God with us!?! - Isaiah 7:10-14
After the death of David’s son Solomon, the kingdom of David was split in two. The Northern kingdom called Israel was a hot mess from the very beginning. Immediately they turned away from the LORD and began to worship false gods. Some erected phallic towers of fertility to Baal and Ashera, others looked to the stars for guidance and directions, still others went old school and forged golden calves to worship. The Northern Kingdom was a spiritual wasteland. The southern Kingdom by comparison was better, but barely.
The southern Kingdom was smaller than the northern kingdom. Of the twelve original tribes the southern kingdom was made up of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and a smattering of Levites. The southern kingdom was where the direct line of king David was preserved. A few of the kings that sat on the throne of David, like Hezekiah and Josiah were men of strong spiritual character, but most were not. One of the apples that fell the farthest from the stump of Jesse was a man by the name of Ahaz.
Ahaz was one of the worst kings to sit on the throne of David. Listen to how Ahaz is described in the Chronicles of the kingdom. “Unlike David his father[1], he [Ahaz] did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and also made cast idols for worshiping the Baals. He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his sons in the fire, following the detestable ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.”[2] Ahaz is a dirtbag. I know we are not supposed to call people names, but I think we can make an exception for a guy who sacrifices his own children in the fires of a false god.
It comes as no surprise to us that under the rule of Ahaz the kingdom of Judah is on the brink of disaster. When we catch up with Ahaz in our lesson from Isaiah 7:10-14. Ahaz and the southern kingdom of Judah are under attack from the northern tribes of Israel. The Northern tribes of Israel intended to dethrone Ahaz and put a puppet in his place to rule over Judah, and they were well on their way of accomplishing this goal. So far Ahaz had suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of the Northern armies. The Northern armies had slaughtered 120,000 soldiers of Judah in one day, killing the governor of Ahaz’s palace, Ahaz’s chief advisor and one of Ahaz’s sons (who apparently he had not yet sacrificed to the fire). The Northern armies also carried off into captivity 200,000 men, women, and children, as well as a “great deal of plunder”. Now Ahaz learns that the Northern armies had teamed up with the armies of Aram to come and finish the job. The prophet Isaiah tells us, “the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”[3]
Ahaz and the kingdom of Judah are at their breaking point when the prophet Isaiah arrives. The LORD God sent Isaiah to offer assurances to Ahaz and Judah that the LORD God had not abandoned them. Ahaz and the people of Judah would not be defeated by the Northern armies. “It will not take place, it will not happen”[4] Isaiah assures Ahaz. In reply Ahaz says … nothing. Not an “Amen!”, “Hallelujah!”, or” praise the LORD!”. Not a “thank you”, “I appreciate it”, or “cool.” Ahaz says nothing. Which is why we read in verses 10-11, “10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” The LORD God was in the mood to do something big. There were no restrictions given to Ahaz; any sign he asked for the LORD God would perform. That is how badly the LORD God wanted to assure Ahaz and the people of Judah that He would not abandon them to their enemies.
What would you ask for? A legion of heavenly hosts to appear and wipe the enemy from the battlefield? The ground to open beneath their feet and swallow them whole? Or perhaps fire and brimstone to rain down on them from heaven, or one of any of the Ten Plagues that put Pharoah and the Egyptians in their place. The options are endless. Ahaz could have asked for anything but instead Ahaz asked for… nothing. “12 Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.” This guy! First of all, it was not a request, it was a command. The LORD God commanded Ahaz to ask for a sign. Ahaz blatantly disobeys the LORD saying, “I will not ask”. However, it is the pious pretense under which he seeks to conceal his disobedience that must have really ground God’s gears. Ahaz acts as though he didn’t want to “put the LORD to the test” like the Israelites did in the wilderness when the grumbled to Moses about the lack of water and demanded that God prove He was still with them. But the truth was Ahaz didn’t give two hoots about testing the LORD. Ahaz had already pledged his allegiance to false gods like Baal, Molech, and Ashera. Ahaz wanted nothing to do with the LORD God who had brought the 12 tribes up out of Egypt, lead them to the Promised Land, established them as a kingdom, and declared them to be the people who would carry the promise of the Messiah. Ahaz wanted nothing to do with God. Which is why when God sought a relationship with Ahaz, Ahaz pushed God away
Guys like Ahaz really disgust me. Here the LORD God is seeking a relationship with this guy who didn’t do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, bowed down to false gods, and was a horrible king and even worse father; a guy who honestly didn’t deserve to have a relationship with God, but because of God’s grace was repeatedly extended an invitation even when those invitations were repeatedly being despised, rejected, and ignored. Ahaz is such a… well I don’t want to call him a name again so I will just say Ahaz is an Ahaz.
