Josh Benner

Tag: Matthew 1

  • Joseph, Mary, and a huge test of faith

    Joseph, Mary, and a huge test of faith

    In the Gospel of Matthew, a young couple named Mary and Joseph receive some truly shocking news. Mary is expecting! Despite the fact that they have never consummate their relationship and that Mary is a virgin. 

    Joseph faced a dilemma.What does he do? They lived in a small village. Inevitably Mary was going to start to show. With the cultural sensibilities of their day, this pregnancy in an unmarried couple would have been scandalous. 

    Mary would make it appear as though either Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph, or that Mary and Joseph together had violated the betrothal custom and conceived a child together. 

    Jewish teaching at the time essentially forbade marrying someone to whom you were betrothed who had been unfaithful. 

    In Matthew 1:19, Joseph initially does not see it as an option to marry Mary. But he doesn’t want to shame her either, so he just wants to try to make the breaking of the betrothal as painless as possible for both of them. 

    There appears to be a sensible course of action until Joseph is greeted with the most unexpected news. 

    An angelic messenger appears to Joseph in a dream. 

    Matthew 1:20:
    But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

    Sometimes the Lord can quickly change our plans. Joseph is told not to fear taking Mary as his wife. 

    The reason he needs to be told not to fear is that the religious and social expectation would be that Joseph would not take Mary as his wife, due to her apparent adultery. 

    For the town gossips in Nazareth, the explanation that Mary is pregnant with a child that has been conceived via divine conception is not exactly the easiest story to believe. 

    It would have been just as hard for someone in the first century to believe this was possible as it is for us in modern times. They knew where babies came from! 

    So to marry Mary is to also have to deal with the social ostracism of marrying an apparent adulteress. 

    But Joseph is told not to fear. 

    Now just because he’s told not to fear taking Mary as his wife, that does not mean that it’s going to be easy. 

    We don’t know a ton about the life of Joseph after Jesus was born. But the gospels give us a few snapshots, and it was hard. 

    In Luke’s narrative, when Jesus was born, there was no room for them. 

    A story that I plan to preach in a couple weeks, but when Jesus was just a baby, the King, a man named Herod hears about this King of Israel who was born and in his jealousy, seeks out to try to have Jesus killed off.  

    The family was forced to leave Judea and go into hiding in Egypt. 

    So we see an inhospitable world, danger, exile. Hardships. Church tradition holds that Joseph was already deceased by the time that Jesus began his public ministry. 

    Joseph is told to fear not. Why? Because he was following the will of God. But again, that doesn’t mean that following the Lord will be easy. 

    The disciples followed the Lord. But they had lives of difficulty and persecution, ultimately leading to the martyrdom of all but one of them. 

    We celebrated Thanksgiving last week. 

    I always think about the Pilgrims who came to this country in the 17th century. They came here in order to live out their faith. And they probably never could have imagined it at the time but they set forth a legacy which has extended into America to this day. The rich religious history that we have in this nation. 

    Was it wrong of them to come? Was it a bad idea to come? No. 

    But half of them died by that next winter. They had lives of hardship. 

    I think of the great missionaries over the centuries. 

    People who were serving a purpose greater than themselves. But the centuries of missionaries who have faced persecution and death for that calling. The work they did, the challenges and hardships they faced. 

    Father Damien was a priest who served a leper colony in modern day Hawaii. He served people who were the outcasts of society. He contracted leprosy himself in 1885. But he continued to serve until he died of the disease four years later. 

    Maria Taylor was the wife of Hudson Taylor, perhaps the most well known missionary of the 19th century. He ministered in China. Maria herself had been the daughter of missionaries. Born in Asia, her parents both died when she was ten years old. She was sent to England to be taken care of by family but married Hudson Taylor when she was 16. 

    In China, they faced opposition, persecution, and financial hardships. Of the nine children she birthed, only four reached adulthood. She died of cholera when she was just 33. 

    That’s so often not what today picture as the Christian life. We want to believe in a prosperity gospel that sells on the lie of just be good and everything in your life will be good. The problem is that it’s not true to reality and it’s not true to what the Bible teaches. 

