Sunday School Lesson

1. Isaiah 7:1-17; 8:11; 8:12c-14a
God Promises
September 20, 2020
His Followers Sunday School Class
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
The glory of God!
1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God.
References
• Grogan, Geoffrey W., Isaiah: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary,
Zondervan, 1986
• Guffen, Gilbert L., The Gospel in Isaiah, Convention Press, 1968
• Keil-Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament - Isaiah, Eerdmans, 1866
• Knapp, Christopher, The Kings of Judah and Israel, Loizeaux Brothers, 1908
• Watts, J. D. W., Word Biblical Commentary: Isaiah, Word Books, 1985
• Wright, G. Ernest, The Book of Isaiah: The Layman’s Bible Commentary,
John Knox Press, 1964
• Young, Edward J., The Book of Isaiah: A Commentary, Eerdman, 1965
(Assigning hard dates during this period is challenging. Excellent scholars differ
by 10 years or more, so dates should be extended some measure of grace.)
In roughly 850 BC, at the end of the reign of Ahab (1 Kings 22), God sent the
prophet Micaiah to deliver the prophecy that Ahab would be defeated and slain
at Ramoth-gilead, but the prophecy was broader and more encompassing.
Micaiah said in part,
“I saw all Israel
Scattered on the mountains,
Like sheep which have no shepherd.”
Ahab challenged the prophecy, so Micaiah extended his speech and revealed
his vision.

2. “Therefore, hear the world of the Lord.
I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and
all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left...”
What follows seems to be a high court or a courtroom. God has pronounced
judgement and is now determining the method of executing the sentence.
From this point and moving forward, prophecy in the Northern Kingdom
underscored that Israel had gone too far from God. Her sin was so great as to
breach the great covenant and sever the relationship with God. Israel would be
turned over to the nations for destruction.
The prophetic message to Judah takes the form of revealing the Glory and
Holiness of God, pronouncing the judgement that will fall on Israel and Judah,
the preservation of a remnant, and the redemption that can be possible on the
other side of judgement and blood.
In the third quarter of the 8th Century before Christ, there were powerful kings
on the thrones of Israel and Judah, Jeroboam II and Uzziah, respectively. They
were capable leaders and their kingdoms enjoyed peace and strength. Their
wealth exceeded the time of Solomon and luxury was common.
The people may have still entertained the idea that God had destined their
nations for greatness, but with the death of Jeroboam II, (753 BC) Israel rapidly
fell into treachery, short dynasties, and decline. Following the death of Uzziah,
Judah saw a succession of weakening kings or incredibly evil kings.
Apparently late in his reign, Uzziah sinned in trying to take on the role of priest
before God. He was punished with leprosy. His son, Jotham, served as his
representative before the people. Jotham became king of Judah in his own
right upon the death of Uzziah, (750 BC). Jotham was 25 and reigned for 16
years.
Jotham is remembered as a builder who strengthened Jerusalem and built
walled cities in the mountains around his capital. He defended Judah in many
wars and battles with his neighbors. His devotion to the Lord seems to have
been outstanding. Micah may have been thinking of King Jotham when he
said, “The godly man hath perished out of the land.” (Micah 7:2)
735 BC, Ahaz became king over Judah.

3. 2 Kings 16:2 NASB
2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen
years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his
God, as his father David had done. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of
Israel, and he even made his son pass through the fire, in accordance with the
abominations of the nations whom the Lord had driven out before the sons of
Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills,
and under every green tree.
The great powers of the day, Assyria and Egypt looked at the small nations of
Tyre, Syria (Aram), Israel, Judah, Edom, Moab and the Philistine cities of the
coast as nuisances that needed to be kept in line or swept away. Assyria in
particular didn’t want the treat of a revolt on its flanks when it was squaring off
against Egypt. If these small nations wouldn’t remain peaceful and pay tribute,
they would need to be savaged.
Syria and Israel had joined forces to resist Assyria and were determined to force
Judah to join them. In effect, they had gone to war to create an ally.
Isaiah 7:1-4 NASB
1 Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah,
king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king
of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not conquer it.
2 When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans have
camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of
the forest shake with the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son
Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the
fuller’s field, 4 and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not
be faint hearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on
account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.
• “Shear-jashub” means “A remnant shall return”
• Ahaz was out inspecting an open canal that brought water from a spring
into the city.
• There were other sources of water that were protected, but this canal may
have represented a weak point in his defenses.

