Doug McMasters: Take your Bible and go over to the book of Isaiah, isaiah chapter 7.
Doug McMasters: If you're new with us or you don't have a Bible, you can find a Bible in the pew in front of you and you'll get to the beginning of Isaiah, at page 600, and just move a few more pages in and you'll find Isaiah, chapter 7, isaiah, chapter 7.
Doug McMasters: This morning we're going to enter into a new section of Isaiah and, if you'll bear with me for a moment, I'm going to set that up for us so we can dive into the particulars of the passage that's in front of us today, which will be all of chapter 7 and the first part of chapter 8.
Doug McMasters: But as we come from chapter 6 into chapter 7, we enter into a new section of Scripture that runs from chapter 7 to chapter 12, which actually is the introduction to a large division of Isaiah that runs all the way to chapter 39.
Doug McMasters: In this larger section from chapter 7 to 39, there are two kings that we're going to look at King Ahaz and King Hezekiah.
Doug McMasters: We'll learn about Ahaz in chapter 7 to 12.
Doug McMasters: We'll learn about Hezekiah when we get to chapters 36 to 39.
Doug McMasters: When we looked at Isaiah 6 a couple of weeks ago, just before Thanksgiving we noted that Isaiah's call to ministry started when Uzziah had died.
Doug McMasters: So King Uzziah passed away and Isaiah receives this vision of a call to be a proclaimer of God's word to the people of Judah.
Doug McMasters: The very first verse of Isaiah mentions some of these kings, the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah, son of Amoz, saw during the reigns of King Uzziah, jotham, ahaz and Hezekiah right.
Doug McMasters: So four of them are mentioned.
Doug McMasters: Only three of them do we learn anything about.
Doug McMasters: In fact, we don't learn much about Uzziah at all.
Doug McMasters: We learn more about Ahaz and we learn more about Hezekiah.
Doug McMasters: Uzziah's son, jotham, reigned with Uzziah as a co-regent for a while and when Uzziah passed away, jotham took up the reins and after he passed away, his son Ahaz took the reins officially and then passed them off later to his son, hezekiah.
Doug McMasters: This whole section that we're looking at, from chapters 7 to 39, are united by the theme of trust in God.
Doug McMasters: We'll see the test of Ahaz's faith.
Doug McMasters: We'll see the test of Hezekiah's faith in chapters 7 to 12 and 36 to 39.
Doug McMasters: And in the middle are these oracles to the nations, and even to the people of Israel and Judah, about whether or not they would trust the living God, trust him so much that they would not act like the other nations.
Doug McMasters: And if they don't, and trust the Lord, they will not receive the punishment that comes upon those nations.
Doug McMasters: So these two bookends are very, very important markers about what that whole section is about.
Doug McMasters: This morning we're going to look at least at the introductory part of Ahaz's test of faith.
Doug McMasters: Later we'll look at Hezekiah's test of faith.
Doug McMasters: But both of these men, ahaz and Hezekiah, are under pressure.
Doug McMasters: They're under pressure from attacks of nations outside of Israel and Judah side of Israel and Judah.
Doug McMasters: And Isaiah is presenting to these people and to these kings the vision that God has come to them in this time of testing, that this God, who is the Holy One of Israel, is great enough and wise enough and powerful enough and loving enough to be trusted.
Doug McMasters: And if they could only grasp a hold of that, then, accepting this vision of the Lord God, there would be hope for them.
Doug McMasters: But if they refuse this message under their times of pressure, they will bear the consequences of that unbelief and fall into the same condemnation and judgment as the nations that received the oracles in chapter 13 to 35.
Doug McMasters: The question is will they listen?
Doug McMasters: Will they listen to Isaiah's message?
Doug McMasters: Will they heed the call to commit themselves and submit themselves to the Holy One of Israel, or would Isaiah's message fall on deaf ears?
Doug McMasters: Would they have their eyes closed to this wonderful and welcoming message?
Doug McMasters: So this morning, as we walk into chapter 7, we enter into this conversation that God has, through Isaiah, with Ahaz and ask ourselves what would we do in the times of pressure that come?
Doug McMasters: What kind of testing will that bring to us, and where will we go for help that bring to us?
Doug McMasters: And where will we go for help?
Doug McMasters: Will we go to the living God or will we try to find some way forward on our own?
Doug McMasters: Keep that in mind as we walk through this, because we'll touch that little by little as we go through.
Doug McMasters: And the first thing I want us to notice is Ahaz's trouble.
Doug McMasters: Ahaz's trouble.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at chapter 7 and verse 1.
Doug McMasters: This took place during the reign of Ahaz's trouble.
Doug McMasters: Take a look at chapter 7 and verse 1.
Doug McMasters: This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah.
Doug McMasters: Aram's king Rezin and Israel's king Pekah, son of Remaliah, went to fight against Jerusalem, but they were not able to conquer it.
Doug McMasters: It's interesting how this story starts.
Doug McMasters: It starts kind of like a news headline where it gives you a summary of everything that's happened already.
Doug McMasters: You get right into the end and the detail is there of how the outcome is fixed.
Doug McMasters: These people came against Jerusalem but they weren't able to take it.
Doug McMasters: And in this summary we're introduced to some more kings and you're thinking okay, uzziah, jotham, ahaz, hezekiah Now I've got Rezin and I've got this other guy, pekah.
Doug McMasters: Why can't they all just be called Bob Joe Sam, bill?
Doug McMasters: Why these strange names?
Doug McMasters: Well, bob Joe Sam and Bill would be strange to them.
Doug McMasters: So King Rezan is from Aram, modern day Syria.
Doug McMasters: You might have heard about that in the news lately and you might have heard about Damascus.
Doug McMasters: It's the same region.
Doug McMasters: That's exactly where it's at.
Doug McMasters: The 10 northern tribes are just north of Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: In the breakaway tribes after Solomon's reign, his son foolishly tried to exact a greater tax from the people and they broke away, and they've been broken away at enmity ever since.
Doug McMasters: So these are two of the key players here, but there's another one that's on the horizon of this story, which comes into it a little bit later.
Doug McMasters: We'll introduce them now.
Doug McMasters: This is the kingdom of Assyria, a powerful, powerful kingdom which takes up roughly what is modern day Iraq, modern day Iraq.
Doug McMasters: And it lies on the eastern end of what we call the Fertile Crescent.
Doug McMasters: And it lies on the eastern end of what we call the Fertile Crescent and as they're rising in their empire kind of a resurgence, one of one that was actually a thousand years old but as they're rising and growing, they're beginning to flex their muscles, they're starting to reach out and grab more and more and more and they want to go after their main adversary, egypt.
Doug McMasters: Well, as you move from the eastern side of the Fertile Crescent and you come down through the eastern side of the Mediterranean toward Egypt, guess who's in the way?
Doug McMasters: Syria and Aram, israel and the Ten Tribes, judah and Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: These are just minor players on the world scene, but it matters to them, even though they're not the biggest guy in the room.
Doug McMasters: What's going on between Egypt and Assyria matters to them.
Doug McMasters: And as Assyria is coming down to control everything, including Egypt, they come along these different, little, smaller kingdoms and they're going to exert their power over them as well.
Doug McMasters: But these little kingdoms are no match for the power and might and military of Assyria.
Doug McMasters: So what do they do?
Doug McMasters: The two kings, the king of Aram and the king of Israel.
Doug McMasters: They're like you know, let's make a pact here, buddy, I'll take my army and you got your army and we'll put our armies together and maybe we'll be a little bit stronger together and maybe we'll be a little bit stronger together.
Doug McMasters: So they're trying to reinforce their ability to stand against the onslaught of Assyria and they're looking around and thinking who else can we pull into our coalition?
Doug McMasters: And they looked south of there and in Jerusalem is King Ahaz.
Doug McMasters: And they're like Ahaz, join us, join us in this fight against Assyria.
Doug McMasters: And Ahaz is like look, we have not been friends and we're not going to be friends.
Doug McMasters: I'm not going to be your partner in this.
Doug McMasters: And so the king of Aram and the king of Israel decide that they're going to go down to Jerusalem, they're going to kick out this king Ahaz and they're going to put in a puppet, they're going to put in a guy on the throne there who's going to do what they want him to do, and then the three of them can maybe muster enough strength to fight against Assyria.
Doug McMasters: This is the scene.
Doug McMasters: This is Ahaz's trouble.
Doug McMasters: He is facing a crisis on an international scale.
Doug McMasters: This is extremely troubling.
Doug McMasters: And when you read 2 Kings, chapter 15, you realize that the king of Aram and the king of Israel had already made their coalition before Ahaz took ascendancy to the throne, ascended to the throne.
Doug McMasters: So this thing that's going on with Ahaz right here is happening at the beginning of his reign.
Doug McMasters: This test of whether he would trust the living God or try to fix things on his own ingenuity is what's going to mark him for the rest of his kingship.
Doug McMasters: How is he going to respond to this Now?
Doug McMasters: I have to say that right at this moment, it would be easy to sort of just move past all of this and enter into our life and talk about the challenges and difficulties that we face and we do.
Doug McMasters: But this trouble is an international problem.
Doug McMasters: This is more than just the fact that our car didn't start this morning.
Doug McMasters: This is more than any individual thing that we might—crisis that we might be going through.
Doug McMasters: However, I think there are principles that do apply here that help us.
Doug McMasters: I'm reading at the moment a book called One Minute to Midnight, and it details, day by day and then hour by hour, the missile crisis in Cuba that John F Kennedy had to deal with when Russia had put these nuclear weapons on that island just off the shores of Florida.
Doug McMasters: This is that kind of crisis.
Doug McMasters: This is Ahaz's one minute to midnight.
Doug McMasters: Ahaz's one minute to midnight.
Doug McMasters: Well, how does he respond?
Doug McMasters: Well, verse two tells us that he responds to this trouble with terror.
Doug McMasters: With terror when it became known to the house of David that Aram had occupied Ephraim.
Doug McMasters: Ephraim is another word for the 10 tribes.
Doug McMasters: So they're starting to march, they're starting to make their movement.
Doug McMasters: The heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people trembled like the trees of a forest shaking in the wind.
Doug McMasters: Royal and I were just up in the Adirondacks staying at Brian and Elaine's place for a few days, and when it gets windy up there you can feel it.
Doug McMasters: Everything's moving.
Doug McMasters: You can see all the trees shaking and moving around.
Doug McMasters: If you were here during Sandy, I'm sure you saw trees moving and shaking around.
Doug McMasters: This is the heart of Ahaz.
Doug McMasters: This is the heart of the people.
Doug McMasters: They are trembling, they're petrified.
Doug McMasters: Times like this can be disturbing to the very core of who we are, especially when it's a global concern.
Doug McMasters: One of the things that you capture in that book One Minute to Midnight is just how deeply the nuclear missile crisis had captured the hearts of the men in the White House and in Moscow, and how they trembled at the thought that not only thousands, but millions, perhaps hundreds of millions of people would die if something went the wrong way.
Doug McMasters: Fear, this alarm, has captured his heart.
Doug McMasters: How does he respond to this?
Doug McMasters: Well, he plunges into frantic and foolish behavior.
Doug McMasters: Plunges into frantic and foolish behavior.
Doug McMasters: He starts scrambling to find out what kind of resources he might have to be able to handle what's coming at him.
Doug McMasters: And take a look at verse 3.
Doug McMasters: The Lord said to Isaiah go out with your son Shier to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the launderer's field.
Doug McMasters: Well, at first that doesn't seem important, but let's find out why he's there.
Doug McMasters: He's inspecting the water supply to Jerusalem.
Doug McMasters: He's inspecting the water supply to the people in his area.
Doug McMasters: Why?
Doug McMasters: Why is the prophet told to meet the king there?
Doug McMasters: Because the king is there for a reason Because if he's going to be surrounded by armies in a siege, one of the things he's going to necessarily need is a tappable resource of water.
Doug McMasters: And so he's inspecting the water system to see if it's going to be satisfactory if they get surrounded, or try to do something about it if it isn't so.
Doug McMasters: There he is engaged directly in activity in response to the trouble and he's not thinking about God.
Doug McMasters: You don't see him going to the temple and praying.
Doug McMasters: You don't see him stepping off into the woods and meditating upon the promises of God.
Doug McMasters: You see him going to the water supply and saying, well, how many gallons per hour do we get out of this, and how many people do we have, and how long will that supply last and is it protected?
Doug McMasters: And that's what he's doing.
Doug McMasters: He's thinking about his resources and to see if they can measure up to the coming storm.
Doug McMasters: Evidently he doesn't believe he's got enough resources, because when you read later in Isaiah and you read 2 Kings and you read in Chronicles, you discover he makes an alliance with Assyria.
Doug McMasters: He's like I know how to fix this.
Doug McMasters: You guys want us to alliance with Assyria.
Doug McMasters: He's like I know how to fix this.
Doug McMasters: You guys want us to fight against Assyria.
Doug McMasters: I'll just be a friend of Assyria's and we'll fight you.
Doug McMasters: This is exactly what he does.
Doug McMasters: Driven by his fears, he focuses exclusively on the danger and he has no attention for any God-derived solutions to it at all.
Doug McMasters: He simply tries to do things based upon his resources and his relationships.
Doug McMasters: I'm clever enough to deal with this.
Doug McMasters: I can handle it.
Doug McMasters: This was Ahaz's typical response, sadly, and when we read more about Ahaz in the scriptures, we find out throughout his life.
Doug McMasters: He was a man determined to think about things according to his own abilities.
Doug McMasters: But God wonderfully brings him a test.
Doug McMasters: The trouble and the terror turn into this interaction between Isaiah and Ahaz, which I'm going to title Ahaz's testing.
Doug McMasters: Despite how evil this man is, god is going to move forward with his plans and move toward this man.
Doug McMasters: This is a remarkable encounter that God would come to Ahaz in this dramatic point of decision and send his prophet into his personal space to talk to him face to face.
Doug McMasters: What would Ahaz do here?
Doug McMasters: Well, he could listen to the words of the prophet.
Doug McMasters: He could listen with repentance and faith, realizing that there was really nothing to trust in himself, that his resources weren't significant enough, that his interactions were just simply ploys and not really power.
Doug McMasters: He could heed the words of the prophet or he could refuse to listen and continue down his foolish way.
Doug McMasters: What was he about to do?
Doug McMasters: Well, look here in the scriptures, the Lord said to Isaiah meet with your son, ahaz, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to the launderer's field and say to him calm down and be quiet, don't be afraid or cowardly because of these two smoldering sticks, the fierce anger of Rezan and Aram and the son of Remaliah, for Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you.
Doug McMasters: They say let's go up against Judah, terrorize it and conquer it for ourselves.
Doug McMasters: Then we can install Tabeel's son as king in it.
Doug McMasters: And I'm sure Ahaz is like okay, thanks, I needed all the details.
Doug McMasters: Okay, yeah, I know that's what they're doing, but did he listen?
Doug McMasters: Now notice, one of the first things that Isaiah wants to do is remind Ahaz of who he is.
Doug McMasters: In this section of Scripture there are two.
Doug McMasters: There's a repeat of a phrase that needs to be marked down in our Bibles In verse 2, notice what it says here to the house of David.
Doug McMasters: It doesn't say Ahaz, it doesn't say King Ahaz, it doesn't say the people of Israel, it doesn't say those who live in Jerusalem, it doesn't say those in Judah.
Doug McMasters: It says to the house of David.
Doug McMasters: Just keep that in mind for a second and then, when you get down to verse 13, isaiah's continuing his conversation with Ahaz here and in verse 13,.
Doug McMasters: He says listen, house of David.
Doug McMasters: What is this?
Doug McMasters: These references to the house of David that are particularly given to Ahaz?
Doug McMasters: In fact, he is the embodiment in verse 2, of the house of David.
Doug McMasters: When the news came to the house of David, that is when the news came to the court of the king, to Ahaz himself, king to Ahaz himself.
Doug McMasters: You see, isaiah is reminding Ahaz of his theological identity.
Doug McMasters: He's reminding him that he's not just the king of some small Middle Eastern nation.
Doug McMasters: He's not just a small-time king who needs to think about his resources and his political connections as the only way to survive.
Doug McMasters: He's calling him the house of David because he wants him to realize who he actually is.
Doug McMasters: He lay in the line of David himself and he is currently the head of David's household.
Doug McMasters: He is the heir of all the promises of God to David.
Doug McMasters: So he is to live in this world.
Doug McMasters: He's to live in the world in the light of that identity.
Doug McMasters: He's to live in this world not taking into consideration the resources of himself and the resources of this world, as if those were the limits of his abilities.
Doug McMasters: He's to think about the living God, the living God who has given promises to his forefather, david promises that were meant to be kept from generation to generation until the fulfillment of the end.
Doug McMasters: You see, god made an eternal covenant with David, and Ahaz was part of that promise, if he believed.
Doug McMasters: The guarantee of the people of Israel rested not upon Ahaz's ingenuity and not upon his resources that he could find in the water pool, but in the God who promised to keep them a people until the Deliverer came.
Doug McMasters: God made a covenant that the throne of David would continue to stand, and this is why chapter 7 and verse 1 begins with this summary.
Doug McMasters: They attacked them, but they didn't.
Doug McMasters: They weren't successful.
Doug McMasters: The prophet wants Ahaz to know just who he is.
Doug McMasters: He wants him to enter into that identity.
Doug McMasters: At the start of this threat, there's no need for panic.
Doug McMasters: God is with you.
Doug McMasters: The question is would Ahaz act like the spiritual son of David, or would he simply go on as another in the line of the physical lineage of David?
Doug McMasters: Would he trust the living God and his promises, or would he simply try to muscle the powers afforded him as one of the physical descendants of the king?
Doug McMasters: How do we respond in our troubles when we do?
Doug McMasters: One of the things that we need to first anchor in our hearts is our identity as one of God's people.
Doug McMasters: Knowing where our identity lies is one of the most significant things about our existence, because from it comes all of our actions.
Doug McMasters: It's what centers us, it's what gives us the right outlook when we're confronted with things that are troubling and disturbing, or even earth shattering.
Doug McMasters: And despite what people are saying to us today, our identity is not found in our contrived imaginations about who we are.
Doug McMasters: Our identity is not what others say about us or what we even think about ourselves.
Doug McMasters: Our identity, as the scriptures tell us, is found in Christ and Christ alone.
Doug McMasters: You see, when we became a believer, we became the son of the living God, a child of his, an inheritor with Christ of all things.
Doug McMasters: We became, as the scriptures say, we will reign with him as priests and kings.
Doug McMasters: These are all markers of who we are.
Doug McMasters: These are all markers of who we are when Christ took away our sin and our shame on the cross, it is because he, before the worlds were ever created, set his eternal love to save us.
Doug McMasters: As he came to that place, denying the shame of the cross, for the joy that was set before him, the joy of including you into his eternal kingdom.
Doug McMasters: And he gives us that identity.
Doug McMasters: He gives us that identity so that we might never feel the bitter sting of the worthless efforts of self-improvement, so that we might not know the inadequacies, the eternal, utter, ruinous inadequacies of self-reliance.
Doug McMasters: So, when trouble hits, we must stop and bring this truth to our mind first.
Doug McMasters: We're Christ's, and this is what Paul said to the Corinthians.
Doug McMasters: Don't you know that all things are yours and yours are Christ's?
Doug McMasters: And this is what Paul said to the Corinthians.
Doug McMasters: Don't you know that all things are yours and yours are Christ's, that you have the world and everything?
Doug McMasters: Why are you playing around with these silly little things?
Doug McMasters: If all of this is yours, your identity, if you're Christ, you've been chosen in Him.
Doug McMasters: He knew you before you were even born.
Doug McMasters: He paid the price for your sins in full.
Doug McMasters: He sees you, he knows you, and that changes everything.
Doug McMasters: Instead of being lost, you're now found.
Doug McMasters: Instead of being seen as a sinner.
Doug McMasters: Instead of being lost, you're now found.
Doug McMasters: Instead of being seen as a sinner, you're received as a child.
Doug McMasters: Instead of being an enemy, you're a friend, you're loved, you're redeemed, you're made new, you're forgiven.
Doug McMasters: You're a treasure to God in every way.
Doug McMasters: And these are not my words, these are God's words and only a summary of them to all of us.
Doug McMasters: They're beautiful truths.
Doug McMasters: Being known by God is to have the eternal God looking constantly to your good.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah says to Ahaz, house of David.
Doug McMasters: Sadly, to that unbelieving heart of Ahaz, that was just a grating reminder that God was invading his space, and it just underscores just how foolish it was for him to be fearful and frantically trying to find a solution.
Doug McMasters: God's not done talking to this wicked man.
Doug McMasters: Not only does he give him a reminder, he even gives him some reassurances.
Doug McMasters: Look at this again, verse 4.
Doug McMasters: Say to him calm down and be quiet, don't be afraid or cowardly, because these two smoldering stumps of firebrands Somebody, one of the commentators put it this way Think about two little cigarette butts that somebody's just scrubbing out into the ground that's these two kings that are trying to give him trouble.
Doug McMasters: This is how God views this.
Doug McMasters: You're afraid of these guys.
Doug McMasters: They're nothing.
Doug McMasters: Calm down, don't be afraid.
Doug McMasters: They're just men, and I can deal with men, god says.
Doug McMasters: He even sets a drop date for their destruction in verses 7 to 9.
Doug McMasters: This is what the Lord says.
Doug McMasters: It will not happen.
Doug McMasters: This danger you're afraid of, it will not occur.
Doug McMasters: The chief city of Aram is Damascus.
Doug McMasters: The chief of Damascus is Dresden.
Doug McMasters: Within 65 years, ephraim, too, will be shattered, will be too shattered to be a people.
Doug McMasters: It's not going to happen.
Doug McMasters: Within three years, aram was crushed.
Doug McMasters: Within 10 years of this time, israel fell.
Doug McMasters: Of this time, israel fell, and by the time you get to 670 BC, the 10 northern tribes are not numbered enough to even be called a people anymore.
Doug McMasters: Life was doubling down on this man.
Doug McMasters: It was getting well out of his hands.
Doug McMasters: He's clutching for answers, and God gives him a reminder of who he is and reassurances of his safety.
Doug McMasters: What does he do with it?
Doug McMasters: He digs down deeper into himself.
Doug McMasters: He digs down deeper into himself because he refuses to listen to what are nothing but beautiful words from God.
Doug McMasters: What do you do when troubles come your way?
Doug McMasters: Fearful and frantic?
Doug McMasters: I think all of us could sign up to that Right.
Doug McMasters: But are we arrested in our fear and arrested in our frantic actions when we're brought to the realization of who we really are in God?
Doug McMasters: Does it calm us when we're given a reminder of the depth of God's commitment to us?
Doug McMasters: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Doug McMasters: Here Ahaz is thinking that his resources are only the abilities that he possesses, and so he leans into those strengths as hard as he can, and so he leans into those strengths as hard as he can, and when he doesn't see that his resources are sufficient enough, he just gets plain old, scared to death.
Doug McMasters: The answer is not to clutch for something else, to grasp around for something more that he's not reaching to, to sit down and dream up a scheme that might just be a little bit better than the one that came to mind first of all.
Doug McMasters: The answer was to rely on God, to trust him, be careful, be quiet, don't fear, and when you get to the place where you can rely upon God, even when life gets out of sorts, you can live your life in a completely different way.
Doug McMasters: The Apostle Paul talked about this in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4.
Doug McMasters: He said we're afflicted on every side.
Doug McMasters: 2 Corinthians, chapter 4.
Doug McMasters: He said we're afflicted on every side, but not crushed.
Doug McMasters: We're perplexed, but not in despair.
Doug McMasters: We're persecuted, but we're not abandoned.
Doug McMasters: We're struck down, but we're not destroyed.
Doug McMasters: We're always caring about, in our body, the death of our Lord Jesus, and Jesus went to the cross so that the life of Jesus might also be displayed in our body.
Doug McMasters: You see, we know this is what he said.
Doug McMasters: We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus.
Doug McMasters: So, yes, I can be afflicted.
Doug McMasters: Yes, I can be perplexed.
Doug McMasters: Yes, I can be persecuted.
Doug McMasters: Yes, I can be struck down.
Doug McMasters: Yes, I can bear affliction.
Doug McMasters: Yes, why?
Doug McMasters: Because God's promises will one day overrule all of those things.
Doug McMasters: That's why, so God, in his wondrous mercies, comes to this man and says remember who you are, remember what I've said, keep a hold of these promises.
Doug McMasters: You have a requirement, though, and that's the next point.
Doug McMasters: He says to him in verse 9, if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.
Doug McMasters: God is giving Ahaz this moment of decision, this lifetime experience, this eternal experience, and he says if you do not stand in faith, you do not stand at all.
Doug McMasters: Ahaz must reckon with God to be God and his God.
Doug McMasters: If you're not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.
Doug McMasters: The commentators try to capture the word place in English and it's a word play in Hebrew, but they put it this way If you hold God in doubt, you'll not hold out.
Doug McMasters: That was kind of cute.
Doug McMasters: Unsure, insecure, this is the way someone else put it.
Doug McMasters: If you do not firm up, you will not be confirmed.
Doug McMasters: That's a little cheesy, but if you don't live by faith, you will not live at all.
Doug McMasters: I think says it pretty clear.
Doug McMasters: If you want to receive those reassurances, if you want to live in the realization of those promises, if you want to bask in the presence that I am, god says don't do anything except trust me.
Doug McMasters: Don't go running around looking for an answer.
Doug McMasters: Don't stay and cower.
Doug McMasters: Trust me.
Doug McMasters: God is moving to him in his weakness.
Doug McMasters: He's moving to him in his need.
Doug McMasters: He's moving to him and calling him to be honest about himself.
Doug McMasters: Ahaz is only looking to his earthly resources, but God is telling him look here, look to me, just trust.
Doug McMasters: And literally he's telling him just stand still, just be quiet, don't do anything, watch me work.
Doug McMasters: Would Ahaz listen?
Doug McMasters: Would he continue in his fearful and foolish self-reliance or would he be moved to faith by this?
Doug McMasters: We face difficult times.
Doug McMasters: We can often be fearful and frantically running around looking for answers.
Doug McMasters: When God speaks to us in his word, telling us who we are and what he can do in our lives, we're left with the decision point Am I going to trust him or not?
Doug McMasters: Am I going to listen to this?
Doug McMasters: It's like that man who's walking along a cliff and he loses his footing, begins tumbling down the cliffside.
Doug McMasters: Just as he's about to reach the very edge of the cliff he finds a little branch and he's holding onto it and his body is starting to sway over the branch, is looking pretty weak, and he looks up into heaven.
Doug McMasters: He goes is anybody there?
Doug McMasters: And he hears a voice from the clouds saying I'm here, I'll help you, let go of the branch.
Doug McMasters: And the man goes is there anybody else out there?
Doug McMasters: God is calling to us saying I'm here, let go of the branch and trust me to do what I can only do.
Doug McMasters: And so often we're like I got to find another way.
Doug McMasters: But God is more real than any of these earthly things that are important to us and he's more desirable than any of the worldly attractions that glitter in our eyes.
Doug McMasters: He's faithful, he will fulfill his promises.
Doug McMasters: And in order to strengthen this man even more, god steps out of his norm and makes Ahaz a request.
Doug McMasters: So he goes from reminding him of his identity to reassuring him, to telling him to believe the requirement of faith and then this request.
Doug McMasters: Look at verse 10.
Doug McMasters: The Lord spoke again to Ahaz.
Doug McMasters: Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God.
Doug McMasters: It can be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.
Doug McMasters: God doesn't normally act that way.
Doug McMasters: He doesn't give Ahaz an ultimatum.
Doug McMasters: He doesn't demand from him a leap of faith.
Doug McMasters: He invites Ahaz to ask for a sign of his own choosing.
Doug McMasters: Any way you want it to be, god is willing to be his God all the way up to any place he wants to go.
Doug McMasters: What does Ahaz say?
Doug McMasters: I will not ask, I will not test the Lord.
Doug McMasters: Oh, so pious Ahaz all of a sudden.
Doug McMasters: Far be it from me to test the Lord.
Doug McMasters: He was testing the Lord with all of his unbelief up to this point in time anyway.
Doug McMasters: His pious language is deceitful.
Doug McMasters: He doesn't want to be deferential to the Lord, god.
Doug McMasters: He doesn't want God in his life at all Because if he lets God in, god is going to have to take control, and that means he's got to operate according to God's ways, not his own.
Doug McMasters: And if he gets through the crisis, he'd have to give God glory and not take it on himself.
Doug McMasters: So he says no to God and makes his unbelief just sound so religiously pious.
Doug McMasters: Oh I, I can't go to church.
Doug McMasters: There are so many hypocrites there, says the biggest hypocrite in the room.
Doug McMasters: In verse 11, look at the language change.
Doug McMasters: Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God.
Doug McMasters: Right Personalizes God to Ahaz, your God.
Doug McMasters: He refuses in verse 12.
Doug McMasters: Now look at the change in verse 13.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah says listen, house of David, is it not enough for you to try the patience of men?
Doug McMasters: Will you also try the patience of my God?
Doug McMasters: Ooh, ahaz, you crossed the line.
Doug McMasters: He's going to get a sign.
Doug McMasters: All right, the offer was a sign of Ahaz's choosing of anything he wanted, so God could confirm to him the veracity of his words, the truthfulness of his promises, the strength of his ability, his desire to help him in his need.
Doug McMasters: Anything you want, ahaz, anything.
Doug McMasters: He's going to get a sign, but it's not going to be a sign to move him to a deeper sense of trust.
Doug McMasters: It's going to be a sign that will leave him in shame for his unbelief.
Doug McMasters: And what is that sign?
Doug McMasters: The virgin will conceive and have a son and name him Emmanuel.
Doug McMasters: By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating curds and honey.
Doug McMasters: For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.
Doug McMasters: The Lord will bring on you, your people and your father's house such a time that's never been since Ephraim separated from Judah.
Doug McMasters: He will bring the king of Assyria.
Doug McMasters: Isaiah 7.14 lies right here in this midst, and it goes two different directions.
Doug McMasters: It goes to this direction.
Doug McMasters: Ahaz doesn't want it, he doesn't believe it, he won't receive it.
Doug McMasters: But God is going to be faithful to his people and his promises, the house of David.
Doug McMasters: God is going to be faithful to his people and his promises, the house of David.
Doug McMasters: He's going to rescue a remnant, a remnant that will continue on until the fulfillment of that ultimate promise that David received, where there would be one that would sit upon his throne, whose kingdom would never end.
Doug McMasters: But Ahaz wouldn't enjoy the blessings of being a part of that.
