One of America's favorite holiday songs this time of year is the classic, I'll Be Home for Christmas. The song was originally written during WW II to honor soldiers who longed to be home for the holidays. It's been sung by the likes of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Kelly Clarkson, and most recently, Pentatonix. The lyrics of the song make this promise:
I'll be home for Christmas
You can plan on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents by the tree.
Promises – so easy to make, but so hard to keep.
The world's two most famous promises are promises that are never kept. Do you know what they are? (1) The check is in the mail and … (2) I'll love you in the morning.
Do you know the old saying "Promises were meant to be broken"? The reason why Christmas is "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" is because God keeps His promise.
Each Sunday in the month of December, we are looking at a passage from Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet that makes numerous predictions concerning the coming Messiah. I want to look at three great predictions from the prophet Isaiah. In fact, one Bible scholar calls these "the great trilogy of Messianic predictions," which simply means predictions about the Messiah.
Isaiah 7 predicts how the Messiah is to be born.
Isaiah 9 predicts how the Messiah will bless.
Isaiah 11 predicts how the Messiah will rule.
"Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 "Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." 12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test." 13 And he said, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria" (Isaiah 7:10-17)!
Throughout this series, I want you to listen for these words: Promise made, promise kept. Say these words with me: Promise made, promise kept. When you hear these words, you can draw an arch from the Old Testament to the New Testament. For the Old Testament is the promise made, and the New Testament is the promise kept. You see, when you hear the words of Isaiah, the prophet, you get a sense of a detailed and accurate forecasting of the Coming One.
1. See The Future
I want to introduce biblical prophecy, or biblical predictions, to some of you. One of the biggest predictions is from the prophet Isaiah: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). Isaiah is not alone in clearly and explicitly proclaiming the Messiah ("anointed One") for Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi also make predictions about the
It's a difficult thing to predict the future. I did some digging around in those whose job it is to look into "the crystal ball" in several fields, sports, economics, and politics. And here's what I found. Only two Sports Illustrated experts out of 11 predicted the Dallas Cowboys would make the NFL playoffs this year (they have the best record in the NFL). In the field of American Presidential politics, few people foresaw the election of Donald Trump even days before the election. Economists have failed to accurately predict when interest rates will rise repeatedly. Yes, the practice of forecasting the future is daunting. Who could have predicted in 1940 that a then-unknown colonel in the United States Army, Dwight Eisenhower, would be elected President in 1952? And wouldn't you have loved to be able to predict his future just before he asked you to marry him?
1.1 The Good Judgment Project
In an interesting experiment during the 1990s, Philip Tetlock, a University of Pennsylvania professor, gathered two distinct groups of people together: hundreds of experts on one hand and "ordinary" people, though extremely well-read people on the other. He asked them to try to predict global questions of significance: What will happen to the stock market in the next year? What kind of impact of Middle Eastern politics on oil prices are we going to see in the next six months? What will happen in North Korean politics? Known as the "Good Judgment Project," this experiment showed the predictions of "ordinary" people have often performed better than "the experts." Sometimes these "ordinary but well-read people" were better than intelligence officers who have access to classified data. Yes, it is difficult to predict the future.
1.2 The Bible's Accuracy
But the Bible predicts the future regularly, and few make the sheer number of predictions that Isaiah does. The book of Isaiah contains 111 separate predictions. So if it's hard to predict the future, how does the Bible accomplish this? First, the Bible claims to be the very words of God: On Screen: "All Scripture is breathed out by God …" (2 Timothy 3:16).
Second, God not only knows the future but He controls the future: "I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…'" (Isaiah 46:9b-10). God does not simply know the future in advance, He knows the future as history. The president has political power, the millionaire has financial power, the general has martial power, the scholar has intellectual power, but God has universal power.
Let me show you the first prediction about the Messiah all the way back in the first book of the Bible. You might call it the first Christmas sermon: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). This is the first promise and the first prophecy found in the Bible.
The Bible places a lot of significance on the predictions of the Old Testament. "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as also did your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled" (Acts 3:17-18). How were the earliest believers so sure that Jesus was the Coming One? Peter tells us how: the answer is the predictions of the Old Testament all pointed to Jesus. There are over 300 predictions lying scattered in the Old Testament about the Messiah.
