A Sign of Mercy

to the book of Isaiah chapter
seven. I was tweeting John before the
service and pleading with him for every bit of 45 minutes,
and now I have 49. So here we go. This morning, I want to obviously
take a brief break from our study in the book of Romans. We’ll
look to return to that study next Lord’s Day. But this morning,
still focused in our hearts on the Christmas season, the real
significance of it, God’s gift of his son to the world, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I thought it would be good to
consider again a passage from a book that is unparalleled in
its declaration of the Messiah, the book of Isaiah. Now, if you
think our pace in the book of Romans is slow, Consider our
study in Isaiah. Six years ago, I began considering
the Messianic prophecies in Isaiah. Initially, those passages that
Handel used as lyrics for his epic musical production, The
Messiah. In six years, we’ve covered a
total of 18 verses. That’s 18 verses out of a book
with 66 chapters, and to make things worse, In looking back
at what we have covered, I noticed a pattern. The first year I preached
seven verses. The next year I preached five
verses. The year after that, I preached three and then two,
and you get the picture. The bottom line is we need to
pick up the pace, people. I’d like you to turn to Isaiah,
if you haven’t already, chapter seven. A passage that is exquisitely
appropriate for a Christmas message. And in order to set the context,
it’s fascinating to me, at least, that the passage we’ll be considering
this morning falls immediately after the passage that we considered
last week. I didn’t plan this, but it works.
And so I went with it. Last week, we were considering
those terrible words recorded in Isaiah six. And Isaiah’s commissioning,
we heard that Isaiah was taken by way of a vision to the very
throne room of God, his reaction was entirely appropriate, one
of abject reverence and awe. Isaiah submits himself to God
for service and is commissioned out on the spot with those solemn
words Words about reprobation that we spent so much time on
last week. Verses nine and ten. One of the
most frequently quoted passages in the New Testament of the old. And immediately at the close
of that scene, Isaiah’s commissioning a very solemn occasion. He is
given an assignment immediately afterwards to go to the king
of Judah Ahaz with a message. Judah and King Ahaz are under
siege by their neighboring nations, and God mercifully sends Isaiah
with a message, a message that we know now as a Christmas passage. If you would, look at Isaiah
chapter 7, beginning in verse 1. Now it came about in the days
of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah,
that Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king
of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could
not conquer it. When it was reported to the house
of David, saying the Arameans have camped in Ephraim, his heart
and the hearts of his people shook. as the trees of the forest
shake with the wind. Then the Lord said to Isaiah,
go now to meet Ahaz, you and your son, Shir Jeshuv, at the
end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the fuller’s
field and say to him, take care and be calm. Have no fear and
do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering
firebrands. On account of the fierce anger
of Rezan and Aram and the son of Remaliah, because Aram with
Ephraim and the son of Remaliah has planned evil against you,
saying, let us go up against Judah and terrorize it and make
for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tebiel
as king in the midst of it. Thus says the Lord God, it shall
not stand, nor shall it come to pass. For the head of Aram
is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Now, within
another sixty-five years, Ephraim will be shattered so that it
is no longer a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will
not believe, you surely shall not last. Then the Lord spoke
again to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your
God. Make it as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. But Ahaz
said, I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord. Then he said,
Listen now, O house of David, is it too slight a thing for
you to try the patience of men that now you will try the patience
of my God as well? Therefore, the Lord himself will
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with
child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.
He will eat curds and honey at the time he knows enough to refuse
evil and choose good. For behold, the boy will know
enough to refuse evil and choose good. The land whose two kings
you dread will be forsaken. if you would, all the way back
to verse one, as we pick up this amazing prophecy. It came about
in the days of Ahaz, and we need to ponder and remind ourselves
who is this Ahaz. We learn about him, and I want
you to, you’re going to have to be adept this morning, because
we’re going to flip back and forth from several chapters of
Scripture. I’d like you to find 2 Chronicles,
all the way back in the Old Testament, those books that We’re tedious
to read in your youth. We studied them several years
ago, Kings and Chronicles. I want you to find chapter eight
of Second Chronicles. We’re going to be there several
times this morning. So if you have some kind of a
bookmark, it might be helpful. We remind ourselves of King Ahaz,
beginning in chapter eight, in verse one. Where it is recorded
Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king. That’s probably
part of the problem. And he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do right in the
sight of the Lord, as David, his father, had done. But he
walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. Not a good thing.
