Immanuel

Intro

Merry Christmas and welcome to week 4 of our advent series, Do you hear what I hear?

Next week we have our Christmas eve service at 6:30pm & Our Christmas Morning service at 10 am, the question I have for you is, who do you need to bring with you for those worship services?

…Just as a reminder, Christmas morning all of our child care workers have the day off…It will be a all family service

Each week we have been taking a walk though Isaiah and looking at different aspects of Jesus the messiah coming to us. And this week I want to take a look at one of the most fundamental prophecy's that started it all...

Now if you use a Bible or a phone, then open it up to Isaiah 7 and we will be there all morning...

We really just have to jump into it today because there is a ton of ground to cover

So first lets just jump right in to the main christmas prophecy that is in the text...

Isaiah 7:10–14 NIV

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.” Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Now I am guessing that for some of you this is a very familiar passage

This is on Christmas cards

Its read nearly every year at Christmas time.

It is one of the tenants of faith in Jesus that he was born of a virgin.

The virgin birth of Jesus is in every orthodox creed

Immanuel means God with us it is a very impotrant name...

But what we often tend to do with this verse, is read it and then jump 700 years into the future when Jesus was born and we miss this huge significant context to what is happening

We know this is talking about Jesus because of the New Testament...

But who is Ahaz? and why is he talking about testing God? It sees like there is just more going on here than we have ever really broken down

This is one of those things that most of us if we were to go back and read Isaiah 7 we would all be just very confused because there are strange names and places

So here is what I want to invite us to do today....

We are going to get into the weeds just a hair on this passage today...

On a basic level this is the prophecy of Jesus being born…But I think when we dig much deeper into Isaiah 7 then we will just get so much more out of it...

Now I never get into the weeds to try and give you random information…I think in understanding the context you will see God’s heart in a different way…But we have to understand all of Isaiah 7 in order to do that...

So first and foremost, There are some parts of the Bible that if you didn’t read with a map then you just wont really won’t understand

Now I am going to read Isaiah 7:1-2 just and then I am going to throw a map up on the screen so we can see what is really going on

Isaiah 7:1 NIV

When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

Now probably most of you when we read this are just lost at who these people are and where they are talking about.

So lets get that map on the screen

Okay:

We are dealing with King Ahaz here who is king of Judah, Judah is this green little section in the middle here…It is where the temple is, it is where Jerusalem is

What you need to know is that for a while, all 12 tribes lived together united in one kingdom…But after king Solomon, the 12 tribes split so that there were 10 in the north and 2 in the south

So the main cast of characters here is King Ahaz and he is from the southern kingdom…Now Ahaz is actually a really bad king, he is known for losing faith in God and worshiping false gods....

Then we have two other kings mentioned, First Rezin of Aram: Now Aram at this time is Assyria. Every time you read Assyria or Babylon in your bibles you should have ominous music playing in your head...

So it Says Rezin of Aram is allied with Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel

Now I just want to show you on the map just how big of a deal this is:

You have the massive Assyrian Empire, where Nineveh is...

Then you have the 10 tribes who vastly outnumber the two tribes of Judah

They have linked up together to now go after King Ahaz in Judah...

Ok but notice the last couple of words in verse 1: “But they could not overpower it”

So these two really huge empires…Assyria and the 10 Tribes of Israel could not overpower these two little tribes!

In the ancient world where warfare is about the amount of people you bring to the frontline…This is absolutely crazy. Judah should have lost...

But what Isaiah 7:1 is saying is that there was an absolute Miracle that God had done for Judah!

The miracle here is that there is a redemption of Judah…They should have been tor

and if there is redemption then there is a redeemer at work!

This is where we get our first fill in:

God’s love is redemptive because he is the redeemer

Judah should have been crushed by the two northern kingdoms

But God Redeemed his people

Because he loves them...

And then we get to verse two…

Isaiah 7:2 NIV

Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

Ok, So Isaiah says that the “House of David” was told about the alliance, between Assyria and Israel or another shorthand for Israel is Ephraim…and they were shaken to the core! They were scared of these nations coming against them

Now to use the phrase “The House of David”

This is the leadership of all of israel…Everyone from the line of David...

