Isaiah 7-9; Immanuel ~ 20221218 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
12/18 Isaiah 7-9, Immanuel; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20221218_advent-immanuel.mp3
Last time we looked at Zechariah, who prophesied that his son John
Luke 1:76 ...will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
We saw in this an echo of Isaiah 60
Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
...19 The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. 20 Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
There is a darkness covering the earth, and a thick darkness the peoples; the darkness of our transgressions, iniquities, and sins, our rebellion against God. And we are groping in the darkness and can’t find our way out. But a glorious light is about to dawn; YHWH himself will arise upon you, his glory will be seen upon you. Jesus, YHWH come in the flesh, is the light shining that overcomes the darkness. In him we find forgiveness of our sins.
We saw in Revelation that the new city Jerusalem
Revelation 21:23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb
God himself comes and overcomes our darkness.
Matthew 4
Today I want to look at another prophecy of Isaiah, one that Jesus is said to fulfill in Matthew 4, another prophecy about Jesus being the light.
In Matthew 4, after Jesus is baptized by John, after being tempted by the devil,
Matthew 4:12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Historical Backdrop
To really appreciate the significance of this prophecy, we need to set the stage of Isaiah 9, which Matthew quotes here. After Solomon, God’s people were divided between Israel and Judah, the north and the south. Jerusalem was capital of Judah, and Samaria capital of Israel in the north. There was frequent war between Israel and Judah, and in chapter 7 Isaiah addresses Ahaz, the wicked king of Judah.
Isaiah 7:1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
Here’s what is going on. Prior to the Babylonians and the Persians, the Assyrians were the major world power in the middle east, from about 900 to 600 BC. Assyria wanted Egypt, and tiny kingdoms like Edom, Aram, Phillistia, and Israel were in his path. The only hope for these small kingdoms was to form alliances with one another, and Israel had joined with Aram (which later became Syria), and pressured Judah to join them. When Judah resisted, they attacked, seeking to strengthen their position. After an earlier unsuccessful attack, rumors were now circulating of a plot to overthrow Jerusalem and replace Ahaz a descendant of David with their own king who would be sympathetic to their cause. The heart of Ahaz and the hearts of the people were quaking like leaves in the wind.
God sent Isaiah with a word for Ahaz.
Isaiah 7:3 And the LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son [whose name means ‘A Remnant Shall Return], at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 7 thus says the Lord GOD: “‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.’”
God would stand up to keep his promises to David. Isaiah meets Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool. Before Ahaz’ son Hezekiah dug the tunnel to bring the water in to Jerusalem underground, their water source was exposed and vulnerable. Ahaz is preparing Jerusalem for a siege by seeking to secure his water source.
God gave Ahaz a warning; be careful; do not fear. The threat is real, the rumors are true, but the sovereign God says ‘it shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.’ The Lord encourages Ahaz that the only stable place to stand is to trust in his God.
But it seems Ahaz was not listening. The voices around him were drowning out the one voice he should pay attention to. The gracious Lord spoke to Ahaz again.
Isaiah 7:10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.”
Like Gideon before him, God graciously offers to confirm his word with a sign to fortify faith in him. But Ahaz, like the devil himself, quotes Scripture back to the Lord, which sounds pious, but is a cover for his refusal to believe. Ahaz has his own plan, so he is not interested in God’s; according to 2 Kings 16:7-8 he takes treasures from God’s temple to hire the king of Assyria (remember, this is the greater enemy) to attack Aram and his brothers in Israel.
This is a decisive point in the history of the Davidic dynasty. Remember, God made promises to David, that ‘I will raise up your offspring after you ...and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ...And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever’ (2Sam7:12-13, 16). Here God tells Ahaz, descendant of David ‘If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all’, and Ahaz rejects the good word of the Lord and chooses to rely on political maneuvering and military alliance. What will become of David’s dynasty? What will become of the promises of God?
The Promise of Immanuel
Isaiah 7:13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
Ahaz had rejected the Lord, but God gave the house of David a sign anyway. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name ‘God with us’. Although the house of David had deserted their God, God had not deserted his people or his promises. He is with them, and despite their unfaithfulness, he will keep his word. Remember, Isaiah was instructed to bring his son ‘A Remnant Shall Return’ with him.
In the short term, in just a few years, the land of Israel and Aram, the immediate threat to Judah, will be deserted. In 733 BC Tiglath-Pileser invaded Israel and took Galilee and all the land of Naphtali, among other cities (2Ki.15:29). In 722 Samaria fell to Assyria under Shalmaneser. But as the prophecy goes on,
Isaiah 7:17 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.”
