ISAIAH, CHAPTERS 7-12, constitutes what is known by scholars as "The Book of Immanuel." This section forms a literary unit in the writings of Isaiah; and yet the facts show that it is vitally related to the rest of the book. One cannot delete this section without doing violence to the rest. I am calling attention to this fact because the critics make no hesitation in dissecting the marvelous prophecies of Isaiah and assigning them to different authors living at various times. All the evidence proves positively that the entire book of Isaiah constitutes a literary whole.
 

The prophecy contained in chapter 7 was probably spoken in 738 B.C., which is, in the correct biblical chronology, 3387 A.H. (Anno Hominis--in the year of man.) The occasion of Isaiah's speaking this prophecy was an impending invasion of the land of Judah by the combined forces of Israel (the northern kingdom) and Syria. Rezin, the king of Syria, had entered into a military alliance with Pekah, the king of Israel. The object of this confederacy was to crush the little kingdom of Judah over which Ahaz was reigning.

Upon receipt of the news that this coalition had been formed against him, Ahaz was terrified, and so were the people of Judah. Isaiah spoke of their fright in the following words: "And his heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind" (7:2).

Thereupon the Lord sent Isaiah, together with his little son Shear-jashub, to Ahaz who was inspecting the water system of Jerusalem in preparation for the threatened siege. Isaiah met him at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, which was in the highway of the fuller's field. In other words, he was in the Kidron Valley (east of Mount Moriah, the Temple area) near Gihon. This was the only running water around Jerusalem.

Upon meeting the king, the prophet attempted to comfort him saying, "Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither let thy heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah." Notwithstanding the fact that the combined forces of Israel and Syria were a great menace to the little kingdom of Judah, the prophet assured the frightened king that all would be well with him and the nation--if he would only believe. To show the insignificance of the confederated kingdoms and their impotency to do any harm to Judah, Isaiah called these two hostile kings "these two tails of smoking firebrands."

At this point of the message the prophet revealed to the king that this alliance of the two hostile kings was intended primarily to dethrone him and to set up in Jerusalem their own appointee, "even the son of Tabeel." This plan, the Lord assured the king, would not stand and would never come to pass. Then Isaiah uttered a prophecy concerning the complete overthrow of the kingdom of Israel and that of Damascus within a period of sixty-five years. But Isaiah solemnly warned Ahaz saying, "If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established" (vs. 9). Faith is the one condition of receiving any and all blessings from the Lord. Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing to God (Heb 11:6).

The prophet seemed to have stopped with this warning and allowed the king to consider the message. Then he broke the silence and spoke again to him saying, "Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above" (vss. 10,11).

The Lord was eager to strengthen the faith of the terrified king. He always wishes to give His best to all of His servants. The children of God are never straitened in Him but are only limited, as were the Corinthians, in themselves. The Lord gave Ahaz the option of naming the place where the miracle should be wrought in order to strengthen his faith. If the king had so desired, God would have performed an actual miracle in the skies; on the other hand, if Ahaz had expressed a desire that one be performed down in the sea, God would have performed it there. In this gracious offer we see an exhibition of God's great concern to assist His people in a time of crisis. My friend, the Lord wants to strengthen your faith and assist you in your efforts to live for Him.

Ahaz, as we learned from the account in Kings and Chronicles, was a contemptible character. The Holy Spirit once spoke of him as "That man Ahaz." True to his character, Ahaz, with a pious air, said in reply to the proffered mercy: "I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah" (vs. 12). He became very pious all of a sudden--not wishing to tempt God. This is an instance of holding to the letter and missing the spirit of the law. By accepting the Lord's offer he would not be tempting God--he would only be tasting the Lord and learning that He is good (Ps. 34:8).

When Ahaz thus spurned God's offer of assistance, Isaiah instantly turned from him in contempt and, looking out into the future, addressed the house of David saying, "Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also?" (vs. 13). We must understand that verses 13 and 14 were not addressed to Ahaz, but to the house of David--the entire house, David's posterity in the future. Many of the Davidic kings had been evil and, figuratively speaking, had wearied God. Hence the question.
 