He also made molten images for the veils. Moreover, he burned
incense in the valley of Ben Hinnom and burned his sons in
fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord
had driven out before the sons of Israel. He sacrificed and
burned incense on the high places, on the hills and under every
green tree. Thus, the overall assessment
of the king of Judah was that he did not do right in the eyes
of the Lord. God was not pleased with Ahaz. Not good. Not good at all. This is an incredibly sad turn
for Judah. The nation of Judah. By and large,
their kings were better than those of Israel. Israel, you
may remember, never had a good king. Not one. Judah enjoyed
many. So Ahaz had not only that, a
long heritage, but he had a strong family heritage. Both his grandfather
Uzziah and his father Jotham were among Judah’s good kings,
good men who ruled well. They did right in the eyes of
the Lord, but Ahaz. Ahaz, on the other hand, engaged
in the worst kind of idolatry. Idolatry so heinous, it moved
him to sacrifice his own sons in the fires of a false god,
just sickening. Unbelievable, and he’s going
to pay for it, because God is going to chasten him. Look down
at verse 5-7. Wherefore, the Lord his God delivered
him into the hand of the king of Aram, and they defeated him
and carried away from him a great number of captives and brought
them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into
the hand of the king of Israel, who inflicted him with heavy
casualties. For Pechah, the son of Ramaliah,
slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day. all valiant
men, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.”
Now, don’t be misled. I mean, that’s a terrible scene. But don’t misunderstand it. This
makes it sound as if Judah was wiped out, destroyed, and carted
off completely. They weren’t. They were attacked
and they were hurt. They were besieged. But they
were putting up a valiant fight. Unfortunately, that only served
to irritate Judah’s enemies even more. As one recorded, they did besiege
Ahaz and Judah, but to no purpose. Rezan conquered merely the seaport
town of Ela. Heca failed in his attempt to
conquer Jerusalem completely. He united his forces with Rezan
and the Arameans. Israel would go on in verses
8 through 15. It records where they enslaved
a great number of those of Judah. Judah itself, Ahaz, seeks help
from heathen nations. There’s no help at all, as if
he needed to learn that lesson. Now, if you would please, keep
your finger there and turn back to Isaiah chapter 7. And if you
keep your finger there, it will only cramp because we won’t be
back there for a bit. So, tuck a pencil or a bookmark
of some kind in there. Isaiah chapter 7. Now, it came
about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah. Those were his father and grandfather,
king of Judah. Ahaz was the king of Judah. The
Rezzin, the king of Aram and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king
of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it. They
could not conquer it. It’s exactly what we just read.
It’s exactly the same scene. And there’s a lot of names here. So, OK, let’s pause for a moment
and identify the key players. Following the death of King Solomon,
the kingdom divided. Remember? Ten tribes lined up
under Jeroboam. Two tribes lined up under Rehoboam. Under Jeroboam’s kingdom was
known as Israel. Rehoboam’s kingdom was known
as Judah. Now Ahaz, as we’ve already noted,
was the king of Judah. Rezin was the king of neighboring
Syria, not of Syria, that’s important to note, but Syria. Pekah was
the undeserving king of Israel. And I say undeserving because
he usurped the throne by way of murder. That’s recorded in
Second Kings 1525. It reads like this, just briefly. Pekka, son of Remaliah, his officer,
conspired against him and struck him in Samaria, in the castle
of the king’s house, with Argab and Erieh. And with him were
fifty men of the Geradites and killed him and became king in
his place. That’s how he ascended to power.
