O Immanuel ! (Isa 8)

O Immanuel!

Isaiah 8:1-22*

Key Verses: 9-10 “Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us.”

King Ahaz was the 14^th king of Judah and reigned from 732—715 BC. At the age of 20, he became king, and soon after that, the allied Aramaic and Israelite armies attacked Judah. These kings either wanted to force Ahaz to join their coalition against the mighty King Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria, or replace him with a more co-operative ruler, if he refused to join them.  When Ahaz heard this, he was gripped with fear; Isaiah 7:2 says “Ahaz and his people were shaken as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” In this war, 120,000 people were killed and 200,000 men were taken captive to Israel. So  Ahaz’s fear was well substantiated; however, before all this happened,  Isaiah visited him and delivered God’s message that he did not have to fear them because these two kings/kingdoms would soon disappear. As  proof of this prophecy, God offered to give him any sign  he wished, but Ahaz did not believe God’s word and rejected to consider His offer for a sign. God gave him a sign anyways, regarding His deliverance of Judah from  the impending attack; the sign was that a virgin would bear a child and his name would be Immanuel.

Here, three things are to be noted:

1.      This sign of Immanuel guaranteed the total destruction of Aram and Israel, so it would have been a great source of comfort, if Ahaz had believed.

2.      Although God offered a sign so that King Ahaz would turn his heart and  believe in Him instead of his own plans or  ideas, he rejected this sign, a clear rejection of God Himself as the source of Ahaz’s protection.

3.      As God brought total destruction on Israel and Aram, He would also bring great judgment on Judah as well,  at some future time, called ‘that day’. ‘That day’ was linked to the sign of Immanuel, referencing the boy’s growth. It seems to imply that Ahaz’s rejection of God’s protection put him in line with those doomed kings and that Judah would suffer in a similar fashion.

This chapter describes what happened sometime after this exchange between Isaiah and Ahaz, a time close to the  fulfillment of God’s promise. Here, in His communication with Isaiah, God gave details of what would happen, why it would happen, and what would be the solution.

A.      God delivers a message regarding Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Isaiah 8:1-8).

“The LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll and write on it with an ordinary pen: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz"” (Isaiah 8:1).

God told Isaiah to get a tablet or scroll and write four symbolic  letters; the literal meaning of Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz is ‘quick to plunder, swift to the spoils’. When Isaiah was writing these messages, God called  two witnesses, so that it could be verified as having been ordered by God; these witnesses were Uriah the priest and Zechariah. Uriah was the one who followed Ahaz’s direction when he made an altar similar to the one he had seen in Damascus. So he was obviously on Ahaz’s side and was reluctant to accept what God said through Isaiah. God called these men  to witness this so that  those who were reluctant to believe His word may know that it was of God and that He was serious about what he said, thus fulfilling His word.

As God said in the last paragraph of Ch. 7, Judah would also suffer from this invasion. She would suffer on ‘that day’, the day indicated by Immanuel’s coming. Since then, some years had gone by, and, at this time, God gave Isaiah another warning - that the time was very close and the attack would come quickly and swiftly. This message was unambiguously clear and easily recognized by anyone in Judah. Also, it was written on a scroll, meaning that the message would last for a long time and wouldn’t be forgotten.

““Then I made love to the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. And the LORD said to me, "Name him Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz”” (Isaiah 8:3).

Soon after this, Isaiah made love to his wife, a prophetess, and she bore a son. God told him to name the baby the same as the name in his letters: "Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.” So, Isaiah’s son became a living message of God’s judgment on Israel and Aram, which would extend to Judah as well. God also specified the time when this prophecy would be fulfilled. When the boy grew old enough to say “Mom” or “Dad”, Assyria would come and take away all the people from Aram and Israel.

Why did God deliver this message in these two ways? We can discern a few things about this: first, God delivered the message to Judah so that it couldn’t be ignored or brushed off. Secondly, He removed all ambiguity so that the  warning would be very clear to all. Thirdly, God’s message would last until it was fulfilled so that all may know that it was Him who let this happen. Think about what would go through their minds  as they watched the baby being born and growing; they would keenly measure the international situations against this child’s growth.

“therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates-- the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!" (Isaiah 8:7-8).

