The Sign of the Virgin

Introduction

· ORTHODOX JEWISH RABBI

· Whole of Christian life is a life lived out in faith—but what does that mean?

· Faith has come to mean so many things—lost meaning & significance

o Faith = belief despite a lack of evidence (skeptics)

o Faith = assenting to certain core principles or dogmas

· Biblical concept = TRUST—trust in the promises of God—taking God at his word

o Gen 3 – original sin = not taking God at his word

o Heb 11:1 – “assurance of things hoped for/conviction of things unseen = trust

· Christian life is a life of faith because when you become a Christian, you are entrusting yourself to a series of promises

o All your sin has been dealt with at the cross

o Christ has reconciled you to God

o Christ can give you joy and satisfaction apart from sin

o Christ will sanctify you until you become like Christ

o Your future is with Christ in heaven

· When you become a Christian, you’re hanging your entire life, soul, and eternity on those promises—you’re taking God at his word that these things are true

· Gospel call is a call to choose—will you trust or reject God’s promises?

· Reality is that we see this just as clearly in the OT as we do in the NT

· ISAIAH 7 – the reality of trust exemplified in the story of one man who came face to face with that decision

1. A Threat (7:1-2)

· Historical circumstances

· 2 Chron 28 – 120,000 casualties, 200,000 Judean captives

· Ahaz learns of threat – scared to death

2. An Encouragement (7:3-6)

· Find Ahaz inspecting water supply in preparation for impending siege

· Isaiah told to take his son and go to him with a message

· Message: Don’t be afraid

· Syria/Israel = smoldering firebrands

· Want to replace Ahaz with puppet king

3. A Promise (7:7)

· “It will not stand or come to pass”

· Clear and definitive – their plans will fail

4. A Reason (7:8-9a)

· Syria/Israel leaders are just men

· Who are they compared to the “Sovereign Yahweh”?

APPLICATION

· There’s a lot of reasons we become afraid

o Don’t know

o Don’t understand

o Don’t control

· We fear what we’re powerless to control

· ILLUSTRATION: I’m a terrible car passenger

· When we’re afraid, our response is to seek out the person or thing that we believe is in control

· Isaiah is saying that God is = “sovereign Yahweh”

5. A Warning (7:9b)

· Ahaz is at a deciding point—will he trust God’s promise or reject it?

· There is no 3rd option

· His decision has massive consequences – stand or fall

6. A Token (7:10-11)

· God gives a token to nudge him over the line to faith

· Offers him ANY sign he wants

· Point: take away any doubt in the validity of God’s promise

7. A Response (7:12)

· Outwardly pious—doesn’t want to “test” God

· Smokescreen—he doesn’t want to trust God

· He knows a sign will force him to publically decide

· Ahaz already has a plan – call the Assyrians for help

· He’s going to fall on his political prowess and the might of Assyrian

8. A Rebuke (7:13)

· God sees right through it

· Piety = veiled rejection of God’s promise

9. A Sign (7:14-16)

· Yet something amazing happens

· God gives Ahaz a sign anyway

· Sign = negative and positive aspects

o Young woman will conceive and give birth to a son

o The child will be named “Immanuel”

o He will grow up into maturity and live through a time of devastation in the land

o But before he’s old enough discern right from wrong, the threat from Syria/Israel will be dealt with

· What’s striking = sign is given despite Ahaz’ unbelief

o Ahaz would experience consequences of unbelief

o But God would deliver his people anyway

APPLICATION: this is exactly what we see in the gospel promise

· Rom 5:8 – while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us

· Rom 5:10 – while we were enemies, we were reconciled

· God moves toward us even while we have our backs turned from him

MATTHEW 1

· Matthew saw the grace and glory of the gospel in this OT account

· He saw in the events of the birth of Jesus a correspondence with what had gone on some 730 years earlier

o In both times, God’s people are face foreign threat and oppression

o In both times, God’s people are led by faithless, wicked kings

o In both times, a child is born as a sign of God’s promise

· Yet Matthew also saw something greater/more significant

· He saw in the details of Christ’s birth an escalation of everything that had gone on in the time of Isaiah

o Isaiah’s time = a young woman conceives

o Jesus’ time = an actual virgin conceives and remains a virgin

o Isaiah’s time = God promises deliverance from human enemy

o Jesus’ time = God promises deliverance from spiritual enemy (he will save his people from their sin)

o Isaiah’s time = Immanuel means God won’t abandon his people

o Jesus’ time = Immanuel means God is physically present with his people

There’s another correspondence I want to draw out – the call to trust

The advent of Jesus brings a decision point to the world

· Will you trust Christ in all he promises he has done?

· Or will you reject his promise

Like Isaiah’s said to Ahaz = “If you will not stand firm in faith, you will not stand at all”