As much of a troublesome person as you are, it's not all about you. You are being protected because of the Davidic line, not because there's something special about you. And it is good for us to remember when God uses us, it is because of God's great mercy. Take mercy away from the character of God and you're left with God but no people.
In other words, mercy is one of the greatest attributes of God. So, Isaiah is going to engage the king now. He's activated again, having not heard from him because the kingdom was pretty much, had good kings. But he is going to engage King Ahaz at God's command and not through his own observations. In other words, Isaiah knows Ahaz is wicked and he doesn't say, you know, I got to go talk to this guy.
He doesn't do that. He doesn't make a move until God sends him. And when God sends him, he will be able to say, thus says the Lord, instead of thus says Isaiah. Ahaz, at this point, is inspecting the water supply.
It's where the Fuller's Field was where they did the laundry. And we read in 2 Chronicles 28 again about this character Ahaz, so we know what Isaiah is dealing with. He burned incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Yahweh had cast out before the children of Israel.
So the historian is saying, these are the people God cast out with Joshua in the days of the judges that they were fighting in the early chapters of Judges. And yet this king tosses Yahweh away and embraces their gods. And he becomes a cold-blooded murderer of his own children for personal gain. This is part of his worship. So his gods, his little make-believe gods, which are demons, can give him what he wants, the power he wants.
We have a saying, he sold his soul to the devil. Again, 2 Chronicles gives us a little bit more insight on this character. Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of Yahweh and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods and provoked to anger Yahweh, the god of his fathers. So the indictment is very clear. There's nothing redeemable about this character. Well, as a king, he's trying to be the king and protect his city. Big deal. You know, you can be just a child killer as he is.
And what, that's going to like, okay, that balances the books? Of course not. How could Isaiah's stomach talking to such a man? Well, maybe you have had hopes of reaching some decadent individual that is just totally steeped in darkness. The same way, God is, Isaiah is trying to reach him. He's trying to bring light into the land. He's a prophet of God. God did not send Isaiah to stomach Ahaz. He sent Isaiah to deliver a message and is no different with us.
I mean, just look at some of these politicians and you're almost nauseated. But if given the chance to preach the gospel to you, there's not a born-again Christian who wouldn't take that chance. That's what it means to love your enemies. If you can be used to save their soul, you would, without hesitation.
If you were to say, no, let them go to hell, well, then you probably aren't the Christian you think you are. Anyway, he tells the prophet, take your son with you. She'er Jashub, not a good name for a boy. Isaiah's sons, and two of them are named. We get the other one in chapter 8.
I'll try to avoid mentioning it until we get there, because it's even harder than this one. Well, Isaiah's sons were given these prophetic names because they were walking sermons. They were messengers, just their names, so that when you looked at the kid, knowing his name, you got a sermon. Isaiah's name means Yahweh saves. That excludes everybody else. The name Michael means, who's like God?
Are you kidding me? That's what the name means. There's nobody like God.
It's rhetorical. His son, She'er, his name means a remnant shall return. Well, this is what God was saying in chapter 6 when the prophet said, I'll go take the message, and he said, go tell these people keep hearing and not respond to what they're hearing. And then he says in verse 13 of chapter 6, and yet a tenth will be in it and will return and be for consuming.
That's King Nebuchadnezzar will consume them, not all of them. But anyway, this remnant shall return. Well, a remnant means survivors. They're not in the majority.
They're the minority. Something catastrophic and not good. Can you have catastrophic blessings? I mean, I don't know. So anyway, it's a catastrophe. It's a bad thing. And so in the message of the child's name is that, well, God's going to preserve his people.
That should give some hope. The other son will have a name that means speed to the spoil, hasten to the plunder. It's a message of judgment. So one has these rays of hope and mercy, and the other name is judgment because that's what the job called for. Verse 4, and say to him, take heed and be quiet.
Do not fear or be faint-hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands for the fierce anger of Rezen and Syria and the son of Remaliah. This is, you know, we don't get to the prophet really comforting, giving us that New Testament comfort in our troubles until we get to the 40th chapter. Much of this is the background of what was happening in the life of the prophet, his ministry, and what the people were doing.
