A question of Trust

A Question of trust

Whom will you trust?

Isaiah chapter 7-9

When we looked at the prophet last time, he had a vision of God, which shook him to the core. “woe is me’ he said. “I am ruined ! For I am a man of unclean lips.” As he stood before God, he experienced, not God’s wrath, but God’s forgiveness, and God’s call to be a messenger for him. Isaiah responded to that call, but he was warned that his message to the people would not be received. Quite the opposite, in fact, apart from a few, a remnant who would believe, his message was rejected.

We come now to chapter seven and Isaiah is told to take his son, Shear-Jashub, a name that means ‘A remnant will return”, and to go to king Ahaz and say to him:

Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart.’

Those are the words of the lord given through the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah might well be speaking the same words to us today, when we look around and see what is going on in virtually every part of the globe. There is hatred and division. There are threats from outside the nation and there does not seem to be any agreement within the nation that will bring about the peace that we all seek. Who among our leaders will listen to the voice of the only one who can bring peace and prosperity? Who among the leaders of the world will turn to the one who is in control of history?

Here is the simple but direct message of the prophet to the people of his day, and the words hold true for all Christians today:

Isaiah 7:9  If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

What was the situation that brought about this state of affairs in Judah?

The empire of Assyria was on the rise and on the march. To the north of Judah was Israel with its capital Samaria, and to the north of Israel was Syria, with its capital Damascus. When these two nations saw the threat of Assyria they joined together as allies, but together they would not be able to withstand the advance of Assyria, so they determined to force Judah into an alliance with them. Then they might be strong enough. 

That’s what we find at the beginning of chapter 7 of Isaiah.

Isaiah 7:2 “Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” 

Ahaz was king of Judah and he was faced with a choice. He could listen to the voice of Isaiah and put his trust in God.

Isaiah 7:7–8 “Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “ ‘It will not take place, it will not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.” 

Or he could put his trust in a strong world power. What was his choice?

2 Kings 16:7–9 “Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.” 

Can you see the futility of King Ahaz? He sent a huge amount of treasure to ask the king of Assyria to do what he was going to do anyway.

Isaiah’s challenge was

Isaiah 7:9  If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’

The Lord himself spoke to Ahaz

Isaiah 7:10–11 “Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”” 

It’s as if God is saying to Ahaz, “I am ready to move Heaven and Earth for you if you will just trust me.”

Perhaps this was to try to encourage Ahaz to trust God rather that his enemy Tiglath Pilezer. This test of faith calls on Ahaz to remember who he is and to remember who God is, and to remember the promises to the house of David. 

As we discover from the Narrative in 2 kings 16, Ahaz had already decided what he was going to do, so we have a show of false piety.

Isaiah 7:12 “But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.” 

Ahaz was really saying that he did not believe that God would rescue him and his people in this situation. 

That’s why Isaiah said;

Isaiah 7:13 “Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?” 

We sometimes think that asking for a sign from God is to be like that of Gideon laying down a fleece.  That is probably the exception rather than the rule. Your faith is often confirmed by a sign long after you have acted in faith, when you know in your heart that God has been with you as you obeyed him.

For example, here’s what we read in Exodus 3:12 

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.””  

Or the sign that the Lord has spoken will be when something foretold actually takes place

1 Samuel 2:34 ““ ‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day.” 

Or the sign will point back to something that has already occurred and has meaning for what is to come

Luke 11:29–30 “As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation.” 

This was a sign that pointed to the resurrection of Jesus.

Isaiah goes on to say this:

Isaiah 7:14–16 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” 

The sign that God was going to give had implications for the time in which Isaiah and Ahaz lived, and as so often with Biblical prophecies, there is also a looking forward to a future event. 

What is happening here? The two kings whom Ahaz feared at that immediate time were those of Israel and Syria. A child would be born of a young woman of marriageable age, who, if not married, was therefore a virgin and before that child was old enough to reject the wrong and choose the right the land of the two kings would be laid waste. 

Isaiah did not use the the normal word for virgin, perhaps because the issue at that particular time was not ‘the virgin birth’, but the time from the birth of a child until the time it was old enough to understand right and wrong, twelve or thirteen years, was of importance in this sign to Ahaz. In fact within three year Damascus had fallen to Assyria and thirteen years later Samaria had fallen.

