ISAIAH 7:10-14
Why God Became a Baby
Ross Tenneson / General
Why God Became a Baby
Ross Tenneson / General
Intro
Today is the first week of the season of “advent.” “Advent” is a Latin word that means “arrival,” It’s the time of year we anticipate celebrating Jesus’s arrival on Christmas. For these next four weeks of advent, we are going to take a break from our series in Luke and spend some time in Isaiah. Why Isaiah? Because he’s a prophet who especially anticipates the arrival of Jesus and talks at length about him hundreds of years before he comes.
One of the first famous texts on the messiah from Isaiah is in Isaiah 7. This text will address common emotions we all feel, some of us more acutely as the holidays approach: fear, apprehension, and isolation.
I remember a couple years ago my finger ended up getting a deep cut on it. It went do deep it cut the nerve. Just like that, it went dark…couldn’t reel with one side of it anymore. I went into the ER and the doctors were like, “oh yeah, the nerve will regrow and you’ll be fine.” When I visited the surgeon a few weeks later to talk more, she was pretty blunt, “that’s not going to happen.” I remember feeling fear and dread that I would live with this for the rest of my life, and to this day I still do.
How do you think God wants me to respond in this situation? How do you think he wants you to respond to the things you fear and dread? Our text will tell us this morning. Before we jump in, we are going to orient ourselves with some context.
Revelation
We are about seven hundred years before the birth of Christ. The nation of Israel has been in decline for some time now. As a result, God is punishing Israel with various judgments, including the attacks of her enemies.
In this instance, the Northern kingdom of Israel has joined forces with the pagan nation of Syria to overthrow Judah. There was overwhelming military power coming down against the little kingdom of Judah, it’s a desperate situation. Isa 7:2 says,
Isaiah 7:2 ESV
2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
Ahaz is the king of Judah and his heart and both he and his people lack faith. The pressure and danger of this moment reveal what’s really inside.
And God is so amazingly kind to this unworthy king. He sends his prophet Isaiah to him to promise him that he will deliver him from these two kings. Then he urges Ahaz to trust in the Lord because God is going to devastate these kings that are threatening him. But, Ahaz is having trouble believing God’s word. So, God sends Isaiah to him again. That’s where our passage picks up in verse 10,
Isaiah 7:10–11 ESV
10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz:
11 “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
The Lord invites Ahaz to ask for any sign, as high as heaven or as deep as Sheol, that is, it could be a supernatural sign like Lord, don’t let the sun set for 24 hours or Lord, let the fleece be wet and the ground around it dry in the morning. The purpose of this sign is that Ahaz could finally trust the God he’s holding out on.
So, how does Ahaz respond to this gracious, over-the-top offer from God?
Isaiah 7:12 ESV
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.”
Wait, what? Does he actually refuse? Almost unbelievably, this man whom God offered a supernatural sign turns it down. Man, at first I just couldn’t see myself doing that.
Then, Ahaz gives the reason for refusing God’s offer: “I will not put the Lord to the test.” So, Ahaz actually quotes Scripture as his reason for turning God down (Deut 6:16). His reasons sound pious: he sounds like he has a religious reason for not asking God for a sign. Friends: nothing could be further from the truth. Putting the Lord to the test does not mean receiving a sign that the Lord freely offers. Putting the Lord to the test would be demanding another sign after he gives you one because it wasn’t good enough for you.[1] This was not his way of obeying God’s Word, it was his way out of it.
Ahaz’s heart is far from God. Here is a reminder to ourselves that we can disguise our sin with justifications that sound biblical, but actually are not. I’ve actually noticed that the colder someone’s heart gets to the Lord and the deeper they get in their sin, the more prone they are to twist and misunderstand Scripture. If you are wanting to go down a path you wonder if it is wrong, or others have told you it’s wrong, but you’ve been able to find a Scripture to “make” it right. Don’t trust yourself. Instead, go to others in this community and ask if you are seeing the Word rightly. We don’t want any of us wandering into the path of sin with the false belief that the Scriptures permit it when they don’t. That’s one reason we follow Jesus in a community, so others can help us see where our own fallen hearts distort God’s Word.
But why did Ahaz resist receiving a sign from God? What was it about seeing a sign that repelled him?
If he asked for a supernatural sign and God gave it to him, then he would have to surrender to the God didn’t want to surrender to. The book of Kings says Ahaz was an evil man who even burned his children as an offering to an idol (2 Kings 16:3).
He did not want to serve the God who said, “you must not do that.” He would rather face two kings and their overwhelming military might on his own, without this God who demands repentance. To put it bluntly: he would rather die than depend on God. Friends, we must be aware of this inclination in us if we are going to fight against it, as this passage will show us how to do.
Isaiah 7:13 ESV
13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
God responds to Ahaz’s wicked reply through the prophet Isaiah. He says, “pay attention, O house of David!” That is, he is addressing the king and his court with his rulers and officials.[2]
He points out that Ahaz’s stubborn unbelief is weary and frustrating to men. And if to men, how much for to God? God is offering to move heaven and earth so that man can finally trust him.[3] And what’s his response? Nah. Here we get to see a picture of moments we stubbornly persist in unbelief and disobedience offend the heart of God, even though he’s given us so many evidences of his goodness.
