ISAIAH 7:10-17 - A Sign Shall Be Given

Introduction

Our text this morning includes one of the most well-known (and theologically important!) verses regarding the birth of Jesus Christ:

Isaiah 7:14 (LSB)

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

As we will see later in this message, this verse was quoted by Matthew’s Gospel to establish the miracle of Jesus’ Virgin Birth, showing us that He was not merely a man, but God Himself in human flesh (Lord willing we will examine this glorious truth more closely tonight in Isaiah 9).

For our time together this morning, though, I want to consider what the context of this sign of the virgin being with child meant for its original recipient, and what it teaches us about hearing and believing God’s promises. Here in Isaiah 7 we have an account of a king who rejected the promises of God, and in Matthew 1—where this prophecy finds its final fulfillment—we see an account of a man who received and believed the promises of God. These two men—King Ahaz and Joseph the step-father of Jesus—had a great deal in common: They were both descended from King David. They both found themselves in the midst of a great crisis. They both were given words of deep comfort and assurance from God Himself. One of those men responded with cowardice and fear; the other responded with confidence and steadfast peace.

And so this is the way I want to frame our study this morning—this is what God’s Word shows us here in these accounts, that

A steadfast HEART begins with steadfast TRUST in God’s PROMISES

Look with me at verse 1 of Isaiah Chapter 7:

Isaiah 7:1 (LSB)

Now it happened in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it.

Ahaz was the grandson of King Uzziah, who we learn in Isaiah 6 was the king who died the same year that Isaiah was commissioned by God as a prophet:

Isaiah 6:1 (LSB)

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple.

Uzziah was the eighth king of Judah, and he is notable as being a king who feared YHWH, but who fell prey to a deadly pride that brought terrible consequences on him—2 Chronicles 26 tells us that he went into the Temple to offer incense to the LORD, which was forbidden for him to do. The priests tried plead with him that he was being unfaithful and “will have no honor from Yahweh God” (2 Chron. 26:18), but he ignored them and attempted to offer incense anyway. God struck him with leprosy (v. 19), and he spent the rest of his life cut off from his palace and his people because of his prideful sin:

2 Chronicles 26:21 (LSB)

So King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh.

From what we will see in our text this morning, it would seem that Ahaz inherited a deadly dose of his grandfather’s pride. 2 Chronicles 28 gives us a picture of what kind of man Ahaz was:

2 Chronicles 28:1–4 (LSB)

Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of Yahweh, as David his father had done. But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he also made molten images for the Baals. Moreover, he offered offerings in smoke in the valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had dispossessed from before the sons of Israel. He also sacrificed and offered offerings in smoke on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Ahaz was a wicked and rebellious king, unlike his faithful father and faithful (but flawed) grandfather. And as we look more closely at Ahaz in our text, we see that his heart is an example of

I. Ahaz: A COWARDLY heart of PRIDE (Isaiah 7:10-17)

As Chapter 7 opens, we find Ahaz and his court reeling from the news that the northern kingdom of Israel and the Arameans (a.k.a. Syrians) have allied themselves to make a full-on assault on Jerusalem:

Isaiah 7:2 (LSB)

When it was told to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

The Arameans (Syrians) are amassing troops along with Israel in Ephraim (the largest and most powerful military in the Kingdom of Israel). And all of Ahaz’s pride—all of his rebellious refusal to obey God, all of his flagrant wickedness and abominable idolatries—all of the proud arrogance of his nature crumbled. He “shook like a tree in the wind” at the threat of Jerusalem’s invasion.

But even in his abominable and blasphemous wickedness, God still offered him a gracious word of hope—in verses 3-4, he tells Isaiah:

Isaiah 7:3–4 (LSB)

...“Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, to the highway of the fuller’s field, and say to him, ‘Take care and stay quiet, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the burning anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.”

Ahaz was evidently out inspecting the city’s water supply—the first target of a siege—trying frantically to get himself and his kingdom out of this jam. But God tells him through Isaiah not to worry—Israel and Aram are like two torches that have almost burnt out (like two flashlights whose batteries are about to die!) He tells Ahaz, “Take care and stay quiet, have no fear and do not be fainthearted!”

