I'd love to invite you to join me in Isaiah chapter number seven. Isaiah chapter number seven. We are beginning our new series entitled The Road to Bethlehem. And each and every year we do a Christmas series. I am not going to lie that, you know, for pastors, and they would tell you the same thing because we talk about this from time to time.
This is like a really hard season to preach and teach from sometimes because you're trying to think of a new way to talk about the exact same thing every single year to the same people that you talked to the year prior. And so sometimes it's hard to kind of think of a fresh way to talk about really the Christmas story. And so we have entitled this series The Road to Bethlehem. And where we're going to go over the next three weeks leading us up to Christmas is we are going to look first from the Old Testament pointing to the coming Messiah. And then we will look at Mary and Joseph's perspective.
Perspective, and then we will also look at the shepherd's perspective as well, and what that all means for us, and how all of them made it to. To Bethlehem and the importance of Bethlehem in each one of their lives.
So, we're going to be all the way in the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter number 7 here today, and just a little bit of background as we kind of get into Isaiah chapter 7, because I would love to take some time to read everything that's happening here. But I'm going to try to summarize and give you a little bit of the cliff note version before we get into the text that I want you to see here today. And so, just bear with me as we get into some of the background of this. But 100, you got to understand the context.
So 150 years before Isaiah was born, the nation of Israel had somewhat of a civil war, which divided the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And so they were, you know, it's because ultimately the main reason why the kingdom split was that they lacked faith and they lacked trust in God. And one of the results of that was God told them that the kingdom would be split into two. And so you had the northern kingdom, the northern really ten tribes, and then you had the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom would be Israel, and the southern kingdom would be Judah, all of God's people.
And many times they were at odds with one another.
So they were at odds with one another. And what God did in the Old Testament was to the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom, and to the nation of Judah. He would raise up prophets. To deliver his message to them. Many times these prophets would deliver messages telling them to turn to God or telling them that a coming judgment was on its way and calling them to repentance.
Well, Isaiah was one of those prophets. And so Isaiah was called by God and sent by God to prophesy specifically to the southern tribes, which were two tribes, the nation of Judah.
So Isaiah was sent specifically to prophesy to them, specifically here in chapter 7. To prophesy to the king of Judah at the time, which was King Ahaz.
Now, when he was prophesying, Ahaz was the king of Judah. You also had a empire of Syria. Razin, you'll see in verse number one of chapter seven, Raisin was the king of Syria. And then you had Pekah was the king of Israel. Those were the northern tribes at this time.
When Isaiah was prophesying specifically to Ahaz, the largest empire at that time and the strongest empire was the nation of Assyria, not to be confused with Syria. And Assyria, what they were doing is Assyria was going around and they were taking over all of these smaller empires and they were building this massive, massive force. that was bigger and stronger than anyone around. And because of that, the northern kingdom Israel They were afraid that Assyria Was gonna come in and they were gonna take over the nation of Israel.
Now, very clearly, here's what I want you to understand. The nation of Israel should not have been afraid of anything because God was with them. And what they lost sight of Was God's providence and God's protection of them. And so they weren't trusting in God. And because of that, it led them to want to take matters into their own hands to prevent the empire of Assyria to come in and attack them.
So, what Israel did was, Israel went to the nation of Syria. And they said, hey, Assyria is about to come in and attack us. Razen, the king of Assyria, the king of Syria, would you come and join forces with us? And we can take care of this large empire of Assyria.
Now the problem with that was Israel joined forces with a pagan nation of Syria.
Something God specifically told them not to do, they went out and they did it anyway.
So now you have Israel and Syria joining forces, and you had this massive empire of Assyria who was just taking over and things like that.
Well, still, even with Syria on Israel's side, Israel still. Didn't believe that that was enough.
So, what they did was, they went to the southern tribe of Judah. They went to King Ahaz. And Israel asked them, Would you join forces with us and Syria so that we can overtake this massive empire that Assyria. is building.
Well, Aaz, the king of Judah, he didn't want to do that. He was like, nope, we're not going to worry about this. And so he declined the offer to join forces with Syria and Israel. And so the king of Judah declined it, and because of that Syria and Israel felt it would be best to attack the southern kingdom. And so they're going to attack the nation of Judah.
