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Friends, please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We continue our
study of the book of the prophet Isaiah and we find ourselves once again in
Isaiah chapter 7. We’ll focus on verses 10 through 17. We began investigating and
studying this passage on the last Lord’s Day and mostly focused on verses 10
through 14. Today we especially consider verses 14 through 17, but I’m going to
read verses 10 through 25 of Isaiah chapter 7. You’ll find that on page 679
in your pew Bible. Dear friends, this is the Word of God. Let us hear it with
reverence and awe. Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz. Ask a sign of the Lord your God.
Let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask and
I will not put the Lord to the test. And he said, Hear then, O house of David, is
it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord
himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and
shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to
refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the
evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 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. In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end
of the streams of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they
will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the clefts of the rocks
and on all the thorn bushes and on all the pastures. In that day the Lord will
shave with the razor that is hired beyond the river with the king of Assyria,
the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also. In that
day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep and because of the
abundance of milk that they give he will eat curds for everyone who is left in
the land will eat curds and honey. In that day every place where there used to
be a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver will become briars and
thorns. With bow and arrows a man will come there for all the land will be
briars and thorns and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe
you will not come there for fear of briars and thorns but they will become a
place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread. Dear friends the
grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God endures forever.
Let’s pray for the Lord to bless the proclamation of his word. Oh Lord and
Father in heaven you are the true and living God and you are a God who has
revealed yourself to us. We thank you and praise you Lord that not only have
you revealed yourself in your mighty works of creation and providence but
that you have revealed yourself in a special and saving way through the
mighty works of redemption that you have accomplished and as those works of
redemption are recorded for us in your holy word the Bible. We pray that by your
spirit as we consider this portion of your word this morning that we would
hear the word with reverence and awe that indeed may our listening to the
preaching of your word be an act of worship and we pray that by your spirit
you would feed our souls through the word today and edify us and build us up
in our most holy faith that we might go from this place refreshed and
strengthened and equipped to serve you in our daily callings and vocations. We
pray these things Heavenly Father in Jesus name and all of God’s people said
Amen. Your congregation you may be seated.
Well the title of my sermon this morning is the sign of the Virgin born in
Emmanuel and if you’re following along in your sermon outline I’d encourage
the children to listen for these five words the words Messiah, King, Birth,
Emmanuel, and Faith. Well dear ones I want to talk for a few moments in
introducing this sermon about theological liberalism. Theological
liberalism is one of the greatest theological and spiritual cancers that
has afflicted the church in the last century century and a half or so. Friends
the basic stance of so-called theological liberalism also known as
modernism or sometimes known as progressive Christianity the basic
stance of that position can be summed up by the statement Christianity is a life
not a doctrine. A more updated way of expressing this perspective is the
saying deeds not creeds. Now friends it is true that biblical Christianity is
indeed a way of life. Biblical Christianity is not merely going to
church on Sunday it’s not merely believing certain propositions as
important as those acts. Our true biblical Christianity results in a life
of discipleship a life of following Jesus as Lord and Savior but it is not
a way of life that is somehow opposed to or divorced from biblical doctrines and
Bible based creeds. No my friends true biblical historic Christianity is a way
of life that is based upon and rooted in the divinely revealed doctrines and
truths that are contained in the Word of God the Holy Scriptures the Bible. As
followers of Jesus Christ we confess a creed a creed that is based upon God’s
Word and by the grace of God we seek however imperfectly we seek to live out
the implications of that creed in our day-to-day lives by living lives of
faithful discipleship to the lordship of Jesus Christ our Savior. In other words
friends true historic Christianity is not merely a system of morality and
ethics cloaked in a veneer of religious ceremonialism and pious talk which is
what it would be if theological liberalism were true. No dear ones
genuine Christianity as revealed in the Word of God is a redemptive supernatural
religion a religion that is founded upon the saving work of the supernatural
divine Son of God our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is a life that is
grounded upon the doctrines revealed in the Word of God and rooted in our
spiritual and saving union with the resurrected and reigning Lord Jesus
Christ. My dear listeners this is why consistent theological liberalism is
simply not the same thing as Christianity though liberalism
disingenuously and falsely claims the name of Christian for itself. As the late
Dr. J. Gressom Machin pointed out in his timely book Christianity and Liberalism
and I quote from Dr. Machin he writes Christians stand in a religious
relation to Jesus liberals do not stand in a religious relation to Jesus again
he’s talking about theological liberals here modernists as we would call them
and in talking about the difference between Christianity and liberalism Dr.
