The Immanuel Book- Isaiah 7-12 # 4

 TEXT :  Isaiah 9: 1-7

TITLE : The Child with the four names

DATE PREACHED  :   2^nd  January  2011

This is now  the fourth sermon on the  “Immanuel book“ (  Isa 7-12) .  Previously we had  observed that  the Southern Kingdom  (under king Ahaz  of Judah in Jerusalem) was being threatened by an alliance  of the northern 10 tribes  (under king  Pekah  -  Samaria)   and Syria (under king  Rezin of Damascus).

We saw that king Ahaz was petrified   of this and  was beginning to make plans to  enlist the help of the  Assyrians . He had in fact already given the temple treasury to them  in order to buy their support .

The prophet Isaiah  ( commissioned in Ch 6)  was sent from God  to  tell Ahaz that he needed not fear  the coming invasion. 

Ahaz  however,  would not hear him . Against  Ahaz’s  unbelief God  said that He would give a sign  to Ahaz and the Southern kingdom  : “ A virgin would bear  a  child and call his name Immanuel .”  We  are not exactly show whether there was an immediate fulfillment of that  prophecy  , but we do know that  Matthew sees this prophecy fulfilled in Christ  (Matt 1:21-23) .

Ahaz needed to know that  the land promised on oath to Abraham was Immanuel’s  land   (8:8-10) . There was no need to fear , even though  the flood of enemies would “reach even to the neck” ( Isa 8:8 - see Psalm  69:1)  – seemingly  to overwhelm  them.  But only seemingly . The truth remains: If God is for us  , who shall be against us  ?  ( Rom 8:31)

Ahaz , you and I tend to struggle  with  the  fear  of  the power of man more than the power of God . We are easily  intimidated  by the conspiracies of men  (8:12). Before we run to God  we run to  mediums  and fortune tellers who chirp and  mutter  ( 8:19)

Very few men  of the OT  had received greater  assurance and promises of help in times of severe  crisis  than did king Ahaz  and yet he wavered – and the nation presumably with him .

When God  promises us deliverance  even  in the face of the greatest trial  (when the waters  come up to our neck)  then we must  believe God and not  the ‘ waters’ .  After all a man can drown in a small stream , and yet  be saved  in the open ocean if he can hold on to a plank  and get himself to the shore . Similarly , the slightest  calamities will overwhelm us if we are deprived of God’s favour ; but if we rely on the Word of God , we can come out of the heaviest calamities uninjured. “ [1]   

So let us  remember  what is behind this  whole story .  The future  of  David’s  line  was threatened at this point . The faith of king Ahaz had collapsed  and now the  territory was about to fall into the hands of pagans .  But , did God not  say  that He would keep  the  house  of David?  Surely  God cannot break His covenant with David?   The people  born under  the covenant  may refuse to believe but there will always be a  remnant  that will  believe. One of Isaiah’s son’s , Shear Jeshub – his name  means  ‘a remnant shall return’  . Isaiah’s children were  signs and portents  in Israel from the Lord of hosts  ( 8:18)

Right now,  in  a dark and fearful moment of history , God is there  promising  them His  presence; promising a sign . There would be light  on this dark horizon ! 

From the history books we know that Jerusalem  was never taken by these  evil allies. God truly delivered  Jerusalem .  However  we  are constantly  made aware in these OT accounts that these  things are signs for an ultimate fulfillment. The ultimate light would be   the Lord Jesus Christ . He is the light of the world ( John  1:9 ; 8:12)

• Isaiah 9:1-2

It is  significant  what is  reported by the gospel writer Matthew  who links  Isaiah 9: 1-2  with Matthew  4:12-16  :

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,  so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:  “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—  the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”   From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Now for some geographical perspective :   The   territories of Zebulun and Naphtali   were part of  the northern kingdom -  God’s  wayward people.  This area  was  soon invaded   by the  Assyrians  in 722Bc and its people scattered  and mixed with other nations. This helps us to understand a little of the contempt that a Jew of the SK had for  the Samaritans , who  had become a mixed race  .  And yet  (!)  this area ( also known as  Galilee of the nations  - 9:1 )   was the area  in which the  Lord Jesus  would do most of His public ministry.  Do you see the significance  of this ? Not only does Isaiah  speak hope to the SK  ; he also speaks hope to the NK .  Yes , Assyria  caused havoc  in that region  , but the Lord  Jesus would some day  come here  and heal  many  . He would do some of His greatest miracles in this region . He raised  the dead son of a woman in Nain  ( Luke 7:11 ) and  a little girl   (Matt 9 :18ff ).  Here He  would do the miraculous feeding of the 4000 & 5000  beside the Sea of Galilee. The light of the Messiah’s ministry would shine in that  dark region.