And Judah knew it. King Ahaz knew it. And so there was a lot of fear, and there was a lot of uncertainty in the nation of Judah because they knew that because they declined the offer. that Israel and Syria offered them. They knew that they were in trouble.
And so right there is where we pick up with Isaiah chapter number 7. It is in the midst of what is happening that Israel and Syria are going to attack. The nation of Judah. That is when God gives Isaiah the prophet a message for King Ahaz in the midst of the fear, in the midst of the uncertainty, in the midst of all the fearful emotions that Ahaz felt. God sent Isaiah with a message.
Verse number seven of chapter seven. It says this. Thus saith the LORD God. It Shall not stand. That's referring to this attack that Israel and Syria were going to attack Judah.
And so this message comes from God through the prophet Isaiah saying, It, their attack shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. In other words, they're not going to be successful. Ahs, you have nothing to worry about. In other words, what God is telling Ahaz is: Ahaz, I've got this. All you have to do is trust me.
Isn't it amazing that here, in the midst of Ahaz's uncertainty, in the midst of Ahaz's doubt, Here comes a message from God. That is sent to encourage him and give him the confidence that he would need not to be worried about the coming attack. of the nation of of Israel. Drop down to verse number 11. And here Isaiah tells him Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, ask it either in the depth.
or in the height Above. In other words, here's what happens is Ahaz doubted. that that God was going to take care of them.
Now, Ahaz was a wicked king, and we'll talk about that here in a moment. But Ahaz doubted that God would take care of him.
So he had doubt, he didn't believe in God, he didn't trust in God, and so here he was, God, in the midst of his doubt, in the midst of his sin, in the midst of his wickedness, still God was showing up to him. Aren't you thankful that sometimes when you're not really trusting in God, God still shows up to you when you're not trusting in Him?
Well, that must be what Ahaz is feeling, because Ahaz wasn't walking with God. Ahaz wasn't living for God. Ahaz wasn't trusting in God. And yet in the midst of that, here comes God with a message trying to encourage his heart. But Ahaz still doubted, still trusted.
And so God says, well, listen. Why don't you ask me of a sign, Ahaz? This is your opportunity. Ask me for anything. In fact, there is no limits to the sign that you can ask of me.
That's what he means by saying that you can ask anything in the depth or in the height thereof. In other words, there is no limit to the sign that you could ask me here in these moments. Drop down to verse number 14. He didn't want a sign, and you learn that in verse number 12. He says, Listen, Ahaz didn't need a sign.
He felt he was fine. He didn't need God. And so he declined asking God for a sign. He declined the offer that God was there to protect him, the offer that God was there to encourage him, the offer that God said that he could ask him any sign under the sun, and he would give it to him and give him exactly what he needs to do. And here, Ahaz is how foolish he is to decline such an incredible opportunity.
So you know what God did in verse 14? He gives em a sign anyway. And here's what he said: verse 14: therefore. The Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive.
And bear a son. and shall call his name.
Okay. Emmanuel. Emmanuel And and i in this moment of doubt In this moment of not trusting in God. God still gives him a sign. Anyway.
that therefore a virgin shall conceive. and bare a son, and shall call his name. Emmanuel. And by the way, when it says, Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. If you look up the word you in the Hebrew.
It is in the plural sense. In other words, it could be translated, therefore, from Isaiah: the Lord Himself shall give. Uh A sign. All of us. This is a promise.
To all of humanity, here. The plurality of humanity is included here in this sign that God sent Isaiah to give to specifically in this context Ahaz, but to all human beings that were around the world and also anyone that would be born up to this point. Up to this point, therefore, the Lord Himself shall give us a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name. Emmanuel. Now, Isaiah made this promise, this prophecy about Jesus' birth.
We know that this was, we sang about it, that this was fulfilled in Jesus. This was being made about 700 years before Jesus would be born. About 700 years before Jesus was born. In fact, in the Old Testament, there are more than 300 prophecies. that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
There's about three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, this being one of those. Just a few of them. I'll give you here today. Amos chapter eight in verse number nine. The prophecy is that one day darkness would cover the land, and that we know that to be fulfilled in Matthew 27, verse 45.
In Isaiah 53. Verse number three: the prophecy was that one day Jesus would be rejected. And that was fulfilled specifically through the Gospel of John. He mentions it several times. In Psalm 22, verse 7 and 8.
