An Advent of Peace

Turn to Isaiah 7

I grew up in northern Ontario among a people who had many peace treaties made with them. Between them and the government

the people we lived among were called the

Anishanawbi Aski Nation, or The Treaty 9 People, consisting of 49 communities or nations of people

And most of those peace treaties that have been made, because of the sinfulness and selfishness of mankind, have been broken

Today we are going to read about the greatest peace treaty ever made. One that will never be broken.

Isaiah 7:1–17 ESV

1 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. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. 3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 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. 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.’ ” 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!”

The story of King Ahaz is set in a very turbulent and tragic time of the Jewish people

This was after the Kingdom had been divided..Israel to the north, and Judah to the south

Each kingdom had its own line of kings..some of them followed the Lord, many did not. Especially in the northern kingdom of Israel. Or Ephraim, as it is sometimes referred to.

The reason that Israel was called Ephraim was because the tribe of Ephraim had become its dominant tribe.

King Ahaz was king of Judah. But he was not a good king at all. He was, in fact, one of the most wicked kings that Judah ever had!

To give us a more complete picture of what was happening, I would invite you to turn with me to 2 Chronicles 28.

I am going to read the whole chapter

Because I want us to hear what was going on.

28 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, as his ancestor David had done. 2 Instead, he followed the example of the kings of Israel. He cast metal images for the worship of Baal. 3 He offered sacrifices in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, even sacrificing his own sons in the fire.[a] In this way, he followed the detestable practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the pagan shrines and on the hills and under every green tree.

5 Because of all this, the Lord his God allowed the king of Aram (That’s Syria) to defeat Ahaz and to exile large numbers of his people to Damascus (Damascus was the capital of Syria). The armies of the king of Israel also defeated Ahaz and inflicted many casualties on his army. 6 In a single day Pekah son of Remaliah, Israel’s king, killed 120,000 of Judah’s troops, all of them experienced warriors, because they had abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 7 Then Zicri, a warrior from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the king’s son; Azrikam, the king’s palace commander; and Elkanah, the king’s second-in-command. 8 The armies of Israel captured 200,000 women and children from Judah and seized tremendous amounts of plunder, which they took back to Samaria (in Israel).

9 But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there in Samaria when the army of Israel returned home. He went out to meet them and said, “The Lord, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah and let you defeat them. But you have gone too far, killing them without mercy, and all heaven is disturbed. 10 And now you are planning to make slaves of these people from Judah and Jerusalem. What about your own sins against the Lord your God? 11 Listen to me and return these prisoners you have taken, for they are your own relatives. Watch out, because now the Lord’s fierce anger has been turned against you!”

12 Then some of the leaders of Israel[b]—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—agreed with this and confronted the men returning from battle. 13 “You must not bring the prisoners here!” they declared. “We cannot afford to add to our sins and guilt. Our guilt is already great, and the Lord’s fierce anger is already turned against Israel.”

14 So the warriors released the prisoners and handed over the plunder in the sight of the leaders and all the people. 15 Then the four men just mentioned by name came forward and distributed clothes from the plunder to the prisoners who were naked. They provided clothing and sandals to wear, gave them enough food and drink, and dressed their wounds with olive oil. They put those who were weak on donkeys and took all the prisoners back to their own people in Jericho, the city of palms. Then they returned to Samaria.

Ahaz Closes the Temple

16 At that time King Ahaz of Judah asked the king of Assyria (kingdom much farther north and east) for help. 17 The armies of Edom had again invaded Judah and taken captives. 18 And the Philistines had raided towns located in the foothills of Judah[c] and in the Negev of Judah. They had already captured and occupied Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages.

“So not only was Judah in danger from Israel and Syria, they were also under attack from Edom to the east, and the Philistines to the west”

19 The Lord was humbling Judah because of King Ahaz of Judah,[d] for he had encouraged his people to sin and had been utterly unfaithful to the Lord.

20 So when King Tiglath-pileser[e] of Assyria arrived, he attacked Ahaz instead of helping him. 21 Ahaz took valuable items from the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, and from the homes of his officials and gave them to the king of Assyria as tribute. But this did not help him.

22 Even during this time of trouble, King Ahaz continued to reject the Lord. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, for he said, “Since these gods helped the kings of Aram, they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them.” But instead, they led to his ruin and the ruin of all Judah.

24 The king took the various articles from the Temple of God and broke them into pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s Temple so that no one could worship there, and he set up altars to pagan gods in every corner of Jerusalem. 25 He made pagan shrines in all the towns of Judah for offering sacrifices to other gods. In this way, he aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

26 The rest of the events of Ahaz’s reign and everything he did, from beginning to end, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 When Ahaz died, he was buried in Jerusalem but not in the royal cemetery of the kings of Judah. Then his son Hezekiah became the next king.

Do you see the wickedness and stubbornness of this King Ahaz? Do you see the trouble he is in?

Even after Isaiah, in chapter 7 brings a message of hope to him, encouraging him to not be afraid of the kings of Syria and Israel, he still sends for help from the king of Assyria.

And the king of Assyria does come and “help” him by killing the king of Syria.

But in the end, it’s a terrible decision because the King of Assyria subjects King Ahaz and the land of Judah to terrible taxation and oppression

So what does all of this have to do with Advent and Christmas?

It’s because of who the star of these accounts is. And that is God.