    Sacrifice, difficulty, hardship.

    Why would anyone want that? 

    Because of the great God we serve. Because of the great savior we have in Christ. Because of the great cost that he paid for our forgiveness. 

    God gives grace. His power is perfected in our weakness. God sanctifies us through our difficulty. As we serve the Lord through challenges, and walk with him, it is also an opportunity to grow with him. 

    The Bible doesn’t teach that just have faith and it’ll always be easy. The Bible teaches to trust in God even when things are difficult. 

    It makes no sense in the eyes of the world. But God is the only thing that truly matters. And if all we have is God, that is all we need. Again in the eyes of the world, that is laughable. It’s worthy of mockery. 

    Why would a good God allow his most sincere followers to suffer so greatly? 

    But it’s a byproduct of doing ministry in a world that is fallen. We have a savior who can identify. Jesus went to the cross. He suffered. He was betrayed. He was mocked. 

    In life, everything that’s truly worthwhile and worth doing involves hardship and suffering and challenges. 

    Marriage is a great blessing. Marriage has its difficulties. It’s difficult seasons. Difficult conflicts. 

    But its’s worth it. 

    Having kids is a great blessing. But it’s hard. You’re trying to civilize a sinful person. Now no one forces you to get married. No one forces you to raise kids. You choose those things, even though they’re difficult. 

    I think of those great missionaries. They had difficult lives. But still they chose that life. They could have walked away. They could have left the mission field. At the first sign of danger or death, they could have given it all up. 

    But things that are worth doing are hard. 

    In life, all of those challenges bring their own blessings, in spite of the hardship. And truly living for God, in spite of the difficulties brings the blessings of knowing God and growing with God and living to the glory of God. 

    It’s not always easy. But it is always worth it. 

    In the gospels, there’s a story of Jesus and the disciples when they got caught up in a tremendous storm. Why were they on that boat? Because Jesus had led them to it. 

    In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites cross the Red Sea. Why were they at the banks of the sea between the water and the Egyptian army? Because that’s where the Lord had led them. 

    God is not always leading us to what’s easy. But he is always leading us to what’s right. 

    Our world has bought into this unbiblical lie that, in this life, you’re always being led to something really great. 

    Not always. Sometimes you’re being led into something really hard. Sometimes people suffer, sometimes people die. 

    It is in eternity and in the presence of God, when everything is ultimately made right and perfected. But in life, there are trials and challenges. The good news is that we have a savior who will be with us through it all. 

    And so Joseph is told to fear not. Not because it’s easy. But to fear not because of who God is. 

  • The most dysfunctional family: the genealogy of Jesus

    The most dysfunctional family: the genealogy of Jesus

    The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. -Matthew 1:1

    Matthew’s gospel begins with introducing us to the genealogy of Jesus. It is linking Jesus to David, the great King of Israel and to Abraham, the man through whom the Lord had established his covenant. 

    He will come from the family of both of these men. 

    This genealogy shows us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. 

    And as we study his life, we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of the divine plan working through history where God sent Jesus into a world that was sinful but Jesus was without sin. Jesus came to fulfill the plan of God, to live out the will of God, to speak the word of God, and to show the righteousness of God. 

    But in all of his perfection, and goodness, and glory, Jesus was betrayed. Even this was part of the divine plan because it had to happen. Jesus came into a world that was dead in sin and died. But he died so he could be raised to life. And it is through his perfect life, his death, and his resurrection that everyone who believes in Jesus can be forgiven. 

    We could never earn God’s forgiveness on our own. But because Jesus is Lord, he is able to forgive. Because he died and rose, he showed his power over physical life and death. And because he lives today, it is Christ and Christ alone who can give eternal life. 

    So verse 1 introduces the genealogy. Verses 2-16 give further elaboration on a genealogy that leads from Abraham to Joseph to Jesus. 

    It can be easy to skim through it like it’s just a list of names but it’s a list of names that points us to the gospel, to the grace of God, to the mission of Christ, and to the providential hand of God working throughout history. 