It is easy to be disgusted with a guy like Ahaz, perhaps even more so when you recognize you have some Ahaz tendencies of your own. You haven’t always done what is right in the eyes of the LORD, you haven’t always loved the LORD your God with all your heart soul and mind, you haven’t always served the LORD God with faithfulness and integrity, and you may not have gone to the extreme of Ahaz but you are far from the perfect parent. You have Ahaz tendencies and what is worse sometimes you treat the LORD God the way Ahaz treated the LORD God.
The LORD God seeks to have a relationship with you. Through the Psalmist He comes to you with an invitation, “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”[5] But sometimes like an Ahaz we respond with something like, ‘I will LORD, I will, I just need to make a couple phone calls first, see if I can take care of a few things, I have a few fires I need to put out at work, and things at home are a bit tense these days so let me see if I can smooth that over first, but after I get all that sorted out I will absolutely call on you… unless something else comes up, like a snap streak I need to reply to, or a shawty slides into my DMs, or a Facebook post that catches my attention or I forget.
Not willing to give up on having a relationship with you, the LORD God calls to you again, this time through one of His apostles, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”[6] But sometimes like an Ahaz we respond with something like, ‘LORD, that sounds great, I would absolutely like to do that and I promise I will visit with you real soon, just not this Sunday. You see I have been out of town for work and I have a lot of catching up to do around the house, plus the kids have sports, and to be honest I really could use some time to myself you know get away from it all and just have some quality me time.’ Then when we do get around to the occasional visit we often end up spending more time focusing on the other guest the LORD God invited than we do the Host Who invited us and even when we are forced to sit silently before our Host we focus more on the pleasantries than actually being open and honest with Him and listening, I mean really listening to what He has to say, and on our way out we secretly judge all those whose excuses to refuse the LORD’s invitation this week weren’t as good as our excuses the week before.
Maybe the resemblance is stronger in some of us than it is in others but every single one of us here is guilty of acting like the occasional Ahaz. God seeks to have a relationship with us, yet at various times and in various ways we push God away. Sometimes like a bunch of Ahazes it almost seems like we want nothing to do with God.
The Ahaz wanted nothing to do with the LORD God and pushed Him away. In reply, the prophet Isaiah said, “13… Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore…”. Ohhh, here we go! Ahaz is going to get it…. What do you imagine Ahaz deserves? A plague upon his kingdom or a pox upon his family, pestilence to ruin his possessions? Perhaps fire and brimstone should rain down on him or the ground open beneath his feet? We can have different ideas on how Ahaz should get there but I think we all agree a guy like Ahaz should burn in hell for his repeated rejection of the LORD God. He absolutely should. Ahaz should burn in hell for his rejection of the LORD God, but so also should all those who at various times and in various ways act like a bunch of Ahazes…
We deserve to get it. We deserve to be punished for all the times we have pushed God away. But instead of punishment, what we get is Jesus. In the face of Ahaz’s rejection the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Instead of threatening punishment the prophet proclaimed a promise. It was a promise of a child who would be born for a very specific purpose. This child would make it possible for God to have a relationship with us. Which is why the child would be called Immanuel. Immanuel means “God with us”.
Just as the prophet promised, the virgin Mary has given birth to the one we call Immanuel. As the son born of a woman, Immanuel lived perfectly in our place cherishing every invitation and making the most of every moment to spend time with His heavenly Father. As the son conceived in the womb of a virgin, Immanuel, with His innocent suffering and death, and His sin, death, and devil defying resurrection, paid for all those various times and various ways we pushed God away. The one we call Immanuel did this because despite all that we have done and failed to do God still wants to have a relationship with us. God wants to be with us.
In a few short days we will gather to celebrate Christmas. It is a celebration of God’s desire to have a relationship with us. As we gather to celebrate the birth of Immanuel, I urge you to just take a moment to pause and ponder the lengths your God was willing to go just so that He could have a relationship with you. God sent Immanuel so that God could be with us. Therefore, let us not give in to our Ahaz tendencies but rather let us cherish every invitation and make the most of every moment to spend time with our God, to get to know Him, build a relationship with Him, and thank Him for seeking a relationship with us. For reasons known only to Himself, God caused a virgin to be with child and give birth to a son so that God could be with us!!! Amen.
[1] here “ancestor” might be better],
[2] 2 Ch 28:1–3
[3] Isaiah 7:2
[4] Isaiah 7:7
[5] Psalm 50:15
[6] Matthew 11:28