Immanuel’s Land
By Pastor Matt Black
July
16, 2006
Lord's Day Evening
Isaiah 8:1-8
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 8.
Review: Last week we looked at how the glory of God had departed from Israel. Ahaz was given the opportunity to request a sign, and he rejected that opportunity, so God gave a sign not only to him, but to every one in the family of David. He gave the miraculous sign of the virgin birth. God promised to destroy Ahaz’ enemies. Because the northern kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) had departed from the southern kingdom of Judah, God would send the Assyrian army to punish both Israel and Syria (7:17-18). It was a sad day because God’s glory would never again return to the northern kingdom. Most of those deported to Assyria would never again return to northern Israel. Those left behind intermarried with Assyrians and other pagan nations and became known as the Samaritans. They were not pure Jews any more. The ten northern tribes of Israel as we know them, from this point on are forever lost. They intermarry themselves and are scattered abroad.
Tonight we are going to find out how we need to cling to Jesus Christ and let Him be our sanctuary, or He will be our Judge. He is the owner of Israel. Though Ahaz tried to sell out, thinking Judah was his land, we are going to find out that the land belongs to Christ Himself. So the title of tonight’s message is “Immanuel’s Land”.
We need to listen to the counsel of the Lord (verses 1-8).
Let’s open our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 8. Let’s begin by looking at verse 1, “Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take thee a great roll [LIKE A PUBLIC BULLETIN BOARD], and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-shalal-hashbaz [QUICK PICKINS’—EASY PREY].
· The man-child. The name of Isaiah’s second son would be called Maher-shalal-hashbaz, means “quick pickins’, easy prey”.
· The message. King Ahaz’s two enemies, Aram (Syria) and the Northern Kingdom of Israel would easily be defeated. That’s what Maher-shalal-hashbaz means. Isaiah was publicly prophesying the soon demise of Syria and Israel for all to see.
· The method. Isaiah himself was commanded to take a large scroll. Today we have some examples of what Isaiah would have written on. We actually have discovered about 16 large wooden boards with writing on them from the Assyrian empire during the lifetime of Isaiah. They were discovered in the city of Nimrud in 1953. Isaiah would have used something like this. He would have put the large scroll upon this large piece of wood and written the message so that it would be easily readable by everyone who passed by.
2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah
Uriah the priest and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah would stand there in front of this bulletin board and attest that Isaiah wrote this as a prophecy. They would verify the authenticity of the message.
· Uriah was a well-known priest at the time, and
·
Zechariah was probably King Ahaz’s
father-in-law.
3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz.
The prophetess is just another way of saying Isaiah’s wife. She most likely did not exercise the gift of prophecy. She had enough responsibility in taking care of her prophet husband. Sometimes we think of these prophets as some strange phenomenon. Like they had nothing else to do but declare judgment on these disobedient people. But remember, Isaiah was a family man. He had a wife. So after the pronouncement that Isaiah’s wife would have a second son, Mrs. Isaiah conceived. The son she would bear would be a constant reminder of the coming judgment.
4 For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
Before this baby says his first words, Mommy and Daddy, the riches of Syria and Israel will be spoiled by Assyrian’s king, Tiglath-Pileeser III. The words here translated “my father” and “my mother” are not full blown words in the Hebrew. They are the titles that a very small child would say when he is just saying his first words—mama and dada. So the judgment is coming swiftly.
5 The LORD spake also unto me again, saying, 6 Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;
These people rejoiced in a foreign king rather than God himself. Rezin was a piddly Syrian king. He was the king of a medium sized country at that time. The people of Judah refused the spring of Shiloah which was a spring that flowed under the Temple area. These waters were ones that “go softly”. There was a constant supply of sustenance and nourishment in them. These waters symbolize the living water that flows from the Lord. Remember what our Lord Jesus Christ said to the Samaritan woman at the well? He promised to give her a kind of water that was alive—it had life giving properties in it. Look at John 4:13-14, “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” The people of Judah along with King Ahaz didn’t want this living water. They would rather drink at the dirty fountains of the world in Assyria which ruled the world at that time.
7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
God says, ok, you want to drink from the forbidden well—it’s going to be like drinking from a fire hose. You are going to be dominated by them. See first:
· The sovereign. “behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria.” Here we see that God controls all nations. Look at Isaiah 40:15, “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.”
Listen to Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony in Daniel 4:34-35, “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: 35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”
We’ve seen the sovereign, now let us see…
· The certainty. Look again at verse 7. “The Lord bringeth up upon them [ISRAEL AND SYRIA] the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks
Hosea 8:7 tells us that if we sow to “the wind,” we “shall reap the whirlwind”.
Paul tells the Galatians in Galatians 6:7-8, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
The principle is this: if you drink a little bit of the world, you will become an addict. Jesus said in John 8:34 “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant [SLAVE] of sin.”
Turn over to 1 Kings 12:16. Israel made a decision two hundred years before this prophecy of Isaiah. Israel rejected Solomon’s rightful heir, Rehoboam as king, and therefore sealed their judgment. Look at 1 Kings 12:16, “So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.”
Because of this horrible decision to forsake God’s dominion in their life, they now have to face the consequences. Cruel Assyria is going to capture than and kill them, and whoever survives will be made slaves.
Application: What are you reaping in your life? Notice I did not ask you if you are reaping because we are all reaping something. Are you reaping of the flesh or of the Spirit? You say, well, I’m reaping of the flesh, but how do I stop it? How do I stop the judgment? Give Christ His rightful dominion in your life. Say NO to the flesh and YES to God. Start sowing to the Spirit right here and right now. STOP doing your own thing, and start obeying God! How many of you tonight can attest that God is a forgiving and gracious God? How many of you can testify that God can “restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25)?
We look then at verse 8, “And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.”
· First we see this tragedy from man’s perspective. From man’s perspective, it looks like this is Ahaz’s land. Ahaz is plundering the land for his own protection. He asks for Assyria’s help instead of God’s, and the entire people of Judah are going to pay for it. Judah has made basically the same decision as Israel: to choose an earthly king (Assyria) over the Lord. Israel had 200 years earlier rejected Rehoboam, and now Judah essentially asks Assyria to rule over her. So they deserve the same fate, but Isaiah 6:9-13 will not yet come true. Remember in Isaiah 6:11, Isaiah predicted that “the land be utterly desolate”. Judah and Israel would be completely destroyed. The land would be “without inhabitant.” Well, that was not happening yet. Yes, Assyria would overflow and go over, into the land of Judah, and it would reach “even to the neck.” But Judah would survive Assyria’s siege and would be spared captivity for now. Yet from man’s perspective, it looks like everything is in Ahaz’s hands, and things are out of control!
Application: Are things in your life out of control? Have you sold out to your own worldly reasoning instead of trusting in the Lord? Are things spiraling out of control? Well, that is from man’s perspective. Let’s look at it from God’s perspective.
· Let’s look at it from God’s perspective. Whose land is this anyway? Does it ultimately belong to Ahaz or any earthly king? No. This is Immanuel’s land. Here we see Isaiah preaching about Christ in the Old Covenant. God says this judgment will come and “fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel” (verse 8). Even in this depressing and cataclysmic judgment, it is always a comfort to know who is in charge. Jesus Christ is in charge! It is His land. What a tragedy has taken place from man’s perspective, but what a comfort from God’s perspective.
Conclusion: Do you think you are in charge of your life? Let Christ have control of you. You are Immanuel’s. You belong to Christ.
Paul says it this way in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
Peter says in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Relinquish all authority over your life to God. That is the first step to blessing.
Closing Hymn: 190 There is a Redeemer