What a message of hope to this arrogant, wicked blasphemer and idolater! In verse 7, God speaks even more plainly and definitively:

Isaiah 7:7 (LSB)

thus says Lord Yahweh: “It shall not stand, nor shall it happen.

And in verse 9, Ahaz is warned:

Isaiah 7:9 (LSB)

...If you do not establish your faith in Yahweh, you surely shall not be established.”’”

God graciously gives this cowardly, arrogant, blasphemous rebel of a king a promise that these enemies will not overtake him. And in verse 10, God goes even further—as a way to set Ahaz’s trembling, cowardly heart at rest, He offers to perform a miracle (a “sign”) for him--

Isaiah 7:10–11 (LSB)

Then Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from Yahweh your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”

“Ahaz, I will do anything you ask in order to prove to you that I will deliver you from your enemies!” But here you see the first sign of a cowardly heart of pride--

You hide behind your PIETY (vv. 10-12)

Look at Ahaz’s response to God’s gracious offer:

Isaiah 7:12 (LSB)

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not test Yahweh!”

Matthew Henry put it well in his commentary on this passage when he said,

A secret disaffection to God is often disguised with the specious colours of respect to him; and those who are resolved that they will not trust God yet pretend that they will not tempt him. Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1092). Hendrickson.

Ahaz had no intention whatsoever of submitting himself to God—he didn’t want God’s help! His arrogant, wicked heart was far too hard to accept God’s promises; as far as Ahaz was concerned, he was perfectly capable of saving himself—we’ll see how he decided to go about that in a few moments.

But see in this verse how Ahaz made his rebellion look really spiritual! The man who had worshipped the Baals and the Astheroths, the man who had roasted alive his own sons before the demon Molech—this same man has the temerity to stand there with a straight face and say, “Oh, no! I couldn’t possibly “put YHWH to the test! That would break the Law of Moses!” (Deut. 6:16) Which, when you think of it, is really ridiculous, isn’t it? To commit such heinous and shocking sins, but balking at something so small! (And on top of that, to refuse to ask for something that God has freely offered to do for you!) But this is what a cowardly heart of pride will do—it will hide behind false piety in order to avoid being beholden to God.

Ahaz refused to do the very thing God was inviting him to do—and when you have that cowardly heart of pride,

You reject God’s KINDNESS (vv. 13-16)

Look at verse 13:

Isaiah 7:13 (LSB)

Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?

Ahaz was stubbornly refusing to accept any kindness from God; Isaiah blurts out his frustration in verse 13— “It’s bad enough you get on my nerves, Ahaz—but you’re trying God’s patience as well!” But instead of throwing up His hands and walking away, God tells Ahaz that He is going to give him a sign anyway!

Isaiah 7:14 (LSB)

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Ahaz is refusing to believe God’s promise that He will deliver Jerusalem from their enemies—and so God offers a sign to prove that He is telling the truth. A son will be born to a currently unmarried woman (probably someone Ahaz knows personally), and she will have a son and name him “God Is With Us!” Imagine that Isaiah brought a high-school yearbook into Ahaz’s throne room, opened it and pointed to one of the senior pictures, saying, “This girl is going to get married, and afterwards she is going to get pregnant. The baby will be a boy. And she will name the baby “Emmanuel”—when you see all this happen, you will know that the Arameans and Israelites will not attack you!” In fact, by the time that baby is old enough to be weaned, the Israelites and Arameans will be gone!

Isaiah 7:15–16 (LSB)

“He will eat curds and honey in order that He will know to refuse evil and choose good. “For before the boy will know to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.

God went way out of His way in His kindness to reassure this stubborn, wicked king that He would not allow Israel and Aram to attack—but instead of joyfully receiving that Good News and resting in God’s sure and certain promise, Ahaz still took matters into his own hands! We read in 2 Kings 16:7 that

2 Kings 16:7 (LSB)

Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son; come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.”

What a shocking rejection of God’s kindness and grace! God had already promised—repeatedly and definitively—to save Ahaz, but Ahaz went and made a deal with the devil instead—hiring the Assyrian king to drive off Israel and Aram:

2 Kings 16:9 (LSB)

So the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and seized it and took the people of it away into exile to Kir, and put Rezin to death.