The prophet then uttered one of the most profound predictions to be found in the Scriptures: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (vs. 14). This passage is a forecast concerning the virgin birth of our Lord. Some of the best manuscripts read "the virgin." The article the with this noun indicates a definite, specific virgin--the one who is presupposed in the expression, "the seed of the woman" (Gen. 3:15). Matthew applies this passage as a prediction concerning the virgin birth of Jesus (Matt., chap. 1).

In verses 15 and 16 there is a prediction of a child whose birth was to be before the desolation of the kingdoms of Israel and Syria. Some expositors have considered that these verses were speaking of the same child whose birth is foretold in verse 15. The scholars taking this view cannot see in this prediction a prophecy of the Messiah. They overlook one of the fundamental laws of interpretation, which is known as the "law of double reference." The principle involved in this law is the blending of the accounts of two events or persons who are separated by some period of time, and yet the descriptions of the two are blended into a single picture. When one understands this general principle, he can see that verse 14 is speaking of the Messiah's birth and that verses 15 and 16 are talking of another child who was to be born in the near future--closer to Isaiah's day.

In verses 18 and 19 the Lord spoke of the Egyptian forces as if they were a fly and of the Assyrian as a bee. Thus the prophet declared that God would call forth the fly and the bee from Egypt and Assyria and that they would come into the land of Israel and devastate it.

In verse 20, however, the prophet changed his figure and called the king of Assyria the Lord's razor, with which He would shave Israel.

In verses 21-25 Isaiah spoke of the desolation of the land and the removal of the population which would result from the invasion of the country by these foreign forces. From verses 23-25 we learn that the country would grow up as a wilderness and that there would be plenty of pasture for cattle and sheep.
 

In the section chapters 8:1-10:4 occurs another oracle which was spoken at some later time. As to what length of time there was between them no one can say. In chapter 8:1-4 is a prediction of the birth of Isaiah's second son, who is called Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Some have thought that Isaiah's second son was the one whose birth was foretold in verses 15 and 16 of the preceding chapter. This interpretation may be correct, but one cannot be dogmatic.

The next portion of this prophecy consists of verses 5-8. Again the prophet spoke of the Jews' being dissatisfied with their own condition and casting about, thinking that they could better their situation and improve conditions by winning the favor of Assyria. He therefore spoke of the Assyrian invasion, which came to pass under the rulership of Sennacherib. He compared the oncoming hosts to the flood waters of the river Euphrates and declared that they would overflow Immanuel's land. The Assyrian records show that the hosts of that empire actually swept over the entire country, leaving it desolate.

In the paragraph consisting of verses 9-15 we have a prediction concerning a great political upheaval among the peoples of the earth, who band themselves together in a confederacy and conspiracy, and who are broken in pieces. The transition from the preceding prediction in verses 5-8 which, as we have just seen, was fulfilled in the Assyrian invasion, was easy since it naturally blends with the forecast of the invasion of Palestine by the hosts of the nations in the end-time. But the prophet urged his brethren not to become affrighted at this military and political situation. Instead of fearing men, they should fear Jehovah and sanctify Him. "And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken" (vss. 13-15). These verses constitute a prediction concerning the Messiah, who will be to those who accept and trust Him a sanctuary--a place of worship--but He, to those who do not accept Him, will be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. The prophet, in this prediction of the future, foretold that many of the Jews would stumble in regard to Him, fall, and be broken. This passage was literally fulfilled at our Lord's first coming, in the Jews' not accepting Him as Lord and Saviour, and in their rejection of Him as a nation.

Verses 16-18 form a single prophecy. In this paragraph Isaiah commanded his disciples to bind up and seal the testimony among themselves--the testimony concerning himself and his family, all of whom were typical of Messiah and His brethren in the spiritual sense of the term. That this interpretation is correct is seen from Hebrews 2:13, which quotes a portion of this passage and applies it to the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples. Isaiah's name and those of his children were significant and typical of spiritual realities, as an examination of them indicates.

