Sunday School Lesson

2. Isaiah 7:1-17; 8:11; 8:12c-14a
God Promises
September 20, 2020
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi 39216
USA

3. 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.

4. • 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
References

5. • 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.)
References

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. “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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.
2 Kings 16:2 NASB

16. 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.
2 Kings 16:3-4 NASB

17. 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.

18. 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.
Isaiah 7:1-2 NASB

19. 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.
Isaiah 7:3-4 NASB

20. • “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.

21. 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.
Isaiah 7:5-7 NASB

22. • 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.

23. 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 7:8-9 NASB

24. 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.

25. 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

26. “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.

27. “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

28. 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?
Isaiah 7:10-13 NASB

29. • 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.

30. 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.
Isaiah 7:14-16 NASB

31. • “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.

32. • 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.
What did Ahaz actually do? (2 Kings 16)

33. 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.”
Isaiah 7:17 NASB

34. • 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.
What can we take from the Focal Passage?

35. • 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.

36. 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;”
Isaiah 8:11, 12c-14a NASB

37. 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.

38. 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.”
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.”

39. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
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.

40. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
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.

41. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
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.

42. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
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.”

43. The Plan of Hope & Salvation
Do you have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900
or http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/