Word of Salvation – Vol. 30 No. 30 – Aug 1985

 

God’s Sign To A Sinful People

 

Sermon by Rev. H. O. Berends on Isaiah 7:1-14

 

Ahaz, the new king of Judah, was worried.  And of course he had every reason to be so.  Because some time before he had been approached by Pekah and Rezin, the kings of Israel and Syria.  Would he form an alliance with them, he had been asked – an alliance against the king of Assyria.  For Assyria was growing stronger daily.  And its king was casting increasingly possessive glances over his southern border, where happened to lie the kingdoms of Syria, Judah and Israel.  And there was more strength in unity.  “So what about it, Ahaz?  Will you join us?  Will you make a defensive alliance with us?  United we stand, divided we fall.  Remember that, Ahaz.  So what about it?”

Those had been the suggestions of the kings of Israel and Syria.  But Ahaz had not been interested.  He had said “No”, I will not join you.  Assyria is much too strong a country, even for all of us together.  I will not join an alliance against her.  I’d much rather make an alliance with her.  It’s much better to treat with Assyria than to fight her.”  That had been Ahaz’ answer.  It had not been a pleasing one for Israel and Syria.  For it had put both Israel and Syria in a very awkward situation.  With Assyria in the north.  And Judah, Assyria’s ally in the south.  And Israel and Syria in between.  Not a very defensible position, with enemies front and rear!

And so Pekah and Rezin had stuck their heads together.  And they had come up with a plan, simple but brilliant.  “First we attack the little one – that’s Judah.  We knock out its army and capture its king and we replace him with someone more to our liking – the son of Tabeel would be a good choice, don’t you think?  And then, having secured our rear, we turn around and wait for Assyria.  How does that sound?”

So no wonder that Ahaz was worried.  For although he knew that Judah, Israel and Syria in all their combined strength still would not be a match for Assyria, yet he was also fully aware that Judah on its own would not have a show against Israel and Syria united.  No wonder Ahaz was worried.  No wonder his people were worried as well.  The bible puts it so graphically: “Now the house of David was told “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”

Enter Isaiah.  Ahaz, apparently, had gone to inspect his defences.  And as part of his defences his water supply, which in those days was situated outside the protective walls of Jerusalem.  This had always been a weak point in the city’s defences, a problem which was only solved later, by Hezekiah, Ahaz’s son and successor, who had his workmen dig a tunnel through 300 metres of solid rock just to conduct the spring’s water into the city.  But in Ahaz’s time this feat had yet to be accomplished.  Jerusalem’s water supply was still outside its walls.  What a headache this must have been for Ahaz!  How was he going to secure this vital necessity once his enemies had surrounded the city?  The desperateness of his situation must, as he stood there, have struck him as never before.

And it is there, at the upper pool, when Ahaz’s hopes are at their lowest ebb, that Isaiah meets him.  Isaiah, the prophet of God, sent by God with a message for Ahaz.  And what a message!  “Be careful, keep calm, and don’t be afraid.”  Your enemies they are nothing!  They are like two torches about to go out.  One last flicker, a lot of smoke, but then nothing!  Their plan will come to nothing.  “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘It will not take place.  It will not happen.’”

Wonderful, isn’t it?  The Lord himself will defend Jerusalem.  He himself will protect Ahaz and his people, Ahaz does not have to do a thing except to believe and to trust God.

And that’s not all!

Just in case Ahaz might find it hard to believe God, just in case he isn’t quite sure that Isaiah is really God’s spokesman, just to remove from Ahaz’s mind any doubts whatsoever, the Lord is even willing to confirm his promise right there and then with a miracle.  Vs.10: Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

“Ask me for a sign”, the Lord says.  “Anything you like, be it ever so difficult or spectacular.  Ask me for a sign to show that I am speaking the truth to you, and I will give it.”

Well, that’s something, isn’t it?  Wouldn’t we like to be in such a situation?  Not only to receive God’s clear word, right out of the mouth of his prophet, but also to be given the opportunity to ask a sign from God himself!  Any sign we care to think of.  What an opportunity!

What a pity God does not seem to work that way anymore!  We envy you, Ahaz.  What are you going to ask for?

But, Ahaz is not going to ask for anything.  Ahaz is not interested.  He point-blank refuses God’s offer to him.  “No, Lord, thank you!” is what Ahaz is saying.  Oh yes, he tries to do it in a religious sort of a way He says, “I will not ask, I will not put the Lord to the test.”  He tries to make Isaiah think that he’s quite willing to accept his words without requiring further corroboration.  But that’s not what he is really thinking.  Ahaz’s real intention is to ignore God’s message.  To act as if he’d never heard it – as if this conversation with Isaiah never took place.

