Isaiah 7-8:4

If you remember from last week, King Uzziah who had been king for 50 years, died. The people were afraid of what the future held but Yahweh showed Isaiah that HE was still on the throne. When Isaiah saw Yahweh is this vision, he was fully aware of his sinfulness. God cleansed him and sent him out to speak to the people of Judah, but warned that they would not listen (HAVE SOMEONE READ Is 6:11-13).

Isaiah 6:11–13 (CSB)

Then I said, “Until when, Lord?” And he replied: Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants, houses are without people, the land is ruined and desolate, and the Lord drives the people far away, leaving great emptiness in the land. Though a tenth will remain in the land, it will be burned again. Like the terebinth or the oak that leaves a stump when felled, the holy seed is the stump.

Then we read this:

Isaiah 7:1–2 (CSB)

This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah: Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah son of Remaliah went to fight against Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it. When it became known to the house of David that Aram had occupied Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.

If we were living in Isaiah’s day, we would have been living in a time when our enemies were overrunning our boarders. In fact, since the Kingdom had divided between Israel (north) and Judah (south), they were not always kissing cousins. In Isaiah’s day the King of Israel teamed up with the King of Syria to take the capital city of Jerusalem, and the King Ahaz and the people of Judah were shaking like trees in the wind (Is 7:1-2).

But that’s when Isaiah delivers encouraging words to King Ahaz.

Isaiah 7:3 (CSB)

The Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub [a remnant will return] to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Launderer’s Field.

Isaiah’s son and his name is a reminder that not all of Judah will be destroyed - a remnant will return. But that future destruction is NOT on the doorstep.

Yahwheh tells Isaiah to tell King Ahaz...

Isaiah 7:4–6 (CSB)

Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly because of these two smoldering sticks, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, ‘Let’s go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’ ”

But...

Isaiah 7:7–9 (CSB)

This is what the Lord God says: It will not happen; it will not occur. The chief city of Aram is Damascus, the chief of Damascus is Rezin (within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people), the chief city of Ephraim is Samaria, and the chief of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.

Isaiah 7:10–13 (CSB)

Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God—it can be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.” But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.” Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?

God wants Ahaz to ask for a sign, but he doesn’t think he should, even though God is telling him to.

Do you ever NOT ASK God…even though He has told you to - as if somehow you’re a bother to your Father? (Mt. 7:7)

Even though Ahaz won’t ask for a sign Yahweh will give him one to hold on to.

Isaiah 7:14–16 (CSB)

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin [Hebrew - almah - young woman] will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel. By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating curds and honey. For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.

Do you recognize verse 14? Of course you do! We often quote it at Christmas time - as a prophecy of Jesus.

But I want us to pause for a moment and first consider the context along with one of our rules for interpretation. We must answer the question...‘Who is YOU?’ In this case ‘YOU’ is 1) King Ahaz, 2) and the people of Judah.

What’s the promise TO THEM?

Based on the context of what it meant to King Ahaz, a male child was to be born that represented the PRESENCE of Immanuel - God with us. And God tells Ahaz, The two kings you dread will be destroyed before that young boy grows old enough to know right from wrong. And sure enough, we’ll see that happen in Isaiah 8.

But this is just a temporary reprieve from the KIng of Israel & Syria. Because of the people’s sin, God’s judgement IS coming though the Assyrians who will conquer Judah as well.

Isaiah 7:17–19 (CSB)

The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s house such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah: He will bring the king of Assyria.” On that day the Lord will whistle to flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to bees in the land of Assyria. All of them will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks, in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.

Isaiah 7:20–22 (CSB)

On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria—to shave the hair on your heads, the hair on your legs [ESV - feet - often a eph NET & NIV - private parts], and even your beards.

Isaiah 7:21–25 (CSB)

On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep, and from the abundant milk they give he will eat curds, for every survivor in the land will eat curds and honey. And on that day every place where there were a thousand vines, worth a thousand pieces of silver, will become thorns and briers. A man will go there with bow and arrows because the whole land will be thorns and briers. You will not go to all the hills that were once tilled with a hoe, for fear of the thorns and briers. Those hills will be places for oxen to graze and for sheep to trample.

They won’t have fields and crops. They will be hunting for small animals.

Isaiah 8:1–4 (CSB)

Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-shalal-hash-baz. I have appointed trustworthy witnesses—the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.” I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, for before the boy knows how to call ‘Father,’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”

And sure enough, in Isaiah 8, the prophecy is fulfilled when a young woman - likely Isaiah’s wife - gives birth to a son (Is 8:3). And sure enough - before he knows right from wrong, before he can say the words, “My Father” or “My Mother” (Is. 8:4), the kings of Israel & Syria - enemies of Judah - were destroyed.

* Notice: The child was NOT NAMED Immanuel, but Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (see Is. 8:3) meaning “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil”.

So while child wasn’t NAMED Immanuel, the child was PROOF of Immanuel...God With Us!

So, in the middle of this fearful time God reminds Ahaz through the birth of a child...that GOD IS WITH THEM.

And just as we might need to be reminded - Ahaz didn’t have to be AFRAID, because he wasn’t ALONE!

Of course...this isn’t the end of the story. 700 years later, this same passage will find its ultimate fulfillment in the birth of another child - not just to a young married woman, but to a unmarried, virgin named Miriam/Mary.