Isaiah 7 here this afternoon, Isaiah chapter 7. Come back to the Old Testament Kings series briefly to kind of give us a context of this. Isaiah chapter 7 is actually about 20 years after Isaiah 6. And I'll remind you one of the things I mentioned is that as far as King Jotham, really nothing is prophesied as far as King Jotham was good king, he was blameless, did not have any negative things, violations of God's law, God's plan at the end of his life even. He finished well, but then he ended up having a very wicked son. And so now notice here in verses one and following as we see the context of this. And if I remember correctly, chapter seven through 10 is another set of prophecies that Isaiah is going to present. It came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah. And of course, we understand that Ahaz is the grandson of Uzziah. Jotham is his father. And notice the king of Judah, that reason, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim, Israel. And his heart was moved in the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Sheer-Jashub, thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet, fear not, neither be faint-hearted, for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of reason with Syria and of the son of Ramaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Ramaliah have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeo. Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is reason. And within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria. The head of Samaria is Ramaliah's son. Notice, this is the key thought that I'm leaving us with here today. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. Notice again, it says in verse one, it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezan, the son of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. This is why it's important to compare scripture with scripture, because in reality, it says in 2 Kings 15, 37, that the Lord began to send them. But notice it says at the end of the verse, but could not prevail against it. They went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2 Corinthians, 2 Chronicles 28 verses 6 and 8 tells us more information on this. It says they could not prevail against Judah, Jerusalem. But what is interesting though is 120,000 valiant men were killed in battle, as far as the men of Judah. Also, 200,000 were taken captive, men, women, and children. And that was the context when Oded, the prophet, confronted them and said, you're adding to God's judgment on us. You need to turn around, take those people back. And so they returned the captives back. But again, we're talking 120,000 valiant men died in battle. but they did not prevail against the nation because God is still in his mercy giving Judah more time. And it was told the house of David saying, Syria is Confederate with Ephraim, the Northern kingdom. And his heart was moved. Notice his heart, the king's heart was moved and the heart of his people. And notice this word picture here, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. And I want you to understand what we're talking about here is they were unstable with that word picture. So as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind, they're unstable, they're constantly moving, they're unsteady. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Sheer Jashub, thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool and the highway of the Fuller's Field. So this water supply into the city. And he says, go meet. King Ahaz there at the conduit, upper end of the conduit, and saying to him, this is the message that Isaiah was supposed to have for wicked King Ahaz, take heed and be quiet. Take heed, notice the first command, be quiet is the second command. And there's several, this type of a command, I think of Psalm 46 verse 10, be still and know that I am God. Now in the midst of this, gives him a very clear command that he's supposed to be trusting in the God of Judah. Fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of reason with Syria and of the son of Ramaliah. Again, he's emphasizing, they are no match for me. And I really believe that the Lord was using this, and this is why he began to send Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel, Ephraim, to attack them is because he's trying to draw Wicked King Ahaz back to himself to focus on, really I don't know that he ever necessarily believed him, he did not believe like Jotham his father, but he's trying to get his attention It says, because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remeliah have taken evil counsel against the same. And notice this conspiracy that is presented in verse six. Let us go up against Judah and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us. And notice they're going to establish a puppet king over Judah as they were confident they were going to conquer Judah, the southern kingdom. Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. And then he gives the reason why, and I've emphasized this verse eight several times as far as our study of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It says, within three score and five years, 65 years, shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. Let me read for you a Hosea 13, 16. This gives us a picture as to, an idea as to what God meant by that. Hosea 13, 16 says this, Samaria shall become desolate, for she hath rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. As the Assyrian Empire came in, that's the kind of things they experienced. Literally, they were broken as a nation. And as I've already emphasized, it actually was not 65 years from the time that Assyria actually went in to begin conquering the northern kingdom, but it was 65 years. Notice how it's worded here. It's actually going to be 65 years when Ephraim would actually be broken. That would mean out of people. Of course, that all occurred after the king of Assyria moved everyone out of the country, and so we think about immigration. This is not a new thing. In many cases, kings will use immigration to conquer a nation as population displacement, as they call it, and so on. So as we think about Assyria coming in to conquer the northern kingdom of Israel, God says to wicked King Ahaz, I want you to trust me. You need to trust me as the God of Israel. The head of Ephraim is Samaria. The head of Samaria is Remeliah's son. And again, he's calling these two men, what did it say in verse four again, it says, Fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands." The fierce anger and so on. Don't be afraid of that. Trust me. I want you to trust me, Ahaz. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. I want you to notice one of the New Testament passages that emphasizes this principle, that if we do not believe, we will not be stable. James 1. Familiar passage, but I want you to notice here the wording of this with what Ahaz was told, if you do not believe, surely you shall not be established. So if we have a lack of faith, we will not be stable in our Christian lives as well. Of course, James 1 tells us who James was specifically addressed to. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. So these were the 12 tribes of Israel. And I believe he's emphasizing here the believers, the believing remnant, but it says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse or various temptations or trials, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. So think about this passage, keep Ahaz and the huge trial that he's experiencing. Notice the trying of your faith worketh patience. Ahaz was a wicked king, even offering his son, his children, in a sacrifice to a false god. And so when we think about the fact that God was trying to get his attention with the trials that he was experiencing, he had no faith, and God wanted him to believe. And that's why he says, if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. Ahaz did not believe, and so he was not stable, he was not established. But let patience have her perfect work, that she may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." Notice the instability there. Just like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord. Notice this, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So he had the the testimony of his grandfather and father. He had an understanding of the God of Israel, but he rejected the God of Israel and King Ahaz was going after false gods and even offering his children in sacrifice. God was trying again, trying to get his attention. If you go back to Isaiah 7, moreover the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, So this is message number two. So we see that King Ahaz is getting more than one message in this prophecy here. Ask the sign of the Lord thy God. I want to remind you that Gideon asked for a sign. And as you think about that story, but you notice here, the Lord is asking or telling him, I should say, to ask for a sign. And I really believe this is related to the end of verse nine. It says, if you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. He's asking for a sign because he wants Ahaz to believe in him. He wants Ahaz to have faith in the God of Israel. Instead of placing his faith in all the gods of the nations around them, ask the sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. But notice, Ahaz sounds like a religious, pious person here. In reality, this is actually, this is not humble reverence. This is actually disobedience, again, even as God says, I want to prove myself to you, Ahaz. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. King Ahaz was a religious fraud. And so he sounds like he's humble here. In reality, he's further rebelling against God. He does not want to place his faith in God. And he said, hear ye now, O house of David. I remind you, this is the lineage of David here. Is it a small thing for you to worry men? But will you worry my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Whether you want one or not, Ahaz, I'm going to give you a sign. The Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Now, we often pull this verse out of its context. In reality, this is actually a sign to a wicked, very wicked king in Judah, the southern kingdom that normally stayed true to God for the most part. It says, so the Lord himself is going to give you a sign. King Ahaz a sign. And notice, behold, a virgin shall conceive. Now in 1952, the National Council of Churches presented a perversion of scripture called the RSV. The RSV changed that word virgin to young woman. That is blasphemous when you understand this. In fact, as far as this Emanuel, notice chapter eight, Chapter 8, verses 8 and 10. God tells us, and I've shown you this before, but in many places in the King James Bible, the words are actually defined for us in the immediate context. Notice Isaiah 8, verse 8, 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 Emmanuel. So again, the Lord would talk about the one who was born of the virgin, calls him Immanuel. So how do we know what Immanuel is? Well, verse 10 tells us, take counsel together and it shall come to naught. Speak the word and it shall not stand for, notice, God is with us. Notice Matthew chapter one. So when the Lord Jesus was born, the Holy Spirit gave us a reference back to this prophecy And it's very interesting. So in Isaiah 8, we have the definition, the understanding of what Emmanuel means. And we also have this repeated and confirmed for us in Matthew 1, verses 18 through 25. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, now willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. So this would be Deuteronomy 24, putting away divorce. And while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, marry thy wife. Notice, even in the espousal period, they are referred to as husband and wife, but they just said not consummated the marriage, it says, but that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. So this is not a Roman soldier, not a Jewish adulterer, and so on, as so many have said, because again, of this perversion that some of the modern Bibles have placed as far as Isaiah 7, 14. Young woman, there's nothing supernatural about a young woman giving birth to a child. You don't believe me? That's why we have daycares in our high schools now. So we think about this, but a virgin birth is a supernatural birth, conception. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. So as we think about this prophecy here, it says, now all this was done that it might be fulfilled. So Matthew writing to the Jewish population, to Israel in particular, Notice he emphasizes the fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah says, written, by the way, 700 years before this point, which are spoken of the Lord by the prophet Isaiah saying, behold, a virgin shall be with child. and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel." This is the New Testament spelling. Instead of the I, it's the E, capital E. But notice the very ending of this, E-L, is a name of God. Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And again, in Isaiah 8, verses 8 and 10, we see that, and so we see the very interpretation right in scripture. And I'll also remind you that John 1, 14 says that, that the Lord Jesus came and dwelt among us. That's how it's worded. Literally, that phrase is talking about him tabernacling with us. I remind you also that the Bible often refers to the physical body as a tabernacle. Peter said that he was to put off his tabernacle, and Paul even uses the word tabernacle in relation to the physical body. So John 1.14 says that Jesus Christ came to dwell among us as Emmanuel. So that's El, God, with us. If you go back to Isaiah 7, it says in verse 15, butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and to choose the good. So this refers to, I believe, the conscience of children, butter and honey. We have warnings on honey bottles now, you know, don't give to a child under one. But from what I understand, it was common for a mixture of butter and honey to be given to young children in the Israelite culture. So he says, butter and honey shall he eat. So we're talking about a young child here that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. So we see here that the Lord Jesus, Emmanuel, would have discernment. He would have an understanding to refuse the evil and choose the good. Now, what we're going to see in this passage is that there's a reason why he, Isaiah, was supposed to, in verse three, he was supposed to meet King Ahaz with Shear Jashub, his son. And as we see in this passage here, that Isaiah's son was actually a young child, Because then it says in verse 16, so as I've pointed out before, that in many cases, the prophecies of the Old Testament have a near fulfillment, picturing the far ultimate fulfillment. So here we see that before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. So as we see here, then, that's why Isaiah has his son with him. In chapter 8, verses 1 through 4, moreover, the Lord said unto me, take thee a great role and write in it with a man's pen concerning Meher shall al-Hashbaz. This name has a meaning, hasten to the spoil. The Shear Jashub actually has the idea of a remnant shall return. So that goes back to Isaiah 6 and the prophecies there, the remnant. But Meher shall al-Hashbaz. hasten to the spoil." So again, we see both the remnant and also the judgment that God would bring. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record. Uriah the priest, and I'll remind you that Uriah the priest was the one who built this elaborate altar based on the gods of Damascus, Syria, according to 2 Kings 16. So for whatever reason, Uriah the priest, a faithful witness, but he gave in to the request of King Ahaz. And notice Zechariah, the son of Jeber, Rekiah. And I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bear a son. Then said the Lord to me, call his name, Meher Shalal Hashbaz, hasten to the spoil. 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." So again, this is in the context of these two kings coming against King Ahaz. Then go back to chapter 7 verse 17, and the Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people and upon thy father's house days that have not come from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah. Clear back to Jeroboam, son of Nebat, of course, 1 Kings chapter 12, so we're talking about 300 plus years of history, so God's referring clear back to that. Notice it's something totally different, clear back since then. Even the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria would come in, and notice the picture here of how he's going to draw Assyria in, shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the outermost part of the rivers of Egypt. And when you understand scripture, it talks about flies being abundant, not just in the plagues of Egypt, So he's going to hiss for the fly that is in the outermost parts of Egypt, but then also notice for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. And they shall come and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, in the holes of the rocks, upon all thorns and upon all bushes. So again, he's describing the judgment that was coming upon both Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel, in that same day, the Day of Judgment, shall the Lord shave with the razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, the Euphrates River, by the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard." Now, remember, I'll remind you that in this culture, to have the beard shaved was a shameful thing. Remember the, what was it, Hanun, that, David had sent messengers to, and to mock them, they cut off part of their robes, but they shaved half their beard off. What did David tell them to do? To go to Jericho until their beard was grown back in. Why? Because it was a shameful thing to have half their beard shaved off. In our culture, we would just say, well, I'll just shave