“The Protection of Immanuel” Isaiah 8:1-18 FBC Rhinelander
A Note from the Pastor:
Isaiah had two sons, and he along with his two sons point to the future of Israel. Isaiah’s name itself means “The Lord is Salvation,” and that’s the theme of the book of Isaiah: “God will save His people.” Isaiah’s first son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz (swift is the booty, speedy is the prey) has a name which signifies judgment, and that judgment is outlined in the first 39 chapters of this book. Isaiah’s second son, Shear-jashub, signifies deliverance. His name means “a remnant shall survive.” That is to say, everyone will not be destroyed. Rather the, God preserve His people and they will survive. That is the account of chapters 40-66 in the book of Isaiah.
Names are an important part of Old Testament culture. One Old Testament name is Immanuel. The name Immanuel means much to those who trust in the Lord. At the dawn of the New Testament, the news of Immanuel’s arrival brought great joy to the people. Today that day became significant in that we celebrate it as Christmas. Immanuel (God with us) will bring great joy to people who are heavy laden and loaded with care because He will fulfill His promise to provide all our needs. That is the rest of God’s story in His Word. Those who believe can look forward to the future and life is worth living because
He is with us (Immanuel).
The first message this December was in Isaiah chapter 7 the announcement of Immanuel who is the hope of Gods’ promise to the people. Today, we move forward into Isaiah 8 and discover the protection of Immanuel.
Alan Wright wrote a book titled God Moments; one story in the book was about a pastor who once experienced a bad, bumpy flight, after that experience he refused to fly. But then an occasion required him to fly. On the plane he sat down next to a passenger who observed his nerves and noticed that he was a carrying a bible.
“Why are you afraid?” the passenger asked him. “Doesn’t that Bible say God is with you always?”
“No, that’s not exactly what the Bible says,” the minister responded. “The Bible says, ‘Lo, I am with you always.’” (Alan D. Wright, God Moments, Multnomah, 1999; www.PreachingToday.com)
Low or high, God is with us, so we don’t have to be worried about what the future holds. That’s the message of Immanuel in Isaiah 8. The name Immanuel is a reminder during our celebration of Christmas of God’s blessings to those who trust in Him.
The awesome message of Christmas is that people don’t have to be afraid, because Jesus has come! He is Immanuel, God with us, and that means God’s presence declares His protection and security.
The background of Isaiah chapter 8 is about the little nation of Judah, being terrorized by foreign invaders 700 years before the birth of Christ. In chapter 7 they were assured God’s protection with just announcing Immanuel will come. For us, our confidence certainly should be assured after Immanuel has come!
Note their assurance in God’s word in Isaiah chapter 8 starting in verse 1.
Isaiah 8:1 Moreover the LORD said, “Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man’s pen concerning Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.
“Maher-shalal-hash-baz” – the name means “swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.” It was a battle cry that Arab soldiers shouted to each other as they defeated and plundered their enemies.
Isaiah 8:2 “And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.”
In other words, these men will faithfully declare God’s Word to people who will hear it and obey it.
Isaiah 8:3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz;
This was Isaiah’s son, poor kid he was probably in the 8th grade before he learned how to spell his own name. Maher-shalal-hash-baz – Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey. This name declared a life reminder of God’s protection.
Isaiah 8:4 “for before the child shall have knowledge to cry ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria.”
Most children can say Mommy or Daddy by a year old. This verse meant that in less than a year, Judah’s enemies will be wiped out. The king of Assyria will quickly carry them away.
Syria and the northern tribes of Israel had formed an alliance against Judah, the two southern tribes. The ongoing battles killed thousands of men and captured thousands of women and children, and raided Judah of its wealth.
It was very dim and dire for the people of Judah. However, God announced that a larger nation would come in and conquer Syria and the ten tribes of Israel, and that’s exactly what happened. In less than a year, the king of Assyria sent his armies and they were “swift to the booty, speedy to the prey”, as they took away Syria and Israel’s wealth and people.
