Jesus Appears to His Disciples
(Matthew 28.16-20; Mark 16.14-18; Luke 24.36-49)

John 20 ¹⁹It was late that Sunday evening, and the disciples were gathered together behind locked doors, because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Then Jesus came and stood among them. "Peace be with you," he said. ²⁰After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy at seeing the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I send you." ²²Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive people's sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Jesus and Thomas

²⁴One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (called the Twin), was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
²⁶A week later the disciples were together again indoors, and Thomas was with them. The doors were locked, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands; then reach out your hand and put it in my side. Stop your doubting, and believe!"
²⁸Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
²⁹Jesus said to him, "Do you believe because you see me? How happy are those who believe without seeing me!"

The Purpose of This Book

³⁰In his disciples' presence Jesus performed many other miracles which are not written down in this book. ³¹But these have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life.

The Assyrians Threaten Jerusalem
(2 Kings 18.13-37; 19.14 -19, 35 -37; Isaiah 36.1-22; 37.8 -38)

2 Chronicles 32 After these events, in which King Hezekiah served the LORD faithfully, Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, invaded Judah. He besieged the fortified cities and gave orders for his army to break their way through the walls. ²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib intended to attack Jerusalem also, ^3-4he and his officials decided to cut off the supply of water outside the city in order to keep the Assyrians from having any water when they got near Jerusalem. The officials led a large number of people out and stopped up all the springs, so that no more water flowed out of them. ⁵The king strengthened the city's defenses by repairing the wall, building towers on it, and building an outer wall. In addition, he repaired the defenses built on the land that was filled in on the east side of the old part of Jerusalem. He also had a large number of spears and shields made. ⁶He placed all the men in the city under the command of army officers and had them assemble in the open square at the city gate. He said to them, ⁷"Be determined and confident, and don't be afraid of the Assyrian emperor or of the army he is leading. We have more power on our side than he has on his. ⁸He has human power, but we have the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles." The people were encouraged by these words of their king.
⁹Some time later, while Sennacherib and his army were still at Lachish, he sent the following message to Hezekiah and the people of Judah who were with him in Jerusalem: ¹⁰"I, Sennacherib, Emperor of Assyria, ask what gives you people the confidence to remain in Jerusalem under siege. ¹¹Hezekiah tells you that the LORD your God will save you from our power, but Hezekiah is deceiving you and will let you die of hunger and thirst. ¹²He is the one who destroyed the LORD's shrines and altars and then told the people of Judah and Jerusalem to worship and burn incense at one altar only. ¹³Don't you know what my ancestors and I have done to the people of other nations? Did the gods of any other nation save their people from the emperor of Assyria? ¹⁴When did any of the gods of all those countries ever save their country from us? Then what makes you think that your god can save you? ¹⁵Now don't let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like that. Don't believe him! No god of any nation has ever been able to save his people from any Assyrian emperor. So certainly this god of yours can't save you!"
¹⁶The Assyrian officials said even worse things about the LORD God and Hezekiah, the LORD's servant. ¹⁷The letter that the emperor wrote defied the LORD, the God of Israel. It said, "The gods of the nations have not saved their people from my power, and neither will Hezekiah's god save his people from me." ¹⁸The officials shouted this in Hebrew in order to frighten and discourage the people of Jerusalem who were on the city wall, so that it would be easier to capture the city. ¹⁹They talked about the God of Jerusalem in the same way that they talked about the gods of the other peoples, idols made by human hands.
²⁰Then King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed to God and cried out to him for help. ²¹The LORD sent an angel that killed the soldiers and officers of the Assyrian army. So the emperor went back to Assyria disgraced. One day when he was in the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him with their swords.
²²In this way the LORD rescued King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the power of Sennacherib, the emperor of Assyria, and also from their other enemies. He let the people live in peace with all the neighboring countries. ²³Many people came to Jerusalem, bringing offerings to the LORD and gifts to Hezekiah, so that from then on all the nations held Hezekiah in honor.

Hezekiah's Illness and Pride
(2 Kings 20.1-3, 12-19; Isaiah 38.1-3; 39.1-8)

²⁴About this time King Hezekiah became sick and almost died. He prayed, and the LORD gave him a sign that he would recover. ²⁵But Hezekiah was too proud to show gratitude for what the LORD had done for him, and Judah and Jerusalem suffered for it. ²⁶Finally, however, Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem humbled themselves, and so the LORD did not punish the people until after Hezekiah's death.

Hezekiah's Wealth and Splendor

²⁷King Hezekiah became very wealthy, and everyone held him in honor. He had storerooms built for his gold, silver, precious stones, spices, shields, and other valuable objects. ²⁸In addition, he had storehouses built for his grain, wine, and olive oil; barns for his cattle; and pens for his sheep. ²⁹Besides all this, God gave him sheep and cattle and so much other wealth that he built many cities. ³⁰It was King Hezekiah who blocked the outlet for Gihon Spring and channeled the water to flow through a tunnel to a point inside the walls of Jerusalem. Hezekiah succeeded in everything he did, ³¹and even when the Babylonian ambassadors came to inquire about the unusual event that had happened in the land, God let Hezekiah go his own way only in order to test his character.

The End of Hezekiah's Reign
(2 Kings 20.20, 21)

³²Everything else that King Hezekiah did and his devotion to the LORD are recorded in The Vision of the Prophet Isaiah Son of Amoz and in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ³³Hezekiah died and was buried in the upper section of the royal tombs. All the people of Judah and Jerusalem paid him great honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.

A Cry for Help

Psalm 88 LORD God, my savior, I cry out all day,
and at night I come before you.
²Hear my prayer;
listen to my cry for help!

³So many troubles have fallen on me
that I am close to death.
⁴I am like all others who are about to die;
all my strength is gone.
⁵I am abandoned among the dead;
I am like the slain lying in their graves,
those you have forgotten completely,
who are beyond your help.
⁶You have thrown me into the depths of the tomb,
into the darkest and deepest pit.
⁷Your anger lies heavy on me,
and I am crushed beneath its waves.

⁸You have caused my friends to abandon me;
you have made me repulsive to them.
I am closed in and cannot escape;
⁹my eyes are weak from suffering.
LORD, every day I call to you
and lift my hands to you in prayer.

¹⁰Do you perform miracles for the dead?
Do they rise up and praise you?
¹¹Is your constant love spoken of in the grave
or your faithfulness in the place of destruction?
¹²Are your miracles seen in that place of darkness
or your goodness in the land of the forgotten?

¹³LORD, I call to you for help;
every morning I pray to you.
¹⁴Why do you reject me, LORD?
Why do you turn away from me?
¹⁵Ever since I was young, I have suffered and been near death;
I am worn out from the burden of your punishments.
¹⁶Your furious anger crushes me;
your terrible attacks destroy me.
¹⁷All day long they surround me like a flood;
they close in on me from every side.
¹⁸You have made even my closest friends abandon me,
and darkness is my only companion.