When you have a cowardly heart of pride that wants to hide behind your false piety and refuse the kindness of God, when you reject His promise to save you and try to take matters into your own hands instead, see here in this passage that

You will incur God’s JUDGMENT (v. 17; cp. Isa 7:20)

Ahaz thought he knew better than to trust God; he thought he didn’t need God’s help to save him—and in taking matters into his own hands, he sealed his own fate:

Isaiah 7:17 (LSB)

“Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days which have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

Ahaz thought he could hire the King of Assyria to drive off his enemies. And it worked—Tiglath-Pileser came down and drove off the Arameans and killed their king. But by hiring Assyria, Ahaz sealed his own fate. God says that that same king would soon come down like a ton of bricks on Jerusalem! Look down at verse 20 of Isaiah 7--

Isaiah 7:20 (LSB)

In that day, the Lord will shave with a razor—one hired from regions beyond the River (that is, the king of Assyria)—the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard.

God says, “That Assyrian king you hired to save you will be the razor by which I will shave you!” The image is of a defeat so total that the land will be scraped clean of its riches, resources and people; it is also a picture of humiliation for Ahaz—to have your hair and beard shaved off was a terrible humiliation (King David sacked the kingdom of Ammon for disgracing his messengers by shaving off their beards in 2 Samuel 10). This is the end for everyone who persistently and callously shrugs off God’s gracious promises of deliverance—if you will not place your faith in God, your unbelief will be your own undoing. God will use your own attempts to save yourself against you. If you do not establish your faith in Yahweh, you surely shall not be established!

A steadfast heart begins with a steadfast trust in God’s promises. Ahaz shows us the fate of a cowardly heart of pride. But as we turn to the New Testament to see how this prophecy of the virgin’s son Immanuel reveals the truth about Jesus’ birth, we will also see in His step-father Joseph

II. Joseph: A CONFIDENT heart of FAITH (Matthew 1:18-25)

Turn with me to the passage that we read earlier in our worship—Matthew Chapter 1 (p. 807 in the pew Bible). We know from Luke’s Gospel that Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that

Luke 1:35 (LSB)

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

So it was at some point after this—after Mary had found herself to be pregnant—that Joseph came to find out:

Matthew 1:18 (LSB)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.

Just like Ahaz, Joseph finds himself in a crisis, doesn’t he? When Ahaz heard the news that his enemies were plotting an attack, he went to pieces, shaking like a tree in the wind. But in this passage Joseph (another “son of David” - v. 20) learns that his world has come crashing down—his wife-to-be has been unfaithful to him. But see the difference between Ahaz and Joseph! Where Ahaz fell apart in anxiety and fear, Joseph’s response was far different:

Matthew 1:19 (LSB)

And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

Ahaz’s first thought was how to “manage” this crisis in his own strength (hiring the Assyrians, running around the city trying to secure the water supply), Joseph’s first thought was how to honor his God! This is the first characteristic of a confident heart of faith:

You delight in God’s PRECEPTS (vv. 18-19)

See here in verse 19, Joseph was a “righteous man”—he was a faithful son of the Covenant. Unfaithfulness in marriage was actually punishable by stoning, and at this point in their betrothal Joseph and Mary were considered married, except for the consummation on their wedding day. According to the Law of Moses, Joseph was within his rights to have Mary executed in the city gates for committing adultery—but he was a man who delighted in God’s Law—which meant that he was a man who loved mercy! As Joseph’s step-Son would someday teach; all of the Law is summed up in loving your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:39-40).

Ahaz possessed a cowardly heart of pride that thought nothing of murdering his own flesh and blood before a demonic idol; Joseph possessed a confident heart of faith that could not bear the thought of breaking any of the laws of YHWH, even if it broke his own heart!

