Josh Benner

Category: Church

  • Immanuel prophecy in Isaiah. Part 1: A sign rejected

    Immanuel prophecy in Isaiah. Part 1: A sign rejected

    In the Gospel of Matthew, Mary and Joseph are engaged to be married. They’ve never consummated the relationship but then Mary finds out that she’s pregnant. Joseph did not want to bring shame upon Mary and so he prepared to divorce her quietly. 

    An angel appeared to Joseph. And the angel tells him to stay with Mary because the child she’s carrying has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. 

    The angel says:  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

    The Gospel of Matthew summarizes this exchange by quoting a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 

    While Isaiah’s quote in the Gospel of Matthew is familiar in its connection to Jesus, the original prophecy was given more than seven centuries before at perhaps the most tumultuous time in the history of Israel. 

    The original context for the Immanuel prophecy is often overlooked because it’s a complicated story. But while it’s complicated, it’s also a fascinating story that involves conquering empires, civil war, judgment and betrayal. 

    At the outset, I should also say that while these are passage which deal with war and conquest, and while those aren’t what we think of as Christmasy themes, these are also passages of hope and which point us to God’s grace and faithfulness. 

    HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

    It’s important to start with some historical background of Isaiah 7. 

    This passage can get very confusing if you don’t know what’s going on or who the players are, so I think some introductory information is essential to understanding this passage. 

    First thing: timeline. These events happen around the year 735 B.C. 

    There are four nations which are mentioned in this passage: Judah, Israel, Syria and Assyria. 

    Israel is not the good guy in this story. 

    ISRAEL AND JUDAH

    Something about the history of Israel that we can sometimes miss in the Bible is that for much of Israel’s history, Israel is a divided kingdom. 

    Think of it like this. We live in the United States of America. In the 1860s, we had a Civil War where 11 states seceded from the union. We had the union and the confederacy. 

    Similarly to how we have the United States, Israel was a collection of territories divided among tribes. Each tribe had their own land. The tribes were descendants of a man named Jacob. 

    And something that you have to know to understand this passage is that the Israelite territories were not always united. The Great King of Israel was David. His story is pretty familiar. He wrote many of the Psalms. He was the man after God’s own heart. 

    His son was Solomon. Solomon’s son was a man named Rehoboam and that’s where things really start to get bad in Israel. Rehoboam is eventually overthrown by a man named Jeroboam and it is at that point that Israel is no longer a united kingdom. 

    The northern tribes and the southern tribes split. They will never again reunite. 

    If this helps, I’ll call it a divided states of Israel. Here’s part of why it can get confusing. 

    You have two kingdoms. North and south. The northern kingdom is called Israel. The southern kingdom is called Judah. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, is home to Jerusalem. The royal line which leads to Christ in the genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew is the kings who reigned in Judah. 

    The Southern Kingdom, called Judah is also home to the tribe of Judah, which is the specific tribe from which Jesus was born. 

    None of this is saying the southern kingdom of Judah is perfect or righteous. The grace bestowed upon them was the same grace that is bestowed upon every believer in the gospel. It’s the undeserved gift of God which he freely gives.  

    To the north, you have Israel, but in the south, while it’s called Judah, the southern kingdom is actually the true Israel. It’s the true chosen people of God who have the promises of God.

    Another point of clarity. While Judah is called Judah because of the Tribe of Judah. Well the northern kingdom of Israel is often called Ephraim because its largest tribe was Ephraim. And I point that out because the northern kingdom of Israel will be referred to as Ephraim in this passage. 

    Think of it like how the United Kingdom and Great Britain refer to the same place, or now Holland and the Netherlands refers to the same place. 

    The northern kingdom of Israel is the same place as Ephraim. 

    So that’s two of the players in our story. Judah and Israel. And just to reiterate, Israel is not on the good side in this passage. 

    Judah is sinful too, as we will see in this passage but the divine wrath is first placed upon Israel. 