But within this, still, we're getting the comfort of God. To this murderer of his own children, God sends the prophet to reach out to him, to try to bring him out of the darkness. And when he says, take heed and be quiet, it's not like we would, you know, take heed and shut up.
That's not what is being said. He's saying, take heed and be calm. That's the message of the prophet to this monster. He's trying to reach him and it's going to take steps, but it's not going to succeed.
Sometimes it does not here. For Judah's sake, for the sake of the people, Isaiah is sent to show evil Ahaz, the way out of evil, how to get out of it. Now he says, for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, the two kings, the king of Syria and the king of the northern part of Israel.
As I mentioned, he's not going to mention Pekah again because he just finds him abhorrent. Aren't there politicians, before you say their name, you pause? Maybe I don't have to say it. Maybe there's another way.
In case you get to point to their district or something. Anyway, verse five, because Syria, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you saying, let us go up against Judah and trouble it and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves and set a king over them, the son of Tabel. Verse seven, thus says the Lord Yahweh, it shall not stand nor shall it come to pass. So the prophet is saying, yep, Syria and the northern kingdom are in an alliance to kill you, overthrow the kingdom and put Tabel in your place. And God is telling you, through me, it ain't going to happen. You would think Ahaz would say, thank you Lord. He's hardening up. His heart is hardening up and that's why the prophet was told again back in verse six, he says, make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes.
Oh, don't do that. A sarcasm in that is a challenge to them because any sane person will say, what must I do to be saved? When Peter said to Simon Magnus, he says, you know, you are poisoned with bitterness and bound in iniquity. Simon said, pray the Lord these things will happen to me. Well, that means God is giving a chance. The person can respond to that, that invitation.
It ain't going to happen here. But where in verse seven, where he is told that it's not going to prevail, the message is evil will not be exalted forever. But it gets a long run, that's for sure. And Isaiah knows the king fears being overthrown and the consequences. Verse eight, for the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezen, that's their king. Within 65 years, Ephraim shall be broken so that it will not be a people. Well, he's telling him it's going to take 65 years to finish the job in the northern kingdom.
Although really, once Samaria falls, it's doomed. But he's giving him some detail here so that other Jews can come along in other years and read this and say, look at that. The prophet Isaiah called this to the year. Maybe we should believe the prophet and not these false prophets that are circling around like buzzards.
God is very deliberate, systematic. And so you come to your devotions and you read this, you miss all of this stuff because you get to the part and the virgin shall have a child. That's the virgin birth, I understand that. Who needs the rest of the story? Well, they needed the rest of the story.
So just a brief review. This prophecy that he's giving him right now happens in 734, years before Christ. Israel, right away, the northern kingdom, will start suffering losses because Ahaz calls to Assyria and asks them for help. And Assyria says, sure, I'll come there. I'll loot the northern kingdom for you.
Later on, I'll come and take yours too if they don't tell them that, but that's what they're going to try to do. You know, when Hezekiah shows up, he's got to deal with that. The angel of the Lord goes to their camp in the night and wipes them out. Anyway, Assyria goes right to work on both the northern kingdom and Syria. And in two years, they get Damascus. That really ruins the alliance for the northern kingdom. Twelve years later, the northern kingdom capital Syria falls.
I'm reviewing this. And then, 53 years later, after she loses her kingdom, her ethnic identity is gone. There's no one left to be tied into the northern kingdom. The tribes, tribal survivors, are in Judah now. So, we pick this up in 2 Kings 17, where we're told, then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cutha, Avah, and I'll skip some of the names because I want to, that's why, and placed them in cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel, and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in the cities. And so, there's that Tiglath-Pileser foreign policy of taking peoples from their land and swapping them with other peoples from other conquered lands. The Bible documents it for it, so we know what's happening. Ezra 4 verse 2 gives us a little bit more insight on that if you have the desire to look further into it.
Although, I've pretty much satisfied it. It's not tricky. It's just difficult for us because it's not our history.
