WWUTT 1864 Do Not Fear What They Fear (Isaiah 7:18-8:18)

The Assyrians were going to come against Judah because of the evil that they had done against God. So God was going to turn them over to their enemies. The people were going to fear man, but God says fear Him when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we feature New Testament study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky.

The Sign of Immanuel and the Coming Assyrian Threat

We're back to our study in Isaiah 7, and we still have the rest of this chapter to finish up. We just read the sign of Immanuel. Remember that King Ahaz had two other kings that had conspired with one another to unseat Ahaz.

Ahaz, who is sitting on the throne of David. God was not going to allow anyone else to sit on that throne. And so he promised Ahaz that he would come to his deliverance and told Ahaz, ask for a sign. May it be as high as heaven or as low as Sheol.

And Ahaz said that he would not ask the Lord for a sign. So through the prophet Isaiah, it was said in Isaiah 7 14, therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name Immanuel.

And we know the ultimate fulfillment of this promise is pointing to the Christ who would come 700 years after that prophecy was made. Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary. So we have the rest of chapter 7 to finish up, and going into chapter 8, talking about the coming Assyrian invasion.

Because Ahaz was thinking, I don't need the Lord to help me in the midst of this. I can trust in the Assyrians. Well, no, the Assyrians are actually going to come against you. And so that's what's promised when we get to chapter 8.

Let's finish up 7, where the Lord promises trials for Judah. This is chapter 7 verses 18 to 25 in the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. And it will be in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the remotest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

And they will all come and rest upon the steep ravines on the crevices of the cliffs, on all the thorn bushes, and on all the watering places. In that day, the Lord will shave with a razor one hired from regions beyond the river, that is, the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs, and it will also remove the beard.

And it will be in that day that a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep. And because of the abundance of the milk produced, he will eat curds. For everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey.

And it will be in that day that every place where there used to be 1 ,000 vines, valued at 1 ,000 shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns. People will come there with bows and arrows, because all the land will be briars and thorns.

As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns, but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.". Now Ahaz thought the Egyptians and the Assyrians would come to his aid, but instead, you probably picked up on some of the symbolism, they were more like pests.

The flies of Egypt and the bees from the land of Assyria. We read this in 2 Chronicles 28, about this whole saga with Ahaz seeking the help of the Assyrians. So in 2 Chronicles 28, starting at verse 16, at that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help.

Indeed, again the Edomites had come, and struck Judah and carried away captives. And the Philistines also had raided the cities of the Shephila and of the Negev of Judah, and had captured Bethshemesh, Ajalon, Gederoth, and Soko with its towns, Timna with its towns, and Gimzo with its towns, and they settled there.

For Yahweh humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had caused it to be out of control in Judah, and was very unfaithful to Yahweh. So Tilgath Pilnezer, king of Assyria, came against him and distressed him, instead of strengthening him.

Although Ahaz took a portion out of the house of Yahweh, and out of the house of the king, and of the princes, and gave it to the king of Assyria, it did not help him. And it would prove to be Judah's detriment, rather than their advantage.

Now the interesting statement there in verse 22, because of the abundance of the milk produced, there's a reference that a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep, and because of the abundance of the milk produced, he will eat curds.

For everyone that is left within the land will eat curds and honey. And it's kind of like, wait, wasn't the land of promise supposed to be a land flowing with milk and honey? Yes, flowing with it. This is in reference to the fact that the milk ages and becomes curds, and it's really not all that appetizing, but this is all they have to eat.

They have the the food of the wilderness when the milk turns to curds. It's not good milk, but they still have to eat it because they got to eat something. And all they can find out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of thorns and bushes and briars that the land is going to be described as being filled with, all they can find is honey.

While the ground lies fallow and will not be fruitful in the days that God's judgment will be upon Judah since they disobeyed God. So we have the promise of the coming Assyrian invasion here in chapter 8.

Meher Shalal Hashbaz and the Spoil of Samaria

So let me begin by reading verses 1 through 8. Then Yahweh said to me, this is Isaiah writing, of course, Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters Concerning Meher Shalal Hashbaz, and I will take to myself faithful witnesses for testimony Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeborakiah.

Then I drew near to the prophetess and she conceived and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, call his name Meher Shalal Hashbaz, for before the boy knows how to cry out my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.

And again, Yahweh spoke to me further saying, inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloh and rejoice in Rezan and the son of Remaliah, now therefore behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the mighty and abundant waters of the river, the king of Assyria and all his glory, and it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.

Then it will sweep on into Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will reach even to the neck and the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land. O Emmanuel! So what's being said here is that this child that Isaiah and his wife are going to have will be a contemporary of the child promised back in chapter 7.

The virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name Emmanuel. This son that Isaiah is going to have will be basically growing up in partnership with Emmanuel, with the child called Emmanuel.

So his name will be Meher Shalal Hashbaz, which means hasten to seize the prey and to take away the spoil. And the amount of time that will take place between the conception of this child and his growing up before he's even able to speak, that will be the time in which Assyria will come in and do what the Lord has promised the Assyrians will do.

They will come in with all their glory. They will take over the land of Judah. But the Lord is still going to preserve his promise according to the throne of David. He is not going to allow anyone else to sit on that throne except the one he has promised.

The line of David and then of course the promised seed which will fulfill the covenant that was made with the house of David and that would be the Christ. Now the reference to Isaiah's wife as being a prophetess, this is one of those references where you know, there's the egalitarians out there who like to say that women can become pastors because there were women who were prophetesses.

Well in this particular case, she's called a prophetess because she's Isaiah's wife, not because she's actually a prophet herself. Just like in Old English, a woman who is the wife of a doctor would be called a doctoress even though she wasn't really a doctor herself.

So this is the case with Isaiah's wife. She should not be regarded as a prophet herself. She's simply the prophet's wife and that's why she's called the prophetess. So we continue on with the promise of the sanctuary and the stumbling stone.

The Lord of Hosts as Sanctuary and Stumbling Stone

This is chapter 8 verses 9 through 18. Be broken O peoples and be shattered and give ear all remote places of the earth. Gird yourselves yet be shattered. Gird yourselves yet be shattered. Devise counsel, but it will be thwarted.

Speak a word, but it will not stand for God is with us. For thus Yahweh spoke to me with a strong hand and disciplined me not to walk the way of this people saying, you are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy and you are not to fear what they fear and you shall not tremble.

It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy and he shall be your fear and he shall be your cause for trembling. Then he shall become a sanctuary but to both the houses of Israel a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem and many will stumble over them.

Then they will fall and be broken. They will even be snared and caught. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples and I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob and I will hope for him.

Behold I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. Now that reference there at the end to the children that are given to me, some commentaries will say that the children that are given to Yahweh include or sorry not not to Yahweh to Isaiah.

The children given to Isaiah include Emmanuel mentioned in chapter 7 and Maharshal al-Hashbaz that's mentioned in chapter 8. They're both Isaiah's children and the reference to the Virgin that will be with child is a virgin woman that Isaiah takes to himself as a wife and bears these children to him.

Now, I'm just letting you know what I know some commentaries have written. I'm not so sure where I sit on all of that. Truthfully, I really don't know. All I know is that the prophecy in chapter 7 verse 14 the Virgin will be with child and bear a son I know that is pertaining to Christ.

There's an immediate fulfillment there. There is there's certainly something about that. Ahaz is supposed to recognize in his time when Isaiah says these things to Ahaz. He's supposed to see that the Virgin will be with child and before the child reaches this age that's when the Assyrians are gonna come against Judah.

That's what's been said to Ahaz and then you have a child that's been given to Isaiah that he's supposed to give a certain name. That name meaning hasten to seize and take away the spoil because it's prophetically talking about the Assyrians that are gonna come against Judah.

But whether or not both of these children are born to Isaiah, both are born to Isaiah. Isaiah took for himself a virgin wife and Emmanuel was born to Isaiah. Whether that's the case or not, I don't know.

I'm gonna leave that to the scholars to argue over. Those are things that I would still have to study myself personally. Some things in the Bible were evident to the people that they were written to at the time in which those things were written.

And I've talked about this, I did this recently actually with my Sunday school class in 1st Corinthians chapter 7 for example, where Paul is talking about a time of distress and he he wants to relieve them of any additional burdens.

So the advice and the counsel that he gives there in that chapter in 1st Corinthians 7 is because of a coming distress and the Corinthians would have understood what that meant. Because Paul was among them, he was with them for a year and a half.

He would have told them exactly what that was. So making a reference to it in the letter, they would have been able to pick that up. Whatever that is exactly, we can kind of argue over it. We got a pretty good idea of what that might be.

But it's not as clear to us as it would have been to the Corinthians. Same sort of a thing in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2. This is the chapter where we read about the man of lawlessness who will take his seat in the temple and and we have different end times views concerning what Paul is talking about there in 2nd Thessalonians 2.

Some people from this eschatology will read that chapter this way and then others of a different eschatology will interpret it another way. One thing is absolutely clear. The Thessalonians knew exactly what Paul was talking about.

There's language that's been left out for us in this time that we don't know exactly what this is pertaining to, but the Thessalonians did. Because in 2nd Thessalonians 2 .5 Paul says, do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?

So all he's doing is bringing back to their remembrance things that he gave to them in detail before. Unfortunately, and for whatever reason the Spirit has chosen, those details are left out for us. We don't get to know those details.

