Unto Us

The Sign of His Faithfulness

Good morning Harmony!

It’s the first Sunday after Thanksgiving, and that means that the Christmas season has officially begun in the Courtois household, and consequentially today we begin our Christmas series titled “Unto Us” where we are going to explore the Christmas story by examining the relationship between the book of Isaiah and the purpose and work of Christ in the New Testament. Because of Jesus, we can experience the joy that comes through his finished work.

Today we are going to begin in Isaiah chapter seven, and our main point is going to be that:

Main Point: God would bring a miraculous sign of his faithfulness through a virgin birth that would heal a dark world.

A little background on Isaiah, he was a prophet in the region of Judah, and he prophesied for the duration of four kings, beginning in the last year of king Uzziah, then Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

Now today in chapter seven, King Ahaz is on the throne, and Ahaz was not one of the good kings. When we read of King Ahaz in 2 Kings 16, his introduction goes like this:

2 Kings 16:2–4 CSB

2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God like his ancestor David 3 but walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his son in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. 4 He sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

So Ahaz did not do what God says is right, he chose to mimic the kings of Israel who followed other gods and he sacrificed his own son into the fire and he practiced the evil ways of the nations that had been there before God removed them.

So Judah and Israel were doing the evil things that the previous nations had been doing there before the Israelites entered the promised land.

Ahaz was not humble before God, and it shows in his introduction in the book of 2 Kings.

And our passage today in Isaiah 7 is a prime example. Judah is being challenged by Aram and Israel, they have entered the land of Ephraim and they are just outside Jerusalem.

Beginning in verse one we read:

Isaiah 7:1–17 CSB

1 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. 2 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. 3 The Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the Launderer’s Field. 4 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. 5 For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, 6 ‘Let’s go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’ ” 7 This is what the Lord God says: It will not happen; it will not occur. 8 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), 9 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. 10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11 “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God—it can be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.” 13 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? 14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel. 15 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating curds and honey. 16 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. 17 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.”

Prayer.

In Isaiah 7 we are able to see four parts to this passage that takes place that draw out the promise of God’s faithfulness and love for His people.

The first part that we see in verses one and two is:

1. The CHAOS of a dark time, vv. 1-2.

These two nations rise up against Judah. Isaiah says Aram’s king and Israel’s king join forces to make war against Judah.

Now each of these nations alone would be small nations. Israel and Judah were often at war, despite being brothers, and this time around Israel had teamed up with Aram and was knocking at Jerusalem’s door. They had already taken Ephraim, and now they are right there at the gates of Jerusalem, threatening the very core of the kingdom.

And verse one tells us in advance that these two nations are going to be unable to take the city. Before anything takes place, Isaiah says that Israel and Aram are going to fail.

Verse 2 begins to tell the story of the whole picture.

Verse two says that once the house of David had heard that Israel and Aram had occupied Ephraim, they became very afraid. It says Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in a forest blowing in the wind.

They were so scared, they were trembling.

How many here have ever been that kind of afraid? The kind that makes you just tremble in fear at what is taking place?

And that trembling can be a visible trembling or an internal trembling.

I can remember a time when the Army was being augmented by the Navy, and I was one of those augmentees and we had just flown over to Camp Bucca in Southern Iraq from Kuwait, and the very same day that we received the briefing about indirect fire and what to do, we received indirect fire, and it became very real that I was in a nation that was full of people wanting to kill me and all those around me.

I had no idea what was going to happen, but a very real fear came over me in that moment, because up until that moment I thought I was prepared for this after all of the training and exercises that had taken place. The moment that first thud was heard, I realized that I was not as prepared as I thought I was.

And it doesn’t have to be someone wanting to kill you. Maybe it was something else, maybe it’s financial ruin, or some big change that is coming your way, and it just feels as though you are standing on the edge of a situation where you just don’t know how things are going to turn out.

It’s in that moment where you begin to fear the unknown. You don’t know how things are actually going to turn out, but you know there is a very real possibility that things can end up very bad.

Jerusalem and Judah are in a place where their entire world is living in that moment.

The enemy army is double the size of their army, and their enemy is so big and powerful that they are caught up in the fear of what might come next.

The city is in chaos. They’re trembling. They look out over this vast expanse of an army and see that they have taken Ephraim, and now they’re close to taking the city.

Your financial problems are knocking at the door, ready to strike. The marriage is ready to crumble. The problem with your kids or your job or - maybe you look at this season of hope as a season of dread because of how the world has commercialized it and your life is just in this state of chaos right now.

You’re in a dark time, in need of something to relieve the pressure, something to bring hope to this dark time.

And so Go sends a messenger, the second part of this passage is:

2. The MESSAGE from the Lord, vv. 3-9.

God sends the prophet Isaiah and his son to Ahaz, and in verses four through nine Isaiah speaks to Ahaz and says calm down and be quiet.

