Read
Isaiah 7-9 & Galatians
4
To discover:
As you read consider how
the events look forward to Christ.
To ponder:
These events take place as Aram
and the northern kingdom of Israel
(also called “Ephraim” after it’s most prominent tribe) are allied against the
southern kingdom of Judah ,
ruled by king Ahaz. Although they are unable to take Jerusalem ,
Ahaz and his people are shaken (7v1-2). By commissioning Isaiah and his son
(whose name means “a remnant will return”) to meet Ahaz, he is no doubt wanting
him to realise that through faith, the people can survive. And so Isaiah urges
Ahaz not to be afraid, describing the allies as smouldering firewood – ie. not
particularly dangerous. He acknowledges that they are seeking Ahaz’s ruin,
wanting to invade Judah
and place their own king over it. But God declares through Isaiah that this
won’t happen because Aram ’s
capital and king are not an especially significant power. Indeed, he also
predicts that within 65 years the northern kingdom will be shattered (through
their coming exile), similarly, because its capital and king aren’t an
especially significant either. He adds that unless Ahaz is able to trust him in
faith to protect him and his people, he will not be able to “stand” – ie. he
will remain terrified (as 7v2) and eventually be defeated. Yet God is gracious:
Accounting for Ahaz’s weakness, he urges him to ask for whatever sign he wants,
in order to boost his faith that God is with him (7v3-11).
Foolishly, Ahaz refuses, and
spiritualizes this as not wanting to test God. In reality, he is not even
willing to try to trust God’s word, because he knows that might mean facing up
to his enemies. Isaiah’s response is stark, and addressed to the kingly line.
Ahaz is trying God’s patience, and in response God will give his own sign
anyway: A woman who at the time was a virgin, will conceive and bear a son
called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (7v12-14). Because of the ruin due
to come on Judah ,
he will be destined to eat only curds and honey even when old enough to know
right and wrong (7v15, see 7v22). Yet, even before that, and so in the next few
years, God will lay waste the lands of the allies Ahaz fears, and then move the
Assyrian empire against Judah
too, bringing on them a time worse than any since the kingdom split after
Solomon (7v13-17). This detail means that we cannot jump straight from 7v14 to
its fulfilment in Christ (Matt 1v23). Most likely, it initially referred to
Isaiah’s son via the prophetess, who would have been a virgin at the time the sign
was foretold (compare 8v4 with 7v16). Matthew’s point is that just as in the
days of Isaiah, Jesus’ birth is a sign of God coming in judgement against his
people whilst calling them to trust him. The challenge is for us to do what
Ahaz couldn’t, and so escape destruction.
Isaiah
continues with imagery that describes God calling Egypt
and Assyria to ruin the land and humiliate the people.
All they will be left to eat is curds from milk and honey (bringing the
prediction about the son to pass) because vineyards and fields will be covered
with briers and thorns (7v18-25). In then telling Isaiah to write the name
meaning “quick to the plunder” on a scroll witnessed by others, God formalizes
this prophecy as certain. And so the sign is fulfilled as the prophetess gives
birth to a son, and God predicts the capitals of Aram
and Ephraim will be carried off by Assyria before he can
say father and mother. By naming him “quick to plunder” God also stresses this
will happen (8v1-4). He then speaks again: Because the people considered his
help like a mere gentle stream, and so rejected it, whilst rejoicing that the
kings of Aram and Ephraim will be destroyed (no doubt when they should have
lamented it), he will bring Assyria like a mighty floodwater drowning Judah, the
land in which Immanuel lives.
But here there is an interesting
change. Because Immanuel is a sign that God is with his people, whatever
destruction they must suffer in the short term, they can be sure God will not
abandon them. And so the prophecy calls the nations to prepare for battle
whilst declaring that they will be shattered (8v8-10), and with great intensity
(strong hand) God warns Isaiah not to follow the people in paranoid fear at
plots against them. Instead, he is to fear God, who is almighty and so fully
able to be a sanctuary to those who trust in him. However, for both kingdoms of
Israel , he will
be a stone they stumble over, in the sense that their attitude to him will
bring their downfall in being broken and snared (8v11-15). Jesus makes just
this point about himself, implying he saw himself as God (Matt 21v44, Rom
9v33). To reject him is extremely serious. But to trust him removes fear.
In the light of all this, Isaiah
commits himself and the prophets who followed him as disciples to keep God’s
law (or perhaps hold to the word God had given), trust God and wait for his
deliverance. He declares how he and his sons named “remnant will return” and
“quick to the plunder” (7v3, 8v3) are signs and symbols of what God has
promised. He then seems to address his disciples in telling them not to give
into pressure to consult mediums, who do not speak according to God’s word;
promising that they, or those who consult them, will end up starving, cursing
their king and God, before experiencing the darkness of death and what lies
beyond (8v18-22). It’s a warning against giving up on God and seeking help
elsewhere in times of trial.
We have little space for the
famous chapter 9. Here we see clearly that there is more to Immanuel than
Isaiah’s son. The hope for those who hold out in faith will come from Galilee ,
dispelling the darkness of despair and death with light. What follows is a
promise of enlargement of the nation, joy, deliverance from oppressors, and a
child born to rule as the everlasting God with wisdom, bringing peace, and
fulfilling God’s promise to David by forever reigning on his throne with
justice and righteousness – and all achieved by the LORD (9v1-7). Here we see
that Judah ’s
exile ended not when the people returned, as they continued to be oppressed. It
ended with the coming of Christ and the kingdom to come.
The rest of the chapter states
that there would be no restoration for the northern kingdom, because God
maintained his anger against them (9v8-12). Indeed, because the people hadn’t returned
to him when experiencing his judgement, their leaders and prophets who mislead
them would be cut off, and all the people suffer because they all acted
wickedly. Indeed, just as wickedness consumes, so would God’s wrath, causing
the northern kingdom to fight amongst itself and then turn against Judah
(9v13-21).
Praying it
home:
Praise God for the
deliverance from all oppression enjoyed through Christ. Pray that when faced
with trial and the enemies of darkness, you would not fear or not look anywhere
but Christ for help.
Thinking
further:
None
today.
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