Who Is This Kid?

Somewhere around 1991 we had a small Christmas at my house. You have a certain level of expectation about what you are going to get. Or hopes, at least.

And I remember the disappointment of opening all the gifts and just a little twinge of disappointment that year. Oh, that’s it?

You hide it, because my parents taught me to be appreciative and everything. And I am thankful… but...

Well, the weirdest gift was each of us kids got a ping pong paddle. I guess I like ping pong well enough. We played a bit when we visited my cousins house, but it wasn’t exactly on my Christmas list.

,The opening was all over, the cleanup had begun, I forget how long they waited before finally telling us to take a look in the next room...

where my Dad had spent all night putting the ping pong table together. Now the ping pong paddles make sense!

From hidden disappointment to absolute celebration!

And you haven’t lived until you’ve seen my Mom play a vicious game of ping pong! Y’all can challenge her next week on the table out there :D.

Isaiah

It’s Christmas time, so of course, we are going to take a look at Isaiah the prophet.

Isaiah was a dude in a rough spot.

King Ahaz becomes King… and he’s bad news. His dad was a pretty good king and mostly “did what was right in the eyes of Lord.” His grandfather was a good king and “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” Ahaz… not so much.

Here’s the summary of his reign in 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 28:1–4 ESV

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as his father David had done, but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images for the Baals, and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

So… not so good.

Isaiah is sent as the prophet of God to this clown. King Ahaz is worried about Syria allying with Israel (which is now a separate country from Judah to the South). They had already clashed once and King Ahaz got stomped.

Isaiah is sent by God to tell King Ahaz not to worry, God is already sending judgment on them.

I promise, God says, and I’ll give you a sign to say I’m serious. Ask me for a sign.

Sign of the Savior

Isaiah 7:10–12 ESV

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.”

That’s some false humility there. Ahaz wants to ally with Assyria against Damascus and Israel, he doesn’t trust God. God offers a sign anyway:

Isaiah 7:13 ESV

And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

I’m going to give you a sign… even though you didn’t ask for one.

Isaiah 7:14–17 ESV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

Some of those words are so familiar. Some… aren’t.

When does the boy “know how to refuse the evil and choose the good?” That’s the age of accountability, typically 12-13 years of age in Hebrew homes.

Who is this kid? Scholars debate. Maybe Hezekiah, the next righteous king, (though he may have already been about 9 years old by the time of this prophecy). More likely Isaiah’s own son, announced in chapter 8.

The Hebrew word, used here, can mean young woman as well as virgin. The Greek word, used in Matthew that we are more familiar with, has the more narrow definition of virgin we are familiar with.

But either way, this prophecy is focused on an answer to their immediate problem. It is a sign for the moment.

It is a gift for the moment.

Ahaz has his eyes on the crisis of the moment. Isaiah has his eyes on the crisis of the moment. God answers their prayers.

Character of the Savior

Fast forward a bit for Isaiah. Surprise, surprise, King Ahaz doesn’t listen. Instead he turns to the occult, he sacrifices his own son as a burnt offering to appeal to Baal. That doesn’t work.

And so God turns Ahaz over. Damascus defeats him, takes many of his people prisoner, they kill another of his sons, they kill his right hand man, they kill his commander.

Ahaz doubles down, he starts worshipping the gods of Damascus. He takes the vessels out of the temples, shuts the doors of the temples, makes altars everywhere, stuff goes from bad to worse.

And so Isaiah looks forward to a new day, when this darkness will be lifted. He looks forward to a new king.

Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Who is he talking about? In a few years, Ahaz dies. They didn’t even bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel, they buried him in the city. And Hezekiah his son becomes king. And he, like his grandfather and great grandfather, “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”

He opens the temple in the first month. He restores the Levites, the priests, cleans everything up.

This is the immediate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Many of these are roles of the king and can be translated a bit differently.

Is Hezekiah “Mighty God?” himself? No. Hezekiah is not an “Everlasting Father...” but his “name could be called” these things because God, who is all of those, does these things through him. God brings peace through Hezekiah, might victories, he adds years to Hezekiah’s life.

Isaiah’s own name comes from the Hebrew phrase “yesha'yahu”, which means “God saves.” Same as “Joshua” or “Yeshua”. Not because Isaiah or Joshua themselves are God… but a sign pointing to God who saves.

And when Hezekiah comes… Judah is not disappointed. They really think this is an answer to all their prayers. This is the best fulfillment of the prophecy they can imagine.

Isaiah’s eyes are firmly fixed on the immediate problem: We have a wicked and foolish king who is leading us towards destruction.

Isaiah’s eyes are firmly fixed on an immediate solution: a new and better human king.

And that isn’t wrong. God gives these words, he gives these visions, and he gives King Hezekiah. Way better than King Ahaz.

But God has a bigger plan. He isn’t ignoring the people’s cries in the moment… he answers their prayer. A king (small k) is coming.

But just as an author foreshadows the coming climax in little hints and clues dropped along the way. God is building all along towards the REAL answer: Jesus is coming. The King of Kings is on the way.

Hezekiah is great… but wait until you get a look at King Jesus.

Sign of a Savior, Immanuel, Jesus

More than 700 years later. Here comes a sign. And an angel cleared some things up for my friend Joseph, and for us:

Matthew 1:20–25 ESV

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

This is the sign of God’s presence with us: God’s actual living breathing incarnate presence with us.

This is Immanuel, truly in his own self the “Mighty God”. All the things Hezekiah doesn’t wish on his best day he could be, Jesus is. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

All of the people. Not just Isaiah, every human being from the beginning to the end… our eyes on our moment, our problems, our wishes, our hopes.

and God hears. and God answers. And God is good.

But thank you God… He had a bigger plan. To give us what we needed, far beyond what we knew to ask for.

700 years later, think about that? That’s a slow play from our Heavenly Father. That’s before “Columbus sailed the ocean blue” ago. The black death was hitting Europe 700 years ago.

A ping pong paddle to a table doesn’t really capture this. No other gift compares.

The Israelites celebrating Hezekiah’s reign is like my kids playing in the cardboard box the gift came in.

In Christmas, we celebrate God’s greatest gift, His greatest answer to every prayer we couldn’t even pray, God gives His own Son, His own Self, for our salvation.