Great is the Lord and most worthy of our praise. His greatness no one can fathom. Welcome to the audio ministry of God Centered Universe and Pastor Timothy Phan. The following message was preached at Genesis Family Church in Denver, Colorado and is an exposition of Isaiah chapter 7 verses 1 through 25. Please join Pastor Timothy as he leads us in prayer and asks God to open our eyes to see wonderful things in His Word. We live in a God-centered universe. Christmas is about the glory of God. So as we study Christmas in the Bible, we look for the glory of God in the Bible. are God's image-bearers, His craftsmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. You are indeed precious to Him. Please pray with me, and then we will begin our study of the babes of Christmas by going to Isaiah chapter 7. Holy Father, as we look into the mysteries of the Gospel, we know that we are now dealing with truths that are far beyond our comprehension. We cannot grasp your wisdom in its totality. Who has known your mind? who instructs you, who teaches you the paths of justice. But You have, in the wonder of the Gospel, given us the mind of Christ. And for all those who are listening who have the mind of Christ, I pray that You would give us deep understanding so that we may glorify You by the hearing of Your Word and by obeying it. In Jesus' name, Amen. The book of Isaiah, chapter 7, verses 1 through 6. This is the word of the Lord. Now, it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Retzin, king of Syria, and Pekach, the son of Ramalia, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told to the house of David, saying, Syria's forces are deployed in Ephraim. So his heart and the heart of his people were shaken, as the trees of the woods are shaken with the wind. Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear Yashuv, your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool on the highway to the fuller's field and say to him, Take heed and be quiet. Do not fear or be faint hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands. for the fierce anger of Rezin in Syria, and the son of Remalia? Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remalia have plotted evil against you, saying, Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tavaal. thus far the reading of God's Holy Word. In the Bible, there are many contrasts between men who practice the right kind of spirituality and those who practice the wrong kind of spirituality. There are plenty of spiritual people in the Bible, but just because someone is spiritual doesn't mean that God is pleased with them. It's not spirituality that counts, it's faith in God that counts. It's the right kind of faith. For example, King Josiah is a king in the Bible who practices the right kind of spirituality. He restores the Word of God to Judah. And he brings about a great reformation by throwing down the idols that are against the Word of God. That's quite different than King Saul, who, as the first king of Israel, practiced the wrong kind of spirituality. Saul was a very spiritual kind of king. He just had the wrong kind of faith. He's very spiritual, but at the end of his life, we find him consulting with a medium and practicing necromancy. That's dark. That's a dark kind of spirituality. In the New Testament, amidst the twelve, the twelve disciples of Jesus, there's a contrast between the Apostle John, who practices the right kind of spirituality, and Judas Iscariot, who practices the wrong kind. You think of the Apostle John, and you think of an apostle leaning upon the chest of Jesus. leaning upon his Lord for everything and every need in life. He practices the right kind of spirituality, but Judas Iscariot practices the wrong kind. He's spiritual, all right, at the Lord's Supper, at the table where John had leaned upon Jesus. Judas Iscariot is found demon-possessed. It says that Satan injured him. That's the wrong kind of spirituality. And so, ultimately, the contrast between the right kind of spirituality and the wrong kind of spirituality is the contrast between Jesus and Satan. Jesus has a faith in his humanity. He has a faith, a spirituality that is perfect, sinless, and true. Whereas Satan, in his dark spirituality, has a kind of spiritual awareness that is completely vile, murderous and false. And so, as we seek to understand the babe of Christmas in the prophecy of Isaiah, the famous prophecy of Isaiah 7.14, we must first understand the great contrast between the prophet Isaiah who has the right kind of spirituality, and the sinful king Ahaz, the wicked king Ahaz, who has the wrong kind of spirituality. Isaiah, the prophet, we find in chapter 6 to be a man whose spirituality is marked by great humility and great holiness. He falls down on his face before the throne of a holy god and he cries out, I'm a man of unclean lips. I live amongst a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the Lord. I'm undone." That's contrasted. That spirituality of the prophet Isaiah in chapter 6 is contrasted with the spirituality of Ahaz in chapter 7. King Ahaz has a spirituality, a faith, that is marked by pride and by uncleanness of heart. And specifically, as we say that the king of Judah, King