the other half off, and we'll just let it grow together. but they didn't want to totally shave off the beard. So again, we see the shame of this, according to 2 Samuel 10, "...shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep." So what's that talking about? Normally, they would have more than one cow, but especially they would have more than two sheep. So we're talking about a greatly reduced herds and flocks as far as this culture. So again, we see another evidence for economic ruin as far as the nation. It shall come to pass for the abundance of milk. So you only have one young cow, you're probably not going to have an abundance of milk from a young cow. Notice the abundance of milk that they shall give, he shall eat butter. So he's going to have butter instead of abundance of milk. For butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land. What's he saying? Going back to verse 15, the thing that you offer children, butter and honey, everyone's going to eat that because there's not abundance left in the land. It shall come to pass in that day." Notice, in that day, in that day, in that same day. It shall come to pass in that day that every place shall be where there were a thousand vines and at a thousand silverlings. A thousand pieces of silver. Silverlings, if you remember right, this Song of Solomon 811 talks about this thousand pieces of silver. A thousand silverlings. So this price that was for a thousand vines. It shall come even for briars and thorns. So instead of a vine, they're gonna have briars and thorns growing. With arrows and with bows shall men come thither into the vineyard, because all the land shall become briars and thorns. Again, Isaiah 5 talks about Israel being the vineyard of the Lord. And on all hills, there shall be dig with the mattock. So what's a mattock? It's a hole with a hooked pick on the other side, a mattock, to be able to do the weeding and stuff. And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock shall not come thither, shall not come thither, come thither, I should say, the fear of briars and thorns. But it shall be for the sending forth of oxen and for the treading of lesser cattle. Notice no hedges, no fences to keep animals out of the vineyard. So we see again, it's all going to be destroyed. And so when you remember again that Isaiah five talks about Israel and Judah being a vineyard, the vineyard of the Lord. We see that the Lord is going to allow all of this to come in and destroy it. But here's, again, the context. We have the two extremes here. Ahaz, if you don't believe, you're not going to be established. But he also says things are going to be destroyed both as far as the northern kingdom and Judah. And I'll remind you that in the context of this, remember what King Ahaz did when he heard that Syria and Ephraim and Israel were coming against him. Who did he go to for help? The Lord. Who did he go for help? Assyria. The empire of Assyria that would conquer the northern kingdom and would come in and try to conquer Judah later. Of course, the Lord would not allow that because Babylon was supposed to do that at a later point. But again, I wanna emphasize this statement at the end of verse nine. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established. I wonder how many times believers in Christ today do not believe the Lord, and we go to the world, we do various things to find help, but the Lord says very clearly, I believe to us as well. If you do not believe, surely you shall not be established. The verse that just came to my mind, I hadn't thought about it until just now. Remember what Jesus said to the man And I think it's in Mark 9, when his son was not delivered from the evil spirits and so on. And he basically said to the Lord, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. But in that context, the Lord made a statement, have faith in God, have faith in God. I remember years ago, sitting in Bible class, some classes were a little more interesting than others. But when they had the curtains open, they had a sign out there, future place where they're wanting to build new buildings and everything, but they had this large concrete circle. But in the middle of that circle, they had a sign, the Faith Baptist Bible College, have faith in God, have faith in God. Well, that sign has been a constant reminder to me over those years because all the times I looked out the window at that sign, have faith in God. And again, even as we saw in James chapter one, if we do not believe the Lord, we're going to be unstable. We're going to be double minded. I believe it's very important for us to be reminded from wicked King Ahaz, who should have believed in the Lord. He had a grandfather that presented the message. He had a father that presented the message of the Lord to him. But very clearly, we see that he did not believe. And so he was not established. But also the other verse, verse four, take heed and be quiet, fear not, either be faint hearted. And he talks about these two smoking firebrands. Now, we live in a day of fear and we look at all the news and everything. Again, the focus is on Emmanuel, verse 14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. This passage was fulfilled 700 years after it was given. So when you think about the immediate sign, God gave the immediate sign as far as Isaiah's son, but ultimately, this was fulfilled and confirmed with Jesus Christ in Matthew 1. Lord, thank you for giving us this promise, even 700 years before Jesus came, or 2,700 years ago. The promise was given that a virgin would conceive, bear a son, and his name would be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Lord Jesus, thank you for leaving the palaces, the glory of heaven to come into this world of woe, this place of darkness. Thank you for coming here to not just live, but to die. It's a perfect sacrifice for all of mankind. El, God with us. Lord, I praise Thee for being Emmanuel and our wonderful plan of salvation. In Jesus' name, amen.