I guess it'd be like giving a civil war class to someone that lives in Thailand. I mean, it's just a whole, you've got to fill in so many blanks for them to, okay, now I get it. Anyway, verse 9, the head of Ephraim is Samaria. Ephraim was a dominant tribe in the north. The head of Samaria is Ramalia's son. That's Pekah, which he doesn't want to name. If you will not believe, surely you will not be established. Well, we all understand what that means. Any Christian could read verse 9 and get to the bottom of it. If you will not believe, surely you will not be established. It's a fundamental doctrine right out of Hebrews. You know, without faith it is impossible to please God. I mean, how can you please God? You say, I don't believe you. I don't believe you're there.
I'm going to do it my way. So it's a clear meaning to this. And the point for Ahaz is the point of no return. He's telling him, if you do not believe me, if you are one of those that are hearing and not receiving, you're sealing your own doom. The prophet is very forthright about this whole thing.
God in his long-suffering, showing Ahaz how to be saved. But instead of believing in Yahweh, he calls to the barbaric Assyrians. They were barbaric on the battlefield.
They were quite civilized in their own cities. But again, they were monsters when it came to war. Verse 10, moreover Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying, verse 11 now, ask a sign for yourself from Yahweh your God. Ask it, either in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I test Yahweh.
Hahaha, liar. Well, let's kind of open this up a little bit. Isaiah is saying, there is no other God. Whether you receive Yahweh as your God or not, he's your God. He ain't your father, but he's your God.
No other creator. And so he gets that little one in, and he says, well, just ask. God is reaching out to you. He's going to work with your doubts. He's giving you another chance. Now, of course, God knew Ahaz was going to say no, but God also wanted it on record.
Again, for other generations, for other people. You can't blame God. The people in hell will never have, God did this to me.
Well, it was your fault. Well, verse 12, Ahaz said, I will not seek, nor will I test Yahweh. This is mock modesty. Oh, I'm not going to tempt the Lord thy God.
Oh, forgive me, you'll be a fago. He wasn't asked to test God. God is telling him right out.
Ask for a sign. Hezekiah will ask for a sign, and God will give it to him. And here his father, Ahaz, he refuses to permit God a chance because he doesn't want God to be real.
I've met people like this. You say to them, look, just, you know, go to the Bible, read it, and we'll talk, I don't want to read it. I don't want to hear about it. What about prophecy? I don't want to hear about your prophecies.
You know, they just shut down. They're determined because they prefer their life without God, without the God of the Bible. Because again, Ahaz has gods, but they're fake gods. Faith played no part in his religion, in his cruel life, or his politics. And anyway, he doesn't mean this, I will not test the Lord. He's just trying to act like he's a religious Jewish person, and he is not. You come across Christians like that, do you not?
They act like, you know, they're Christians, and really there's nothing Christ-like about them. Verse 13, then he said, here now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? So Isaiah is enjoying this. He said, I don't like this guy anyway. So he's saying, you know what, it's bad enough you trouble people, but now you want to mess with God.
Here he is giving you an opportunity, you're playing these little games with him, and you're just being a rebel. I'm going to give you a sign anyway, God speaking through the prophet. You're going to get the sign of the virgin birth, because it's not all about you, Ahaz.
As much of a troublesome person as you are, it's not all about you. You are being protected because of the Davidic line, not because there's something special about you. And it is good for us to remember when God uses us, it is because of God's great mercy. Take mercy away from the character of God, and you're left with God but no people, because who can survive?
In other words, mercy is one of the greatest attributes of God. Verse 14, therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear his son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Well, we have Matthew 23. Matthew has already given commentary. Matthew said, well, this is what this means. But that's not the whole story, and Matthew's not trying to say this is the whole story. He's properly applying it to the birth of Jesus Christ. But what about Isaiah? For this sign to work, there had to have been a fulfillment in the days of Ahaz.
There had to be, and I'll get to why in a moment. Again, the New Testament remains clear that there is a latter fulfillment, but that there is also an earlier fulfillment. There's two parts to this unusual sign.
