Sermon Tone Analysis
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But Wait, There’s More
Christmas is coming, and you know what that means… it’s time to trick your kids with funny gifts.
Somewhere around 1991 we had a small Christmas at my house.
You have a certain level of expectation about what you are going to get.
Or hopes, at least.
And I remember the disappointment of opening all the gifts and just a little twinge of disappointment that year.
Oh, that’s it?
You hide it, because my parents taught me to be appreciative and everything.
And I am thankful… but...
Well, the weirdest gift was each of us kids got a ping pong paddle.
I guess I like ping pong well enough.
We played a bit when we visited my cousins house, but it wasn’t exactly on my Christmas list.
,The opening was all over, the cleanup had begun, I forget how long they waited before finally telling us to take a look in the next room...
where my Dad had spent all night putting the ping pong table together.
Now the ping pong paddles make sense!
From hidden disappointment to absolute celebration!
And you haven’t lived until you’ve seen my Mom play a vicious game of ping pong!
Y’all can challenge her next week on the table out there :D.
Isaiah
It’s Christmas time, so of course, we are going to take a look at Isaiah the prophet.
Isaiah was a dude in a rough spot.
King Ahaz becomes King… and he’s bad news.
His dad was a pretty good king and mostly “did what was right in the eyes of Lord.”
His grandfather was a good king and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
Ahaz… not so much.
Here’s the summary of his reign in 2 Chronicles
So… not so good.
Isaiah is sent as the prophet of God to this clown.
King Ahaz is worried about Syria allying with Israel (which is now a separate country from Judah to the South).
They had already clashed once and King Ahaz got stomped.
Isaiah is sent by God to tell King Ahaz not to worry, God is already sending judgment on them.
I promise, God says, and I’ll give you a sign to say I’m serious.
Ask me for a sign.
Sign of the Savior
That’s some false humility there.
Ahaz wants to ally with Assyria against Damascus and Israel, he doesn’t trust God.
God offers a sign anyway:
I’m going to give you a sign… even though you didn’t ask for one.
Some of those words are so familiar.
Some… aren’t.
When does the boy “know how to refuse the evil and choose the good?”
That’s the age of accountability, typically 12-13 years of age in Hebrew homes.
Who is this kid?
Scholars debate.
Maybe Hezekiah, the next righteous king, (though he may have already been about 9 years old by the time of this prophecy).
More likely Isaiah’s own son, announced in chapter 8.
The Hebrew word, used here, can mean young woman as well as virgin.
The Greek word, used in Matthew that we are more familiar with, has the more narrow definition of virgin we are familiar with.
But either way, this prophecy is focused on an answer to their immediate problem.
It is a sign for the moment.
It is a gift for the moment.
Ahaz has his eyes on the crisis of the moment.
Isaiah has his eyes on the crisis of the moment.
God answers their prayers.
Character of the Savior
Fast forward a bit for Isaiah.
Surprise, surprise, King Ahaz doesn’t listen.
Instead he turns to the occult, he sacrifices his own son as a burnt offering to appeal to Baal.
That doesn’t work.
And so God turns Ahaz over.
Damascus defeats him, takes many of his people prisoner, they kill another of his sons, they kill his right hand man, they kill his commander.
Ahaz doubles down, he starts worshipping the gods of Damascus.
He takes the vessels out of the temples, shuts the doors of the temples, makes altars everywhere, stuff goes from bad to worse.
And so Isaiah looks forward to a new day, when this darkness will be lifted.
He looks forward to a new king.
Who is he talking about?
In a few years, Ahaz dies.
They didn’t even bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel, they buried him in the city.
And Hezekiah his son becomes king.
And he, like his grandfather and great grandfather, “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
He opens the temple in the first month.
He restores the Levites, the priests, cleans everything up.
This is the immediate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.
Many of these are roles of the king and can be translated a bit differently.
Is Hezekiah “Mighty God?” himself?
No. Hezekiah is not an “Everlasting Father...” but his “name could be called” these things because God, who is all of those, does these things through him.
God brings peace through Hezekiah, might victories, he adds years to Hezekiah’s life.
Isaiah’s own name comes from the Hebrew phrase “yesha'yahu”, which means “God saves.”
Same as “Joshua” or “Yeshua”.
Not because Isaiah or Joshua themselves are God… but a sign pointing to God who saves.
And when Hezekiah comes… Judah is not disappointed.
They really think this is an answer to all their prayers.
This is the best fulfillment of the prophecy they can imagine.
Isaiah’s eyes are firmly fixed on the immediate problem: We have a wicked and foolish king who is leading us towards destruction.
Isaiah’s eyes are firmly fixed on an immediate solution: a new and better human king.
And that isn’t wrong.
God gives these words, he gives these visions, and he gives King Hezekiah.
Way better than King Ahaz.
But God has a bigger plan.
He isn’t ignoring the people’s cries in the moment… he answers their prayer.
A king (small k) is coming.
But just as an author foreshadows the coming climax in little hints and clues dropped along the way.
God is building all along towards the REAL answer: Jesus is coming.
The King of Kings is on the way.
Hezekiah is great… but wait until you get a look at King Jesus.
Sign of a Savior, Immanuel, Jesus
More than 700 years later.
Here comes a sign.
And an angel cleared some things up for my friend Joseph, and for us:
This is the sign of God’s presence with us: God’s actual living breathing incarnate presence with us.
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