Machin asks what difference could be more profound than that and he goes on
to explain he says the modern liberal preacher reverences Jesus he has the
name of Jesus forever on his lips he speaks of Jesus as the supreme
revelation of God he enters or tries to enter into the religious life of Jesus
but he does not stand in a religious relation to Jesus Jesus for him is an
example for faith not the object of faith did you catch that again for the
theological liberal Jesus for him is an example for faith not the object of
faith the modern liberal tries to have faith in God like the faith which he
supposes Jesus had in God but he does not have faith in Jesus my friends one
of the ways that the liberal approach to Jesus manifests itself is in the liberal
rejection of the supernatural the liberal rejection of the miraculous as
it is revealed in the Bible and that leads liberalism and liberals in general
to reject fundamental gospel doctrines doctrines such as the deity of Christ our
Lord’s miracles and especially his literal bodily resurrection from the
dead for the liberal theologian Jesus may be viewed as having a supreme God
consciousness some liberals would say that Jesus was the most God intoxicated
man or the most God indwelt man but the liberal does not view Jesus as the God
man the typical liberal does not view Jesus as the literal son of God
incarnate and so our liberal friends dismiss and sometimes even scoff at
biblical miracles and you know one of their favorite miracles one of their
favorite targets of attack when it comes to their attack against the
miraculous is their attack against the miraculous virgin birth of Christ our
Savior however here is where our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is so very
relevant our passage for this morning is a strong rebuke against theological
liberalism and other false doctrines that would deny the supernatural
realities revealed to us in the Word of God for in this clear messianic prophecy
the prophet Isaiah writing some five hundred more than five hundred years
before the birth of Jesus Christ the prophet Isaiah writing under the Holy
Spirit’s inspiration predicts that the promised Messiah would indeed be born in
a supernatural fashion for as verse 14 of our passage tells us behold the virgin
shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel so as we dive
into our text for today the first thing I want us to consider brothers and
sisters is what we learn here about the supernatural origin and birth of the
promised Messiah the supernatural origin and birth of the promised Messiah now
let me kind of review verses 10 to 13 in fact let me just read again verses 10
through 14 to give us the context here it says this again the Lord spoke to
Ahaz this is King Ahaz who was the king of Judah at that particular time and
what does the Lord say to King Ahaz verse 11 he gives him a command he gives
him an offer of a sign and a command he says ask a sign of the Lord your God let
it be deep as shale or high as heaven now how does Ahaz respond to this offer
of a supernatural sign the Lord’s saying ask me anything I’ll show you that you
can trust my word I’ll show you that my promise that Syria and Israel’s threat
against the land of Judah will come to nothing you can ask me to do anything
and I will do it and Ahaz in a pretentious act of hypocritical
pseudo piety responds and says I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to
the test which is another way of saying I’m not gonna obey you Lord and I’m
gonna pretend that I’m pious but my heart has already gone after the king of
Assyria and then it says in verse 13 and he said the Lord responds by saying this
in verse 13 here then O house of David the Lord is not merely addressing at
this point Ahaz as an individual but he addresses the whole house of David and
and the you starting in verse 13 is in the plural he’s not just addressing a
has but the whole house of a has the whole royal court and indeed as we will
see future generations he said here then O house of David is it too little for
you to weary men that you weary my God also the Lord our God is wearied by
human unbelief again this is this is a way of saying that that his patience is
tried if you will what is the historical setting here of this passage well this
prophecy is given by Isaiah during a period of redemptive history of the
divided monarchy the northern tribes of Israel had split off from the southern
tribe of Judah and the time is around 735 BC when Isaiah delivers this prophecy
to King a has at that time you may recall ancient Syria and the northern
kingdom of Israel both Judas neighbors had threatened to attack the southern
kingdom of Judah because a has the king of Judah had refused to enter into
their military alliance against the kingdom of Assyria Assyria was seeking
to expand its territory and therefore posed a grave threat to all of the
nations that existed at that particular time at that particular region of the
world in this passage the Lord is urging a has to trust in him against this
threat but regrettably instead of trusting in Yahweh his faithful
covenant God to deliver him and to deliver his people from the military
threats coming from Syria and Israel a has refuses the Lord’s gracious offer of
a sign and instead as other passages of scripture reveal King a has turns away
from the Lord the divine King his faithful covenant God he turns away from
the Lord and he puts his trust in Tiglath-Pileser the pagan king of Assyria
and he calls upon the king of Assyria to deliver him from the threat of Israel