And at this point we know from previous prophecy's that there will be a great redeemer king that will come in the line of David…So when we read this our ears should be perked up a little

Israel had always been told to be strong and courageous…but they often lost their way...

See whenever Israel abandons God they are usually full of fear

Isaiah 7:3 NIV

Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.

Ok so there is a ton going on here

So first Isaiah is told to bring his son…Which the name Shear-Jashub means a Remnant will return…So it is both a promise of exile and survival at the same time…So Isaiah’s son is there as a sign to Ahaz…Listen to the lord or you will go into exile

Now it is no mistake that God is arranging Isaiah and Ahaz to meet at the end of this aqueduct by the Launderers field. This is symbolic. Clean clothes is a sign of purity and faith,

When Paul in the New Testament uses the metaphor, clothe yourselves with Christ…This is not a new metaphor…This is something that has been used since ancient times…New clean clothing is a symbol of Purity

So you have King Ahaz shaking to his core…Not able to function because of his fear...

And Isaiah meets him in this place where the reminder is change your mind, put on a new set of clothes…Don’t be afraid in these armies, trust in God!

And he says to him in 7:4

Isaiah 7:4 NIV

Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

Isaiah says don’t be afraid

God took care of you before, he will do it again…Put your faith in Him!

He says guard yourself, The Hebrew words here for be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid” can also mean: “pay attention spiritually” God will take care of you!

He is saying: Don’t be afraid at these smoldering stubs of firewood…What God is saying is that these nations are no longer blazing fires…They are no longer at their peak…they are at the end of their life…don’t fear them!

What God is saying: Even though they have plotted against you do not lose heart!

So they have a plan, these two nations…We are going to get in to Judah, take it over and then put our puppet king in place....

This is the plan

But Isaiah’s message to Ahaz in the laundry ares is to be strong and courageous…Pay attention to God He took care of you before, he will do it again!

The main point I think that we all need to remember is actually part of the christmas narrative and this is in your notes:

God took care of you before, he will do it again

See things are not going Ahaz’s way

How quickly do we freak out and panic when things are not going our way and we lose faith

But our faith can actually be strengthened and reassured in this little act of remembering!

What God did before, he will do again!

Maybe some of you need to look back and remember how God has taken care of you before...

What he did before he will do again!

We forget quickly but God doesn’t.

lets keep reading

Isaiah 7:7–9 NIV

Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ ‘It will not take place, it will not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’ ”

So basically now Isiah tells Ahaz that in 65 years the northern kingdom will be too shattered to be a people…They will not be a country any more

But then he says this haunting line to King Ahaz…Which by the way: I think is one of the whole points of Isaiah 7,

“If you don’t stand firm in your faith, then you wont stand at all”

What God is saying to Isaiah is a very impotrant point

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all

See this was true in Ahaz’s life…and its true in our lives

So many times we need to stand firm in life because we know, what God did before he will do again! And we need to stand in that promise....

but often times when things are not going our way, panic becomes our go to reaction and it shakes our faith...

So Isaiah is saying to this king: I know your faith in God is shaky…But look at all that he has done for you…Keep your faith in God! The Lord has been fighting for you!

All of this is about faith: King Ahaz, will you have the faith to trust in the Lord enough to stand up to your enemies?

All of this comes before the text that we read this morning…It doesn’t show up on christmas cards, but it is very impotrant!

So God knows that king Ahaz was not a faithful man, but he wanted him to be a man of great faith so here are what the next two verses are

Isaiah 7:10–11 NIV

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

This is great: Notice how there is no limitations

God is like…I know you have a problem with believing so I want to help you to believe

God specifically says, Ask for a sign: the word sign here is the same word in Genesis 1 when God place the sun and the stars in the sky and he says let them serve as “signs” to mark out the sacred times!

So what he is saying is go ahead ask God to do something that only he can do

God is the sign maker! He will provide one for you!

Then he says....From the highest of heights or the deepest of depths...