This passage is a detailed explanation of what the four letters symbolized. Assyria would come  against Israel and Aram and flood their land with a vast army  that would sweep away all that they had. Their forces would go further into Judah and choke the life out of  her. Judah’s life  would be hanging by a thin thread; it could be completely snuffed out for good at any time. What was the reason for this attack?

"Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoices over Rezin and the son of Remaliah” (Isaiah 8:6).

This people had rejected God’s blessing, flowing from Jerusalem, and chose to rely on Samaria and Aram (it is not clear who ‘this people’ were - i.e. Israel only or both Israel and Judah?). No matter what we take this to mean, it is clear that this people rejected God’s offer and His blessing and chose to pursue what they saw in the human kings. Their minds went away from God and condoned the kings’ actions, even though they were wicked and had no respect for the Lord. Jeremiah was the prophet who lived during the turmoil of Judah’s last days. God gave this word to him:

"My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

This passage captures the essence of Israel’s sin. Self-reliance is the root of sin; it rejects God as  Lord,  the source of all blessing and  the true ruler of this world. In self-reliance, people try to manage their situations by relying on their own knowledge,  wisdom, power, tactics, and cunning schemes. Ahaz rejected God’s offer because he did not believe in Him. Instead, he believed in what he knew; he thought that Assyria was the super power, and that, if he could please the Assyrian king, then he would be safe. In times of crisis, one chooses what he firmly believes in his gut, because any mistaken choice will surely cost him his life.

What is the source of self-reliance’s energy or power? It is rooted in self-righteousness. Ahaz understood the situation purely in terms of the struggle among the major world powers. To him, what came about only concerned the world powers and  had nothing to do with God and His justice. In this regard, it was a rejection of God’s law and its justice. Instead, Ahaz went by his own rule of justice and goodness. However, contrary to this understanding, God told Isaiah that it was He who caused these events to punish Israel and train Judah for their ungodliness and unbelief.  The life of the nation, as well as the life of the king, was on the verge of death.

The end result would be too much to bear:

“and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!" (Isaiah 8:8).

This is a picture of a man on the verge of death. Judah was desperate and she needed something right away. If no help was coming, then it was certain that the kingdom of David would be gone for good, defeated by God’s righteous judgment. Strangely, God ends this word of judgment with His sign of the coming of ‘Immanuel’. It was not man calling for God’s help, but  God calling for Immanuel.

Immanuel was a son born of a virgin. He was the sign of Judah’s deliverance from her enemies and, at the same time, he signified the coming  Assyrian attack, the means of God’s judgment. On the edge of this judgment coming about, God Himself  called for Immanuel, because He could not bear the suffering and defeat of His people by their enemies, even though God Himself had called  this judgment down upon His people. Judah needed a rescuer who could take the burden of that judgment and release her from this suffering and defeat. This is well depicted in Hebrews 10:5-7.

“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am-- it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, my God" (Hebrews 10:5-7).

As we have noted here, the calling for Immanuel was not for the purpose of Judah escaping the punishment, but for the purpose of her surviving through it. God’s judgment is based on His righteousness. Sinners cannot escape from it. Can sinners survive through it? Sin demands life as its repayment. No sinner can survive  the final judgment. This is illustrated by the life of the northern kingdom, Israel. She was gone for good and Immanuel was the sign that this would come to pass. At the same time, Judah was facing the same situation. It was only a matter of time before Judah went down the same path as her sister,  Israel, but, here, God called for Immanuel, the one who could help His people survive their impending punishment.

How did Isaiah understand and accept this concept?

“Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered! Listen, all you distant lands. Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Prepare for battle, and be shattered! Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us” (Isaiah 8:9-10).

Here, the war cries from other nations are promoted  five times,  and each time, any attempt to destroy the nation of Judah was shattered.

The word ‘shattered’ is used 3 times and ‘thwarted’  once, to denote the outcome of Immanuel’s efforts against the enemies. The meaning of this word is mainly ‘be dismayed or be appalled’ (37/53)[B1] . What I mean is that, during this outcry, the notion that the enemy would be totally annihilated by God never entered their minds. This passage is simply saying that all of the enemy’s efforts to destroy Judah would be rendered fruitless. It is important to understand what it means when Isaiah said ‘Immanuel’ (God is with us). The focus was not on totally defeating and destroying the enemy  with ‘the help of God’, through Immanuel, but rather on how Immanuel’s  coming and presence  would surely help God’s people survive  these attacks. No matter how many times or with what cunning schemes the enemy tried to destroy Judah, she would survive, because of Immanuel’s presence. If the enemies’ attack was part of God’s justice for His people, as was the precise picture of the earlier Assyrian attacks on Israel and Judah, Immanuel’s main focus was for his people to survive God’s righteous judgment! His presence would help Judah go through this attack and ensure their survival.