and Syria now that leads to the Lord’s response not only in verse 13 where he
rebukes a has for his unbelief for his putting the Lord to the test and
wearying the Lord if you will but then the Lord goes on to say in these amazing
words recorded in verse 14 therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign a has
you refuse to ask a sign as the Lord commanded and invited you to do you
refuse the Lord but that’s not going to stop the Lord from carrying out his
purposes the Lord himself will give you a sign and what is that sign he says
behold now that word behold it means pay attention but it also indicates that
he’s giving a prophecy of something that is yet to come in the future behold the
Virgin shall conceive and bear a son the Virgin shall conceive how is that
possible of course in terms of natural biology that’s not possible but nothing
is impossible for the Lord the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall
call his name notice by the way the Virgin shall call his name Emmanuel
Emmanuel means God with us we’ll talk about that and discuss the significance
of that that title soon but this is another evidence that clearly this is
speaking of a virgin birth because normally in that time and in that
culture the the husband the the man the father would name the son but here the
Virgin shall bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel now I want to focus in
on the term that is translated here in the English Standard Virgin as virgin
but it’s translated in other versions such as the Revised Standard Version as
young woman and please bear with me a little bit I need to get a little bit
technical but I spoke about theological liberals the beginning of the sermon and
how they they attack and deny the supernatural elements of the scripture
and I spoke about how one of their favorite doctrines to attack is the
doctrine of the virgin birth well one of the reasons that they give for attacking
this doctrine is they look at passages like this in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14
and they say well actually it shouldn’t be translated as virgin it should simply
be translated as young woman that’s how it’s translated for example by the
translators of the Revised Standard Version and other versions like that now
the Hebrew word behind which is translated as young woman or virgin the
Hebrew word is the word Alma and some make the case that this word simply
refers to a young woman and not necessarily to a virgin I believe many
liberal theologians who reject the virgin birth of Christ would make this
argument the argument is made that if Isaiah had actually intended in this
verse to refer to an actual virgin then there was a much better Hebrew word
available for his use the word Bethulah but as many sound scholars like for
example dr. EJ young have pointed out while the word Bethulah may refer to a
virgin it is a word like many words that has a semantic range and the semantic
range of that word is such that it can also in some contexts refer even to a
married woman in which case it would not be referring to a virgin so the word
Bethulah is actually not the best word to use if the Lord is trying to convey
through Isaiah that a virgin will conceive and bear a son but on the other
hand the Hebrew word Alma which is used in this verse refers yes to a young
woman to a maiden but a young woman of marriageable age who is chased and
therefore one of the characteristics of such a young woman such an Alma in the
Hebrew would be virginity and this fact is recognized not only by sound biblical
scholars today you’ll also be interested to know that this fact was recognized by
the translators the Jewish translators who translated the Hebrew Old Testament
into the Greek language giving us the Septuagint now the Septuagint this Greek
translation of the Hebrew Old Testament when was that version translated well it
was translated about 200 years before the birth of Christ and in the Greek
Septuagint this Hebrew word Alma was translated by these Jewish translators it
was translated by the Greek term Parthenos and Parthenos is a specific
Greek term for virgin isn’t that amazing several hundred years before Jesus was
conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary these Jewish translators
seeking to translate the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek when they got to
Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 they translated the Hebrew term Alma not as
young woman but they translated it as virgin so even the Jewish translators of
the Septuagint recognized that in this passage Isaiah was speaking of a
miraculous virginal conception and birth of the messianic son Emmanuel God with
us so indeed I hope I’ve established with clarity and sorry for the
technicalities here hope I haven’t weary worried you too much with these
technicalities but this is important because skeptics and liberals will
often often use this argument that well it shouldn’t really be translated virgin
and I’m trying to give you some apologetic ammunition if you ever find
yourself in such a conversation with a liberal a liberally inclined theologian
or professed believer but in any case what are some of the takeaways what are
some of the lessons that we learn from our passage so far well I think one
important lesson that we learned brothers and sisters is that in spite of
the sin and unbelief of wicked King Ahaz and King Ahaz was indeed a
grievously wicked King but in spite of a has his wickedness in spite of his
rejection of the Lord in spite of his apostasy God would still keep his
