October 13, 2010
Facing Danger
Isaiah 7:1-8:22
• Fear Man and all is Lost 7:1- 8:8
• Fear God and all is Gained 8:9-22
In our lesson today, there was a warm-up question that asked us to think of some situation when we have been faced with a threat to our homes or our jobs or our security and to talk about how we felt and how we dealt with the danger. Dale and I have been married for 31 years and I can think of a lot of different times when we were fearful for our children -----sending them into new and uncomfortable situations and experiences or allowing them to go into them; times when we have been fearful for our extended family-----because of illness or death or bad choices; times when we have been fearful for our home--------we have experienced hurricanes and tornadoes and floods and ice and snow storms and power outages in Raleigh; times when we have been fearful for our financial security-------job changes and retirement(for me) and house building and location changes, good and bad investments and how to balance giving and saving; times when we have been fearful for the peace in our marriage and in our home-------- because we don’t always see eye to eye and we run the risk of pushing each other too far; and times when we’ve been fearful for our church and our church family---------because of growing pains or leadership changes or misunderstandings between people; and times when we have been fearful for our country---------911 has made us all aware of the real and present danger of terrorism and we worry as we see gang violence spread from our big cities into tiny towns across the nation and we agonize over the bills and laws that are discussed and passed –and we can’t do a thing to stop them, I am even concerned about the bed-bug epidemic that is spreading across the country----- I’ve got 2 in NYC, the bed-bug capitol of the nation and one in college, that is seeing rooms all around her being fumigated for them—and she is coming home tomorrow with her roommate, I ‘m scared to death, to let them in the house!
And I can tell you—with all of these things my heart and my mind has and still will, it is right now, running the gamut of emotions. I can get fired up in a flat jack-rabbit minute when I feel like something that I love, is being threatened-----like most women will, especially mothers—God created us to be nurturers---so when we sense a threat to what we hold precious, we come out growling and snarling like a mother bear defending her cubs.
But I have learned, like King Ahaz never did, no matter what Isaiah said to him---------that God is in control----regardless of the circumstances----He will always be in control and He will always work all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) We need to learn to take our focus off of the circumstances that we find ourselves in and put our focus on the Lord---------when we do that, the circumstances still may not change, but our attitude about them will definitely change------and then we will be able to walk forward, no matter what we might have to face-------in the confidence and strength and peace that only comes from trusting and walking in and with, the Lord Jesus.
Bringing our focus back to the Lord when we are faced with fear is not easy-------it’s hard! But I will tell you how I do it---a lot of you know what I am talking about because you have heard me talk about it before or you discovered it in the same place I did, or you were a part of the Experiencing God class we had here at church, a few years ago, where it was the primary focus of the study. The way I do it is through prayer----very intentional prayer. Anne Lotz, Billy Graham’s daughter, called it lining up the Runway Lights. Prayer is a trusting communication with God, it isn’t a lack of faith and it isn’t a wish list or a bargaining tool. God wants His children to know His will. He told Isaiah exactly where Ahaz was (He knew where he was, that jumped out at me in this passage, God knew exactly where Ahaz was, that means that He knows exactly where we are too; physically, emotionally and spiritually and that He’ll come to us and that He will give us the answer that we are seeking, that will comfort the fear that we are feeling and guide us in the direction that we are supposed to go.) God told Ahaz to ask Him for a sign, any kind of sign, it didn’t matter what it was, it could be fantastic or simple-------cause God’s desire was to grow Ahaz’s trust in Him and He was willing to do whatever it took, to do that.
Lining up the Runway Lights (like an airplane coming in from a landing and being guided by the lights on the runway, to safety) is a very intentional way to pray:
• Inner Conviction----gut feeling-can’t get it out of your mind—a peace that is comforting but it is more than comforting----it is that you know that you know that you know
• Godly counsel of Christian friend----someone that you know will pray for you and will not just give you experiential advice, but will earnestly seek the Lord on your behalf------
• Practical circumstances-----everything from a practical perspective either falls into place or it doesn’t fall into place, one or the other, without you forcing it or engineering it-----
• Scriptural confirmation-----the Lord speaks to you directly from the scripture------ when you read a verse or a passage---you know in your heart that the Lord is talking to you. It jumps out at you. This is not picking up the Bible and closing your eyes and pointing your finger and where the Bible falls open is your answer---this is where you are already studying or where the preacher is preaching or where a friend is studying and they send you to it and the Holy Spirit prompts your heart to know that the Lord is speaking to you.