A confident heart of faith delights in God’s precepts; and in verses 18-19 we learn that with a confident heart of faith

You submit to God’s COMMANDS (v. 20-23; cp. Matt 2:14)

Joseph was surely heartbroken over breaking his betrothal to Mary; but he had no choice. His first delight was in the precepts of YHWH and not his own desires. But that night, after he had made up his mind, another gracious, unasked-for word of comfort came from God:

Matthew 1:20–21 (LSB)

But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the One who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. “And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

It was simply unbelievable that a woman should have a baby apart from a man—everything Joseph knew about the world told him that his marriage was over before it began. Once again, the comparison with Ahaz is striking—everything Ahaz knew about his enemies and about his city told him that Jerusalem was going to fall.

But look at how different their responses were to God’s promises! God spoke to Ahaz—twice!—to assure him that he was safe from invasion, calling him “House of David” (Isa 7:13- - “Listen now, O House of David…!”) in order to reinforce the point that YHWH had promised His steadfast love to David and his descendents. But Ahaz rejected God’s promise of rescue, wanting to go his own way instead.

But when Joseph is given a word of assurance from God, (“Joseph, son of David...”) he submits to it! He delighted to submit to God’s commands; he went on to do everything he was commanded to do in verses 20-21:

Matthew 1:24–25 (LSB)

And Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Ahaz’s cowardly heart of pride would do anything but submit to God’s commands; Joseph’s confident heart of faith delighted to submit to Him. By gladly submitting to God’s commands, Joseph was part of the great fulfillment of the prophecy uttered by Isaiah centuries before:

Matthew 1:22–23 (LSB)

Now all this took place in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”

When Matthew says “All this took place” to fulfill the word of YHWH, he includes Mary’s apparent betrayal of Joseph and his heartbreak at finding her pregnant—all of it was part of the magnificent plan of God for the salvation of His people!

Joseph was not a man who quaked and shook like a tree in the wind when he found himself in a crisis; he was confident in his trust in God, even when it looked like his world was falling apart. This is what a confident heart of faith looks like in your life: You delight in God’s precepts, you submit to God’s commands, and

You rest in God’s PROVIDENCE (cp. Matt. 2:13-14)

Where Ahaz was anxious, Joseph was at peace. Where Ahaz sinfully took matters into his own hands, Joseph obeyed. Where Ahaz refused to acknowledge the gracious words of God’s deliverance for him, Joseph rested in God’s promise to care for him and his family. We see this in the next chapter of Matthew when (just like Ahaz), Joseph receives word that he and his family are in danger. Ahaz refuses to trust God and sinfully establishes an alliance that would eventually destroy him; but the faithful son of David, Joseph, rests in God’s ability to look after him!

Matthew 2:13–14 (LSB)

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and departed for Egypt.

There is no questioning, no doubting, no second-guessing on Joseph’s part. God tells him what to do, and he does it. God had providentially provided plenty of treasure (gold, frankincense and myrrh) to live on while they were in Egypt, and all Joseph had to do was trust him. Joseph and Ahaz are perfect illustrations of God’s Word in Isaiah 7:9:

Isaiah 7:9 (LSB)

If you do not establish your faith in Yahweh, you surely shall not be established.”’”

So the question for you this morning is this: What kind of heart does God’s Word reveal in you? Joseph was a man who lived the rest of his life under a cloud of suspicion—years after his death the unbelieving Jews were passing around rumors that his wife had been unfaithful (cp. John 8:41: “We were not born of sexual immorality...”) But there is never any hint that Joseph was ever anything but quietly and confidently faithful to God. Christian, you are called to this kind of confident heart of faith—loving God’s precepts, obeying His commands, and resting in His providence through all of the crises and storms of this life.

But this is not because of your own strength of moral character or innate goodness. In fact, the Scriptures are clear that every last one of us is capable of the cowardly heart of pride that rejects God’s kindness and hides behind a false piety. You know exactly how much of Ahaz’s heart beats in your chest; and apart from the grace of God, that is all you would ever be; apart from the grace of God, all you could expect is to suffer every last consequence of every last sin you ever cherished under the unflinching hand of the eternal, omnipotent God of all Creation.