promise to send the Messiah and the supernatural sign of the arrival of the
promised Messiah would be an extraordinary miraculous birth again as
it says in verse 14 behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall
call his name Emmanuel friends among other things this glorious fact shows
us that even human unbelief does not destroy God’s plan of grace and
salvation I’m reminded of what Paul writes he says if we are faithless he
remains faithful and we are faithless aren’t we even those of us who believe
we fall short and we are of we are those of little faith sometimes our faith is
only as a mustard seed but our faithlessness praise God our faithlessness
does in no way nullify the faithfulness of our God nor thwart his promise and
his plan of salvation so praise be to God for this glorious fact praise be to
God for his amazing glorious grace he keeps his word even though we often do
not I think this passage also underscores the truth of God’s
providential control of history and a predictive prophecy like this is
possible only because God is sovereign over history and is working behind the
scenes as it were working out his sovereign plan and decree within human
history how is it that the Holy Spirit could inspire the prophet Isaiah to see
that God would one day hundreds of years in the future cause the Messiah to come
and to be born of a virgin how is that possible it’s possible because God is
in control of history he is sovereign over history that truth does not in any
way negate human responsibility or human actions or what the theologians call
secondary causes all of those things are established by God’s sovereign decree we
are indeed responsible moral agents but nevertheless no matter what we do for
good or for ill in faith or in unbelief no matter what we do God’s plan stands
God’s purposes are going forward nothing thwarts or stops his plan of
redemption and remember brothers and sisters we have the immense privilege of
being part of God’s great story of redemption through the promised virgin
born Messiah for why did God send this virgin born Emmanuel into the world why
is he called Jesus Matthew 1 21 says that he is called Jesus why Yeshua the
Lord is salvation why because he would save his people from their sins if you
are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you are part of God’s great story of
redemption you and I have a part to play in that the Lord I should say not that
we contribute to God’s plan of salvation but that we are the fruits of his grace
he has redeemed us he has saved us in spite of our sin in spite of our
wickedness in spite of our unbelief he’s brought us to Christ in faith and he’s
made us trophies of his grace we brothers and sisters are part of God’s
great story of redemption and it’s all made possible because of the promised
virgin born Emmanuel but what is the meaning and significance of the virgin
that’s what I would have us to consider next as we consider the next section of
this passage verses 14 through 16 let’s consider the meaning and significance of
the virgin born Emmanuel it will indeed he will indeed come through a
supernatural miraculous birth but what will his name be he has given a
symbolic name the name Emmanuel verse 14 you shall call his name Emmanuel what
does Emmanuel mean it means God with us now isn’t it the case that God has
always been with his people is that not the goal and the the end the telos the
end of God’s covenant of grace where God says I will be their God they shall be
my people and I will dwell in the midst of them what happened in the Garden of
Eden when Adam and Eve sinned they were thrust out from God’s gracious say
God’s gracious presence they were thrust out of Eden thrust out into the
dangerous world outside of Eden but God’s plan of salvation has been such
that he is restoring not only restoring us to his favor but he’s restoring his
dwelling place in our midst and that was symbolized in the Old Testament in many
ways for example it was symbolized oftentimes through miraculous but
temporary theophanies which were supernatural signs and miraculous signs
of God’s special presence an example of that would be the burning bush you know
the story Moses in the wilderness there tending his sheep and he sees this bush
that is burning but it’s not being consumed and he goes over to check it
out and what does the Lord say to him he says Moses take off your sandals the
ground you are standing on is holy ground set apart in that burning bush
was the intersection of heaven and earth Moses was going to have a revelatory
encounter with God he was going to see and hear a revelation from God and God
is assuring him that he has come to dwell in the midst of him to give him
his word we also are reminded of God’s dwelling among his people in the Old
Testament by the pillar of cloud by day the pillar of fire by night that
attended the children of Israel and led the children of Israel in their
wilderness wanderings in that miraculous cloud and fire that hovered over the
tabernacle God was reminding his wilderness wandering people that he was
with them he dwelt in their midst but my friends God’s dwelling in the burning
bush God’s dwelling in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night is not
the ultimate way that God dwells with his people in Jesus Christ in the
virgin-born Immanuel God is with us not merely in a theophanic sense not merely
in a symbolic sense for the tabernacle and the temple in the Old Testament
were symbols of God’s gracious dwelling amongst his people but no in Jesus
Christ our Immanuel God is with us not merely theophanically or symbolically he
