Divine Paternity Tests - Isaiah (Part 5)

photo: https://www.lawnaddicts.com.au https://lawnsynergy.com/products/lescotall-fescue-select-blend-grass-seed? srsltid=AfmBOooZjCTaUBjfdqr0OmElqDJPZG-6XhLOSFSDLTwhaOxnGPvyMG 1 $180 photo: www.siteone.com Isaiah 6:13 (ESV) And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump. Isaiah 1:2, 4-5 (ESV) . . . the LORD has spoken: “Children [lit. sons]have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled 4 against me. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring [lit. seed] of evildoers, children [lit. sons] who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. performative: 2. Action, speech, behaviour, etc.: done or expressed for the sake of appearance, especially to impress others or to improve one's own image (typically with the implication of insincere intent or superficial impact). Oxford English Dictionary bolding mine; https://www.oed.com/dictionary/performative_adj?tl=true. accessed 22 Jan 2026 Isaiah 7:1 (ESV) 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. Isaiah 8:18 (ESV) 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. Isaiah 7:3 (ESV) 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. Isaiah 7:14 (ESV) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 8:3 (ESV) 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; Isaiah 9:6 (ESV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 1. The paternity test of fear. 1. The paternity test of fear. Isaiah 7:2 (ESV) 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. Isaiah 7:2 (ESV) When the house of David was told, “Syria [Aram] is in league with Ephraim [Israel],” the heart of Ahaz [king of Judah] and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. Isaiah 7:1 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 Chronicles 28:6–8 (ESV) For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. 7And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son and Azrikam the commander of the palace and Elkanah the next in 8 authority to the king. The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. 1. The paternity test of fear. Isaiah 7:5-6 (ESV) Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil 6 against you, saying, “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,” 1. The paternity test of fear. Isaiah 7:4 (ESV) . . . ‘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. Isaiah 7:7–9a (ESV) thus says the Lord GOD: “ ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8For 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 9 people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. 1. The paternity test of fear. Isaiah 37:3 (ESV) They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress [lit. anxiety], of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth 1. The paternity test of fear. Isaiah 37:6 (ESV) Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 1. The paternity test of fear. Isaiah 8:11–13 (ESV) For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this 12 people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not 13 fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 2. The paternity test of faith. 2. The paternity test of faith. Isaiah 7:9b (ESV) And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you [plural] are not firm in faith, you [plural] will not be firm at all.’ ” Isaiah 7:10–12 (ESV) Again the LORD spoke 11 to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as 12 heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” 2 Chronicles 28:1–2 (ESV) Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David 2 had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals 2 Chronicles 28:3 (ESV) and he [Ahaz] made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. Isaiah 7:13–14 (ESV) And he [Isaiah] said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God 14 also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Shear-jashub . . . means “A remnant shall return” Isaiah 7:3 (ESV) 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. Immanuel . . . means “God is with us” Matthew 1:20–23 (ESV) But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy 21 Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name 22 Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 2 Kings 16:7 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.” Maher-shalal-hash-baz means “The spoil speeds, the prey hastens.” Isaiah 8:1–4 (ESV) Then the LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for 3 me.” And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher4 shalal-hash-baz; 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.” 3. The paternity test of consultation. Isaiah 8:16–20 (ESV) Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18Behold, 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 19 Zion. 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? 20To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 3. The paternity test of consultation. Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 4.The paternity test of kings and kingdoms. Isaiah 8:5–8 (ESV) The LORD spoke to me again: 6“Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and 7 the son of Remaliah, 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 8 over all its banks, 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.” 2 Kings 16:9 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. 2 Chronicles 28:20–21 (ESV) So Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him [Ahaz] and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. 21For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the LORD and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him. 4.The paternity test of kings and kingdoms. 2 Kings 16:7 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.” “TIGLATH-PILNESER: In Assyrian the name . . . means ‘my trust is in the firstborn of the shrine Ešarra.’ The phrase ‘the firstborn of the shrine Ešarra’ refers to the god Ninurta who was the son of the god Ashur, since Esharra was the shrine of Ashur.” bolding mine; A. Kirk Grayson, “Tiglath-Pileser (Person),” in The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 552. Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of 7 Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.