Yet, at this low point, here’s where things get even more marvelous. You would think that an all-powerful God would be inclined to immediately wipe him and his kingdom out. He had his chance after all. You would think the next verse would be, “therefore, I will destroy you.” Yet, that’s not the next thing God says:
Isaiah 7:14 ESV
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The Lord, disappointed with the king’s unbelief, insists on giving him a sign. The king doesn’t believe and the Lord’s response is “therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.” The patience of God with stubborn, unbelieving human hearts is remarkable. He gives him a sign he doesn’t deserve and doesn’t even want so that he could hope in God.
Now what’s the sign that the Lord gives to him? Isaiah says, “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Let’s just take it one piece at a time. (There’s different schools of thought on how to interpret this verse, the best I can do is interpret it as best as I can and share that with you).
God starts out by saying “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” What does the word that’s translated “virgin” mean? It could mean two different things: most frequently, this word means “marriageable girl” or “young woman”.[4] That is, a young woman who is of an age for marriage and child bearing.
So, what does this word mean in this context? Since the context doesn’t point to this birth being a virgin birth and the Hebrew word tends to mean “young woman,” it would seem the best way to translate this sign is that there is a young woman who has a child in the ordinary way. Likely, this woman is Isaiah’s wife as Isaiah 8:18 says,
Isaiah 8:18 ESV
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
The children the Lord gives to Isaiah (of which this child seems to be one) are signs. A sign is something that points to something greater than itself.[5] Think of the Lord’s Supper as an example.[6] It’s ordinary bread and juice, yet it points to the realities of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. It’s a sign that signifies something greater than itself.
What does this sign point to? First, Isaiah mentions the child will be called “Immanuel.” When we translate it, this name means, “God is with us.” The child is a sign that points to the greatest hope God’s people have: that they will get to live in intimacy with God again. Yet, that’s not all. Later in our chapter, Isaiah says of this child,
Isaiah 7:16 ESV
16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
Essentially, the child points to the defeat of the life-threatening enemies God’s people are facing: there is hope in an otherwise hopeless situation (before he is of the age where he can identify right and wrong, just in a few years, the enemies you face will be no more).
Putting these ideas together, the sign of the child points to God’s nearness to his people and the defeat of their oppressors, basically our two most basic needs: that we would be with God, and that he would keep us safe from the things that would destroy us.
So, how does this sign work that God gave? Why would this child create this assurance for anyone who was willing to trust God?
Here is what I suspect is going on here: child-birth is not a neutral concept in the story of the Bible, it’s laden with rich symbolism, prophecy, and expectation. In the book of Genesis, after Adam and Eve has sinned and God had banished them from the garden, he makes them a promise Genesis 3:15. Eve will have an offspring, a descendent of hers who will defeat the enemies of his people and restore intimacy with God. Sounds kind of like our passage huh?
This promised child to Eve will accomplish the exact same things the child who is a sign to Ahaz points to: his victory will bring humanity back into the presence of God, something they lost with their banishment from the garden (“God is with us” will be a reality again).
It seems like rather than doing something entirely out of the blue, God is pointing Ahaz back to the promises he made in the garden and forward to hoping in the arrival of this offspring who will finally bring a full restoral of God being with us. (Which a baby is a great sign!! You can’t help but feel hope and joy when you look at a little baby smiling).
Now let’s ask, how does this relate to Christmas and Advent? To do so, we are going to fast forward to the gospel of Matthew. At this point, Joseph is engaged to Mary. However, he discovers she’s pregnant and resolves to break off the engagement from her. That’s when the following happens:
Matthew 1:20-21
Matthew 1:20–21 ESV
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Joseph, like Ahaz before him, has to confront his fears. He fears to take Mary as his wife because of the apparent immorality she has committed. Also, a messenger of God shows up to him with a Word of the Lord to bring him comfort. This word is that the child Mary had conceived was not a result of immorality, but a work of God.
More than that, this child will fulfill the purposes of God: he will be the one who removes sins from the people (which keep us from God), so Immanuel can come to pass (God can truly be with us)
Then, Matthew writes the following, Matthew 1:22-23
Matthew 1:22–23 ESV
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Wait a second, what? What does this prophecy from Isaiah have to do with the baby in Mary’s belly.
Matthew uses the word “fulfill,” which means something like “to bring to completion or fulness.” We tend to think of prophecy mostly as direct predictions such as “the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem” (Micah 5:2), and then Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
However, that’s not the only way Jesus “fulfills” or “completes” the Old Testament Scriptures. He also lives out and completes the patterns of how God works in the Bible to rescue his people. The pattern Jesus fulfills is that God uses children who were born in miraculous circumstances to save his people, and that points back to the promise in Genesis where a child would come who would defeat the serpent.
