Isaiah 1.4

Prayer Requests:

Laura M., exposed to COVID Jenny, Liz in hospital with a staph infection

Suzanne, neighbor’s sister advanced uterine cancer, Angela

Ron, Melissa and Ron going to Jamestown 100 inmates

Ruth, my neighbor, Linda, toe amputated

Gordonb, son-in-law Phil large kidney stone, found something else

Jean, family health concerns

Tanja, neighbor Cathy stave four liver and pancreatic

Cheryl, vet friends a part of missiopnary team in Mongolia, conversions

Isaiah 7-9

Today’s passages and the proceeding chapters are united around a primary theme of faith in the face of threat. What we’ve seen so far in the opening chapters of Isaiah, is the indictment against Judah for their sin, their lack of faith in YHWH, their idolatry, and their treatment of others. Last week we saw the commissioning of Isaiah as prophet, and now some of these threads come together and the narrative continues as we see a confrontation between Isaiah and the King. Remember, Isaiah was called in the aftermath of King Uzziah’s death, now Ahaz has taken the throne. Chapter 7 represents a real test of the prophet’s voice and word in Judah.

Let’s read Isaiah 7:1-9

Isaiah 7:1–9 ESV

1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. 3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord God: “ ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.’ ”

Ahaz is king! The new king is facing a major national crisis because “the King of Syria and the King of Israel (the Northern Kingdom)” are coming up to Jerusalem to wage war against Judah. Two foreign forces have teamed up to take over Judah and Jerusalem, the threat is both very real and very near! From Ahaz’s point of view Syria and Israel represent a major threat. And see how he and the nation of Judah react?

English Standard Version Chapter 7

2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

Ahaz and all his people were shaken like trees in the wind! What was their response? Fear!

And in response to this fear, God intervenes through the prophet. He sends Isaiah to go and meet Ahaz at the upper end of their water system. I want you to picture the scene—this often gets lost when we study the prophets, we focus on the dialogue—the King is anxious and inspecting the infrastructure of the city. He’s keeping tabs on the city’s water supply, he’s alert, involved. This is no a passive King who will lie down in the face of a fight, but this is an active king, ready to lead his people.

Isaiah meets Ahaz while he’s preparing for siege, and the Lord tells Isaiah to bring his son, Shear-jashub, with him. This is the first of a series of children that are meant to be signs to the king. That’s a repeated motif in Isaiah, child-signs. Shear-jashub’s name means “a remnant shall remain.”

The child is set to be a sign to Ahaz that a remnant of Judah will remain. There are two ways of reading this. The first is negative: war is coming, only a remnant will remain! OR War is coming, and though destruction comes, at least a remnant will remain. But surely, the King does not want to hear this word right now as they are preparing for what’s ahead.

And then here are the word’s of Isaiah’s encouragement to Ahaz:

Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint…why? because these two smoldering stumps!

The Lord is saying through Isaiah: don’t be anxious! Don’t worry! Do not let yourself or you nation (as the king) get worked up over Syria and Israel (Ephraim), for they will be mere smoldering stumps, not the mighty oaks of war and destruction that they seem to be now.

Notice what the Lord doesn’t tell him, he doesn’t say: prepare for battle! stock up your weapons, recruit more soldiers! No, it’s be careful, do not fear, be quiet! Oh I love that. We would all do better to heed this advice whenever we face some anxiety in this life: be quiet, be careful.

And we see this promise fleshed out in the next few verses, 8-9. with a generation or two the threats that are now Syria and Ephraim (Israel) will be nothing. God is inviting Ahaz: don’t worry, don’t stress, I’m going to take care of this for though Ahaz is walking around his aqueduct stressed about a siege, YHWH sees the whole of time and history! God knows and God will handle this for this people. But look at the second half of verse 9: If you are not firm in your faith, you will not be firm at all.

It’s a warning: have faith in me in this fight, don’t look for help elsewhere. Because you if don’t have faith in me, if you don’t trust in me, you will not be firm in anything. And this is a good moment for us to talk about faith. What is in view here when it comes to faith?

I would suggest that it is not only or merely intellectual belief in God. Ahaz believes in YHWH in some way, he’s entertaining the words of the prophet. Faith here, more accurately means a trust in God. Trusting God at his word, trusting God for salvation. Trusting God to deliver in the face of great enemies and trusting God’s way is the right way to deal with it.

Psalm 2 ESV

1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Blessed are those who take refuge in the Lord’s anointed even in the midst of raging nations and wars!

And what does Ahaz do? We have to go to 2 Kings 16:7–9 “7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.”

Oh no! Ahaz went to Assyria for help! He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t be quiet and wait up on the Lord. This is disastrous, not only has he come to Assyria for help, look at the language—”I am your servant and son…and he presented treasures of silver and gold.” He made a covenant with Assyria. He entered into a deeply personal and legal relationship with a foreign nation, forsaking his God. We do not make covenants with other nations! We do not make covenants with the people of other gods! We learn through this, as it will be Assyria that eventually sets its target on Judah, that whatever we trust in apart from God will ultimately, at best disappoint us, and at worst those things will destroy us.

This is why YHWH urges Ahaz through the prophet to stand firm in his faith.

