Transcript

Grab your Bibles and let’s go to the old part of the book, the prophet of Isaiah 9. If you’ve been around a while, you know that I love to preach on the biblical text narratives that deal with the Incarnation. I have a lot of messages, 20 maybe, maybe more, probably more because I’ve preached through it so many times, but even though I’ve dealt with this section that is the prophecy of the Immanuel child, uh, many times this is a brand new message. I just started meditating on sections of it some weeks ago and put this together. I think it’ll take two installments to cover this together. I’ve entitled this “Unto Us a Child is Born.” Unto us a child is born.

Isaiah 9, beginning in verse 6, just two verses, verses 6 and 7. The prophet writes to Judah, the godly remnant, King Ahaz their king, and he says,

6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

Now in contemplating Old Testament prophecies, we must not take that narrative, that prophecy and run off with it with no consideration for what it meant to the original audience it was given to. Something I learned in graduate school was that when looking at Old Testament prophecies of Christ, you must know there was a meaning for the people of that day even though the ultimate meaning is in Christ. So we’ll talk about in this introduction, and I’ve given the introduction a title, the godly remnant is terrified and the Immanuel child prophecy unfolds. The godly remnant is terrified and the Immanuel prophecy unfolds. So there’s almost always a temporal partial fulfillment of, of prophecy for the time it was written even though there’s always the ultimate full fulfillment in Christ and you need to see both to understand and get all that God has for us.

Now in Isaiah 7:14 in this three chapter or so, uh, text that deals with the Immanuel child, God said to King Ahaz and Judah, ” Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” Boy, I don’t have time to unpack everything that could be unpacked but the word for “virgin” is a word that in Hebrew usage throughout antiquity almost always meant a young girl of non-marrying age but in historical documents, occasionally it would be used for a woman who was married who could have children. But isn’t that just like God because Isaiah’s wife had children and they fit this prophecy, but the full and ultimate fulfillment could only be in Christ. So God in his wisdom, through the Godhead person of the Holy Spirit, gave us the word, the one Hebrew word that could give us both. Only God can do stuff like that.

So there is a temporal practical fulfillment of this prophecy for the people to whom it was originally written. Now let’s talk about that for a moment, let’s get a broad sweep of the historical context. At this point, Israel is divided. There’s the northern kingdom which represents the apostasy, it represents the counterfeit church, those who have some religious observance but are not the real thing. In our day, uh, and I got this term from Dr. John MacArthur, I, I agree with him fully, there are a lot of congregations today that are so far from the biblical truth of being a church we have to call them non-churches. Well, that’s, that’s what the northern kingdom represents. It has split off and it represents the counterfeits, the apostate, the non-church. And then, of course, there’s the southern kingdom called Judah headed by King Ahaz. It represents the godly remnant, if you will, the true church. Now not having arrived, as the text points out, still needing to grow, still needing repentance, still struggling with our faith but nevertheless it was God’s godly remnant.

Now what has happened is there’s great enmity between the northern kingdom, which is just called Israel at this point, and the southern kingdom, Judah, the godly remnant, and the northern kingdom has formed an alliance with Syria, not Assyria, but with Syria to invade Judah, the godly remnant, and they want to conquer Judah, occupy Judah, and take King Ahaz off the throne and put a puppet king in his place. Well, the people have learned about it. King Ahaz knows well about this alliance between the northern kingdom and Syria and he knows one of their armies is sufficient to conquer them, but now combined together in alliance, he feels like they’re doomed. So King Ahaz is terrified and his people with him. As Isaiah 7:2 tells us, “When it was reported to the house of David,” that’s another way of saying Judah, “‘The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,’ his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.” They’re just shaking. Shaking with fear and anxiety, “What’s gonna happen to us?” These two armies are encamped literally at the gate.