Ahaz, had the wrong kind of spirituality, specifically when we get to chapter 7, we say that we find that he has the wrong kind of trembling. He trembles all right, and he trembles in the spiritual manner, but he has the wrong kind of trembling. Isaiah 7, verse 2, And it was told to the house of David, saying, Serious forces are deployed in Ephraim. So his, that's Ahaz's, heart and the heart of his people were shaken. See, they tremble. It's the wrong kind of trembling. So his heart and the heart of his people were shaken as the trees of the woods are moved or shaken with the wind. Ahaz has the wrong kind of trembling. He's spiritual, all right. He trembles, all right. But it's the wrong kind. He trembles before man. In the face of adversity, he trembles in the fear of man. And this is contrasted with the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah has the right kind of trembling. He knows the right kind of trembling. He's seen it and experienced it in the vision where God took him into His throne room. Isaiah chapter 6 verse 4, And the posts of the door were shaken. That's the right kind of trembling. If you have the door posts in the throne room of God, the right kind of trembling is is to shake before the holiness of God. And Isaiah saw it and he learned it. Isaiah is like the prophet Daniel. He understands the right kind of faith and the right kind of trembling. Daniel 10, verse 10. The prophet Daniel says, suddenly a hand touched me, which made me shake, which made me tremble. on my knees and on the palms of my hands. So, the contrast is between King Ahaz who has the wrong kind of trembling and the prophet Isaiah who has the right kind of trembling. Isaiah knows the holiness of God and the fear of God. Ahaz doesn't know the holiness of God, doesn't fear God. He fears man and trembles before man. But the contrast is also in the book of Isaiah between two kings. Between King Ahaz who has the wrong kind of trembling. And the other king, the future king, King Hezekiah, who has the right kind of trembling. Remember in Isaiah 7, verse 3, it says, Then the Lord said to Isaiah, Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear Yashuv, your son, at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool, on the highway to the fuller's field. And it's there that the prophet finds the king, King Ahaz, to have the wrong kind of trembling. It was at the Fuller's Field, it was on the highway to the Fuller's Field, at the aqueduct from the upper pool. And in the book of Isaiah, at the exact same place, there's another king, but he has a different kind of trembling. Isaiah 36, 2. Then the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And he stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, that's the same place where Ahaz was when he trembled wrongly, on the highway to the fuller's field. But Hezekiah, in great contrast to Ahaz, receives the news of an enemy attack with the right kind of trembling. Isaiah 37, verse 1, And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. He's got the right faith, the right trembling. He trembles before God. Ahaz, back in chapter 7, trembles before men. And yet some would say, well, who can blame Ahaz? Doesn't he have the right to tremble before men? Wouldn't every king in his shoes tremble before the threat of a great alliance that's coming to destroy him? The alliance, of course, is the alliance between the kingdom of Syria and the kingdom of Ephraim, or Israel. That's another name for Israel, Ephraim. The alliance is daunting. Isaiah chapter 7 verse 2, And it was told to the house of David, saying, Serious forces are deployed in Ephraim. So his heart and the heart of his people were shaken. They trembled. The trees of the woods are shaken with the wind. It is a daunting situation for the king, for King Ahaz to face. One could see why he might be tempted to tremble. The story goes that there's a big bully on the political bloc by the name of Assyria. Assyria is up in the north and Assyria is the giant bully nation which is threatening to come in and destroy the smaller nations of Syria. Israel and Judah and just to come in and invade them and destroy them. And so the smaller nations of Syria and Ephraim get together and form an alliance and they say if we work together perhaps we can stand against and hold off the enemy from the north. And they try to invite Judah into this alliance. Syria and Ephraim go to the little kingdom of Judah and they say join our alliance and then we can fight against Assyria together. But Judah does not join the alliance because God has forbidden Judah to join the alliance. So, the consequence is that Syria and Ephraim decide, okay, if Judah is not going to join us voluntarily, we will make her join us. We'll just invade Judah, we'll go down into Judah, destroy Ahaz and his troops, we will kill the king, and then we'll set up a puppet king And they've already chosen him. Apparently his name is Taba'al, in Ahaz's place. Well, if that's the threat, then many would say, well, who could blame Ahaz for trembling? It's a real threat. It's a very huge danger on the horizon. So, who can blame him for trembling before man? And the response of Scripture is, yes, the threat to Ahaz's life is great. But the promise of God is greater still. Isaiah 7, 5-9, Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Ramaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabaal. Thus says the Lord God. It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus. Damascus was the capital of Syria. And the head of Damascus is Ratzin. Ratzin was the king of Syria. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken, so that it will not be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remalia's son. He was the king of Israel. If you will not believe See, that's the issue. Do you have the right kind of faith or the wrong kind of faith? Do you tremble before God or do you tremble before men? If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. That's God's message to Ahaz. This is a point of faith. And the point is, that the right kind of faith leads to the right kind of trembling. But the wrong kind of faith, the unbelieving kind, the spirituality that doesn't acknowledge the Lordship of God, produces the wrong kind of trembling. It has trembles. in a way that God hates because Ahaz has unbelief in his heart. Isaiah 7, verse 4, God says to Ahaz, Take heed and be quiet. Do not fear or be faint-hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands for the fierce anger of Rattin and Syria and the son of Remalia. God commanded Ahaz not to tremble before them. In other words, if you believe Me, then you cannot tremble before them. And the issue is an issue of faith. Again, Isaiah 7, verse 9, the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Romaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. So, it's an issue of faith. The right kind of trembling requires the right kind of quiet, confident faith in God. And here's the right kind of trembling. If Ahaz has the wrong kind of trembling, what is the right kind to look like? Well, in the face of danger, here's the right kind of trembling. Psalm 76, 4-9. You, Jerusalem, are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. The stout-hearted were plundered. They have sunk into their sleep, and none of the mighty men have found the use of their hands. At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep. You yourself are to be feared. And who may stand in your presence when once you were angry? You caused judgment to be heard from heaven. The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. Selah. That's the right kind of trembling, and it requires the right kind of quiet, confident faith in God. Isaiah 30, verse 15, For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you would not. So you could have the right kind of faith, but you would not. He refused. Had King Ahaz exercised the right kind of faith, he would have had the right kind of trembling. He would have trembled before God and not before man, but he did not have the eyes of faith. If he had had the eyes of faith to see this dangerous situation coming in on the horizon, he would not have seen a raging forest fire about to devour his kingdom. But rather through the eyes of faith, he would have been able to see two smoldering, burned out campfire logs and nothing more. The two kings that were threatening him are just like smoldering logs. through the eyes of faith. Or, to put it another way, if King Ahaz had had the eyes of faith, the right kind of faith, faith in God, a God-fearing faith, then instead of looking at those two kings who were coming in to kill him as two lions racing towards him, ready to devour, through the eyes of faith he would have been able to see, instead, two wounded puppy dogs licking their wounds and returning from battle and defeat. See, they plot attack, but the issue is that God has already promised their defeat. In the New Testament, there are times when even great men of faith lapse in their faith, and as they lapse in their faith, that produces in them the wrong kind of trembling. They tremble before man instead of trembling before God. Galatians 2, 11-13, and when Peter had come to Antioch, the Apostle Paul says, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came," that's this circumcision group, "...he withdrew and separated himself," and here's the wrong kind of trembling, "...fearing those who were of the circumcision." You see how he's trembling before man? And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. Peter had a great lapse in faith, and so instead of fearing God, he trembled before men. The circumcision group had a social power that they possessed in being Jews and claiming the authority of Judaism over them, but they also had the power to persecute. And Peter lapsed in his faith and he trembled before them. When we face men, who threaten us? Do we have the eyes of faith which produces the right kind of trembling? Or do we have a weak and faltering faith which produces the wrong kind of trembling? Do we tremble before mere mortals rather than before God? See, we live in a culture that says to us, it's fine if you want to believe in the Bible and in Jesus as your own personal faith, but don't you dare accuse other religions or other spiritualities of being wicked. If you do, if you accuse the way that other people live, If you accuse their