God's people don't need to look for hope in anything or anybody other than him.
Isaiah 7:10-14 Later, the LORD sent this message to King Ahaz: 11 “Ask the LORD your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.” 12 But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the LORD like that.”God's people are in the Promised Land, but they are not living the lifestyle that they promised. God's chosen people have turned their backs on God's way to live which they enthusiastically promised just a few hundred years earlier. (Exodus 24:1-18)
13 Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? 14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
If they made the right choices their obedience would continue the special favor that they had already received from God. They would continue to receive so many blessings including security and abundance so that all the nations around them would glorify God. (Deuteronomy 33:26-29)
Pleasing God is the most important thing in the world and the only way to please him is to become like him and that means being holy. Not only are they not holy but God's people are just as bad as the nations around them.
Isaiah 1:4 Oh, what a sinful nation they are- loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the LORD. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
Their lack of holiness will bring about their ruin, the nation has already
split into two and God has promised that he will discipline his people. They will be "cut down" until
there isn't any visible signs of life. But God would keep his promise to bring
Messiah through the lineage of King David. God will cut his people down but
out of the tree stump a holy branch will appear. (Isaiah 6:9-13, 11:1)
King Ahaz had a great opportunity to do the right thing when the alliance of
Syria and Israel threatened to come after Judah to force them into their
coalition. The alliance of Rezin, of Syria, and Pekah, of Israel, will
fail to force Judah to join them and they will also fail against the Assyrians. (2 King 16:5-20, 17:5-18 and also in 2 Chronicles 28:5-27)
God gives his people hope in spite of their disobedience.
(Isaiah 7:1-9)
King Ahaz was afraid of the future like trees shaking in a storm (Isaiah 7:2) and fear of the wicked schemes of man. (Isaiah 7:4-6) His fears sent him to Assyria
for help instead of trusting God. Ahaz still gets another chance, even though he went to Assyria to get help, God still tells Ahaz through Isaiah that
the threats coming against Judah will never be successful despite the fact that he didn't trust God for his future.
The nations can plot to come against God's people but it is God who decides
the victory. Isaiah tells us what God thinks of their plans very clearly in
Isaiah 7:7-8, 16. Don't be like Ahaz, he relied on his own wisdom instead of listening to the message from Isaiah that the feared invasion isn't going
to happen. He should have accepted God's word as his source of hope and joy but if you don't have
faith in God then you will have nothing but fear of the future. (Isaiah 7:9)
God gives his people a sure sign of the hope of Messiah.
(Isaiah 7:10-16)
But God didn't just tell Ahaz that the plot against Judah would not succeed he also gave him a rare opportunity to ask God for any sign whatsoever that would prove what God said was true. Ahaz said that he wouldn't test God but
he wasn't being strong in his faith, he had already tested God's patience by putting his faith in the strength of
Assyria.
Jon Courson's Application Commentary - “The Lord will indeed give you a sign,” Isaiah said. The word “you” is plural. Therefore, it speaks not only to Ahaz, but to all humanity through all of history. You who feel threatened, intimidated, pressed upon, worried, anxious—the Lord will give you a sign: A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son whose name means “God with us.”
At least 700 years before Jesus birth God gave a sign for his people to know that he is with them back then and will be in the future when the Messiah finally arrives.
The folly and sin of seeking hope in man's wisdom.
(Isaiah 7:17-25)
Israel and Syria are described as smoldering sticks that are not going to
exist much longer. Both of these countries would lose their military strength
and become useless for protection. In Ahaz' lifetime he would see the end of
the Northern Kingdom of Israel but Judah would still survive.
Isaiah 2:22 Don't put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?Isaiah 8:13 Make the LORD of Heaven's Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble.
Assyria would prove to be the enemy of Judah and would destroy her but the promised survival of Judah would eventually lead to Hezekiah, a future Godly king that would lead the nation back to God.
God with us restores our hope.
The loss of "God with us" back in the Garden of Eden was restored for brief moments in the history of God's people.
God was with his people when he:
- Moved them to Egypt to save them from famine.
- Took them out of Egypt and made a nation of them.
- Gave them unexplainable military might.
God has always been with a chosen people that have known his presence in their lives but now we can celebrate the most wonderful news of "God with us" in a more personal way.
Matthew 1:22-23 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
The son of God came as it was promised long ago to give us victory over our enemy! King Ahaz received the promise of victory over his enemy and now with the arrival of Jesus we can celebrate our own victory.
The New Testament writers quoted Isaiah more than any other prophet, Matthew makes the connection with the prophecies of Isaiah at least a dozen times to prove that Jesus is our God and also our savior.
God with us gives us eternal hope
The "God with us" doesn't have to end! God is with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we put our hope in Jesus, our Messiah, we will receive God with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5:5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
God's chosen people have never deserved the privilege that God has offered to us. We don't deserve it any more than the people we read about in the Old Testament. Our friendship with God has been restored by God's mercy and grace through our savior so that we can have victory over our enemy because God is with us. (Romans 5:1-11)
RELATED ARTICLES
Ten Key Verses On Hope
(crossway.org)
Advent Word Study: Yakhal / Hope (bibleproject.com)