Well, over the weeks and months, maybe even years, leading up to this inevitable invasion of the northern kingdom and Syria into Judah, two very important things have been transpiring, two very opposing things, two very antagonistic things, polar opposites, and we’re talking about one of the things that has been going on as Ahaz and his people are terrified about this invasion, then we’ll talk about the second one. The one thing is what God’s been up to. God through the prophet Isaiah has been strongly, I could say continually and strongly encouraging and warning Judah, “Do not fear those armies. I am with you. Immanuel, God is with you. Trust Me. Just trust Me. I am the God of this remnant and I am with you, and I am with you not to judge you, I am with you not to condemn you, I am with you to save you. Trust Me.”

Well, King Ahaz, though, has fallen off the cliff. King Ahaz has fallen into fearful unbelief but God keeps telling him and it’s throughout the text here, “Ahaz,” and this is through the prophet Isaiah, “why are you worried about the king of the northern kingdom Israel and the king of Syria that’s formed an alliance to destroy you? Don’t you know the heads of those countries are mere men? Don’t you know,” and God uses figurative language, “Don’t you know to Me they’re just a, a couple of smoldering firebrands?” That’s a log that’s been on the fire for many many hours and it’s diminished to almost nothing. There’s no flame, no heat left in them, just a little smoke coming up. God says, “Ahaz, that’s all they are to Me. They’re nothing to Me. Ahaz, God is with you. Trust Him. Don’t be afraid of those kings.”

So God does something very unusual, he takes a very unusual approach to encourage him, Ahaz and Judah. Instead of God showing Ahaz and Judah something of an outward display of his might and his power and his wisdom, he shows them a sign of seemingly weakness and vulnerability. Isaiah 7:2, “Here Ahaz, here’s your sign, a virgin will be with child.” I’m sure King Ahaz, “A baby? Doesn’t sound good to me. I need, I need about a 300,000 man army and God’s prophet tells me this baby is my sign? Did I have salvation, I have deliverance?” And in our text it’s reiterated, “A child is born to us,” Isaiah 9:6, “a son is given to us.”

So King Ahaz and the little remnant Judah is terrified because these two mighty armies are literally encamped at the gate to destroy them, to occupy them, to remove the king, and God’s choice of a sign is that he will save them, he will protect them, he will deliver them, the sign is a baby. Baby. It’s a paradox, is it not, but it’s powerful. I’ll unpack a lot more of this as we get through the actual text next week. Yeah, God did say, “My ways are higher than your ways. My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” And in the New Testament, the letter to the Corinthians, if you take man’s best wisdom, that’s all foolishness to God. Then he says it the opposite way, if you could even say part of God’s wisdom is foolish, even that would be wiser than the wisest man’s wisdom. A baby, that’s your salvation.

So we have this temporal practical fulfillment of the prophecy, the child prophecy that a child will be born and through these children God will be expressing to you God is with you, “And I’m with you not to judge you, not to condemn you, I am with you to save you.” So here King Ahaz is, he’s, he’s pacing the palace grounds, he’s, he’s wringing his hands, he, he can’t be still and he goes out across Judah and checks his garrisons and his soldiers and his fortresses and particularly he’s watching his water supply, because in those days the quickest way to destroy a people is to cut off their water, making sure it’s a secure as it could be.

He’s just worried and anxious and he, everywhere Ahaz goes, he keeps running into the preacher, Isaiah, God’s prophet. And Isaiah would, now you know, I’m, I’m, I’m filling in some, so this isn’t in the text. I’m filling in, okay? Isaiah would say, “King Ahaz, have you seen my baby boys?” And I’m sure Ahaz is, “Yes, yes, preacher. I appreciate you and I thank you for what you’re doing but what, I’ve, I’ve got a lot on my mind here.” “No, no, king, have you seen my boys? Here’s my first boy and his name is Shear-Jashib. Shear- Jashib means “a remnant will remain.” That’s his name and everywhere Isaiah goes he’s got this baby boy and the baby, they say, “What’s his name, Isaiah?” “A remnant shall remain.” The child, God’s saying, “I’m with you. You’re not gonna be destroyed, I’m gonna keep My remnant.”