It's important to see how these predictions work in today's text. Watch in the moments to come how the king acts badly when confronted with an accurate forecasting of his own future and his nation's future. President James A. Garfield once said that history is "the unrolled scroll of prophecy." What is your reaction to God's predictions of future events?
2. Live the Faith
Most everyone here has heard of Jesus' virgin birth. The idea of the virgin birth is first recorded in Isaiah. Yet, to know the back-story to God's prediction and miracle, you need to know the story of two men: King Ahaz and the prophet Isaiah.
2.1 King Ahaz
Ahaz was the king of the nation Judah when this prediction was made, and our story happens between 735-715 BC. He was twenty years old when he came into power, and he ruled for 16 years (2 Kings 16:2). Even though he had a godly grandfather and father, Ahaz was an evil king, and he vacillates when he's confronted with God's agenda. He even sacrificed his son as an offering to an idol (2 Kings 16:3). Despite all this, Ahaz's biggest claim to fame is that he is listed in Jesus' family tree in the Gospel of Matthew. Yes, you heard me correct; he's in Jesus' family tree.
2.2 Isaiah
Isaiah is one of history's greatest men. A counselor to kings and a contributor to the Bible itself, Isaiah's Old Testament book is quoted more than any other book in the New Testament, except Psalms. In fact, Jesus chooses a passage from Isaiah's writings to preach His first recorded sermon. There is a remarkable contrast between these two men standing on the outskirts of ancient Jerusalem.
2.3 War Looms
The prediction of the virgin birth is because the King was self-reliant. Verse two describes his emotional state as sharking as the forest shakes with the wind. The year is 732 BC, and an alliance of nations had conspired together and is threatening Ahaz and his tiny nation, Judah. Looming on the horizon is a massive empire to his east, Assyria. And Assyria is huffing and puffing with threats against all the surrounding nations. So Israel (also called Ephraim) to the north had joined with Syria, their combined forces were a defense against Assyria. Yet, they want the collaboration of Judah as well, but King Ahaz is dragging his feet and refusing to join. So Israel and Syria (not Assyria) are threatening to attack Judah, remove Ahaz from his throne, and place a king on the throne who will join their coalition. Ahaz's intelligence reports were telling him that a large mass of troops was gathering just north of him (2 Chronicles 28:17-18). Everyone is panicked, including King Ahaz, for he knew his little country was no match for the bullies threatening him. Now with all of this going on, listen afresh to the prophet's encouraging words to the King: "Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint…" (Isaiah 7:4a).
The King's advisors were telling him to make an alliance with the most powerful nations. Yet, out of God's boundless love, He sends the prophet Isaiah tells the king, "Don't panic!" He compares the nations to burned-out embers like you would see at a campfire, "smoldering stumps." We might say, "They're nothing more than two burned-out cigarette butts!" In other words, Isaiah tells him: "Keep clear of any political alliance, O King for this is more a matter of faith than politics."
Go ahead and highlight the words of the prophet at the end of verse 9: "If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all" (Isaiah 7:9b). Here we see the Importance of Faith The king had only a little faith. Do you know what real faith is? Faith knows God is more real than things immediately in front of us. Faith wants God more than the things immediately in front of us. If we are not firm in our faith, then we are not firm at all. If you don't nail down where your confidence is, you will allow the events of life to sweep you off your feet.
Most of our problems happen just like this: small god, big problems. It's only when God is big that our problems are small. When you lean on God, you have all the help you need. So the Lord speaks to the king through the prophet: "Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: 11 'Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven'" (Isaiah 7:10-11).
2.4 Ask for a Sign
Imagine the possibilities of this for a moment. The king could have asked for the sun to go backward ten degrees or let the moon stop in its tracks. Perhaps they could have asked for the stars to temporarily arrange themselves in the king's favorite geometric pattern. He had an invitation from God Almighty to ask for a sign. Whatever the king needed for confirmation, whatever he needed to shore up his weak faith. Instead, the king pretends humility: "But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test'" (Isaiah 7:12). God has handed the king a blank check, and he has refused to cash it.
