Let's open our Bibles today to
Isaiah chapter 7. Isaiah chapter 7. This morning we are going to
look especially at the sign that the Lord gave to King Ahaz. If you notice in verse 14, therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. The announcement of giving this
sign comes in this chapter which records the meeting between Isaiah
and King Ahaz, a meeting to which the Lord directed the prophet
Isaiah. If you notice in verse 3, then
said the Lord unto Isaiah, go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou
and Shiar Hashub, thy son, at the end of the conduit of the
upper pool in the highway of the Fuller's Field. The setting
of this meeting was that news had come to this king, King Ahaz,
news that caused him to shake, him and his kingdom to shake
like leaves on a tree. And that is that two other kingdoms
had joined forces and were going to invade his country. If you notice in verse 2, we
read about how he was moved. And it was told the house of
David saying Syria is confederate with Ephraim, two nations. And his heart was moved and the
heart of his people as the trees of the wood are moved with the
wind, as we would maybe say, shaking like the leaves on a
tree. The news had come to him and
to his people that these two kingdoms, Syria and Israel, had
joined forces and had invaded the land of Judah, his land,
and their purpose was to set up another king, a rival king,
to Ahaz, if you will notice that in verses five and six. Because
Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Ramali have taken evil counsel
against thee, saying, let us go up against Judah and vex it. Let us make a breach therein
for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of
Tabal. So this news had come to him
that these two kingdoms, these two kings, had invaded his land
with the purpose of setting up another king to rule in Judah. This king had reason to fear. Humanly speaking, he had reason
to fear. He had reason to fear because
of his wickedness. and because the sinfulness of
his nation, their forsaking God. The Lord had allowed these two
kings before to invade and to conquer Judah. I want you to
keep your places here, if you will, but turn back with me to
2 Chronicles chapter 28. I said, humanly speaking, he
had reason to fear, to shake like a leaf on a tree, because
these two kingdoms God had allowed before to invade his country
and to defeat him and to slaughter many of his citizens and carry
many away captives. Here in 2 Chronicles chapter
28, beginning in verse 1, Ahaz was 20 years old when he
began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, but he
did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord, like
David his father. David, of course, was the beginning
of this reign, or this lineage of kings. David wasn't his father,
but his great-great-grandfather to some lying back. For he, that is Ahaz, for he
walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He walked in the ways
of the kings of one of these nations that was invading his
country. This nation was called Ephraim
or Israel, the northern kingdom that had separated from Israel
after the reign of Solomon. Ten tribes. They had separated. And their first king was named
Jeroboam, and he was a wicked man. And every king they had
after him followed in the ways of that king, Jeroboam. And they were all wicked men,
wicked kings. But Ahaz, we read here, he walked
in the ways of the kings of Israel and made also molten images of
Balaam. Moreover, he burnt incense in
the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the
fire." This pagan worship of burning a person's child in the
fire, trying to appease God, whatever God there might be.
This was a pagan way that some had devised, thinking they were
going to appease or satisfy God, burning their children. What
a sacrifice, no doubt. But sacrificing against the word
of God and against the will of God. It was a pagan ritual, and
this king practiced it. You know, people in false religion
are sincere, my friends. Don't ever think, well, they're
not sincere. You can be as sincere as sincere
can be and be wrong. This man was. You say, well,
they do a lot of good works talking about these other cults and religions
and things of that nature. They're so sincere. Sure, they're
sincere. They're sincere on the road to
hell, my friends. Sincerity, that's not the question. This man was sincere. He even
burned his children in the fire after the abominations of the
heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
He sacrificed also and burned incense in the high places and
on the hills and under every green tree. He had a lot of gods,
he sure did. Sacrificed in many places. Wherefore the Lord, notice, wherefore
the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of
Syria. And I said in our text, in the chapter we're looking
at, news comes that Syria and Ephraim have invaded his country. He had reason to fear because
we see right here that Syria had once before come with a force
against him. And he had been delivered, notice
that, wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand
of the king of Syria and they smote him and carried away a
great multitude of them captives and brought them to Damascus.
And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel.
