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JESUS IS "GOD WITH US"Isaiah 7:1-25INTRODUCTION Every person sitting in this room, together with every one of the other 6.2 billion people currently living on this globe is a storyteller. I know that most of us do not think of ourselves in this way but it is true. Just listen to our conversations. We talk about the things we do and the things that happen to us—the outline of the plot of our lives. Then, depending on whom we are talking with, we do character development. We describe how we felt in the midst of the events we’ve experienced and witnessed and how others felt. We explain our motivations and the motivations of others—why others and we have acted as we have. We explain what these stories mean—why these stories matter. Our stories also contain our plans for the future. We talk about what has happened and why it has happened and then we go on to describe what we are going to do and what the outcome will be. Even when we do not tell our stories to others we are still telling the stories, just to ourselves. We cannot help ourselves. This is a part of what it means to be human. We experience things and then we interpret what we experience, we tell a story. For example, when Joelle tells me about her basketball game she doesn’t just give me the statistics, how many points she scored, how many rebounds she got, how many fouls she committed. She tells me about specific plays. She tells me about her excitement at making a shot or at her frustration at not making a shot. She talks about her relationships with her teammates or about how irksome she found an opposing player. She tells me why they won or why they lost. She tells me about her plans for how she and her team will do better next time. In short she tells me a story. It's the same when a married couple comes for counseling. Each person has a story to tell about what he did and what she did and how that made each of them feel and why they did what they did and why their spouse did what they did. They describe in detail what they plan to do and what their spouse needs to do in future. Again, they tell a story. The reason we are storytellers is because we are created in God’s image and he is the master storyteller. The main difference between he and us is that he is not simply recounting events that happen but he is the author, the creator of the entire story. He is writing out the story in all of its details and with full and complete knowledge of every character in the story. His story includes the detailed stories of every human being. While he does not tell us the meaning of every action in his story, yet he has actually had portions of his story written down in the Bible so that we can observe how the story goes and understand the main themes and central characters in that story and figure out how our story fits into his story. In this Christmas season we recount one of the most familiar parts of God’s story, the birth of Jesus, the Son of God who became a man. However, I think most of us don’t quite understand how this sweet story of a baby, born in a stable with angel choirs announcing his birth fits into God’s larger story. In addition I think most of us do not understand how our story fits into this story. Most of us view this story as a nice story but having little connection with the story we are living. Our stories are full of the details of work and home and hobbies and relationships in all of those contexts. How a baby born 2000 years ago in a stable, even if that baby is the Son of God, really intersects with the mundane details of my story is not always obvious. One of the things that God has done in telling us this part of his story is help us connect it to the larger story by referring to portions of the story that has preceded it. Let me show you what I mean. One example of this is found in Matthew’s biography of Jesus in the first chapter, verses 22-23. “ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’--which means, ‘God with us.’” The "this" that took place is the fact that Mary was pregnant before Joseph and she were married. The "this" is the angel telling Joseph to marry Mary because the baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The "this" is that the baby will be a boy whose name will be Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins (Jesus in Hebrew means, "God saves."). The prophet that is referred to here is the prophet Isaiah and the quote is taken from the seventh chapter, verse 14 of his book. Matthew’s quoting of this verse in relation to the birth of Jesus tells us that the story being told back in Isaiah 7, which happened some 600 years prior to the birth of Jesus, is part of the same story. This morning we are going to go back to Isaiah 7 in order to gain a better understanding of God’s story and at the same time see more clearly how God’s story and especially the story of the birth of Jesus connects to the story of our lives. MAIN POINT Jesus’ birth is God’s sign that he is present, writing his