is with us in the ultimate incarnate sense for friends in Jesus Christ our
Lord God is with us in the flesh as the God man he is not merely as the liberals
say a God intoxicated man a God conscious man a God indwelt man know he
is the God man the word made flesh who came to do what to pitch his tent to
tabernacle to make his dwelling in our midst my friends God is indeed with us
and we know that this virgin-born Immanuel is divine because later on
Isaiah tells us that he is divine skip over to Isaiah chapter 9 and let me read
these familiar verses verses 6 & 7 where Isaiah is again giving us a messianic
prophecy he is predicting the coming of this virgin-born Immanuel this messianic
child and what does he say Isaiah 9 verses 6 & 7 the Holy Spirit through
Isaiah says for to us a child is born he’s a real child he’s truly human for
us a child is born to us a son is given and the government shall be upon his
shoulder so he’s king he is an anointed one a king and his name remember in the
Bible your name was a representation of your character of who you actually were
his name shall be called what wonderful counselor mighty God everlasting father
prince of peace these titles are titles of deity this son this son Immanuel who
was to be born was to be God in the flesh and then verse 7 of chapter 9 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 uphold it with justice
and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore and you say how is
that possible well the Holy Spirit through Isaiah answers that question at
the end of verse 7 the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this we have according
to the New Testament the fulfillment of the prophecy of our passage for today
recorded for us in Matthew’s gospel in Matthew chapter 1 verses 20 to 23 let me
just read those verses very briefly to you Matthew chapter 1 verses 20 to 23
here is as Joseph was contemplating putting away Mary because she was with
child says this but as he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as
your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit she will
bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from
their sins all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the
prophet and then this should sound very familiar verse 23 behold the Virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means God
with us verse 23 Matthew is quoting of course from our passage for today Isaiah
chapter 7 verse 14 but as we move on in this passage some struggle to relate
verse 14 to the verses that follow in verse 15 for example we read these words
he shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse evil and choose the
good what is this referring to this this eating of curds and honey is this is
this referring to royal food some interpret it that way that the curds and
honey you know God promises his people in the Old Testament that he’s bringing
them into a land of flowing with milk and honey and so and and this eating of
curds and honey may be a symbol of his his royalty as the Messiah but some have
also suggested that it indicates desolation in the land that the only
thing left for them to to eat is no longer the crops but the curds and the
honey and again there’s differences of interpretation in that so this raises the
question how do the verses that follow the Emmanuel prophecy of verse 14 how
do they fit in with this messianic prediction well I need to confess to you
brothers and sisters this is admittedly a tricky passage to interpret and a
surface-level reading may seem to suggest that the virgin birth prophecy
of verse 14 was expected to be fulfilled in the time of King Ahazor in that
general time period of redemptive history some have suggested that this
enigmatic passage should be understood as having a double fulfillment for
example there is an immediate according to this view there’s an immediate
fulfillment in one of Isaiah’s sons such as Shayar Jashub who is mentioned back
in verse 3 when when the Lord tells Isaiah to go and and confront King Ahaz
and give his word to King Ahaz the Lord says in verse 3 go out to meet Ahaz you
and Shayar Jashub your son Isaiah’s son Shayar Jashub that his son’s name had
symbolic significance it means a remnant will return and again we have
that remnant theology coming out in that in that passage and so they would
suggest that when we get into maybe verse 15 or maybe verse 16 we have a
different son being referred to a different boy being referred to than the
virgin-born Emmanuel well again how do we navigate this difficult passage well
a couple and we could spend a long time looking at the various views offered by
the scholars but I’m just going to give you a couple of things to keep in mind
as you wrestle with this passage first of all friends remember as I mentioned
beginning in verse 13 the Lord through Isaiah addresses not just Ahaz as an
individual he addresses the house of David and he turned he goes from the
singular tense to the plural tense the singular to the plural and so it would
seem that starting in verse 13 the Lord speaks to more than merely King Ahaz he
instead addresses the King’s court and the wording here implies that at this
point in the passage the passage is addressing not just a has this
generation but future generations as well and however we might understand the
details of verses 15 through 17 we need to understand the general thrust of
what the Lord is promising a has through this passage the thrust of this passage
is that the threats the military threats that Judah was facing from Syria
