Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.1UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.09UNLIKELY
Fear
0.14UNLIKELY
Joy
0.59LIKELY
Sadness
0.64LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.45UNLIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.58LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.83LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.85LIKELY
Extraversion
0.07UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.63LIKELY
Emotional Range
0.74LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Our Series of Messages this Advent Season is Called “Away in A Manger”.
We are looking at the topics of Hope, Love, Peace & Joy.
Each week we meet another historical character from the Bible.
This week we are introduced to Isaiah.
Isaiah
Isaiah’s name means “Yahweh is Salvation” And this is the message that he delivered to the nation of Israel.
Isaiah was the historiographer for King Uzziah of Judah.
This means that he was a details person, his whole job was to record the acts of the King.
But everything in Isaiah’s life changed in 740 BC.
King Uzziah died, and God called Isaiah to be a prophet.
This time in Judah’s history was one of FInancial Prosperity and spiritual depravity.
The Kingdom has long been divided into 2 Kingdoms.
Isiaiah lived in Jerusalem, which was the capital city of the Southern Kingdom, called Judah.
One commentator said of Isaiah that he had is heads in the clouds and his feet on the ground.
What he means is that Isaiah saw things from God’s point of view, yet he was firmly aware of what was going on in the world around him.
The book of Isaiah spans 60 years of ministry.
Early Church tradition has Isaiah dying a martyrs death, before the Babylonian exile takes place.
This means that the final 16 chapters of Isaiah, which encompass Babylons defeat of Judah were prophetic since he was dead when they occured.
Isaiah’s ministry as a prophet saw times where God delivered the nation from certain defeat, but also a time where the exile and desctruction of a nation was prophesied.
This means that there is hope throughout the book.
Even through hard time are coming, a promised Messiah will one day rescue and redeem the people of Israel
Today’s message focusses on Isaiah’s minstry during the reign of King Ahaz.
King Ahaz of Judah
Ahaz became King was he was just 20 years old.
He ruled for 16 years.
The Bible records Ahaz as an evil, wicked and iolatrous ruler.
Although Ahaz ruled at a time of economic prosperity, it was quickly becoming a time of national instability.
The instability was caused by the terrifying expansion of the Assyrian Empire.
Assyria
At the time of King Ahaz’s rule, Assyria was quickly becoming a super power in the Middle East.
Tiglath-Pileser III had come to power, and completey revolutionized military.
It used to be that Kings relied on their citizens availability to mount campaigns.
If it was farming season, the campaign would wait until after the harvest.
Tiglath-Pileser III changed all that by introducing the concept of a professional army.
These soldiers could go to war no matter the time of the year.
They were also furnished with superior weapons, superiour training and matching armour.
When Tiglath-Pileser III (sometimes called Pul) took his army to battle, they lined up in formation.
This was new.
They also had incredible engineers who could build weapons of war like seige ramps.
A pervasive military tactic of the Assyrians was terror.
A common boast of Assyrian Kings was, “I destroyed, I devestated, and burned with fire” those cities, towns and regions which dared to resist the Assyrian rule.
- from https://www.ancient.eu/Assyrian_Warfare/
The Assyrian Empire was growing throughout the region, and a plan was devised by two neighboring Kingdoms to stand up to Assyria.
Aram & the Northern Kingdom of Israel
King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel wanted to stand up to Assyria.
Together they formed a coalition.
This coalition first action was to wage ware against Jerusalem.
Why?
They wanted to defeat Jerusalem, put a puppet King on the throne, and then include Jerusalem’s army in their coalition against Assyria.
It is at this point in history that God speaks to Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah.
Ahaz is concerned, agitated, and preparing for war.
He is at the end of the conduit, but the upper pool when Isaiah meets him with this word from God.
God has spoken, but he will speak once again.
He will offer a sign to Ahaz, a proof, so that Ahaz can calm down, and rest in the hope of God’s promise of deliverance.
Ahaz sound religious, but he is not at all honoring God with his speech.
If God tells you to ask for a sign, then asking for a sign is not testing God, it is obeying God.
Ahaz refuses to obey.
And a sign is given by God to Ahaz.
The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel
When we see the word “virgin” in verse 14, we automatically assume that the virgin birth will be the big sign in Jersualem during Ahaz reign.
This is not the case.
The hebrew term that is used would likely have been understood by that audience as “young woman”.
The people of Israel, after hearing the prophecy that was given to Ahaz by Isaiah would have understood it this way.
There is a young woman who has not yet given birth.
When she does give birth there is a period of time from now until when the baby has grown old enough to know right from wrong.
Before that period of time has elapsed, God will have delivered Jerusalem from the armies of Aram and Northern Israel.
It is a prophecy that focusses more on timing, than anything else.
They were in trouble.
These armies were on the way.
But God was going to deliver them.
The name of the child, Immanuel, was helpful because it means that “God is With Us”.
God’s deliverance from the two armies would be show that he is in fact with his people.
Jump into the Time Machine.
Lets try to imagine what comfort these words would have brought to the residents of Jerusalem.
They have heard the stories of the Assyrian War Machine, and that has put some fear into their hearts.
They know that King Ahaz is preparing for war against the two Armies of Northern Israel and Aram.
They are fearful of that.
God speaks to them through Isaiah.
These king will not be succesful against Jersualem.
There will be evidence that God is with them, fighting for them.
There is hope.
God has spoken and promised help.
King Ahaz decides to trust in Assyria over Yahweh.
Ahaz thinks that he is pretty clever here.
For the record, he is not clever.
His decisions in this matter can be traced to Jerusalems eventual downfall.
What Ahaz does is go to Assyria for help.
He asks for Assyria to provide him safety against the other two Kings.
Essentially, Ahaz comes up with his own plans to save his Kingdom.
He finds no comfort in Gods word, for he puts none of his trust or actions into Yahweh.
He trusts in himself.
The prophecy continues
God’s deliverance would be short lived.
Assyria is coming.
What happened?
War was waged, heavy losses were suffered, but Judah did not fall.
Within about three years (nine months for the pregnancy and two or three years until the boy would know the difference between good and evil) the alliance would be broken.
It was broken in 732 b.c.
when Tiglath-Pileser III destroyed Damascus.
After Tiglath-Pileser had defeated Aram and put Rezin to death Ahaz went to Damascus to meet the Assyrian monarch (2 Kings 16:7–10).
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9