Now let us remember  that  Isaiah 9  follows chapter 8 .  Ch 8 left us   with a  note of gloom and doom in  verses 21-22  : “They will pass through the land,  greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against  their king and their God, and turn their faces upward.  And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.”

By contrast Isaiah 9: 1  begins with a “ but” (  reminds us of the great ‘ but’ of  Rom 3:21). There is great darkness and fear   in that region in Isaiah’s time . There is great darkness and fear  among the people  in the days of Jesus’  ministry as the Romans ruthlessly  ruled   Immanuel’s land . There is great darkness and fear in our own day as we speak . One senses  that  the church (which are Immanuel’s people) at large  is  not  very  committed  to  the life of faith . Our congregations  are  filled with people  that  are  religious  but fearful  and  of little faith .

What a wonderful  light and hope enters  as we  now come to Chapter 9 .  The contrast is  so obvious. The joy in 9: 3 is the opposite of the gloom in  8:21,22.

Here  the  Lord reveals  that the nation would be enlarged, which is so different from it being cut down to a tenth and then cut down even more so that only a stump would be left! (6:13).  

The enlarged nation[2] is  the result of  the  Messiah’s ministry. Matthew notes that Isaiah 9 was fulfilled in Jesus’ ministry !  You may  well ask  : was Israel really enlarged as a result of Jesus coming?  After  all the  Lord Jesus was  crucified  in  about 30 AD with no one  apparently following Him any longer ;  Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD  with   1 million people dead ;  and before that all the Christians were chased out of Jerusalem and Judea  by persecution .  That means that  the city was decimated not multiplied !  How can we say  that the nation has been enlarged by the ministry of Christ, when  this sort of thing happened ?  It was even prophesied  that He would be the cause of many falling in Israel ( Luke 2:34) . The appearance was that the nation would shrink.

Yet, if you think carefully  , the  nation  ( Immanuel’s  land ) was greatly multiplied  or  enlarged. Many  gentiles believed  ( this is implied in Isa 9:2) . They were added to the kingdom as  ingrafted branches (  Rom 11:17 ) . Peter then calls these Gentile believers “a holy nation,” and “a people belonging to God.”   Many would believe in Christ, and thereby the nation would be greatly multiplied  by the Lord.

Today especially we observe  how  the church after  Pentecost  ( the church age) has been forcefully advancing  and multiplying in the whole world  .

• Isaiah9:3-5   :

The coming deliverance is pictured in these verses  in  clear images of military victory.  The enemy would be totally  smashed   by the Messiah  . The reference  to the day of Midian  ( 9:4) is a reference to  Gideon’s victories in Judges 6  which  included  the provinces  of Naphtali and Zebulun in the region of Galilee. Gideon is thus  a picture of the  Messiah  who will  deliver  His chosen remnant .  Christ however  will do  this without  man made weapons .  He  showed this  when  He   demonstrated His superior  teaching over  all religious teachers ,  His superior power over sickness and over demonic forces . On the cross He  crushed Satan’s head .  (Gen 3:15)  .

Paul could  thus truly write:  “(The Father)  has qualified you to share in the kingdom of light, for he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness…”  (Col 1:12,13. )

And Luke could write:   He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets long ago) salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us – to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.  (Luke 1:69-75)

• 9:6,7  : The Child with the Four Names  

If there was any doubt about the  divine nature of  that child , Immanuel ,  before then there is no longer any doubt  as  we consider verses  6-7 .    No one can use these  words  ( attributes) and not come to the conclusion that Immanuel must be divine!

As Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ is the prophet who speaks the counsel of God to us. Such  a  ruler with divine  wisdom far beyond natural understanding is qualified to give direction.

As  Mighty God  ( what a title !)  He is  truly able to deliver His people from  their and His enemies.[3] 

As Everlasting Father : This is a rather strange title for Christ , and we must understand this title  not in the sense that He is the Father in the Trinity. He is not ! Christ  ( the second Adam)  must here be seen as  the human replacement  for   our first  father Adam who  sinned and  thereby  caused all his  descendants to inherit a sin nature .  In Christ  we   receive an everlasting salvation .  In that sense Jesus refers to His family as His children in Hebr. 2:13,14 ( which is  incidentally a quote from Isa 8:18) .