How or why could Immanuel’s help get them through this attack?

B.      The Lord Almighty is the one to fear and regard as holy!

V11. God put his hand upon Isaiah as an expression of love, friendliness and kindness. God spoke to Isaiah from His heart, because He wanted Isaiah to understand the depth of His heart in doing all these things and to prevent Isaiah and his people from making any mistakes.

"Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread. He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured" (Isaiah 8:12-15).

Ahaz and his people considered everything that God had offered through Isaiah to be a conspiracy. Why? Conspiracies are only  human schemes, devised in order to achieve a specific goal by manipulating other people’s minds or situations. There is no substance or  truth in them at all. When one does not believe in God, they consider all things from their own, limited vantage point. If anything does not fit into their understanding or ensure their benefit, it is considered to be a conspiracy against them.

But God’s word is totally different from human conspiracy. It is not dependent on human benefit or wisdom. It is proven to be true, because God runs history and He alone is the sole owner of justice and goodness. When God speaks, He means what He says. No one should take God’s word as a conspiracy. If one does so, then he or she can never believe in God and will never be able to taste the truth of life.

God told Ahaz that Aram and Israel would be defeated and, as a proof of His word, God gave him the sign of Immanuel. This was not a well-orchestrated conspiracy of human beings, orchestrated by Isaiah. It was God’s plan because they had sinned against Him and He would surely fulfill what He said. God repeated this at least three times (Isaiah  5, 7, and 8). This proves the truthfulness of God’s word.

The most difficult thing to believe was God’s judgment, especially against those who had believed Him. How could the God of Israel let His nation be destroyed so thoroughly? Was God just in doing so? Is God real? Was God  active in this? It is heart-breaking to think that God might not be real and His word is just a conspiracy. When one disobeys His word, God’s presence is hidden from their eyes. It is very hard to rectify such a situation. Actually it is impossible!

Why did these things happen to this people (Ahaz)?

“The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread” (Isaiah 8:13).

God is the God Almighty and the people of Judah needed to regard Him as holy! What does it mean to regard God as holy? Who would think that God is not holy? Even the worst sinners, like murderers[B2] , accept that God is holy. Here, regarding God as holy means to honor Him through our lives of holiness.

When God gave the Ten Commandments, He showed His holiness to Israel; when they saw His holiness and heard His overwhelming voice, they were scared to death. If anyone wants to be His children or relate with Him as their Lord, then honoring Him as holy is the key. Because of this, God gave the Ten Commandments as the basic tenets of being His children. Israel’s critical failure  was in thinking that they were good and right and God should accept them as they were. Such thinking is a direct blasphemy against God’s holiness! They failed to honor the God of holiness!

He is almighty and holy; it had come time to implement His holiness among His people. When He did so, what would happen to the people?

“He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare. Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured” (Isaiah 8:14-15).

The premise of God’s judgment is stated in the first sentence of this passage: ‘He will be a holy place’, speaking specifically of His relationship with Israel and Judah, His people. God Himself would be a stone  to stumble  them and a snare to trap them, because they sinned freely and failed to repent or follow the way of redemption offered in Jerusalem. Sinning against God’s holiness would surely make them fall, stumble, be snared, and become trapped!

When Assyria attacked Israel and Aram, Judah’s king, Ahaz, thought over and over how to avoid their traps  or how not to stumble in dealing with this powerful king. So he took all of the treasure from God’s temple and gave it to  King  Tiglath-Pileser II. He made every effort not to stumble  or fall by the Assyrians’ cunning schemes. Ahaz wanted to be smart enough to escape Assyria’s snares and traps, but God said something totally different; it is God who trapped, snared, and caused them to stumble, because He had fully implemented His holiness  in His people and they had not honored Him as holy!! This becomes clearer as we delve into v20.