    Abraham to David

    The first section of this genealogy takes us through the patriarchs of Israel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

    The genealogy also introduces us to four women, not unprecedented in the Old Testament, but generally rare to list women in genealogies. 

    Focusing on the women in the first part of the list: these women are fairly prominent in the Old Testament, but they’re not THE MOST prominent women in the Bible. No mention of Sarah, the wife of Abraham through whom the promise of a son was fulfilled. No mention of Rebekah, the wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob. No mention of Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob. 

    But Matthew mentions Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheeba. 

    You have Ruth, who might be the most morally spotless and unimpeachable woman in the Old Testament. Her first husband died and then she married a distant relative of the deceased husband and had a son. Boaz was her husband. Obed was the son. 

    But then you have Tamar who was also a widow. And she disguises herself as a prostitute and tricks her father-in-law into sleeping with her and conceives a child. That child is a link in the line of Jesus conceived through deception and trickery. 

    Rahab had also been a prostitute. 

    Lastly, there’s Bathsheeba, who was taken advantage of by King David and then David later had her husband, Uriah, sent to the front lines and killed in battle so that he could marry her. The relationship was forged in adultery and murder. Jesus is descended from killers, prostitutes, and adulterers.

    Mission

    One of the commonalities between the four women is that none of them are Israelites. 

    Tamar and Rahab are Canaanites. 

    Ruth is a Moabite. 

    Bathsheeba is a Hittite. 

    And so part of what these four women are doing from the opening of this gospel is showing us that Jesus is for the whole world. 

    This line that leads to Jesus is a picture of the world. 

    Borrowing an idea from Tim Keller. 

    This line gives us kings and prostitutes. Men and women. Jews and gentiles. Saints and sinners. But God works through all of them to bring Jesus into the world. 

    The gospel is good news for the whole world. Matthew ends this gospel by giving the Great Commission and sending the disciples out into the world to preach the good news. And we have a picture of the gospel for the whole world in this opening genealogy. 

    David to the exile

    The second section of the genealogy goes from David, the great King of Israel through his genealogy and the kings of Israel. 

    It might be easy to assume that the Israelite kings were good, but as you study the Old Testament (in particular, the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles, you learn that most of the kings are wicked and show little love or reverence for God). 

    Solomon is the son of David. He spent lavishly on big projects for Israel. 

    His son, Rehoboam had similar lavishness and had to continue raising taxes. Things got so bad that during his reign, Israel was no longer a unified nation. This is one of the most important events of the Old Testament. 

    I also think this is one of the most overlooked facts about Israel’s history. Within two generations of David, Israel had split into two kingdoms. You had the Davidic monarchy ruling the smaller portion in the south, and an independent Northern Kingdom. The north and south never reunite. 

    What this genealogy reminds us of is that even though the monarchy did not reign and the land was lost, that the line was not forgotten.

    When Jerusalem fell, that might have looked like it was the end. But God was still at work. That’s what all of this shows us.That God has been at work throughout time and history. 

    When Jesus went to the cross. When the disciples saw their beloved teacher brutally crucified, they thought that it was all over. 

    But it was only just the beginning. 

    Throughout church history, people have tried to persecute the church, ban the Bible, kill Christians. Yet God’s word has been preached. His church has persevered. 

    And many of us, I’m sure, have stories in our own lives. Times that seemed hopeless. Times where it seemed like there was no way out and yet God brought us through, God brought redemption. 

    God continued to work through this line because the Lord is faithful to his promises. 

    He was faithful to his promise to Abraham of providing offspring. He was faithful to to his promise to David by providing a future king whose kingdom would never end. 

    Exile to Jesus

    While the first two sections of the genealogy begin with people. The third section begins with an event. 

    Most of the people in this last list are actually unknown. We just have their names. 

    I mentioned earlier that the kingdom of Israel was divided for most of its history. This genealogy is focused on the southern kingdom. After generations of sin and numerous prophets who had warned southern Israel and their kings, they were conquered by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and they were exiled from the Promised Land. 

