopeless. And Satan says, "So you believe Jesus heals, do you? Well, where is he now? Why do you still have to suffer? Where is your God? You give Him everything and look what happens. He gives you nothing but continued suffering."

A dear businessman friend of mine recently got a letter from the devil. It was an accountant's report showing that a trusted employee had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from his company. These were the devil's words to him: "Read my lips. It does not pay to be righteous. So this is what you get for giving to the Lord? You pray, you give, you walk the straight and narrow way — and you end up getting embezzled. Ha! Some deal! Why don't you give it all up?"

So what do you do when you're confronted with a message from the devil? First, spread the enemy's letter out before the Lord, as Hezekiah did: "And Hezekiah...spread it before the Lord...and Hezekiah prayed" (2 Kings 19:14-15).

Pray and seek the Lord. Don't ever talk or reason with the devil. Simply hold your peace, as the people in this passage did: "But the people held their peace, and answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was, saying, 'Answer him not'" (2 Kings 18:36).

You see, God read this letter and laughed! "The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee" (2 Kings 19:21). God took the letter personally. He said, "Devil, you didn't send that letter to My child. You sent it to Me!" "Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? And against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel" (2 Kings 19:22).

He who touches you touches the apple of God's eye. God says His loved ones are safe and that the devil can't harm them: "He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.... For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake" (2 Kings 19:32, 34).

Saints, no matter how many demons invade, no matter how the kingdom of darkness threatens, the Church is safe. Let it sink deep into your heart of hearts: You are safe. The Lord is set to defend and deliver you!

You see, it only takes one angel to destroy an entire army of demons: "And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses" (2 Kings 19:35). "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them" (Psalm 34:7).

The Lord Has Sent His Own Letter to the Devil!

The Lord has written His own letter to the devil in Psalm 46. And it is so powerful that when you read it aloud, all the demons in hell will shudder and cringe in fear!

Attention, Man of Sin:

"God is...a very present help in trouble" (verse 1). Our God is present now. He is our help not just in ages past but a very present help now, today — in the midst of any and all troubles!

"Therefore we will not fear" (verse 2). We have no need to fear. Our God is a consuming fire, a defender and shield for His children. Second Timothy 1:7 tells us that "(He) hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." He is altogether faithful and true to His Word.

"God is in the midst of this temple, I cannot be moved" (verse 5). My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and He says in this verse that He is in the midst of that temple! Christ Himself makes his abode, His dwelling place, within my heart, and I will not — in fact, this verse says cannot — be moved or shaken!

"The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved" (verse 6). Go ahead — let the heathen rage! Let all the kingdoms of the earth be shaken and moved. Our God will completely destroy all demonic attackers.

"He maketh wars to cease...he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear...he burneth the chariot in fire" (verse 9). He is my army against my enemies, against those who make war against me. And He Himself will completely annihilate all the devil’s weapons arrayed against me! "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17).

"Be still, and know that I am God" (verse 10). I will be still and rest completely in the knowledge that He is God. Not only that, but He is my God, my Redeemer, my Defender — the sovereign Lord over all my affairs. I am safe, surrounded by His presence in the pavilion of His love — and I shall stand firm and behold His majesty and glory!