Now, because of Ahaz and his sinful habits and rule, God decided
to punish him. And it’s so often the case in
scripture, God chose to use those who were even more sinful than
he. Which is always a difficult equation
to fathom for the human mind. But it was an act of mercy on
God’s part, designed to call Ahaz to repentance. The shocking
thing is that one of the evil nations that God proposed to
use was none other than Judah’s sister nation, Israel. Israel, indeed, had sunk to its
lowest point to attack and to kill brother tribes. This is truly their low point.
So far, they had sunk in their own sin that they were in league
with another faithless nation. Aram. Nevertheless, God used
them to chasten Ahaz and Judah. And here is how it unfolded.
Israel and Syria, Aram, wanted to make a preemptive strike against
the evil nation of Assyria. Remember, I clarified a moment
ago. Israel and Syria wanted to attack
Assyria and they wanted Judah’s help. But when Judah refused,
They tried a more severe approach, war. When Ahaz refused, they
attacked him. The irony is that Ahaz eventually
would turn to wicked king, the king of Assyria for help. Their
king Tiglath-Pileser would provide assistance, first of all, ultimately
killing Rezin and then taking captive massive numbers of Israelites. But this godless assistance would
come at a great cost to Ahaz and Judah. It would cost them
Judah’s independence. It would cost them vast sums
of money in tribute tax. And ultimately, and wouldn’t
you know it, Tiglath turned on Ahaz. But remember, this is all
part of God’s plan. Part of the outworking of God’s
purposes. Ahaz had brought this on himself. through his idolatry, and rather
looking to heathen nations for help, God would have preferred
that he look to him for divine assistance. And so now provoked,
Judah’s enemies regroup and they are preparing for a second attack.
Look at verse 2. When it was reported to the house
of David saying, the Arameans have camped in Ephraim, this
was an unthinkable thing. The Arameans, this godless nation,
faithless nation, is now camped in the heart of Israel itself.
They are in league with supposedly God’s people, Judah’s sister
nation. When he heard that, when Ahaz
heard this news, it says that his heart and the hearts of his
people shook as the trees of the forest shake with wind. They
were petrified. They were absolutely undone,
overwhelmed. They had repelled these enemies
in their initial attacks, but now the armies are resting, fortifying
and formulating an entirely new strategy for attack. How much
longer could Judah hold out? How could Ahaz save himself? How could Judah save herself?
And those questions are precisely what Isaiah was sent to address.
Ahaz and Judah needed to look outside themselves. They needed
to repent and look to God for help. They needed to get rid
of the idols and turn back to the one true God. And He would
help them. Having already commissioned the
prophet Isaiah, as we read about last week, God now sends him
on his very first assignment. Ahaz and the wayward nation of
Judah. Look at verse 3. Then the Lord
said to Isaiah, go out now and meet Ahaz. You and your son,
Shir Jeshub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on
the highway to the fuller’s field. All this to say, interestingly,
God tells Isaiah exactly down to the very foot where he could
find Nervus Ahas. He’s out personally overseeing
probably a military strategic operation, possibly attempting
to cut off the water supply from his enemies. That’s why he’s
up there. Some might call this leadership. In actuality, it
was an indication of Ahaz’s dogged lack of trust in God and an all-out
commitment to his own plan. He wants to do this himself,
and that’s his biggest problem. Look at verse 4. Isaiah comes
to him. And he is told to say to him,
take care and be calm. Have no fear. Do not be faint
hearted because these two stubs of smoldering firebrands on account
of the fierce anger, Rezan and Aram and the son of Remaliah.
He encourages them to courageous calmness. Literally, it says,
don’t let your heart be soft. They have. Not only Does it speak of an
outward calmness than an inner calm as well? Ahaz is sternly
warned by Isaiah to be calm, to be fearless, to not be faint
hearted. Don’t be tempted to operate in
your own strength. Trust in God. Repent. Call on
him in faith. And look at what he calls his
enemies, two smoldering firebrands. Once said of this terminology,
the two allies are designated at once what they were in the
sight of God. They were nothing but the blunt ends of wooden
fire pokers. They’re worthless. They wouldn’t
even catch fire anymore. They do nothing more than smolder.