Christmas poses a question: Do your trust in the promises of God, or do you choose the path of self-reliance? Will you assume the risk of trusting God even in the areas of life that really matter? "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you" (Isaiah 26:3). Remember, Faith knows God is more real than things in front of us. And, faith wants God more than the things in front of us.
3. Seize the Sign
Isaiah is indignant with the king, and God is exasperated by the king. In place of just any sign, God Almighty gives the king the sign: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). Let me show you how this sign works or how it functions. Notice in verse two and verse thirteen, God refers to the king as the "house of David." Ahaz is a descendant of the greatest king of Israel, David. But the "house of David" does so much more than remind us of a great king. Instead, the words the "house of David" reminds us of a great promise: "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (2 Samuel 7:12-13). This was no ordinary child, and he wasn't to be just another king. This sign from heaven meant that God would again fulfill His promise – a virgin shall conceive, and her child shall be of the house of David. Despite it taking 750 years to fulfill, God will not allow even one of His promises to be extinguished. Promise made, promise kept.
3.1 Mountain #1: Immediate Consequences
The way the prophets looked at the future was the way we may look at a mountain range with distant mountains and nearer mountains in the one mountain range, all of them looking like one mountain from up close. Rather than having a sign of faith to confirm the king's lack of trust, now he's told despite the immediate consequences of his actions, God will be true to His promise.
"He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted" (Isaiah 7:15-16). Concerning the baby of the virgin in verses 15 and 16, the prophecy means at least four things:
1) The child would be male; 2) He would be given the unique name Immanuel, "God with us;" 3) He would grow up in humble circumstances, for his diet would consist of "curds and honey;" 4) Lastly before he's reached full maturity, the two nations you will fear will no longer be a threat.
The Results of Self-Reliance
The result is listed in verse seventeen: "The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria" (Isaiah 7:17)! Someone has said that this whole episode was like a mouse attacked by two rats, all the while he's calling for a cat to save him. And the cat did come, making the mouse nothing more than a tasty dessert. The king turned God aside, and his opportunity passed before him.
3.2 Mountain #2: Long-Term Blessing
Look at the second mountain range of a prediction: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us)" (Matthew 1:22-23). Promise made, promise kept.
Did You Know? Did you know that there is no recorded birth in Scripture after the birth of Jesus? Did you know that the last genealogy or family tree listed in the New Testament is that of Jesus? Why? It's because the entire Bible, from Genesis to Malachi, pointed to the birth and the name of Jesus Christ.
Christmas is the question: Do your trust in the promises of God, or do you vacillate? Will you assume the risk of trusting God even in the areas of life that really matter?
3.3 A Virgin Giving Birth?
A man visited a church service where the pastor spoke on Mary's conception by the Holy Spirit. He was a skeptic and came up to the pastor after the service and said, "I don't believe that story, and I don't believe you believe it either." The man continued, "Suppose a young woman about six months pregnant came walking into your office and said, 'I'm expecting a baby. This is my boyfriend, and he has never laid a hand on me. I conceived this baby miraculously by the Holy Spirit.' Would you believe her?" This skeptical man thought the pastor would surely say no. To his surprise, the pastor said, "Yes, I would believe it." Then after a dramatic pause, he said, "Yes, I would believe it if that birth had been foretold by prophets thousands of years before the baby was conceived." "Yes, I would believe it – if an angel visited this boyfriend and said, 'Do not be afraid to take this woman as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." "Yes, I would believe it – if when that baby was born, wise men traveled from afar and brought gifts to worship him, and a star guided him to where that baby lay." "Yes, I would believe it – if her son had power over the wind and the waves and over death and disease." "Yes, I would believe it – if her son died on a cross and was raised from the dead three days later."
Christmas is the question: Do your trust in the promises of God, or do you vacillate? Will you assume the risk of trusting God even in the areas of life that really matter?
Invitation
If you are born once, you will die twice. But if you are born twice, you will die only once. All of you have been born physically, but many of you have never been reborn spiritually. Jesus taught us that without the second birth (spiritual rebirth), you will die not only physically but spiritually.
