Message

---

Thank God that God has been with us and has guided each of us as our Immanuel God this year. Now we are looking forward to Christmas and the new year of 2010. At this special time of the year it is good to remember our God who has been with us as our Immanuel God. May God bless us to newly accept Jesus as our Immanuel God at this Christmas. Look at verse 1. “When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.” Based on this verse we can understand political situation of the time. At that time Aram was a strong nation around Judah. Aram formed military alliance with Israel to protect themselves from Assyria, which was rising power from North. But Ahaz did not join with them, and instead he adopted pro-assyrian policy, siding with Assyria. So Rezin king of Aram and Pekah king of Israel marched up to fight against Judah. They plotted to invade the country and overthrow Ahaz and raise son of Tabeel as a poppet king. This historical event happened in 734 BC. What was the response of Ahaz and his people? Look at verse 2. “Now the house of David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim, so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Here Ephraim is another name of Israel. Judah faced a nation crisis. When Ahaz was shaken out of fear, all the people of Judah were shaken together. They became helpless like trees of forest before the mighty wind, like Hurricane. When we look at the situation outwardly, the military attack of two kings looked like political one. But spiritually speaking, it was because of Ahaz’s sins – his idol worship and unfaithfulness to God. According to 2 Chronicles 28:1, “Unlike David his father, he did not do what is right in the eyes of the LORD his God.” He worshiped all kinds of idols and even sacrificed his own son in the fire, following the practice of foreign religion. God brought him great distress and troubles through the two kings due to his sins. God wanted to help him to realize his real problem before God and restore his relationship with God through this troubles. It was time for Ahaz to realize God’s hand of discipline in this event. It was time for him to humble himself before God and turn his heart to God. It was the time for him to listen to God and seek God’s help and salvation for himself and for his people. But Ahaz was too blind to realize God’s spiritual help through this troubles. He was also too proud to seek God and ask his help in his distress. So God himself came to help him through his servant. Look at verse 3. “Then the LORD said to Isaiah, Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field.” Isaiah was a prophet who served 4 kings in his life time, including Ahaz. What was God’s message for king Ahaz? Look at verse 4. “Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood – because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.” First, God told him to be careful. In the time of crisis it is easy to be controlled by emotional feelings and make hasty and stupid choice according to the situation. God wanted him to be careful and keep calm and carefully listen to God’s word at this time. God wanted him to carefully think of his life and recognize his spiritual problem, that is unbelief, before God. Second, God wanted him to see the situation with the eyes of faith. In reality, the two kings were attacking Judah with fierce anger. They looked like Hurricane which was coming to destroy the whole land. They looked like uncontrollable forest fire which sweeps the whole forest. But what was God’s view of those kings? They were nothing but the two smoldering stubs of firewood. So God told him not to be afraid nor lose heart because of them. Someone said, “Stop telling God how big your storm is. Instead, tell the storm how big your God is!” Our God is the Sovereign LORD over all kings and nations and all situations. Look at verses 7-9. “Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘It will not take place, it will not happen, for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand all all.” Even though they plotted the ruin of Judah, it will not stand. According to God’s word, Aram was defeated by Assyria and king Rezin was killed by the king of Assyria two years later,732 BC . Pekah the king of Israel was assassinated in the same year by Hosea who would be the last king of Israel. In fact, the two kings would die within two years. Later Assyria conquered Israel in 722 BC., and transferred many foreigners to Samaria until Israel was too shattered to be a people within 65 years. By 669 BC they become no longer a people. From that time on Jews despised them as ‘Samaritans.” Look at verse 9b again. “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand all.” God wanted Ahaz to repent of his unbelief and put his absolute faith in his God and his word of promise, realizing that he cannot stand at all if he does not stand in his faith. Here ‘Not at all” means absolutely zero. There is no other way. There seems to be many other ways to solve the problems in our life other than believing in God. So it is easy to depend on something visible such as people or money or our own smartness. It seems to work at the beginning. But it fails in the end. For example, Ahaz depended on his political skills. He thought Assyria would help him to get out of the troubles. Indeed, Assyria came and defeated Aram and killed Rezin. Also, Assyria conquered Israel. But Assyria did this not to help Judah but for her own interest. After defeating Aram and Israel Assyria turn against Judah and became a great trouble instead of help. We should know that there is no other way of salvation except God alone. We must stand firm in our faith in God and his words of promise. We must turn our heats to God in the time of troubles and put our absolute faith in God. We must stand firm in our faith through fully trusting him in our prayer. We must stand firm in our faith by obeying his word as the absolute guide in our life. Then we will experience God’s salvation from all our troubles and grow as men and women of faith in the process. Look at verse 10. “Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz. “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” So far God did his best to plant faith in his heart through his life-giving words. Now God was even more gracious to him. He wanted to give him a sign so that Ahaz might stand firm in his faith based on his miraculous sign. It was a great opportunity for Ahaz to restore his faith and his relationship with God. But what was the response of Ahaz? Look at verse 12.”But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.” Ahaz even rejected such a generous offer from God. In other word, he refused to believe in God. He even showed contempt to God by misusing God’s word as an excuse for his rejection. Look at verse 13. “Then Isaiah said, “Here now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?” Remaining in unbelief is not a small matter. It is trying the patience of men as well as God. It is giving much pain to God. But what did God do to this unfaithful and unbelieving man? Look at verse 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.” But God did not give up on him. God himself gave him a sign of Immanuel. “Immanuel” means “God with us.” The baby boy who would be born of the virgin would be the sign of God with us. Despite the terrible unfaithfulness of Ahaz and his people God was with them. Here we must think why such a wonderful promise was given to such an unfaithful man Ahaz. It is to show us that God’s salvation was given by his grace alone, not by any righteous act of men. Ahaz is the representative of all sinners. When we think of our lives, we are no better than him. We are as unfaithful as he is. We are as wicked as he is in God’s sight. But God in his amazing grace gave us salvation through his Son Jesus Christ. This messianic promise given to Ahaz was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Matthew quoted this verse when he wrote about the birth of Jesus. Matthew 1:21-23 says, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” –which means, “God with us.” Jesus is the Immanuel, God with us. How did Jesus become our Immanuel God? The meaning of Jesus’ name is ‘The Lord saves.’ Jesus became our Immanuel God through saving us from our sins. To be with sinners and to save them, Jesus left the glorious heaven and came to this world as our Immanuel God. Sin cut our relationship with God. Sin makes man as unfaithful as the king Ahaz. Sin makes us useless to God. But God did not condemn us or punish us as our sins deserve. Instead he sent his Son as our Immanuel God. Jesus was born of virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit according to God’s prophesy through Isaiah. In order to be our Saviour Jesus was born in a manger as a humble baby. What Jesus did on earth with his 33 years of short life was to be a friend of sinners and serve them as a serving servant. He poured out all his life to serve sinners. Finally, he was condemned in our places and poured out all his blood and died on the cross to save us from our sins. We are saved not because we did anything that deserves, but by God’s grace through faith alone. We praise God who has been with us through Jesus the Immanuel God. At this Christmas may the Immanuel God be with us through the baby Jesus in a manger. May we not try the patience of God with stubborn unbelief but humbly turn our hearts to God so that our Savior Jesus may come into our hearts and save us from our sins. At this special time of the year we may not be distracted by holiday spirit but study the Bible deeply to meet the Immanuel God with us as we prepare for the new year of 2010.

---