Are there not many people in this world just like Ahaz?  Deliberately turning their backs upon God?  Deliberately ignoring whatever he wants to say to them in their situation?  Desperate though it may be?  For the world is in a desperate situation, there’s no doubt about that.  It stumbles from one war into another.  Hunger is commonplace.  So is persecution.  The economic situation, even in the better off countries, is by no means promising.  Unemployment is high.  Energy is running out.  Pollution everywhere is doing its often irreversible damage.  The nuclear threat is hanging over our heads.  Crime is on the increase.  The family is threatened; moral values everywhere are breaking down.

God has given answers to these problems.  He has shown a way out of these difficulties.  If God’s word were to be truly applied to this world’s situation then there would be improvement, then there would be healing, then there would be deliverance.  But the world does not want to hear God’s answer.  Man is not interested in God’s solution.  He will solve his problems his own way.  “For although they knew God,” writes Paul in Rom.1:21 with respect to this situation, “they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.”

The world, like Ahaz, does not want to listen to what God has to say to it.  Man, like Ahaz, wants to do things his own way.

But I do not really want to talk about the world so much as about us Christians, this morning.  For, brothers and sisters, I wonder if we are not often like Ahaz.  Not interested in what God has to say to us.  Not interested in doing what we know he wants us to do.

Oh yes, I know.  God does not bring his word to us nowadays by sending us one of his prophets.  And he does not usually confirm it by letting us choose a sign for him to perform.  Nor does he expect us to ask for one.  It is quite true that by doing so we would put him to the test, as Ahaz would have done had not God offered him first.  But God does still speak to us – through his word and Spirit.  And he has confirmed his words to us through the many signs it tells us of and through his Spirit bearing witness in our hearts.  We know that God is faithful and that his word is sure.  And we know what his will is.  The problem is that, so often like Ahaz we are not willing to listen to it.  We are not willing to apply it to our situation.  We are not willing to obey it.

Like Ahaz.  For Ahaz does not want to know God’s will.  He is not interested in God’s plan.  Ahaz has his own plan all worked out.  He is going to get himself some first-class camels.  He is going to put these camels under a top-class delegation.  He is going to send this delegation post-haste to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, with many gifts and much tribute and he is going to ask the king of Assyria to quickly mobilise his army and march it to his southwestern border and to attack the armies of Israel and Syria.  So that Syria and Israel will not have the opportunity to carry out their plans against Ahaz.  That is what Ahaz is going to do.  “God, I don’t need your help!  I don’t need you to tell me how to go about things!  I have it all worked out!”

Have you ever been in a situation like that of Ahaz?  Where you knew God’s will full well but would not do it?  Have you ever had his attitude the attitude which says, “You keep out of this, God.  I’ll do this my way.  It’s none of your business!”?

There are so many ways, large and small, in which we can show this attitude.  There are so many areas in our lives where we can say, “Hands off, God!”

Some Christians say it concerning some particular sinful habit they indulge in or some secret sin in which they live.  It could be a so-called little thing or a big thing, from smoking to excess to living in adultery.  They say, “Don’t trespass here, Lord.  I’m quite happy with most of your commandments.  I’m perfectly willing to try and keep them – and I’m not doing too badly, if I may say so myself – but as for this one, no, Lord.  There is a limit, you know.  As for this one, it’s ‘hands off’.  We will act as if you never said that.  And that’s my last word on the subject.  As far as I am concerned the conversation is closed!”

These people know what the bible says about it.  They know that God wants them to give it up.  They know He has said that He is able to give them the victory over it, that “no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man,” and that “God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide e way of escape, that you may be able to endure it,” as Paul writes in 1Cor.10:13.  They know all that, but it does not make any difference.  They just go on as if God had never said anything.  “Hands off, God!”

Some Christians say it concerning a particular situation into which they have got themselves.  A situation of broken or embittered relationships.  perhaps.  Within the family, or the church, or some other particular area.  A situation in which forgiveness and healing are needed.  They know what God wants them to do.  They know how much store He sets by us forgiving each other, yes, even to the point where not forgiving those who have wronged us may imperil our own salvation, as Jesus himself so clearly taught us.  And yet they say, “No, Lord, I won’t do it, it’s too hard.  Hands off, Lord!”

