Down to Earth #3

Joy Down to Earth

Isaiah 7:1–17 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.’ ” 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!”

Much is made of Christmas as a time of joy, friendship, family, and celebration. We get very excited and people smile and have parties and many traditions. But the reality of living in a fallen world is that this season is not always happy for everyone. As I stand in this pulpit, a family of my friends is grieving their father who passed into eternity this week and my friend Dustin is waiting for his father to leave this earth. Christmas can remind us of past hurt or losses we have experienced, the family we wish we had, or maybe just financial stress. We tend to put on a false face but if many of us were honest, we would tell you that we’re standing in a dark time in our lives. And today we lit the joy candle. We can experience the joy of Christmas even when the world around us looks dark and we aren’t sure what is going to happen.

The joy of Christmas is that God planned before the foundation of the earth to redeem a people for Himself. We have an opportunity to know and be known by the creator of the universe because He came and dwelt among us to die for us and raise as the first fruit, and will return for us one day. When we stare deeply into the scriptures we see the plan unfold on each page. A couple of weeks ago we were in John 1 where John mimics the language from Genesis, “In the beginning…” God is the one who created us and put us here. But we sinned in Adam. We broke God’s commands and sin enter the world and we have a sin nature. That was the fall of man. And even at that fall God revealed that He already had a plan for that.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

A promise was made. There would be a defeat coming for the serpent and redemption for humanity.

Then we walk through the OT and see all of the ways that God preserved Israel so that the Messiah, Jesus would come through the Jews. When we get through the intertestamental period and the 400 years of silence and we hop into the NT we see a list of the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew. We see the names and as we look at their stories we see what I mentioned last week that without God this whole plan had so many places where it could have just fallen completely apart because of humans.

But God’s plan was to introduce Emmanuel, God with us, into the darkness of this world to bring the light of salvation and life to the people who dwelled in darkness. He brings true abiding joy. Let’s now turn to our passage in Isaiah and look at a dark time in the land of Israel.

I. Dark Time in the Land

Let’s set the scene for what was going on in our passage. The kingdom was divided in two. After the reign of King Solomon the nation was split into a northern and southern kingdom. This is primarily a result of David’s sin with Bathsheba. He had repented of it when confronted by the prophet Nathan, but our sin does have consequences.

The northern kingdom was Israel and the southern kingdom was Judah. The capital of Israel was Samaria and the capital of the southern kingdom was Jerusalem. Ahaz is the king of Judah and he’s an evil dude. He is from the house of David.

This well known Christmas prophecy that we sing songs about this time of year was delivered into a time of invasion. The story begins with a failed invasion and fearing the next.

A. A People in Crisis.

At the beginning of the story, Aram and Israel, Syria and the northern kingdom who are led by these guys Rezin and Pekah, invaded Judah. But they failed in conquering it. It’s explained in verse 1. They join forces and attack Jerusalem but they fail. Then the news arrives that this alliance that attacked still exists and plan on attacking again. This is in verse 2. A very, very dark time for Israel was coming.

B. A Message For A Wicked King.

The king of Judah was wicked to the core. This is a guy who sacrificed his own son in fire. Wicked dude. At this point, Ahaz is scared. He’s afraid that he’s going to loose his security as king. He might lose power. His succession plan and legacy would be at stake. He comes up with this plan. 2 Kings 16 explains the plan or scheme. Basically, he sends some people to Assyria to request their help in the defense of his kingdom. Isaiah is sent by God to Ahaz to tell him to not do that and that it would be the end of him, the end of the northern kingdom and his kingly line and even of Judah. He tells him not to do that.

If you look at verse 3, Isaiah gets sent to the conduit of the upper pool. Why? Well, Ahaz is there, probably securing his water supply. In the event of an attack or siege, you want to have a secure water supply. This makes sense. What seems a little strange to us is that Isaiah was told to take his son with him to speak with Ahaz. Now his son had a strange name, at least to us. Shear-jashub. Anyone have that as a middle name? Probably not. It means, “a remnant will return.” Name meanings are a big deal in the scriptures. So, Isaiah is told to bring his son with him, whose name is not insignificant to the story. In fact, it further emphasizes the direness of the situation here. Destruction was coming. Dark times were on the way. Exile is coming. The question is whether you’re in the remnant or not. It is assured and certain that a remnant will survive and return but it was a question as to whether Ahaz would be in that remnant or would be destroyed.