There was only one problem: Judah was freed from one threat only to face a larger one. Remember in chapter 7 King Ahaz failed to trust God and made an alliance with the king of Assyria, that that alliance would turn against him and the people. It’s like this illustration:
A man went swimming in a river in Florida. He was a little concerned about the possibility of alligators. He saw another man standing on the shore and asked him, “Are there any alligators in this river?”
The man on shore said, “No, not a single one,” but the man in the water was not entirely convinced.
So again he asked the man on shore, “Are you sure there are no alligators?”
And the man on shore replied, “Certainly. Do you see those gray forms in the water? Those are sharks that have chased the alligators away.” (Bible Illustrator, #999-1000, 2/1987.21)
Assyria was to become the shark that chased the alligators away. In time Assyria would come after Judah.
Isaiah 8:5-8 The LORD also spoke to me again, saying: “Inasmuch as these people refused The waters of Shiloah that flow softly, And rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah’s son; Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them The waters of the River, strong and mighty — The king of Assyria and all his glory; He will go up over all his channels And go over all his banks. He will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over, He will reach up to the neck; And the stretching out of his wings Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.
God warned Judah that Assyria will come in like a flood. God’s people would be in deep water up to their necks, but those who trusted in Him would not be totally overwhelmed. Why? Because Immanuel. (God is with them.) Note Gods foreknowledge of what would happen.
Isaiah 8:9-10 ” Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Give ear, all you from far countries. Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces; Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; Speak the word, but it will not stand, For God is with us.”
These verses tell of God’s presence and guarantee of Judah’s security. With God, no plan devised against the people could stand; no weapon formed against them would succeed.
And the same thing is true for God’s people in any day. God with us guarantees our future.
Now, that is not to say that we’ll never have any problems. That doesn’t mean that adversity will never come in like a flood. However, when it does come, we will not be defeated. It may come up to our necks, but it will never go over beyond God’s intention for us because God is with us.
That’s what 26-year-old Kayla Mueller discovered when she was captured by ISIS in 2014.
However, in the spring of 2014 her capturers allowed her to write to her family. The letter began with Kayla’s assurance that she was treated well, and is “in a safe location, completely unharmed and healthy.” The 26-year-old aid worker also wrote to apologize to her family for the suffering that she has put them through because of her captivity. Then she writes, “I remember mom always telling me that, all in all, in the end, the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in that experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator because literally there is no one else.”
Kayla, related how … (quoting her) “by God and by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in a freefall.” She adds: “I have been secure in darkness, light, and have learned that even in prison, one can be free. I am grateful”, she writes. “I have come to see that there is good in every situation; sometimes we just have to look for it.”
Then she concluded her letter with these words: “Please be patient, give your pain to God. I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing. Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I. By God’s will we will be together soon. All my everything, Kayla” (Stephen L. Carter, “On Kayla Mueller and Faith,” Bloomberg View, 2-13-15; www.PreachingToday.com)
Now, things did not turn out as she or her parents had desired; In February 2015, U.S. officials confirmed that Muslim extremists had murdered her while in captivity. But through it all, she experienced God tenderly cradling her. Now, she is in heaven, awaiting that reunion with her family. The flood waters of adversity had come, “even to the neck,” but God carried her through.
And that’s the promise to all who surrender themselves to their Creator. Though trouble may come, if God is with us, His presence means in that trouble, through His help, we will not be overcome. So…
DON’T FEAR THE FLOOD.
Don’t be afraid when adversity threatens you. Don’t dread what may come. Instead…
FEAR THE LORD.
Honor HIM and fear only God.
Isaiah 8:11-12 For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.
With Immanuel, a believer does not need to adopt this world’s conduct, when threatened. When everybody else lives in fear, the Lord will give those who trust Him, peace to respond differently.
Isaiah 8:13-14a The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary,
God offers Himself as a place of safety, a place of security and peace. (Immanuel) It’s interesting, isn’t it? It’s only when we learn to fear God that we learn to feel safe in His presence.
