Immanuel The Redeemer Series

Isaiah 8:1-10 Immanuel the Redeemer

1/21/01e D. Marion Clark

Introduction

Here is an idea for the 34th Street wall. It will take up four panels, preferably the first four on the north side. Each panel would contain one word: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. Then skip down to the last panel of the wall and write Immanuel! The whole wall would then convey the message of our passage, and in one sense, of all redemptive history.

Text

We can divide our text into three sections based on the people who are being attacked by enemies: Damascus and Samaria-Israel, then Judah, then the Church. Let’s look at the first section.

The LORD said to me, “Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 2 And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me.”

3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, “Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4 Before the boy knows how to say ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”

Israel

Does God know how to name a baby or what! Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. I bet he knew when he was in trouble. You know how parents will say the child’s full name: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, come here!

If life wasn’t bad enough for him, he had to have his name displayed much in the same manner I spoke of on the 34th Street wall.

The large scroll was probably a large tablet to be set up on public display. Uriah and Zechariah were to serve as “reliable witnesses,” men that the people who trust and who could vouch that the prophecy belonged to Isaiah.

To make matters worse for the kid, his name meant “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil.”

- Other kids get names like “God will save,” which t meaning of Isaiah’s name,

- or “a remnant will return,” the meaning of his brother’s name, Shear-Jashub.

- Maher’s name signified destruction.

That was the message for Israel and Damascus.

- They would be destroyed by Assyria in the time it would take for the boy to spk.

Judah

Attention is then given to Judah.

5 The LORD spoke to me again:

6 “Because this people has rejected

the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoices over Rezin

and the son of Remaliah,

7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them

the mighty floodwaters of the River—

the king of Assyria with all his pomp.

It will overflow all its channels,

run over all its banks

8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,

passing through it and reaching up to the neck.

Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,

O Immanuel!”

So verses 1-4 contain a prophecy that applies to the destruction of Israel and Damascus.

- Verses 5-8 speaks of what will happen to Judah.

- She will not be destroyed, through she will face ruin.

Verse 6 gives the reason for the ruin.

- t gently flowg waters of Shiloah is a stream that breaks off of t Jordn & feeds Jer

- Shiloah represents the protection and nurture of the Lord.

By rejoices over Rezin (king of Damascus) and the son of Remaliah (king of Israel)

- Isaiah refers to how Judah rejoices over their destruction.

- Putting the whole verse together, we have image of Judah, represented by Ahaz,

- mocking the downfall of these two enemies by Assyria,

- thinkg she outsmartd those nations by makg allegi w that pagan conquerr

- Her sin is pride and rebellion, which typically go hand in hand.

What is going to happen? Her political “partner” is going to devastate her.

- Assyria never conquers Jer, but she does devastate the land up to the capital,

- and for the most part, the rest of Judah’s kings survive

- by paying a burdensome tribute to Assyria’s king.

- The only way that Judah ever gets out of Assyria’s yoke

- is through Assyria’s own downfall and the rise of another empire,

- Babylon, who takes over subjecting Judah to be a vassal nation. Thus,

7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them

the mighty floodwaters of the River—

the king of Assyria with all his pomp.

It will overflow all its channels,

run over all its banks

8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,

passing through it and reaching up to the neck.

Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,

O Immanuel!”

Notice how the prophecy now is addressed to an individual, the child spoken of in 7:14.

- The land of Judah is your land.

- What awaits Immanuel, when he comes, is an empty kingdom.