The sermon, 'A Family Visit to the King' by Peter Allison, explores Isaiah chapter seven, a part of what is known as the Book of Emmanuel. The narrative focuses on King Ahaz of Judah, who faces political pressure from Syria and Israel but chooses to reject God's guidance in favor of aligning with Assyria. The sermon discusses the importance of faith as an antidote to fear, using the biblical example of Moses and others. God's offer of a sign to Ahaz is contrasted with Ahaz's lack of faith, as he declines to ask for a sign, misusing scripture to justify his decision. This decision leads to negative consequences for Judah. The prophecy of a virgin bearing a son named Emmanuel is seen as a dual prophecy, fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ and symbolically in Isaiah's time. The sermon warns against placing trust in human solutions over divine guidance and emphasizes the enduring truth and reliability of God's word. It concludes with a call to place trust in God rather than transient worldly powers.

Our scripture reading this morning is Isaiah, chapter seven. We begin in these next six chapters, what some have called the Book of Emmanuel. Isaiah has just seen the glory of the Father of Christ sitting on the heavenly throne. We pick up in chapter 7 in verse 1. Now it came to pass in the days of a has the son of Jotham, the son of Isaiah, king of Judah, that resin king of Syria, and Pecca, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it.

And it was told to the house of David, saying Syria's forces are deployed in Ephraim. And it was told to the house, so his heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind. Then the Lord said to Isaiah, go out now to meet Ahaz, you and Shir Jazab your son at the end of the aqueduct from the upper pool on the highway to the fuller's field and say to him, take heed and be quiet. Do not fear nor be faint-hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying, Let us go up against Judah and trouble it, and let us make a gap in its walls for ourselves, and set a king over them, the son of Tabal.

Thus says the Lord God. It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass, for the head of Syria is Damascus and the head of Damascus is resin. Within 65 years, Ephraim will be broken so that it will not be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established." Moreover, the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God, either ask it either in the depth or in the height above.

But Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord. Then he said, here now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men? But will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.

Kurds and honey he shall eat that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father's house, days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria and they will come and all of them will rest in the desolate valley and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thorns and in all the pastures. And the same day the Lord will shave with a hired razor, with those from beyond the river, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs, and will also remove the beard.

And it shall be in that day that a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep. So it shall be from the abundance of milk they give that he will eat curds. For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land. And it shall happen in that day that wherever there could be a thousand vines worth a thousand checkles of silver, it will be for briars and thorns. With arrows and bows men will come there, because the land will become briars and thorns and to any hill which could be dug with the hoe.

You will not go there for fear of briars and thorns, but it will become a range for oxen and a place for sheep to roam. May we love and treasure his commandments more than the finest gold. Oh, Father in heaven, please make your word pass from our ears to our hearts and from our hearts to our lips in our conversation. That the rain which you have said does not return void that as that rain doesn't return void, pray that your word might accomplish the purpose for which it is sent. We pray for a gracious purpose.

Pray that it would bring life. We ask, I ask also that you would sanctify my sinful lips that they may proclaim these words of life with that you might preserve me from error. In Jesus name we ask, amen. And I think that's a very important point. And I think that's a very important point.

And I think that's a very important point. Well, Ahaz came to power in a time of national anxiety and fear. But unlike his grandfather, Aziah, who you remember also came into power in a time of national humiliation, but turned to the Lord, leading to many decades of economic prosperity and military victory. Unlike his grandfather, Isaiah, Ahaz rejects the Lord. He wanted to go his own way.

And because of that, it did not go well. And the prophecies in this chapter are the prophecies of the things that came upon him because of that. Second Kings 15 tells us that the nation was anxious because in the closing days of Jotham's reign, that's his father. He has his father. And so it's in the midst of this tension, this rising tension that Jotham dies and Ahaz his son reigns in his place.

You see, if you remember ever since the days of Solomon, the close of Solomon's reign, Israel has been divided into two nations, a north and a south, two kingdoms. The northern kingdom consisted of nine of the 12 tribes which formed 10 distinct territories, And so they were often referred to as the 10 northern tribes. And the South had two tribal territories, Judah and Benjamin. The territory of the 12th tribes of Simeon was entirely within the land given to Judah and so their land their territory was absorbed into Judas. So you had ten tribes in the north and two in the south.

And the northern kingdom is referred to as Israel or Ephraim or Samaria because the capital city of Samaria was Samaria and that was in the land of Ephraim. So you'll see in our text that there's references to Ephraim. And the southern kingdom is usually referred to as Judah or Jerusalem. And because Jerusalem continued as the capital city for the southern kings, and it was in the land of Judah. So all the kings of the southern nation of Judah were descendants of David.

Some were wicked, but many feared God. The northern kings, on the other hand, were all wicked. None of them feared God. They were wicked. They went astray from the very beginning.

Jeroboam brought in false idols, false altars, and worshiped to idols. And so there were many coups and assassinations which led to about nine different dynasties in the northern kingdom. Sometimes these two kingdoms cooperated with each other and sometimes they fought each other, Kind of like brothers and sisters. And so this chapter seven opens about 16 years after the vision that Isaiah saw recorded in Chapter 6 that we looked at last week. It's set in the first year of King Ahaz's reign.

And these two nations at this time are not on friendly terms. The cause of the national anxiety that is throughout the southern kingdom over which Ahaz reigns was the intelligence that they had received that serious forces were deployed in Ephraim. And Isaiah tells us in verse two that his heart and the heart of his people. Removed as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind. In other words, they were very afraid.