OT scholar Walter Brueggeman wrote this about Isaiah 7 and faith. “Faith is not a matter of intellectual content or cognitive belief. It is rather a matter of quite practical reliance upon the assurance of God in a context of risk where one’s own resources are not adequate. It means to entrust one’s security and future to the attentiveness of YHWH—to count God’s attentiveness as adequate and sure, thereby making panic, anxiety, or foolishness unnecessary and inappropriate.”

For us today, this applies to the small and large things in our lives. The momentary, daily anxieties for which we feel lack and inadequate resources, but also for the big things. For the major diagnoses, for the crushing grief of loss, for the sorrow of family members that are far from the Lord. We are inadequate to fix any of these things and the Lord invites us into faith that is firm and rests in Him.

It will be a promise of Isaiah much later in our study, but we know this, Isaiah 40:31 “31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Ahaz has the opportunity for faith!

Let’s continue—Isaiah 7:10-17

Isaiah 7:10–17 ESV

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, it’s easy when we read passages of scripture like this to think of them all as happening as a quick series of events, or even at the same time. We don’t know the precise timeline or context, but we have reason to believe that Ahaz has rejected Isaiah’s call for quiet, careful faith. We know from 2 Kings that he has set out to covenant with Assyria for relief. Isaiah now offers a sign—you don’t believe me? Here’s a sign: a child will be born, he will be called Immanuel, meaning God with us, and before he is a certain age, (some sort of age of accountability, traditionally thought of between 2-12) the land of Syria and the land of Israel/Ephraim will be desolate! Those kings you’re so worried about, they’ll be gone.

The child here is a visible sign of God’s faithfulness, a reminder to Ahaz of what God has said will come to pass. And there is some ominous irony in the name: God with us. We often think of Immanuel strictly as a comfort, but here it is a reminder to Ahaz, who has rejected YHWH’s call to faithfulness, that God is intend with them and in their midst. You have no faith? You go to Assyria? I’m still with you!

This is also a prime example of a prophetic passage that has a double fulfillment. There’s not reason to doubt that there really was a child born named Immanuel, the context is clear that this should have some near-term fulfillment. But of course, this passage is referred to in the Gospels as a prophetic statement foretelling the birth of Christ. I want us to primarily understand the child here in the context of Isaiah before jumping to Jesus.

The child is a sign of God’s challenge to Ahaz for faith, to stand firm in and wait up on the Lord rather than trusting in his own political strength.

And v. 17 shows us the resolution here, it’s a harsh verses, but it reflects the reality of a heart that had turned away from God. Ahaz had rejected Isaiah’s warnings and had set himself as powerful enough for this situation. The sign of the child probably only reinforces his hard heart. But this is often what signs do in scripture. The plagues were signs taht turned Pharaoh further away from God and the miracles of Jesus often only caused him more rejection.

For us today we see the clear invitation to faith in God for our future. And so much of what we discussed—rejection of God’s way, not recognizing signs—you could say these things of the people in Jesus’ day.

The final verses of chapter 7 then offer us a picture of Judah being subjugated by Assyria by the will of the Lord. The language in verses 18-25 is steeped in the language of servitude. Though they make a covenant with this nation, they will eventually be humiliated and made to be servants. And even any positive language here: Isaiah 7:21–22 “21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.” This is all remnant language, only a remnant will remain. This is not the picture of great prosperity that Judah would have hoped for because of a great lack of faith.

Let’s move on to chapter 8 and the next child-sign.

Isaiah 8:1–8 ESV

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.” 3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

Once again, there is a child-sign, this time the birth of a child from Isaiah and his wife: this great name “Maher-shalal-hash-baz” means Spoil speeds, the prey hastens; spoil referring to Syria and prey referring to Israel and that they will soon be overtaken by a greater enemy. You see? Again, a child as a reminder of God’s promise and his warning.

And yet again, this people refused (v. 5). Ahaz moves out of fear instead of faith. And this section ends look at v. 8: “Oh Immanuel!” It seems to be a mocking reminder to Ahaz, God with us even in our judgement, that which we’ve brought on our selves.

And now see v. 9-10. Isaiah 8:9-10

Isaiah 8:9–10 ESV

9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered. 10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

Now we get this moment of almost whiplash. The nations are now being addressed and they will all be shattered! The language again is that of Psalm 2, the nations raging against God and his plans. And how do these verses end? God is with us!

The theme of faith in God is now developed through this series of contrasts: God with us in judgment, God with us in salvation! It also seems that there was an open possibility of avoiding the coming devastation, but Ahaz rejected God’s warnings. Just as God had told Isaiah would happen!

Isaiah 8:12 ESV

12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

Isaiah 8:16–19 ESV

16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

We so often focus on the problems of this world, the things that are in front of us that we can’t control. We look to other things to fix or relieve our problems. Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy. Are those words that would do well in our world today? We are not meant to be people of fear or dread. Look at v. 19: the people are going to psychics and sorcerers!

The message of these chapters in Isaiah is this: there is indeed something to fear! There is indeed a power that could be a problem. But it is emphatically not the nations of this world or the anxieties we face today. It is not tomorrow’s provision, or next month’s health crises. The thing we have to fear is God Himself, but the thing in which we ought to trust, in which we put our faith, is that very same thing. The ultimate power that is above all things.

And, as we’ve seen hints throughout these chapters, he’s working to bring salvation and redemption.