story. Therefore…I. We should understand that God’s story is the only story Verses 1-2 give us the outline of the story in which God speaks through his prophet. Verse 1 is virtually identical to 2 Kings 16:5. Now 2 Kings 16 is the story of king Ahaz, who is a descendant of David and king over the southern kingdom, called Judah and whose home and palace is in Jerusalem. The event that is recorded in Isaiah 7 fits into the story of his life at a particular point in time. So I want to tell you the story of Ahaz and then look at what God says to him in Isaiah 7. In doing this we will see how God’s story intersects with Ahaz’s story and thus learn something about how our story relates to God’s story. About 225 years before Ahaz became king of Judah there was a civil war between those who lived in the ten tribes who occupied northern Israel and the two tribes who occupied southern Israel. The result of that war was a partitioned country, much like Korea is now divided between North and South Korea. The northern kingdom was called Israel or Ephraim and its capital city was Samaria. The southern kingdom was called Judah and its capital city was Jerusalem. The southern kingdom was ruled over by the descendants of King David while the kings of the north came to power sometimes through physical descent from the preceding king but often through an assassination and a coup. King Ahaz is the 13 th descendant of David to be king in Jerusalem. He became king when he was 20 years old and he died while still king when he was 36 years old. He was one of the bad kings of Judah. He sacrificed several of his sons as an act of worship to the gods who the previous inhabitants of the land of Canaan worshipped. Let the horror of that sink in. In order to gain the favor of false gods he brutally killed his own sons and burned their bodies on the altars before the idols. He regularly participated in the worship of these false gods at the various sacred sites scattered throughout Judah. As a result of Ahaz’s rebellion God sent the kings of the northern kingdom Israel and of Aram, which is Syria, against him. The king of Israel was Pekah and the king of Syria/Aram was Rezin. These two kings attacked the outlying cities of Judah and destroyed them and took many captives and then they formed an alliance to attack Jerusalem itself in order to kill Ahaz and install one of their own, the son of Tabeel, as king over Judah. It is at this point in Ahaz’s story that the events of Isaiah 7 happen. Notice, in v. 2 that it is because of the alliance of Aram and Ephraim that the hearts of the king and of all the people tremble as the trees of a forest do in a strong wind. Ahaz and the people are terrified by the threat of these two kings attacking Jerusalem. God sends Isaiah to talk with Ahaz while he is inspecting the water supply for Jerusalem in light of the expected attack and siege of the city by the allied kings, Pekah and Rezin. Isaiah’s message to Ahaz begins with a command to not be afraid of these two kings. God sarcastically refers to them as “smoldering stubs of firewood.” This is a powerful metaphor. These two kings are like the ends of two pieces of burned up wood that are laying in the ashes of a dead fire, simply smoking with no ability in themselves to keep burning. They are almost extinguished and soon will be cold and dead. That is God's view of these two kings. Then, in v. 5 Isaiah recounts for king Ahaz what these two kings, Pekah and Rezin have said: “Let us invade Judah, let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves and make the son of Tabeel king.” Look at what v. 6 says: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says, ‘It will not take place, it will not happen.’” He then goes on to say why it won’t happen. It is because these kings and their nations are only human beings and God has determined that both these nations and these kings are going to be destroyed. Pekah and Rezin are telling a story of conquest and victory over Ahaz and Judah but God’s story is different. God’s story has them being destroyed. Historically, within a few years both of these kingdoms have been destroyed by Assyria. God’s story is the only story that prevails. God's story always prevails over every human story. But there is another human story being told in Isaiah 7 that God says will not stand. Notice that in v. 10, God commands Ahaz to ask from him a sign. He tells him he can ask for any sign he wants, there are no limitations to what Ahaz can ask. Signs in the OT are given by God for the purpose of confirming his promises. The rainbow is a sign that God will not destroy the earth by flood ever again. Moses’ ability to turn his staff into a snake and then back into a staff is a sign to Israel that God has sent Moses to deliver them from Egypt. In Isaiah 8:18 we are told that Isaiah’s children are signs of God’s purposes to the nation of Israel. Isaiah himself went around naked for three years as a sign that God was going to destroy Egypt by the Assyrians. So the purpose of the sign