And note God’s disdain for these two. He refrains here from even
calling Rezin a king. And as for Pekka, he doesn’t
even refer to him by name. But he’s merely the son of Ramaliah,
a nobody, which serves to call to mind Pekah’s wicked ascent
to power. If you would, verse 5. Because
Aram with Ephraim and the son of Ramaliah have planned evil
against you, saying, let us go up to Judah and terrorize it
and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son
of Tebiel as king in the midst of it. Thus says the Lord God,
it shall not stand or come to pass. So this is their big idea. They’re going to install the
political powerhouse, the son of Tabeel. You say you should
have gone back and read your Bible a little more closely.
You haven’t heard of him. Neither have I. He’s a nobody, an absolute
nobody, a literal unknown. Probably somebody that they could
set up as a puppet king and then control. God says it’s not going
to work. It will not stand or come to
pass. They will not succeed. Remember, they’re nothing more
than tools in God’s hands for accomplishing his purpose, not
their own. They can do nothing, not a single
step further than what God allows. And God draws the line right
here. What a comfort. What a comfort these words must
have been to Ahaz, to Judah, that these plans of
these evil kings would not come to pass. What
a comfort. At least that was God’s intent,
wasn’t it? It always is. Romans 2.4 says, Do you think
lightly of the richness of His kindness and tolerance and patience,
not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
That was God’s design. in going to Ahaz and in appealing
to him, in trying to offer him comforting words. And Isaiah
continues his appeal in verse 8. Look at these words given
to him by God. For the head of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus is Rezin. Now within another 65 years,
Ephraim will be shattered so that it is no longer a people.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the
son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you
surely shall not last. These are his words of comfort
and hope. What do they mean? Let’s clarify again some of the
players in these places. Rezin, as we already saw, is
the king of Syria, also known as the Arameans. Damascus was
a chief city of the Arameans. Aaron is equivalent to the Syrians. The center of Ramaliah, as we’ve
already seen, was the usurper king that killed his master,
become Israel’s king. Samaria is the capital city of
the kingdom of Israel. And Ephraim, if you trace it
all the way back, was the second son of Joseph, chosen over his
older brother Manasseh. But here a euphemism for the
ten tribes of Israel. The bottom line, he says, look,
Look out at your globe or your map or what have you. Nothing
is going to be changed. They’re not going to get your
territory. They’re not going to set up kingdom in your territory. They’re not going to go away
completely, at least not immediately. He says 65 years from now, though,
Israel is going to be wiped off the map. Ephraim is going away. What he says is, look, nothing
is going to change. They’re not going to change the
map. They’re not going to change the
course of history. They’re not going to invade on my plan, says
God. Look at verse 10. Then the Lord
spoke again to Ahaz. And as I said, these were offered
as words of comfort. You know who I am. You know that
I’m God. You know that I’m almighty. You
know that I’m sovereign. I want you to trust me, Ahaz. Then the Lord spoke again to
Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God. What words of mercy. Ask a sign
for yourself from the Lord your God. Make it as deep as Sheol
or as high as heaven. Isaiah tells Ahaz to ask for
a sign. Let God prove himself to you
that he is your comfort, that he will go to battle for you,
that he is your protector, that he has a plan of redemption,
that he will see it through. Judah is not going to be wiped
off the map. Ask for a sign as a proof of
God’s promise to help whatever you want, whatever you ask. And
you would think that the way Isaiah here couches that request,
that Ahaz would soften his heart and fall on his knees. He reminds
Ahaz of the Lord, your God. Shouldn’t he immediately have
been reminded that his God, his faithfulness to the Jewish people,
of their covenant with Him which included not only promises, but
responsibilities. Wouldn’t that have stopped him
in his tracks? Isaiah says, ask for a sign.