God is a sanctuary to those who fear Him.
Alfred Lawrence was the Chief Justice of England in 1921-1922. It is told of him that “He feared man so little because he feared God so much.” Alfred Lawrence knew that courage is not the absence of fear. On the contrary, it is learning to fear the right thing. He knew the problem is that we often fear the wrong things: we fear what other people think. We fear trouble. We fear an uncertain future. However, when we learn to fear God, we will stand fearless in the face of anything else.
God is a sanctuary to those who fear Him, but the following the verses state that God is a stumbling block to those who don’t. People will be tripped up who refuse to honor and revere Him. He will be offensive to them.
Isaiah 8:14-15 He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken.”
“Immanuel” comforts the believer, but condemns the unbeliever. God secures those who trust Him, but strikes those who turn from Him.
1 Peter 2:7-8 is the New Testament commentary on these verses. There, the stone is identified as Jesus Christ, and it says: This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.
For unbelieving Israel, and for all unbelievers, Jesus is a like stone to stumble over. The thought of Jesus just trips them up. They just do not want Him. However, for the believer, Jesus is a stone to stand on, a rock to support us in the flood.
A shipwrecked sailor was thrown upon a rock where he clung for his life until the storm passed over and the tide went down. Later, a friend asked him, “Didn’t you shake with fear out there on that rock?”
The sailor said, “Sure, but the rock didn’t.” (Paul Lee Tan, 7700 Illustrations, #1967).
Jesus, is described as our Rock, that never shakes. He is the support needed in the flood if you cling to Him.
If you haven’t done it already, I urge you to trust Christ with your life today. Cling to Him! Call upon Him and ask Him to save you from your sins. Then you too can know the security of His presence. Don’t fear the flood. Instead, fear the Lord, and…
KEEP HIS WORD.
Hide His Word in your heart and live by it every day. Notice what the people of Isaiah’s day were told.
Isaiah 8:16 Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples.
God wants His people to seal up His Word in our hearts, to memorize it, to retain it in our heads. For when we do, we gain the confidence and hope for the future. Isaiah responds with faith as we should…
Isaiah 8:17 And I will wait on the LORD, who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him.
Isaiah says, even though God might seem absent, or even though He seems to be withholding His blessing, there is coming a day when He will come, and all will be well.
Isaiah 8:18 Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells in Mount Zion.
And that’s the message of the Bible: no matter what happens, we know the end. God’s Word tells those who believe God’s Word we should have confidence and a hope that nothing can shake.
In the film, The Monuments Men, a woman named Claire Simone, lives a very ordinary life in Paris under the oppressive Nazi regime. She’s an art enthusiast who was forced to facilitate the pillaging of Paris’ great works of art. Even so, Claire carefully cataloged each piece of art, and marked it with a small colored sticker. She kept this catalog without knowing whether it would ever be useful, or worse if it would be confiscated and destroyed.
She kept meticulous records without any hope until James Granger showed up asking about those pieces of art. He was part of a group of people called the Monuments Men that worked to restore stolen pieces of art.
However, when Claire kept her meticulous records, she had no idea that the Monuments Men would one day come along. She had no idea that anyone else cared. She was one woman in a city occupied by one of the most powerful armies on the planet. She was one woman battling against the whole Nazi-engineered system. Yet for all that time before James Granger arrived, she kept working subversively and systematically, without any assurance that her work would ever be put to use. (Adam Graber, Wheaton, Illinois, www.PreachingToday.com)
In much the same way, we as followers of Christ live in Enemy occupied territory; and it’s tempting to give up hope that having Immanuel in us will ever matter. It’s tempting to question the value of our faithfulness to our families, our jobs, and our church.
But unlike Claire, we who know that Immanuel has come and His Word has the assurance we need. We’ve read the end of the story. Immanuel (God with us) means that this truth is sealed in our heart.
Christmas is a season that is a reminder that we must rejoice and need not fear. Instead, trust the Lord and believe His recorded Word.
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.” – Psalm 1:1-3