Here's another example. First, the king of Syria came,
took many captives away. Also, the king of Israel came
and smote him with a great slaughter. For Pekah, that's the king of
Israel, the son of Ramali, slew in Judah and 120,000 in one day. One day, 120,000 are slain, which
were all valiant men. They were fighters. They were
trained for war, but God delivered them into the hand of their enemies. Now notice the end of verse six,
because they, The point I want you to see, especially here,
is not only the king, Ahaz, who has departed from the living
God and served these pagan gods, but it is also they, that is,
the citizens, the nation of Judah. They had forsaken the Lord God
of their fathers. The history of the nation of
Israel is a long history of idolatry and wickedness with just a remnant,
a remnant according to the election of grace in that nation who worshiped
and served the true God. Turn back with me now to Isaiah
chapter 7. The Lord sent Isaiah to this
king and he came to him with this message, verse seven. This is God speaking through
Isaiah. This shall not stand. This invasion that causes you
to tremble and fear and shake like a leaf, this shall not stand. Neither shall it come to pass. What a word. What a word that
God sent this wicked king. If you notice, the king didn't
believe. He didn't believe this word.
The word above this in verse four, If you notice, the word
to him was, take heed and be quiet, fear not. As I looked
at that word this past week, I thought again of God's words
to Moses at the Red Sea when the armies of Pharaoh were coming
and they were trapped in between the mountains and there was a
sea and the army of Pharaoh coming after them, coming to destroy
them. And the Lord said, stand still
and see the salvation of the Lord, which he shall show you
this day. That's much like this message
that God sent to this king. Be quiet, take heed, be quiet,
fear not. But he didn't believe. He didn't
believe, my friends. We know at this particular time,
we won't turn back there, but in 2 Chronicles 28 and verse
16, what he did at this time is he looked unto the king of Assyria
to help him. He sent unto another nation,
Assyria, sent all the gold and silver, everything he had in
his house and in the house of the Lord, sent it there to buy
his help, the king of Assyria. He didn't believe God, and his
unbelief is manifested In this chapter here, if you notice in
verse 9, when Isaiah said, if you will not believe, he didn't. He didn't believe. His unbelief
is manifested because God told him through the prophet, asked
of the Lord a sign. Asked of the Lord a sign, either
in the depth or in the height. Notice that in verse 10. Moreover,
the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the
Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depth or
in the height above. Nothing too hard for God. Ask
a sign. If you want to see a sign from
the depth, God can raise people from the dead, has done so. You
want to see that? Would that be a sign to you,
to trust me, to believe my word? You want to see a sign in the
height when God caused the sun to stand still? There's nothing
impossible for the Lord God. Ask of me a sign, but this man
He didn't believe God, and he refused to ask of the Lord of
Zion. And then he said, as an excuse,
notice, I will not tempt the Lord. Verse 12, I will not ask, neither
will I tempt the Lord. He didn't believe. I'm not going
to ask. Why? Because I don't believe
you. I don't believe you, Isaiah. I'm not going to ask. He refused,
showing his unbelief further in saying that he would not tempt
the Lord. Let me ask this question. Do
men tempt the Lord by obedience or by disobedience? Think about that. Do men tempt
the Lord by obedience or by disobedience? He said, I won't ask the Lord
for a sign. I won't tempt the Lord. But the
Lord had offered you a sign. But I won't tempt the Lord, showing
his disobedience. And what about his seeking help
from the Assyrians? That was a Disobedient to the
command of God when they came into the land of Canaan, God
commanded the nation there to make no covenant with them. That is, the peoples of the land
are their gods. These Assyrians from whom he
sought help, God tells him, they're going to cause you more trouble.
than you've ever had before as a nation. He's speaking as a
leader of the head of this nation. Notice down in verse 18. And it shall come to pass in
that day. You've asked help from Assyria.
Well, this is what is going to happen. And it shall come to
pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss... No, that's wrong. Let me find the text I want here. You're going to be hurt more
by the Assyrians. It's going to be worse than when
the ten tribes deserted you. I don't see the note, the passage
in my, verse 18, is that the one we looked in? No, that's,
but anyway, it, God told him through the prophet, it's going
to be worse for you by the Assyrians coming to help you than it was
when the 10 tribes deserted Judah. I have two truths to remind us
of from this chapter before we look at this sign. I've tried
to give us sort of a setting of the giving of the sign. The first thing I call our attention
to is the Lord's omniscience. The Lord's omniscience. When
you read that verse three, Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, go
forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear, Hashub, thy son. God knew exactly where he was.