    It is a divine judgment from God upon an unfaithful Israel. They lose the kingdom, they lose Jerusalem, the temple is destroyed. The people are deported to a foreign land. The darkest days in the history Ancient of Israel. 

    Yet through all of that, God is still working. 

    Matthew ends this third genealogy by finally arriving at Joseph and Mary and then to Jesus. 

    Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. 

    From Abraham to Jesus. We see the sovereignty of God. The faithfulness of God. We see the plan of God. And we see that the Messiah has come into the world. 

    This genealogy a powerful reminder of God’s work throughout history. 

    All throughout history, God has been at work. We see him at work in this genealogy that leads to the Lord Jesus. 

    But that also points us to his mission for the world which is God’s redemptive purposes and gospel through Jesus Christ to redeem a sinful and fallen humanity. 

    And so it’s important to understand what God has done throughout history but also what God is doing in the world today. 

    The Old Testament points forward to Christ. The Old Testament points forward to the king from the line of David. The gospels are the fulfillment of those promises in Christ.  

    The church’s job today is to share that good news with the world. 

    And so we look at this genealogy at the beginning of the New Testament. 

    It’s not just a bunch of names to skip over so we can get to something more interesting. 

    Rather, these are the chapters in God’s story leading up to Christ and in his work of bringing redemption to the world. To the glory of God. 

    Abraham, David, and exile. 

    Abraham was promised a son. Jesus is the ultimate son from the line of Abraham. 

    David was promised a king would come from his line who would have a kingdom which would never end. Jesus is the true king who ushers in the kingdom of heaven. 

    The exile looked like the place where Israel ended. In our sin, we are all exiled from God. Jesus is the one who returns us to fellowship with God. 

  • Sermon: The King is Born – Matthew 1:1-17

    The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy. It can be tempting to move past this to the next section, but this genealogy is a picture of the history of God’s people. It points us to the gospel, to the mission of God, to the power of God, and to the promise of God.

  • Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah. Part 2: A sign given

    Immanuel Prophecy in Isaiah. Part 2: A sign given

    BACKGROUND 

    Isaiah 7:10-25.

    We’re around the year 735 B.C. The Kingdom of Judah is home to the chosen people of God and the promises of God. It’s the home to Jerusalem and the family line which leads to Christ. 

    A man named Ahaz is the King of Judah. Though they’re God’s chosen people, he’s a sinful king in a sinful kingdom. They have regularly disobeyed and dishonored the Lord. The first several chapters of the book of Isaiah largely revolve around the judgment which will befall Judah. 

    There are also a lot of military tensions in the region. The Assyrians are the super power in the Middle East at the time. They pose a threat to the various local kingdoms. 

    And so you have two other nations: Israel and Syria who have formed an alliance against Assyria. Israel and Syria try to pressure Judah into the alliance but Judah will instead opt to pay off the Assyrians for protection. As a result, Israel and Syria go to war with Judah. Through the prophet Isaiah, King Ahaz is told that the destruction of their oppressors: Israel and Syria is imminent. 

    We find out from other passages like 2 Kings 16 that Judah actually paid off the Assyrians for protection. Ahaz is told to ask the Lord for a sign, and where we concluded our last post in this series, Ahaz refuses the sign. 

    A SIGN REJECTED 

    Isaiah 7:10-11: 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 has been sinful and faithless. But he’s given an incredible offer from the Lord. He can basically ask any sign he wants from the Lord. He can ask the Lord to reveal himself to him in a spectacular way. 

    I can’t think of another time in the Old Testament where this offer is given to someone. 

    If you were given that offer, what sign would you ask for? Whatever you want? Maybe you’d ask to see heaven, ask to be healed from a health issue, ask to see a loved one who’s passed away brought back to life? 

    Ahaz instead responds in verse 12: I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 

    Now at first glance, that can appear as a good thing. I will not put the Lord to the test. In the temptation story of Jesus, he talks of not putting the Lord to the test. 

    Matthew 4:5-7: the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” 

    7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

    Jesus was asked to basically prove his identity by challenging God. He doesn’t. He points to the scriptures when he says “it is written” and then adds a command from the Old Testament “you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”

    That’s a quote from Deuteronomy 6:16. You shall not put the your God to the test.

