From Isaiah to You Merry Christmas God’s Sign for Faith Over Fear

 

From Isaiah to You Merry Christmas

God’s Sign for Faith Over Fear

God told Ahaz to ask for a sign to prove God would redeem him

And Judah from the threat of Israel   

 Today God is telling you and I to ask for a sign that He will redeem us

From the threat of death and hell 

The sign God wants you to ask for is Immanuel

To ask God to be with you

Don’t let your fear of the cost get in the way

Ask God to forgive your doubt and redeem you by inviting Him into your life

 Your heart, the seat of all your feelings

Your heart has a throne

Will you come off your throne and become a servant

By allowing King Jesus to sit on the throne of your heart 

We may want to ask King Ahaz what were you afraid of?

But the greater question is what am I afraid of?

You and I have seen the sign of the virgin birth

What sign do you need to let God rule in your life?

 

 

God’s Sign for Faith Over Fear

 

We have heard Isaiah 7:14…

 

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.

 

But what is the context?

 

Why a sign?

 

Why a Virgin Birth?

 

Why call Him Immanuel?

 

The context is focused around

the king of Judah, his name was Ahaz.

 

King Ahaz heard Israel was planning to attack Judah.

 

Remember the 12 tribes of Israel were divided.

 

Ten tribes in the north are Israel.

 

 They are the larger and more powerful…

 

 Then the southern two tribes, called Judah.

 

The tribe of Levi was not given land.

 

And they lived in both the north and south kingdoms.

 

The house or family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

 who God gave the name Israel was divided.

 

Jesus said,

"Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined,

and a house divided against itself will fall.

Luke 11:17

 

Note verse 2 of Isaiah 7…

 

Now the house of David was told

 

You will see this again in verse 13…

 

The House of David is a Messianic term.

 

God’s Word to David in 2 Samuel 7:16…

 

Your house and your kingdom

will endure forever before me;

your throne will be established forever.

 

This is why it is so important to see the

lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1, before

Matthew shared the story of the virgin birth.

 

Going back to King Ahaz in verse 2…

 

 We see he is full of fear when

 he hears of the plan of Israel

to destroy him and Judah.

 

The Lord spoke to King Ahaz and said…

 

Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

"'It will not take place, it will not happen

Isaiah 7:7

 

The Lord challenged Ahaz to stand in faith, not fear…

 

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

you will not stand at all.  

Isaiah 7:9

 

Verse 10 is amazing…

 

 God tells Ahaz to ask for a sign

to prove His word is true.

 

God tells Ahaz no sign no

miracle will be too large to ask…

 

Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz,

"Ask the LORD your God for a sign,

whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."

Isaiah 7:10-11

 

Imagine your Heavenly Father telling you,

 you can ask for anything, nothing is too large.

 

What would you ask if God said to you…

 

 What do you want for Christmas?

 

Amazingly, King Ahaz refused to test the Lord.

 

 The word used is not to tempt

the Lord, but test the Lord.

 

God does not want your faith to be without proof.

 

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21 KJV

 

Malachi 3:10; 1 John 4:1 are just some of the

scriptures that tell us to prove what we have faith in.

 

Everything you know is theory until it is proven.

 

As you and I read God’s Word…

 

It is theory until it is proven out in our lives.

 

Sometimes we, like King Ahaz, are unwilling

to ask God to prove to us His Word is true.

 

We can read about Abraham who

was asked to sacrifice his son.

 

Not sure I want to go through what Abraham

went through to prove God’s word is true.

 

God allowed Ahaz to face a terrifying

situation to prove His faithfulness.

 

But Ahaz refused to take God up on the offer.

 

So God spoke through Isaiah and said…

 

Then Isaiah said, "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.

 Isaiah 7:13-14

 

God said through the House of David,

the Messianic Promise will be fulfilled.

God said Ahaz had tried His patience.

 

So God said He will make a sign,

a miracle, that only God can do.

 

 What He was going to do was the impossible…

 

The sign will be the virgin will be with

child and will give birth to a son

 

You may say Jesus was not born until 700 years later.

 

 That is true.

 

 But God was not done in Chapter 7.

 

 If you read through Chapter 9,

you will see more of God’s Messianic

Promise of a miracle sign.

 

 And how God gave Isaiah two sons not as

the fulfillment, but as picture of what was to come.

 

Lastly, His name will be called Immanuel…

 

Meaning “God with us”.

 

 That is the Messianic Fulfillment…

 

Our Redemption.

 

The Redemption of Israel.

 

 Your redemption and mine is

impossible without God being with us. 

 

God told Ahaz to ask for a sign

to prove God would redeem him

and Judah from the threat of Israel.

   

 Today, God is telling you and I to ask

for a sign that He will redeem us

from the threat of death and hell.

 

The sign God wants you to ask for is Immanuel.

 

To ask God to be with you.

 

Don’t let your fear of the cost get in the way.

 

Ask God to forgive your doubt and redeem

you by inviting Him into your life…

 

 Your heart, the seat of all your feelings.

 

Your heart has a throne.

 

 Will you come off your throne

and become a servant…

 

 By allowing King Jesus to sit

on the throne of your heart?

 

We may want to ask King Ahaz

what were you afraid of?

 

But the greater question is…

 

 What am I afraid of?

 

You and I have seen the sign of the virgin birth.

 What sign do you need to let God rule in your life?

 

 

 

Scripture Reading

 

Isaiah 7:1-15 NIV

 

7:1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.

 

2 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.

 

3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. 4 Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood — because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. 5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, 6 "Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it." 7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

 

"'It will not take place,

it will not happen,

8 for the head of Aram is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is only Rezin.

Within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.

9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son.

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

you will not stand at all.'"

 

10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."

 

12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test."

 

13 Then Isaiah said, "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? 14 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.