So just to recap, incase your mind has been trailing off because we are so deep in the weeds

Ahaz is afraid…These two big kingdoms are coming after him

And Isaiah literally meets him in his fear and is like Ahaz, You have very little faith in God, But you can trust God, be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid!

In fact…Ask me anything you want and I will strengthen your faith with a sign! A supernatural act that only I can do!

So I don’t know about you but if God showed up in my office and said, Dave, listen I know your faith is week, but I will strengthen you with a sign, ask me for anything in the world and I will do it...

I don’t know what I’d ask for but I am sure I’d think of something

But lets notice how Ahaz responds!

Ask the Lord to reveal himself in your life

God wants to help you believe in him

Isaiah 7:12 NIV

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

Now at first blush this seems like a pious response…Like Ahaz is a really religious guy

but The word test here is the same Hebrew word as the word experience...

So Ahaz, is basically saying, I do not want an experience of the Lord…I do not want what God has to offer

This is know as the apostacy of Ahaz

This is such a key point…>Maybe your here today with your wife or your husband and you got dragged here and you don’t believe in any of this stuff....

But your heart beat has been, I will not experience the Lord…Well God does not go where he is not wanted...

Maybe your here today and your not ready to jump all the way in and buy a Jesus Saves T-Shirt…But you’d be open for an experience…Maybe you just need to pray…God I am open to experiencing you....

But Ahaz reveals himself here as utterly faithless

And the reason why I love digging through the weeds of this story is that it shows the extent that God pursues relationship with people even though they are faithless

I mean God stopped a larger invading army

He meets with this faithless king

He says ask me anything!

I think that one day we will all have to stand before God and give an account of our life and there are going to be people like king Ahaz, and God is going to say, look at all of the opportunities you had to follow me and you still chose yourself over me!

This reminds me of Psalm 34:8

Psalm 34:8 NIV

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

God is saying…listen if you just have a taste of what I have to offer you then you will see my goodness

You will never want to live without the goodness of God

Maybe there is someone here today or who is online who simply needs to taste and see that the Lord is Good!

You simply need to ask the Lord to reveal himself in your life…I truly and honestly believe that if you do that then God will somehow reveal himself to you

He will show you his goodness!

He wants people following him!

And this is what God is offering to Ahaz

But Ahaz, wants nothing to do with it, because he chooses his own ways over God’s

Isaiah 7:13 NIV

Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?

This is the second time that this phrase “house of David” comes up..

It speaks about those who believe in the messianic promise...

The House of David is all of the kings of Israel but it is also kind of an euphemism at this point for all of israel

So God is upset at Ahaz…He has given him all of these opportunities to follow him and Ahaz still refuses

Isaiah 7:14 NIV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

So Ahaz didn’t ask for a sign so God

So God says I will give you a sign.

Now what we have to remember is that God is saying, hey I am going to give you a sign....Ahaz…you didn't ask for one…SO I am going to give the house of David a sign, the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son

Now don;’t forget that God already gave Ahaz a sign....He stopped two super powers from Invading Judah! If thats not a sign then I don’t know what is!

What can be greater than this? A virgin conceiving is absolutely supernatural

Now over the centuries non christian groups have tried to poke holes in this by saying the word for virgin here just means young woman.

And that is true, it is one of the translations

But the idea is that the virgin birth is central to our theology, it is a lynchpin because without the virgin birth then Jesus isn’t divine...

So the word here for virgin is “Almah” and it means a marriageable young woman

So people have tried to claim over the years that Almah in Isaiah 7 just means that it was a young woman and it didn’t have to be a virgin

But lets be honest, if Mary wasn’t a virgin then there was nothing divine about the conception of Jesus!

Critics want to say…Nothing to see here! Just a woman who got pregnant by natural means

And there have been people throughout the centuries who have claimed that Jesus was conceived by the next door neighbor, that it was Joseph, or that it was a roman soldier...They are unwilling to believe that Jesus had a divine conception

But what I want to show you is that the Bible is certain that the woman is a woman who did not get pregnant from a man but by supernatural means

Now here is what I mean:

There is more than one word for Virgin

There is Almah (Which simply means young marriageable woman) and a marriageable woman is one who has not had sex

And then there is another word, let me give you an example:

When Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac this is what Genesis records:

Genesis 24:16 NIV

The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

The word here is Betulah but see how the author has to put a qualification behind this word…A man has not know her...

