Isaiah 7 contains the prophecy of the
virgin birth of a son called Immanuel
(7:14)[1]. The name of Immanuel and the circumstances
under which he was conceived are as mysterious and unique as was the life of
king Melchizedek, who is without
father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days or end of life…” cf. Genesis 14:17ff cf. Hebr.
7:3. The mystery is thankfully
lifted when we read Matthew 1:20-23.
But more about that in a moment.
We may be somewhat surprised when reading and meditating on this text. It does not come across very “Christmassy”[2] at all when we consider the historical picture. Sadly, many Christmas sermons are sentimentalized and rarely ever recognize the historical context and prophetic profundity of these texts.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Isaiah’s commission begins with a great vision of God (6:1-8). It ends with a very difficult commission and message from God in 6:9,10. There, God said to Isaiah,
“Go, and say to
this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do
not perceive.’ 10 Make
the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest
they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their
hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Let us consider the basic facts.
Isaiah was commissioned to preach the Word of
God to a proud and stubborn people. He is
called to speak to a people who do not want to hear or see the Word of the Lord
– in fact, in addition to their own rebellious spirit, God has added judicial blindness, so that they
are actually twice hardened: they hardened their own hearts and God hardened their hearts! The concept of judicial hardening in also found in 29:9-13. In New Testament language, these are a people handed over (Rom. 1:18ff)
On Isaiah’s very first assignment, God
called Isaiah to speak to king Ahaz in Jerusalem. He found king Ahaz at the
upper pool near the Washer’s field (7:3). Ahaz was concerned that the
water supplies were going to be cut off by the invading armies of Syria, allied
with the Northern kingdom of Israel. The message from God in 7:4
was this,
“And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not
fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps
of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and (Pekah)
the son of Remaliah, the current king of the Northern alliance.”
Isaiah’s
message to Ahaz in a nutshell: Call him to trust in me – His God!
Ahaz, although he was a descendant of
David (and mentioned in the covenantal line of the Messiah – Matt. 1:9),
he wasn’t a godly, spiritual man who trusted in the Word of the Lord. In 2
Ki.16:3 we read that, “he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel.
He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of
the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”
So, Ahaz trusted more in an alliance
with the Syrian king than in the God of his father David. And it’s going to bite him: “Within 65 years, Ephraim – the Northern kingdom would seize to be a nation (7:8). This is exactly what
happened. Indeed, within 65 years the Northern Kingdom and their Allies, Syria
would be destroyed by Assyria (2 Kings
15:29; 16:9). All this happened, just as God said it would. The study of the prophecies and their
fulfillments in history are a great testimony to the reliability and authority of Scripture.
ASK FOR A SIGN (7:10–17)
Against this terrible background we find a God who is good, and kind to rebellious and ungrateful people.
He sends Isaiah to Ahaz at the upper
pool (7:3), worried about the water
supply which may be cut off by the invading armies. Isaiah comes to him with
words that we would not have expected to be spoken to this godless, faithless
king. Isaiah comes with an encouraging (good news) message from God. BUT along
with this he also brings a warning: “If
you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” [7:9]
Isaiah finds king Ahaz apathetic to this positive challenge. So, God in His patient mercy says to king Ahaz in 7:10-11:
“Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
He is saying, Ahaz, you don’t believe me? Ask me to confirm this to you via a miraculous sign.
God is surely patient with
this faithless son of the covenant, and there is the key! Why does God do this?
He does this for the sake of His covenant and for the sake of the throne of
David, and for the sake of the Messiah, and not because Ahaz deserves God’s
patience.
God tells Ahaz to choose a sign as evidence that the message from Isaiah is true:
“Make it as difficult as you like – make it as deep as Sheol, or high as heaven" (7:11).
What an offer – what an opportunity to see God at work. Imagine you were given that opportunity! What would you have asked for?
Astonishingly we read in 7:12:
“But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.”
Some think here that Ahaz is being merely humble or modest - perhaps he is thinking about Deut. 6:16, “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test”. But, as others have pointed out correctly, when God invites us to ask for a sign, we are not putting God to the test. If the truth be told, Ahaz response actually masks a very stubborn unbelief. We need no reminder that some of the strongest unbelief hides behind religious language[3]!