that God is telling Ahaz to ask of him is to confirm for him that what God has said is going to happen to the two kings will happen. But notice in v. 12 that Ahaz says that he will not ask the Lord for a sign because he will not put the Lord to the test. In Deuteronomy 6:16 God says, “ You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.” What is Ahaz saying? He is saying that God commands that people do not demand that he prove himself by giving a sign and so, because he is such a faithful person he will not test God by asking for a sign. It looks in v. 12 as if Ahaz is a very godly person. However, v. 13 makes clear that God does not think that his answer is very godly. He views his answer as a rebellious answer. Why is that? First of all the testing that God forbids in Deut 6 is the testing that arises from a rebellious heart. When God commands you to ask for a sign he is graciously offering to confirm his promise. It’s the difference between the child that says to her parents, “If you really loved me you would take me to Six Flags with my friends and pay for me to go.” She demands from her parents a sign to prove their love. But if the parent says to his child, “I love you and want to do something for you. What would you like me to do, take you to Six Flags or to the Kalahari Water Park in Wisc. Dells?”, then the child's request is not a demand but the receiving of a gift. God isn’t inviting a test but inviting Ahaz to choose the manner in which God expresses his love for him. Therefore, Ahaz's refusal of the sign is a refusal to be loved by God and that makes God mad. Second, there is something going on here that is not talked about in the book of Isaiah but which we are told in 2 Kings that explains why Ahaz would reject such a generous offer. Ahaz has already made a plan for how to deal with the two threatening kings. His plan is to pay the king of Assyria , who at this time is the most powerful king on earth, to attack and destroy these two kings. He is not interested in a sign from God because he has already written his own ending to the story. He already has a solution to the problem and he is not interested in God’s solution, which is to do nothing. In v. 14 God tells Ahaz that regardless of his refusal to ask for a sign, God himself is going to give a sign. Just as God says that the two pagan kings plan to destroy Judah will not stand, so Ahaz’s refusal to ask for a sign will not stop God from giving a sign. Then, after announcing the sign of the virgin bearing a son and calling him Immanuel he tells Ahaz that his plan to be rescued by Assyria is not going to stand. In vv. 17-25 Isaiah tells Ahaz that rather than saving Judah , Assyria will destroy Judah . Look at vv. 18-20, " In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria . They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes. In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River--the king of Assyria-- to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also." God is going to whistle for Assyria to come and destroy Judah the way I whistle for my dog to come to me. God will wield Assyria like a razor and shave Judah 's body, which is a symbol of complete humiliation and subjection. The story that Ahaz wants to write says there will be no sign from God and that Assyria will save him and Judah. However, the only true story is the one God writes and his story says that there will be a sign, the virgin will have a son and Assyria will destroy Judah , not rescue it. The story that Ahaz tells is a story that leaves God out. It is a story that depends upon human power and intrigue. It is a story that does not identify the reason that Aram and Israel are threatening Judah. It is a story that finds a solution to the threat from one alliance in making an alliance with a stronger power. But God’s story is not only the true one but the one that comes true. God says that the reason the two kings are threatening Ahaz is because of his idolatry and the only way for him to escape the threat is to stop trusting false gods and human kings and to trust in the God who rules over the nations. As we look at our own lives and tell our stories we must keep in mind that whatever human actions we may be observing that there is divine will behind the human wills. God is writing a story that includes these human actions and his story has a purpose in them and a way in which he aims for us to respond to them. Our resistance to his story will not stop it from going on as he plans but will result in our being left out of his story. Is the story you are writing fit with the one God is writing or are you writing your own story? Jesus’ birth is God’s sign that he is present, writing his story. Therefore… We should understand that God’s story is the only story