This will be worse for the dynasty of David than the kingdom being divided under Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Not only will Assyria come against Israel and Aram, they will also come against Judah and shave it bare (7:20). In 701 BC Sennacherib invaded Judah, took all the fortified cities, and laid siege to Jerusalem (2Ki.18:13).
In chapter 8 Isaiah is told to name his son Maher-shalal-hash-baz, which means ‘Speed-Spoil-Haste-Booty’; indicating the swiftness and plunder Assyria would gain as they invaded the land. Isaiah predicts that they will not only take Damascus and Samaria, but pictures the Assyrians as a mighty river overflowing its banks and sweeping into Judah; ‘it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel’ (8:8).
Immanuel’s land will be filled with enemies, but they are warned:
Isaiah 8:9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered. 10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.
The enemies of God and their plans will come to nothing, because Immanuel, God is with us.
Ahaz’ unbelief was a turning point leading to the destruction of Israel and the subjugation of Judah, until they went into captivity in Babylon. Their freedom gone, the dynasty of David dissolved, until the heir to the throne worked as a poor carpenter in Nazareth...
Do not Stumble in the Darkness; Fear God Alone
Isaiah is warned not to fear
Isaiah 8:11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
Fear the Lord alone. He is a sanctuary to those who take refuge in him, but he is a rock of offense and stumbling to those who will not.
So Isaiah affirms:
Isaiah 8:17 I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
He warns against the danger of seeking insight in the demonic darkness, of dealing with the dead through mediums and necromancers. Rather, we have God’s word!
Isaiah 8:20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Isaiah 9
This is the dark backdrop that leads us up to Isaiah 9, which says:
Isaiah 9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
Even the northern kingdom, annihilated by Assyria never to rise again, even Galilee, even the land of Naphtali, covered with gloom and anguish, even on those who dwelt in demonic darkness, on them the light has shone. Jesus was known by his hometown, Nazareth of Galilee. His first sign, turning water into wine at a wedding, he did at Cana in Galilee (Jn.2:1,11).
Matthew 4:23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.
‘Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.’ Isaiah goes on:
Broken as Midian
Isaiah 9:3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
The breaks them as on the day of Midian; it was Midian who hired Balaam to curse Israel (Num.22); it was Midian who seduced Israel into idolatry with their women (Num.25). It was Midian who oppressed Israel in the days of Gideon, and the Lord broke the power of Midian with a word and with light shining in the darkness, as Gideon and his 300 men broke the jars that held their torches and blew their trumpets and shouted (Judg.7). Light breaks in on the darkness!
Isaiah goes on with an announcement of light and hope that will break the darkness forever.
Isaiah 9:6 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. 7 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.
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2022.12.18 4th Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7-9; People in Darkness have Seen a Great Light
A Light in Zebulun, Naphtali, Galilee
Matthew 4:12-17; Isaiah 9:1-7
1010 – 970 BC David
970 – 930 BC Solomon
930 BC Rehoboam (Judah) / Jeroboam (Israel)
…
735 BC Ahaz (Judah) / Pekah (Israel) – Rezin (Aram/Syria)
Isaiah 7:1-2
Ahaz feared Israel and Aram (Syria)
Isaiah 7:1-2
God sent Isaiah to exhort and encourage Ahaz:
-do not fear, God is sovereign, stand firm in faith
Isaiah 7:3-9
God offers a sign to build faith in him
Isaiah 7:10-12; 2 Kings 16:7-8
God will keep his promises to David
2 Samuel 7:12-16
God gives a the sign of Immanuel; God With Us
Isaiah 7:13-16; 8:8-10; Matthew 1:18-23
733 BC Galilee, Naphtali… fell to Assyria under Tilgath Pileser III
(2 Kings 15:29)
722 BC Samaria fell to Assyria under Shalmaneser (2 Kings 17:5-6)
701 BC Judah’s fortified cities fell to Assyria under Sennacherib
(2 Kings 18:13; Isaiah 7:17 – 8:8)
Isaiah is warned to fear the LORD alone
Isaiah 8:11-17
The darkness of turning away from God’s word
Isaiah 8:18-22
Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee overcame the darkness
Isaiah 9:1-7; Matthew 2:23; John 2:1, 11; Matthew 4:23-24
Broken as on the day of Midian with light and word
Numbers 22, 25; Judges 7
Hope in the virgin-born child Immanuel
Isaiah 9:6-7
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org