Now, a sign as one so helpfully defined it, was something, some
occurrence or some action which serves as a pledge of divine
certainty of something else. In other words, if God did this
lesser thing, no doubt he would do the greater. visible miracles
performed at once, appointed symbols of future events, predicted
occurrences, miraculous or natural, could not possibly be seen by
human capacities. In other words, name it, stop
the sun in the sky, make the moon go dark, whatever it is
you want. Isaiah had just told him of the
ultimate failure of this military bid against him and of Israel’s
coming demise. And God was willing to provide
whatever kind of proof Ahaz needed in order for him to trust in
his God. But, oops, he can’t do that. All of a sudden, Ahaz is going
to get religious and sanctimonious, and that to the prophet of God
and to his face. Look what happens. Look at verse
12. But Ahaz said, I will not ask,
nor will I test the Lord. As one Puritan rightly characterized
this, he said, what a pious sound this has. And yet his self-hardening
reached its culminating point in these well-sounding words.
He hid himself hypocritically under the mask of the law, Deuteronomy
6.16, to avoid being disturbed in his Assyrian alignment. And
it suggests that the acceptance of what Jehovah himself had offered
as tempting God. Do you hear the hypocrisy in
this line of reasoning? It was phony. Totally phony. What it really was was self-will.
It was a lack of faith. Ahaz had a plan all along. He
wanted to align himself with the king of Assyria and have
the king of Assyria help him wipe out these other two kings. It was phony. He wanted to do
what he wanted to do. He wanted to seek the help of
a powerful heathen king And asking God meant that he would have
to give up his plans. And you hear this kind of reasoning
all the time. I love God, but I hate church. I love God, but
going to church bothers me. So because I love God so much. I’m not going to church. That’s
the same kind of reasoning, hypocritical. Isaiah calls it exactly as it
is. Look at verse 13. He said, listen now. Oh, house
of David. Is it too slight a thing for
you to try the patience of men? That you will try the patience
of my God as well? Ahaz had rigidly refused to align
himself with Rezin and Pecah, and that alone had tried their
patience. Add to that, though, that Judah’s
strong resistance to their attack, and they were really irritated.
Isaiah likewise was provoked by Ahaz through his foolishness,
his lack of repentance, and now his absurd and hypocritical suggestion
that to ask God to prove himself when it was God’s idea in the
first place, Now we’re not only merely as
he provoked by Ahaz, now God’s patience is stretched. God has
offered you the opportunity to ask for you a sign on your own,
and though you stubbornly and hypocritically refuse that sign,
He’s going to give you a sign anyway. Look at verse 14. Therefore, the Lord Himself will
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with
child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.
He will eat curds and honey at the time he knows enough to refuse
evil and choose good. For before the boy will know
enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings
you dread will be forsaken.” The bottom line of this prophecy,
this unsolicited sign, was that God was essentially rebuking
Ahaz for his lack of faith and affirming that God’s promises
would not fail. If Judah were to be wiped out,
no way could Messiah emerge from that nation to assume David’s
throne. There’s no way. And so Isaiah’s
prophecy points to the eventual outworking of God’s plan, obscure
as it may be, and now with fresh detail about the Messiah. But
God’s plan would be affected. There was no way that two rogue
kings were going to be able to thwart God’s plan of redemption.
No way. Ahaz should have long since been
on board with God’s plan, but now his only hope His repentance
and faith in Jehovah. It has new testimony of the Scriptures. Second Samuel 712. Second Samuel
717. Your throne shall be established forever. Psalm 89 35 to 37. It
shall be established forever like the moon. Psalm 132 11.
