Promises of a Messiah: Isaiah 7,9 and 11 (part 1)

It was about two and a half centuries after the times of King David.  The kingdom had split into two – Israel solidly leaving behind its righteous roots, and Judah remaining sometimes following God but frequently unfaithful.

On the throne in Judah was Ahaz, a young man who was immediately interested in reviving the worship of Baal in Judah (2Chr 28:1-2).  It seems to have been a time of revival – revival of superstition and idol worship.  He looked everywhere for help except to the True God, including, it seems, to mediums and spiritists.

It may seem that the knowledge of the True God was about to be extinguished – and there was another problem.  There was a conspiracy afoot.  The Kings of Damascus and Samaria had a plan to take over Judah – to dethrone King Ahaz and put their own man in his place (Isa 7:5-6).

The news that these armies were on the march terrified the king and the people – so much so that he took drastic action.  He appealed to Tiglath-pileser, the King of Assyria, for help – essentially putting his kingdom under the control of Assyria (2Ki 16:7).

Threats from his own wickedness, threats from an attacking army, and threats from Assyria – it’s in this context that some of the most well-known promises of a Messiah come.

A prophet of the True God, Isaiah, appeared with his son before king.  He had been sent from God with a message.  Don’t be afraid of the two attacking kings – their end is coming.

Go ahead, God said to Ahaz.  Ask me for a sign – anything.

Hypocritically, the king who looked to Assyria and spiritists for help, claimed that he didn’t want to "test" God.  He wouldn’t ask for a sign.  Isaiah replied, sounding a little fed-up…

And he said, "Hear then, O house of David!  Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted…" (Isa 7:13-16)

If you’re familiar with verse 13, but haven’t heard the context before, you might find it a little surprising.  And there’s another surprising aspect – the word translated virgin can actually simply mean a young woman.

So what’s going on here?  A young woman will have a baby, and before he’s very old the land of these two kings will be deserted?  What does that have to do with the Messiah?!

A lot, actually.  And it becomes clear as the book of Isaiah continues on, which is why we’re doing a whole lot of context here.

Immediate fulfilment?

It seems from these verses that a little "timer" was about to be born.  A baby would be born soon, and that before he was old enough to know good from evil the alliance that threatened Judah would be destroyed.

And the next chapter would seem to support this.  A baby is born – a baby who is a sign.  He was Isaiah’s own son, and his name was Maher-shalal-hash-baz (the longest personal name in the Bible, by the way).  And his Mom didn’t call him that because it was a cute name.  Actually, it was a common shout to be heard among soldiers – meaning something like make speed to the spoil, hasten to the prey.

His name was given by God as a sign, because "before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria." (Isa 8:4)

This chapter even uses the term Immanuel – perhaps of Isaiah, the baby himself, or Judah as a whole (Isa 8:8).

The Woman and the Child

It seems likely that there was an immediate fulfilment to this prophecy, but it soon becomes clear that there’s another woman and another Child.

After we hear about the birth of Maher-shalal-hash-baz, Isaiah starts talking about the latter time.  "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined." (Isa 9:2)  You’ll remember Matthew said this verse was fulfilled by Jesus – read about that here: Mat 4:12-17.

And then comes another mention of the Child…

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isa 9:6-7)

No, we’re not talking about an ordinary baby here.

We’ll get back to these verses next time, but you can see the connection if you know the meaning of the term Immanuel.  The word in Hebrew means with us is God.  No doubt a Child who is called Mighty God would be Immanuel.

Though there has been a great deal of discussion about whether to translate the Hebrew word here virgin or simply young woman, there’s good reason to believe virgin is appropriate.

First, what kind of a wonderful sign from God is it that a young woman would have a son?  Isn’t that … well, kind of common?

Second, if the prophecy was to have a double fulfilment, maybe it needed to be a broader term, that would cover both a young woman and a virgin (although some have suggested that the woman in Isaiah was a virgin at the time of the prophecy.  It’s possible that this word would have simply been understood as "virgin" by Isaiah’s listeners, but we can’t get into all the details of the controversy in this post!).

Third, the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament that the New Testament writers would have been familiar with) translated the word as virgin.  Apparently they felt this was a more proper rendition.

And finally, of course, Matthew recognizes that Jesus was a fulfilment of this prophecy (Mat 1:20-25), because He was truly born of a virgin.

Hope for the world…

This look ahead to the time of Jesus was appropriate, when you think about it.  This was a time when, by all appearances, the light of truth was about to go out in the earth.  And yet, God had a plan.

You’ll notice that Isaiah addresses the prophecy not to King Ahaz, but to the house of David.  Ahaz was a descendant of David, and was to be an ancestor of the Messiah (we’ll see a reference to this genealogy again in Isaiah chapter 11).

Not only would Judah not be destroyed, the line of Ahaz would continue.  And not in wickedness and darkness, but light – the Great Light of God.

God would be with them, not only in this present crisis, but in the future.  A Baby would be born of a virgin, and He would truly be God with us – He would be the Mighty God.

But more on that next week.