And you bathe it all, with constant prayer.
It isn’t a magic formula--------- but what it does do, is that it helps me to keep my focus where my focus is supposed to be –on the Lord--- and off of the circumstances. We need help keeping our focus on the Lord—and God knows that’s true, cause He created us----------so for me, it has become a very real way, to walk with Him. It gives me peace, and I promise you, that the Lord has answered me over and over again and 10 times out of 10, the prayer process has been a way, to line my will up with His.
Ahaz should have listened to what God had to say through Isaiah---- he could have been spared so much fear and heartache ---but instead, He went his own way and quickly lost his temporal kingdom and ultimately (according to what we read in II Kings 16 about his evil deeds) might have lost his eternal soul.
• Fear Man and all is Lost: 7:1- 8:8
Up until this point in time, King Uzziah and King Jotham had been good kings who sought after the Lord and tried to heed what Isaiah told them to do and tried to lead the nation with an awareness of God as their great provider and protector----but when they died, Ahaz came to the throne. And according to 2Kings 16 he was a very evil man who didn’t do what was right in the eyes of the Lord: he burned his own son on the altar of sacrifice to the god Baal; he stole the gold and silver from the temple and gave them as a tithe to the king of Assyria; he dismantled part of the temple furnishings and rearranged them, in deference to the King of Assyria, ignoring the fact that God had given very explicit instructions to Moses, as to how the furniture was to be placed and used; he burned incense to other gods in their holy places and on the altar in God’s own temple; but I think his worst crime of all, was, that when he was given the opportunity to trust God and receive His grace, he turned his back on it.
This was a frightening time for the nation of Judah.--------Assyria was growing stronger and threatening the smaller nations, whose individual security depended on a very delicate political balance. Syria and Israel (the northern kingdom, also known as Ephraim) tried to pressure Judah into an alliance with them against Assyria------they had already launched several attacks on Judah thinking that they would get rid of Ahaz and then set a king on the Judean throne that they could intimidate and manipulate, who would help them stand firm against any Assyrian invasion. Ahaz was scared to death and under his leadership a sense of panic gripped the nation. But God had a plan and He wanted to use the crisis as a way of bringing Ahaz into a trusting relationship with Himself, so He sent Isaiah and his son, Shear-jashub, out to talk to him.
King Ahaz was out inspecting the city’s water supply, preparing for the next attack from Syria and Israel. When Isaiah and his son walked up----just their names should have been enough to comfort Ahaz and to give him courage-Isaiah means “the Lord saves” and Shear-jashub means a remnant will return”. This is God’s way of assuring Ahaz, right off the bat, that even if the worst happened, and people were killed and the nation was taken into captivity------- God would still save a remnant of his people and they would return in victory. God wanted to give Ahaz the opportunity to be saved. God wanted Ahaz to trust Him. God told him to stay calm and not to fear because Syria and Israel were already just smoldering stumps of firewood. That they might seem fierce and mighty but the reality was that they were just being led by mere men who wouldn’t be able to succeed. And God kept His promise, within 3 years, Syria was crushed into oblivion and within 10 years, Israel was totally gone.