Most of us do not like being told to calm down, in fact when most of us are told to calm down, what happens?

The exact opposite. Keep that in mind.

But Isaiah says calm down and be quiet, don’t be afraid because of these two smoldering sticks.

Don’t be afraid of these two minor problems. God says for you this may seem like a daunting thing, but fore me these are just two little sticks that I can extinguish.

Then Isaiah says that Aram and Ephraim and Israel have made plans to terrorize and take Judah to establish a king from their lineage, but God says it will not happen.

Judah is protected. God says those other nations are going to be scattered. And then at the end of verse 9 God gives Ahaz a very important message, and it’s only to Ahaz: If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.

Remember, Ahaz is an evil king, he’s doing what is detestable in the sight of the Lord. Now God has promised King David many years before that there will not cease to be a king on the throne that is not of David’s lineage, so the nation of Judah is protected from outside nations placing a king on the throne in Jerusalem.

But you, king Ahaz, if you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all. If you don’t turn from your sinful ways of following other gods and doing those evil things, if you don’t turn towards God and His strength, then you are going to fail to stand.

God says if you are going to continue to live your life in a way that is self-centered, that is focused on pleasing yourself, then not only is everything that you want going to be stripped from you, then you are not going to stand, your life is going to be just as your faith is, dead and lost.

Now you would think that after hearing this warning that Ahaz would get smart and gain some faith in the Lord.

We hear those words of if you fail to stand firm in your faith, you are going to fail to stand and hopefully we are all standing firm in our faith, but the only way to stand firm in our faith is to actually know Him and be listening and obeying Him.

If you don’t know Him as Lord, then you don’t have that faith. Maybe you aren’t as self-preserving as King Ahaz, but when that fear or those circumstances come up where you or someone else is in need of help you are not full of faith, and you act on instinct instead of faith.

When your life comes to an end, you will not be in the presence of God, standing firm in the faith, you will be met by the reality of an eternal punishment, because it doens’t matter how good you think you are, He and He alone is able to save you from your eternal circumstances and give you eternal peace.

But what does Ahaz do, knowing the chaos and the message brought from God?

Verses 10 through 13 tell us he chooses unwisely. The third part of our passage is:

3. The STIGMA of a lost king, vv. 10-13.

In verses 10-13 God speaks again to Ahaz and says ask me for a sign. I want you to be able to have the level of faith that I am telling you to have. I want you to see right now how you can be saved by My hands and the peace that I am offering to you.

Despite all of your wickedness, despite your love affairs with other gods, despite you turning your back on Me, test me right here and now and I will show you Who I am.

Ask for a sign as deep as the pit of death or as high as Heaven - Ahaz could have asked for his enemies to drop dead right there on the spot, he could have asked for the walls of Jerusalem to have been made taller, he could have asked to be superman and be given the ability to fly - God literally gave him an open invitation to have whatever kind of sign he wanted.

Jesus tells us the same thing when it comes to our faith - in Matthew 17:20 Jesus tells His disciples:

Matthew 17:20 (CSB)

“For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

But God is speaking to an unbelieving King Ahaz, and He’s giving him a chance to know Him and to enter a relationship with God that will give him a present peace and a permanent peace.

And you would think that Ahaz would accept this offer. You would think that Ahaz would receive this invitation and take advantage of it. This is the opportunity to immediately know that he and the kingdom of Judah would be secure, that their enemies are powerless.

But Ahaz responds, and his response is essentially no.

I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.

God gave him a chance to know with a certainty that He is the salvation of Judah, and Ahaz rejects that offer.

Some here today, perhaps that’s you, and you haven’t accepted God’s offer of salvation. He’s called out to you time and time again, and each time, you reject that offer, not today Lord, I got this. Not today Lord, I can save myself.

You’ve chosen to remain in the chaos, to do battle on your own.

And Isaiah rebukes Ahaz and says why are you trying God’s patience? God has given you this opportunity to know Him, and you choose instead to once again reject Him.

In fact not only does Ahaz reject God’s offer, he instead chooses to send messengers to a different king of the world that up until this point had not been involved in the affairs of Judah - Ahaz sends messengers to Assyria and seeks help from a human king.

Judah has all of this going on around them, and Ahaz chooses to continue to stand in opposition to the Lord.

Ahaz has all of the proof in the world that God desires for him to turn from his wickedness and his sin and to be in a faithful relationship with God.

All of those people that would say for God to prove that He exists - the Bible says they have all of the proof in the world right in front of them, but they choose to reject God.

Romans 1:18-20 says:

Romans 1:18–20 CSB

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

God gave us all of the proof we need, and here God gave Ahaz an extra opportunity to know Him, and Ahaz continues to reject the Lord.