Now you can hear Isaiah’s frustration beginning to manifest in 7:13:
“Hear then, O house of David! Is it too
little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
It is very likely that Isaiah was saying
this not only to the king but to a multitude assembled at the upper pool at the
Washer’s field. Many may have heard this
word that now came to Ahaz (7:14): “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a
sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel.”
The Hebrew word used here for virgin is
‘almah’. This refers to a
marriageable young woman of unblemished and pure character. Many have a problem
with this because virgins (by definition) cannot conceive or give birth! And
yet this is not a grammatical mistake. Many years before Christ was born,
Jewish scholars translated the OT into the Greek language (the Septuagint or the LXX). When it came to translating this word “virgin”
they used the word “parthenos”. The Greek language here is precise and
unambiguous. A parthenos is a
virgin! They did not use the word, “young
woman” or another equivalent.
That makes this prophecy is truly astonishing. Yes, virgins do not conceive; and they do not give birth. So, this was going to be something extraordinary. Ahaz would be given the opportunity to witness the pregnancy and birth of a son called Immanuel, born to a woman who had no man in her life. This sign was impossible beyond the deepest depths of Sheol and the highest heights of heaven (7:10).
But here is the greater miracle: Hidden
deep within Israel’s darkest history and unbelief there is the
prospect of a light shining (cf. 9:2).
Isaiah, employs prophetic perspective, far above that which even he
could understand or fathom, and by which God would be true to His promises to
David the covenant king. A virgin would
give birth to a male child. The male child would be called “Immanuel”, meaning “God with us”. Immanuel is
mentioned again in 8:8 & 10. Concerning
Him we learn,
- The
land which was under the rule of the House of David was His land.
- He is addressed in prayer (8:8). Therefore Immanuel must be the LORD. He is
the Lord who frustrates the plans of His opponents in 8:10.
All this would have remained a mystery had we not received the interpretation in Matt 1:20-23 :
20 But as
he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife,
for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will
bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins.” 22 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).
And
Luke 1:30-37 reads:
30 And the
angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you
shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son
of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father
David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his
kingdom there will be no end.”
Please note the deliberate language
used here by Mary in Luke 1:34 And
Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since a man I have not known? (i.e. I am a virgin) ?”
From this follows the fact that this birth is going to be an extra-ordinary birth!
35 And the angel answered
her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the
Son of God. 36 And behold, (here is an extra sign and a
confirmation!) your relative
APPLICATION
1. Much of the OT (the prophecy
of Isaiah by way of application) does not make much sense without the
revelation of Christ, our Immanuel. The light of the New Testament illumines the Old Testament, which is richly furnished, but dimly lighted. The introduction of light brings into it nothing which was not in it before, but reveals it in full clarity (B.B. Warfield)
2. The Christian faith rests upon the foundation of this prophecy
in Isaiah 7. Immanuel defines our Christian faith.
3. The deliverance of Judah’s
hopeless position at the time of king Ahaz comes not by human might or power, but
by God‘s miraculous intervention – and that despite the deafness and
stubbornness of king and people (or if you like – government and nation). There
are simply no human alliances that will get the world out of this sticky mess,
this entanglement of sin. We need the
gospel of Jesus. He is the same Saviour that must now come and deliver us from our messy world. Thank God that, with the help of the NT we know Immanuel. We
must boldly appeal to Him in prayer.
4. This story of Isaiah and Ahaz
proves to us once again, that the gospel comes to us utterly undeserved and
unsought. It comes to us because God is
faithful to His covenant. In that covenant He has given a people (a bride) to
His Son. The Son has prayed for that bride in John 17. All that the Father
has given to the Son will come. His sheep know Him and they follow Him (John 10: 14, 27). Evil, unbelieving, faithless people like Ahaz
will not stand in the way of God’s gospel – in fact, evil people like Ahaz are
sometimes overwhelmed by the gospel and brought into submission of the gospel. The apostle Paul was a spiritual Ahaz before
the grace of God overwhelmed him.
5.
May
God would be pleased to pour out His great gospel grace into the heart of many an Ahaz today. May God be pleased to turn the spiritual
coldness, apathy and blindness of this present age once
again into a profound love for Immanuel. May His kingdom come. May His will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
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