It'd be like God telling you to go to the intersection here
of I-45 and Beltway 8. Go there, Isaiah, go there to
that place and meet Ahaz. What was true of King Ahaz, the
fact that the Lord knew his location, is true of everyone else. It
wasn't because necessarily he was a king, a great man, that
the Lord knew his location. It was because God is a great
God. He knows the location of every
person. He knows your location. He knows
all about you, every move that you make. When you get up, when
you sit down, the words which are upon your tongue, the Lord
knows everything. I love that Psalm, Psalm 139,
which says, Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising. Thou understandest
my thoughts afar off. Even the thoughts that cross
your mind, the thoughts that are in your mind right now, nobody
knows but you and God. He knows. He knows. He knows
where, he knew where this man was, where Isaiah would meet
him. The psalmist asked that question
in that psalm, whither shall I flee from thy presence? You
cannot escape God's presence. Now this is a very comforting
truth to the children of God. Not to an unbeliever. Not to
a lost person. A lost person would like to believe
that God doesn't know all of my thoughts. That God doesn't
know my location. That there are actually times
when I may hide myself from God. But my friends, there isn't.
He knows the omniscience of God. He knows. As I said, this is
very comforting to the children of God. Just to know that He
knows. That He knows even to the number
of the hairs on your head. That not a sparrow falls to the
ground that He does not observe. He knows all things. I see that
when I read God telling Isaiah, you go to this certain place,
and that's where you will meet King Ahaz. He knew exactly where
he was, and he knows exactly where we are today, and every
day, and all through the day, he knows. The second thing I
see is the Lord's sovereignty over the nations. His sovereignty over the nations. Look again at verse 4, at what
the Lord calls, how He refers to these two kings. These two
kings that cause King Ahab such fear, such alarm. Notice how the Lord refers to
them in verse 4. The Scripture says, And say unto
him that is Ahaz, Take heed, and be quiet, and fear not, neither
be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands. God doesn't even refer to them
as firebrands. Two tails. Two tails of the firebrands. And he doesn't even refer to
them as burning firebrands. Two tales of these smoking firebrands. The sovereignty of God over the
nations. That verse I was trying to read
a few minutes ago, I went to verse 18. If you'll go there
now, I want you to see how God refers to the kingdom of Egypt.
and the kingdom of the Assyrians. It shall come to pass in that
day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost
parts of the rivers of Egypt. What does he mean, the flies?
He's talking about Egypt. Egypt, the nation of Egypt. In
that day I shall hiss for the flies. And then, and for the bee, the bees in
the land of Assyria. Who does that refer to? It refers
to Assyria. And what we see here is that
all God must do, if I can use that term, or all he does in
moving this nation to here, this nation over here, he just hisses. How easy it is for the Lord God
Almighty to reign and to rule in His creation. And He does
so. He reigns over the nations. He rules in His world. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it whithersoever
He will. What confidence and assurance
this brings to the children of God. You say, well, aren't you
afraid when that man over there in North Korea sends those rockets? Not in the least, my friends.
Aren't you afraid of what Putin might do in Russia? Not in the
least. Why? Because those men will do
nothing apart from what God allows them to do. And the same is true
of every other leader of the nations. God reigns in this world. God rules. You know, Nebuchadnezzar,
he taught that to Nebuchadnezzar, didn't he? He was a great king. He was a mighty king. King of
Babylon. And he had a dream. Of course,
Daniel was there. Daniel interpreted his dream,
and part of his dream was this. Till thou know, he told Nebuchadnezzar,
you're going to go out here in the field, you're going to live
like a beast for seven years. Going to eat grass like an ox
for seven years, till And thou know that the Most High ruleth
in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. He reigns. He rules. You know, most people would never
confess that they are atheists, but most people are. They don't
believe that God has any control in this world. that He reigns. And somehow even people who call
themselves Christians, they look at the Old Testament and they
say, oh yeah, I see how God worked there, how God reigned and ruled
among the nations, but somehow that's different now. No, it's
not any different. He's still on the throne of sovereign
rule and reign. And this is still His world.