God offered Ahaz an opportunity of a lifetime----------the same one He offers us-----the opportunity for salvation. This passage in Isaiah makes faith in God, the central, unavoidable question of our lives. Faith has 3 integral parts that all work together-----1st, there is the knowledge of God, which 2nd, persuades us, to agree with God, which 3rd , motivates us, to embrace God. We were created with a God –sized hole to fill, in our hearts---and only faith can fill up that hole. God gives us the faith that we need to believe in Him. We can’t manufacture that ourselves. God created us with an intrinsic, built-in knowledge, that He is more real than the earthly things that we can feel and touch and that He is more desirable than any worldly attractions and that He, Himself, is more faithful than any human being can even imagine, and that we should live our lives based on what is promised rather than on what is right in front of us------ and------ that our hearts have to be grounded by the truth of all of this, or we will never be able to go the distance. God offers Himself to us as our greatest ally, all the time----with Him, we can face anything! (“I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Eph. 4:13) God told Ahaz that all he had to do was lean on Him and He would stand firm, but Ahaz refused. How many times do we refuse God when He comes to help us in a situation and we turn away from Him because we think we have a better plan? Ahaz thought he had a better plan. But he was dead wrong.
It is true that living by faith in God, rather than by faith in ourselves, is hard, especially for women----because we think we have cornered the market, in being able to work out difficult situations. I am quick to offer advice to people---when I really should offer to pray for them and direct them to the words of scripture. We need to understand that we learn so much more in times of crisis than we do when life is good, because during a crisis, is when God will take the training wheels off of our bikes and He will hold onto the back of them and He will teach us how to ride like the big kids do. It is always after a crisis that our faith will grow, because that’s the time, that we can clearly see that we can trust God, to always keep His promises.
God was so gracious to Ahaz------God told him, through Isaiah, that he could ask for any sign that he wanted to, as an assurance that He would do exactly what He said He would do. But Ahaz decided to trust himself and the king of Assyria instead and wound up sealing his own fate and the fate of his nation by his unbelief. And to top off his irreverence for God, he pretended that his reason for not asking for a sign was because he didn’t want to tempt God. What a snotty attitude he had. God offered him wisdom and understanding and support and Ahaz threw it back in His face. When we go our own way, we do the same thing! (Thursday night I tried to give Lizzie some wise counsel about her old boyfriend----she didn’t want to hear it, so her response was, “I don’t want to talk about it…”)----that is the way Ahaz was----he didn’t want to hear what God had to say, because he might have to admit that God was right----he knew that if he let God in that God would take control. Ahaz proved in his encounter with God, that a person can, by their own free will, refuse to accept God’s free gift of faith. And if they are smart enough and articulate enough they can make their unbelief sound plausible, even pious—people that say things like “I am a spiritual person but I don’t participate in any organized religion” or “I’m a Christian, I go to church…” or I “don’t go to church, but I’m a good, moral person,” or “I read and read the scripture, but God doesn’t ever speak to me,” or “ I know the Bible says so and so, but I don’t think what its saying is relevant in our generation” need to be held at arm’s length. A statement like that is a red flag to me, which says that the person, either doesn’t know the Lord or they are hiding from Him, for some reason----when we come across a person like this, we have to ask the Lord to give us an opportunity to delve deeper into conversation with them so that we can tell them the truth of the Gospel.
When Ahaz refused His offer, God gave him a sign anyway. 7:14 says, “…the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call his name Immanuel.” (God with us) This is one of the outstanding verses in the Bible that explains the truth of Christianity, at its core. But theologians, through the centuries, have studied and studied this verse and have a hard time with it. Matthew tells us in his book, that this promise was fulfilled by Jesus, 700 years after it was spoken---which is true, but the context of the way that it is written in Isaiah, links it to Isaiah’s own day, too. So the question is, were there 2 babies? I have 9 different Isaiah commentaries and they all say something a little different, but the general consensus is, that the prophecy came true in 2 ways. 1st, it predicted the birth of Maher-shalal-hashbaz, Isaiah’s own son, whose name means “quick to plunder, swift to spoil”, which was linked to the downfall of Syria and Israel----because by the time that that boy reached the age of accountability or the age of manhood which is 13, in Jewish culture; those two kingdoms would be just memories and Assyria would be knocking at Judah’s door. The message of his unusual name was the same as Immanuel’s, “God with us”-----God was present, with His people Judah, in their time of emergency, He made sure that their enemies were destroyed-----all enemies against God’s children are doomed, because God is with His people. And 2nd, Isaiah’s prophecy pointed the way to a child being born that would be our ultimate salvation. In this world we face the alliance of sin and death, with satan being the instigator and the perpetrator---------they never go away and in our own strength, we are no match for them-------but the birth of the baby Jesus, was the truest fulfillment of God ‘s plan for His children, Jew and Gentile------He is Immanuel, “God with us” and He dwells not just with us, but in us-------to protect us from all our enemies.