A key element of the prophecy or sign was that the child was to be called Immanuel. This was a clear sign from God through Isaiah to Ahaz and the people of Judah that God was faithful and would be with them. Isaiah had been told when he went to meet Ahaz to take his son with him:

Isaiah 7:3 “Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer’s Field.”  Shear-Jashub means “A remnant shall return” showing that despite the unbelief and disobedience of Ahaz, God would always preserve a remnant who would remain faithful to him. 

The gospel writer Matthew quotes the verse from Isaiah and explains that this prophecy pointed to the Messiah, the baby born to Mary all those years later.

Matthew 1:22–23 “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).” 

And he would not be born as a privileged king, as you might expect of a descendant of King David. Because of Ahaz’ unbelief, Isaiah tells us that he will eat curds and honey (v 15). This was the language of poverty, not of riches, despite the notion we have of a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ The future king, when he was born, was to share the poverty of his people, heir to a non-existent throne, under the oppression of a foreign nation.

Ahaz and the people of Judah, would not be attacked or defeated by Isael or Syria, but disaster still lay ahead for them.

Isaiah 7:17 “The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.”” 

Who is in control of all this? God, the Almighty is.

Isaiah 7:18 “In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.” 

If only they had trusted the Lord:

Isaiah 8:6–8 ““Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates— the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!”” 

With trust in God they could have been blessed with the gently flowing waters of Shiloah. Instead they have the raging might of the Assyrians who sweep down from the north like a raging river. But notice that it is up to the neck only. God will not allow them to be completely overwhelmed. The Assyrians can do their utmost, but

Isaiah 8:10 “Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” 

Did you notice the last few words of verse 8: Your land, O Immanuel.

Isaiah himself could have been so easily drawn into the fears of the people of Judea in the same way that we can be drawn into the fears of all those around us i our town, in our community, in our country. We need to take on board the advice from the Lord to Isaiah:

Isaiah 8:11 “This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:” 

Do not fear what they fear.

What is the choice?

Isaiah 8:13 “The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.” 

This is the message to everyone. It was the message then and it is the message today. If you trust God he will be a sanctuary for you. If you don’t trust him, he will be a stumbling block throughout your life.

Isaiah 8:14 and he will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall

Instead of turning to God, people turn to all sorts of other avenues to seek solutions to their problems. The last part of chapter  8 gives a depressing picture of Isaiah’s time, of Isaiah’s fellow citizens, who have turned from God. Perhaps it is also a description of our time.

Isaiah 8:19–22 “When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.” 

For those who refuse to trust God, there is only darkness. They will curse their king and their God. They will curse politics and religion. They only know anger and despair.

But that is not the end of the story. God does not intend for us to remain in our darkness, even though we put ourselves there.

Isaiah 9:1 “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—” 

Isaiah 9:2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” 

These verses at the beginning of chapter 9 paint a picture of deliverance, of a burden lifted. 

The first areas of the land to be attacked and conquered by the Assyrians were Zebulun and Naphtali. Naphtali was the northern tribe of Israel, which bordered west of the Sea of Galilee, and Zebulun was west and south west of Naphtali. It is significant that those areas were the first to receive the light.

Matthew 4:13–16 “Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”” 

Isaiah writes in the past tense. Even though it is a yet future event, he writes as if it has already been accomplished.

Isaiah 9:4 “For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.” 

And the garments of oppression will be destroyed:

Isaiah 9:5 “Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.” 

And how will God do this? Who is this person who will defeat the power of darkness, who will defeat all the evil in the world

Isaiah 9:6–7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” 

A child is born. This speaks of his humanity. He is a son of David, so he must be human. He will reign on David’s throne. It is rightfully his; he has not taken it by force or by any other means.

A son is given. This speaks of his divinity. He is at the same time mighty God, Everlasting father.

He is the one who was born in poverty in Bethlehem in Judea, who began his ministry in Galilee. 

Isaiah gave this prophecy some 700 years before Christ was born. when he wrote ‘The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.’ he was speaking of the passion the Lord has for his people. The son whom he would send will overcome the power of oppression and darkness with the power of love.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”