What do the 2022 College Football National Championship and the end of King Hezekiah’s reign during biblical times have in common? Cracks in a strong facade.
It was the 2022 College Football season, and Texas Christian University won big games all year and entered the playoffs as underdogs. TCU pulled off an impressive victory (51–45) in the first round of the playoffs and advanced to the National Championship game against Georgia. Unfortunately, their hidden weaknesses were exposed in an embarrassing 65–7 loss. What looked like a mighty team suddenly showed deep cracks when faced with a stronger opponent.
Hezekiah’s story is no different. For much of his life, Hezekiah saw impressive victories, leading to one of the greatest spiritual renewals in generations. And when the king of Assyria invaded Jerusalem, Hezekiah was the clear underdog. His enemies mocked and urged him to abandon the Lord, but he stood firm in trust, and God delivered him.
Unfortunately, a greater and more dangerous enemy still awaited within Hezekiah—his pride.
Pride is a hidden enemy, on the prowl to destroy us. We’re often unaware of it and may try to avoid admitting it’s there. But as cracks form in the foundation of our lives, it becomes clear that pride has been there all along.
When Hezekiah became sick, the Lord healed him. How does Hezekiah respond? 2 Chronicles 32:25 says he “did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud.”
Even though Hezekiah had just seen God deliver him from Assyria, his sense of entitlement kept him from the only appropriate response to being delivered from his illness: gratitude and worship.
Our pride will inevitably do the same thing in us. How do I know? Because you and I share the same seed of entitlement as Hezekiah. Does your worship feel stale? Do you have a hard time genuinely being grateful for God’s daily mercy in your life? Do the promises of the gospel feel more like old news than good news? Are there times when you’re frustrated with God because you feel like you’ve held up your end of the deal, but He hasn’t seemed to hold up His?
These are just symptoms of a greater disease. Hezekiah knew it. And if you’re honest, you know it, too.
The cracks of pride continue to show in 2 Chronicles 32:27–29:
“And Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made for himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of costly vessels; storehouses also for the yield of grain, wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of cattle, and sheepfolds. He likewise provided cities or himself, and flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great possessions.” (emphasis added)
What’s the repeating phrase here? He made things “for himself.” Pride shows itself when we orient our lives around ourselves, becoming increasingly self-focused. Like a toddler, life becomes about me, myself, and I. As that happens, we lose sight of the One to whom all honor is due.
Near the end of Hezekiah’s life, representatives from Babylon came to Jerusalem. God uses this opportunity to test what is in Hezekiah’s heart. Sadly, Hezekiah failed the test, showing off all his accumulated wealth to impress the Babylonians.
Isaiah the prophet tells Hezekiah that all his wealth will be taken from him and carried off to Babylon (Isaiah 39:6–7). Ironically, the thing Hezekiah believed was truly his and used to glorify himself was the thing he ultimately lost.
We’re not too different from Hezekiah. The cracks are in all of us. We may know how to hide them well, but eventually our lives will reveal the pride that’s living, breathing, and fueling our entitlement, selfish ambition, and self-glory.
Despite the inevitability of pride’s demise, we have hope in a greater King than Hezekiah: One who, in our sickness, took on our illness. This King, though He was rich, became poor for us to give us His true riches. This King gave up His glory, only to humbly give it to us. So, how does this King kill our pride?
Our King Jesus healed us of a far greater sickness, leading us to genuine worship and gratitude.
God healed Hezekiah of a physical sickness, yet ours is far worse. The Apostle Paul described it in Ephesians 2:1:
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.”
We weren’t just sick—we were dead. And we couldn’t do anything about it. But Peter describes the only solution in 1 Peter 2:24:
“He [Jesus] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
Instead of being like Hezekiah and letting God’s healing simply roll off our backs, let the depth of Jesus’ sacrifice and your healing through His wounds kill your entitlement and lead you to gratitude and worship.
Our King Jesus took on our poverty to give us true riches, leading us to live for Him.
It’s clear that Hezekiah had been made rich by God (2 Chronicles 32:29), but we have been given greater riches. Paul says in Ephesians 1:7–8:
“In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.”
Our debt was far greater than we realize, and it cost God everything to pay it. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says:
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
When we trust that God became poor so we could become rich, our selfish ambition begins to melt away. It is only then that we can truly honor and praise God for the abundance of His riches and mercy toward us.
Our King Jesus humbly gave up His glory to give it to us, leading us to live for a greater glory.
Finally, while Hezekiah’s pride led him to live for his own glory, our King Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).
It was only through humbly letting go of what was rightfully His and dying on the cross for our sins that we can receive the glory that we all long for. Romans 8:30 says:
“and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
The amazing news is that we have a greater glory coming than Hezekiah could ever have imagined when he proudly showed off his storehouses to the representatives from Babylon. Our future glory will come from our King Jesus, who gave up His glory so we could have His forever.
Let’s let our King’s wounds, poverty, and humility kill the greatest enemy that lives inside us all and take hold of the new and better life He offers us.
Want to dive deeper? Check out our sermon series guide on Kings of Judah, or watch the most recent sermon from our Kings of Judah sermon series.