Isaiah used word- pictures to show Ahaz and the rulers of Judah the danger of their wrong choices. Instead of trusting the Lord, who was described as “the gently flowing waters of Shiloh”, they chose to trust Assyria, which was depicted as the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates. Isaiah tried to paint the picture in their minds that, even though, humanly- speaking, the army of Assyria was a force to be reckoned with, the reality was; that Assyria was no more than a swarm of bees that God could whistle for, and it would obey Him. In the end, God stood by His promise to Ahaz, and the 2 nations threatening him did fall. But Ahaz’ unbelief was costly to himself and to the people he was responsible for. It’s always that way------when we disobey God, we never just hurt ourselves, we always hurt people we love, in the process.
Ahaz’ crisis was resolved, unfortunately, by an even more terrifying enemy--------- Assyria did rise up, like a flood and sweep Israel and Syria away, but in the process, Judah had to stand on its tiptoes, just to keep its head above water. (Someone has said, that the whole episode was like a mouse being attacked by two rats and calling for the cat to come and save him------ well the cat came, but the mouse wound up being the dessert.)
Trusting God to save us when we are assaulted by sin or confronted with a difficult situation, has no downside; but not trusting Him and only Him to save us, always turns out to be a big mistake that leaves us with regret and heartache and undesired consequences.
II. Fear God and all is Gained: 8:9-22
Influenced by Ahaz, the people of Judah, in Isaiah’s day rejected God in the defining moment of their time, and God passed them by. But their unbelief didn’t shake Him, because God has enough love and passion in Himself to bring salvation to the whole world, for all time.
You and I will never be able to achieve the victory of God in this world. We don’t trust God enough. We don’t live completely for Him, every moment of every day. We don’t claim the fullness of the inheritance that He has promised us. None of us do---not even the most righteous among us. But thank goodness, God can solve our problems for us because He doesn’t have a divided heart. He is our salvation. Someday we will be with Him in heaven, worshiping and enjoying Him perfectly and there, we will finally give Him all the glory that He deserves and we will live in the beauty of the way that we were created to be.
In this passage, Isaiah is giving us a little glimpse of what it means to be a remnant. God told him to look for the remnant of real believers among the many who pretended to be believers. A remnant of God is not characterized by a super-spiritual, elitist group of people, looking down on others-----a remnant is a group of people who dare to live by faith in God, no matter what is going on around them and no matter who is bombarding them with information. ( the story about Marybeth being asked if her daddy’s church was a bible-believing church…it was an elitist remark.)
The true remnant will be willing to give up everything in order to live for the Lord----the pretenders are very careful not to risk any more than they have to on Him. If you are looking, you can see the difference clearly. Jonathan Edwards says that a true Christian “has more holy boldness, so he has less self-confidence; he is more sure than others about his deliverance from hell, so this makes him realize just how much he really deserves it; he is less apt than others to be shaken in his faith, but he is more apt to be moved by solemn warnings, God’s frowns and the calamities of others. He has the firmest conviction, but the softest heart; richer than others, but poorest of all in spirit. He is the tallest and strongest saint, but the least and the most tender child among them.”
Being a part of the remnant isn’t as simple as belonging to a church or professing to be a believer, not now and it won’t be, for the Jewish remnant, in the last days— Being a part of God’s remnant is characterized by having 3 things imbedded in your heart: 1.) the presence of God, 2.) the fear of God, and 3.) the truth of God.