    Two more kingdoms in this story. Syria and Assyria. And obviously that can add confusion to the story because it sounds like it’s the same place. They’re different. 

    Assyria was the regional superpower. They posed a threat to the territories in the region. Syria and Israel were in an alliance against Assyria. 

    They had attempted to get Judah to join their alliance to fight against Assyria. At one point, Israel and Syria actually wanted to stage a coup to overthrow the king of Judah and install a puppet king who would do what they wanted. 

    Serious geopolitical issues. 

    THREE KINGS 

    In Isaiah 7, the prophet begins by introducing Judah, Syria, and Israel. 

    Verse 1: In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 

    Often times in the Old Testament, people are introduced in conjunction with who their father is. This passage is no different. With Ahaz, it tells us that he’s the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah. All these kings are direct descendants in the line of Christ. 

    So we have Ahaz listed at the beginning of the passage. He’s listed first because this passage ultimately revolved around his kingdom, Judah. 

    Few more things about Ahaz. Even though he’s king of Judah which is the kingdom who retains the promise of God, that does not mean that Ahaz is a good king or a good man. 

    In fact, he’s neither of those things. 

    Talking of Ahaz, 2 Kings 16:2 says: he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.

    That passage also tells us that Ahaz sacrificed one of his sons as a pagan offering (2 Kings 16:3). And he also took it upon himself to go outside the bounds of Old Testament worship and practiced other pagan religious rituals. 

    2 Chronicles 28 tells us that Ahaz made metal images to worship pagan deities (2 Chronicles 28:2). 

    He’s not a good king. He does not honor God. 

    Next up: Rezin the King of Syria. Syria is probably listed next because they were a more prominent provocator of the military conflict than was Israel. 

    Israel is listed last, their king was Pekah at the time. 

    So three nations, three kings. 

    And the passage tells us in verse 1 that Syria and Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it. 

    Keep in mind that it’s Assyria who’s the threat in the region. 

    And with that in mind, you may be asking yourself a logical question. If Assyria is the threat, then why are Syria and Israel wanting to fight Judah? 

    I briefly touched on this earlier but the issue was that Israel and Syria wanted Judah to join them in an anti-Assyrian alliance. 

    Isaiah 7:2:  When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. 

    This verse refers to the southern Kingdom of Judah as the House of David. Another way of referring to that part of the kingdom. 

    They find out that Syria has an alliance with Ephraim, which is to say that Syria has an alliance with the Northern Kingdom of Israel. 

    So you have Israelites fighting Israelites. It’s very disheartening for Judah to learn that these two nations are against them. Eventually, Syria and Israel would attack Judah and hit some of the territories outside of Jerusalem, and they hit Judah with devastating results. 

    2 Chronicles 28:5-6: the LORD his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 from Judah in one day, all of them men of valor

    And then again from verse 8: 8 The men of Israel took captive 200,000 of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria.

    So Judah has over 120,000 casualties and over 200,000 taken enslaved. 

    A DILEMMA 


    Imagine if you were a citizen in Judah at the time and someone who was in the know about the diplomatic happenings in the region. It was a difficult time. You’re basically under threat of all the nations who surround you. You could join your fellow Israelites in the Northern Kingdom and band together with Syria.

    But then you might still have to battle Assyria, an empire who could be ruthless in their conquests. Perhaps you could try to find a way to appease them or pay them for protection. 

    What’s the right choice? 

    We’ll get to that in a bit. 

    A PROPHECY AND A NAME

    Back to our passage. Verse 3, the Prophet Isaiah comes into the story for the first time.

    Along with Isaiah, we’ll also meet his son. 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.

    The son is significant to the passage. 

    In Hebrew, Shear-Jashub means “a remnant will return.” 

    Why does that matter? You have a corrupt king in a corrupt kingdom. The early chapters of the Book of Isaiah largely revolve around Judah’s sin. There will be judgment on them for their sin. And in 735 B.C, they find themselves losing battles to neighboring nations. 

