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Isaiah 7 - The Prophecy of Emmanuel · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in Isaiah Chapter
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  7. Isaiah 7, Now this particular
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  episode is going to be interesting because we are back
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  in a narrative portion of scripture, which it's been, it's
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  been a hot minute since we have been in an actual narrative.
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  I want to say, man, possibly all the way back in Mark might have
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  been the last narrative that we walked through together 'cause
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  we've been in a lot of epistles and different things like that.
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  I'll have to look that up after the episode.
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  Or if one of you knows the answer, you can throw it in the
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  comments if you're on Facebook or YouTube and you can be like,
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  listen, Brian, we just went through a story back during this
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  time. Yeah, I think it might have been
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  Mark because we went through a lot of Psalms and prophets and
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  that kind of stuff. So I'm excited.
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  We've been looking at a lot of prophecies and then last the
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  last two episodes we walked through Isaiah 6 of Isaiah's, if
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  you will, call to the ministry of what it looked like for him
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  to be prophesying for the Lord. And we are jumping into a
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  specific point in history. In Isaiah Chapter 7 and verse #1
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  it says this. And this is everything that's
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  about to follow. This took place during the reign
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  of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah.
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  So Ahaz is not a good king of the southern Kingdom of Judah.
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  We're going to see that even throughout the passage.
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  Aram's king resin, that would be the area currently known as
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  Syria. When you see Aram in Scripture,
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  that is that area of Syria. Aram's king Resin and Israel's
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  King Pika, son of Ramallah went to fight against Jerusalem, but
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  they were not able to conquer it.
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  So here there is a uniting of two nations.
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  The northern Kingdom of Israel and their neighbors to the
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  north, Syria, are coming down to fight against the southern
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  Kingdom of Judah, specifically to try and take over the capital
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  city of Jerusalem. We read in verse #2 when it
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  became known to the House of David that Aram had occupied
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  Ephraim, the heart of Ahaz and the hearts of his people
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  trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.
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  So they're scared when they hear about this military alliance
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  between these two nations. Verse #3 Yahweh said to Isaiah,
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  go out with your son, sheer Jishab, which his name means a
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  remnant will return. So all the way through, we'll
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  see it in today's episode. We'll see it I think in the next
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  two or three episodes as well. God kept telling Isaiah as he
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  was having kids to give his kids like names.
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  That meant something in prophecy against Jerusalem and Judah and
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  Israel. And so here this son's name
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  means a remnant will return. So the remnant part tells you
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  that there's going to be exile and destruction, which is the
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  same message of prophecy that we've been reading all the way
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  through Isaiah. But there's also hope there that
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  a remnant will return to the land that God will not be
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  totally done with his people, but they will be able to come
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  back to the land. So he says go take your son, she
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  or Jashub to meet a has at the end of the conduit of the upper
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  pool by the road to the launderers field.
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  Say to him, calm down and be quiet.
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  You can, you know, people have different Bible verses on, you
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  know, the walls are on a cup and I think a calm down and be quiet
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  cup would be hilarious. It's kind of the same vibe as
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  the, you know, be still and know that I am God, but it's a little
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  funnier. Calm down and be quiet.
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  Someone throw that on a cup for me.
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  He says don't be afraid or cowardly because of these two
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  smoldering sticks, the fierce anger of resin and Arum and the
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  son of Ramallah here there is an he says, don't be afraid or
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  cowardly, calm down, be quiet. You don't have to worry about
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  this invading force because I am going to take care of you.
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  He says in verse #5 for Aaron along with Ephraim and the son
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  of Rimalia have plotted harm against you.
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  They say, let's go up against Judah, terrorize it and conquer
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  it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabil's son
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  as king in it. So they want to set up kind of a
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  puppet king that will be there, that will cause the nation Judah
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  to do whatever Israel and Syria want them to do.
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  We're #7 this is what Yahweh Adonai says.
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  It will not happen. It will not occur.
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  God says the nations have their plans, they have armies, they
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  have generals, they have designs, but I will not allow it
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  to take place. This is one of the great
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  comforts as we interact with our world, that just because a
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  certain military force outnumbers another does not mean
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  that they will gain the victory. Just because there are great
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  plans for evil does not mean that they will occur.
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  Any plan will fail without the express consent of God.
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  Now, bad things sometimes do happen, and you can look at the
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  book of Job to walk through a lot of those questions of why
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  does it happen? What can we learn from that?
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  How should it make us rethink our relationship with God or how
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  we think about the world at large?
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  If you have some interest in Job over on the Tabernacle Baptist
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  Essex Sermon podcast, I'll I'll put a link in the description
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  for this. We've been going through the
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  book of Job on Sunday nights and it has been a phenomenal study
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  together. I have loved that time in the
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  Word. And so I want to encourage you
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  if you have any questions about that, the problem of evil, head
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  on over there and it'll be a great time.
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  But So what we read here is God is the one that He can stop the
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  plans of humanity. And so we do not have to fear
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  when God has spoken, when God has declared his protection, we
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  can rest in that verse #8 the chief city of Arum is Damascus.
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  The chief of Damascus is Resin. Within 65 years, Ephraim will be
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  too shattered to be a people. So here he says, right now you
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  guys are worried about your survival as the southern Kingdom
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  of Judah, he says, but Israel, this northern Kingdom of Ephraim
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  with Samaria as its capital city, it is going to be
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  destroyed within 65 years, as we'll read later in the chapter,
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  that will happen as a result of the Kingdom of Assyria coming
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  through. So he says in verse #9 the chief
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  city of Ephraim is Samaria, and the chief of Samaria is the son
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  of Ramallah. If you do not stand firm in your
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  faith, then you will not stand at all.
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  Belief in God, in God's Word, in God's character and nature is
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  paramount for us. Being able to stand up in the
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  world that we fight with today. Like you need to have a faith in
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  God, that God will be true to His Word, that God will
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  accomplish everything that He has said, that you will obey God
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  regardless of what other people do or say or want.
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  You have to stand firm in the Lord.
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  It is the only way to stand. You can think about Ephesians
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  chapter 6 having done all this to stand.
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  That is the call for us. Continue to stand in your faith
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  no matter what the world around us may say or do.
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  So here's this wonderful prophecy from Isaiah to King
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  Ahaz of Judah saying, though people are plotting evil against
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  you, it will not come to pass. And in fact, these nations will
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  be destroyed within 65 years. This should because for great
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  rejoicing. But we read in verse #10 Then
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  you always spoke again to Ahaz. Ask for a sign from Yahweh your
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  God. It can be as deep as Sheol, as
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  the grave, or as high as heaven as the skies.
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  So he says, ask for whatever you want.
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  As proof of this, the Lord here does not ask.
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  It has whether or not He wants a sign.
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  He tells him ask for a sign. This is a command from God
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  himself saying I want to prove to you that my word is true.
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  What do you want me to do? A has in verse #12 replies I
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  will not ask, I will not test Yahweh.
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  God gives a has a command and though here a has kind of
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  baptizes it in religious language.
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  He says I I will not ask, I won't test Yahweh.
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  He's not testing Yahweh. He's not saying God, you told me
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  to do this and I'm not sure if you're going to be trustworthy
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  or faithful. And so I want proof of this.
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  God is saying, I want to give you proof, so ask for the proof.
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  And a has here declines. We would read elsewhere in
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  Scripture. A has is a very ungodly ruler.
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  He's not one that followed Yahweh.
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  And so we are to understand verse #12 as God gave a command
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  and A has disobeyed the command and refused God, which is why we
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  then read in verse #13 Isaiah said, listen, House of David, is
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  it not enough for you to try the patience of men?
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  Will you also try the patience of my God?
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  In essence saying, you guys are so annoying and now you're going
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  to try and like take off God as well.
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  Verse #14 He says, therefore the Lord himself will give you a
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  sign. You didn't ask for proof.
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  So God is going to give you proof.
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  He says, See, the Virgin will conceive, have a son, and name
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  him Emmanuel. By the time he learns to reject
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  what's bad and choose what's good, he will be eating Kurds
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  and honey. For before the boy knows how to
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  reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the
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  two kings you dread will be abandoned.
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  The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father's house
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  such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from
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  Judah. He will bring the king of
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  Assyria. So I want to stop real quick
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  because many of us are familiar with verse #14 we have not often
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  heard the context for what verse 14 says.
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  So here's what's going on. God says there is a woman that
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  is here. From contextual clues, even
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  looking at chapter 8, it would appear as though Isaiah's wife
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  may have also been with him or near the room at the time.
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  Because there's 3 or 4 kids of Isaiah's that are given specific
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  names in chapters 7-8 and nine that have particular meaning and
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  prophecy for Israel, for here the people of Judah.
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  So it could be that Isaiah's wife is there and she's the one
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  being talked about. You would then rightly say,
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  well, wait a second, it says here the virgin will conceive.
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  And if Isaiah's wife already has sheer Jashub, then how could she
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  be a virgin? There's been a ton of various
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  interpretations of this over the years, so I want to level with
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  you guys on that couple of the options that I'll try to run
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  through really quick. One would be that she or
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  Jashub's mom passed and so now there was going to be a new wife
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  and perhaps even Isaiah's like betrothed.
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  His fiance was there as well. And so then she would have been
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  a virgin, but would conceive, would have a kid.
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  And by the time the kid grew up here, was able to determine
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  between what's good and bad or could tell between his right
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  hand and his left, choose what's tasty and what's not tasty.
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  And is able to discern that even in his palate.
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  As we would read in verses 15 and 16, that Israel and Aram,
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  Syria would no longer be an issue.
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  That basically it's within 5 to 10 years, these guys are going
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  to be totally gone. And the proof of this is going
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  to be this kid. Now, it could just be a random
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  person, a random woman that was there within kind of that, you
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  know, it's not an actual courtroom, but in the King's
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  entourage, a woman that is there that would have a son.
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  And by the time that kid was 5 to 10, there would be no more
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  Syria or the northern Kingdom of Israel to harass, to harass the
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  southern Kingdom of Judah. So that is, those are two of the
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  interpretations. There's a third, there's a third
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  one that people have posture, I think.
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  I think the word is postulated. If that's not the right word, I
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  apologize. You can look up in a in a
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  dictionary to see if that's the right word after another option
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  that's been postulated is that this is strictly about Jesus and
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  that the prophecy is there is going to come one who is born of
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  a virgin. So here in the virgin will
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  conceive that that can very often be a person that had not
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  previously, in the words of the old King James, known a man and
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  a pawn having known a man was impregnated.
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  So that could be one way that that is taken.
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  The other way you could take it would be that it is a virgin who
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  is still a virgin even in the conception and and afterwards
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  there so some people recognizing what Matthew tells us in Matthew
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  one that part of the virgin birth of Christ.
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  Matthew ties it directly to this passage so some people would say
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  there's not a both and fulfillment of this passage.
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  So there was a prophecy given here to a has about someone that
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  he could see with a within 5 to 10 years as this woman right
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  over here is going to have a kid gonna is going to name him God
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  with us that within 5 to 10 years.
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  Syria and Israel will be no more.
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  They won't be a problem for you anymore.
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  They would say that was not a prophecy given this is actually
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  just all about Jesus. That's that particular position
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  is a little harder for me to gel with the passage because there's
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  such specifics given on you're scared about these kingdoms.
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  I'm going to take care of the kingdoms.
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  And here is a temporary, immediate proof of what I'm
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  going to do. But as Matthew thinks about the
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  story of Jesus, about what Mary experienced, that she had not
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  known a man, Matthew is looking back at the Old Testament saying
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  this is what reality was. Did God give us any clues?
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  And as he looks at the scroll of Isaiah, he goes, oh, here a
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  virgin did conceive. And it wasn't just what happened
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  here in Isaiah 7, but it also happened with Mary, with Jesus
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  in an even bigger, better, truer way.
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  So that would kind of be the position that that I would hold.
