Hope is On the Way.

Isaiah 7:1–16 NIV

When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. 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. 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. Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.” 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. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’ ” Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.” 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? 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.

Introduction: Impossible Situations: - 10 times people survived the Impossible.

1. The second officer of the Titanic stayed onboard until the very last moment and got trapped underwater. Finally, a boiler explosion set him free. Years later, he volunteered in World War II and helped in the evacuation of 130 men from Dunkirk.

4. During 9/11, 16 people were stuck in a stairwell and survived the heart-wrenching tragedy. They held onto the stairwell while buildings collapsed all around them.

5. Vesna Vulović was a Serbian flight attendant when her flight exploded in mid-air. Without a parachute, Vesna fell 33,000 feet and landed on hard ground. She survived the fall and even today holds the record for surviving the highest fall.

20 - What do we do when we are in trouble?

Ahaz’s Situation

Ahaz is the King of the Judah, based in Jerusalem.

As King of Judah he is charged with leading the people in God’s way.

But he has not been - King 16 describes Ahaz: “He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God. He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire” (). Ahaz was not a good king. He might have had the temple of the Lord, but he also worshiped other gods.

Ahaz and all of the people were afraid, because Israel and Aram were going to

He did not put his trust in God, and in the situation of possible invasion, he put his trust in the Assyrian Empire (Stephen J. Lennox, God’s Story Revealed: Guide for Understanding the Old Testament)

He sent a message to the Assyrians, asking for help and saying, “I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and the king of Israel”

From Ahaz’s Perspective, he was in trouble and it was an impossible situation.

Ahaz, and all of Jerusalem was

We may not always experience these, and clearly not everyone survives these, but what do we do when we are in these situations. - None of us are Kings over a nation, but we are at least called to lead our homes or lead our own lives.

1. The second officer of the Titanic stayed onboard until the very last moment and got trapped underwater. Finally, a boiler explosion set him free. Years later, he volunteered in World War II and helped in the evacuation of 130 men from Dunkirk.

4. During 9/11, 16 people were stuck in a stairwell and survived the heart-wrenching tragedy. They held onto the stairwell while buildings collapsed all around them.

5. Vesna Vulović was a Serbian flight attendant when her flight exploded in mid-air. Without a parachute, Vesna fell 33,000 feet and landed on hard ground. She survived the fall and even today holds the record for surviving the highest fall.

We may not always experience these, and clearly not everyone survives these, but what about these situations.

You are low on Funds, and there is something at the store that you want or need. The thought of taking one crosses your mind.

Your boss wants you to work late again, but you are never home to eat with the family.

You have work, exams at school, Mom and Dad breathing down your neck to get your chores done. The thought goes through your mind, find a paper online to submit for that upcoming term paper.

When have you been in an “Impossible” situation?

Share one of mine - Waiting for Seminary Internship.

It is in these hardest of situations that we need Hope.

21 - God gives us Hope.

God gives us Hope.

22 - Bible Project Video - Hope

23 - God gave Ahaz the Same Hope that he gives us today.

He sends Isaiah with a message of Hope a message of encouragement.

He gives Ahaz a sign to confirm what God says is true.

Other times when someone did not understand the trouble they were in and then later could see God's hand. - The Sign is in the future, and is not intended to create trust, but to confirm God's faithfulness when his words come true. It is still up to Ahaz to trust.

1. So, what does all of this have to do with Jesus and Christmas? Isaiah turns his attention away from speaking to Ahaz and speaks to all the people of God, the “house of David” (v. 13). God’s people are in a dark period of rebellion and judgment. Isaiah uses this situation of anxiety, fear, and helplessness to describe what God will do. “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (v. 14). The word virgin can also mean a young woman. Many theologians believe that has a dual prophetic fulfillment. Isaiah was speaking of a young woman who would bear a son during the time of Ahaz and a future Messiah born to bring freedom to all. As Matthew, inspired by God, reflects on the virgin birth of Christ he references (D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” in Matthew, Mark and Luke, The Expositor's Bible Commentary 9, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein [Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1981], 78). Isaiah is highlighting God’s power to do the miraculous.

Timeline of Events - Sometime between about 734 BC. Pekah is no longer King by 730 BC. so in reference to the Child, the oldest the child would be before Pekah is taken out is 4. Israel is taken over by Assyria by 721 years which is 13 years later

Have you ever experienced that before - You were in a seemingly impossible troubling time. Somehow you got through it, and then when you looked back, maybe years later you could see why.

David Meece - Intro to his song, Thank you for the Things you never gave me. Tells of a story of a girlfriend who broke his heart when she left him. Years later he learned how her life turned out, and he realized what God had saved him from.

God wants to Give Ahaz a sign that will happen in the future, so he can look back and remember that God’s word and promise was true.

We get the sign doubly - We believe that there was actually a Young women not married yet that Isaiah was speaking about that when she gave birth Ahaz would realize that God’s word was true

The Gospel writers saw that Jesus fulfilled this sign in a bigger/grander way. That by being born of a Virgin Jesus was to save all of God’s people not just from one siege or trial, but from them all. The siege of sin once and for all.

The name of the Child has a double meaning as well - For Ahaz it means that God was with him, that God was going to stop Israel and Aram from succeeding in their plan.

But for us, that is also, literally true - Jesus came in the flesh, and Jesus is present with us through the Holy Spirit. - Jesus provides that Hope - We have the tension of the reality of struggling with seemingly impossible situations, and a sure confidence that Jesus is with us.

But here is the key, our call is to respond differently than Ahaz.

24 - Hope is Trusting God is With Us.

1. Isaiah even tells Ahaz to test the Lord to show his faithfulness: “Ask the LORD your God for a sign” (v. 10). Ahaz responds by saying, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test” (v.12). Ahaz seems very holy sounding, but in fact he has no relationship with the Lord. He is trying to sound spiritual, by quoting the Lord, when in reality he does not put his faith in the Lord. The Lord himself is telling him to ask for a Sign, and it is an act of disobedience on Ahaz’ part listen and do what he says.

1. When Matthew writes his Gospel about the life of Christ, he tells the story of Joseph wrestling with Mary being pregnant while still a virgin. Joseph considers divorcing her when an angel appears and tells him, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. 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’” (). - Emphasizing the the trouble that Mary and Joseph and the community would percieve. - both Mary and Joseph in the Gospel are shown as how we are called to respond.

1. We all have been in situations where God told us to trust him and we trusted something or someone else. We made alliances with our own empires; we trusted ourselves to provide for our needs instead of the Lord to be our provision. Have you ever tried to hold four things at once while going up the stairs? Maybe someone asked if they could help and you said “I got this” shortly before you dropped everything because you tripped. When we struggle to trust God, we can tell him, “I got this” when we really don’t. That lack of trust shows our continual need to grow in our relationship with him.

Advent is really a season that for many feels impossible - There are so many expectations - parties, gifts, having the correct Christmas spirit, being to all of the programs, behaving a certain way, spending a certain amount of money. But the real purpose of Advent is to experience the tension of living in a messed up world, and Expecting that Hope is on the Way, it is both here - in the presence of Jesus in the Holy Spirit, but also coming in fullness.

Conclusion: Do you Trust the Lord even in the impossible Situations?

Reference the Reformed Confessions: The Reformed Confessions are statements of faith written to clarify the Gospel at times when the Church was in crisis. Heidelberg Catechism: Q&A 35-36 Belgic Confession: Article 18