Islington Baptist Church December 17, 2000
Isaiah 7 Scriptures: II Chronicles 28, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-38
Last week I began a series that is focused upon various Messianic prophecies of the OT scriptures. Old Testament words from God regarding the future Savior and what he would be like and do were given to the people are sometimes called Messianic prophecies.
In our first study we considered 2 messianic prophecies from Matthew 2:13-18. In that passage Hosea 11:1 and Jeremiah 31:15 are shown by Matthew to have their ultimate fulfillment in the person and life of Jesus Christ.
Hosea 11:1 prophetically points to Jesus’ escape to and coming out of Egypt.
Jeremiah 31:15 prophetically points to the grief and sorrow that came to the Bethlehem mothers and their refusing to be consoled in spite of their being good reason for such.
As mentioned last week; the fulfillment of these various prophecies confirm Jesus’ identity as the promised Savior and Messiah. Hence a reason to believe in Jesus and follow him.
___________________________
In Isaiah 7:14 it says “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
In celebrating Christmas we celebrate the fulfillment of this prophecy. God became man. Jesus, being God in the flesh, came and dwelt amongst us, being born of the virgin Mary.
In Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38 it is made very clear that Isaiah 7:14 had its ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ—their named Immanuel (meaning: God with us).
Today, rather than speak of Jesus’ virgin birth strictly from a NT perspective I think you will enjoy studying the OT passage where his virgin birth is prophesied. Please turn with me to Isaiah 7 (READ)
I. Overview of the scene
The year is approximately 741 B.C. and Ahaz is said to be king over Judah. For about 250 years the Jewish nation has been divided against itself. In the North is Israel: being for the most part wicked. In the South is Judah: for a while much better in terms of righteousness than the North.
At this juncture Israel—from here on in identified in our text as Ephraim, has allied itself with Syria and has been attacking Judah. Heavy casualties had been suffered by Judah. About the only city holding out was the city of Jerusalem and they were literally shaking in their boots because to them, a terrible end was in sight.
Q Why do you think things were so bad at this time for Judah?
In II Chronicles 28:19 it says “The LORD had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful the LORD.”
King Ahaz, who was supposed to model godliness to the nation, instead modelled and taught wickedness. Hence God’s hand of judgment against him and his people. King Ahaz was wicked to the core. According to II Chronicles 28 he had sacrificed some of his own children to a false god. He also desecrated God’s holy temple by stripping it of its furnishings and shutting up the doors of the temple—that none might enter and worship God. To top it all of—the worse things got, the worse he got—for as II Chronicles 28:22 says “In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD”. He like Pharaoh whose heart was hardened ever the more.
The strange this is that his father had been known for his righteousness and his son who followed him was known for his righteousness as well.
One principle we can learn: When people set their heart upon God to serve Him as he prescribes, there is blessing. When people set their hearts to sin against God and disobey Him, there is judgment at the hands of God. Obedience brings blessing. Disobedience brings judgment.
II. As you and I have considered the kind of person Ahaz was and the sins Judah was committing, the aspect of God’s mercy and deliverance in this text may seem quite surprising. Yet it is there just like in was in the Garden of Eden…
In this text, Isaiah—reckoned by many to be the greatest of the OT prophets, is sent by God to Ahaz to communicate a very encouraging message: Ephraim and Syria will fail in their attempt to conquer Judah and set up their own king. In fact, Ephraim and Syria will be destroyed
Q Why do you think God indicates that he will act in Judah’s favor and destroy Ephraim and Syria?
Answer: The promises of God to David and the fact that they had conspired against Judah and plotted to replace a Davidic king with their own.
a. To David, God had made an unbreakable promise. Ahaz was a descendant of David, he was of David’s house. To David, God said this: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me, your throne will be established forever.”
b. God will not stand for those who conspire against his people of promise.
It’s one thing for God to bring by his own volition, a nation to punish his people, it’s quite another thing for a nation to conspire against God’s people. (note Psalm 2)
No doubt about it, Ahaz was evil, but the conspiring of Ephraim and Syria to replace him with someone other than a descendant of David, resulted in God’s intervention on behalf of Ahaz and Judah
Application for us:
1. God keeps his promises
2. While wicked people may conspire and plot against the people of promise they will not succeed (Hence Israel exists today—despite all of their enemies, and we likewise stand secure, for we too are a people of promise)
III. There is a few things for us to note regarding Isaiah’s meeting with Ahaz
1. The taking of his son to the meeting v.3
God told Isaiah to take his son Shear Jashub with him went he went to talk to Ahaz.
Shear Jashub is not recorded as saying anything with his mouth, but that does not mean that he did not speak that day. The meaning of his name communicated much that day.