and Israel those threats would soon pass away not lasting longer than the time it
takes for a boy to reach an age of moral consciousness which was generally
believed to be around age 12 or 13 when a child reached the age of moral
consciousness subsequent biblical history confirms that this was in fact
the case since Syria fell to Assyria in 732 BC just a few years after this
prophecy and Israel fell to Assyria in 722 BC what about verse 16 goes on to
say for before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good the
land whose two kings you dread will be deserted because these two kings the
kings of Syria and Israel are united together in their military purpose
against Judah they are spoken of as being one land but the Lord assures a
has that these threats will not last they will not stand but how are we to
understand verse 16 I like what dr. EJ young has to say he writes we should
remember that the language of prophecy is filled with mystery and is sometimes
obscure it is not simple history written in advance but his language of
profound and beautiful symbolism clothed in an aura of mystery who is the boy or
this boy as Matthew Henry would suggest is this boy in verse 16 Emmanuel or
someone else such as Isaiah’s son Shayer Jashub whose name which meant a remnant
shall return also had symbolic significance well again good scholars
will differ but I tend to agree with Matthew Henry that the this boy referred
to here in verse 16 is in fact Isaiah’s son Shayer Jashub and so if that is the
case Isaiah in verse 14 had lifted his vision and put his focus on a long-term
prediction of the virgin born Emmanuel but then the Lord brings him back to
addressing the immediate threat the immediate situation in the verses that
follow but what is the bottom line in all of this as we consider the meaning
and significance of the virgin born Emmanuel well but the bottom line
brothers and sisters the bottom line dear listeners is what do you make of
Jesus who is he is he do you believe him to be the virgin born Emmanuel
prophesied by Isaiah here in this passage or do you have some other view
of Jesus our shorter catechism in answer to a question 22 gives us a good Bible
based answer to the question of who Jesus is it asks how did Christ being
the son of God become man the Bible based answer is Christ the son of God
became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul being
conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born
of her yet without sin but that leads us to the last verse of our passage verse
17 where we read these words the Lord again he’s speaking to Ahaz here 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 that’s
speaking of he’s saying to a has into a has his court days of judgment are
coming it will be significant days days such as the day when when the kingdom
was divided into the northern kingdom of Ephraim and the southern kingdom of
Judah and what will cause this this great change what will set in motion
this judgment he mentions at the end of verse 17 the king of Assyria my friends
the Lord Yahweh the true and living God had urged King Ahaz to trust in him for
deliverance from the threat of Syria and Israel but again tragically Ahaz
rejected his God and turned instead in apostasy to the pagan king of Assyria
for help he trusted in the hand of man rather than the hand of God ultimately
the king of Assyria would prove to be an agent of judgment against Ahaz and
against Ahaz’s unfaithful people we have an unfaithful king here but there’s
another king coming a king who will bring a different destiny the coming of
the king of Assyria would mean a destiny of judgment it would be judgment against
an unfaithful covenant-breaking people and their apostate theocratic king it
would mean the defeat and the exile of the northern kingdom of Israel and it
would set in motion events that would do away with the old order of the
Israelite theocracy but though the king of Assyria would mean judgments against
Ahaz and his people and though this would set in motion events that would
eventually result in the ending of the Israelite theocracy and the exile of
God’s people from the promised land the end of the old order of the theocracy
was not the end of hope it was going to be an end of an era but not the end of
hope in fact it would be the beginning of an eternal hope for even though the
pagan king of Assyria would come as an agent of judgment against an unfaithful
people there was another king coming the messianic virgin-born king the one who
would be Emmanuel God with us he is our hope and now that he has come to this
earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth our hope rests firm our hope rests
secure dear listener is Jesus Christ your hope is he your peace is he your
security your salvation oh may you and I find our hope our peace our security
and salvation not in the false kingdoms of this world but may we find our
security in the true King the ultimate King the Messiah King the virgin-born
Emmanuel who is God with us amen let us pray heavenly Father we praise you and
thank you Lord God that you have sent Jesus the virgin-born Emmanuel and that
in him not only do we dwell in him but he dwells in us and among us by his
spirit Lord we would pray that by your spirit you would take what was
proclaimed this day we pray that your word would find a lodging place in our
and we pray that we would be blessed with your grace as we go from this place
in Jesus name we pray and all of God’s people said amen let’s respond to what
we’ve heard from God’s word by rising and we’ll sing together 279 Oh Christ our
King creator Lord 279