Trust In Immanuel Series

When Dad and Mom receive the good news that a child is on the way, there’s a few things they’ll do. Paint the baby room. Take a birthing class. And pick names. Dad and Mom might want to choose a name with a family connection, and name the little one after Grandpa or a favourite aunt. Or perhaps they’ll spend hours on a baby name app until they find just the right name. It’s a big decision.

Names are important in Scripture as well. Especially when God reveals one of his names, we need to pay attention. Through his names we come face-to-face with what God is like, his character and his purpose. Most of us only have a couple given names, and maybe also a nickname or two. But God is so glorious that He has many names and titles: He is LORD, He is El Shaddai, He is God Almighty and King and Shepherd.

The same is true for our Saviour Jesus. He doesn’t just have a first, middle, and surname, but He has several dozen names. For example, next week we’ll look at the well-known passage from Isaiah 9:6 about the Messiah, “He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” He has many names because his person is so majestic, and his work is so marvelous.

Today we look at how one of the special names of our Saviour came about, the name “Immanuel.” Why was this name given? What did it mean? And how does this name still bring comfort and strength to us today? I preach to you God’s Word from Isaiah 7:10-17,

God gives fearful Ahaz the sign of Immanuel:

1) the need for this sign

2) the hope in this sign

1) the need for this sign: Did you notice how Isaiah 7 is different from the chapters around it? It’s not ‘pure’ prophecy in the way that we usually think of prophecy, when a person speaks for God about the present situation or future events. There’s some of that here, but it begins with a narrative, a history like we’d find in the books of Samuel or Kings.

Isaiah first tells us what’s going on in the land of Judah: “Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it” (v 1). So why on earth would the people of Israel, Judah’s own cousins and uncles and brothers, be going to war against Jerusalem? And why would they be doing so together with a Gentile and his nation, Rezin king of Syria?

We should keep in mind what was going on in the Middle East at this time. Everyone was feeling the heat from the Assyrians, an aggressive and powerful empire. If a nation stood on its own against Assyria, it’d be helpless—you’d be too small to resist. But just like what happens today among the nations when there is unrest, there’s a rush to make alliances to try and stand together against a threat.

By this time, of course, God’s people were split into two nations: Israel and Judah, each with their own king and capital and army. And the king of Israel, Pekah, had recently made an alliance with Syria, the country just to the north. Syria and Israel want Judah to join with them too. They so badly want them to join, they’re going to twist Judah’s arm: invade and persuade.

They attack, but Rezin and Pekah fail in their attempt. They’re not able to conquer Jerusalem. Still, King Ahaz of Judah—and the people with him—are terrified. Listen to how Isaiah describes the king: “So his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind” (7:2).

Judah is living in a warzone right now, and they fear that another attack is only a matter of time. That’s probably why Isaiah finds Ahaz at the aqueduct in Jerusalem: the king was inspecting the city’s water supply (7:3). He wants to see for himself whether they could withstand a siege. How long could Jerusalem survive with what they had?

Even if they could hold out against Syria and Israel, they knew that the big enemy, the Assyrians, were still keen to take more land for themselves. That’s how life is sometimes: you go from one crisis to the next. At this time, the people of Judah feel very much alone. Who could possibly help them? Who was with them?

But God is gracious. He wants to give reassurance to his anxious people. So He sends Isaiah to visit with Ahaz. And the prophet gives the king this message from God, “Take heed, and be quiet; do not fear or be fainthearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands” (7:4). In short, God says that Pekah and Rezin were nothing to worry about.