The Promise That Changed Everything

Intro

Matthew 1:22–23

"All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' (which means 'God with us')."

Isaiah 7 – not very Christmassy!

A Promise to Earn Your Trust

Context:

Read alongside:

• Isaiah 7
• 2 Kings 16
• 2 Chronicles 28

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Pressure on all sides:

• Aram (Syria)
• The northern kingdom of Israel
• Edom (south)
• Philistines (west)

...all in the context of Assyrian aggression.

Aram and Israel form an alliance to try to put pressure on Judah to join them against Assyria.

King Ahaz "can't catch a break."

Illustration: Rear-ending another car this week.

Isaiah, who we met last week—"Here am I! Send me!"—goes to meet Ahaz.

Isaiah 7:4

The nearest the Bible gets to "Keep calm and carry on."

The difference is that the Bible has a vertical dimension—a reason not to be afraid.

Isaiah gives a series of prophecies about what will happen in the coming years, designed to get Ahaz to trust in the Lord.

• Isaiah 7:6–7 – True, Aram and Israel never did what they intended.
• Isaiah 7:8 – Within 65 years Israel was too shattered to be a people.

735 BC This prophecy

732 BC Aram (Syria) crushed

‍722 BC Israel taken into exile by Assyria

‍669 BCThe end of Esarhaddon's reign, during which Assyria aggressively re-peopled the land of Israel

Have you ever wondered why so much of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is concerned with history?

It is so that the people of God can see His sovereign hand over all the comings and goings of the nations, and that they might trust Him.

Isaiah 7:10–11

"I will move heaven and earth for you."

Then comes the sign.

Isaiah 7:14

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

Multiple Horizons of Fulfilment

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Like bifocals, this prophecy has multiple horizons of fulfilment.

Near Future

A young woman (another translation of virgin) will give birth and, by the time the child has grown up to know the difference between right and wrong (verse 15):

• Syria will be crushed (732 BC).
• Israel will be exiled (722 BC).

(Verse 16)

Distant Future

But no one with the name or title of Immanuel had emerged...

...until Matthew 1.

Pete Dray Illustration

The second way in which Scripture talks about truth complements the first.

If we were to describe someone as a "true friend," we are not simply saying they have more substance than Toptick, my childhood imaginary friend. We are saying that they are loyal and trustworthy.

So when Jesus is described as being "Faithful and True" in Revelation 19:11, we are being reassured of the perfect loyalty Jesus has towards His people.

I remember a conversation with Ahmed*, a student from a closed country in the Middle East.

He had come to believe that the gospel was true, but agonised as to whether he could be a Christian.

Shortly before he left the UK, Ahmed shared his concerns with me about returning home as a follower of Jesus. The cost of doing this could be high.

Ahmed needed to know not only the intellectual truthfulness of the gospel, but the unfailing trustworthiness of the Saviour he was committing himself to.

You can count on God to fulfil His promises.

A Promise to Answer Your Fears

Context of Fear

Context of fear in Ahaz and the people of Judah.

Isaiah 7:2

The people are afraid.

God's surprising answer:

• Don't call in an army.
• Look to the birth of a child.

Isaiah 7:14

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."

For Ahaz, this means God will take care of the Davidic dynasty.

Notice the specificity of the promise:

"...will give birth to a son."

Because God is committed to keeping His promises, He cares more about Judah and Jerusalem than you do, Ahaz.

Notice the specificity of the promise:

"...will call him Immanuel."

God with us, which is different to God is with us.

God is Spirit, so in one sense He is always with us, but this is different—more significant, more tangible, more fleshy.

Incarnation — carne, meat. God taking on flesh.

The promise moves from:

"I will move heaven and earth for you."

to

"I will move from heaven to earth for you."

How Does the Incarnation Answer Your Fears?

In the incarnation God says:

"I care about your situation."

"I am with you in the middle of it."

Some people care about us, but they're not here with us.

"I will do something about it."

Some people care about us, and they're here with us, but they can't do anything to help.

Revisit Ahaz

What difference could this have made?

What Actually Happened

Isaiah 7:12

Unbelief masked by piety.

Relies on Assyria, the bigger bully.

2 Chronicles 28:20

"Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him, but gave him trouble instead of help."

Warning

Unless it is God you turn to, whatever you turn to for help will instead give you trouble.

Kyle Strobel Illustration

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When I was in high school I was a hot mess. Really... a total mess.

While I always had relatively severe social anxiety, what ended up being profoundly self-destructive were my strategies to navigate that anxiety (which were, as with most strategies, self-defeating).

In short, I didn't know how to act. I didn't know what to do.

So I took the path of many before me.

I became the class clown.

As with most class clowns, it was my anxiety and desire not to be looked at that made me stand out and be noticed.

The impulse behind this, left somewhat subconscious, was that it was far better to have control than it was to not have control.

Naively, I thought that I was in control, but the reality is that my strategies were often the very things that increased my anxiety.

Fear, Control and Trust

Kyle.

Ahaz.

Me?

The relationship between fear, control and trust.

Implied within God's appeal to you to trust Him is the call to abandon your need for control.

Isaiah 7:9b

"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."

The Christian, following the way of faith, has the antidote to fear.

Only God is big enough to:

• Care about your situation.
• Be with you in the middle of it.
• Do something about it.

...and He has shown in the incarnation that He is not only capable, but willing.

So What Is There to Fear?

• Social death of reputation.
• Lifestyle death of shattered dreams.
• Physical death of sickness, illness or frailty.

These things trouble us, but we know that there is no death we could ever face that does not carry with it the hope of resurrection on the other side.

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