It tells us that if this word Betulah means virgin in the truest sense then you don’t need this qualification

See Betulah is a word for young woman, but if you are going to say virgin then you need to add the phrase “no man has slept with her”

Now when Rebekah later reflects on this story and she is talking about herself she says

Genesis 24:43...

English Standard Version Chapter 24

43 behold, I am standing by the spring of water. Let the virgin who comes out to draw water, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,”

Now here: Rebekah uses the same word that Isaiah uses, Almah...and she has no explanation behind it...

My point here is that what Isaiah uses the word virgin, he had another word available....If he wanted to say young woman he would have said Betulah, but instead he said Almah…Isaiah is saying that one day there will be a women who has never had sex that will become pregnant!

And this is so key to the Christmas story…Everything really hinges on this

Without the virgin birth then Jesus isn’t divine, then he’s just another guy

Without the divinity of Jesus Its just some good dude who took the cross and our sins are not paid for...

But because Jesus is God with flesh on…Because he is Immanuel…He can take our sins

And his name will be Immanuel

This means God with us

This is a pretty good sign

Who else can cause a virgin to conceive simply by speaking?

And by the way…What is Ahaz’s greatest need? It is to have God be with Judah to keep them safe

God with us is a redemption of the broken relationship that Adam and Eve had in the garden of Eden

It is a redemption of brokenness!

Redemption brings man to God

This is what Jesus did....He causes humanity to be with him

Why? Because of God’s love for humanity

The reason why I showed you the deep context of Isaiah 7, is because this prophecy is all about giving the world a sign so that all can come to believe in Jesus

Here we have this guy Ahaz who has this major existential threat to his own existence

And God pursues him and shows him I WANT TO BE WITH YOU

PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME AND I WILL WALK WITH YOU

EVEN ASK FOR A SIGN ANYTHING

and Ahaz reveals his utter faithlessness in God by refusing God

Ahaz had all of the world bearing down on him and God was like ask for anything and in his moment of greatest need he refused to have faith in God

in our moment of greatest need, God gave the world his Son

out of pure love

God sees a world in need and he gives his son

Even more specifically...

God sees his people Israel…He takes Mary and Joseph out of Nazareth, (which is the historic northern kingdgom (10 tribes)) and takes them to Bethlehem in Judah (The land of Ahaz)

God sees roman military rule pushing down on all of Israel

And Matthew wants us to see...

In God’s faithfulness....What he did before....He will do again

In God’s faithfulness....He will fulfill his own prophecy

Matthew 1:18–24 NIV

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Just like in Isaiah’s time the world is bearing down on Ahaz and he just refuses to believe

Now you have people from the house of David, and the Roman world is bearing down on them

They are in an occupied land...

And what happens? God comes to them in the time of their greatest need!

Its almost like what he did before he did again!

There seems to be no way out

And God gives them a sign

The virgin Mary conceives and she was an actual virgin…She was a young woman of strong character

And she gives birth to a son who will bridge the gap between humans and God...

He will take on our sin

Matthew saw this so clearly that Jesus is God with humanity that the very last line of his gospel is Jesus saying this:

Matthew 28:20b

The New International Version Chapter 28

And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Response:

We have covered a ton of territory today but where I want to land is in a very simple point

God wants you to believe in him!

God wants you to stand firm in him

Because he wants to be with you!

And even if you have a hard time believing in him because of things that have happened in your life he wants to strengthen your faith…he wants to grow you into a strong man or woman of God

He wants to build you up...

He is here welcoming you…He has taken the first step…Becoming human…The second step…dying for your sin and the third step…raising from the dead

And the resurrected christ is before you today saying, I want to be your Immanuel, but I wont force you....You need to step out in faith

Lets pray