I take “fulfill” in Matthew 1:22 to mean that the birth of Jesus completes this pattern we see in the Scriptures that there would be a child who would defeat the enemies of God and restore relationship with him.
The child in Isaiah’s day points to God’s plan to rescue his people from these two kings. Yet, that’s as far as God’s rescue and deliverance goes in Isaiah’s day. The people are still in bondage to their sins and soon will be in bondage to another king, the king of Assyria.
Jesus, on the other hand, is better and fuller and brings lasting relief. Matthew says, “he will save his people from their sins.” That for which God’s people longed for generations and generations, what they received only in part, we have received in full in the birth of Jesus.
In Isaiah’s day, God defeated temporary enemies who threatened the physical lives of God’s people. In Jesus, God defeats our permanent enemies of sin and death. In Isaiah’s day, God reminded his people that it was his plan to dwell with them again; in Jesus, God has begun and will soon completely dwell with his people again. In Isaiah’s day, a natural birth pointed to God’s purposes to defeat his natural enemies; in Jesus, his supernatural birth, pointed to God’s plan to defeat our supernatural enemies and give us life with him forever.
Church, our main point this morning is that God became a baby so you could have a sure reason to trust him in all of life.
Think about it: if God didn’t want to truly and fully help his people, he would not have gone through all of the effort from Genesis through the birth of Christ to fulfill this promise. If he wasn’t actually going to help us, why spend thousands of years building up to this moment?
And if God didn’t mean to rescue you from sin and death and also from every other pain and struggle you deal with in his timing, why would he do the miracle of becoming a human baby? I once read that “the most amazing miracle in the entire Bible,”[7] the infinite God somehow taking the form of a limited human child is more profound than anything.[8] And he did that in order to come and rescue us from sin and death (our greatest need) and to help us in the midst of every other failure, weakness, pain, and limitation we face in the meantime. Jesus’s birth doesn’t mean he will fix every problem we have immediately, but it does mean he will give us the grace we need to endure until he does.
Here’s my concern for us this morning: that God has given us more than a sufficient sign that he’s going to make everything right, and our emotional states of being, day to day, don’t reflect that. We can be so full of worry, or disappointment, or fear that someone who was talking with us wouldn’t think that God had given us sure hope that he will make all things right.
I can get so discouraged by injuries or pain that don’t heal fully in my body, or about the whole COVID situation, or about loved ones who aren’t responding to the gospel. And it affects my demeanor.
And God is like, “Ross, didn’t I become a baby, didn’t I cross the infinite barrier between heaven and earth, in part, to show you that I have a sufficient solution for everything?” Friends, it is right for a Christian to feel sorrow in this broken world, but our hope should overpower it because our reasons for hope in Jesus are far bigger.
We can feel so disappointed with how our relationships are going, or our jobs are going, or how our family of origin is (and those things make sense why they weigh on us, but they should not control our mood!). This child’s name is “Immanuel” which means, “God is with us.” Are any of the problems we are facing weightier than the reality that our God is with us? If that’s the case, what should have the stronger impact on our mood and emotions?
I think a Christian who is hoping in the promise of God to put things right, will rightly feel sadness in this broken world, and it makes sense that we would feel anxious about certain things. Yet, these emotions will not be most prominent in what we express or how others perceive us. Rather, hope-filled confidence should be the emotion that others perceive most in us, if we have a reason as great as this to have hope.
You might say, “Ross, this is easier said than done! I can know my emotions are supposed to be different, but that doesn’t change how I feel.”
And that’s the point I’m trying to drive at this morning: God gave us a sign to meditate on, thank him for, draw assurance from, and hope in to help us become the sorrowful yet even more rejoicing Christians God has called us to be: he became a baby. The way we don’t become Ahaz’s whose hearts are shaking like the trees, but instead be Isaiah’s who have bold faith, joy, and peace is we receive this sign of God with joy. If God were not going to be the solution and overcome our problems, he would not have become a baby period. But he did do something as extraordinary as become a human child, and that human child grew up and did something as extraordinary as dying for all our sins. And those things being the case, do you think you can trust him to help you with the weight you are bringing in here this morning?
Here’s one application I would like for you to walk away from this sermon with: when you are feeling different disappointments, fears, and worries rising up and stifling for faith and joy in Jesus, pray, “God, if you became a human child to rescue the whole world, you can certainly help me with this.” It’s not that we have insufficient reasons to hope, it’s that our attention is often on something else besides our greatest reason for hope.
And if you are here this morning and you are not following Jesus yet, and you don’t have a reason to have invincible hope, please talk to me or any of our members before you leave.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:12 PM November 26, 2021.
Admin
Oaks2021!!!!!
[1] Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 88). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[2] Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.
[3] Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 88). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[4] Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J. J. (1994–2000). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 836). Leiden: E.J. Brill.
[5] Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 1, p. 437). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[6] John Calvin, John Calvin: Commentary on Isaiah - Volume 1 - Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org).
[7] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Zondervan Academic, 1994), 563.
[8] Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.
