Jesus, Filling Up Israel's Gaps (Isaiah 7) Series

Today marks an expected rabbit trail off our rabbit trail. I'm going to try to introduce you to one of the most complicated subjects in all of biblical study-- the way the NT uses the OT. And then next week, we will inch our way back closer to the rabbit trail I'd planned on taking.

When we read the NT, we find regular mentions of the OT. On almost every page, we read direct quotations of OT verses. We hear about OT stories, and events, and people. And we maybe also notice less obvious allusions to the OT. We read something, and feel like it's echoing the OT in some way. There are many links between the OT and the NT, and the question is, what is the relationship between them?

Most Christians work with a really simple understanding of how the NT uses the OT. They tend to hold to five assumptions:

(1) That the OT often "predicts" something that happens in the NT. It "foretells" what God will do later. So, for example, Micah 5 predicts that a ruler will be born in Bethlehem. Joel 2 predicts the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit comes upon all people. Ezekiel 37:24-28 predicts that God will send another David to be king over God's people, who will be their prince forever. So when we read the OT, what we often find we are looking for, is places where the OT "predicts" the NT, and where the NT "fulfills" the OT.

(2) That the connections we find between the OT are direct.

(3) That the connections are straightforward.

(4) That the connections are exclusive (I'm pretty sure this language about "exclusive and exhaustive" is from H.G.M. Williamson, Variations on a Theme). One OT passage has one future reference, and one NT meaning. It doesn't really have anything to do with the OT. It has only one thing to do with the NT.

(5) That the connections are exhaustive. One OT passage is completely fulfilled by one NT event.

My guess is that many of you have sensed that there are problems with these assumptions. There's some part of you that's figured out along the way that things are a bit more complicated. But you haven't known what do with this sense, and when you find yourself feeling nervous, and uncomfortable, and uncertain, again, my guess is that you tend to squash those feelings because you can feel it turning into something that shakes your faith. And I would say, it's not actually shaking your faith in God. What it's shaking, is your understanding of the Bible, and Christianity. And that's an unpleasant, unsettling thing.

Now, there's one passage in particular where I think many of you have felt this, and I'm scared to even tackle it.

But I've put on my brave hat this morning, and we're going to just go for it. Let's turn to Isaiah 7. It's a story about a scared Israelite king named Ahaz. Ahaz lives under the shadow of the Assyrian empire, which is on the verge of becoming the world's first superpower. A bunch of little kings are banding together to try to stand as one against Assyria, and King Ahaz is in the way. Normally today, in that situation, we'd expect a shadowy three letter government organization to lead a coup against Israel to fix that problem and install a new puppet king. But back in the old days, you'd show up on that king's doorstep with a threat: either join us, or get conquered, and replaced.

So that's happening, and God sends the prophet Isaiah to reassure Ahaz that God has his back. That's our story, in a nutshell. So let's just read it, and as I read, ask yourself, "When will these events happen?" I'll read for now through verse 17 (NRSV updated no reason).

7 In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel went up to attack Jerusalem but could not conquer it. 2 When the house of David heard that Aram had allied itself with Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz[a] and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub,[b] at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the fuller’s field, 4 and say to him: Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Aram—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—has plotted evil against you, saying, 6 ‘Let us go up against Judah and terrify it[c] and conquer it for ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king in it’; 7 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: