For those just checking in, we just began this series on Isaiah a few weeks ago. We're just getting started! We hope you will grab a study guide and follow along. My continual plea is, “please… get a Bible in your hands, quiet your soul, and read the Word of God.” These are the words we desperately need to read, hear, and understand as much now as ever.
The title of this message is “God is Awesome in Faithfulness.” In the face of their own imminent destruction, God raised up his prophet Isaiah, to point his people (Israel and Judah) to Jesus. This is pretty remarkable, since Isaiah lived centuries before Jesus was ever born. Again and again Isaiah’s message is “Behold the Christ. A child will be given. A child will be born. He will inaugurate a Kingdom and government that has no end. He will cleanse you, clothe you, pour out his Holy Spirit on you, even make you Holy… he will be your refuge and strength, your comfort and joy, your Savior and King, Immanuel, God with us! God is Awesome in Faithfulness—Do not fear. He will bring salvation. He will be with you. He will keep his promises. His purpose and plan will prevail.
This week were looking at Isaiah 7 through 12. You may recall how after King Solomon’s death, the northern tribes of Israel split from the southern tribes of (Judah, Benjamin, and the Levites). In Isaiah 7 the Kings of the northern tribes (King Pekah, King Rezin) form a powerful alliance and attack Jerusalem. If you look at a Bible map, Judah is this tiny scrap of a nation… but the enormous tribes to the north, including all of Syria, come against them. When their attack fails, they camp out in Ephraim (Israel), just north of Judah, to plot their next attack.
Meanwhile, a sense to dread sweeps over Judah. Isaiah 7:2 says, “When it became known to the house of David that Aram had occupied Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.” Have you ever heard the expression, “shaking like a leaf?” Israel's attack left the house of David (Judah) shaking like a leaf. Has there ever been a time in your life, when you found yourself shaking like a leaf? Physically hyperventilating, as if having a heart attack? Your body physically shaking, unable to catch your breath. Your mind filled with panic, dread and fear? Adrenaline surging through your veins, unable to calm yourself, unable to focus your eyes, unable to think clearly? In Isaiah 7, God's people are melting at fear at the sight of the mighty armies gathering just to the north. Hell is about to descend upon them. When in your life have you found yourself shaking like a leaf? I know you’re a tough person, you don't fear anything. You can't relate right?
You have to understand that up to this moment, Judah felt an air of invincibility. They were after all the true people of God. They were the tribe of Judah, the House of David the King, home to Jerusalem, to the Temple, to the Levites, the priestly tribe, who ministered in the temple day and night. The attack on Jerusalem shattered their pride, crushed their confidence.
In Isaiah 7:4 God sends Isaiah to meet King Ahaz. “Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly because of these two smoldering sticks, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah.” There have been a few times in my marriage where Lara gets pretty riled up. Like Level 10, red hot riled up. If you want your wife to go Level 10 to 1000 try telling her to calm down, or be quiet, or don't worry about it, or any other such derivative! Try to reason with her, “It's nothing. This is no big deal. This is nothing more than a smoldering Yankee candle wick, it will come to nothing…” If you've ever tried, you’re lucky to still be alive!
Don't worry about it. That is of little help to a panicked person. But in Isaiah 7:7 the word of the Lord comes to Isaiah, “This is what the Lord God says: It will not happen; it will not occur.” Isaiah 7:8, “. . . within 65 years Ephraim will be too shattered to even be a people.” Isaiah 7:9, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.” When terror sweeps over us, our singular choice is to stand firm in faith, trusting God. And our singular choice is either stand firm in faith or do not stand at all. I've seen a lot of faithless men talk a big game, about how tough, how fearless, how powerful they are. But when calamity comes, when struck, get reduced to a shaking leaf.
Do you realize the extent to which Isaiah 7:9 is echoed in the bible? Joshua 1:9 (ESV), “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” 1 Corinthians 16:13 (ESV), "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” Psalm 31:24 (ESV), “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!” Psalm 56:3-4(ESV), “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” Isaiah 41:10 (ESV), “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
God is Awesome in Faithfulness. Stand Firm, with your faith in God, or you won't stand at all. Ahaz, calm down, be quiet, don't fear, don't be a coward. The only pathway through fear is faith. Trust in God with all your heart, mind, body and soul or succumb to terror.