As Prince of Peace :  The coming of Christ is constantly associated with the bringing of peace. He guides  our feet  into the way  of peace (Lk 1:79).  As our priest He has made peace for us with God  ( Rom 5:1) . He is our peace ( Eph 2:14)  and  has reconciled us also to one another.  

These  four names  prove to us that  God’s solution to darkness and desperation is in Christ -  our  Immanuel . He is supremely qualified to  counsel ,lead ,  care  and  provide  an eternally  peaceful environment ( heaven) for us  .

Ahaz and we need to know this   in times such as ours! 

Peace and stability will never  be established by  human alliances . They never work . Only God can  maintain  the kingdom . Only He can maintain this world . Only he can maintain the church .

An so our challenge for this new year is to rest less in our own  schemes and plans and  walk according to the rules of  Immanuel’s land . I am so impressed by the constant  reference  in this prophecy  of  words such as these :  “ The  Lord spoke  thus to me …” ( e.g.  8:11)  .  Like Isaiah  we must be in constant and prayerful communion with God . To that end will you bow your head with me and pray  a prayer of commitment  and renewal  in the hope and expectation that  the LORD our God will  grant us  the ability to live  by faith. Amen!

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[1] Isaiah : Calvin , Crossway Commentaries , p.  89

[2] The enlarging of the nation reappears again in 54:1-3

[3] This title is later used of the Lord in 10:21

The Immanuel Book- Isaiah 7-12 # 3

TEXT :  Isaiah 8: 1- 22

TITLE :  Fear God , wait for the Lord

DATE PREACHED  :   26th  December 2010

Over this  Christmas season  I have been preaching from  the “Immanuel  Book “  - (Isaiah  Chapters  7 -12). I wanted us to  see the  fuller picture  behind this wonderful OT  prophecy  and to understand  how this is connected to  the fulfillment of the prophecy in Matthew 1 : 21-23

I  began by  drawing your attention  to Isaiah’s  vision of God in the temple and  his  subsequent call to the prophetic ministry  (Isaiah 6) . It had perhaps surprised you to find that  Isaiah  has been commissioned  to prophesy to a  hard hearing , non understanding , unperceptive  people  (Isa 6:9-10) .

The prototype of this sort of  person is the king of Judah , Ahaz  .  In Chapter 7  we  have seen how  Isaiah  was commissioned to  convince  Ahaz that  in the face of the impending invasion  by  an alliance of the Northern kingdom and Syria , he needed not fear . He needed only  to put his trust in the Lord.  But Ahaz would not hear of this . He wanted to put  his trust in a political alliance  with  the most powerful nation of that time -  Assyria . Isaiah  challenges him and says , “well if you don’t believe me then  ask  the Lord for a sign !” ( 7:11) . Ahaz  declines . Isaiah   then cries  out  with exasperation , but nevertheless with prophetic  vision :  “ Therefore the Lord  Himself will give you a sign. Behold , the virgin shall conceive and bear a son , and shall call his name Immanuel.” (7:14) .

By way of application we have seen that  God is the God , who appears  to  deaf ,  unresponsive  , unperceptive , dull people because He is committed to the fulfillment of His own covenant  . He  gives to them His  Immanuel – a Saviour  , who as we see in Matthew 1:21-23  is the Lord Jesus  Christ .  This of course  does not mean that God  shall ignore Ahaz’s  faithlessness in this matter . In verses  17-25  we see  the inevitability of biblical logic :  “those who hate wisdom  love death “ (Prov.8:36)  . It is vain to trust  in the power of earthly kings .

And now let us continue  our exposition of  Isaiah  Chapter 8 . The Lord continues to speak to Isaiah . Consider the first  four  verses with me :

Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters,  ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’  2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.” 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

8:1-4  Isaiah  is commanded” to  get  a placard “ ,  something  like an advertising poster and write upon it  large and legibly :  “Maher Shalal Hash Baz “  which  literally means : “speed- spoil- haste –booty “  . This is a typical “ prophet- thing “ .  They throw out something symbolic  and parabolic , thereby provoking  questions .  This issue at hand  relates to the  threatened invasion . He also tells him  to get two reliable witness  , Uriah  the priest and Zechariah[1]     to testify that  Isaiah had set up the placard . But the prophecy isn’t yet  finished . It had to become flesh  in the form of a son  that would be born to Isaiah’s wife[2] . When that son is eventually born  (at least 9 months later )  he receives that prophetic  name , which conveys a message . His name was  intended to be  a sign (see 8:18).  

In  8:4  we are informed that before  this boy  would be able to talk, the Assyrians would successfully attack  the Syrians (Aram)  and Israel , utterly defeat them and  carry off the spoil or booty .  Please note – God was going to do this ! Ahaz did not need  to associate with the ungodly Assyrians  who would only be a snare  to him rather than   an ultimate  help to  the kingdom of Judah .