Isaiah 8:16-18 describes the three actions Isaiah and his followers took:

1.      They bound up this testimony and sealed them  among his[B3]  disciples. There were small remnants of believers while the whole nation strayed away from the Lord. This small group of people treasured God’s word, not only for the purpose of preserving them but also to  trust  God instead of what other people said (Isaiah 8:16).

2.      God was hiding and they could not  communicate with Him; even if one prayed, there was only  silence, and more silence. One may even become disillusioned that God may not be real at all! Yet, these small remnants still waited for the Lord. When one waits and puts their trust in Him, God is confirmed in their hearts.  When God hid, they were to continue waiting for  and trusting in Him through His word! He did not or would not resort to any other means of revelation or understanding! God’s word was the only means  of understanding and trust (Isaiah 8:17).

3.      They chose to trust in God’s word and to live life according to that trust. In this way, their lives became  signs of God’s word and His purpose. It must be remembered that believing in the signs of Immanuel was  essential to the survival of His people. Isaiah and his children also lived as  signs of God’s presence in their time. Despite many difficulties, they resolved to live as for God. Likewise, we are also  signs of God’s presence and truth.
In America[B4] , we like to hear only good things. If someone says something ominous in light of God’s judgment, he is immediately ostracized by many people, including believers. If we want to live as  signs of God in our time, we are to endure and persevere in His word.

Isaiah 8:19-22 describes Isaiah’s plead for the unbelieving. It is the counterpart to the resolution made by him and his followers, the remnants of Judah:

“When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isaiah 8:19-22).

When they rejected God’s  water of life, what did they turn their attention to? In their efforts to glean some certainty for their future, they consulted mediums and spiritists. They rejected God’s words and went looking for something to fill their empty hearts; however, wherever they looked and whatever means they used, there was nothing to fill the void and quench their thirst for the certainty of life. It was truly foolish for them to consult the dead on behalf of the living! Here, the dead were not only the physically dead, but also the spiritually dead; all unbelievers are spiritually dead, so it is foolish for believers to consult the unbelieving. Today, there are many good sayings from many so-called ‘spiritual gurus’, but they lack fundamental understanding of the universe. God is the ruler and, without believing in and acting out His will, they have no truth at all! Consulting spiritually dead men? Don’t pay much attention to what they say or  do!

Instead, Isaiah offered two things for them to consult:

“Consult God's instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn” (Isaiah 8:20).

Here, Isaiah told them to consult God’s instructions and the testimony of warning.  God’s instruction is the Torah, i.e. the five books of Moses, specifically the Law of Moses. As we discussed early, God was the stone to stumble  them, because He was holy and that holiness was fully represented in the Ten Commandments, the Law of Moses. In addition, God was to be regarded as holy, meaning that they were to honor Him by keeping His commandments and the Law. God charged Israel for  violating the Law of Moses; this was the primary cause of His judgment against the nation. He repeated this again and again, through many prophets.

The second one was the message that Isaiah gave to Ahaz concerning God’s judgment and the sign of Immanuel.

These two concepts were what the remnants chose to do and  were reiterated as being what the unbelievers should consult. If we put these together in sequence, it looks like this: a. God’s holiness upheld according to the Law of Moses and the covenant, b. the implementation of God’s judgment on the sins of His people by that law and covenant, c. the coming of Immanuel who would help them get through God’s judgment.

Consult these things! They can be the source of renewal or  redirection in their lives. Nothing else, no mediums, no spiritists, no human wisdom or knowledge!

If prophets do not speak according to this word, they have no light! Here the word ‘speak’ is not a common word. It is often used to mean to answer someone’s request. So this meant that the people must answer positively to the Torah, the Law of Moses, and the warning and sign of Immanuel. Only when one responds properly to these things can they see the light and gain certainty in life. Is it possible to have light apart from an in-depth consideration of God’s judgment and Immanuel’s coming?

If not, what would happen to them?

“Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness” (Isaiah 8:21-22).

They would look at the earth and saw only distress,  darkness, and fearful gloom! They would be thrust into utter, endless darkness and uncertainty.  

As I thought over the recent mass killings by terrorists, I wondered what was in their minds. They only saw the earth and  were thrust into utter darkness! What about those who experienced these tragedies  firsthand? What about the many who heard the news? When we focus on these things, we are thrown into the utter darkness! But instead, we are to look up to God, not the earth! We[B5]  are to consult the Law of Moses and the warning and sign of Immanuel! Only when one considers and speaks according to these things can he or she have true light. The darkness shall not overshadow the light that comes to us. Amen.

