Emmanuel: The Lord Keeps His Promises

Introduction

When you hear the word "promise," what comes to mind first? Promises fill our everyday lives. Children swear things on their little finger, adults tell themselves every January 1st: "this year, I'm getting into shape, this year, I'm losing weight." There are private promises between friends, professional commitments, all the way to the unspoken rules of life in society. But you know as well as I do: not all of these promises are kept. You've probably been hurt at some point by someone you had placed your trust in, and you too may have broken a promise you made.

And because our human promises are so fragile, we sometimes project that fragility onto God's promises. "He says he won't let me be tempted beyond what I can bear, but this suffering, how long will it last?" "He says he provides for all my needs, but today, my family lacks the essentials." Faced with the unexpected, you may start to doubt as though God's word wavers the way human words do. That is precisely why this Christmas series opens with this theme: the Lord keeps his promises. The first sign we'll consider is the promise of Emmanuel in Isaiah 7:1-17. Look at it from three angles: its context, the character of the one who gives it, and its blessed content.

Outline

1. The context of the promise (v. 1-2)

The text opens with a flood of proper names that could scare anyone off. Take a moment to get your bearings. After Solomon, the unified kingdom of Israel split into two: in the north, ten tribes formed the kingdom of Israel (sometimes called Ephraim or Samaria, after its main tribe and its capital); in the south, two tribes formed the kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital. It is to Judah, under King Ahaz, that the promise is about to be given.

What kind of man was Ahaz? 2 Chronicles 28:1-3 puts it plainly: at twenty years old, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD. He made metal images for the Baals, he burned offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and he burned his own sons as an offering. In plain terms: he practiced idolatry and offered up his own children as sacrifices. A corrupt, depraved king, who provoked God through his actions.

And it was during his reign that a massive crisis fell on Judah. Two allied kingdoms marched against Jerusalem: Aram, led by Rezin (today's Syria), and the northern kingdom, led by Pekah, son of Remaliah. They failed to take the city, but they inflicted enormous losses on it. 2 Chronicles 28:5-8 tells us: Pekah killed a hundred and twenty thousand men of Judah in a single day, all of them valiant men; the king's son, the commander of the palace, and the king's second-in-command were also killed; two hundred thousand women and children were carried off into captivity.

Picture the state Ahaz and the people were in. Verse 2 says that when word came that Aram had encamped in Ephraim, "the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind." This is not a gentle breeze rustling the leaves; it's a storm bending the trunks. They were trembling with terror. It is in this setting, an ungodly king, a people on their knees, an enemy close by, that God is about to speak.

2. The character of the one who gives the promise (v. 3-9)

a) God comforts even sinners

Look at verse 3: "And the LORD said to Isaiah, 'Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washer's Field.'" Where is Ahaz at that moment? Not in the sanctuary, praying. He's out inspecting the city's water system, because he's preparing for the coming siege. He isn't seeking God. He's counting on his own resources, his own wits, his own walls.

And yet, it is God who takes the initiative to come to him. Listen to what the Lord has Isaiah tell him (v. 4): "Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint." "Be careful" or "be quiet": in Hebrew, this word evokes calm, rest, the same stillness as a man who can finally fall asleep in peace. "Do not let your heart be faint": in other words, "don't panic, don't let fear take hold of you."

Ahaz sees two powerful kings like an enormous blaze bearing down on him. God describes them very differently (v. 4): "these two smoldering stumps of firebrands." Have you ever looked at the end of a wood fire? All that's left are two blackened chunks of charcoal, with a bit of white smoke, and it won't be long before it goes out entirely. That's how the Sovereign of heaven sees the powers that terrify you. What looks insurmountable to you is already, in his eyes, going out.

But notice above all to whom God addresses this word of comfort: to Ahaz. The king who burned incense to idols and offered his own children as sacrifices. Nothing in his life deserved this word. Justice would have called for Isaiah to pronounce a harsh verdict: "you reap what you sow." And yet, God sends a word of peace. That is God's compassion: it is given to those who don't deserve a single crumb of it. Remember that for yourself. Through the cross of Jesus, God has shown you the very same grace: instead of the judgment you deserved, he offered you salvation.

b) God accomplishes what he says

Continue to verse 7: "It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass." The two kings had planned everything: march against Judah, crush it, install a puppet king there. On paper, their strategy held up. On the ground, their armies were advancing. In human eyes, it was settled. In God's eyes, no.

And God goes further (v. 8): "within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people." This prophecy was given around 734 BC. Twelve years later, in 722 BC, Assyria carried the northern kingdom off into captivity. Then, in 669 BC (exactly sixty-five years later), an Assyrian king completed the deportation and settled foreign populations there, wiping out Ephraim as a people. On the day appointed, at the hour appointed, the word came to pass.

