Christ in Isaiah?

The Birth of Jesus Predicted in Isaiah
Isa. 7:1-16

Several weeks ago we were looking at Old Testament predictions about the birth of Jesus. We started in the book of Genesis (which contains three), and it is there that we see God revealing to mankind that even though there was a great failure on the part of man in the garden, He wasn’t going to abandon His desire to live in fellowship with His creation. So immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised them that eventually He would send them a Savior to make things right between God and man.

That first promise, made 1,500 years before it was fulfilled, was somewhat vague and indistinct, but it revealed God’s heart. He wasn’t content to let His creation languish in a state of alienation, living lives characterized by toil and fear and ultimately death. And so right in the immediate context of a massive failure on the part of man, God was making a way to get things back on track. Then, we saw that after hundreds of years of silence about the coming savior, again, in the context of sin, rebellion, and failure on the part of man, God gave His people another glimpse of their coming savior. We saw this in the book of Numbers when Balaam prophesied in Numbers 24 that a scepter was going to rise from Israel. Their deliverer wasn’t in the immediate future, and He wasn’t from the immediate area, but God’s plan was still on track.

And so what I want to do this morning is take you to the book of Isaiah and show you what is perhaps the most well known - as well as misunderstood - of the Old Testament prophecies about the birth of Jesus. It is found here in chapter 7, and we’ll read it together and then look at some interesting things about it.

When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. 2 Now the house of David (the court, or royal family) was told, "Aram has allied itself with Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Launderer's Field. 4 Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood--because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 "Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it."

7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "'It will not take place, it will not happen, 8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. 9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.'"

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." 12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test." 13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16 for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.

The first thing I want to share with you about this prophecy is that once again it is given in the context of fear, and despair, and certain defeat. Ahaz, the king of Jerusalem, is facing two nations intent on destroying his country. They have been very successful in their march toward Jerusalem, and now they have encircled the city and a state of siege is in place. Food and water is limited, and the psychological dimension of this kind of warfare is setting it. On their way to Jerusalem, Rezin, king of Aram has already destroyed most of Ahaz’s army (120,000) and deported 200,000 people.

So what is Ahaz, as the king of God’s people, supposed to do? He has two choices. He can turn to God and look for deliverance, or he can turn to man and look for deliverance. In a situation like this, turning to man would be the idea of forging some kind of alliance with a stronger nation and ask them to come to your aid. That is exactly

what Ahaz does, even though our text doesn’t say it. But let me read to you 2 Kings 16, which is the historical account of this passage.

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had driven out from before the sons of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. 5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war; and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, "I am your servant and your son; come up and deliver me from the hand of the king of Aram, and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me." 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.

So in spite of the alliance Ahaz has forged with the king of Assyria, the message Isaiah is to give to King Ahaz is found in verses 3 – 6. In a nutshell, God’s message is, “Don’t panic.” He refers to the two kings of the invading armies as “smoldering stubs of firewood.” This is a reference to a branch that has been thrown part way onto a campfire, and when the fire eventually goes out, you can pick that branch up and what will it be doing? It may have a red coal on the end and be smoking, but it is only a matter of time before it goes out. That smoldering branch isn’t really a serious threat. That is the point God is making to Ahaz. Don’t worry about these two kings, there is some smoke here, and a little heat, but no serious concern.

Now, Ahaz may be a little reluctant to accept God’s assessment of the situation. After all, he has seen the devastation, so in verses 7 and 8, God explains the specifics. In the previous verses He simply says, “Don’t worry about these guys.” Now he shows why, and the essence of God’s message is that these two nations won’t even be in existence in the near future. God graciously gives Ahaz insight into the future and assures him that the plans of Ephraim and Aram won’t stand. (v. 7) – “It will not takeplace, it will not happen.” And because of this, God’s message to Ahaz in v. 9 is, “Stand firm in your faith.”

So it is in the context of Ahaz’s disbelief, and wavering trust, and unwillingness to throw himself on the care of God that God gives Ahaz an amazing offer. Look with me in verse 11 where God says, “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” This is what we call carte blanche, right? Anything you want, Ahaz, make it as big or as small as you want, and I’ll do it to prove to you that I will take care of you. This is an unprecedented offer on the part of God!

And in verse 12, we have Ahaz’s answer. Now on the surface level, it sounds pious, but from what we know about Ahaz he has no godly impulse, no interest in a right relationship with God, he has participated in barbaric idol worship, he has pillaged the temple of God to pay off Assyria, so his words, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test” is really nothing more than a pious dismissal. We know this as well because of Isaiah’s rebuke in verse 13 – “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?” He has cast his lot with the king of Assyria, so nothing God can do will change his decision.

What would you do at this point if you were God? Wouldn’t you say to Ahaz, “OK, if that’s the way you want it, that’s the way you’re gonna get it!” That would have been my response, but note what God does in verse 14. God gives him a sign anyway! And the sign is very curious. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He (this son)will be eating curds and honey (the equivalent of fast food as opposed to food produced agriculturally, necessitated by the land having been decimated by war) when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16 for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.” In other words, within a few years of the boy’s birth, the lands of Aram and Israel themselves will be destroyed.