    They’ve already suffered tremendous losses, but Ahaz is given a promise: a remnant will return. Even with as dark as the times were in Judah, the nation would not be totally destroyed. 

    Even within our passage, Israel and Syria attempted to overtake Jerusalem and couldn’t. We don’t know if Ahaz understood that at the time. 

    Verse 4. Isaiah speaks.  And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands,

    After Isaiah has called Ahaz to trusting in the Lord, Isaiah continues by talking about the imminent destruction awaiting Israel and Syria. Isaiah calls Israel and Syria two smoldering stumps. He will elaborate more in this chapter but Isaiah is beginning to communicate the reality that Israel and Syria’s days are numbered. 

    Continuing in verse 4: at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.

    Isaiah is addressing the two combatants who have gone to war with Judah. 

    Verse 5: Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” 

    A lot could be said there. It’s basically one prophecy. 

    Even though Judah has all sorts of issues with sin and with the sinfulness of their king, it’s still God’s chosen people and there is a severe penalty for Syria for attacking Judah. But what’s more, for the northern kingdom in Israel, also known as Ephraim, there is also a severe penalty for them attacking their fellow Jews. 

    But they have all of these plans against Judah, and the Lord says: 

    “ ‘It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass. 8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. 

    It shall not stand and it shall not come to pass. 

    This is the Lord God speaking through his prophet Isaiah. The text says that within 65 years, Syria would be conquered. Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

    Again, remember that Ephraim is the northern kingdom of Israel. 

    So this is what Ahaz is told about his enemies. 

    And guess what? Those things do come to pass. Assyria would go on to conquer Syria. And in 722 B.C. the Northern Kingdom of Israel is conquered and they lose the land. 

    Earlier I talked about the tough situation which Judah faced. They had the option of joining the alliance with Syria and Israel. That’s option A. They didn’t choose that option. They could have tried to appease Assyria. That’s what Ahaz chose. 

    Let’s look at this story in 2 Kings 16. 

    2 Kings 16:5: Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him.

    Similarly to where our passage begins. Israel and Syria have come to attack Jerusalem but do not prevail. 

    Ahaz begs Assyria for help. 

    2 Kings 16:7: So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.”

    He’s going to a pagan and enemy nation and begging them for help. He will pay off Assyria. Where’s he get the funds?

    2 Kings 16:8-9: Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin. 

    Ahaz takes the gold and silver that’s in the temple in Jerusalem and that’s what he uses to pay Assyria for protection. And the 2 Kings passage begins by talking of Assyria attacking Syria and having Rezin killed. 

    In the next scene, Ahaz meets the king of Judah and continues to be reverential to the Assyrians. 

    2 Kings 16:10-11: When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. 11 And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus.

    And we will continue to see in 2 Kings that Ahaz does everything he can to show allegiance to Assyria. He practices their religious rituals. 

    So what was the right option? 

    Joining Syria and Israel? Or joining Assyria? 

    Trick question, the correct answer was option C. Ahaz should have trusted in God and his promises. 

    THE IMPORTANCE OF FAITH

    Instead he let fear draw him into sin. He let his lack of confidence in the Lord lead him to bowing down to other deities. He put his trust in his own abilities and not in God’s providence. He trusted a man, the King of Assyria for his protection rather than placing faith in the Lord. 

    Israel and Syria might have looked like giants to Judah. But their days were numbered. He had the promise of God. He had the divine kingdom, and yet he sold off the temple items for what felt like earthly security. 

    The issue with Ahaz was that his first hope was not ultimately God. And this passage was an opportunity to trust God. 

    Where is your dependence? Where is your hope? 

    It’s easy to judge Judah. It’s easy to say that Ahaz should have had more faith. And he should have. I’m not defending him. But it’s interesting to consider his situation. All the nations around them have reason to go to war with Judah. The super power is taking up territory. And so he does what we so often do in a crisis of faith, he takes matters into his own hands. He doesn’t trust in the Lord. 