Isaiah had another child, you’ll remember him, his name is Mahershalalhashbaz, If you have a son, would you name him Mahershalalhashbaz? And so everywhere Ahaz goes, he runs into Isaiah and Isaiah says, “Have you seen my other baby boy? He’s just been born. His name is Mahershalalhashbaz, swift to the plunder, speedy to the spoil.” That’s what that translates as. Swift to the plunder, speedy to the spoil. Here’s the message: the remnant’s gonna remain and speedily and swiftly God’s gonna destroy those armies and make spoil of them.

Well, that’s what’s going on. So these babies are, if you will, symbols, children but symbols to the nation and to the king, “God is with us to save us if we’ll trust Him.” Well, that’s one thing that’s going on, okay? Are you with me? Don’t remember all the detail just get the gist of it. God’s been telling them, warning them and reminding them, “Trust Me. I’m with you and not for judgment or condemnation. I’m with you to save you.” Now here’s something else that’s been going on that unfolds in the text, that’s been going on probably quite a while, we don’t know how long, but that is that King Ahaz of Judah, the godly remnant, has already compromised. He’s not trusting in God. He’s decided he will put his trust in Assyria, not Syria, that’s another country that’s working with the northern kingdom but Assyria. He’s made an alliance with Assyria, the mightiest nation in the world of that day. Read the chronicles of history including the Scriptures, the Assyrians were bloodthirsty, violent conquerors. There’s no one they took on that they didn’t march right through like a hot knife through butter.

So King Ahaz instead of trusting God who was with him, “But I’m gonna make an alliance with pagan Assyria to protect Judah.” That’s what he did. So, so every time King Ahaz goes out there and is checking the water supply and the fortresses and the garrisons and whatever it might be and full of terror and anxiety, and he sees Isaiah’s boys again, the remnant shall remain, swift will be the plunder, speedy will be the spoil of those enemies, believe in God, trust in him, he’s with us, he’s convicted deep in his heart because he knows he’s already compromised. He’s already put his faith in Assyria, not in God. So with Isaiah, the dominoes are falling but they’re falling in the wrong direction. One thing’s building upon another. King Ahaz rather if I said Isaiah, I mean, King Ahaz is, is in a hole digging a ditch and he just keeps asking for more shovels.

And I’ll back up in a brief overview. God’s continuing to give his remnant, Judah, through the prophet words of assurance that he is with them, and then we come to chapter 9 and here in chapter 9, verses 6 and 7 in particular, the prophet makes an amplification, an expansion of this prophecy about a child, a virgin child, and when we get to Isaiah 9:6 and he gives this expanded version, this expanded explanation of this salvation child, he lays out a description of this great saving person that’s coming that can only be fulfilled by a divine person, a divine being. He gives a descriptive of this child now that can only have one possible interpretation and that is this, that points to Jesus. So not only does Judah have a message through Isaiah’s boys relevant for their day, the prophet says and beyond that there’s coming another child who is really God Incarnate. He’s the ultimate fulfillment of the Immanuel child prophecies. He’s the final fulfillment of the Immanuel child prophecies. And this one spoken of in Isaiah 9:6 and 7, is that child who will come who will give encouragement and assurance and security to all of God’s people and all of God’s church of all the ages because he is the Son of God, not the sons of Isaiah.

I mean, look at it there again. The text says, “For a child will be born to us, a son given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. No end to the increase of His government or of peace,” and he comes, “On the throne of David. He’ll uphold it and establish it with justice and righteousness, and it’s going to last forevermore, and the zeal of the LORD of the hosts will accomplish this.” Only Jesus fulfills that prophecy. Now the others you could see how Isaiah’s boys could fit but here it makes it clear there’s another one coming. Can I say to you, church, this morning, there’s another one coming. There’s another one coming. He’s just not a King among kings, he’s the King of all kings. He is not just a Lord among lords, he is the Lord of lords, getting into next week’s part of the message.