• The presence of God: When Ahaz and the people were told about Syria and Israel coming against them, they were terrified, but the remnant stood up with a bold confidence. They looked at the same crisis and said, you can do anything you want to us, but you will never defeat us, because God is with us. In 1 John 5:4, John says, “our faith is the victory, that overcomes the world.” (“Richard Williams, a young surgeon and Methodist lay preacher and an Anglican minister named Allen Gardiner went as missionaries to Terra del Fuego. In 1851, their ship was forced to winter in a cold and bitter and bay, and the supply vessel never arrived. Everyone on board their ship died of cold and starvation. Even as they were suffering, on Good Friday, April 18. 1851, Williams wrote in his journal, ‘poor and weak though we are, our abode is a very Bethel to our souls, and God we feel and know is here.’ Then on Wednesday, May 7, he wrote, ‘should anything prevent my ever adding to this, let all my beloved ones at home rest assured that I was happy beyond description when I wrote these lines and would not have changed situations with any man living.’”) At Bethel, in Genesis 28, Jacob saw God in an unexpected place like he had never seen Him before. A crisis in a believer’s life can turn out to be the sweetest Bethel to their souls because they can experience the presence of God in a way that defies human understanding—they can find joy, in the midst of heartache.
• The fear of God: Ahaz and Judah were wringing their hands over the impending invasion of Syria and Israel, kind of like we fear the threat of terrorists today. God’s remnant is not without fear---------it is just that they fear God more than they fear man—and the fear of God is generated by the understanding that God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-present. This fear of God is not being scared------it is knowing that God is to be revered and worshiped for His holiness and His goodness. God wanted Isaiah to have absolute faith and trust in His sovereignty, and His protection and His salvation; He didn’t want Isaiah to put his trust in men and their weapons.
Fearing God, for a believer, means that we understand that God is the starting point for having true wisdom. This includes knowing how to conduct ourselves in the practical circumstances of everyday life-------making wise choices; doing the right thing in our relationships with other people; having spiritual insight into the true nature of what happens in the world and having a deep and abiding relationship with the Lord Jesus. This kind of wisdom can only grow out of an awareness of God and His purpose in the world. Luke 12:4-12 says that, “there is nothing to fear but fear itself, because when Jesus is for us, who can be against us?” The Holy Spirit will defend us and assist us to be witnesses and will seal us safely until the end, no matter what kind of hurt we experience.
How we treat fear God determines how we experience Him—He will either be a sanctuary or a snare------He will either be the rock that supports us -----the foundation that we can stand on or He will be the rock that will trip us or fall on us. God will either be our salvation or our destruction. It is easy to be swayed by the opinions and voices of the crowd, when big issues crop up. That’s why God’s words to Isaiah in 8:13 are as important for us to hear today as it was for the people of Judah to hear, “Do not fear anything, except the Lord Almighty, if you fear Him, then you need fear nothing else.”
• The Truth of God: In Isaiah’s day----the people didn’t value God’s Word---so God told Isaiah to preserve the neglected wisdom for another generation who would listen to it. Treasuring God’s word and finding hope in it is the most important thing that we can do, every day. In spite of all of Isaiah’s warnings and his pleadings to cling to the Lord----many of the people turned to the occult for guidance. Instead of shedding any light on their paths, this just pushed them even further into darkness. They sought light among the dead and ignored the living God. This pattern of turning to the occult, when the future seems uncertain, is rampant in our world today. There is nothing new under the sun. Why people would still consult horoscopes and mediums and palmreaders and mystics and gurus and channelers and life coaches in the world that we live in, when the gospel is going out through more media and technological venues than ever before, is just evidence that satan, the father of lies, is a very real and present danger. That is why Isaiah told the people to run away from darkness and run to the only safety that we have –-------the light of God’s truth. Ephesians 1:17 and 18 says, that grace imparts to the believer, “a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you will know Him better, so that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you , the riches if His glorious inheritance in the saints and His incomparably great power for those who believe.”
It was evident that Isaiah and his children and his disciples were God’s witnesses to a lost and dying world-------We are also called, to be God’s witnesses to a lost and dying world-----are we following that calling? Is it evident by our behavior and our lifestyles and our words that we are living up to that calling?
The way to be sure that we are living witnesses to the Lord’s glory is for us to understand that we need to stop trying to save ourselves and to trust God to save us. “God with us” is more than a name. He is a reality. And when we lean on Him as our reality, we don’t need anything else.
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