What does this teach us?

First, God decided to bring His justice to His people:

In order to fully understand  the significance of this passage, I would like to look back on what happened from the beginning of Isaiah’s commission as a prophet. During his commission, Isaiah saw the train of God’s robe fill the temple. The seraphim were calling to each other ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isaiah 6:3). Seeing God’s exalted throne in His holiness, Isaiah was appalled to see  himself as a man of unclean lips. Then one of the seraphim touched his lips with a live coal and made him holy, particularly his lips. Isaiah’s entire commission  was simply characterized by knowing and implementing God’s holiness to His people, i.e. Israel. That implementation of God’s holiness also brought His judgment upon His people, Israel and Judah, Because God knew their sins and had endured and waited for them to return to Him. But their sins had reached  the threshold of God’s endurance.

What God said to Isaiah in Ch. 8 is detailed and involved the full implementation of His judgment on His people out of His holiness. So this was the turning point in Israel’s history, in which God finally decided to implement the full extent of His justice and righteousness upon His people. The nature of this judgment was according to God’s covenant, as described in Deuteronomy 28:49, 64.

First, the moment that God announced His judgment, there was nothing left to salvage of the covenant He had established with Israel.  Also, we are to recognize that God brought judgment on the Northern Kingdom of Israel first, and then to Judah;  the occasion for His  decision on this order is communicated in Ch. 7-8. It was to indicate that the nation as a whole had failed God’s expectation and would be judged (Ch.6). However, in His grace, when Judah was on the brink of her final collapse, God provided a means for them to survive His judgment, which was the coming Immanuel. So God’s provision for Immanuel was beyond the usual covenant provisions.

Second, the whole world is God’s and He had called Israel as His firstborn son. As such,  Israel was to inherit God’s blessing, and He had provided her with everything they needed to inherit His blessing. But even with the abundance of His provision for their godliness, i.e. the Law of Moses and the temple with its sacrificial system, Israel, God’s firstborn son, had failed to follow Him, as a nation, as a kingdom, and as a people. Israel’s failure further alluded to the fact that there would no longer be an  heir to inherit God’s blessing for the entire human race. This was a critical time in history, not only for Israel and the human race, but also for God, who began the work of salvation and had been pouring out His efforts,  eager to make men His children and draw them into His kingdom.

Additionally, Israel’s failure testified to the truth that any kingdom solely under human management would surely fail to meet God’s righteous requirements to become His people. At the same time, this enlightens us about the truth that there is no hope for any human kingdom. America is the most ideal form of government in two aspects; first, it was a human system in which the entire people of the nation had become responsible for her sinful decisions. Second, the system itself was created out of consideration for man’s sins; and thirdly, the entire system was created and sustained by the basic principle that God is the Creator and all men are equal. Nevertheless, America, even at her best, cannot meet God’s righteousness, and the time when God will call her people to account of their sins will surely come. No nation, no government, no kingdom is exempt from God’s judgment.

Third, it was through the remnants of Judah that her kingdom  would survive, rather than disappearing for good and that remnant was made up of those who put their trust in the only hope, Immanuel, as Isaiah had said (Isaiah 8:9-10). The remnants were to be  witnesses of the salvation coming through Immanuel (Isaiah 8:16-18). They were the ones who had accepted the Law of Moses as God’s righteous requirements for His people, had recognized His holiness, and had submitted to His judgment as the right and just punishment for their sins and unbelief. They were the ones who hoped only in God’s promise of the Immanuel.

The time in which we live is more confusing and  does not give us a clue as to where it is heading. We, along with the rest of the world, are often unnerved by fear, anxiety, and uncertainty. Our lives are  getting more and more dangerous, not only for individuals, but also for the world as a whole. It is a sure thing that God’s judgment is coming, and, when it comes, it will overwhelm the whole  world, but the only hope we have is the God-provided Immanuel. Immanuel is the only hope for us, both as individuals and as a human race as a whole, because he is the only way we can experience God’s judgment  and survive from it so that we may see the light of dawn. Only in Immanuel, we have certainty in very uncertain times!

May Immanuel God be with you!