King
Ahaz is afraid. The nation is split in two. From his throne in Judah, he has
watched his sister nation form an alliance with their neighbour, Syria, and
knows that the day will come that they join their military strength against
Judah and attack. In this desperate situation, Ahaz is now considering his own
alliance with the even stronger nation of Assyria for protection. The prophet
Isaiah brought him a word from God that he need not fear Syria or Israel, but
instead to just wait and trust God to deliver Judah from both (see Isaiah 7). If Ahaz will trust God,
Isaiah tells him that by the growing violent nation of Assyria, God will
deliver Judah from Israel and Syria. Before Ahaz now lies the decision to
either trust the power of Assyria, whose military strength can be seen, or the
greater sovereign authority of Isaiah’s God, whose power he does not yet see.
Isaiah 8:6-7a
(ESVUK)
Because this
people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin
and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against
them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his
glory.
Rather
than quietly waiting, and trusting Isaiah’s God, the True King in whose presence angels hide their face in
fear (see Isaiah 6), Ahaz covets the
power of Assyria, the advancing military superpower of his day.
Hundreds
of years before, on the banks of the Red Sea, the people of Israel had cried
out in fear when they saw the approaching Egyptian army. God, through Moses,
told them to only be silent, and they would see God fight for them (Exodus 14:14). They stood
and watched as the presence of God in the form of a cloud of smoke came between
them and the advancing army. Moses led them through the Red Sea, and they
watched as the army behind them were drowned. Ahaz has forgotten this God. In
the midst of imminent military threat, he prefers to turn to the might of the
empire rather than the Almighty God.
Ahaz
and the nation of Judah will be ruled by that which Ahaz coveted, destroyed by
that which he fears. Had he feared God, the corruption in his government that
had led to idolatry and even child sacrifice, would have been destroyed. Had he
coveted God’s righteousness, his kingdom would have returned to the Torah law,
and once again be ruled by justice and compassion. Instead, God promises that by
Assyria, the kingdom of Judah will be scattered, and the line of the kings of
David will end.
Isaiah 8:9-10
(ESVUK)
Be broken, you
peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your
armour and be shattered;
strap on your armour and be shattered.
Take counsel
together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
Isaiah’s
final word on the fate of Ahaz king of Judah is a judgment, but not without
hope. The judgment of Egypt at the Red Sea was inevitable once ordained by the
Sovereign God that fought for God’s people as they remained silent. Judah now
faces this same inevitability though they may plan and prepare and fight. God
is with them.
“God-with-us”, the theme of the first twelve chapters of Isaiah’s book, most recently arose in Isaiah 7. Only a few verses before (Isaiah 7:14), Isaiah prophesied to Ahaz that Syria and Israel would fall in the time a child would be born and grown up. This child would be named “Immanuel”, which means “God-with-us”. This same God-With-Us is the one who promised that David would always have a son on the throne, and that Judah would have a king whose reign would never end.
God is with them. God is with them through the time of judgment. God is with them in their exile. God is with them as they are restored back to their land.
Hundreds of years later, they would actually see and know their forever king, Jesus, the Son of David, the true King of the tribe of Judah. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. By the same humble trust of silent Israel by the Red Sea would all humanity be saved in quietly trusting in Jesus.
“God-with-us”, the theme of the first twelve chapters of Isaiah’s book, most recently arose in Isaiah 7. Only a few verses before (Isaiah 7:14), Isaiah prophesied to Ahaz that Syria and Israel would fall in the time a child would be born and grown up. This child would be named “Immanuel”, which means “God-with-us”. This same God-With-Us is the one who promised that David would always have a son on the throne, and that Judah would have a king whose reign would never end.
God is with them. God is with them through the time of judgment. God is with them in their exile. God is with them as they are restored back to their land.
Hundreds of years later, they would actually see and know their forever king, Jesus, the Son of David, the true King of the tribe of Judah. Jesus, Immanuel, God with us. By the same humble trust of silent Israel by the Red Sea would all humanity be saved in quietly trusting in Jesus.
Isaiah 8:12-15
(ESV)
Do not call
conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they
fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let
him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and
a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and
a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They
shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.
God
will judge the unjust, but those who fall upon God's mercy will be spared. This
humility is impossible for the proud. By their offense at it are they
condemned. God has offered salvation from the corruption of the power and
control and violence of empire, that which Ahaz so desired, and by which he was
destroyed. Our same selfishness and hedonism and self-reliance at the expense
of humble trust and surrender to God will just as surely destroy us. The grace
of God’s salvation is received in being silent at the shore of the Red Sea. We
have no sword to raise. We have no power to threaten. Standing on God in faith,
we will watch as his presence in Immanuel, God-With-Us, steps between us and
the coming judgment for our sin. By grace, he walks with us through the Red Sea
of his death, in which the armies of our corruption will drown, and then
carries us back up onto the shore on the side of the Promised Land by his
resurrection
Romans 9:31-33
(ESVUK)
What shall we
say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it,
that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law
that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why?
Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They
have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
“Behold, I am
laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence;
and whoever believes in him will not be put
to shame.”
If
our fear is in that which we see, the vain imaginings of the power of the world’s
empires, we will seek that same strength and power for ourselves, and try to be
saved by it. This foolish arrogance is our alliance with Assyria, the very
empire we fear. If our faith is in the strength of empire, by no word or deed
will we escape the rock who will fall on us. In our humility and surrender to
fall in faith on the rock of Jesus Christ, the only True King, we will be saved.
In this act is the fear of God. Jesus is an offense to the proud, and freedom to
the humble.
Immanuel. God-is-with-us.
Immanuel. God-is-with-us.
☠
Tomorrow:
Isaiah 9 – Unto Us A Child Is Born
Thursday: 1 Peter 1:10-12 – Things Into Which Angels Long To Look (part 2)
Thursday: 1 Peter 1:10-12 – Things Into Which Angels Long To Look (part 2)
Click the image for the entire series from Isaiah |
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