The amazing sign that God was going to give Ahaz involved four things. First of all, God predicts that “the virgin” was going to get pregnant. Secondly, that conception was going to produce a male child; third, that the child was going to be called Immanuel, and fourth, concerning a time frame, that before the little boy was old enough to exercise moral judgment, the lands of these two kings Ahaz was so afraid of were going to be destroyed.

Now, the question we have to ask is this. When was this prophecy fulfilled? Another way we could put it is, “Is this a prophecy about Jesus?” Now remember, the prophecy is serving as a sign to King Ahaz – “the Lord Himself will give you a sign.” In other words, it is going to have to be fulfilled in his lifetime if it is going to accomplish God’s purpose in giving it. So, let’s look at the fulfillment in the next chapter. Look with me at chapter 8 and let’s read the first 10 verses that are describing the coming invasion.

Then the LORD said to me, "Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: [Maher-shalal-hash-baz – KJV, NIV] Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.

2 "And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

Starting in v. 3 is where we start to see the fulfillment of the prophecy of 7:14.

3 So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son.
Who is this prophetess? Obviously, she is Isaiah’s wife, and we see the prophecy of the conception producing a male child come true. The problem though is the part about the virgin conceiving. How does that work? There are two theories.

The first theory is that Isaiah’s first wife had died (remember in 7:3 he takes his son with him), and so “the prophetess” is his second wife. Now what about the virgin thing? Do virgins ever conceive? Probably on a regular basis! I’m not sure what the statistics are, but it isn’t out of the ordinary for a virgin to get pregnant on her wedding night. Now for a virgin to conceive without the aid of a male – like Mary – that is spectacular. So the first theory is that Isaiah married this woman and their first union resulted in a conception that eventually produced a son.

The second theory is this is an example of a prophecy that has both an immediate and a future fulfillment. Or sometimes it is called a near and a distant fulfillment – portions of it being fulfilled immediately with other parts coming true at a later date. If that is what is going on, the virgin conceiving part was fulfilled at the time of Christ.

Then the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for [and note the parallels here] before the boy knows how to cry out 'My father ' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."

In other words, these things will come to pass in the child’s infancy. In ch. 7 that concept was conveyed by making reference to things happening before the child had reached the age of discerning between right and wrong; here his infancy is described by saying these things were going to come to pass before he speak coherently.

5 And again the LORD spoke to me further, saying, 6 "Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah [also known as the pool or stream of Siloam in Jerusalem], and rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah; 7 "Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the strong and abundant waters of the Euphrates, Even the king of Assyria and all his glory; And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks. 8 "Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through, It will reach even to the neck; And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.

Who is God talking to in v. 8? Is it Isaiah? Has Isaiah’s name changed? Most probably, He is talking to Isaiah’s son. Back in verse 3, he was named Maher-shalal-hash-baz, a name that was designed to convey a message, so it isn’t out of the ordinary to believe that this son was also called Immanuel, another name designed to convey a message. And before you start to think that I’m really reaching here, and seeing things that aren’t in the text, remember that for the prophecy of 7:14 to be fulfilled as a sign to Ahaz, this is how we need to understand it. Otherwise, there isn’t a sign.

Now, Immanuel means “God with us,” and that is precisely what comes out in verse 9. Starting in v. 9, the speaker changes, it is no longer God speaking to Isaiah, but Isaiah speaking to the nations that are coming against his land to destroy it.

9 "Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered; And give ear, all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves, yet be shattered; Gird yourselves, yet be shattered. 10 "Devise a plan but it will be thwarted; State a proposal, but it will not stand, For God is with us."

The Hebrew there is what? Right. Immanuel. The idea here is that Isaiah’s son was a living, walking, object lesson to the nation of Judah and the people of Jerusalem that even though their nation was going to be overrun, and even though they were going to suffer through all the privations of war and siege and captivity, God was still with them. The essence of these two verses is that the hostile nations can give it their best shot, but God’s people are always going to come out on top. The temporary destruction is not an accurate reflection of the long term reality.

So what we see here is another example of the pattern that has been established by God as He comes to His people in the context of fear and distress to give his people glimpses of their eventual deliverance. This is why we read in Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus (1:23), “Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "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." Isaiah 7:14 fits so perfectly the model of the messianic prophecies that God told Joseph the birth of Jesus was in fact, a secondary fulfillment, another fulfillment of the original prophecy.

Let me give you several lessons we can take away from this passage.

First of all, God doesn’t always grant us immediate deliverance from our oppressors. Isaiah’s nation still had to suffer through destruction and eventual deportation. But in spite of that, God’s people ultimately end up on top!

Secondly, note how God always appears in your extremity. In each of the prophecies we have looked at, God stepped into the situation and gave His people hope. That is God’s nature. And so we endure because we know how God works.

Third, we look forward with expectation to the return of our Savior. In the very same way that God fulfilled each of the prophesies of the OT concerning the birth of Jesus, so too will God fulfill all the yet to be accomplished promises of His return. It may not be this week, it may not even be in our lifetime, but we know “He is not slack concerning His promises.”

And finally, where are you looking for your salvation? Ahaz looked around him for earthly deliverance and spurned the offer of God. That was a disastrous decision and the consequences were enormous. How about you? God offers us salvation through the death of His Son, and we have to decide if we are going to accept it or not.