The prophecy was that Jesus would be mocked, and we see in Matthew 27, 31 that that prophecy was fulfilled. In Psalm 41, 9, it says that Jesus would one day be betrayed. And we learn that in the New Testament, that in Luke 22, 3 and 4, as well as John 13, 18. In Isaiah 52, 14, it says Jesus would be beaten. And we know that that was fulfilled in Matthew 27, 26.
We could go on and on, but my point is: this: there's over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament given, and they are fulfilled in Jesus. In fact, I thought that this was interesting. When you think about these Old Testament prophecies and how Jesus fulfilled these things, Professor Peter Stoner, he was the professor of mathematics and astronomy at Pasadena College. He wrote a book entitled Science Speaks. And in his book, he outlined, he was talking about Christianity, and in his book, he outlines the probability.
Of one person fulfilling. He didn't take the time to do all these 300 prophecies and do the mathematics behind that. He actually just took 48 of the prophecies and he took time to do the math and calculate what are the odds or what is the probability of one person fulfilling just 48. Prophecies. And his calculations came out to the odds of being 1 in 10 to the 157th.
Power. In other words, the odds of one man fulfilling just 48 prophecies seems very improbable. And Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies about himself in the New Testament. Jesus took care of all of that. And this promise that would be fulfilled in Jesus was given to Ahaz.
And fulfilled At Christmas time, In Bethlehem. In the birth. of Jesus, that one day A baby will be born of a virgin. And you will call his name Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Listen, there's two questions that I want to look at from this passage here today.
The first question. Is this because we talk about it a lot? We sing about it around this time of year. And I want you to understand because I want all of us to understand why this is a core. Doctrine of the Christian faith.
And here's the question we're going to talk about briefly: why is the virgin birth important? Specifically, here, Isaiah, he tells Ahaz. That behold a virgin shall conceive. and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Why is the virgin birth something that, you know, if you've grown up in church, we believe this, this is a core doctrine of our faith?
that Jesus came forth through a virgin. Why in the world is that important? And why is that something that we as Christians have to hold on to so importantly? And why does that matter for us?
Well, I want to give you just a quick thing and then answer a second question here in just a moment. Because if you pick up a commentary. about Isaiah specifically, since we're in that book from time to time, you might find some theologians, specifically liberal theologians, might argue That Mary was not a virgin. And you might read that, and I want to give you a biblical understanding and proof that she was a virgin here today. Here's what those theologians will find.
And there's some truth here, and I want to explain it because if you read something, I want you to understand from scripture why this is important.
Well, in Isaiah 7, verse 14. The word virgin. And Hebrew is the Hebrew word. Alma. Spelled A-L-M-A, Alma.
And if you look that word up, and this is what some of those liberal theologians will argue about whether Mary was a virgin or not, because if you look up that Hebrew word in a Hebrew dictionary, It, of course, can mean a virgin, meaning never been with a man. But it also is a Hebrew word that can also be used of a young woman. And so some liberal theologians will argue, well, clearly, we don't know if that is a virgin meaning never being with a man, because the word in Hebrew could mean two different things.
Well, the reason why we still believe that Mary was a virgin is because in Matthew chapter number one. In verse number 23. Matthew actually quotes this same verse. And he quotes it. He says, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.
And when Matthew translate this very same word in the New Testament in what was the common language and what the New Testament was written in, the the language of Greek, He uses the Greek word parthenos. And it's very important for you to understand that in the Greek, the word parthenos only means a woman that has never been with a man.
So, I want you to know that if you picked up just some commentary on the on Isaiah and you saw that and you're wondering, and it makes you doubt whether what you've been taught and what you've believed has been true, remember the best commentary on the Bible. is always the Bible. And what you got to look at is you got to compare scripture with scripture. And when Matthew goes back and he translates this prophecy from Isaiah 7 and he mentions the word virgin, he uses a very specific word meaning. that she had never been with a man.
You see, here's the point. Matthew knew. That Mary was A virgin.
So here's what I'll tell you. Why is that so important though? Why is Mary being a virgin? Why did that even matter? Why did God have to come to earth in the form of a baby through a supernatural?
Like, why would he have had to do that?
Well, you see, God had to offer a perfect sacrifice for us. And when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. It says that when Adam sinned Sin passed upon all men. And because of that, sin is now in all of us. Every single one of us.