lifestyles of being wicked, then we will and the threats follow. So when those threats come, do we have the eyes of faith? Or do we tremble before men? If you're a parent, you're raising children, It's one thing to raise children, bring them to church on Sundays, and then let them live like pagans the rest of their lives. But it's a completely different thing to parent children with high biblical standards of holiness. The law of Christ calls us to raise our Christian children in holiness. But if we do that, we receive threats from the world. The world says, if you do not allow your child to be inculturated by television, Facebook, Hollywood, and age-segregated socialization systems, including the public schools. Then, and the threats follow. If you don't do that, then, as in some cases they're saying, your children will just grow up and hate you. If you want your children to love you when they grow up, then don't you dare hold these standards of holiness for them. Or in other cases, they're saying, well, we're going to get the government to And then the threats follow. So, when the threats come, are we going to stay committed to our standards of holiness? Are we going to see those threats through the eyes of faith? Or are we going to tremble before men? In 2008, the Democratic national convention in America, nominated for its presidential candidate, one of the most anti-Bible presidential candidates, major presidential candidates in the history of the country. And certainly, one of the most pro-abortion presidential candidates from a major party ever nominated. There were preachers in 2008 who were listening to their congregations and growing very concerned that a large number of people in their congregations were supporting this particular candidate because he happened to profess to be a Christian and said he believed the Bible. And then some of those concerned pastors got a conscience about themselves and decided that they needed to stand up at the pulpit and say something. You can't, as a Christian, they would say, throw your political support behind somebody who is so anti-God and anti-life. And once those concerned preachers had the boldness to say those things from the pulpit, There were church leadership teams and boards who called those preachers into the office and said, if you dare say such political things from the pulpit again, we will. And the threats followed. It's not just the church boards. Now it's the government. The government itself says, if you open the Bible from the pulpit, and you preach political things from the pulpit, if you dare to preach political things from the pulpit in the name of the righteousness of God, then we will, and the threats follow. So what is the church going to do? in the face of such increasing wickedness in the political realm? Are we going to tremble before men? Or are we going to exercise faith in God and tremble only before God? But now someone will object and say, hey, wait a second. What you're saying is that Some people in the church have the wrong kind of trembling. You're saying that there are pastors who are afraid to speak out against wicked things in the political realm of society because of what they might lose if they do. You're accusing pastors who themselves say that they believe the Bible and preach the Bible, you're accusing them of having the wrong kind of trembling. They read the same Bible you do. How can you accuse them? In such a way. And the response to that objection is this. Yes, that accusation does follow. But is it not true that those who tremble wrongly are also those who interpret scripture wrongly? Isaiah 7, 10-12. Moreover, the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God. Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. That's a commandment. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord. This is just baffling that King Ahaz would have the audacity to try to rebuke the prophet Isaiah. And not only to try to rebuke the prophet Isaiah, but King Ahaz has the audacity to quote scripture at the prophet Isaiah. You see, King Ahaz is no simpleton. He too knows the Bible. It's just that he has the wrong kind of trembling, and therefore, he has the wrong kind of scripture reading Ahaz quotes the Bible at the prophet. He says to the prophet, how dare you tell me to ask for a sign? Haven't you read the Bible? And then he quotes the Bible. Deuteronomy 6.16, you shall not test the Lord your God as you tested Him in Massah, which means testing. And this, of course, this commandment is rooted in the historical account of Exodus 17.2. Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. So Moses said to them, Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord? King Ahaz quotes this at the prophet Isaiah. He says, I'm not going to ask for a sign. Isaiah is rebuking his wrong kind of faith that's produced the wrong kind of trembling. Ahaz is mad and he responds to the prophet Isaiah with scripture. It's just that the wrong kind of trembling produces the wrong kind of scripturating. See, Ahaz thinks he's so smart. Well, I know the Scriptures, too. Don't you dare challenge me. I'm the king. And he quotes. He quotes the Bible. In fact, if he wanted to, he could have referenced Gideon, couldn't he? Ahaz could have said, well, Gideon tested God with the fleece, and that wasn't good. How dare you ask me to test the Lord? Even if he had lived in New Testament times, The amazing thing is, he could have quoted Jesus himself. If Ahaz wanted to, and to twist Scripture, he could have misquoted Jesus. Because Jesus says, in Massey 1239, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. So, Ahaz could have quoted that, had he lived in Jesus' time, and said, well, there it is. You told me to ask for a sign. That contradicts the words of our Lord. So who's right? Is King Ahaz right? Or is the prophet Isaiah right? Is it always wicked to ask God for a sign? Well, apparently God does not think so. Because in Isaiah chapter 7, God commands King Ahaz to ask for a sign, and then Once Ahaz misquotes Scripture, remember, the wrong kind of trembling leads to the wrong kind of Scripture reading. Once Ahaz does that, twists the Word of God, tries to rebuke the prophet, this is how God responds, Isaiah 7, 13, Then he said, Here now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men? But will you weary my God also? See, the irony is that Ahaz missed the whole point about what the Bible says concerning testing God. He says to Isaiah, you shouldn't test the Lord, but he missed the whole point. Here's the point of what it means not to test God, the sin of testing God. Here's the point. Exodus chapter 17, verse 7. So he called the name of the place Massah, that means testing, and Meravah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, and now here's what it means to test the Lord, is the Lord among us or not? You see? Testing God is a matter of unbelief. He has missed that entirely. He missed that point. In fact, in the Bible, there are righteous ways to ask God for miraculous signs. Remember, Moses would ask God, and of course, God did get angry at some point, but initially Moses said, in a very good way, O Lord, if you send me into Egypt to set your people free, and I tell them to follow me because the Lord has sent me, what if they don't follow me? And God responds to Moses by giving him three signs. Sometimes God wants to give a sign. Jesus Himself, in the Gospels, does not mind when His disciples ask Him for a sign. Matthew 24, 3, now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Jesus doesn't respond to them and say, do not put the Lord your God to the test. Rather, He actually gives them the sign. Matthew 24, 30, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The point then is that Ahaz's rejection of the sign of God is a matter of the wrong kind of trembling. He trembles before men. And that produces the wrong kind of Bible reading. Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, went to Ahaz with the Word of God. But Ahaz twisted and misinterpreted the Word of God because of his heart. Because his heart was in a bad condition, he had the wrong kind of trembling. And this wrong kind of Bible reading, this twisting of Scripture, is serious business because God disciplines it. Severely. This is God's response. This is how He disciplines Ahaz for having the wrong kind of trembling and therefore for twisting His Holy Word. Isaiah 7, 18-25, And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. It will come and all of them will rest in the desolate valleys and in the clefts of the rocks and on all the thorns and in all pastures. In the same day the Lord will shave with a hired razor, with those from beyond the river, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs, and will also remove the beard. It shall be in that day that a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep. So it shall be, from the abundance of the milk they give, that he will eat curds, for curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land. It shall happen in that day. that wherever there could be a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, it will be for briars and thorns. With arrows and bows, men will come there because all the land will become briars and thorns. And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns, but it will become a range for oxen and a place for sheep to roam. the judgment falls on Ahaz, because he has the wrong kind of trembling. And in the wrong kind of trembling, he has rejected the Word of God and produced for himself a wrong kind of Scripture reading. In the wrong kind of Scripture reading, the rejection of the Word of God in such a way that it twists the Word of God, brings the severe discipline of God upon him. Three times Isaiah prophesies about briars and thorns. These briars and thorns will invade his vineyard. In chapter 5 of Isaiah, Israel is like a vineyard, but now it will become a place of briars and thorns. Due to King Ahaz's wrong kind of Scripture reading and his rejection of God's sign, this judgment will now fall. If you're a Christian who has an unbelieving brother, or a family member, let's say brother. Your biological brother is an unbeliever. You are a regenerate, authentic Christian. But that's the case with you. And chances are that you've had more than a few evangelistic exchanges with your unbelieving brother. And typically it goes