Doug McMasters: Before this little boy would reach an age of being able to distinguish right and wrong, ahaz was going to find out that all his fears and his frantic efforts were nothing but foolish, foolish, fruitless behavior.
Doug McMasters: In chapter 8 it details some of those things.
Doug McMasters: A child, indeed, is born, and the parallels between the child in chapter eight and the child mentioned in chapter seven are unmistakable.
Doug McMasters: And the name of that child in chapter eight is an ominous name.
Doug McMasters: That means the spoil speeds the prey hastens means the spoil speeds the prey hastens.
Doug McMasters: It's going to come swiftly down upon Aram and upon Israel, and even into Judah itself.
Doug McMasters: The king of Assyria, the one that Ahaz thought would be his help, is now going to be part of his ruin.
Doug McMasters: God would be with his people, but because Ahaz wanted to trust Assyria and trust Egypt more than he trusted God, he would become part of the destruction and not part of the rescue.
Doug McMasters: In chapter 8 and verse 5,.
Doug McMasters: It will overflow its channel and spill over its banks and it will pour into Judah, flood over it, sweep through reaching up to the neck and its flooded banks will fill your entire land, emmanuel.
Doug McMasters: Assyria will come and it will rise like a flood and the Assyrians, like the Euphrates, will overflow its banks and rush in and sweep away Aram, syria.
Doug McMasters: It will sweep away Israel and poor little Judah.
Doug McMasters: Will have the floodwaters reaching up to its neck all the way up until only a little bit of it is above the water and the rest of it's destroyed.
Doug McMasters: The people will survive, but barely.
Doug McMasters: But as time marches on, assyria too will fall, but the people of Judah will live on.
Doug McMasters: They will continue because there's another part of this promise that opens up when Matthew's gospel reminds us that a child is born who is called the son of David, and he is told.
Doug McMasters: The angel makes the announcement that this is the fuller fulfillment of God with us, a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and we will call his name Emmanuel, because God is with us.
Doug McMasters: The crisis there came and went and the sign became for him either an invitation to life or the cause for his destruction and to the world.
Doug McMasters: On this day, and I mean today, there is a sign given that could have been as high as the heavens or as low as the depths of the grave.
Doug McMasters: Any of us could have chosen and, had we in our wildest imaginations had thought about a test for God, it might have been this Could a virgin give birth and would that child be the embodiment of God in human flesh?
Doug McMasters: And the sign is here.
Doug McMasters: The sign is here to our generation and, just like it was a sign to Ahaz, a call to faith in the reliances of a God who can do far above and beyond what we can ask or think.
Doug McMasters: You can trust Him.
Doug McMasters: It becomes an invitation to life, or that sign of God made flesh and dwelt among us will stand as a marker of our eternal destruction because we refuse to believe the God who gave himself to us in human form.
Doug McMasters: We stand on the precipice of eternity.
Doug McMasters: Every Christmas we live through and every Christmas God reminds us.
Doug McMasters: This world is reminded once again that he said whatever sign you can contrive, it can't be any grander than a virgin birth and God in human form.
Doug McMasters: Trust me, believe in the Savior and live.
Doug McMasters: Stop trying to figure it out on your own, stop trying to lean on your own resources, stop retreating into your own fears.
Doug McMasters: Listen to me.
Doug McMasters: I'm a God who can be trusted.
Doug McMasters: I'm a God who can rescue.
Doug McMasters: I'm a God who will save his people from their sins.
Doug McMasters: I'm a God who can take down all your enemies.
Doug McMasters: I'm a God who will envelop you in my presence.
Doug McMasters: Trust the Emmanuel, the God, with us.
Doug McMasters: If not, you'll be walking down the pathway of Ahaz and while others find their rescue at the very end of themselves, you will find your ruin at the end of your life.
Doug McMasters: Let's pray, father, as we come to this momentous moment in which your word brings us to the place of decision.
Doug McMasters: I pray, father, that we might move toward your gracious invitations to trust you.
Doug McMasters: You walked into Ahaz's life, as wicked as he was, and offered him life, gave him every single opportunity there was to turn away from himself.
Doug McMasters: Lord, I pray that you might mercifully look down upon us and meet us in our weakness, meet us in the foolishness of our frantic, fretful behavior, and welcome us.
Doug McMasters: Lord, move our hearts to you, help us to lean toward you, the living God, to trust you for life and eternity, to trust you in all things, to turn away from our own self-reliance and remember you, and to rely upon you and to rest in you.
Doug McMasters: And we pray this in Christ's name.