Basically, Isaiah’s message from God that he delivers is to not be afraid of those two kings up north. They’re small. Two smoldering sticks. They’re nothing. Duncan says God doesn’t even use the king’s name but calls him “the son of Remaliah.” It’s almost like God is saying to each out for the king of Syria and then ole what’s his name. It’s a way of dismissing him, and pointing out to Ahaz that those guys are not his real problems. Those guys are going to pass away. God’s message is that Aram(Syria) and Israel are going to fail in their plan.

C. Misplaced Trust

Ahaz was trusting in Assyira and his alliance with them for help and for salvation from this situation. He had really turned his back on obedience to the Lord. Remember, this dude was wicked. God was pointing out that Ahaz’s salvation is not going to come from politics. He had commanded them long ago not to entangle themselves in alliances with pagan nations and yet here they were. The reason was that it would corrupt them. It had. So, Ahaz looked to Assyria for help instead of looking to the Lord. He trusted in a political answer or a salvation through political means.

II. The Promise is Made

A. V. 9

Verse 9 - Basically Isaiah tells Ahaz that if you don’t stand firm on this message, the Word of the Lord and you don’t listen then you’re going to fail and nothing else that you do will matter. His only hope was to listen to the Word of God.

As it turns out, Ahaz would be attacked by Assyria eventually… the very kingdom he was flirting with.

B. Offering a sign

As we understand this particular story and what is happening, we need to focus in on why it is significant. Wars and invasions happen all the time. Why was this one different? Well, Isaiah offers a sign. God knows that Ahaz has already made up his mind but he basically tells him to pick a sign, any sign and He will give it to him. When Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, he’s not trying to be obedient. He’s already made up his mind and isn’t going to listen to some guy like Isaiah without military training and experience about defending his kingdom. He decides not to listen to the Word of God. God gives a sign anyway. Isn’t that great? God’s decisions doesn’t depend on us. He is sovereign and in control. He gives us the opportunity for obedience but He is going to work out His plan. We see that right here. So Isaiah pronounces this sign that would happen.

C. V. 14 - the virgin

In verse 14 we have it foretold that a virgin will conceive a child. Now for the last hundred or so years many liberal commentators have called into question the proper translation of this passage. So we want to accurately understand what Isaiah says to Ahaz here and it’s significance. He calls the child Immanuel which means God with us. Eventually God would not send prophets like Isaiah with His Word but He would wrap Himself in flesh and come to earth and dwell among His people, teaching them the Word Himself, in person. The very Word of God would be made flesh and dwell among us. (John 1)

A few years ago, I found this really great spoken word piece on Immanuel that ties the whole of scripture together and illustrates that. Take a look at this video. (Isaac Wemberly)

III. The Promise is Kept

God’s promises are always kept.

Fulfilled prophecy. Every prophecy about Jesus’s coming was fulfilled perfectly by Him. Over 300. There is no chance that it was coincidence or happenstance. So Jesus, was God with us. God in the flesh. All God and All human. So now we have to figure out what to do with that. We come really to much the same spot as Ahaz. We have been wicked in our rebellion against God. It’s easy to look at the things Ahaz did and think we are somehow better but the Word that we are told to listen to would tell us that we are all sinners.

Personal Application Point: You can place your trust in God in troubling times, and in dark times. You still walk through some of those hard things but you don’t have to walk alone. You can know Jesus because He came, the one born of a virgin. He lived a perfect life.

- A People in Crisis

* no relationship with God

* in sin

* In rebellion against God.

A Wicked Ruler

* sin

- A Misplaced Trust

* Ahaz trusted in political means

* something else to save you, his military know how

- A God who came to be with US.

Looking forward to celebrating Christmas. It could be in a way you have never experienced it before by remembering and celebrating the birth of your Savior and King.

The Promise Keeper

He makes the promise, and is the guaranteer of the promise.

By his own name…no higher

Hebrews 6:16–17 ESV

16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,

2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.