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Isaiah 7:14 – 17
“The sign for a desperate people”
Situation: King Ahaz and Judah were in serious trouble. They were at war with not prospect of even competing let alone winning [7:2]. Isaiah is sent to confirm God’s covenant with Judah with the message to “stand firm.” [7:4] God offered King Ahaz a sign.
I. For things that are impossible:
A. “A virgin.” [7:14]
1. The word is not the same one as “woman,” “girl,” or “bride” – probably a female of marriage age.
2. The language is emphatic. It refers to a specific individual.
3. The implication is that God would chose an individual at a specific time from the house of David.
B. “Will be with child and will give birth to a son.” [7:14]
1. Naturally this is physically impossible. There would need to be a male chromosome (which could only come from a male) to give birth to a son.
2. Mary wondered how this would be possible too: “‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’” [Luke 1:34]
3. The implication is that nothing is to hard for God (who BTW created the universe).
C. “Immanuel” [7:14]
1. The Hebrew literally says “the STRONG God with us.”
2. We have always been more comfortable with the “otherness” of God than His “sameness.”
a. With God being “other” we can think that God doesn’t understand or care.
b. With God sharing some of the “same” things as we do, it’s impossible to think that God does not understand or feel.
(Ill.) In the Screwtape letters. Uncle Woodworm, who is training his nephew in the ways of being a devil, states that God has an advantage in the spiritual battle. The reason is because Jesus knows first-hand what it means to be human. Thus, God can understand fully what humans go through in the course of life.
D. “He knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.” [7:15]
1. Literally the text says “by His knowledge.” Later Isaiah would say this: “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.” [Isaiah 53:11]
2. Reality check! Humans do not know enough to reject and chose. What we do know is tainted by sin. Naturally we are selfish creatures and reject and chose based on that basis.
***** There is a lot of impossible things happening in this prophecy. These things should point us to:
II. Reasons to believe this is Jesus!
A. Only Jesus was born of a virgin.
1. With science a woman can get pregnant without the male’s involvement but not without the male’s contribution.
2. Jesus birth happened long before anyone dreamed that would be possible. In other words, Jesus birth was supernatural. (Stray thought: the devil, knowing this was to be the case would probably have liked to do this, but unable to create life he wasn’t able... Thus, only one explanation for the virgin birth.)
B. Only Jesus was ever “God with us.”
1. Gabriel announced: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” [Luke 1:32 – 33]
2. Jesus claimed to be God! “I and the Father are one.” [John 10:30]
(Ill.) C. S. Lewis’ “lunatic, liar, or Lord” argument.
C. Only Jesus ever knew “to refuse the evil and choose the good.”
1. Jesus was the only one without sin. The Bible says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.” [Hebrew 4:15]
2. Jesus refused evil/sin in every way. We, on the other hand, are “sinners” because we choose to sin, we are hard-wired to choose sin, we are “bent.” (C. S. Lewis’ image from the “Space Trilogy.”)
J.B. Phillips translated Romans 3:20 this way “...indeed it is the straight-edge of the Law that show us how cooked we are.”
***** This prophecy should show us...
III. Essential theological truths (necessary for salvation)
A. The “divinity” of Jesus.
1. Jesus is “GOD with us.”
2. This is not just a name. Isaiah was describing who Jesus is.
B. The “humanity” of Jesus.
1. This is evident in terms that are common to humanity, e.g. “Born” and “eat.”
2. Jesus developed in the womb, like everyone else. He needed to eat, like everyone else.
(Ill.) The disturbing trend to refer to Jesus as “half God and half man” is a terrible (if not dangerous) misrepresentation of Jesus.
C. God is “WITH” us.
1. He is not “for” or “against.” (Notice how much the church divides into the “we is us and they is them” mentality? We use it to attack one another and those who do not believe. See Joshua 5:13 – 14)
2. “With” conveys the idea of “indicating the manner or attitude in which a person does something.” (Oxford University Press)
***** Once upon a time, a young minister tried to quit the ministry in absolute disgust. He was tired of the immaturity of the people and disillusioned by the politics and lack of spirituality of the leadership. He “reasoned” if the church, God’s ambassadors, was that badly corrupted then Christianity was a lie. His wife dragged him to church and he resented her for it. It was a very ugly time in his spiritual life. Tennyson suggests that “honest doubt is better than blind belief.” I wish I could say that this time was “honest doubt.” It was more like severe disappointment and raging anger.
But one sleepless night he felt the strong urge to “read it one more time” before he gave up completely. So he opened the Bible to Genesis 1:1 and started to read for what he thought would be the last time. He thought he could reason away the miracles. He thought he could dismiss the stories as myth. The one thing that he could not ignore was the prophecy. How could people like Isaiah know so much about the life of Jesus? It was not possible, unless the Bible was true (from beginning to end without exception)!
IV. If what Isaiah said is true (and it is) then what must we do?
A. Trust the Word, not the "world."
1. It is the Word of God that interprets us and life, not the other way around.
2. God is right, we are wrong... God is true, we invent the myths.
B. Obey the Word, not the "whim."
1. We want what we want because we want it. Stop kidding yourself.
2. Adam and Eve “fell” because of the desire for “knowledge of good and evil” or as the devil put it “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3:5c] Reality: They knew what was good (obedience) and what was evil (disobedience) already! Eating that first bite caused them to lose that knowledge because, ever since then we have been trying to make up our own rules.
