From Isaiah to You Merry Christmas Up to My Neck in Trouble

 

From Isaiah to You Merry Christmas

Up to My Neck in Trouble

Christmas is all about redemption

Light in the midst of darkness

I think most of us would say 2020 has been the darkest year of our entire lives

A flood of Sickness and Death, Conspiracies, Riots, has reach up to our necks

Christmas 2020 may not be the Christmas you have known

With family and friends gathering to celebrate

But remember Jesus is still Immanuel “God With Us”     

Remember God’s word to King Ahaz

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. Isaiah 7:9

Assyria in 721BC brought trouble

A flood that covered Israel and came up to the neck of those living in Judah 

Keep your head above the flood

Keep the faith

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

The increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Isaiah 9:7

 

 

Up to My Neck in Trouble

 

Water can be a good thing and a bad thing.

 

Like the time…

 

 When I was in my boat speeding across the water

 of the Saginaw Bay and in a moment

thrown out of my boat and drowning.

 

Isaiah 7:14 gives us the prophecy…

  

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,

and will call him Immanuel.

 

We know this is fulfilled in the

Birth of Jesus, 700 years later.

 

But it also had meaning when it was spoken.

 

King Ahaz was afraid of Israel,

the Northern Tribes threat to attack

Judea, the Southern Tribes.

 

 God said it will not take place.

 Isaiah 7:7

 

But also says…

 

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

you will not stand at all.

Isaiah 7:9

 

In Chapter 8 of Isaiah a prophetess

(Isaiah’s wife) gave birth to a son.

 

 God told him to name his son

Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.

Isaiah 8:3

 

Hurry - Booty - Make Haste - Plunder

 

Meaning there is going to be a quick battle

and the booty will be quickly taken.

 

This is explained in Isaiah 8:4…

 

 Before the boy knows how to say

'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth

 of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria

 will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

 

Before the boy grows up…

 

 The Northern Kingdom of Israel will

be totally taken by Assyria.

 

 This takes place in 721BC.

 

The Lord speaks in Isaiah 8:5-10…

 

In verse 6, gentle waters flow but than a

flood from Assyria will over flow the banks

of not only of Northern Israel, but Judah.

 

But in Judah there were still

people of faith this is why it says…

 

And sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,

passing through it and reaching up to the neck.

Isaiah 8:8

 

For the believers like Isaiah in Judah…

 

 They were up to their necks in trouble.

 

The judgment of God affected them.

 

The sin of this world and God’s judgment

makes me feel like I am up to my neck.

 

 And like Jesus says concerning the last days…

 

 For false Christs and false prophets will appear

and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect

 — if that were possible.

Mark 13:22

 

Verse 9 warns of making way, getting ready for battle.

 

When the Children of Israel were led out of Egypt…

 

As the Egyptians were pursuing them,

 they came to a dead end.

 

 The Red Sea was in front of them

and the Egyptians behind them.

  

The people were afraid and Moses said…

 

The LORD will fight for you;

you need only to be still.

Exodus 14:14

 

I find myself wanting to fight

the battle of injustice and sin.

 

I get to the place of saying I have had it, I am

up to my neck in the troubles of this world.

 

The end of verse 10 says…

 

 “For God is with us.”

 

We than are warned in verse 11…

 

 Not to follow the way of the people.

 

Verse 12…

 

 Do not fear all the conspiracies.

 

Verse 16 says…

 

 “Bind up the testimony”

 

Secure the Word of the Lord in your heart.

 

This refers back to verses 1 and 2…

 

 Isaiah was to write on a scroll the Word

of the Lord and God will confirm

His Word with 2 reliable witnesses.

 

When we are up to our necks…

 

 Consult the Word of the Lord.

 

 It is the only thing that will bring

light in the midst of gloom and distress.

 

Isaiah saw hope in His day when he was

up to his neck in the flood of judgment.

 

700 years later,

a virgin gave birth to a Son.

 

 Now we have a greater hope…

 

 For He is the Light of the World.

 

If you are one of those who has put your

faith in Christ the Son who was given to us…

 

Remember this…

 

 The battle is not yours, it is the Lord’s.

 

Be still.

 

 Be at rest.

 

 The Red Sea, the flood of Assyria is

not to destroy you…

 

 But deliver you.

    

Christmas is all about redemption.

 

Light in the midst of darkness.

 

I think most of us would say 2020 has

been the darkest year of our entire lives.

 

A flood of Sickness and Death,

 Conspiracies, Riots, and more.

 

Christmas 2020 may not be the Christmas

 you have known with family and

friends gathering to celebrate.

 

But remember Jesus is still…

 

 Immanuel “God With Us”      

 

Remember God’s word to King Ahaz…

 

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

 you will not stand at all.

Isaiah 7:9

 

Keep your head above the flood.

 

 

Scripture Reading

 

Isaiah 8 NIV

 

8:1 The LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.   2 And I will call in Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberekiah as reliable witnesses for me."

3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 4 Before the boy knows how to say 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria."

5 The LORD spoke to me again:

6 "Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the River — the king of Assyria with all his pomp.It will overflow all its channels,run over all its banks 8 and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it,passing through it and reaching up to the neck.Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land,O Immanuel!"

9 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!Listen, all you distant lands.Prepare for battle, and be shattered!Prepare for battle, and be shattered! 10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;propose your plan, but it will not stand,for God is with us.  

11 The LORD spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said:

12 "Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy;do not fear what they fear,and do not dread it. 13 The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,he is the one you are to fear,he is the one you are to dread, 14 and he will be a sanctuary;but for both houses of Israel he will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. 15 Many of them will stumble;they will fall and be broken,they will be snared and captured."

16 Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the LORD,who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob.I will put my trust in him.

18 Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD Almighty, who dwells on Mount Zion.

19 When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. 21 Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.