And so we note that God continues to speak through Isaiah :

5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;  give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered. 10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. Fear God, Wait for the Lord

8:5-10   “This people “  refers to the  northern kingdom of Israel . Remember that   200 years earlier these 10 northern tribes  had rejected the House of David as king, though it was God’s ordained monarchy.   They had refused  the  gentle waters of Shiloah . The  waters of Siloah flow from the Gihon spring into Jerusalem.  At Gihon the son of David was anointed and declared to be king (1 Kings 1:32-35). It was here that Isaiah first found king  Ahaz ( 7:3)  , who at this time was worried that the  enemy would cut off the water supply from  Jerusalem .  “ Now ‘ these people ‘ had alienated themselves from that life giving water  long time ago  and had trusted in  foreign alliances – in this case with the Syrians  and their capital city Damascus . 

So now , the Lord says here that  they  ( the NK  and Syria ) would endure  the “Assyrian flood “  , BUT  which would not  wipe out Judah!  It would come “up to the neck” ,  but no further. Please note also that Jerusalem did not fall to Assyria;  In Hezekiah’s day , the Lord struck  down 185 000 Assyrians  ( 2 Ki.19:35) , and that was basically the end of Assyria .  

Ahaz  believed in his human  strategy ;  he had it all worked  out in his mind , but his dependence was not upon the God of his father David . The strong point that is made in verses 9 &10  is that this was Immanuel’s  land ! THEREFORE  ( and not for any other reason )  God’s promises cannot be thwarted by any  human  power.  Verse 10 could also be  paraphrased  :  “Go ahead, make your crazy plan; it will  fail! ” 

All this  begs us to stop for a moment and reflect  upon a very comforting doctrine : Every opposition against the church  must fail!   The reason is plain :   God is with us .   The true church is  now Immanuel’s land . Therefore , no weapon formed against her  will stand   against the church ( Isa 54:17)  !  Jesus  said that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church! ( Matt 16:18)  The LORD who cared for Israel and supplied their needs in the desert  we are told in  1 Cor 10:4  was Christ !  He is the same Lord that  keeps His people today !  In Isaiah’s  day the  Assyrians  were  the world power of that day .  Assyria  had capacity to swallow  Judah , but it was still Immanuel’s land !

This thought gives rise to the next section  in verses 11 – 22 , where the Lord speaks to Isaiah  yet again !  And  He leaves Isaiah and every  believer  with  sound principles  that ought to undergird  our  thoughts :

1. The first principle is that we  must guard our hearts and minds in such times of  attack  by not following a pragmatic route of escape . In this case  Isaiah  is warned  not to  follow the  unspiritual thinking of the world  around him  (8:11-13)  :   11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

Godly people  must learn  not to  fear what  people around them fear . Godly people  must fear the LORD alone .  It is very tempting  to think like the world. But Romans 12:1&2  encourages us not to be conformed  to this world , but to be transformed by  the renewal of our minds …” .

2. The second principle is  this  - 8:14,15: God  is either for you or against you . There is no middle-ground  : 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

Let us always remember  that the Lord is either a sanctuary or a stone of offense/ stumbling  for all people  . The sanctuary is the holy place where God dwells and  where He is approached by sacrifice for acceptance and thus protection.

But He is also a  stumbling stone  for  those who will not take Him seriously.  This is what is said of  the Lord  Jesus , who as  was prophesied by  the old prophet Simeon was destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel (Luke 2:34).  Many people stumble  because they disobey the message about Christ (1 Peter 2:8). To those who believe in Him and obey Him , he will be a sanctuary . He is either  a  snare or a Saviour. No one can get away from Christ.

3.The third principle is this  : 8:16-20    Hold  on  to the Word of God:   16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching  among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching (law)  and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

In times of attack it is good to hold on to God’s word more than to any  word from man . Let God be true and every man a liar  .  What God had  said through Isaiah was God’s word.   Just because people could not see and hear (6:9,10) it did not make the word less valid . Isaiah had to believe this word despite  long  seasons of  non fulfillment . But we know it was believed by Isaiah, his family, and his disciples. In time  it would prove to be a true word. We must remember   that the prophets  rarely ever saw  the fulfillment of their prophecies  ( 1 Peter 1:10-12)

In addition to written prophecies, Isaiah’s family were  signs and symbols  that communicated truth. One name (Shear-Jashub 7:3) promised that there would be a remnant;  another name  Maher-Shalal Hash Baz was a prediction that swift destruction would come on Judah’s enemies. It happened while  this boy  was still a baby who could not yet talk .  Isaiah’s  own name means  “the Lord saves”, a gospel message in  itself !  Immanuel would appear in flesh in the line of David centuries after Isaiah spoke!