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  Luke, obviously, in Luke 1 and 2 also highlights that in the
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  virgin birth of Christ as well. So if you go how does this tie
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  together? Isaiah 7 has an immediate
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  prophecy with fulfillment within 5 to 10 years of when the
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  prophecy was given. As well as the Holy Spirit
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  conceived in Mary, who had never known a man, she was a virgin.
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  The Holy Spirit created the human Jesus Christ within the
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  womb of Mary. And as Matthew and Luke go, wow,
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  look at what God has done. As they look back at the Old
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  Testament, they would say this is something that God told us
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  that a virgin would conceive and there would be Emmanuel, God
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  with us. And while it had that
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  fulfillment 600 years ago, it also had fulfillment right here
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  in the 1st century. It's part of the cool thing of
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  God's word is that, especially as it relates to Old Testament
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  prophecy and New Testament fulfillment, is that as the Old
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  Testament prophets, as they wrote, there were things that
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  they perhaps did not know the full extent of.
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  How true their writings were, because it wasn't just them, it
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  was the Holy Spirit guiding so that what they wrote was exactly
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  what God wanted them to. And so the New Testament writers
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  will often look at the Old Testament and say, here's
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  something that the Old Testament writers said that is ultimately
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  true of Jesus. And as we see the Old Testament
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  all together now, it points over and over and over again to Jesus
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  Christ Himself. I'll, I'll stop there for the
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  moment. The remaining, the remaining
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  verses of this chapter are just here is going to be what happens
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  to the Kingdom of Israel. He says in verse #18 On that day
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  Yahweh will whistle to flies at the farthest streams of the Nile
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  and to bees in the land of Assyria.
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  All of them will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the
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  clefts of the rocks, in all the thorn bushes, and in all the
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  water holes. On that day the Lord will use a
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  razor hired from beyond the Euphrates River, the king of
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  Assyria, to shave the hair on your heads, the hair on your
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  legs, and even your beards. Here God is bringing Assyria and
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  Egypt to exile and eradicate this nation of Israel.
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  He says on that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
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  and from the abundant milk they give he will eat Kurds.
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  For every survivor in the land will eat Kurds and honey.
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  So here there's a severe dearth of crops such that the food that
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  is available is only food that comes from animals, not from
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  planted things like grain or corn.
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  You're only getting it from cows and from sheep and their honey
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  that comes from bees. Verse 23, on that day, every
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  place where there were 1000 vines worth 1000 pieces of
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  silver will become thorns and briars.
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  There's more of the crops. The grapes here specifically are
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  totally done away with. It's just become overgrown.
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  There's thorns, prickly plants, all of that.
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  Verse 24, A man will go there with bow and arrows because the
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  whole land will be thorns and briars.
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  You will not go to all the hills that were once tilled with a hoe
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  for fear of the thorns and briars.
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  Those hills will be places for oxen to graze and for sheep to
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  trample. So here the Lord makes it very
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  clear, the southern Kingdom of Judah, you will be OK for now.
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  Right now is not the time of your judgement.
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  Couple practical things for you #1 be thankful for Jesus, that
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  one who though he was from the House of David, he was not one
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  that was belligerent and disobedient and evil like all of
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  his ancestors had been. Jesus was totally unique and
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  because he was perfect, holy God that he did not have the same
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  sin nature that we did pass down from our Father Adam, that Jesus
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  conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
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  He started with that clean slate, with that perfection.
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  And so as a result, He was one that got in the flesh.
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  He did everything perfect. He did everything right so that
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  our redemption could be bought. So we can be thankful for Jesus.
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  When God tells us to do something, do not tell him no.
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  Here a has was commanded ask and he went no, He bathed it in
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  really religious language. But if God gives us a command in
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  his word, we have to obey it. There's no ifs, ands or buts.
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  There's no but I don't really want to.
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  Let's just obey. And then let's be thankful that
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  God is sovereign over the nation's, sovereign over kings
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  and armies, that we can trust that what God says will go.
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  And it doesn't matter what anyone's plans are.
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  If God says that those plans will be thwarted and stopped.
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  They will be. And God is able always to bring
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  a bigger fish along that will save and will rescue.
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  Thanks for tuning in today. Next episode we'll look at
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  Isaiah chapter 8.