So we are now born in sin. We are sinners. Every single one of us.
And so we receive a sin nature. From the seat of our fathers.
So we, you know, when we're born, because our forefathers have all sinned, because of Adam and Eve's sin, it's now been passed upon us that now every single one of us have been born. Into into sin. That means that everyone that is conceived naturally. is be is a sinner Because their parents are sinners. And because their forefathers are sinners.
Do you understand that? And so you're a sinner because everybody in front of you has been a sinner. Sin has been passed from seed to seed to seed to seed to seed to seed, all the way down to where you were born. And because of that, that pathway, we all have been born into sin.
So the question is: why is the virgin birth so important, and why is this a core doctrine of the Christian faith? Here's what's important. God sent Jesus. to be born through a natural birth. But he had to do it through a supernatural conception.
God sent Jesus to be born a natural birth. But in order to offer a perfect sacrifice. He had to come through a supernatural. Conception. You say, what do you mean by that?
What God did by sending Jesus in the form of through a virgin. Is he bypassed? The sin of humanity. He bypassed the The sin nature of humanity, and he supernaturally conceived Jesus so that he did not come through sinful man. That's why the virgin birth is so important.
That's why it's a core doctrine of the Christian faith. That's why you should celebrate that. Because if Jesus had been conceived by Mary and through a natural conception, then what would have happened was that sin seed that is passed upon all men since the beginning of Adam. That's passed upon all of us, then he would have been born through that sin seed. And so what God did was, because he knew he needed a perfect, sinless sacrifice, he bypassed the sin nature altogether and conceived Jesus through Mary supernaturally.
That's why the virgin birth is so important. So, when we study that, when we sing about it, and you look at that around this time of the year, I want you to celebrate that because that's the only way that you can be saved. Because it took a perfect, sinless, spotless... Lamb of God, and the only way to get on earth. Being sinless Was to bypass the sin nature of humanity and be conceived supernaturally.
And that's what Jesus did. That's why the virgin birth is so important. He supernaturally impregnated Mary with God's nature, his perfect nature.
So Mary's sin nature would not be transferred through. Christ. And that's why the virgin birth is so important. That's why we say that Jesus came and was fully human. Because he was born naturally.
But he was form fully God. because he was supernaturally conceived. That's why we celebrate that he came forth through a virgin. But number two. The question that I want to answer is this.
And this really is contextual. Why would God choose? to give this hopeful announcement. And this day to a king like Ahaz. Seven hundred years.
Before Jesus would be born. God gives this hopeful. announcement that we would be talking about thousands of years later. Why would he give it and why on earth would he give it to Ahaz?
Well, you have to understand who Ahaz was to to formulate your answer to this question. Ahaz was a wicked king. One of the wickedest kings to have ever lived. In fact, just a couple of things about how bad he was in 2 Kings 16. In 2 Kings 16, when he was first afraid of Of the nation of Israel coming to attack them, what we learned about just a few moments ago.
What he did was he went into the house. Of God. He went into the house of God, the temple of God, and he stole money from God's temple. And he took that money to go offer Assyria. Remember the large empire?
And he went and offered the king of Assyria money from God's house to go and fight. For him. To go and fight Israel. And when he goes to pay so he stole from the house of God, but when he goes to pay his gratitude, listen, when he goes to pay his gratitude to Assyria for all that they have done on behalf of Judah, He sees in Assyria, I believe it was Damascus, he sees a pagan altar. An altar to a false god.
And what Ahaz, this wicked king that wasn't walking with God, he sees this pagan altar and how beautiful it was. And so what he does was he goes back to the nation of Judah and he says, hey, he actually, I think the story goes, he sketched it out. He sketched it out, what he saw there in Assyria, in Damascus, and this pagan altar he thought was so beautiful, he sketched it out. He took it back to Judah and he asked them to build that altar in the nation of Judah. The nation that God chose, the nation that was supposed to be to worship God and only God.
The nation that was commanded not to make any graven image. And yet, now King Ahaz is bringing that into the nation of Israel. In 2 Chronicles 28, he shut the doors of the temple of God. In 2 Chronicles 28 as well, he did that which was evil in God's sight. And in fact, he allowed so many false gods to infiltrate themselves into the nation of Judah.
that it says in Second Chronicles 28, That he sacrificed his own children. to these false gods. And yet here. In Isaiah chapter number seven. God through Isaiah chooses to show up To a king like that.