And He raises up one, and He puts down another. And remember
this, when we talk about His sovereignty over the nations,
nations are made up of individuals. And just as the Lord exercises
His sovereign reign and rule over nations, so He does over
individuals. As the psalmist said, whatsoever
the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth and in
the seas and in all deep places. We don't come to sing and pray
to and praise a little God. A God that men can manipulate,
a God that men may frustrate, that's not the God we worship
here. The God we worship here is the
Lord who rules and reigns over all, in all places, at all times. Now let me point out three things
about this sign, hurriedly. Three things about this sign
in verse 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Three things
about this sign. First of all, the sign merits
a word about God's grace. The sign merits a word about
God's grace. You know the meaning of grace
is unmerited favor. Has anything that we have read
about King Ahaz indicated that he merited God's favor? Anything that is written in the
word of God that indicates that he merited God's favor, that
God would in grace give him this sign, Everything we've read would indicate
he doesn't merit God's kindness and God's consideration. He was blessed being born in
the family of David. He had a godly heritage. He had
the word of God. Remember this, the kings of Judah,
they had the word of God. If he wanted it, he had the word
of God at his disposal to read. He had the ministry of at least
two of these Old Testament prophets, Isaiah and Hosea. And yet the
very first thing that we read about Him is, He did not that
which was right in the sight of the Lord. And listen, those
same words. could be written about every
one of us in this building. We did not that which was right
in the sight of the Lord. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. I don't know if you've ever heard
this, but sometimes I've heard people say, well, I don't think
it's just for God to send men to hell. For the sin of some
other man, he won't do that, my friends. If God sends you
to hell, it'll not be because of someone else's sin, it will
be because of your sin. And it will be especially the
sin of unbelief. Just like this man, he did not
believe the word of the Lord. God sent him a prophet. Fear
not. Take heed, be quiet. But he did not believe. One of the lessons that the Lord
teaches his people, I said his people. One of the lessons that the Lord
teaches his people, and thank God he teaches us this over and
over and over again. that God saves, God forgives
for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. If you're
looking for any merit, any dessert in yourself, why God would forgive
you, you're not going to find it. There is none. Just like
in this King. God is the God of all grace.
Ahaz did nothing to merit this sign or the deliverance that
the Lord promised him and the Lord gave him. And you will never
do anything to deserve or merit or earn God's salvation that
he gives freely by his grace through his son, Jesus Christ. The second thing about this sign,
this sign merits the word behold. Behold. Behold. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son. You know, the Jews, and it's
sad to say some who call themselves Christians, they are determined
to substitute here in this text for the word virgin a young maiden,
a young maiden. But I would just ask this simple
question. Does the statement, a young maiden
shall conceive and bear a son, does that merit a behold? Isn't that something that happens
hundreds if not thousands of times every year, a young maiden bears a son? That doesn't merit a behold,
but I'll tell you a few things that do merit a behold. In Isaiah
28, when God said, behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a foundation
stone, a triad stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation, he
that believeth shall not be ashamed. That merits a behold. John's
words in 1 John 3, behold, what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. That
merits a behold. And Enoch's prophecy as it's
given in the letter of Jude, behold, the Lord cometh with
10,000 of his saints. That merits a behold. And I tell
you, this merits a behold. This miracle that the Lord wrought
some 2,000 years ago now, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Never happened before, never
happened since. In the fullness of the times,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law. You might ask, well, preacher,
how could something that took place about 700 years after this
be assigned to this man here, King Ahaz? Well, I want you to
notice in verse 13, before the sign is given, notice how Isaiah
addresses him. Hear you now, O house of David. How this could be assigned to
this man. God has sworn to David, thy seed
will I establish forever and build up thy kingdom, thy throne
rather, to all generations. These kingdoms had invaded. But
they would not destroy Judah. They would not destroy the lineage
or the family of David. Why? Because God had given David
an oath. And listen, when God gives you
a word, you can believe that. If He gives you an oath, An oath? God swears? You can't believe that? Shame
on you. Shame on you. Here's the third
thing about this sign. This sign merits the song of
hallelujah. They shall call his name Immanuel. This is what the angel sang at
his birth. Glory to God in the highest.
And Matthew records his birth and he gives us the definition
of this title, Immanuel. It means God with us. Someone said at Bethlehem we
have God with us. In the life and at the cross
we have God for us, and at the new birth, we have God in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, let me close with this. I'm not here to give a history
lesson. I love history. but I'm not here to give a history
lesson. My purpose in this message is to remind us and to teach
you, if you've never heard it or known it before, why it was
necessary that the Son of God had to come into this world,
Emmanuel, God with us. He had to come, my friends, and
give his life. He had to become a man that he
might give his life, that he might suffer, but he had to be
God, that he might satisfy the justice of God. And he did that
perfectly for all of his people so that God might be just and
the justifier those who believe in Christ. May the Lord bless this word
to everyone here this morning.