AT TIMES demonism comes to the fore. This is especially true in times of national and international crises. This fact is set forth in the prediction found in verses 19-22. Isaiah foretold that, when the Assyrian forces would begin to invade the country, many would seek those who had familiar spirits and those who were fortunetellers in order to learn the outcome of the threatened danger. The people thought that they were getting in communication with their departed dead in order to learn facts that would be advantageous to the living. This is nothing but spiritism--demonism. This is something God hates. Moses and the prophets denounced every type of spiritism and fortune telling. The Apostle Paul forewarned that in the end-time spiritism will be prevalent. After the last war fortune telling and palmistry, together with astrology, thrived everywhere. People wanted to receive messages from their loved ones, who had been slain in the carnage of that conflict. There is little doubt but that this same situation will be duplicated at the conclusion of the present war.

People who consult spiritualists or fortunetellers never receive a message from their departed loved ones although they often do receive messages purported to be from them; but these communications come only from demons.

The Lord warned Israel in these words: "To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them." We have the Word of God. In it He has given us all that He wants us to know and that is beneficial for us. Let us therefore avoid every appearance of dabbling in spiritism.
 

In chapter 9 the prophet passed over from the dark days of the Assyrian invasion to the time of the coming of Christ when He was here nineteen hundred years ago. In verse 1 he spoke of "the former time," when the land of Israel, which was overrun by the Assyrian hordes, was in darkness. But, in contrast with that time of distress, he spoke of the first coming of Christ and of His ministry in the northern portion of Palestine and declared that God would make that section of the country glorious. The way this was to be brought about was that to the people who had been walking in darkness a great light would shine forth--Christ the Light of the world! This prediction was literally fulfilled in the great Galilean ministry of our Lord, of which we read in the Synoptic Gospels.

From the prediction concerning Christ's ministry in Galilee (vs. 2) the prophet swept out into the future (vss. 3 ff.) and described the great increase and multiplication of the population of Israel and the unbounded joy of the nation in a time yet future--the great Millennial Age. The occasion of this outburst of joy on the part of Israel will be the fact that "the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as in the day of Midian" (vs. 4). God in a most miraculous manner defeated the mighty hosts of the Midianites in the days of Gideon. This victory was such a signal one that it stood out in the minds of the people of Israel as a demonstration of divine intervention in behalf of His people. The prophet therefore spoke of the overthrow of the final enemies of Israel in the end-time and compared the victory to that one by Gideon over the Midianites.

According to verse 5 at this future time the Lord will destroy all the weapons of war. From that time onward there will be no munition factories grinding out weapons of destruction. On the contrary, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isa. 2:4).

THE destruction of all Israel's foes and the introduction of this new era of righteousness will be the result of the birth of Immanuel, because the prophet exclaimed: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (vs. 6). This child is none other than that of the virgin concerning whom we studied in Isaiah 7:14.

This one is born unto the Jewish people--He sustains a relationship to the nation such as no other has ever done. Jesus came in fulfillment, as we have seen, of Isaiah 7:14, but He was not recognized by the nation as the God-man of whom this verse speaks. When, however, Israel as a nation accepts Him and pleads for Him to return--as the Scriptures have foretold that she will do--He will return and will be recognized by not only Israel, but the entire world as this Wonderful One, this Counsellor, this Mighty God, this Everlasting Father, this Prince of Peace!

When Israel receives her long-rejected Messiah and He returns, He will establish His rule and authority over His Chosen People. The Jews will then, as we learn from other passages, go forth into all the world, proclaiming the one everlasting gospel to the nations that survive the Tribulation, and convert them to Christ. As each nation receives the light and accepts Christ, it will apply to be incorporated into Messiah's kingdom. This turning to Christ by the nations of the world will continue until all will be brought under His benign and righteous reign. This growth and development of His kingdom is foretold in the following words: "Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this" (Isa. 9:7).

After giving this glorious vision of Messiah's future reign, Isaiah very abruptly ceased to look out into the distant future. After the threatened invasion of the country by Assyria had taken place and the country had been overrun and laid waste by the devastating hordes of the enemy--a stroke of judgment from the Almighty--the people, declared the prophet, did not take this calamity as a judgment from God but hardened their hearts and declared: "The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone; the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place" (Isa. 9:10). Men and women can get so far from God and can plunge so far into sin that they do not recognize strokes of judgment upon them and can in the stoutness of evil hearts defy the Almighty, as did these people of whom the prophet spoke. According to Isaiah they were determined that, since their houses had been destroyed, they would build bigger, better, and finer ones--a spirit of defiance against God and His overruling providence. When they took this attitude, the Lord foretold that He would stir up their old enemies against them, even the Philistines and also the Syrians. In His bringing them against these defiant Israelites, the Lord declared that His anger against their sin would not be appeased, but that His hand would still be held out against them in judgment. This prophecy, of course, has long since been fulfilled literally.