    But for him, his life, his reign, his nation hung in the balance. I think of the thousand other situations we face in our lives all the time where it can be so easy to distrust God. 

    Situations that are so much smaller than what is happening in this passage. 

    What’s our excuse? We have God’s promises. Yet we often times what to do whatever we can to feel a sense of control over our lives. We have God’s Word, but it so often doesn’t bring us the comfort that it should. What God says will happen will happen. That’s true of both good and bad things. 

    In this passage, we see God’s faithfulness to his word. He told of the destruction which would befall Syria and Israel. And it happened. 

    God is true to his word. What does he say in his word that you struggle to believe? 

    At the end of our passage, Isaiah continues to speak to Ahaz. But they’re not Isaiah’s words. They’re the words of the Lord. 

    A SIGN OFFERED 

    Verse 10: Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”

    Ahaz is told to ask God for a sign. Signs are often used in the Bible to point to the miraculous works of God. 

    And the text says as “deep as Sheol or as high as heaven,” the point is that Ahaz can basically ask for any sign he wants. That’s a pretty incredible offer from the Lord. The Lord is saying that he will reveal his power and glory to Ahaz on Ahaz’s terms. 

    Imagine if you had such an offer? What would you ask for? 

    Maybe to see a relative or friend raised to life? Maybe to see heaven? Maybe to be instantly healed? Maybe to see a change the the weather or in nature like the day suddenly becoming 85 and sunny. 

    A SIGN REJECTED 

    What sign would you want to bolster your faith? 

    For Ahaz, the offer is meaningless. He’s already thrown his lot in with Assyria. That’s where his trust lies. 

    In verse 12, Ahaz says “I will not ask.” 

    He rejects the sign. 

    Tomorrow, we look at part 2 where we see a sign given. 

  • Sermon: Recreation – Genesis 1:1-31

    In Genesis 1, we see that God made a good creation because God is good. Because of sin, that creation has been corrupted. Through the gospel, we see how creation and human lives are being restored.

    Sermon manuscript

  • Why was the cross necessary? Couldn’t God just forgive?

    Why was the cross necessary? Couldn’t God just forgive?

    A person might look at the crucifixion, look at what the Lord did on the cross, and wonder “Why was that the only way? Why was that necessary? Couldn’t God simply forgive us?”

    No.

    This is an idea I’ve heard from Tim Keller before, and it’s an important idea on having a theology of forgiveness.

    In any meaningful way a person has ever wronged you and you’ve forgiven them, when you forgive, you then bear a burden. You bear a burden for the way they originally sinned against you, and whatever you lost in the process: opportunity, time, happiness, money. Whatever it was. You were wronged and lost something. And when you forgive, you bear a cost a second time because you are relinquishing an opportunity to get even, to inflict vengeance upon them.

    And the worse the wrong is, the harder it is to forgive. The more costly the forgiveness, because it’s a greater debt that you’re forgiving. Not to say that people shouldn’t have consequences when they’ve committed crimes or acted violently. But even in those situations, we are called to be forgiving.

    But forgiveness is not as simple as just ignoring a wrong done.

    If someone destroys something you own, you can make them pay for it. That’s often what happens. Or perhaps you and the person can both pay for part of what was destroyed. Or you can personally pay for it. You can bear that cost yourself.

    My point is that in either event, someone has to pay. Forgiveness is not a write-off that where the wrong disappears and is forgotten about. Someone has to pay the price for what was broken.

    So with our sin against God, how does God approach forgiveness? All of the wrongs and injustices in the world. All of the wrongs and sins in our own lives, in our hearts, our actions.

    We could have never paid that price. We could never have done enough to earn our forgiveness. There was no hope.

    But on the cross, we see that Jesus himself bore the cost for us.

    That was the cost of forgiveness. The horrible death he died, the injustice that he faced. All of that shows us the cost of our sin.