Shear Jashub means “a remnant shall return”.
A faithful remnant led by Ahaz’s righteous son Hezekiah, survived the here prophesied Assyrian invasion. Later, a remnant returned from Babylon.
Neat eh? In the midst of Isaiah’s message of judgment there was also being communicated by God a message of mercy “a remnant shall return”. Isaiah’s son, who never said a word, had his name communicate this message from God.
2. The place where God told Isaiah and his son to meet Ahaz v.3
Isaiah finds Ahaz, just as God told him, at this place “At the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the Fuller’s Field”
It’s a highly symbolic location. Firstly: the Fuller’s Field was a place where laundry washing took place. Secondly, the word “pool” comes from the same word as “blessing”.
In this text Isaiah takes Ahaz news of God’s blessing—a blessing from on high. The ultimate fulfillment of the blessing Isaiah pronounces is the coming of God in the flesh who will do spiritually what people to do their laundry: cleanse us and wash away our sins.
The bad thing for Ahaz was that he turned his nose up at God’s blessing and brought down on his head the judgment of God.
3. The command to not fear
To Ahaz, Isaiah brought this news: no reason to fear these guys: they are as nothing before God.
Now to the human eye it might appear that Ahaz and the people have every reason to be afraid. They are getting beaten bad by their enemies and it appears that the end is in sight. Yet Isaiah says “do not fear”
What I find amazing is that Ahaz’s son turned out to be a very righteous king. He obviously learned from his father’s experience to choose the right and reject the wrong. In II Chronicles 32 Ahaz’s son has parked outside his door approximately 200,000 Assyrian soldiers. Listen to what he said to the people of Jerusalem…. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people gained confidence from what Hezekiah king of Judah said.”
At times the fear of men will try to take a hold of our hearts. We need to take Hezekiah’s words to heart “There is a greater power with us than with them. With them is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God” (Also note Matthew 10:28)
4. The call to ask God for a sign. v.10
We’ve already noted that Ahaz in and of himself is not deserving of God’s mercy or a blessing. Yet to Ahaz, Isaiah in effect said “Ask God for any sign you want, that ultimately you might have further grounds to believe this word of deliverance that I have brought to you”.
At times you and I cry out for signs from God. If Isaiah said to you “Ask God for any sign you want” I’m sure you could come up with something—especially if God’s prophet just told you to ask.
In the Bible various people have asked God for confirmatory signs. In most (but not all) cases they were obedient followers of God whose faith needed to be strengthened at that particular moment by a confirmatory act of God i.e Gideon (Judges 6), Hezekiah (II Kings 20) The believers in Jerusalem in Acts 4:30-31
Key question: Can one rightly ask God today for a confirmatory sign?
At WWABC there is a family who are missionaries in Pakistan. Right now they are on furlough here in Canada. There names are Charles and Anne Noble. Last year when they were in Pakistan, Anne related that while at a Christmas presentation for their children that she felt deeply burdened to go and visit a certain missionary lady who was part of their mission group. Anne told her husband that she felt that she had to go and see this other woman that night. Charles said, if you feel this strongly we’ll see that you get there. The journey took over an hour, finally with them arriving at five to nine at night. At night in Pakistan you don’t typically open your door. Anyways, up to the door she went and knocked. Right away the door opened and their before Anne was the missionary lady in question, crying her eyes out. To Anne the other lady said this. “I needed to know by 9 o’clock that God loved me”. And there Anne was, and there God was, confirming His love for this dear lady.
I believe that there are occasions in our lives where God will answer our cry’s for some sort of confirmation from him: the key: these cries don’t stem from defiant hearts, disbelief or disobedience. I also know that since God is with us, for as Jesus said “I am with you to the very end of the age” that God does evidence himself to us on a regular basis.
Any ways, in our text, Ahaz, showing the depth of his wickedness, proceeded to deeply offend God. This man, who shut the very doors of the temple to keep people from worshipping God, pretends to be pious and holy for he says “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!”
God’s prophet, speaking at the direction of God, just told Ahaz to ask for a confirmatory sign regarding God’s promise to deliver Ahaz from his enemies. Ahaz offends God in return.
The ironic thing is Ahaz does exactly what he says he won’t do. He tested God.
When a person tests God there is always the element of unbelief, defiance, faithlessness, and disobedience that is directed towards Him. The result of a person testing God is the judgment of God. In the wilderness the Israelites tested God and here Ahaz does the same through this act of disobedience.
In most of the rest of our text, Isaiah spells out the judgment of God that will come upon Ahaz for this sin.
5. Please, let’s for a moment consider this question: What does this text tell us one of the goals of this outpouring of God’s judgement was?
Note v.15
“Curds and honey will a special child named ‘Immanuel’ eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good.”