But the Virgin has conceived and brought forth a Son who saves His people from their sins! That Baby born to Mary and Joseph is the final word of God’s gracious promise to save you! When you weren’t asking for it, when you weren’t looking for it, when you were still dead in your trespasses and sins, frantically running around your own little kingdom trying to make everything work and trying to fix all your own problems by your own cleverness and make yourself look good in all your false piety, God spoke His promise of salvation to you through His Son Jesus Christ! The final “God With Us” promised to you to save you from the consequences of your wicked rebellion against Him; the sign by which He assures you that you will not fall under the judgment of His wrath! Instead of separation from Him forever in Hell, you are promised that you will be with Him for all eternity! In the glory of Heaven, He will always be Emmanuel—God with you!

When you place your faith for the forgiveness of your sins in that Virgin-born Son, He gives you a heart of confident faith in His promises; to love His precepts and obey His commands and rest in His providence. But do not look past the warning of God’s Word in Ahaz’s life—the Scriptures go on to tell us that his rejection of YHWH continued to grow more and more flagrant, until we read in 2 Chronicles 28 that he eventually blocked off the Temple altogether, cut apart all of the utensils used in Temple worship, and built altars to rival gods all over Jerusalem! The false piety that he demonstrated in Isaiah 7 eventually metastasized into full-blown hatred for God. His sinful pride eventually consumed him; the mask came off, and he was revealed to be a wicked, blasphemous, idolatrous hater of the God who had come to him with such gracious, loving promises of deliverance.

I want you to understand this, because it reveals the kind of self-deception that we are capable of. When Ahaz balked at “putting YHWH to the test”, I’m sure he meant every word of it. His sin had so blinded him that he really believed that he was being righteous by not “testing God”—even though his life was full of all kinds of violent, bloodthirsty idolatrous wickedness.

Friend, that false piety that you are hiding behind will damn you to Hell. Ahaz believed he was a faithful son of the Covenant because he scrupulously refused to “put God to the test”. If you have been making a point of faithful church attendance and regular giving and committing your time to ministry and cultivate an air of serious concentration in worship—you are happy to pray when asked and you sing the hymns loud and leaf through your Bible and nod thoughtfully during the message—but it is all a cover-up for a heart full of gross idolatry and hatred and lust and bitterness; if all of your Bible reading stops just behind your eyes and never makes it into your life; if you can recite the Gospel message backwards and forwards and be able to articulate it clearly and concisely to anyone who asks but don’t believe it applies to you, then the Day will come when your true heart will be revealed, just as surely as it was with Ahaz.

With some people, like Ahaz, it comes out while they still walk the earth—the so-called “deconstructions” of evangelical, Bible-believing Christians is really just the false piety giving way to reality. But for others, that false piety holds right on through the end of their life—but when they awaken in the Presence of this Son of Mary, it evaporates like a snowflake over a volcano, and their true nature is revealed, damning them for eternity. If you will not have His mercy, you will have His wrath.

If you hear God’s Word this morning and you realize that you are hiding a cowardly heart of pride behind a facade of false piety, do not turn your back like Ahaz on God’s gracious promise to save you! He has given this Sign—a Baby born of a Virgin who grew up to save you from your sin; a Son Who offers you perfect, righteous, unbreakable union with Him—God With You—for all eternity! Do not let your false piety drag you down to the pit; cry out in repentance today, receive this gracious promise of deliverance from God that He has sent to you in the Person of His Son—your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

2 Corinthians 13:14 (LSB)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Who was the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 originally given to? What were the circumstances surrounding this prophecy—what was God communicating by this promise that He was going to do?

How was God’s promise in this prophecy received by its original recipients? How did their response differ from the way Jesus’ step-father Joseph reacted to God’s promise in Matthew’s Gospel?

Read Isaiah 7:9 again. How does this verse help to explain the difference between Ahaz’ response to God’s promises and Joseph’s response?

Read Isaiah 7:10-12. Why did Ahaz refuse to ask God for a sign of His faithfulness? at are some of the spiritual dangers of that kind of false piety in a person’s life?

What does Matthew 1:23 say the name “Immanuel” means? Was Ahaz comforted by the promise presence of God? Why or why not? Will the presence of Christ at His return be a comfort to everyone on that Day? More importantly—do you know that it will be a comfort to you?