Those who reject God’s word  always seek alternative counsel  and wisdom .  So they turned to mediums  and necromancers who chirp and mutter ( 8:19) . By doing this they broke God’s law (Deut 18:9-13),  and  preferred some word from the dead over the Word of the Living God. He was their God ( see vv.19 & 21), but they were rejecting Him.

In doing so they lost their heritage, blessing, and life. The result was that they cursed their king and their God. Unbelief would bring distress, darkness, and fearful gloom.

The words in vv 21& 22 are all too true : 21 They will pass through the land,  greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against  their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

Let us learn from this .  We must  not   be tempted  to reject  God’s law , or the word of His  prophets  and  apostles  all  built upon the  Word  of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God directs  our lives  with truth. . The Psalmist says  : The  unfolding of your words gives light ( Ps 119:130) and “ Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path…”  ( Ps 119:105) . If we  reject  God’s revelation and direction in favor of some other “light”, we will not have light at all but darkness and the despairing gloom that comes with it.

 Next week we are going to take a close look at  Isa 9: 1-7  in which we see Immanuel  dispelling the gloom  of people  that have been walking in darkness .

Once again   we discover the  wonderful prospects of the gospel . Thank God for Immanuel . Oh come let us adore Him . Amen

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[1] See  2 Ki. 16:10-16;18:2

[2] The title ‘ prophetess ‘ was probably given to Isaiah’s wife here because she was literally the bearer  of the  Lord’s Word, incarnate in her son  ( Motyer , p.90)

The Immanuel Book- Isaiah 7-12 # 2

TEXT :  Isaiah  7:  10 -17 

TITLE : “ Ask for a sign … Immanuel ”

DATE PREACHED  :  12th  December 2010

10 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.”

We have entered the  “ Christmas season” of the year   when the church traditionally reflects upon the  birth of our dear Saviour , the Lord Jesus Christ .  I join the chorus  of all the saints  past and present with joy, as we give  corporate thanks to God our Father for sending us His Son !

This year I wanted  to meditate with you on  one of the most  powerful  OT Scriptures  concerning  the incarnation  of  our   Lord.  Isaiah  9 : 1-7  is traditionally read  and proclaimed  at this time , but I think that it is  it is really important to  pay attention  to  the greater context . The  Lutheran commentator Leupoldt  has  recognized this context  and  has  therefore called  Isaiah Chapters 7-12 the “Immanuel book” .[1]

Isaiah Chapter 7  contains  the  prophecy of the virgin birth  of  a son called Immanuel  (7:14)[2]. The name  of Immanuel and the circumstances  under which he was conceived  are as  mysterious  and  unique  as   the life  of  king Melchizedek  in Genesis 14:17ff  (who is without father or mother or genealogy  , having neither beginning  of days or end of life…” – Hebr. 7:3) or of the man  that wrestled with Jacob   ( Gen  32:22ff) .  The mystery   is thankfully lifted when we  read  the NT Scriptures  , and in this case particularly  Matthew  1:20-23 . But more about that in a moment .

We may be  somewhat   surprised when reading and meditating  on this text that  it does not sound  very “ Christmassy”  at all when you consider the  historical picture . Somehow  we have managed to focus  on  selected texts from the  Scriptures  and  have ‘ sentimentalized ‘ them , without recognizing the historical context and  prophetic  profundity  of these texts.

I  have showed you previously  that  Isaiah’s commission begins with  a  great vision of  God  (6:1-8)  which  ends with a very difficult commission   in 6:9,10  where 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.”  What a message !  You may well ask ,  “ What gospel or good news is there in this ?”  I trust that at the end of our exposition you will indeed  behold the gospel  of our Lord Jesus Christ !

Let us begin  with the basic facts .  Isaiah was  sent to preach the Word of God ( for that is what prophets did!)  to people  who wouldn’t listen ! At least not  according to their own  choice .

In his very first assignment  from God this happened  . God called Isaiah to speak to king  Ahaz  in Jerusalem  concerning his fears  about the invading allies and  armies of Syria and the  apostate  Northern kingdom ( i.e. the northern 10 tribes) . The message from God  is  captured  in  7:4  :  “ 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 the son of Remaliah.”