Some Christians say it concerning their time and their talents.  They know that God wants them to be active in the work of His kingdom.  They know that He has promised to give each Christian the enabling of His Holy Spirit to play an active role in His church.  But they don’t want to accept this.  They say to the Lord, “Not me, thank you.  I’m not able, and neither am I willing.  I’ll come to church on Sunday, but that’s about all you have a right to expect of me.  The rest of my time is my own, thank you, to fill as I please.  And as for your gifts of enabling – just give them to the minister – he gets paid for doing his job.  As for my time – hands off, Lord!”

Some Christians say much the same about their money.  “It’s my money, I’ve earned it.  I’ve worked for it hard enough!  It’s bad enough the government taking such a big slice, without you starting to nag me as well!  All right, I’ll give you a dollar.  Two if the sermon has been a good one!  You can have two dollars of my money!” They know, of course, that it’s not their money at all – that all they have they have but received from the Lord.  But that does not stop them.  While with their mouth they are singing “Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold,” in their hearts they are saying, “It’s mine!  Hands off Lord!”

Some Christians say it about a relationship which they are involved in; a relationship they know to be displeasing to the Lord.  Many young people in our churches have that problem.  They come to an age where they start thinking of getting married, and they look around them, and they do not at first glance see anyone suitable within the church and so they get desperately worried and they think to themselves, “What shall I do?  I don’t want to remain a bachelor!  I don’t want to end up an old maid!  I don’t want to miss out on that great modern ideal called ‘falling in love’!”  Oh yes, they know what God says about this matter.  They know that He does not want them unequally yoked to an unbeliever.  They also know that God has promised: “I will supply every need of yours according to my riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”  They know all that.  But they don’t want to listen.  They feel, like Ahaz, that they are in a desperate situation.  And so they make their plans.  Their own plans.  “This is what I’ll do – I’ll go to this dance, or that disco.  I’ll smile nicely at that boy, or talk friendly to this girl.  I know he isn’t a Christian.  I know she doesn’t love Jesus.  But that doesn’t matter – he’ll come to church if I ask him.  She’ll go to catechism eventually.  I don’t need your help, God.  I don’t need you to tell me what to do.  I will solve this problem nicely by myself.  Not in your way, of course.  But nicely all the same.  Just you keep out of this.  Hands off, God!”

“Hands off, Lord!”  Do we not all, like Ahaz, say those words very, very often?  Maybe it is not in those particular areas that I have just mentioned that your or my particular weakness lies.  But certainly in others.  For is not all sin, basically, the expression of this attitude?  It is but seldom that we sin through ignorance.  Usually we know full well what the Lord’s view is on the matter.  But yet we wilfully go ahead and do our own thing, anyway.

Hands off, Lord!” That’s what Ahaz was thinking.  “I don’t want your advice and I don’t intend to follow it, because I’ve got my own plans.  And I don’t want your sign either!”

But look carefully at what happens now.  To see that is very important.  For now God does not say, “OK then, Ahaz.  If that’s what you want then that’s the way it will be.  Just go ahead and do your own thing and good luck to you!”  No, God does not say that.  He does not simply withdraw Himself.  He does something else instead, something much more positive.  For now God says, through Isaiah his spokesman:

“Hear now, you house of David!  Is it not enough to try the patience of men?  Will you try the patience of my God also?  Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Listen to me, Ahaz!  You think that you can just say, “hands off, God” and be done with it.  You think it’s just a matter of taking my advice or not taking it, and that if you don’t take it then I will withdraw myself and leave you alone.  But it’s not that easy, Ahaz!  You may not want me to give you a sign, but I am going to give you one anyway.  A virgin is going to get pregnant.  She is going to have a baby.  And she is going to call his name “Immanuel”, which means “God with us.”  You would like to ignore me to act as if I did not exist.  But I am not to be gotten rid of that easily.  I am still there.  I am still with Judah.  I still have plans for my people, whether you like it or not!”

There is of course quite a problem of interpretation here, as to who exactly is meant in this prophecy.  In the Hebrew language it says “young woman”, not “virgin” as our translation has it.  And so, many commentators, and I think I agree with them, believe that the first fulfilment of this prophesy was in reference to a boy conceived soon after this prophesy was given and born in king Ahaz’ own time.  We don’t know who this boy may have been.  Some think he may have been a son of Ahaz himself.  Others that he was a son of Isaiah.  The truth is that we simply don’t know.  But it is likely that such a boy was born in or near the palace of king Ahaz.  So that every time king Ahaz cast his eyes on this boy or heard his name mentioned he would have been reminded of that day when he rejected God’s message and tried to do things his own way.