    So it can appear as though Ahaz is just being faithful to the commands of scripture. What’s the problem? It’s not a violation of the command when the Lord tells you to ask him for a sign. 

    Ahaz says he won’t test God but it’s God who tested Ahaz and Ahaz failed. Ahaz makes a mistake that has existed since the first sin which is misapplying the Word of God. 

    God tells him to ask for a sign and Ahaz balks at it. It’s because Ahaz doesn’t want a sign. He doesn’t care about seeing what God can do. Ahaz has already put his faith in his own industry in paying off the Assyrians for protection. 

    So when he says he won’t put God to the test, he’s just giving the appearance of faith. In Jesus’ day, it was a problem for the pharisees. They had attached all sorts of laws onto laws and outwardly appeared to be very religious and moral. 

    You can’t fool the Lord. 

    It’s easy to say the right things, it’s easy to talk the talk. But the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The Lord sees through Ahaz’s attempt at outward piety. 

    Verse 13, he’s given a response: And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?

    A SIGN GIVEN

    Ahaz doesn’t ask for a sign but God gives him a sign anyway. The Immanuel prophecy in this passage is the same prophecy which is quoted at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. 

    Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

    The gospel adds a note that the name Immanuel means “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

    It’s a difficult verse in Isaiah. It’s cryptic. Its meaning is controversial and disputed. Numerous questions arise. 

    We will examine three of them. 

    1. WHY IS THAT THE SIGN WHEN JESUS ISN’T BORN UNTIL MORE THAN 700 YEARS LATER? 

    I don’t take this Isaiah passage as only referring to Jesus. Don’t misunderstand. The sign ultimately refers to Jesus, but I believe that the sign had a double-fulfillment. 

    The prophecy is given as a sign to Ahaz. Therefore I think it matters that the sign means something in the Day of Ahaz, and as we will see momentarily, I believe the context of this passage demands that it mean something in Ahaz’s time. As a general rule, I think we should be weary of Biblical interpretations where a verse has no significance to its original audience. 

    This is an important note about studying the Bible and studying prophetic literature in the Bible. Especially when you consider what else our present passage says. Let’s look at the Immanuel prophecy and the immediate context. 

    Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

    What’s the meaning of those verses? There’s no apparent relationship between those verses and Jesus. 

    They have to mean something. We’ll examine them more closely in a few moments but I think that verses 15-16 refer to events in the lifetime of the first Immanuel. 

    A second issue to consider.

    WHAT DOES VIRGIN MEAN? 

    What does the word virgin mean? 

    In English, our word “virgin” has a pretty straightforward meaning. Someone who has never had sexual relations. And virginity is certainly an important aspect of the birth of Jesus. 

    Gospel of Luke. 1:31, Mary is told she’s going to have a baby.  behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

    The angel goes on to say what will happen during this ministry but Mary responds in Luke 1:34: 

    And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

    The virginity of Mary matters in the birth story of Christ because it demonstrates a miracle of God. That the birth of Christ is an entirely divine activity. So when people were reading the Old Testament hundreds of years before Christ, did they read this verse from Isaiah and take it to refer to a virgin having a baby? 

    Not necessarily. 

    If you’ve ever heard a sermon on this passage or the Matthew passage before, or if you’ve ever looked up these verses in a Study Bible, you might have seen a note that talked about how the word for virgin can also mean “young woman.”

    That’s true. The closest example we have in English is probably a word like “maiden.” The word “maiden” isn’t used in English today as much as it was about 100 years ago, but a maiden refers to a young unmarried woman. 

    Now, in this Jewish culture in the 8th century BC, for a young, unmarried woman, it would have been assumed that she was a virgin. So that’s certainly part of what was meant, but my point is that Isaiah’s audience didn’t necessarily understand this passage referring to a virgin conception. 

    I think they would have taken the Hebrew word that’s used here to refer more to the woman’s I think it’s more likely that they understood this Immanuel sign as being the child of a young woman. 

    But here’s something that’s interesting.