THE prophet looked out into the future beyond the wars brought on by the Philistines and the Syrians and foretold that the stout hearts of the people would not be humbled by this further judgment and that the Lord would be forced by their attitude and actions to bring other strokes of judgment upon them. He would therefore, the prophet asserted, cut off their head and their tail, the palm branch and the rush in one day. By these figurative expressions he referred to the elder and the honorable man as the head and the prophet who taught lies as the tail. The people would be led into this condition of rebellion and apostasy by their careless, indifferent leaders who caused them to err. On account of this, destruction would come upon them. When the Lord would punish the people for their sin, sadness and sorrow would be brought into the various homes, as we see from verse 17; nevertheless He would not withdraw His wrath but would be compelled by their attitude and actions to continue His strokes of judgment.

In verses 18-21 Isaiah thought of the land of Israel as a great forest which was set afire by the wickedness of the people. In this bold, graphic figure he saw wickedness rolling upward in clouds of smoke as the land was completely consumed by the wrath of God. During this time of judgment he foresaw that one would "snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied." The distress of the country would reach the state wherein the living would feast upon the bodies of the dead. In verse 21 he foretold that there would be inter-tribal conflict, which struggles would be brought about because of Jehovah's anger against their sins.

In CHAPTER 10:1-4 the prophet addressed the rulers of Israel saying, "Woe upon them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers that write perverseness; to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!" The rulers and leaders of a people are placed in positions of responsibility and authority. If they abuse the powers vested in them, God will hold them personally responsible for misconduct and the miscarriage of justice. The day of reckoning and of accounting will certainly come--to one and to all. The prophet therefore asked, "And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?" By these rhetorical questions the prophet simply was leading up to the definite prediction concerning the judgment that would fall upon these godless leaders, which he pronounced in the following words: "They shall only bow down under the prisoners, and shall fall under the slain." God keeps the books. He knows whom to punish and to what extent.

ISAIAH concluded this section of his prophecy with the refrain which he had been using: "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." The various strokes of judgment brought about by the Lord in the past have been necessitated by Israel's sins. Every sin and transgression receives a just recompense of reward in this life, and those that are not covered by the blood will be dealt with in the eternal world.

IN OUR STUDIES of the message of Isaiah the prophet we have come to the investigation of chapters 10:5-12:6.

This portion concludes what is properly known as the Book of Immanuel--consisting of chapters 7 to 12 inclusive. This section falls into two minor divisions: A prediction of the invasion of Palestine by the Assyrian, who in this case was Sennacherib, which description blends with a prophecy regarding an ultimate invasion of Palestine by him whom was typified by Sennacherib, namely, the Antichrist. At that future time the remnant of Israel will return to the Mighty God, the Messiah of Israel. This prediction is found in 10:5-27. The second portion of this prophecy consists of 10:28-12:6. Being guided by what is known by Bible students as "the law of recurrence," Isaiah covers the same period of time in this second section which he has portrayed in the preceding verses. He therefore, in one of the most graphic and dramatic passages of his writings sets forth the rapid march of the aggressor as he approaches Jerusalem and hurls defiance at her. Suddenly, by a stroke of divine judgment, the invading hosts like a mighty forest are hewn down. Following this prediction the prophet foretells Messiah's coming to earth and His appearing as "a shoot out of the stock of Jesse." Quickly passing over the prediction regarding the first coming, he speaks of those events which we know will occur at the second coming of Messiah when He will judge the world, lift the curse, and introduce the great millennial reign of righteousness throughout the entire earth. The prophecy concludes with a song of thanksgiving and rejoicing that will be upon the lips of all who come to that time.

Having glanced at this section as a whole, we shall now notice the particulars of each subdivision and paragraph.

