Sermon Tone Analysis

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...

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

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…

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

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 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

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