Well, we come to that final amplified part of the text where the Immanuel child prophecy can only point to Jesus Christ and listen to me, church, and the one extremely glorious truth of the Immanuel prophecy is this, God is with us, but don’t stop there, God is with us and not to judge us and not to condemn us but save us. That’s what Ahaz should have thought about because, you see, throughout the ages particularly among the Jews of antiquity, just to say God was with us was not necessarily good news because they knew the justice of God, they knew the law of God and the ordinances of God, and they all knew they fell short but they thought, “Well, God may be with us to judge us.” But that’s not what this message is.

You know, for context when Christ returns at the end of time, do you know what the world is going to have? God with us. He’s going to come back and God will be with us. But on that day, he will be with mankind in wrath and retribution against all of those who spurned his name and rejected his free offer of salvation. Brothers and sisters, is it not amazing that when men are offered the free gift, God came among us and said here’s a free gift, that when men are offered that free gift of salvation, so many will spurn that offer, will not embrace that free gift but turn to embrace sin that will enslave and destroy them.

The powerful parallel in our narrative of that because King Ahaz and Judah, again instead of believing in God’s free offer of deliverance and salvation, they instead did not believe and trust in God but trusted in Assyria, and as the Bible narrative points out, the Assyria that they trusted in to defend them will turn on them and almost completely destroy them. The, the biblical text says the, the mighty Euphrates waters and that’s the great river in Assyria, and that, those waters were known during the wet season to flood and spread everywhere and God’s prophet takes that analogy and he brings it over and says, “The mighty Euphrates, Assyria that you’ve trusted in, the waters are gonna flow and it’s gonna come all the way up to the neck of you, Immanuel. It’s gonna come almost completely smother you out. But you trusted in them. That’s what you get.”

Remember the old illustration of the, the little girl that was on a path heading toward home, she lived, she was going down a, a narrow mountain passage back to her cottage and the tempter was following rapidly and she looks down and she sees a snake and it’s just kind of stiff there in the cold and the snake said, “Little girl, pick me up and just pick me up and put me under your cloak. If you’ll just warm me up, that’s all I want.” And she picked him up and she put him under her cloak. About 5, 8 minutes passed and she felt the piercing pain of the fangs of that poisonous viper in her side and she yanked that snake off and threw it on the ground and said, “I, I trusted you! You told me you just wanted me to warm you up.” And the snake said, “Little girl, you knew what I was when you picked me up.” King Ahaz knows what he’s doing when he got out his iPhone and rang up Sennacherib in Assyria. “I want to make an alliance. Will you protect us?” Then he turns to destroy them.

That’s what happens. If you’re here today and you’re not trusting Christ, you’re not settled in your faith in Christ, then you’re pushing the free gift away and you’re embracing Assyria and only destruction can follow that. Let’s remind ourselves God has not come among us for wrath and retribution but in the fullness of grace. He comes to us in the fullness of love. He comes to us flying to us on wings of redemption. That’s the Christmas story. The old songwriter wrote, “He saw me plunged in deep despair and flew to my relief. For me He bore the shameful cross and carried all my grief.” And godly Simeon was at the temple and Jesus has been born a little while but he’s still a small infant, and they bring Jesus to the temple for his dedication and godly Simeon takes baby Jesus in his arms and he looks at Jesus and as Luke 2:30 says, he says, “For my eyes have seen Your salvation.” That baby is the salvation of God and that baby is God with us.

Early on in my ministry, we talked a lot about the plan of salvation and I’m not saying that’s totally wrong, it just mostly is. Brothers and sisters, our hearts and our focus does not need to be on the plan of salvation, it needs to be on the man of salvation. Simeon didn’t look at Jesus and say, “Ah, the One that will teach us how to get there.” He said, “Ah, the One that gets us there. I have seen the salvation of God.” Powerful.