II. We should trust him and nothing else The end of v. 9 gives the reason that God sent Isaiah to speak with king Ahaz. The reason Isaiah speaks to Ahaz is so that Ahaz will trust God alone and no one and nothing else. This is the reason God sends me every Sunday to talk with you. It is the reason God sends you parents to talk with your children every day. It is the reason he sends us to talk with each other every day. It is the reason he sends our church into Rock County. This is the point at which our story and God’s story always intersect. The aim of God in all things is to demonstrate that he alone is trustworthy and to call us to trust in him alone. This is the answer to the question, "why is this happening to me?" This is the point of what is happening in king Ahaz’s life. The two kings that he is threatened by have already conquered a number of the outlying cities. In 2 Chronicles 28 we are told that one of his sons was killed in one of those battles. We are also told in that chapter that the Philistines and the Edomites, the ancient enemies of Judah, seeing how weak Ahaz is have also attacked and captured cities in the south of Judah. From a human point of view the situation is absolutely hopeless. He is surrounded. According to Kings and Chronicles God is the one who has put Ahaz in this situation. So he sends Isaiah to him to convince him that he has nothing to fear. God has made a way for Ahaz and Judah to survive and thrive. All he asks is that Ahaz live by faith, that is, that he trust God’s promises rather than the promises of Assyria. What is very important to see in this story of Ahaz is that he wants to be known as a person who trusts God even while he is refusing to trust God. Isn’t that exactly what he is doing in v. 12? How often do people use religious, pietistic language to cover up rampant unbelief? We talk like we are trusting God but what we are really trusting in is our money or the approval of others or a good wife or good children or a good job or good health or a strong economy. What would trusting God look like in the case of Ahaz? It would mean that he did nothing. God has said that what Pekah and Rezin plan will not stand. Therefore, what Ahaz should not do is buy the help of Assyria. What he should do is wait for God to do what he has promised to do. He should take no action other then ask God to perform the confirming sign that he has offered to do. To live by faith would require that Ahaz trust God to do what Ahaz has no power to do, defeat the two kings and to receive God’s act of love, which we know to be the birth of Jesus. If he will receive the promised Messiah by faith, and not seek to work out his own salvation, then he will stand. What Ahaz did after this encounter with Isaiah would be astonishing if it were not so common. God through Isaiah commands Ahaz to trust him, not Assyria. But, confronted with the threat of Aram and Ephraim, out of his tremendous fear, he took all the gold out of God’s temple and sent it to the king of Assyria. He chose to trust Assyria rather than the God who rules all things. Assyria attacked Syria and captured the capital, Damascus and killed Rezin. Then they began the process of conquering Israel, which they completed six years after Ahaz died. It appears that Ahaz's plan has worked. The two kings, as v. 1 says were not able to conquer Jerusalem, kill him and replace him with the son of Tabeel. However, what he failed to realize was that God's story keeps going even after your story ends. While he did not experience God's wrath through Assyria, his son, Hezekiah does. After Assyria destroys the northern kingdom, Ephraim, he turns his attention to Jerusalem and besieges it. But that is another story. The same threat God made to Ahaz he makes to all of us. "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all." God's word is the only word that comes true. When you are threatened by loss of job or disappointing spouses or disobedient children or the rejection of friends or loss of health or the death of a loved one, what will you do? Will you trust God who gives the sign of Christ or will you work out your own salvation? The promises of happiness made by jobs and successful children and fulfilling careers and sex and video games and happy Christmas gatherings and exciting hobbies and new homes and good spouses and cool friends and good grades will not help you. Only God's promises, confirmed by his sign, Jesus who is Immanuel, will come true. Every other promise will fail. Jesus’ birth is God’s sign that he is present, writing his story. Therefore… We should understand that God’s story is the only story