What you learn from this is simple: when the sovereign God promises something, his word is accomplished without fail. Not at the moment you would want. Not in the form you expected. But at the time he has set, in the form he has chosen. Numbers 23:19 says it this way: "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" And in Isaiah 55:11: "My word... shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

So when you read Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," you can rest in it. When you read 1 Corinthians 10:13, that God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, you can rest in it. Circumstances around you may shake your confidence. Trials may push you to doubt. But even if everything collapses, the word of the God who accomplishes everything he says does not waver.

3. The blessed content of the promise (v. 10-17)

God then offers Ahaz something extraordinary (v. 10-11): "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." His word alone should be enough, but in his kindness, he offers proof on top of it.

How does Ahaz respond (v. 12)? "I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." One might mistake this for humility. It is nothing of the sort. 2 Kings 16:7-8 tells us what Ahaz does behind the scenes: he sends messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, with the silver and gold taken from the temple, saying, "I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me." In other words, he chose to trust in the greatest army of the day rather than in the word of the living God. Beneath a show of piety, he rejects God. It's a trap you can fall into as well: politely saying "I trust God" while secretly banking on something else entirely.

So God gives the sign himself (v. 14): "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." A virgin (not merely a young woman), will bear a son whose name means "God with us." This promise carries two dimensions.

On one side, a severe judgment. In verses 15-17, we're told that Immanuel will eat curds and honey, the food of times of famine, when everything is ravaged and all that's left is what nature itself provides. And the king of Assyria, the very one Ahaz had placed his trust in, will come upon Judah. The one Ahaz chose in place of God will become the instrument of his people's ruin. Every time you reject the living God to turn toward another support, you prepare your own desolation.

But on the other side, this promise carries the greatest salvation ever announced. About seven hundred years later, Matthew 1:18-25 tells us: "When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit... All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)." The sign promised to an ungodly king was kept, to the letter, seven centuries later. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, true man and true God, to dwell among his people.

And God added this promise (John 3:16): "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Faced with this word, you have only two choices: refuse it like Ahaz and head toward your own ruin, or receive it humbly, repent, and walk with your Savior.

Key takeaways

• Our human promises waver, but God's promises never waver, even when the context is at its darkest.
• God comforts sinners who aren't even seeking him: his grace goes toward those who don't deserve it.
• What God announces, he accomplishes, sixty-five years later for Ephraim, seven centuries later for Emmanuel.
• Refusing God's word while secretly leaning on something else is preparing your own ruin.
• The promise of Emmanuel was fulfilled in Jesus Christ: God came, in person, to dwell among his own.

Personal application

• Which of God's promises are you tempted today to believe is "fragile" because of your circumstances?
• Where, right now, are you relying more on your own resources than on the word of the Lord?
• Like Ahaz, is there a "king of Assyria" (a person, a sum of money, a human strategy) in which you place your real trust?
• How could your certainty that God accomplishes what he says change the way you face the week ahead?
• Does Emmanuel ("God with you") follow you day after day, or only on Sundays? How could that presence transform your prayer, your work, your relationships?

Verses cited

• Isaiah 7:1-17
• 2 Chronicles 28:1-3
• 2 Chronicles 28:5-8
• 2 Kings 16:7-8
• Numbers 23:19
• Isaiah 55:11
• Romans 8:1
• 1 Corinthians 10:13
• Matthew 1:18-25
• John 3:16

FAQ

Why does God comfort a king as ungodly as Ahaz?

Because God's compassion is not based on our merit, but on his character. Ahaz practiced idolatry and sacrificed his own children, and yet God sends Isaiah with a word of peace. It's a glimpse of gospel grace: God grants sinners what they don't deserve, culminating at the cross of Jesus Christ.

How do we know that the promise of Emmanuel was truly fulfilled?

The prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 was given around 734 BC. About seven hundred years later, Matthew 1:18-25 records the birth of Jesus to a virgin, Mary, and explicitly quotes this text: "they shall call his name Immanuel, which means, God with us." The word given to Ahaz was fulfilled to the letter, just as the prophecy about Ephraim's sixty-five years had already been fulfilled on the appointed day.

How does this promise concern me today?

It calls you to a decision. Like Ahaz, you can politely say "I trust God" while actually banking on something else entirely, and so prepare your own ruin. Or you can welcome Emmanuel (Jesus Christ, who came to carry your sins to the cross), repent, and walk with him, certain that the one who kept his word long ago will keep his word today as well.