So the wondrous, glorious, Christmas message is this: God is with us. Wondrous, glorious message: God is with us not for judgment, not for condemnation, but for salvation if we will just receive it. Now some conclusions for practical application. How about that? Some CPA’s. Now this is just you and God, okay? It’s just you and God are the only ones here right now. What is your Assyria? What is your Assyria? Now I think in proper typology here we, I don’t mean we struggle with various sins and I, I, I didn’t have the right attitude with my wife yesterday, and I should have done this with the teacher at school, whatever, and that’s true, you gotta deal with those things but Assyria means that one big thing that’s taking the place in your life of God. Are too many of you, parents, your Assyria is your children? One day they’re gonna disappoint you. Someone said when our babies are little they stand on our toes, and when they’re older they stomp on our hearts. Sure, we love our babies with all of our hearts but our joy is God, and our purpose is God, and our hope is God, not our children.

Some of you think that you’ve gotten where you ought to be financially and you’re just really in a good spot and that’s wonderful, nothing wrong with that unless it becomes Assyria. You outta say, “God, thank you for that bank account. Thank you for that savings account. Thank you for those investments. But Lord, I want to tell You I’m grateful for that but You are my security and You are my hope and You are my joy.”

And on and on we could go, what is that thing that you’re looking to other than God? You say, “Well, pastor, we live in a real world and it’s hard.” No, it’s no harder for you than it is anybody else. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, ” No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man,” these are all just common things, “and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” That is, not give yourself fully over to it. You may step toward it but you’re to be a repenter and get back out of it. And along your journey, businessman, wife, student, whoever, God will give you a little shaking to remind you these things can be all taken away. Don’t trust in Assyria. Trust in God, child of God.

2. Isn’t your fear and anxiety due to misplaced trust? Someone said one time that anxiety and fear just indicates you’re assuming responsibilities God didn’t give you. You’re assuming to take care of something and that’s not what God’s assignment for you. So many of you take the clear teachings of Scripture for your place in life and without even thinking about or knowing it, you just kind of check a few boxes off and say, “I’m doing that. Now I’m gonna get over here and pour all my energies into what I like.” Assyria. That’s not trusting, trusting God isn’t pour your heart and energies, and center in what God says your calling and role is. Husband. Wife. Mother. Father. Student. Employer. Employee. There’s clear teachings here. If you trust God, you get excited about what God says to do and your energies and your heart and your emphasis is there, but if God can get you just to give that a, a wink and a nod and then you go off to the things you’re interested in, what you’re saying is, “I don’t trust You, God. You’re not smart enough. I know what I need to give my heart and energies to.” That’s Assyria. Not our fears and anxieties because of misplaced trust.

Now brothers and sisters, balance. We all have some fears and we all have some anxieties but we all must be repenters. Don’t let something become a stronghold or God will do you like he had to do King Ahaz. You know what the text tells us? The text tells us that God did destroy the northern kingdom, God did destroy Assyria, they didn’t get him but Assyria turned on him and ruined him. You keep embracing Assyria, ruin is in your future. But here’s the good thing about God, are you listening? God’s the God of the second chance and the third chance, and the fourth chance, and the hundredth chance. It’s not too late. You’re not too old. Turn. Repent of hoping in Assyria and say, “God, I’m back to You.” Matter of fact, that’s the pattern of the Christian life. I just want some of you to quit being way way way way over here into Assyria. I want to catch you about right here, get you repented back under God.

I was going to spend some time in Philippians 4:6, 7 and 8, and 1 Samuel 15:22, but time is kind of short but let me suffice it this way. Paul writes to the Philippians and he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” What is he saying? Dwell on God. Look to God and what God has prescribed for you through his word. Spend your energies there and rejoice in God’s roles for you, in God’s will for you. You say, “What’s God’s will?” It’s what’s in the Bible. Rejoice in that and you won’t have time to dwell on the stuff that ultimately is going to ruin you.

