The Messiah in Isaiah--A Virgin Will Conceive

THE MESSIAH IN ISAIAH-A VIRGIN WILL CONCEIVE Spring Valley Mennonite; August 7, 2022; Isaiah 7:1-16 This morning we want to begin exploring the prophecies of the Messiah in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied extensively about the coming Messiah, beginning with the miraculous birth and continuing through his life and death. Messiah's earthly reign receives much attention, as Isaiah tells of the coming millennial Kingdom (that 1000 year period following the great tribulation spoken of in the revelation), and the prophecies reach on into eternity. As far as biblical prophecy, Isaiah offers a virtual feast! When we study prophecy, we must remember that the prophet constantly mingles together different time periods into a composite picture. The present and the future often are joined together. On one hand, the prophet speaks to his own time, to his own people. Yet, at the same time, the prophet will jump to the future. His prophecies may apply only to the present, only to the future, or to both the present and the future. Regarding the prophecies of the Messiah, we have the advantage of looking back and seeing both the application to Isaiah's day, as well as seeing how these predictions came true in the day of Jesus Christ. The section of Isaiah from Chapter 7 to 12:6 has been called "The Book of Immanuel." Today we want to examine the prophecy centered in 7:14 "A Virgin will conceive." We also want to look at the contemporary context in which this prophecy was given. Follow as I read in Isaiah Chapter 7, beginning at the beginning of the chapter. (Read vv. 1-16) I. THE HISTORICAL SETTING Isaiah speaks these words during the reign of King Ahaz. Remember that Ahaz was the grandson of Uzziah, the king who had reigned in Judah for 52 years. After Uzziah's death Isaiah received the vision in the temple recorded in chapter 6, where he saw God on His heavenly throne, "high and lifted up." It was at that time that Isaiah received his call as a prophet. Uzziah was succeeded by his son Jotham, who basically followed his father's righteous ways, only as second kings 16:35 states: "Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places." There was the undercurrent of rebellion and syncretism, which mixed the worship of YHWH with that of idols. Jotham reigned for 16 years. Isaiah's prophecy in Chapter 7 is given during the reign of Jotham's son, Ahaz. Ahaz was a wicked king. He was not a follower of the God of Israel but seemed to go out of his way to offend God. Turn to second Chronicles chapter 28. Reading from second chronicles 28; 1-6 (READ). See the word "wherefore" in verse five? It was a result of his wicked leadership of Ahaz that God judged the nation of Judah by bringing the dual adversaries of Aram (another name for Syria whose capital was Damascus), and the northern Kingdom of Israel (alternately called Ephraim.) The leaders of these two nations were Rezin, King of Aram, and Pekah, King of Israel. Remember, Isaiah is prophesying to the southern Kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem. Aram and Israel had agreed to together attack Judah. By all measures, they were successful, sweeping across the small nation, taking town after town. But Jerusalem was a walled city, and it stood firm against the enemy. Second Chronicles tells us that the army of Judah, Ahaz's army was defeated: "Pekah, king of Israel, slew 120,000 in one battle!", and great numbers of the inhabitants of Judah were taken into captivity, the city of Jerusalem itself was not taken. Ahaz was "shaking in his sandals" when he got word that Jerusalem was under attack. II. ISAIAH'S CHALLENGE TO AHAZ (VV. 3-7) In the midst of this crisis, God told Isaiah to take his young son, whose name meant 'a remnant will remain', and intercept King Ahaz as he was checking out the water supply of the city. His words: "Trust in God, and don't be afraid of these two kings. Be calm, and have no fear, and don't lose heart." For a moment put yourself in the place of King Ahaz: your country has been occupied by the enemy, your army is defeated, Jerusalem, the last stronghold in the land is surrounded, you're outnumbered and facing a siege, and a prophet tells you to be calm and not to fear? Sure, Isaiah! God was presenting Ahaz with a choice: he could believe God's prophet and trust God, or he could try and come up with his own solution to the crisis. Everything looked dark to Ahaz. He had few options, and here was a prophet telling him not to worry! Have you ever found yourself in such a position? There is a terrible, overwhelming crisis, and your options seem very limited. Then here comes the preacher or someone else quoting God's word which says "Cast all your burdens upon the Lord, because he cares for you" or "All things work together for good for those who are called by his name" or "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory?" Trusting in God doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense; Waiting on the Lord is just what you don't want to do! But then, isn't that what faith is all about? Is not faith clinging to God, making Him your stronghold, realizing that even if the situation seems hopeless, God is there and He is still on his throne? No, perhaps it doesn't make sense to trust in the Lord, but that is what God tells us to do. III. AHAZ'S REFUSAL OF THE SIGN (Read vv. 10-12) God spoke again to Ahaz: ask for a sign from Me-make it as difficult as you want. But notice how Ahaz replied, "I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord." On the surface, that sounds very pious, but there is an underlying element of hypocrisy. What he was really saying was, "I don't care to hear what the Lord might want me to do." If I might speak for a moment about an area of confusion in Christian circles today, what does it mean to "test the Lord?" Should we ask for God to give us a sign of some sort when we are trying to make a decision? When the Jews in the wilderness demanded water as we read in Exodus 17: "Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "give us water that we may drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" God judged them for their unbelief. Moses reminded the Jews in Deuteronomy 6:16, "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah." Yet, here in Isaiah, the prophet told Ahaz to ask for a sign. We read in Malachi 3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the store house, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this, says the Lord of Hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows." Matthew 12:38, Then some of the Scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign for you. But he answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and tree nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart to the earth." So, should we ask for signs or not? The answer seems to be that when God told someone to ask for a sign, then to refuse to ask is disobedience and rebellion. On the other hand, to demand God give you a sign to prove Himself is insolence and presumption. He has already promised He will lead and guide us; He has promised He will never leave or forsake us. Faith accepts these promises, not demanding that God prove Himself by some sign or symbol. Be very careful about demanding a sign-our enemy Satan can also take advantage of such a request. It is very easy to interpret something as a positive sign if we really want it! Like the woman who asked for a sign whether she should take a trip to Europe. She woke up the next morning and the clock read 7:47. She took this as a sign that she should board a 747 and fly to Europe! King Ahaz refused to trust God-Do you know why? He had another plan! His plan was to go to the King of Assyria. (Understand that the Assyrian Empire is different from the Syrians, whose capital was Damascus. Assyria's capital was Nineveh.) 2 Kings 16 tells us that story. The point is that Ahaz was given the solution to his dilemma: "trust in the Lord; He will rescue you." Ahaz refused, trying his own solution of hiring mercenaries. While it worked for few years, and Assyria took care of Rezin and Pekah, it sort of was like a mouse asking the cat for protection against a couple of rats. The King of Assyria soon came against Judah. Look at verses 17-25-Assyria will bring desolation and poverty to the land of Judah, something that happened during the reign of Hezekiah. IV. THE SIGN GOD GAVE AHAZ: A VIRGIN WILL CONCEIVE (Read vv. 13-16) Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, but God was going to give a sign regardless: a virgin will be with child and bear a son whose name will be Immanuel. We recognize the long-term fulfillment of this prophesy in the birth of Jesus Christ, about 750 years later. Matthew chapter 1 records the Angel's announcement to Joseph: "She shall bear a son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel,' which translated means, God with us." We know the long-term fulfillment of the prophesy; was there a short-term fulfillment in the days of Ahaz? I believe there was, for Isaiah was speaking to Ahaz. God was going to give a sign, even though Ahaz refused to ask for one. Now we understand there was only one virgin birth, that of our Lord. The Hebrew word here is "almah" which means a young unmarried girl, a virgin. The sign was that a young unmarried girl would get married; a child would be conceived and named Immanuel. Before this child would be old enough to know right from wrong, 3 or 4 years old, something historically would happen: these two Kings oppressing Judah would be eliminated. And this was just what happened: the King of Assyria defeated both of these rulers in short order. Who was the young woman and the child? We are never told. Some have suggested that Isaiah's first wife had died, and he took a second wife who bore a son. Others have speculated that Ahaz himself married a young virgin who bore him a son whom he named Hezekiah. It is interesting that Hezekiah became a godly king who led a revival in Judah, leading the nation of Judah to repentance of their sins. Perhaps his mother called him Immanuel. The important part of the prophesy to that time and place was that the kings oppressing Judah would be gone before the child got very old. From Ahaz's viewpoint, such a happening seemed impossible. The good news was that God was going to take care of the two kings, Rezin and Pekah. The bad news was that the King of Assyria would oppress them even worse. This was a direct result of King Ahaz's rejection of God and refusal to trust him. Hezekiah was faced with the same choice later, only he chose to trust God, and God miraculously rescued Jerusalem from Assyria as a result. V. THE IMPLICATIONS TO US OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH There are several lessons for us to learn from this account. First, God always keeps his word. What He says, He will do- without fail, 100% of the time. He promised the nation of Israel that He would bless them if they kept the covenant of the law, and conversely, He would judge them if they abandoned the commandments and followed other gods. We also see that God is a supernatural and omnipotent Being. He can do anything. If we believe in the God of the Bible, we should have no problem with the miraculous. Never doubt God's ability to do the miraculous if He wills. This passage also assures us that Jesus was the Messiah, Immanuel, for the prophecy was fulfilled in him. Jesus, born of a virgin, was Immanuel, God who is with us. Note also that because God fulfilled every single prophecy of the first coming of the Messiah to the letter, He will fulfill every other prophecy made regarding Jesus' second coming with equal thoroughness. There is great encouragement and hope for us in this. It was through the virgin birth that God demonstrated the uniqueness of Jesus. Never before or after was a baby born of a virgin. His birth was a miracle, and He was by virtue of the virgin birth completely man and completely God. The virgin birth is how God the Son took on human flesh. Jesus is God with us, Immanuel. There is another implication which comes as we think of the passage in Matthew where the angel quotes Isaiah: Joseph was in the biggest crisis of his life. The woman he loved and was betrothed to was pregnant. What was he to do? He had a plan, which was to quietly divorce her with no fanfare. Then God presented His plan: "Joseph, trust Me. Don't go through with your plan-I have it under control. Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife; Mary is the virgin foretold of by Isaiah. The child is Immanuel." Isn't that like the choice given Ahaz? Isn't it the choice we are often faced with? Amid our crisis, God says, "Trust Me; don't go running off trying to solve this problem on your own. Follow Me, for only I can defeat your enemies." One side point: Ahaz's solution brought short-term relief in his crisis. He might have thought, "Trusting Assyria worked!" But long-term, he brought disaster upon Judah, as years later Assyria laid waste most of Judah except the walled city of Jerusalem. All of us at times face overwhelming challenges to our faith. If you are not now, probably one is coming down the pike. How are you going to respond? God is telling you this morning, "Trust Me. I am the miracle-working God. Be patient, wait on Me." The choice is ours. 2