4. Isaiah 7:5-7 NASB
5 Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil against
you, saying, 6 “Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for
ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of
it,” 7 thus says the Lord God: “It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.
• Son of Tabeel.
• This name is Aramaic.
• It may refer to a Syrian that was not of the line of David.
• Or it may have referred to the son of a Syrian wife of Ahaz, which would
have maintained the dynasty of David but insured loyalty to Aram.
• “It shall not stand nor shall it come to pass.”
• God has given a double guarantee.
Isaiah 7:8-9 NASB
8 For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus is Rezin (now
within another sixty-five years Ephraim will be broken to pieces, so that it is no
longer a people), 9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of
Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you will not believe, you surely shall not last.”
Isaiah was delivering a message from God that Ahaz, in spite of his personal evil
and defiance toward the Lord, was going to enjoy God’s protection. Jerusalem
would not fall. Instead, Syria and Israel would be destroyed.
The statement in parenthesis stating that 65 years would pass, may have been
inserted at some point by an editor or it may refer to the eventual introduction
into Israel of a racial mixture by the Assyrian emperor, Esar-haddon, which
happened 65 years after this meeting with Ahaz. (Young). The actual
destruction came in two stages, in 733-32 BC and in 724-21 BC. (2 Kings 17)
Wright page 38
“If you will not believe,” This is not a matter of intellectual assent regarding
warfare. This Hebrew word is a powerful reference to faith in a spiritual sense. If
Ahaz does not have a deep, unshakable faith in God, he will not be able to
remain on the throne for any length of time.
“Believing,” in this context, does not refer to an intellectual acceptance of an
idea, but to a complete and entire commitment of the self to God so that in
whatever crisis one finds himself, he can stand firm in confidence in the
faithfulness of God.
-- G. Ernest Wright

5. Isaiah 7:10-13 NASB
10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the
Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will
not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” 13 Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is
it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the
patience of my God as well?
• Notice that verse 10 says “the Lord spoke”, but the vessel was the prophet.
• Ahaz refused to ask a sign, not because he truly respected God, but
probably from superstition.
• He had already decided to deal with Syria and Israel by forming an
alliance with Assyria.
Isaiah 7:14-16 NASB
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with
child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. 15 He will eat curds
and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. 16 For
before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land
whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
• “Alma” - young woman.
• The Septuagint translated it as “virgin”.
• There are literally scores of theories related to how this might have
satisfied the immediate need for a “sign” and the ultimate fulfilment in
Messiah. Grogan p. 64, believes, “An unmarried young woman within the
royal house would shortly marry and conceive. Her son would be called
Immanuel.
• Assyria laid waste to Syria and Israel in 733-732, which would fit the
prophecy.
What did Ahaz actually do? (2 Kings 16)
• He sent a groveling message to Tiglath-pileser.
• He sent the silver and gold from the Temple.
• After he was rescued, Ahaz visited Damascus.
• Ahaz met Tiglath-pileser & saw its altar.
• He had Urijah, the priest, build a replica & replaced the furnishings of the
Temple.
Isaiah 7:17 NASB
17 The Lord will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house such
days as have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah—
the days of the king of Assyria.”

6. What can we take from the Focal Passage?
• God has a plan.
o We can find shelter in it, or
o We can destroy ourselves against it.
• God has made His plan knowable/known.
• God will let us turn away from Him.
• For Judah, the way back for a remnant would be through judgement.
• The context passage includes chapters 8-12.
• They are rich in warnings and promises.
• Several of our dearest promises of the coming Messiah are in these
chapters.
• Let me encourage you to read over them and meditate on some of the
parts that will speak to you.
Isaiah 8:11, 12c-14a NASB
11 For thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk
in the way of this people, saying,
12c “you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it.
13 It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
14a Then He will become a sanctuary;”
We are living in a time of fear and apprehension. There is violence on our streets
and in too many of our families. As a nation, we are far, far away from God’s
heart.
God had warned Isaiah about the turmoil, fear, injustice, and sin that would be
whirling around him, but God still wanted him to take his message to the people.
God instructed Isaiah with a paradox. By coming to fear the Lord, Isaiah would
learn of the glory and holiness of God. Then, God would be his refuge. God
can’t give us peace until we know Him as Lord of Host.
The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
John 3:16-17 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not
send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved.”

7. John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me.”
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to
pay the penalty for our sin.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the “second death” explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
• Anyone who’s lifestyle is one or more of the sins listed in Revelation 21:8,
will experience the “second death,” if they do not repent.
• To Repent means to turn around, to go in the opposite direction, to turn
away from sin and believe in Jesus.
Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be
My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explain to us how to be overcomers.
Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

8. Do you have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
https://www.firstbaptistjackson.org/contact-us/