    At the cross, we see the love of God.

    God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
    -Romans 5:8-10

    Because Jesus bore infinite wrath for sin. There is infinite grace when we turn to him. There is no sin he is unable to forgive. It’s not that he died and can forgive every sin, but he can’t forgive that one, or this one, or what you did, or what you’re struggling with.

    Infinite wrath because of our sin. But infinite mercy on the cross because of his grace.

    If you’re not a Christian, you need to know that Jesus paid for sins on the cross. Jesus showed that he is the way to God. Jesus died so that we could have a relationships with him. He promises eternal life for everyone who comes to him.

    All you have to do is believe in that. The Bible says that faith is credited to you as righteousness.

    “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)

    The Bible teaches that “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

    And the proof of that is on the cross. Many other places where people look for salvation, where people look for life.  None of those things will give you life. On the cross, Jesus died so that you could have life.

    You can’t earn God. The cross shows us that. If we could earn it, we wouldn’t have needed Jesus to die.

    1Timothy 2:5-6 says:
    5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

    Jesus said “I am the way and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me (John 14:6).

    The validation for these things, what testifies to the salvation and ope that is found in Jesus…is the cross.

    Because he died on the first Good Friday. But he rose on Sunday. God has authority over life and death. God has authority over how to be made right with him.

    And while we didn’t deserve it, the good news of the gospel is that he made a way.

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe!

    Originally published April 2, 2018

  • The Son of God who makes us sons. John 5:18

    The Son of God who makes us sons. John 5:18

    In John 5, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath which draws the ire from the Pharisees who had more restrictive views of Sabbath practices. In John 5:17, Jesus says: 

    “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

    In response to Jesus pointing to God as his Father, the Pharisees begin to actively conspire against Jesus. 

    18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 

    We know the end of the story. Jesus is ultimately crucified. But it is because Jesus said that God was his father that jump started the Pharisees in their conspiracy against him. 

    In an event which is not recorded in John, Jesus is before the Pharisees. The sonship question comes up again. 

    Matthew 26:63-64: 

    the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

    That’s the final straw in Matthew’s gospel and the Pharisees seek to have Jesus crucified. 

    Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” 67 Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” (Matthew 26:65-68). 

    The pharisees look at the words of Christ as blasphemy. 

    But it wasn’t. It was the truth. 

    Incarnationally, morally, theologically, Jesus is the Son of God and God is his father. 

    But in John 5, we see the opposition rising. 

    What started as a miracle turned into a Sabbath controversy. 

    And what became a Sabbath controversy was intensified by Jesus pointing to himself and his relation to God. 

    The sonship of Christ and the fatherhood of God points us to the gospel. 

    We are God’s children, created in his image who had forsaken God through our sin. 

    Jesus is the perfect Son of God who was forsaken so we could be forgiven for our sins. 

    As radical as it is that Jesus addressed God as his father, he invited us to do the same when he taught the disciples how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. 

    your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: 

    “Our Father in heaven, 

    hallowed be your name. (Matthew 6:9)  

    The Apostle Paul says in the opening salutations of all of his letters: grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

    The fatherhood of God is bestowed upon the people of God because Jesus is the true Son of God. 

    Jesus is the son of God who allows us to be adopted as God’s children and to approach God as our own father. 

    John 1:12 says: 

     to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

    The adoption language is used by Paul at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians. 

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:3-5) 

    That’s the Good News of the Gospel. The Son of God allows us to call God our father. 

    Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, please share and subscribe! 

  • Evangelism Training Podcast #5 Dr. David Gustafson

    Evangelism Training Podcast #5 Dr. David Gustafson

    In this episode, we talk to Dr. David Gustafson on his newest book “Gospel witness through the ages” and discuss the history of evangelism. Each generation has its own challenges of making Jesus known to the world. But as we study the history of evangelism, we see that the challenges of one generation or culture have also been the same challenges which other believers have faced in other times and places.