For he did go on to do things his own way.  He did carry out the plans of which I’ve already told you.  And in a measure he even succeeded.  We read in 1Kings 17 how the Assyrians did indeed come to his assistance and did draw off the Israeli and the Syrian armies and destroyed them, and we know from history that all this happened within a few years of the day of Ahaz’ confrontation with Isaiah, so that the prophesy of vs.16, that before the new born child would be of an age to know the difference between right and wrong, both Israel and Syria would be laid waste was indeed fulfilled.

Yes, Ahaz, in some measure, succeeded.  But at great cost.  For before many more years had passed it was Judah’s turn to experience the devastation of the Assyrian armies.  And although she was never fully conquered, at least not by the Assyrians, yet Judah, too, was for a long time suppressed by the might of Assyria.  Judah, too, was to be shaven with a razor from beyond the Euphrates river, with the king of Assyria, as Isaiah went on to prophesy in this same chapter later on.

Ahaz in some measure succeeded.  But at great cost.  As all men, though they ignore God… though they insist on doing things their own way, on pushing through their own wills… may succeed in some measure.  But it will be at great cost, as I am sure we all know from our own experience.  But that is not what I want to elaborate on at this time.

For let us go back to vs.14, to the prophecy of the birth of a boy child with the name Immanuel.

I was speaking before about its possible first fulfilment in Ahaz’ own time.  I was saying that it is very likely that there was such a fulfilment.  But of course if there was then it was not the only one, nor was it the most important.  For I don’t have to tell you that the second and infinitely more important fulfilment of this prophecy did not take place at the time of Ahaz but some 700 years later, and not in or near Jerusalem’s royal palace, but in a stable in Bethlehem, at the birth of Jesus.

Ahaz did not want a sign from God.  He intended to ignore what God had said to him, and to go his own way.  But God was of a different opinion.  He gave Ahaz a sign anyway, whether Ahaz wanted it or not.

The world does not want a sign from God.  The world intends to ignore what God has to say to it, and to go its own way.  But God is of a different opinion.  He has given the world a sign anyway – Jesus, who is Immanuel – God with us.

And it is a sign, first of all, for condemnation.  To remind the world of its sinfulness.  The sinfulness of a world which went its own way, which turned and is still turning its back upon God and his message in total indifference and which, when God sent His only Son and so confronted it with Himself, nailed Him to a cross and in order not to have to hear His words of warning crucified Him.  Jesus is also a sign to us, to remind us of our own sinfulness when, in whatever way or area, we continue to turn our backs upon God and insist on ignoring his words to us and doing our own will.

Jesus, God’s sign to a sinful world.  God’s sign to a sinful people.  As once He confronted Ahaz, so in Jesus God continually confronts this world, confronts us with our sins, with our rebellion, whenever and in whatever area we say to him “Hands off, God!”‘

Yes, but then also – and this is the glorious wonder of the gospel then also Jesus is God’s sign that, despite the world’s rebellion, despite our own sinfulness, despite the fact that we so often wilfully and deliberately choose our own way – that despite all this God is still waiting.  He is still speaking.  He is still not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  God is still, through this same Jesus, drawing near to us, with the offer of his forgiveness, of his presence, in and through Immanuel.

What is this Jesus to us, brothers and sisters?  Young people?  A sign of warning, perhaps of condemnation, as we harden our hearts, as we persist in going our own way in those areas of our lives where we continue to hold out against God?  Or a sign of salvation?  As we truly confess our sins before Him, claim His blood for our cleansing and His Spirit for our sanctification?  As we once again determine to forsake our own will and live our lives henceforward in His will, His strength and His power?

God is once again confronting us this morning.  As once He confronted Ahaz, through Isaiah, so long ago.  He has given to us, as to Ahaz, a sign.  It is a sign that God takes our sins seriously so seriously that he sent His own Son to die for them.  It is also a sign that He is willing to forgive us, that He is still willing to say to us, as once, again through His prophet Isaiah, He said to the people of Judah:

“Seek the Lord, while he may be found
 Call upon Him while He is near.
 Let the wicked forsake His way,
 And the unrighteous man His thoughts;
 Let him return to the Lord,
 that He may have mercy upon him,
 And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Amen.