God With Us

The Lord had spoken to Isaiah and sent him to Ahaz the  king of Judah with the message “Do not fear”.  Yes I know it was a little longer and a bit more than that, but that is the basic message God sent to Ahaz.

The plotting of Ephraim would not stand, especially since they had made league with an enemy of God and His people.  “Do not fear” is used; someone has said; 365 times throughout all of Scripture.  That is one for each day of the year.  One thing about Ahaz is that he is a proud king and we are about to see some of that pride in its worse form.

“Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, ‘Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.’  But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, and I will  not put the LORD to the test’.  And he said, ‘Hear then, O house of David!  Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.  He shall eat curds and honey when He knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.  For before the boy know how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.  The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah –the king of Assyria.’”  Isaiah 7:10-17 (ESV).

King Ahaz seems to have been trying to be pious in responding to the prophet’s message.  Remember it is Isaiah who brought the message of the LORD to the king.  The LORD said to the king, “Ask a sign of the LORD…”.  It was the Lord who asked Ahaz to ask for a sign, yet the king wanted to have the self-righteous attitude, and a false faith, and refused the offer of the LORD.  O, how often we have God’s Word before us and we hear it, then, turn around and neglect to perform the will of the Lord.  The king could have asked for any sign, and due to his seeming arrogance, the sign goes a different way.

The LORD was asking to be tested.  The king refused, therefore, it seems that the thing he feared was going to come to pass.

There is a two-fold message in Isaiah’s prophecy.  It is to have a near fulfillment and a far off fulfillment.  It is thought that the virgin would be the wife that Isaiah would marry, evidently the mother of Shearjashub has died. This young wife would have a son fulfilling the prophecy showing the king the power of God’s Word.  Before this child would be old enough to know how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land of those the king dreaded would be empty/deserted.

In the end, the king of Assyria would overtake the land.  It is not meant that Ahaz would see this event, but it did happen, and Jerusalem fell, and captives were carried away.

Verse 14 is also a prophecy of the Lord Jesus and His coming as the God-Man through the birth of the virgin mother Mary (Matthew 1:23).  He is called Immanuel or “God with us”.  It is the greatest thing in all the world to know Immanuel, that God is with us.  Jesus is Immanuel; the fulfillment of the law and prophets.

There will be more, as we continue in chapter seven next time.  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus; sweetest name I know.