Every year when we come to Advent and I read this account in Isaiah 7, I am amazed again and again at the grace and the love of God.

You see, Ahaz was in a really bad way. He was being threatened militarily and he was in danger of suffering the judgement of God because of his terrible wickedness and rebellion.

He had no hope. No hope of winning a military battle. And certainly no hope of escaping the judgement of God.

And yet it is GOD who comes to him with words of comfort, like a father comforting his little boy when he is scared of the “big kids”.

“Hey, don’t be afraid. Those two kings and their armies out there? They are like two pieces of wood that have been burnt and are just lying there smoldering. They aren’t good for anything! They have no strength!

Don’t be scared!”

And, Ahaz, if you are having trouble believing what I’m saying, go ahead and ask me for a sign! Go ahead and ask!

Here is what is happening.

God is making an offer of peace to a young king who could hardly be farther from God.

Who had deliberately turned his back on God and was actively rebelling against Him in every way possible.

Even to the point of closing up the temple and selling off its treasures.

Yet God, our sovereign and omnipotent God, completely gracious, completely loving and completely just, approaches Ahaz with an offer of peace

And folks, that is exactly what He did for all of mankind through Jesus Christ.

The story of Advent and Christmas is a story about a peace treaty that was offered. It’s a story about a peace plan, the terms of which were drafted by Almighty God, to reconcile a rebellious and wicked human race with their Creator.

You see, the uncomfortable truth is, that as wicked as Ahaz was, and as far from God as Ahaz was, you and I, outside of Christ were no better off

And that is hard for us to grasp. Especially for those of us who grew up in good families and coming to church all of our lives.

Even for folks like us, outside of Jesus Christ, there was no peace with God.

That gulf that opened up when Adam and Eve took the fruit and ate it, going against the command of God.

That gulf that opened up between God and His rebellious, stubborn creation still existed.

You and I were born into sin and where there is sin, there is no peace with God

We were just as far away from God and hopeless in our sins as Ahaz was.

But then God came to us with an offer of peace

And as we read in Isaiah, he said, “I’m going to give you a sign”. I’m going to make a peace treaty.

A young woman is going to have a baby and that baby boy is going to be called Immanuel: “God With Us”. What an amazing name, isn’t it!

God Himself is going to come and live with us and make peace!

And God declares that this Baby is going to be called

Wonderful

Counselor

The Mighty God

The everlasting Father

The Prince of Peace.

And folks, what good news this is! This message of peace!

Not only for the Jews, longing for their Messiah, but also for us Gentiles

Gentiles who knew nothing about their spiritual condition before a Holy God

Gentiles who didn’t know that they needed to be saved.

It was to folks like us that God made an offer of peace

Paul explains this well in

Ephesians 2.

I don’t have time to read it all, but you can turn there

Paul explains that at one time we, the Gentiles, were dead in our trespasses and sins.

What are dead people like? Can they do anything about their condition?

Could have King Ahaz done anything about his condition?

Well, he could have repented, yes.

But he was deep and, it appears, very dead, in his trespasses and sins

Because he lived just like those whom Paul describes in verses 2 and 3

living in trespasses and sins

Following the course of the world

follwing the prince of the power of the air

being disobedient

Carrying out the passions of our flesh

Carrying out the desires of our body and our mind

The result, we were children of wrath

very far from God, needing peace with God, yet apparently not aware of his condition. Very dead

And very much an enemy of God

but what did God do?

In verses 4-7, Paul says, that, yes, we deserved God’s wrath

But God is also rich in mercy and so this is what He did instead. While we were still dead, remember,

He made us alive with Christ

Saved us by Grace

Raised us up with Christ

He seated us in heavenly realms with Christ Jesus

Why? In order to show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus forever.

And down in verse 11 and 12 of Ephesians 2, Paul goes back and it’s almost like he’s saying, “Let’s go over this again guys. you have to remember this!

Don’t forget what has happened to you! That is, at one time

We were separated from Christ

We were alientated from the commonwealth of Israel

We were strangers to the covenants of promise

We had no knowledge of what God had promised

We had no hope

We were without God

But now (verse 13), we have been brought near by the blood of Christ!

Folks, now that is a peace treaty!

And a peace treaty like none other. Because our peace treaty is not a piece of paper that can be lost or torn or erased and changed.

Rather, it is a Person. It is Jesus! Everlasting, Omnipotent, Faithful, and Just.

And verse 14. For He Himself is our peace!

He broke down the walls of hostility between Gentiles and Jews

And in verse 16, reconciled us to God, all believers together in one body.

That means that he broke down the hostility between us and God

He created peace between us and God

And He did this through His sacrifice on the cross.

And verse 17, He came and preached, what? Peace to us who were far off!

isn’t this amazing? That God came to those who were far off and preached peace.

And, he also preached peace to those who were near. Because we may be near. We may have grown up in church and have an understanding of what it means to be a Believer.

But outside of Christ, we are still without peace.

Even folks like us need to have peace preached to us and even we need to respond.

So, Jesus is our Prince of Peace. The Bringer of Peace between sinful mankind and our Holy God.

Have you experience that peace? Do you know Jesus? Have you, in faith come to Him and said, “Jesus, I believe! i believe that you died in my place and that you rose again and even now you intercede for me before the Father?

I believe that you are my peace with God!”

Have you confessed Him as Lord?