Foreshadowing of Christ in Isaiah 7:1–16
St. John's Lutheran Church
Second Wednesday in Advent
Sermon
on Isaiah 7:1–16
Isaiah 7:1–16: “1In 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. 2When 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. 3And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4And 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. 5Because 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,” 7thus says the Lord God: “ ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8For 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. 9And 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.’ ” 10Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11“Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.”
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
We live in an ever-changing world. We see this in our price of goods and services, our politics, and our society values. Today is nothing like it was 20 years ago, or 40 or even 50 years ago. The world is in a constant state of change. In some ways this is good, improved medicine has help increase health which extents our lives, faster way of communicating, and knowledge just a few clicks away. But just as many good things come from change, so there is bad things as well. With an every changing world it hard to be certain on anything or on anyone.
This uncertain nature is what the King of Jude was experiencing in our text today. To sum up the situation; King Ahaz was facing war not just with one kingdom but two kingdoms, Syria and the northing kingdom of Israel. Uncertain times indeed.
God made a promise that a descendant of Davids house would sit on a throne and his kingdom would last forever. 2 Samuel 7:16 God said to David “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”. God sent Isaiah and his son Shear-jashub – which mean “a remnant shall return/remain” – to speak with the King Ahaz to reassure him of God promise made to David.
And after Isaiah explain all of this to the King, God told Ahaz to ask for a sign. The king could have asked for anything as God did not limit what the king could ask for; and if I were in the kings place I probably asked for a lager army or at the very list the other nations army to just go away. The king did none of this. King Ahaz did not believe or trust God and his promise to David.
This very thing is true of use. We have a hard time trusting in God. The world tells us that God does not keep is promises, that God is a liar, that He is no different than from you or I, that God is not loving but a power hungry dictator, that God does not exist at all and he is just a delusion, a product of a week mind or intellect.
Our distrust of God is born out of our sin, our guilt; if God is no different than you or I, if God does not exist then we have no sin and nothing to atone for. This way of thinking is self-destructive and lead to a break down of our social order. For if God did not exist there would be no right or wrong, everything would be base on our own subjecting thoughts, and perspectives. This would be chaos.
Luckly for you and I, God does keep his promises. For when Ahaz would not ask for a sign, God gave him one. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”. To you and I this is an impossible sign. Jewish scholars’ debate over the meaning of this text – most concluding that this is referring to Isaiah next child. And they are right, well partially right. By the time that Isaiah son was 3 years old, the issue with Syria and Israel was resolved.
This sign of a virgin giving birth is impossible, and that is the point, for what is impossible of us, is only possible of God. Christ birth of the Virgin Mary is to show us that God does keep his promises and that this child is some one exceptional. And like King Ahaz, who was basically under siege by foreign powers. We are also under siege by our sin, the World and the devil. It is this child that free us from this siege.
Let us not be like Ahaz who distrusted God and His promises, but let us be more like Joseph, Jesus earthly father, who trusted in God and in His word. Who trusted in what the angle of the Lord said, that the child growing in Mary was not the product of some youthful indiscretion, but God very own Son. For the sign of the “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel” is to give hope and encouragement to the faithful and fear to the enemies of God.
Know in this every changing world of ours, that God loves you. We are assured of His love by the fulfilling of His promises. That a virgin, Mary, did conceive and bear a son, Jesus Christ, that He is Immanuel, God with us. And we can be assured that out of His love for us, Christ took upon our sins, died on the cross, rose from the dead, so that we can be saved and live an everlasting life with Him in heaven.
Amen.
