Isaiah
Together
Isaiah
Together
Week Four: Love
Isaiah 7:10-17
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.”
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.
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!”
Ahaz Rejects God
The famous verse 14 predicts Christ’s Virgin Birth, came at a frightening time. The Northern Kingdom of Israel, allied with the foreign nation of Aram were threatening to attack The Kingdom of Judah. God tells Ahaz to rely on him, but instead Ahaz turns to the pagan Assyria for help. Just like we read last week, this solves a near-term problem, but creates a new one: Ahaz would then have to pay taxes to the Assyrian king and build idols to their pagan Gods to ingratiate himself to him.
This passage shows Ahaz keeping his distance from God, just like we do when we fail to pray. God, effectively, asks Ahaz to pray for a sign, and he refuses, citing false piety (not putting God to the test). Instead of abandoning Judah, God gives Ahaz the sign he fails to ask for: a child named Immanuel (God with us) who would somehow bring God and his people, now estranged, together again.
God’s Love is Greater than our Rejection
This prophecy shows God’s love for his people. Ancient gods were understood to have special relationships with their ‘chosen’ people who worked the ground of their territory, but no one would have thought of a god who loved his people unconditionally. This is just where God (the only and true God) shows his character. He loves people even when they reject him. Rejecting God may come with consequences in the near term—they sure did for Judah—but it never cancels God’s plan for salvation in the long term. God’s response to Ahaz and all the other bad kings of Israel and Judah who rejected him, and also to the Gentiles who did not even know him, was to give them his own Son Jesus hose death and resurrection would make it possible to be together again with God forever.
Wicked King Ahaz’s refusal of the Lord’s sign is not genuine. Disregarding his false piety, the Lord gives him the sign of a child named Emmanuel or “God with us.” For Israel, this promise meant deliverance from their enemies in the near term and a firm reassurance of God’s unconditional love in the long term. This prophecy is a love-letter to a lonely child who wants to know when their father is coming home. You might think of a dad writing a letter to his son while he’s doing a tour overseas for the army, “I am coming. We will be together soon.” Think of the excitement when his dad finally returns and the two embrace after months apart. “Daddy is finally home!” God is with us.
Yet because of Ahaz’s unbelief and mistrust, God’s promised presence is also a threat. Consider as a contrast, a different child making a racket in his room and being told to keep it down. The approaching footsteps of his father are not a comfort but instead a dire warning. “Oh no! Dad is coming!”
This same sign is offered to us today in the Christ child, the full fulfillment of this prophecy. For one wicked royal, King Herod, this sign was a threat to his kingdom and he followed suit with murder and disbelief. For the heir of King David, humble Joseph, this sign was immediately trusted and embraced like with obedience.
Practice: write a letter to God like the one mentioned above. Tell him everything on your heart: your fears, your hopes, why you can’t wait for His return, etc. One question to consider might be: do I yearn for the Lord’s return or do I prefer my life with Him at a distance?