But the prophecy offered now offered new details. about the one who was to assume
David’s throne. Isaiah here briefly foretells
three quick in these obtuse sentences of the Messiah who is to come. He will be God incarnate. By
way of a unique birth, he would be born of a virgin. Absolutely
amazing. Two chapters later in Isaiah
nine, additional detail is given about the setting into which
the Messiah would be born. verses that we’ve considered
in the past. There will be no more gloom for her who was in
anguish. In earlier times, He treated
the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt. But
later on, He shall make it glorious on the way of the sea, on the
other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who
walk in darkness will see a great light. And on Isaiah goes. Again
in chapter 11. The character of the Messiah’s
government there is presented. A shoot will spring forth from
the stem of Jesse. A branch from his roots will
bear fruit. The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength, the spirit
of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. These three prophecies form what
one rightly characterized as an indivisible triad. of consolatory
images in three distinct stages. They are interwoven with the
stages into which the future history of the nation unfolded
itself in the prophets view. In other words, Isaiah looks
down through the annals of history. And he says, look, God said he
was going to establish this throne forever and he is going to maintain
it. And Ahaz should have already known that. What is the sign? A virgin will be with child and
bear a son. Now, this word virgin much debated because the idea
that the original Hebrew word doesn’t literally mean virgin,
it refers to one who is unwed of marrying age. I get that. In a sense, Matthew’s gospel
eventually would not only shed light on Isaiah’s precise reference,
a young girl named Mary, who was indeed a virgin, It also
reveals Isaiah’s intended meaning as originally given. There was
not only a young girl, not merely an unmarried maiden, but morally
she was chaste, a virgin. What is the implication that
the Messiah was born of a virgin? I love James Boyce’s description
when he said the essence of the incarnation is that by it, God
became man in order to achieve salvation and establish the rule
of God in history and over history. The means by which that was accomplished
historically was the virgin birth. We can’t let go of that truth,
people. The conception of Christ without the benefit of a human
father has always staggered the unbelieving mind, both within
and outside the church. And it has always been denied,
thereby reducing Jesus to the level of a mere man. But the
incarnation is much more than this. It is the invasion by God
of history through one who is uniquely both God and man. It is a supernatural, miraculous
event. And it is this character, the
event, which the doctrine of the virgin birth both defines
and preserves. God tells Ahaz, you refuse to
ask me for a sign, I’m going to give you a sign. And this
is the sign that he provides. Isaiah here is not suggesting
that the child’s actual name would be Immanuel. She will call
his name Immanuel. The Gospel accounts are unified
in recording the God-given name of the child as Jesus. But with
regards to Emmanuel, it’s all that Jesus is. All that that
child is, is Emmanuel. That in the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is nothing less than God, who has come to be right where
we are. God with us. As one pastor said, the vision
of the prophet sweeps far beyond present events. And he beholds
this son that should be born, this child that should be given,
which can be none other than the messianic king, the security
for the fulfillment of promises of David and the hope of the
future of the world. So what did these words mean
to Ahaz? Interpreters have wrestled with
this question for years. Was there an immediate reference?
Perhaps a virgin or a young maiden who gave birth in Ahaz and Isaiah’s
day? There was a mirror image of the
event to come. Some have even suggested that
it was perhaps either Ahaz’s wife or Isaiah’s wife, no proof
at all, mind you, from the entirety of the rest of Scripture. And
that’s why I think Hendrickson is absolutely right when he says
this. There is no need whatsoever to
introduce into this passage any supposed reference to Abbie,
the wife of Ahaz, and her son Hezekiah, or to the wife of Isaiah
and one of her children, or to any of their contemporaries. Others suggested that there is
a double reference, that one in Isaiah’s day and the birth
of Christ. Let’s take both things. But that’s
still an unworkable, unproven and even unnecessary position.