Let me remind you  that Ahaz  , although he was  a son of David , and mentioned   in the  covenantal line of the Messiah (see  the genealogy  in Matt 1:9 ) , he  wasn’t   a spiritual man  who trusted  the Word of the Lord .  The Scriptures testify in   the historical narrative  of 2 Ki.16:3  that “ he   walked in the ways of the kings of Israel . He even  burned his son as  an offering, according to  the despicable practises of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.”  .  

So , Ahaz was  essentially   a godless man  -  a man given to making his own plans  , and  from the  historical accounts  in 2 Kings 16:7–8 we know that he trusted more in  an alliance with  the Assyrian king than in  the God of his father David  . Historically, within 65 years the Northern Kingdom of Israel would be taken captive and 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 (vv. 10–17)

With this in mind , Isaiah  appears  before Ahaz at the upper pool (7:3)  with words that we would not have expected  to be spoken to this godless, faithless king . Isaiah comes with  a  good and encouraging  message from God and  along with  this he also brings a  challenge in v. 9  :  “ If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” .

But   he finds  king Ahaz  apathetic to this positive   message  .  So , God in His patient mercy says  to Ahaz through  His servant Isaiah  in v.10-11   : “Ask a sign of the Lord your  God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”

The God of grace and mercy is surely  extremely patient with this apostate son of the covenant . He does this for the sake of His covenant  and for the sake of the throne of David and his offspring  the Messiah  , and not because  Ahaz deserves God’s patience .

God tells  Ahaz by the mouth of His servant  Isaiah  to choose a sign as evidence that the message is true. He tells  him also  “ Make it as difficult as you like  – make it  as deep as  Sheol or high as heaven" (v. 11).  What an offer – what an opportunity to  see the Living God at work . Imagine you were given that opportunity !  What would you have asked for?

Astonishingly we read  in v.12  : “ But Ahaz  said , I will not  ask,  and I will not put the LORD to the test  .”  Some think that Ahaz is being merely   humble or modest . Perhaps he remembers Deut  6:16  where it says : “ You shall not  put the LORD your God to the test” . But  as  others have pointed out , when God  proposes a sign  , man is not putting God to the test. If the truth be told, the pious  answer which he gives here  actually masks  a very stubborn unbelief.  I do not need to remind you  that some of the strongest unbelief  hides behind  religious, pious  language  !

Now you can hear  Isaiah’s frustration beginning  to manifest  in v. 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 speaking this not only to the King but in the presence of a multitude assembled  at the  conduit of the  upper pool on the  highway to the washer’s field .  Many may have heard this word  that now came to  Ahaz and to them (v.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. 

A virgin shall bear a son ?

“…the virgin shall conceive and bear a son” . The  Hebrew word used here for virgin   is ‘almah’  -  a   marriageable young lady of unblemished character who was   sexually pure. Many  modern  scholars have  had a problem  with this , because  according to them  virgins ,  by definition cannot conceive or give birth ! ( a real anti-miracle bias) 

And yet this is  not a grammatical  mistake . Many years before Christ was born , Jewish scholars translated  the OT  into Greek (this was called the  Septuagint - or the LXX)  and they  used the word “ parthenos”   for  the word  “virgin” . The Greek language is  precise and unambiguous . The term is  deliberate, and  a parthenos is  a virgin ! They did not  use  the word “ young woman”  or another equivalent .

This prophecy  is truly  astonishing  .  Everybody knows that virgins  do  not  give birth . So, this was going to be something extraordinary .  

However , here is the  ‘ problem’  . There is no  further indication in our context  of who this virgin might be or who Immanuel might be, and so we are left guessing  with respect to a contemporary fulfillment. 

From our Christian  perspective  we would say  that God was  giving  a  sign beyond the understanding and time of Ahaz. Ahaz would never see it. This sign was impossible beyond the deepest depths of Sheol  and the highest heights  of heaven (v.10). 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 .

• The land which was under the rule of the House of David was His land.
•  He is addressed in prayer (8:8) so He 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.”

Now please note the deliberate  language used here by Mary  :

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”   Mary knows that  she is a virgin . She knows that it is technically impossible for virgins to fall pregnant !

And 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 Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”

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 .
2. The Christian faith   rests upon this prophecy in Isaiah 7 .
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) . When I consider the  issues that Namibia and the world faces ,  I know that there is no United Nations  and no United States  and  no World Council of churches  that will  help us . There are simply no human alliances  that will get the world out of this sticky mess , this entanglement of sin . But we thank God for the gospel !  
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.  The sheep know Him  and they follow Him   (John 10: 14, 27) .  Evil  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.  Today I have prayed  once again  that  God  would be pleased to pour out His great gospel  into the heart of  many  an Ahaz .  Amen ! 