III. We should know that how our story ends depends on our response to God's sign, Jesus There are two varieties of signs given by God in the OT. Some signs in the OT function as "present persuaders". In other words they are given to persuade people at the moment they are given that the prophet's word is from God and should be trusted. A good example of this kind of sign can be seen in Exodus 4. Moses asks God what he should do if the people of Israel say to him, "The Lord did not appear to you." God then gives him the power to perform three signs. Turning his staff into a snake and then back into a staff, putting his hand into his cloak where it becomes leprous and then making it clean again and turning water from the Nile into blood. God specifically tells Moses that these signs are for the purpose of persuading Israel that God is speaking through Moses. The other kind of sign functions as a "future confirmation." A good example of this also comes from God's encounter with Moses in Exodus 3. In response to Moses complaint, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"; God says, "…this will be the sign to you that it is I that have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." The sign of Israel gathered at Mt. Sinai worshipping Yahweh was not going to occur until after God's word was accomplished. It was a future confirmation that it was God who had done this mighty work. The sign of the virgin birth of Jesus is a "future confirmation" that God's word to Ahaz will stand, not the word of any king, whether of Pekah or Rezin or Ahaz or the king of Assyria. What exactly does the sign of Jesus' birth to the Virgin Mary confirm? First, as Matthew says, the title given to this virgin born son, Immanuel, does mean in the Hebrew language "God is with us." Let me ask you, in the case of Ahaz, is it good news that "God is with us?" It most certainly is not good news. In the case of Ahaz, God's presence means only judgment and destruction. That's the point of vv. 17-25. The birth of Jesus is not good news for those who refuse to trust in God's promises confirmed in Jesus but choose rather to trust in the promises of false gods and false saviors. The birth of Jesus, contrary to most of the popular conceptions of the Christmas story is not good news for unbelieving and unrepentant sinners. God is present in and with Jesus to judge. Jesus says this about himself on numerous occasions. In John 5:24-30 Jesus says, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. 25 I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out-- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." God's presence in and through Jesus will result in condemnation for those who do not trust in Christ. However, the sign of Jesus' birth to the virgin is also confirmation of God's intention to save his chosen people, those who trust his promises. There are a couple of hints of God's saving work through Immanuel in Isaiah 7 which are more fully discussed in the next two chapters of Isaiah. In v. 3 we skipped over a part of God's instruction to Isaiah when he told him to go to talk with Ahaz. Notice he is supposed to take along his son who is named "Shear-Jashub." Why take along the boy when he goes to talk with Ahaz? In Isaiah 8:18 the prophet says, " Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion ." Isaiah's two boys are signs because of their names. While Isaiah talks with Ahaz his son stands next to him. His name means, "a remnant will return." On one hand his name declares God's judgment on national, ethnic Israel . They will be so overcome by their enemies that only a few people will remain in the land. That is how vv. 21-25 describes the result of God's sending Assyria against Judah . There will be so few people left in the land that they will not be able to cultivate the land but will only be able to use it for herding sheep and cattle and hunting wild animals and gathering honey. The highly developed agrarian culture of Israel will be gone. However, throughout Isaiah and in fact, all the prophets, the survival of the remnant of Israel is always a sign of God's saving work. The return of the remnant of Israel is associated with the Gentiles joining in the worship the Lord on Mt. Zion . Turn over in your Bible a couple of pages to Isaiah 10:20-22a, "I n that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God. 22 Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return." The apostle Paul, in Romans 9, quotes this verse in a long list of OT quotes to show that God's will has always been not to save national, ethnic Israel but chosen, elect Israel which includes Gentiles. The remnant, according to Paul, is comprised of all people, Jew and Gentile who trust in Christ not in their own work. While God is going to come and judge the whole earth a remnant of humanity will be saved. This is exactly the point of Isaiah 7. The birth of Jesus is God's confirming sign that he is present to save all who will trust in Christ, regardless of their ethnic or religious or racial or economic status. You must turn from every other hope of salvation, from every other promise and trust in this baby, born of a virgin if you are going to be part of the saved remnant of humanity. If you do not trust him you will be destroyed in the fire of God's judgment which is coming on all the world. How your story ends depnds on how you respond to Jesus, God's sign that his word is the only word that will prevail. Jesus’ birth is God’s sign that he is present, writing his story. Therefore… We should understand that God’s story is the only story
© Copyright 2007 John Swanson.
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