And I’m totally comfortable with the third option. A single reference
to the birth of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s
all the sign that Ahaz received. What was the immediate benefit
to Ahaz? Nothing. The prophecy, just like Isaiah’s
visit, was all designed as a call to faith, essentially a call
to repentance and faith in Jehovah. Proof for this sign wouldn’t
be granted for centuries, and God did him no disservice in
offering him this sign. He forces Ahaz to pick up, as
it were, the binoculars and look down the ages of history. It was a mystery. On one hand,
it was a sign of judgment to Ahaz that it was a merciful call
to repentance as well, that God would prove himself. But Ahaz
was going to have to look deeply. The event, as one said, though
so far off, was enough to assure the people of Judah that as God,
the head of the theocracy, he would ultimately interpose to
destroy the enemies of his people. So that they should rely on him
now. So if Ahaz and Judah had no immediate
reference here, they did look down the annals of time toward
the promised Messiah because of this prophecy. Did they do
that? Not necessarily. This prophecy largely fell on
deaf ears. As John brought us the great
old Baptist commentator observed, we have no information here that
the Jews even understood Isaiah 714 as a messianic passage. They had plenty of them, and
plenty that they interpreted somewhat correctly, that pointed
to a Messiah, but this one wasn’t even on the radar. They didn’t
know what to do with Isaiah 714. But it’s one of the many predictions,
some more and some less plain, which all combined would furnish
conclusive proof. Well, we do know what Ahaz did
with this prophecy. These words fell upon a stony
heart. He did exactly what he wanted to do all along. There
was no repentance. There was no awe at the sovereignty
of the Almighty. There was no intense pondering
at the deep meaning, the significance of these words, no calling for
divine assistance in his predicament. We know exactly what Ahaz did
with this prophecy because scripture records it. Would you turn back
to 2 Chronicles chapter 28. In 2 Chronicles, chapter 28,
pick it up in verse 16. At that time, King Ahaz sent
to the kings of Assyria for help. For again, the Edomites had come
and attacked Judah and carried away captives. He was under attack
almost at every turn. Jump down to verse 19 for the
sake of time. For the Lord humbled Judah because Ahaz, king of Israel,
for he had brought about a lack of restraint in Judah and was
very unfaithful to the Lord. What an understatement. So Tiglath,
Pileser, king of Assyria, came against him and afflicted him
instead of strengthening him. You mean Tiglath, his buddy that
he had paid all this money to, and now he’s being turned on
by Yim? Yes. Although Ahaz took a portion
out of the house of the Lord and out of the palace of the
king and the princes and gave it to the king of Assyria, it
did not help him. Now in the time of his distress,
this same King Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the Lord,
for he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated
him. And said, because the gods of
the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them that
they may help me. In other words, God quit on me
and I’m quitting on God. I’m going to change teams, is
what he says. They became the downfall of him
and all of Israel. I don’t want you to just listen
briefly. To the account in second Kings,
just listen one sentence. A has went to Damascus to meet
with Tiglath Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, when he saw
the altar, which was at Damascus and King Ahaz sent Uriah, the
priest, The pattern of the altar and its model, according to all
its workmanship, he wanted to build an identical replica. And
not just one, multiple. Look down at verse 24. Moreover,
when Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God,
he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces. He closed the
doors of the house of the Lord and made altars for himself in
every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah, he made
high places to burn incense to other gods and provoked the Lord,
the God of his fathers, to anger. And he died. And you know what? He wasn’t even given a proper
burial, not one fit for a king. So the perception might be that
this prophecy, this great prophecy, died on the body. Ahaz didn’t
grasp the depth of the meaning, the importance of Isaiah’s words,
the sign he didn’t repent, and so having fallen on deaf ears,
these words were wasted. Not so fast. As you know, in
the opening chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, they’re revived. Matthew,
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, cites and revives Isaiah’s
prophecy to Ahaz in reference to the birth of Jesus Christ.