With The most hopeful. Good news announcement. That you could ever hear. Why would God choose to help him? Why would God show up?
to protect Him. Why would God show up to save him from his enemies? Why would God show up with a message of hope? Why would God show up with a message of deliverance? Why would God show up to this guy?
No I mean, you could probably go as far as say no one was more undeserving of a message of hope than Ahaz. Ahaz had shut the temple doors. Ahaz had sacrificed his own children to a false God. Ahaz had violated all these commandments in the worst of ways. Ahaz had forsaken God.
Ahaz had turned his back on God. Ahaz didn't trust God. Ahaz didn't believe God. Ahaz thought he was better off without God. And yet, in the midst of all of that, God chooses, for whatever reason, to show up 700 years before he would be born.
And God chooses to show up to king. A has. In this moment. Why? Why would he show up to a king like this?
Here's why. At least I think. God was showing up on purpose. to show the world. that there is a promise.
Carning. that will provide salvation. For every ahas. of the world. You see, here's the problem, and this is why so many people reject.
the gospel. It's because when we read stories like this, We don't realize and we're scared to admit. That we're all A has. You see, Ahaz is in you. Ahaz is in me.
The spirit of Ahaz. Is in all of us. And for us, we have to understand, why would God choose to show up to King Ahaz?
Well, you have to ask yourself this. Why would God include you in this hopeful announcement? Why would God choose any of us in this hopeful announcement? Because every single one of us have broken commandment after commandment. Every single one of us have gone through periods of doubt in our life.
Every single one of us has erected idols and pagan things in our life. Every single one of us has chased after other things, looking for acceptance and popularity and fulfillment in life. Every single one of us have done things in the spirit of Ahaz, just like this terrible, wicked king of Judah. And yet, God, in the midst of that, in the midst of our sin, in the midst of our brokenness, in the midst of our evil, evil ways, you know what God chooses to say? He gives us a sign, not when we were looking for him.
But when we were rebelling against him, not when we were asking him for help. But when we were actually turning our back on him, God showed up to us. And you know what God did? Is He gave you a sign, and He said, for unto you. And unto me.
For unto Us The world. The least of these, the most undeserving of the undeserving. God says Ferrantu us. A child is born. Unto us one day that a baby would be born through a virgin supernaturally conceived by God Himself, bypassing the sin nature altogether.
Because you see, for us, here's the thing: it's just the message of the gospel way back here in Isaiah from a prophet. It's simply this: that from the very beginning of time, God has desired one thing from you. A relationship. It's all he wants. He just wants you.
He doesn't want money to have your heart. He doesn't want popularity to have your heart. He doesn't want pride to have your heart. He doesn't want a career to have your heart. He doesn't want the next promotion to have your heart.
He doesn't even want these earthly relationships to have your heart. You know what God's wanted from the very beginning of time? A relationship. It's all he wants. And you know what?
The relationship with God was not good enough for Adam and Eve.
So, what they did, Genesis chapter three, they sinned. And when they sin, the Bible says sin now has passed upon every single one of us, and now we all are sinners. And you know why that's a problem? It's because he is a holy, perfect, righteous God. He cannot let sin go unpunished.
He can't let sin go unpunished. And so because of that, Because of that, he knew there was no way there's not enough good in you to ever be worthy to have a relationship with a perfect, holy, righteous God. There's not enough good in any of us. And so God supernaturally sent Jesus. His only begotten Son, born of a virgin.
Which is so important because it would only take a perfect sacrifice to save a sinful people. And so what God did because He wanted a relationship with you? He sent Jesus. Emmanuel Why would he do that?
So that he could purchase you. The word is redeem you. back into a relationship with him. Because at the beginning, that's all he's ever Want it. He just wants a relationship with all of us.
And yet for some of us, we consistently reject him. For some of us, we consistently doubt him. And yet, God is continuously showing up to all of us, the Ahazes of the world, time and time again, reminding us. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given.
and the government shall be upon his shoulder. In his name. shall be called forever wonderful Counselor, the mighty God. The everlasting Father. The Prince.
Of Peace. Emmanuel God with and the reason why he showed up to Ahaz. is because he wanted all of us who are like Ahaz To know. that God showed up. For us.
