In Times of Distress - Isaiah 7
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Peter knew about suffering.
He had been arrested.
He had been imprisoned.
Church tradition has it that he was crucified upside down during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero.
Writing to the suffering, Peter said…
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;
Fiery ordeals are not strange; that are to be expected as we follow God in a world that is opposed to Him.
But Peter also said…
19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
In fiery ordeals we are to entrust our souls to a faithful Creator.
In fiery ordeals, we are to trust God.
In fiery ordeals, we are to believe God.
Do you do that?
Ahaz did not.
[CONTEXT] Ahaz was the 12th king of Judah after the Solomon’s kingdom was split between Israel to the north and Judah to the south.
In Isaiah 7, he is about 20 years old, and he is in distress during the early days of his reign.
The king of Aram (Syria) and the king of Israel have come to wage war against Judah. Those armies inflict heavy damage on Judah, but they could not conquer Jerusalem. The Aramean army, however, didn’t return home but camped in Israel.
Did this mean that Aram and Israel would regroup and try to take Jerusalem again?
What would Ahaz and his people do if they did?
What should he and his people do in the meantime?
This was a fiery ordeal, but Ahaz didn’t entrust himself to his faithful Creator.
[READING - Isaiah 7:1-2]
1 Now it came about 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. 2 When it was reported 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 with the wind.
[PRAYER]
[TS] Let’s think about Isaiah 7 in three PARTS…
Part 1: An Opportunity.
Part 2: An Invitation.
Part 3: A Promise.
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
PART #1: An Opportunity to Believe (vv. 3-9)
PART #1: An Opportunity to Believe (vv. 3-9)
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller’s field, 4 and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5 ‘Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God: “It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass. 8 “For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now within another 65 years Ephraim will be shattered, so that it is no longer a people), 9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.” ’ ”
[EXP] Ahaz had ample reason to believe that God would deliver him and his kingdom from the hands of Aram and Israel.
One reason was the promise that God made to the house of David.
Another reason was that God called the kings of Aram and Israel two stubs of smoldering fire brands.
Another reason is that God plainly states through his prophet that their threat will not come to fruition.
7 thus says the Lord God: “It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.
God’s prophet delivered God’s Word to Ahaz, and Ahaz had the opportunity to believe.
If he didn’t believe, he would not survive this fiery ordeal.
[ILLUS] Have you ever seen a child terrified of a lady bug or some other harmless insect?
They start to go bananas because the lady buy is in the pool or the lady bug has landed on their arm.
Their fear is absurd, of course, because the lady buy is harmless, but as they continue to lose their minds, you eventually start to say, “Hey! It can’t hurt you! Listen to me! That little thing can’t hurt you!”
In other words, at some point, you ask the scared child to just take your word for it.
Now, to be clear, the armies of Aram and Israel aren’t harmless lady bugs; they didn’t conquer Jerusalem, but they did damage in the rest of Judah.
Even so, God promises that they won’t make a complete end of Judah.
Ahaz is young; he’s been under seige, and he is scared, but he has the opportunity to believe God.
He has the opportunity to take God at his word.
[APP] Do we take God at His Word? Our fiery trials, our times of distress sometimes make us shake like trees in a strong wind, but I have the opportunity to believe God, and I have every reason to believe God.
One reason is that Jesus is on His throne.
Two, He has promised my deliverance.
33 “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Three, by faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection I am included in the remnant.
5 In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.
Four, He has promised to make all things new.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” 5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
Five, no weapon formed against me shall prosper.
17 “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.
All of this is promised to the follower of Jesus in the Word of God.
I ought to believe Him.
I ought to trust Him.
But will I do when I face the fiery trial, the time of distress.
[TS]…
PART #2: An Invitation to Believe (vv. 10-16)
PART #2: An Invitation to Believe (vv. 10-16)
10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” 13 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? 14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. 15 “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. 16 “For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
[EXP] Ahaz didn’t believe. We know this because if he did believe God wouldn’t have invited him to ask for a sign in order to encourage his belief.
Notice v. 11…
11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
Ahaz could’ve asked for anything and God would have done it to encourage his belief, but instead Ahaz feigned piety.
Notice v. 12…
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”
This wasn’t real obedience to God’s command not to test Him; this was fake holiness because Ahaz didn’t want to trust the Lord.
It is not testing the Lord to do what He says, but Ahaz chose to test the Lord’s patience instead.
How sad that the house of David—the house that bears the name of a man who so completely trusted God—has an unbeliever like Ahaz sitting on its throne.
14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. 15 “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. 16 “For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
Ahaz will get a sign whether he likes it or not but it will not, but now the sign will be a rebuke to his lack of faith—a virgin will give birth to son and his name will be called ‘Immanuel’, which means God with us.
The near fulfillment of this sign may have taken place as a young virgin or maiden in the royal family got married, had a son, and named him ‘Immanuel’ without knowing anything about Isaiah’s prophecy.
When that happened, Ahaz would’ve known that he should have believed God.
The far or ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy was in the Lord Jesus who was born of the virgin Mary.
His virgin birth is a sign to everyone that they should believe God.
[ILLUS] A Christian apologist talking with a man; “Is there any proof that would make you change your mind and believe?”
The man answered, “No.”
[APP] There is an unbelief that refuses to believe no matter the evidence or sign.
God will patiently provide the fuel for our belief so long as we are genuinely looking for it, but when we refuse to believe no matter what, the fuel for belief because the accelerant on the fires of judgment.
[TS]…
PART #3: A Promise of Judgment on Unbelief (vv. 17-25)
PART #3: A Promise of Judgment on Unbelief (vv. 17-25)
17 “The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria.” 18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 They will all come and settle on the steep ravines, on the ledges of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes and on all the watering places. 20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor, hired from regions beyond the Euphrates (that is, with the king of Assyria), the head and the hair of the legs; and it will also remove the beard. 21 Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep; 22 and because of the abundance of the milk produced he will eat curds, for everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey. 23 And it will come about in that day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. 24 People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns. 25 As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
22 Now in the time of his distress this same King Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to the Lord.
[PRAYER]