It has to be unusual. One to those in Isaiah's day, and one to those in the day of Mary and Joseph, the virgin birth as we know it. The Hebrew word here for virgin has a broad meaning. It means any young woman who is marriageable. She's of age.
She can marry. That's what the word virgin means there, as it's used as maiden. Some of the translators will choose.
No problem with that. It just allows us to understand, okay, this is a little bit broader meaning. But when you get to the New Testament, the Greek locks it in. It's a virgin. And that's the Holy Spirit teaching us from the Old Testament into the New. Well, here's part one.
I said there's two parts. This sign had an immediate significance to Ahaz and the people around, or else why even give it? I mean, we're 700 years from the virgin birth. Some virgin, some definite known virgin to Isaiah and Ahaz and some of the hearers, lived there perhaps in the palace. She was of age to marry. She was not expected to marry. She conceives. She marries, conceives, and bears a son whose name would be Emmanuel, just as the prophet says it would be.
And when this happens, again, it's out of the ordinary. People are going to say the prophet called this. Now, her birth is not the virgin birth.
She was a virgin entering into conception through natural intercourse. The son, his name, God with us, would be a reminder that God was still with his people, even though the Assyrians and all this stuff was happening, God is preaching to the nation, I am still with my people. In spite of the Assyrian threat, in spite of the Assyrian and Northern Kingdom threat, had this only to do with the virgin birth, then Ahaz would have missed the point. And not only that, because he died 700 years before Mary, the virgin birth, so he would have said like, well, what are you talking about? But, the greater part, had there not been some realization at this time, what would they have said about Isaiah? You're a false prophet. You're coming here talking about this maiden having a child, naming him Emmanuel. We don't see anything like that.
But they did see something like that. And the idea behind the whole thing is to say, a virgin is going to marry, have a child, name the child Emmanuel, by the time that child is weaned from nursing, the threat will be gone. And that will validate the prophet's prophecy. And that's why he stuck around to give us more prophecies.
But had it failed, they would have been quick to stone Isaiah for being a false prophet. So that's the first part of this, and this is not uncommon in Scripture, I'll give you another one in a minute. The second part is the full realization that a virgin would give birth. A woman who had not been with a man would conceive, and that is the virgin birth. And of course, Jesus existed before his mother. He's eternal, self-existent, he's always been having no birthday, as we understand, coming into existence. Anyway, having no human father is a big part of the virgin birth doctrine. He came down from heaven as the Son of God, God the Son with us.
We understand that part. The easiest part about chapter 7 is connecting it to Matthew chapter 1. It says here, And bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Well, another symbolic name, but this time it's not one of the prophet's children. It's someone else that Isaiah didn't feel he had the name because his audience knew it, and it was probably because the Holy Spirit is saying, Yeah, well, I'm going to make the center of attention from this verse, my son, and edit it out.
We didn't have to have any distractions attached to it. Anyway, the symbolic name. God is in touch with people, and therefore people can be in touch with God. That's what it comes down to mean, and these people are sinners, and that's why it's such a big deal.
When we come to the New Testament, we read about Immanuel. God is with us. Why? Why would he be with us?
We can't even stand with being with us. After a while, I need a break, and so I mean, there are various levels of that. I like a break until we get to heaven from some people, and others, you know, you just have a short break, but anyhow, a little levity there. Chuckle, chuckle. Back to this.
I have to insert the chuckles because you guys just aren't helping out anyway. So the prophetic name fulfilled, literally fulfilled centuries later by Jesus Messiah. Just to review, part one, the people in Isaiah's day are assured that God will continue being with them, and he will give a sign through this child. Part two, the people in Jesus' day are informed that the virgin-born child is divine and Messiah.
Now, this is critical because when the ultimate fulfillment of this sign in the days of Mary and Joseph pointing to God's relationship with sinners by this miraculous birth of God in human form, we pick it up Matthew chapter 1, and she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. God is with us, in touch with us, and we can have contact with God. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.
You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe to our podcast, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick right here on Cross Reference Radio.