Ahaz wanted nothing to do with the Lord. Many today want nothing to do with the Lord, even though He has given them every opportunity to Know Him and to know His grace and peace, yet people still reject him because they look out over their chaos and they see this enemy, the bills, the job, the looming deployment, whatever it is they see that and they say God’s not big enough for my problem.

God’s not able to solve my problems. My problems are too big for God.

Really listen to that - my problem is too big for God. The God who created the whole universe, to include you, but your problem is too big for Him. God gives Ahaz the opportunity to hand over the whole situation to Him. God says your problem is too big for you, let me take your problem and give you a big old healping of peace in the process.

But Ahaz rejects God’s offer.

And God says ok then, I’ll give you a sign anyway. The fourth part of this passage is:

4. The SIGN of God’s faithfulness, vv. 14-17.

God says you chose not to ask for a sign, but here’s one anyway and in verses 14 through 16 God presents the sign of the virgin birth, and Isaiah says:

Isaiah 7:14–16 CSB

14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel. 15 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating curds and honey. 16 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.

Now this is what many scholars will say is a prophecy that has more than one fulfillment, in that it would have had to have come true in their time as well as it points to the virgin birth of Christ.

And that would make sense, because God having Isaiah prophecy to Ahaz only about an event that was going to take place 700 years in the future would not make this a sign for Ahaz.

And so many scholars say that in their time and place that this was fulfilled by one of Isaiah’s sons in chapter 8 or even Ahaz’s son Hezekiah later on.

This was something that the early church believed to be true. The Hebrew word for virgin is an imperfect word that is used here, and it could mean virgin or simply young maiden, so this I think does point towards a child that was born in those days to demonstrate to Ahaz this sign.

But like may prophecies of the Old Testament, this also pointed toward the future fulfillment in Jesus Christ. In Matthew 1:22-23 we read

Matthew 1:22–23 CSB

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

The word here in Matthew has the same meaning as that of the hebrew - it is virgin as we use it today or virgin as in a young maiden. The prime difference is the context that the word is used in.

The context of Isaiah 7 allows for the child to be born of a young maiden. The context and the description of how before the child begins to consume solid food these kingdoms will have been abandoned - contextually this child is a sign that God was with His children in a time of chaos.

The context of Matthew 1 is one where Jesus is to be born of a virgin as we understand the word. Where God is with the people of Judah as their present savior in that present situation, “God with us” as meaning that God was there and being the one to remove the problem, in Matthew it is “God with us” in that God was physically walking among them, God was and is with his children as sons and daughters because of a relational knowledge of the Lord.

This is one of those double fulfillment prophecies, where Ahaz is given this sign that God is going to immediately rescue the land from the invaders present at the door, and He is also going to provide a Savior for the world that will take away the sin of the world, a Savior that would be with His children, all the time, demonstrating His faithfulness in a dark world full of chaos and evil.

Isaiah’s prophecy of hope was given in a time of hopelessness and rebellion, a time where those leading God’s people were not holy. God would fix what was right through the incarnation (as Immanuel, God with us). He would physically walk with his creation and sacrifice himself to give life to those who were lost and dead in sin.

Ahaz had a choice. He could have chosen to trust God and to have seen God remove his enemies in a miraculous way, that would have given true peace in his kingdom. But he chose to answer God by choosing to remain separated from God and to do his own thing, to his own destruction. Verse 17 says that the very nation Ahaz calls upon will come and bring judgement and trials upon the nation.

So where are you today? Are you choosing to remain lost in the chaos of this dark and sinful world? Or, have you accepted the gift of Christ, to be free and know peace?

God gives you a choice - He makes you an offer, He is speaking to you right now, and He’s offering you peace in a chaotic world filled with fear and hopelessness. Right now you can choose to reject Him and his faithful promises, or you can receive Him as Lord and Savior to have that peace that goes beyond understanding.

Prayer.

As the music begins to play, if you’d like to know more about knowing Christ today or if you’ve made a decision to follow Christ today or if you need to talk about something that was said or some other decision that you’ve made today, I’d like to ask you to do one of two things.

On the screen behind be is a number and a QR code, you can simply scan that or text that number and I will receive that text and we can schedule a time to talk.

The other option is there is a connect card attached to the bulletin, you can simply fill that out and when the ushers come by here in a moment you can drop that in the offering plate.

I’m going to give you all just a moment as those decisions are being made, but I want to encourage you as perhaps you are struggling with that.

If there is something going on, and you know, you are struggling with whether or not you should fill out a card or send that text, maybe you don’t know how to word it or you’re worried about some sort of embarrassment, then here’s what I want you to do. I want you to take that card, fill it out, and just write “call me” on it. We’ll set up a time to talk and the details of that, but whatever it is I want you to know that you do not have to face that decision or that situation alone.

Prayer.

Let’s worship the Lord together in song.