something like this. You're talking about some subject, and eventually you move the conversation towards the Gospel, because that's your goal. And as you move the conversation towards the Gospel, you talk about certain things like the doctrine of creation, the doctrine of Scripture. You talk about the coming of the Lord Jesus in the flesh. And when you arrive on a very controversial point in the discussion, such as the coming wrath, All of a sudden, your brother stops the conversation and puts it to an end by saying, didn't Jesus say in Matthew 7.1, judge not that you be not judged. You're judging me and I don't want to talk to you anymore. This conversation is over. When that happens to me, when it happens in my life, I oftentimes leave the conversation very sad and thinking that somehow I failed. You may have felt this. You left the conversation and you felt that you were not good enough in your evangelism. The reason why your brother stopped the conversation about the Gospel and misquoted Scripture And through Matthew 7, verse 1, in your face, it's because you weren't good enough. Well, I'm not saying that you're sinless or I'm sinless. It's possible that we do things during our evangelistic dialogues that dishonor God, but on the other hand, it's quite probable that you did most things right, that you did a good job, that God is pleased with your witness. Your evangelism is a pleasing aroma before the throne of God. See, the reality from Isaiah chapter 7 is that your brother has the wrong kind of Scripture reading. The reason why he twists Matthew 7, verse 1 and throws it in your face is because his bad Scripture reading comes from a bad heart. He has the wrong kind of trembling. He doesn't want to talk about the coming wrath of God because he trembles before man and not before God. And so if you felt the pain of all of that, then you can be encouraged and you can rejoice, because you've been allowed to share in the prophet's pain. Isaiah confronted the king, and the king tried to rebuke him with a twisting of Scripture. And since you share in the prophet's pain, Therefore you shall also one day in heaven share in the prophet's reward." King Ahaz had the wrong kind of trembling, and this produced the wrong kind of scripture reading in his life. And so, the question is, what's the right kind of scripture reading? If Ahaz had had a believing heart, a humble heart, a God-fearing heart, how would he have interpreted the sign? Instead of rejecting the sign and twisting Scripture at the prophet, what is the right way to interpret the sign? Well, it's the prophet, not the king, but the prophet, Isaiah, who has the right kind of Scripture reading. He has the right kind of trembling, as we've already noted in chapter 6. He trembles before the holiness of God. And therefore the prophet, Isaiah, is the one who has the right kind of scripture reading. He alone knows how to interpret the sign given in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 11. Isaiah 7, 11, remember God said to Ahaz, ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God. Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. And the prophet Isaiah alone understands this sign. Isaiah 7, 14-16, therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Here it is. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Curds and honey he shall eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings." The right kind of scripture reading, the right interpretation of the sign, and the right response to the sign involves the knowledge of a virgin and her son, and her son's name, which is Immanuel. This name, Immanuel, means, with us, God, or God with us. But who is the virgin? And who is the baby? This question is very difficult, and it calls for a very careful kind of scripture reading. And the only kind that can really get to the heart of this mystery is the kind that trembles at God's Word. You see, this is difficult, this is a mystery, because the Hebrew word, the normal Hebrew word for virgin, is the word betulah. But here, in Isaiah 7.14, We don't have that Hebrew word betula. Rather, here in Isaiah 7.14, we have the Hebrew word alma. And alma is the word for a young maiden. She's a young maiden. Now, she could be a virgin, but she doesn't have to be if she's an alma. So, the question is, is she a virgin or not? Is she married? And there's a great mystery here. Because somehow this maiden, this Alma, or maiden, is to be identified with the wife of the prophet Isaiah himself. Because remember it says, the maiden, The Alma shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Well, listen to Isaiah chapter 8, verse 3. Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. That's the exact same language of the prophecy of Isaiah 7, verse 14. Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, Call his name Maher Shalal Hashbaz. Swift. to the plunder, quick to the spoil. And this, in turn, fulfills the prophecy of chapter 7. Remember, God had prophesied to Ahaz that his enemies would be destroyed. Isaiah 7, 15 through 16. Curds and honey he shall eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. This is fulfilled in the life of Meher Shelal Chaspas. Isaiah 8, 3-4, Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, Call his name Meher Shelal Chaspas. For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria. So the enemies will be destroyed. So, Meher Shalal Hashbaz is the son of the maiden. He fulfills the prophecy, but only partially. And this is the mystery. For now, listen to chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. and the government will be upon His shoulder, and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Maharshalal Chaspas cannot be the ultimate fulfillment of the sign of Isaiah 7.14, because in Isaiah 9, the fulfillment, the child, must become Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. So, there must be another child who is to be born in the future. So, what's the right kind of Scripture reading here? When Isaiah gives the sign, what's the right way to interpret the sign? The Virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel. Well, the right kind of scripture reading is to see it as fulfilled in two stages. The first stage is that the sign refers, in general, to Isaiah's children. And the second stage of the prophecy is that it refers to the virgin birth in the distant future. See, Isaiah's children are called signs from God. Isaiah 8.18, Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me, we are for signs. and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion. Israel's children are signs from God. In fact, the very names of His children, the name Shear Yashuv and the name Meher Sheol Chashbas, are names that mean both judgment and salvation at the same time. They're names with double meanings, meanings of judgment, meanings of salvation. So, they are signs from God. And this is important to note that when God gives signs to His people, they oftentimes come in the form of children. Children are the greatest signs from God in proclaiming the gospel. God does not use a strong warrior clad in armor to give the sign of the gospel to His people. He does not use a brilliant scribe clad in doctoral robes to give the great sign of the gospel. Rather, he chooses a weak, fragile, dependent child as his sign of ultimate judgment and ultimate salvation. So, who fulfills this sign? Who is the maiden and who is her son? Well, Isaiah's wife cannot completely fulfill the sign, because, as we've said, Isaiah chapter 9 calls the son, the child who is born and the son who is given, Mighty God. Certainly, Maher Shalal HaShvaz is not Mighty God. Another child must be born in the distant future if that child is to be Mighty God. So, the complete fulfillment of the prophecy will have to wait for another child who is a sign from God. And that child who appears in the distant future is found in the book of Revelation. Here is the sign from God and the child from God who is the mighty God. Revelation 12, 1 through 5. Now, a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne. The wrong kind of trembling produces the wrong kind of Scripture reading. But the right kind of trembling, which leads to the right kind of Scripture reading, always points us to this sign from God, Christ Himself. When we tremble before the infinite holiness of God in Isaiah 6, then we learn how to read Isaiah chapter 7 rightly, and we find in the prophecy of Isaiah 7, verse 14, the baby, who is the Son of God in human flesh. We come to Him, the little God-infant, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and if we have the right kind of Scripture reading, if we have the eyes of faith that produce the right kind of Scripture reading, then we bow down and worship this baby. We confess that this baby, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, is both Lord and God. We worship this baby joyfully and with great amazement and awe. This is the right kind of way to read Isaiah chapter 7. It is the way of worship. We interpret the sign of God to be the Son of God. And once we see the Son of God, We bow down on our faces and worship at His feet. Well, we obviously need to come to the Lord's table this morning with the right kind of trembling. So, we will seek to do that as we go to the table together. But before we do that, here's the doxology as we close. Praise be to God, our Father, who leads us to tremble rightly before His holy, holy, holy presence. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the ultimate sign from God, the baby born of a virgin, the Son of God in human flesh. And praise be to the Holy Spirit, who teaches us how to interpret Scripture rightly for the purpose of giving glory to the eternal Godhead. Amen. Please pray with me. Oh Lord, we don't come with any riches of our own. We don't come with any merits of our own. We come to you empty-handed, asking you to teach us how to tremble rightly before the sign of your holy and eternal Son, in Jesus' name. Thank you for joining us for the preaching of the Holy Scriptures. You can find more resources at our website, www.GodCenteredUniverse.org. You may also send correspondence to us at the following address, PO Box 461978, Aurora, Colorado 80046. God-Centered Universe is a faith-driven ministry that exists to encourage the church in family-based discipleship and to call the church to continue trembling joyfully at God's Word.