Isaiah 7:10-16

Isaiah 7:10–16 KJV 1900

10 Moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; Ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, That he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, The land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Introduction

Isaiah speaks to King Ahaz for the second time.

Ahaz was given a chance to trust God and witness His power.

Israel and Syria had teamed up together against Syria.

They wanted Judah to accompany them in their alliance.

When Ahaz refused, they had attacked Judah.

Ahaz had lost 120,000 men out of his army.

Israel and Syria had been unable to overthrow Jerusalem.

God had sent Isaiah to the king to assure him that Israel and Syria posed no threat to him and his line.

God wanted to Ahaz to abandon his desire to ally with Assyria.

God wanted Ahaz to trust him.

Ahaz disregarded God’s direction and began setting in motion his plans to form an alliance with Tiglath Pileser.

This decision leads to God sending Isaiah to the king a second time.

The Bible is not clear as to what Isaiah knew, but it is clear that God knew what was in the king’s heart.

God, in His grace offers Ahaz a second chance to trust Him.

He offers to give Ahaz a sign to convince him that God is trustworthy.

This is a special verse for three reasons.

Even though Ahaz had already initiated the process of disobeying God, God was willing to give Him a chance to repent.

Even though Ahaz had rejected God; God had not rejected Ahaz.

Look at what God says about Ahaz in vs 11.

The Lord thy god.

God was still on Ahaz’s side.

God considers Ahaz to still belong to Him.

God gave Ahaz the freedom to name the sign.

Anything in the sky.

Anything in the deep.

Whatever Ahaz asked, God would do it.

This is an incredible offer.

God is permitting Ahaz to attach his faith to a condition named by himself.

If he would have obeyed then every excuse for unbelief would have been taken from him.

If God said this to you, what would you say?

What sign would you ask for?

Ahaz responds to God’s offer with hypocritical pretext.

Ahaz rejects the divine sign.

He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 to justify his decision.

Deuteronomy 6:16 “16 Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.”

Under Ahaz’ pious front, unbelief is lurking.

Ahaz is not just refusing God’s offer.

If you go back to verse 11, you will see that this is more of a command from God that he is disregarding.

Ahaz knew if he asked for a sign, he would have received it, then he would have been compelled to believe the Lord.

This is something he didn’t want to do.

Ahaz is trying to protect his decision to trust in man instead of God.

If he had believed God, he would have broken his alliance with Assyria.

When unbelief assumes the garments of piety, the effect is more loathsome than open blasphemy and mockery.

God sees right through Ahaz’ s false piety.

Since Ahaz has refused God’s offer, Isaiah speaks again.

Isaiah lays into the king, beautifully.

He notes how little Ahaz seems to care that pushes men to their limits in trying to deal with him.

He marvels that Ahaz would also seek to drive god to the end of His patience.

Remember how gracious God had been to Ahaz in giving him this second chance.

Ahaz has responded by thumbing his nose at God’s offer.

Isaiah announces that God will provide a sign of His trustworthiness anyways.

It will be a sign of God’s own choosing this time.

Verse 14 contains some very well-known words about a mother and a son.

Who is this mother.

Bible critics have gone to much effort to explain away the identity of this mother.

The Hebrew word for virgin has as a secondary meaning, young woman or maiden.

Some have tried to say that the mother of the special baby didn’t necessarily have to be a virgin.

The word is Almah and it is a Hebrew word that cannot refer to a married woman.

The secondary definitions of maiden or young woman mean that it is understood that the mother would be a virgin.

Martin Luther famously offered 100 gold coins to anyone who could show anywhere in scripture where the word Almah is translated young woman rather than virgin.

He is still waiting on someone to claim their reward.

Who is the son referred to?

The name Immanuel means God with us.

The same critics from above have tried to say that this could be understood to mean a son who was close to God.

Or, someone that God was obviously with.

Some believe that this is a prophecy of Hezekiah’s birth.

We know who the mother and son are though, don’t we?

All we have to do is read Matthew 1:23 “23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

The Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to connect the prophecy with the birth of Jesus.

Why does God give this sign to Ahaz?

Ahaz will be dead long before Jesus is born.

God’s got bigger things going on than what you and I seen.

Jesus’ birth proves God’s faithfulness to the Davidic line.

Though Ahaz had proven himself unfaithful, God would raise up a king that would be faithful.

The references to butter and honey show that in addition to the divine nature of this baby, He will also be fully human.

The coming of the righteous king also marks a watershed point.

God with us is good news for the believer.

It’s bad news for unbelievers like Ahaz.

This story stands to teach us two lessons.

Unbelief is a dangerous risk.

God will do what He wants to do.