The Thessalonians knew the timeline exactly as Paul is reminding them of it in 2nd Thessalonians 2. We're left to argue about it today. Which we shouldn't because as Paul said in 1st Thessalonians, we should encourage one another in these words.

But unfortunately, differing views and perspectives even on 2nd Thessalonians 2 have split churches. But I think in humility we need to recognize that there are some things in Scripture that were absolutely clear to the recipients of that letter, including what's being said here in Isaiah or to the Thessalonians or the Corinthians or whatever.

It was absolutely clear to them and it's not quite as clear to us. The Spirit in his providence and his wisdom chose to say certain things to those audiences that are not necessarily said to us. So we need to have some charity with one another when it comes to understanding what these things mean.

And while I still have some study to do on exactly what these things are pertaining to in Isaiah chapter 7 and 8, I can still get a basic overview. I can still generally see what's going on here, what's being said to Judah, and even how these things should relate to us.

The lessons that we should glean from this also. Consider in verse 12. Now think about this. Think about how an enemy is coming against the Jews and it's going to be an enemy of a tongue that they don't know.

They don't know how to speak the language of the Assyrians. They don't know how to speak even the language of the Egyptians. The people had not been there in so long. It's not like they preserved the Egyptian language when the Jews came back into the promised land that God gave to them.

They spoke and wrote Hebrew. So these enemies from foreign nations are coming against them and going to conquer them and are going to be speaking languages that they don't know. So there's going to be a lot of misunderstanding and the people are just going to come up with their own myths.

They're going to devise their own stories and explanations of these things that are happening, that are taking place. They're not really going to have a fear of God. They're going to say, well, no, all of this is happening because of this reason or that reason.

And so the Lord says to Isaiah, you are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy. Like they're all going to chatter. They're all going to try to come up with reasonable explanations for why this is happening.

But it's not going to be because we disobeyed God. That's not going to be the reason. They're going to find another reason why this is taking place. All these conspiracies that are going on between these two kings and Edom and the Assyrians and on and on it goes.

They're going to come up with their conspiracy theories. But you are not to call conspiracy what these people call conspiracy because you know why this is happening. This is happening because of the judgment of God against a people that worshiped idols instead of the one true God.

So you're not to say this is a conspiracy in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy and you're not to fear what they fear and you are not to tremble. It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy and he shall be your fear and he shall be your cause of stumbling.

Then, now look at the promise here, verse 14, then he shall become a sanctuary when you fear God and fear him alone. He becomes a sanctuary, a safety to you, an assurance and a comfort as Charles Spurgeon said, fear God and no one else.

We have nothing else to fear if we fear God because we know ultimately God is on his throne. He is sovereign. No one is disrupting his way or his plan. Everything is happening as he in his providence has determined that it is going to happen.

Furthermore, though there are people on this side of heaven who can destroy our bodies. They have no claim over our souls. We belong to God. Jesus even said, do not fear him who can destroy the body and then after that can't do anything else.

Fear him who after destroying the body can also destroy both body and soul in hell. Yes, I say fear him. It is God we must fear and no one else. There are all kinds of things going on in our world right now.

All kinds of things happening in our culture that we're wondering. Hey, this is a conspiracy. Look at look at what they're doing. Look at how this politician is conspiring with that medical company to come up with these viruses and vaccinations to try to save us from the calamity that they caused.

Maybe this riot was influenced by the FBI. Maybe this shooting. The government had something to do with and we fear the things that are happening in our society all this stuff that we see that's going on in the news and we gravitate toward conspiracy theories and some of those conspiracy theories are true.

Some of them might even be way deeper and darker than anything that we can come up with in our Alex Jones wannabe minds. But we're not to fear these things. We are to fear God and we are to continue in the fear of God and if we have the fear of God then we need not fear anything else for we know that in Christ Jesus he who died and rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God and reigns over all in Christ our Eternity is secure.

Though there are many thousands of things that could destroy your body today It will not remove your soul from the hand of God Who is keeping you until the day of Redemption. Take comfort in that dear Christian trust in the Lord and continue on every day.

Seeking first the kingdom of God and the things that you need the Lord will add to you as well. Heavenly Father we thank you for what we've read here in Isaiah chapter 7 and 8 and May this have relevance to us in our present time that we may learn to trust in the Lord our God.

Loving you with all of our heart soul mind and strength forgive us our sins. Help us to love and be charitable to those who are around us sharing the gospel. So that others may know the hope and the promise that is in Christ alone only in Jesus only by faith in him.

Do we have the promise of everlasting life from the grave? Thank you for this wonderful grace that we have in Jesus Christ our Lord. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.

This is when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with the church family.

Find a good gospel teaching Christ-centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.