IN A most dramatic manner the Prophet Isaiah, in an apostrophe, addressed the Assyrian, concerning whom he declared that this one was the rod of God's anger and the staff in whose hand was His indignation. The word rendered "Ho" in the sentence, "Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation!" (10:5), also means "woe" and is thus rendered six times in chapter 5 as we have seen in a previous study. Grammatically the passage could be rendered, "Woe to Ashur," or "woe to the Assyrian ..." It is quite likely that both ideas are expressed in the word.

After addressing the Assyrian as the agent through whom God would execute His anger and indignation against Israel, the prophet declared, " I [Jehovah] will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets" (vs. 6.) God has used and continues to employ nations in order to accomplish His plans and purposes. It is quite evident from this passage that the Assyrian is here but an instrument in the hands of the Almighty to punish His disobedient people Israel. In our first study of this series we saw from chapter 1 that the entire nation of Israel, with the exception of the faithful remnant, was thoroughly polluted with sin and iniquity. Notwithstanding this fact they continued to carry on a ceremonial worship, thinking that by so doing they could win the favor of the Almighty and at the same time continue in their immoral, corrupt manner of living. The Holy One of Israel cannot countenance sin, even in His beloved people. His holiness demands punishment. His love desires to pour out the fullness of His blessings upon them. So long therefore as they are continuing in sin, just that long is it impossible for Him to bless them. Israel was warned of God that her sin would find her out (Num. 32:23). Men should not be deceived, for God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap (Gal. 6:7). God therefore had to punish Israel for her moral delinquencies and for her sins.

In this instance He used the Assyrian. When we look at profane history as well as at the biblical account, we realize that the specific fulfillment was the invasion of Palestine by the Assyrian nation under the leadership of Sennacherib. Later the Lord used Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, as His "battle-axe" in punishing Israel. (See Jeremiah, chapters 50, 51, for the prediction concerning Babylon. One should also examine Habakkuk, chapter 1, for supplemental information on this point.)

Although the Lord was using the Assyrians as well as the Babylonians, to accomplish His purpose, they were unconscious of the fact that they were thus carrying out the will of God in order to punish His ancient people. This fact is asserted in the following statement, "Howbeit he [the Assyrian] meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few" (vs. 7). Men make their plans and state their purposes. The same is true with reference to nations. The Lord allows them to act according to their own free will--within certain prescribed limits--and at the same time overrules and directs their efforts and makes them contribute to the advancement of His eternal plans and purposes. This is what is asserted in the verse just quoted.

From verses 8-11 of our chapter we see a manifestation of the proud, arrogant spirit of the king of Assyria. He boasted that the princes in his armies were kings. This statement may have been literally true; or it may be that he was thinking of his subordinate officials as equal to kings of other nations. From these verses we see that he had conquered Calno, Carchemis, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria, and Damascus. Being drunk with the ambition of conquest, he thought that by his own might he had conquered these various kingdoms and their gods. He thought of Jehovah, the God of the Israelites as being nothing more than an idol of the nations. He therefore felt that he could conquer Jerusalem and its people. Obviously he was blinded by his great successes. Of course he could not see spiritual realities as they were; unregenerated men cannot discern spiritual matters. They can only be interpreted by the aid of the indwelling Spirit of God and in the light of His infallibly inspired Word, which thing this boastful monarch did not have.

CONCERNING this king the Lord declared, "Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks" (10:12). According to Psalm 33, verses 10, 11, the counsel of the nations shall be brought to nought, but "the counsel of Jehovah standeth fast for ever." As stated above, the Lord uses wicked, evil men and nations to forward His plans and purposes. When He has accomplished His work through such men or nations, He either, figuratively speaking, lays them aside or deals drastically with them, punishing them for their own sins and wrongdoing. In some cases nothing but the death sentence will satisfy divine justice. This was the case with Sennacherib as we learn (Isa. 37:36-38).

The reason the Lord had to deal drastically with Sennacherib and his lieutenants was that he, together with them, refused to acknowledge His supremacy. On the contrary, he boasted that his conquests were due to his own strength, might, and understanding. His insane ravings and boastful utterances concerning his self-sufficiency are set forth in verses 13 and 14. Because of this arrogant attitude, the Lord had to deal with him drastically as soon as he had accomplished His purposes through him. Had Sennacherib repented, as Nebuchadnezzar later did (Dan., chap. 4), it is altogether possible that he might have been spared such severe and final judgment.


 

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