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[1] H.C. Leupoldt: Exposition of Isaiah , p159

[2]  For the name  Immanuel : See Isa  7 : 14; 8:8,10

The Immanuel Book- Isaiah 7-12 #1

TEXT :  Isaiah  7:  1-10

TITLE : “ Be careful , be quiet , do not fear …”

DATE PREACHED  :  The Lord's day, 5th  December 2010

Let me begin with a short biographical sketch on the  prophet Isaiah.

His name   (Yeshayahu) means  “ God saves”.  Nothing much is known about  Isaiah except what we read  in this book .  Isaiah Chapter 6  contains   his  famous  call or commission in the year that  king  Uzziah   died . He lived in Jerusalem and his prophetic activity extended at least from  742-701 BC . He was the son of Amoz (1:1)  and he was married . The greatest political event of his prophetic career would have been  the fall of the Northern kingdom  ( Israel)  at the hand of the Assyrians in  about 722 BC  . 

No other prophet  in the Scriptures has  prophesied more  concerning the  Messiah than Isaiah  .  He  reveals the Messiah as Immanuel ,  the incarnate God  (Isa 7-11). We know this with the hindsight  of Matthew  1:21-23.   He also reveals  the  Messiah  as the suffering servant (Isa 53)   who was wounded for our transgressions.

Chapter 7  contains  the  prophecy of the virgin birth  of  a son called Immanuel  (7:14). This “ Immanuel “  is as  mysterious  and  unique  as   the king Melchizedek  in Genesis 14:17ff  (who is without father or mother or genealogy  , having neither beginning  of days or end of life…” – Hebr 7:3).   The Lutheran  commentator  H.C. Leupold  gives this section the title “ Immanuel book”. These are rich Scriptures foretelling the conception and birth of Immanuel   . The gospel of Matthew makes a direct connection to this text with Jesus Christ.  The mysterious Immanuel is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ . 

Chapter 7

I must give you some  further  historical background to Chapter 7 .   Here  we read   that God commands  Isaiah to speak  to   king of Judah[1] ,  King Ahaz,  who is   presently in a real quandary  .  We read  in   7 :1- 2 [2]  :  

“In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with  Ephraim, ( i.e. Israel or the NK) the heart of Ahaz  and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.”

King Ahaz was  clearly very afraid  !  The language is  very picturesque  : ”the heart of Ahaz  and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.”

Isaiah was commanded by God to speak to Ahaz and the people about this fear :

“ 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 the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God: “‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.’”

 Isaiah found king Ahaz  at the upper  pool . Jerusalem’s water came from outside the city   and so it could be easily  cut off by an enemy.   No water  - no hope  !  Ahaz was worried what the enemy could do . Isaiah was sent by the Lord to give Ahaz   courage  , faith and hope .

Now keep in mind that  in  Isa 6:9,10  Isaiah was told that  that “ the hearts of this people would be  dull…. Their ears heavy  and their eyes blind…” .   Men like king Ahaz  would not believe any word  that would come to them from  God.  But , no one  must  accuse God  of not being patient  with rebellious people . He sends His servants into His vineyard time and again  (Parable  of the tenants of the vineyard : Matt 21: 33-46)

So  it appears  that King Ahaz already had his mind made up. He  believed that only Assyria  could  help him now. He would even give away the temple treasury ( the things devoted to God) to save his neck . In  2 Kings 16:7–8 we  read : 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria.

This sort of thing   appears to be  disturbingly  habitual among those who call themselves God’s people . In  Isa 30:1-3 we read of a similar  mindset  where  God’s people were  wanting to trust  in Egypt  rather than in the  LORD their God   :

“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord,“ who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance,  but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;2 who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your  humiliation.

… and these  following words in Isa 30: 12-16

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; 14 and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to   take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning  and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling,  16 and you said, “No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

The message to Ahaz  was simple : Stop worrying ! I am in control  of these events : Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands.

See how much God is for Ahaz  .

This is  apparent in the fact that God sends  a prophet  with the true Word of God  to  him .  Oh how God loves us  when He does not withhold His word from us  .

Remember  too  that  Ahaz,  the son of Jotham, was a son of David.  Pekah  of the Northern kingdom was not of the line of David. He murdered the previous king  Pekahiah  and seized the throne of Israel. He  ruled  20  years before Hoshea the  son of Elah   killed  him and took the throne  from  him (2 Kings 15).  The point is that  the  Lord   had no covenantal dealings  with  the kings of the Northern kingdom .  Pekah was merely the son of Remaliah.  In contrast to this, Ahaz could have rested in God’s promise, “… I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:14).  