For the remnant that survives the judgment of God, a remnant promised by the very name given to Isaiah’s son, a lesson will learned “To choose what is good in the sight of God over what is evil”
WHEN GOD EXECUTES JUDGMENT UPON THIS EARTH, AS HE REGULARLY DOES, THOSE WHO SURVIVE ARE TO TAKE NOTE AND LEARN TO CHOOSE WHAT IS GOOD IN THE SIGHT OF GOD OVER WHAT IS EVIL!***** (Note Luke 13:1-5, Romans 1:18)
Q Do not hard times sometimes come our way to teach us this very same lesson?
Does not God act in our lives in a fashion to teach us to choose what is good in His sight over what is evil? He disciplines us purposefully that we might become righteous.
WE HAVE COVERED MUCH TODAY BUT THERE STILL REMAINS FOR US ONE MORE HIGHLIGHT. v.14
Ahaz defied God by his refusal to ask God for a confirmatory sign, yet Isaiah declares that a sign will be given anyway. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel”
This is a most interesting verse. Most familiar to us is its being quoted in Matthew 1 and Luke 1 in reference to Jesus Christ and his being God in the flesh and being born of the virgin Mary.
The prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 is yet another typological prophecy. Isaiah’s words pointed to an ultimate fulfillment in the coming of God in the flesh to this earth. It is also a prophecy that delivered in its immediate day as well.
The key to our discussion hinges on one word “Virgin” (almah)
You may find this interesting. The Hebrew term here translated ‘virgin (almah)’ is ambiguous in meaning. It can mean either virgin or maiden- a strong young woman of childbearing age. And often in the OT is it used to refer to married women.
At Isaiah’s disposal there were words he could have used in this text to strictly mean ‘virgin’ –not having had sex. Yet, by God’s leading, he purposefully used the word “almah’ that could be interpreted a number of ways.
Key question: Why did Isaiah purposefully use the term ‘almah’, translated in our English Bible’s as ‘virgin’
Answer: It allowed for immediate and future fulfillment!
a. In the immediate sense, in Isaiah’s day a child named Immanuel was born to an “almah” (not a virgin but to a young married woman). This child served as a sign to those in Judah: in spite of all signs to the contrary “God was with them” and they were in His hands.
b. The ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s words are found in Jesus Christ. In this case the “almah” is Mary and she is indeed a virgin
Yet this we must note. In Matthew and in Luke an ambiguous term for virgin is not used. Matthew and Luke in referring to Mary use the word “parthenos” to refer to Mary. This word can only mean “virgin”. Hence in Christ, Isaiah’s prophecy is completely fulfilled and his use of an ambiguous term is fully understood.
ANYWAYS, ALL THIS LANGUAGE STUFF ASIDE, THE FOLLOWING IS WHAT YOU AND I OUGHT TO LEARN AND TAKE TO HEART.
The virginal conception of Mary is declared by the scriptures as the means whereby God became a man and thus entered our world.
I don’t have time to speak now as to the necessity of his being born of a virgin but this much we must note…….
As the boy child Immanuel served to encourage the hearts of those in Isaiah’s day, in particular that God was with them and had not abandoned them so to we must take to heart, only if we are followers of Jesus, that God is with us and will not ever abandon us or leave us alone.
You see, God became a man: Jesus, called Immanuel, being the eternal Son of God, left his Father’s throne and became one of us. Before Jesus ascended into Heaven he left us with these words “And surely I with you always, to the very end of age” Matthew 28:20. If you are a follower of Christ these words are for you. Jesus is with you, you in fact are indwelt by God; the Holy Spirit has taken up residence with in you.
Great confidence is to be ours, no matter the circumstance, for our God is with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. As Hezekiah said long ago “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.
Jesus, being called Immanuel is with us today, He is presencing himself in our midst by his Spirit. Hence, we are to stand tall.
CONCLUSION
There is much for us to take home in application today
1. Reminder that obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings judgment
2. There is at times legitimacy in asking God for a confirmatory sign
3. When the fear of men seems to threaten our stability, there is this truth that we must live by; for us who are in Christ, there is a greater power with us than with anyone else. God is with us.
4. Those who test God by their defiant hearts and disobedient lives, invite upon themselves God’s judgment
5. At times God uses “hard times” to teach us this lesson “to choose what is good in the sight of God over what is evil”. He disciplines us purposefully—that we might be righteous.
6. Immanuel is with us. God is with us and so then: who can stand against us? No one! He will never leave us or forsake us: rather, one day He will complete his work in our lives and bring us home to Himself.
Note: one aspect of the text have not explored: that alongside of words of judgement there is words of mercy, hope, and there is the grace of God.