    While the word probably meant something more like young woman or maiden to its original Hebrew audience, by the time the text was translated from Hebrew into Greek, which was still prior to the birth of Christ, the Greek word that was used actually does more specifically mean virgin. So it is possible that a Greek reader, would have had an understanding in his time of a virgin birth. 

    WHO ARE IMMANUEL AND THE WOMAN? 

    There are several theories about who Immanuel is. Some think that the woman is King Ahaz’s wife and Immanuel is his son Hezekiah. Others think it’s the prophet Isaiah’s son. Some think that the name Immanuel became popular in Judah at this time and a lot of baby boys were named Immaneul and that that was the sign. Or perhaps it was the child of an official in the royal court who was named Immanuel. 

    And there are several other theories. I just point that out to again show that this is a difficult passage with several possible interpretations. But just because a passage in the Bible is hard, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study it. 

    As far as the identity of the original Immanuel, we’ll cover that in another post. But the point that I want to make for right now is that there was a first Immanuel before Jesus, the ultimate and greater Immanuel. As this prophecy continues, Isaiah will elaborate on the circumstances of the world into which the first Immanuel will be born. 

    And he starts to talk about the immediate future within the region in its connection to this sign of Immanuel. There will be a time of difficulty in the region. The first subject to be dealt with are Judah’s oppressors: Israel and Syria. 

    This passage is talking about the early years of the first Immanuel. And there will be judgment for Israel and Syria, and later for Judah. 

    Verse 15: He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 

    When Immanuel is just a child, he will eat curds and honey.  Now, when the Israelites are on their journey to the Promised Land, it’s often referred to as a land flowing with milk and honey and that’s seen as a good thing. 

    But in this passage, the curds and honey seems to be a negative for the young Immanuel. The region will be so desolate, war will make the kingdom such a wasteland, that he will be eating a nomadic diet. 

     He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good

    Twice the prophet talks of a time associated with when this boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. The point of that is Immanuel will be very young when all of this happens. It’s before he will have reached an age of accountability. Historically, we know that this is correct because these events happen around 735 B.C. and the kingdom of Israel was conquered in 722 B.C. 

    The things the Lord says will happen in this passage do come to pass and they come to pass in the very near future. 

    End of verse 16, Isaiah throws down the gauntlet: the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.

    Ahaz is specifically being told of the desertion which will befall Syria and Israel. And that is desertion because they will be conquered and taken from their land. It is a blessing that Syria and Israel will both be conquered for their sin. 

    JUDGED JUDAH 

    But Judah has also been sinful. Ahaz the king has been sinful. And there will also be consequences for them. 

    I said this in the beginning, but many of the early chapters of Isaiah have actually focused on the sins of Judah. They’re God’s chosen people but they’re sinful, and Ahaz is sinful. And Ahaz placed his trust in a pagan nation in Assyria for his hope and protection rather than God. There are consequences for that as well. 

    And so the rest of this passage ends by talking about judgment which would befall Judah. We will be fairly brief with these verses. 

    Verse 17: The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

    Where it says “upon you and upon your father’s house,” it’s a reference to the House of David who rules in Judah. It’s the monarchy. Then the text talks about days which have not come since Ephrairim departed from Judah. 

    I touched on this in a previous post, but it’s referring to to the split between Judah and Israel, Israel is here being referred to as Ephraim after its largest tribe. 

    What this verse is saying is that: while there is judgment for Israel and Syria, Judah will also experience a time of difficulty and upheaval. The challenge they will face will be the King of Assyria, as the verse ends. 

    The Assyrians, the nation in whom Ahaz had placed his hope will become their oppressor. So often the things we look to for freedom can enslave us. 

    The passage begins to talk about what will happen to Judah. Now with Syria and Israel, annihilation is the fate which awaits their kingdoms. By the grace of God, it won’t be quite as severe here for Judah. But they will still suffer. 

    18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures. 

    The verse is talking about military oppression which Judah will face. It talks of troops as if they’re swarms of bees and flies. Numerous soldiers will converge upon them. All of the hiding places will be overcome by enemy forces.

    Verse 20: In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also. 

