Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
Luke 1:26-31 Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.”
We have been studying what the Book of Galatians tells us about holiness and how to become holy with the help of the Holy Spirit. But we are in the season of Advent, a season in which we should be preparing our hearts for the celebration of Christ’s coming. Perhaps no single prophet in the Old Testament has written more about the coming Messiah than has Isaiah.
Who was Isaiah? TheFamousPeople.com says this about Isaiah:
Isaiah was an 8th-century BC Israelite prophet who predicted the coming of Jesus Christ. He is believed to have lived about 700 years before Jesus Christ was born. The Book of Isaiah is named after him. He is considered a significant contributor to Christian and Jewish traditions. Not much is known about his personal life, but there is enough evidence to suggest that he was probably a member of an aristocratic family. He was born in Jerusalem and is said to have been called to be a prophet by a divine vision he had in the year of King Uzziah’s death. From his writings, it is evident that he was thoroughly educated in the language of prophetic speech, and it is sometimes argued that he was born into a family of prophets. As a pious and principled man, he was disturbed by the inequalities in society and the evils perpetrated by men. He sympathized with the poor and the downtrodden. He served as the mouthpiece of God to the common people and tried to warn them of dire consequences if they indulged in sinful activities. He was married and had at least two sons. His wife is referred to as “the prophetess” in his writings…Isaiah died sometime in the 7th century BC. The exact circumstances of his death are not known though certain sources suggest that he was killed by King Manasseh, the 14th king of the Kingdom of Judah.”
The prophecy recorded in Isaiah 7:14 is part of a larger prophecy given to King Ahaz of Judah at a time when the King of Syria and the King of Israel have banded together to attack Jerusalem.
Isaiah 7:10-25 “Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”
But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”
Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.
The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.”
And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. They will come, and all of them will rest in the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all thorns and in all pastures.
In the same day the Lord will shave with a hired razor, with those from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs, and will also remove the beard. It shall be in that day that a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep; so it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give, that he will eat curds; for curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land. It shall happen in that day, that wherever there could be a thousand vines
Worth a thousand shekels of silver, it will be for briers and thorns. With arrows and bows men will come there, because all the land will become briers and thorns. And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but it will become a range for oxen and a place for sheep to roam.”
What a strange place for a Messianic prophecy! Here Ahaz, the grandson of King Uzziah, has panicked and has resorted to asking Isaiah for help. Ahaz probably hopes that Isaiah will pray some kind of prayer and make his enemies disappear, but that doesn’t happen. When Isaiah orders Ahaz to ask from the Lord, Ahaz tries to score points for piety by refusing to do so.
In this prophecy, Isaiah informs King Ahaz that he has nothing to fear from these two men, for God is going to frustrate all their plans. Isaiah also predicts that within 65 years Israel will no longer exist as a nation, and that “the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.” But Isaiah also predicts that the Assyrians will swoop down on Judah and destroy it.
Why does God drop a wonderful prophecy about the coming Messiah into a discourse on political upheaval? The key is in the name “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” God is with us at all times, whether or not we realize it. And God is always working, even when we think we are in the midst of disasters. Right now, a pastor friend of ours lies in a hospital in Guatemala, recovering from several severe health problems.
Our friend traveled to Guatemala to encourage believers in the forty churches his small congregation in western New York has helped start. While in a remote mountainous area, our friend fell sick, forcing those around him to evacuate him by any means possible until they could reach a large city with a good hospital. On the face of it, it’s difficult to see God’s hand in these events; however, while we assume God has only one purpose in a given situation, meanwhile, God may have seventeen different purposes. Who knows how many people in that hospital are going to hear about Jesus because a gringo pastor has fallen sick? Who knows how many people will increase their faith because of God’s hand in this situation?
As you go through Advent and Christmas, remember that Jesus IS Immanuel, God with us. Jesus is there in the middle of your stresses, your worries, your fears, your doubts, your disappointments ,and your depression. There is no time of the day or night when Jesus fails to be with us. And because Jesus is Immanuel, you can rest assured that God will never abandon you.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we bless You for sending Jesus, Immanuel, to be with us no matter how we are suffering. Help us to remember that You are always there and that you are closer than our own heartbeats. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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