If you would, Matthew chapter one, as we close. In Matthew, chapter one, in verse
18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother,
Mary, had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she
was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph,
her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace
her, but desired to put her away secretly. But when she had considered
this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary
as your wife for that which has been conceived in her is of the
Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son and you
shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save his people
from their sins. Now, all this took place. that what was spoken by the Lord
through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Behold, the
virgin shall be with child. She shall bear a son and they
shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with
us. What was implied earlier in the
passage in verses 18 and 20 by the Holy Spirit of the Holy Spirit
is now stated explicitly. God has come to take on human
flesh. And note, Matthew adds this profound
fact that the prophecy was spoken by the Lord originally and now
repeated. This prophecy originally delivered
by Isaiah, the King Ahaz, freighted with meaning. Had as its orientation
point the very mind of God. This miraculous wedding of divinity
and humanity. Immanuel, God with us, was prophesied
by Isaiah 700 years earlier. The first, by the way, of 40
such prophecies. But it’s interesting to note
here that Isaiah doesn’t explain the meaning of his words. He
didn’t need to. When he first delivered this prophecy in Hebrew
to Ahaz, Ahaz would have known immediately what he was saying.
He would catch the implications of those words, this title. But
Matthew, Matthew desiring and writing
not only to Jews who spoke Greek, but also to many who didn’t know
the Hebrew language at all. Matthew takes the extra step
to describe and point out exactly what this title meant. Emmanuel. That sounds the same
whether it’s in Hebrew, Greek or English. Emmanuel. God with
us. It’s a blend of two words. The
word for God, El, blended with a word that speaks of proximity,
nearness. Emmanuel. Matthew says they shall
call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.
That’s what the scriptures all say. The word, John 1, 14, the
word Jesus Christ became flesh and dwelt among us. One pastor said, no, nothing
rather can be plainer than that the scriptures do teach that
Christ is truly God, he is truly man and that he is one person. They assert of him whatever may
be said of God and everything that can be said of a sinless
man, they assume as a fact that Christ is God and man in one
person. It took the church almost 400
years to formally adopt that position. The Council of Calcine
in 451, Jesus Christ possessed two natures without confusion,
without change, without division. Without separation, the distinctiveness
of the natures being by no means removed because of the union,
but the properties of each nature being fully preserved. He was
fully God and fully man. Jesus Christ took on an additional
form. He didn’t set aside his deity
without changing his original nature. He took on a human body.
You see, if Jesus had merely been born the son of Joseph and
Mary by ordinary generation, he would not have been. God. So the supposed problem is remedy,
the sin of the world was too great that any one person alone
or all of humanity at once trying to atone for their sin couldn’t
have done it. And so God had to step in. The
debt was so great. that while man only owed it,
only God could pay it. And so that same person had to
be both God and man. Thomas Watson said it this way.
It was not fit for any to satisfy God’s justice, but man and none
could do it but God. Therefore, Christ being both
God and man is the fittest to undertake this work of redemption. You know what? We can look back.
Scripture is sound. We know exactly what Isaiah did
with this prophecy. Isaiah did not, or rather Ahaz
did with this prophecy. Ahaz did nothing with it. It
fell on deaf ears. But this prophecy is as pertinent to you as it was
to Ahaz. You’re not fighting a kingdom.
You’re fighting a much more formidable foe. You’re fighting sin itself. And sin is having its way. It’s
taking its toll and it will kill you. What you need is divine
assistance, just like Ahaz needed. What you need in order to embrace
that divine assistance is what God has provided in the birth
of this son, Emmanuel. You need God with you. You need
the Lord Jesus Christ. John Calvin, in characterizing
this verse, said it this way. Since our iniquities, like a
cloud cast between us and him, had completely estranged us from
the kingdom of heaven. No man, unless he belonged to
God, could serve as the intermediator to restore peace. Hence, it was
necessary for the Son of God to become for us Immanuel. We know what Ahaz did with this
prophecy. What will you do with it? Let’s
pray. O merciful God, each one of us stands before
you, some of us already having been forgiven because of the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that was shed for sinners. Each
one of us stands before you in desperate need of Emmanuel. Each
one of us needs God with us. Each one of us needs divine assistance. Lord God, that is exactly the
prophecy that you gave, not just to a wayward king, not just to
a troubled and idolatrous nation, but that is the message that
you give to the world. Emmanuel, God with us. If there are any who do not know
the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, they stand in more desperate
need of Him than even Ahaz himself. We pray, Lord, open their eyes.
It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen. so so and and and you