Now an interesting thing happens. In Isaiah 7:11 God tells Ahaz, “[Hey Ahaz…] Ask for a sign from the Lord your God—it can be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven.” Isn't it just like us, to demand a sign from God. Ahaz doesn't have audacity to ask God for a sign. In Isaiah 7:12 he protests, “But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.” I think God knew that deep down Ahaz needed, wanted a sign. And maybe you feel you need a sign. God give me a sign you are faithful. Give me a sign my worst fear is nothing more than a smoldering wick. Give me a sign good will prevail over evil, life over death, hope over dread.
In Isaiah 7 God essentially says Ahaz I know you don't need a “sign" but I'm going to give you a sign anyway. Isaiah 7:13-15, “Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? 14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.” A son will be born of a virgin and you’ll name him Immanuel, “God with us.” That's their distant sign. But as an immediate sign God also says Isaiah 7:17-19a, “17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s house such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah: He will bring the king of Assyria.” 18 On that day the Lord will whistle to flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to bees in the land of Assyria. 19 All of them will come and settle [i.e. occupy Israel]. . .”
Your existential need is to know God is with you. I'll send my son Jesus. But your immediate need is this gathering threat… therefore I'll whistle to the nations and send Assyria King to come sit on your enemy Ephraim. The Assyrians will be God's instrument, a rod in his hand, but nothing more than that.
Listen carefully to God's counsel to Ahaz. Isaiah 8:11-18, “11 For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep me from going the way of this people: 12 Do not call everything a conspiracy that these people say is a conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear; do not be terrified. 13 You are to regard only the Lord of Armies as holy. Only he should be feared; only he should be held in awe. 14 He will be a sanctuary; but for the two houses of Israel, he will be a stone to stumble over and a rock to trip over, and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 Many will stumble over these; they will fall and be broken; they will be snared and captured. 16 Bind up the testimony. Seal up the instruction among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will wait for him.” God is awesome in faithfulness, Either we trust in his promises, or we don't stand at all. Where else is there to stand?
Isaiah 9. Once again a choice is presented to Ahaz and God's People. Your choice is the “gloom of darkness” (Isaiah 9:1) or hope. Isaiah 9:2, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.” Isaiah 9:6-7, here is your sign… “For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.”
You don't need to be a Hebrew Scholar or Biblical Theologian to recognize that God isn’t referring to some mere mortal here, who will rise up and save us from all our fears. No God is announcing that He Himself (Our Mighty God, Eternal Father) will come as a man and conquer all our fears. A child will be born. A kingdom will be established that will never end.
In the immediate future God warns Ahaz the wrath of God will visit Israel. All hell will come. No one will have compassion for one another. People will be left hungry, people will be deprived of justice, Assyria will act without mercy. All Israel will be reduced to a stump. But wait for the sign…
Isaiah 11:1-6, “Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. 3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, he will not execute justice by what he hears with his ears, 4 but he will judge the poor righteously and execute justice for the oppressed of the land. He will strike the land with a scepter from his mouth, and he will kill the wicked with a command from his lips. 5 Righteousness will be a belt around his hips; faithfulness will be a belt around his waist. 6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat. The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf will be together, and a child will lead them The cow and the bear will graze, their young ones will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle. 8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit, and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den. 9 They will not harm or destroy each other on my entire holy mountain, for the land will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is filled with water.” What hope is there for our violent world… a child will be born, a child will lead, God Immanuel. Jesus is the toddler in Isaiah 10:8 playing beside the cobra's pit—the pit of our greatest fear. Jesus is all the sign we need. By the sending of his Son God will forever prove his awesome faithfulness to us. Say it! God is awesome in faithfulness. We either stand in Christ Alone or we don't stand at all. We either stand firm in faith, trusting God's promises, or we melt in fear.
Isaiah 11:10, “On that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will look to him for guidance, and his resting place will be glorious.” Isaiah 12:1-6, “On that day you will say: “I will give thanks to you, Lord, although you were angry with me. Your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me. 2 Indeed, God is my salvation; I will trust him and not be afraid, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation.” 3 You will joyfully draw water from the springs of salvation, 4 and on that day you will say, “Give thanks to the Lord; proclaim his name! Make his works known among the peoples. Declare that his name is exalted. 5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things. Let this be known throughout the earth. 6 Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is among you in his greatness.”