    Another picture of what will happen. It talks of the people being shaved. The point this is making is he humiliation that the Judeans will face at the hands of the Assyrians. Removing a person’s hair is often a symbol of stripping away their identity. 

    We see a third picture of the future for Judah.

    Verses 21-22: In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey. 

    That verse might not seem so bad because it does talk about people having livestock and an abundance of milk. 

    But given that everything else in the passage is a picture of judgment, I think the point is more that there will be an abundance of food and people will have livestock because there will be so much devastation about the population. 

    A FINAL PICTURE

    23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24 With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread. 

    This is a picture of the devastation which will befall the land. The fertile ground will become briers and thorns. In the Old Testament, God talks of drought and of waste coming upon the farmland as divine judgment for Israel’s disloyalty to the covenant. 

    Give another example. Isaiah 5:5-6 says: I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 

    Around the year 701 B.C., the Assyrians did lay siege to Jerusalem. They did not ultimately conquer the city, that would happen at the hands of another empire a century and a half later. But for their sin, there was judgment upon Judah. 

    CONCLUSION 

    I understand that these are difficult passages. There’s a lot of history, a lot of context. It can be confusing that Judah’s enemies are judged by God but then so is Judah. One of the things that this passage again shows us is the weight of sin. 

    God does not take sin lightly. Anytime we act like sin doesn’t matter or isn’t a big deal, we are communicating a profound theological falsehood. God is deathly serious about sin. 

    Judah is God’s chosen people in his chosen land. It can be tempting to wonder if they suffered too much. But the real question is always why God gives grace to anyone when no one deserves it. Something else that we see in this passage is God’s sovereignty over the nations. 

    Both in our lives and in the dealings of the world, nothing happens outside of the sovereignty of God. There are many evil empires today. North Korea, China, dictatorial leaders in places like Venezuela. Countries that are torn apart by civil war and religious fanaticism. 

    God sees it all. That’s true throughout the world and in the lives of individuals. 

    All sin will be accounted for. Either it was nailed to the cross and you believe in what Jesus did. Or you will spend eternity separated from God because of your own sin. But there is nothing that is unnoticed to an all-knowing God. 

    As I close, I want to return to the Immanuel prophecy in verse 14. 

    Isaiah gives the sign of Immanuel. Again we often know it in connection with the Gospel of Matthew and Christmas time. Basically everything going on in Isaiah 7 revolves around war. Judah being attacked, Judah’s oppressors judged, but Judah also suffering at the end of the passage. 

    This is not a quaint, yuletide passage. It’s a passage about war and you’re given this one glimmer of light, the sign of Immanuel, which means “God with us.” In spite of all that is going on in the world, God is still with his people. There will be difficulties for the nations, but God is still faithful to his promise and his people. 

    There will be judgment on Judah, but God is still with them. This is a passage about war and the one hopeful message is a sign given to a king who didn’t even want it. We live in a world that is so often at war. War between nations, war within ourselves, conflict within our families, struggles against our sinfulness. 

    In the face of war and turmoil, Ahaz was offered a sign. He turned it down. The message that we need is not always the message that we want. In our sinful lives, we are given the message of the gospel. That you are separated and alienated from God due to sin, but you can have forgiveness when you turn your hope away from yourself and place it in Jesus and what he did on the cross. 

    There are difficulties in life. God with us. Is he the Lord in whom you place your trust? 

    Even as Christians we are not insulated from the sin that is in the world and our own lives. There are times of difficulty. But God is faithful. God never unjustly brings judgment. 

    My point with all of this is not to destroy a favorite Christmas verse from Matthew. 

    But I do think there’s value in knowing the original story. Because life is not the quaint, Norman Rockwell painting that we so desperately want the Christmas season to be. Life is hard. There is sin, disease, death. There’s hurt and betrayal. There’s war between nations and threats that we face. 

    Yet in spite of that, to an undeserving king, God gave the sign of Immanuel. And to an undeserving humanity, God gave the gift of the greater Immanuel, his son, God who came into the world, God with us. 

    Originally published December 25, 2020

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