Do you understand, child of God, he picked you out before eternity started. He wants you to be happy and the only way to keep you happy is to keep you holy. But rejoice in him, dwell on him not on Assyria. By the way, Assyria was a filthy place. Filthy and vile and immoral and perverse. That was like the United States of America, doesn’t it? I hope it’s not out there. Our home’s not out there. Our security is not out there.

Philippians 4:6 reminds us to “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Be, be anxious for nothing means, “I am through with this worry and fear. I’m gonna throw my faith on God and recommit myself to get out of my life the secondary, maybe not evil, they’re evil because I made them first but secondary things, I’m pushing those aside. I’m gonna commit again to rejoice in and trust what God’s called me to be and do, and then I’m gonna push things out of the way and then if something’s troubling me still, I’m gonna say, ‘God, would You remove it,’ by prayer with supplication,” he says in Philippians 4. “God, would You remove it but if You do not, I’ll rejoice in You through it.”

Philippians 4:7, go ahead and put that one up, guys. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” If you will walk in that pattern, God will give you the peace that the…the reason why it says it surpasses comprehension is because the people who don’t know Christ and don’t walk with him think you’re crazy. How can you be happy when he’s doing that to you? How can you be happy when she’s done that to you? How can you be happy when your boss is this and that? Because you’re not looking to him or her, the boss, you’re looking to God. They’re Assyria.

You look to God and he gives you a peace. You see, here, listen to me, listen to me, listen to me. Too many of you have never got to the point where God could unleash on you the peace which surpasses comprehension so you say, “Well, I don’t have it.” You’ve never gone far enough to get it. You’ve got salvation but you don’t have the peace of God that goes with it. Ahaz had to believe the prophet and not trust Assyria.

3. Stop dishonoring God by trusting in Assyria. Are you a walking neon billboard that God has failed you? Are you a walking, flashing sign that God has not taken care of you because you’re whining and you’re fearful and you’re grumbling and you’re anxious?

That’s just like saying to the world, “I’m a Christian and God ain’t what He said He was.” That’s what you’re doing.

Balance. There are times when brothers and sisters come to one another troubled and hurting and we need somebody to pray with us and just encourage us. Amen? But some of you’ve made a lifestyle pattern out of embracing Assyria and made a lifestyle pattern of anxiety and fear and worry and you are the billboard pronouncing God’s inadequacies for you. Think about that, child of God. I’m preaching to Brother Jeff this morning too. I never preach to you that I don’t preach to me.

2 Samuel 12:14 is a good illustration of this. David’s committed a public scandalous sin and the prophet says, “However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme.” The people who don’t know God are now scoffing and laughing at our God because of your public display that God is what you’ve been living out and that he’s not.

4. Last one, are you in the northern kingdom? You’ve got the label Christian, you do some external religious habits and motions, you’re apostate, you’re counterfeit, you’re not let, yet truly saved and God sends you the door of grace, God sends you the Christmas message, this child is God and it’s God with us, don’t stop there, but he’s with us not to condemn, not to judge, but to save you. Turn to him.

If you will not embrace the Christmas gift, the child given to you for salvation, then you must endure the wrath of the Son at his return. Revelation 6:15-17 is the same child that first came not to judge or condemn but give us a free gift, he comes again and here’s what the text says, Revelation 6:15, “Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders,” are you a great man? You’re gonna be there if you’re not saved, “the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man,” what did they do? They “hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'” On this day he’s not God with us as a little baby given to save, on this day he returns not in a cradle but on a throne. Crush all those who rejected his free gift of salvation.

But remember the Christmas message. God is with us not to judge, not to condemn. Can I get an amen right there? But to save us if you’ll turn to him, turn to him in faith. Oh, you sinners, seek his grace whose wrath you cannot bear. Flee to the shelter of the cross and find salvation there.