Sadly,  this  king born into the Davidic line  could not see  that  a great and mighty  God was committed to  fight his battles  for David’s sake – for His own glory’s sake .  Ahaz  only saw  these two immediate threats – these  two   earthly kings , who from God’s perspective were   described as smoldering stubs -   where the fire had died and all that was left was the smoke !   

Ahaz should have been comforted by this message .     He should not have been intimidated by their threatening  words  ( see v.6)  ;  he should have taken comfort  in the Word of the Lord   .  He should have remembered the  truth expressed  in Isa 40 :15-17 :  15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

Ahaz  had to do nothing  but to stand firm in His faith  in the God of his father David . It was not a leap in the dark . It was a faith that  was tested and tried by his  many godly  predecessors.  Not to stand in faith in this situation would mean the downfall of the nation.

As it  happened in the course of history , it was not only so that the Northern kingdom would be taken into captivity by the Assyrians in 722 BC  , but that 150 years  later  the Southern kingdom would share the same fate , being  taken  into captivity by the Babylonians  .

See how much God is for Ahaz  !

Next week (D.V.)   we will consider  an incredibly generous  offer from the LORD God  to   this  spiritually  weak king Ahaz   . God  says to Ahaz through the prophet  “Ahaz , ask for a sign  to prove  that I am the faithful God  that  will  protect you and sustain you …”  ( 7:10) .  We shall see that Ahaz fails to make an opportunity  of this. And we shall see that despite his unbelief  God Himself will give a sign – “Immanuel”  to prove  that He is the faithful God who will deliver His people  from  their trials and tribulations .  But , as I said , that will be the  subject matter for our next sermon on  Communion Sunday , the 12^th December 2010  .

Right  now I want to conclude with some  application . 

This  is the month and time  of the year  when we remember the birth of our Immanuel – the  Living Word , who   was  given  for our  release from   fear and anxiety – from darkness  . 

We  too are currently living  in  a very  fearful and anxious age . Many people  are sick and stressed . In Jesus  day , He saw that many were  sick and distressed and demon oppressed .  And like the woman  who had a constant flow of blood and had exhausted her finances ( Mk 5:26)  to find a cure  to her ailment  , people  are  harassed  by all sorts of fears  and   emotional ailments  leading to all sorts of psychosomatic diseases. They  crowd the consultation rooms of the doctors   and psychologists.  They are religious like Ahaz . They go to church , but  their demons  of  fear  and anxiety  remain . 

And the main problem is this :  They hear but do not understand ; they keep on seeing , but do not  perceive …”  ( Isa 6:9) .  Like Ahaz and the people  of His day  they do not respond  to the word of the Lord because they  think more  of their enemies than  about the Lord .

They will  not hear  the Word of the Lord speaking into their fears . They  do not want to believe these words from the Immanuel book, because they believe the false prophets , the false words around them more  than this WORD   .

Therefore  they  do not  hear  these words  : ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands…”

God is theory  for   them  …  their  fears and existential  anxieties  are  their  realities!

Our generation is  not firm in  faith !   We  know  very little  of what it means to live by faith . We may not be atheists , but we are practical atheists

We trust our purses  and  we pay for  the opinions  of secular life coaches  , motivational  speakers  , psychologists , doctors  to get rid of our  fears and anxieties.  We   are  pumped full of anti depressants  and  drugs and other stimulants. We cover our  emptiness  by pleasure seeking. 

We are not a generation  that   listens  to God .  We  accumulate  for ourselves teachers  to suit our own passions , and  we easily turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths ( 2 Tim 4:3,4)

We are not  committed worshippers . We do not work from the  center of a  God ordained , biblical fellowship. We do not disperse from the  prayer meeting full of faith  and power .

We are Ahaz’s . We do our own thing . We are intimidated  by people and their opinions . God’s Word does not  seem to touch us  as it ought to . 

Brothers and sisters  :  In every faithful sermon God calls us to faith and obedience  !  But we are deaf and  blind .

We need Immanuel  to come and restore us . This whole  passage begs for a divine solution .  Thank God  that  He holds the key to our every crisis .

Turn with me  now to Him in prayer .

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[1] See the list of kings  in whose reign Isaiah  prophesied in  Isaiah  1:1

[2] The historical  background  is found  2 Chronicles 28 and 2 Kings 16    .The time frame is  roughly about 735 BC.