Probably much like the panic attacks that characterized the first 90 minutes following the attacks in New York on September 11. And the common assumption is that these two kings of Syria and Ephraim were ganging up on Judah because Judah did not want to join them in their rebellion against Assyria. You see, Assyria is like the 800 pound gorilla in that region, in the region of Mesopotamia and has been for a number of years there. There was a period of maybe 500 years there. They were a vicious empire building nation.

Their walls, their monuments were decorated with the decapitated soldiers that they had vanquished in battle. And their soldiers are pictured on these walls holding the heads, the decapitated heads, And they brought over the course of this time, they brought much of Mesopotamia under their dominion. A few years earlier, the northern kingdom of Israel completely capitulated To them and accepted the Assyrian yoke just to avoid fighting them. They were that scared of them and they paid the northern kingdom paid thirty seven and a half tons of silver to pull King of Assyria just so they wouldn't have to face him in battle. In other words, they're like that dog that just rolls over and says, I'm yours.

That's about $72 million in today's money. That's about seventy two million dollars in today's money. But now in the days of Pekka a little later. They think that by joining forces with Syria, they are strong enough to take on sorry, joining forces with Syria, they are strong enough to take on us Syria. But they want Judah.

These two nations want Judah to join with them. But Judah under Jotham and now under Hayab have declined to join them. Hayab has other plans. He wants to join, he's going to end up joining Assyria. And so this is spelled out in verse five where Isaiah says Syria, Ephraim and the son of Ramaliah.

The son of Ramaliah is Pekah, king of Israel. Isaiah says they have plotted evil against you saying let us go up against Judah and trouble it. Let us make a gap in its wall for ourselves and get a king over them, the son of Tabal. You see, they wanted to effect a regime change and put in a king who would agree to their resistance movement. Now based on the information in 2 Kings 16 And the first verse of this chapter, Syria and Samaria had apparently tried earlier to take Jerusalem, but without success.

And so Rezin, the king of Syria, had gone down to Elah. That's the north port city on the northern tip of the Gulf of what we call Acre but today or the Yom Suf in the Old Testament. It's where the Israelites had a port city. It's where Solomon had had a fleet of ships. Jehoshaphat had tried to put a fleet down there as well.

He went down there. He went down there. And so the report in verse two that Syria's forces are now deployed in Ephraim most likely means that residence forces forces have now rejoined Peckas forces in Ephraim. And they are Isaiah says plotting against him. And so Judah is running scared and they're preparing to repel another invasion.

And Ahaz is out inspecting the water supply. See this is the weak link in their defenses you need to have water you need to have food and you need to have a strong wall And if you have those things and you can have you have some hope of success against a besieging army Israel had was an impregnable city was built on a hill and had a wall. They had food, but they didn't have water. Later, has a kayak has his son would build a tunnel, a half a kilometer through. A hill to bring water into Jerusalem.

And that enabled him to remain an island around in the midst of the vast Syrian empire all around him. They never conquered Jerusalem, but Ahaz doesn't have that yet. And so he's out inspecting the weak link here. He's out at the aqueduct. Because they're going to have to store up water inside Jerusalem in order to be able to withstand a siege.

And it's here that God tells Isaiah to take his son, Sherejazim, and to go meet Ahaz at the end of this aqueduct. And Isaiah specifies that the Fuller's Field is right next to this aqueduct, this highway. This field, the Fuller's Field would have been where the cleaners, the laundromats of that day carried out their work. It would make sense for them to need to be around the And so Isaiah comes with an offer of deliverance for Ahaz. He comes with this offer of deliverance and calls Ahaz to trust in the Lord.

Go and tell him, the Lord says to Isaiah, Take heed and be quiet. Those are imperatives. Commands. Do not fear or be faint hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, he calls them, for the fierce anger of resin and Syria. Do not fear or be faint hearted for these two stubs of smoking firebrands, he calls him, for the fierce anger of resin and Syria, the son of Remaliah, A smoking firebrand is a stick of wood that has been burned so that it has no strength left in it.

It's there, there's a shell there, but it's no strength. If you tap it, it just collapses in a pile of embers and ashes. And this is a stub. That's what he says these two nations are. They want to come and breach your wall and install a new king?

Isaiah says they will fail like a fire-weakened stick of wood. Thus says the Lord your God, it shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass, for the head of Syria is Damascus. And the head of Damascus is resin within 65 years, Ephraim will be broken. So that it will not be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is Ramaliah's son.

But Isaiah warns him. If you will not believe, surely you will not be established. This won't happen if you don't believe. The word believe here And the word established are the same Hebrew word, just different verb stems. That's the same word, the same meaning.

There's a little bit of a wordplay going on here. You see faith. So you're calling him the faith to believe because faith is the antidote to fear. It's by faith. You see faith is the antidote to fear.

And so we see that the Bible says that Moses had faith. And so he did not fear the wrath of the king, for he endured seeing him who is invisible. Moses had faith and therefore he didn't fear that what the king of Pharaoh could do, the strongest at that time king in the land. Because you see, faith is the evidence of things that are not seen. It's the evidence of the invisible.

The eye of faith is able to see what the physical eye cannot see. The eye of faith is able to see what the physical eye cannot see. The eye of faith is able to lay hold of the promises of God, to see the power of God. Just like you remember when Elisha was surrounded by this army, Syrian army, and his servant is alarmed. He's afraid.

And Elisha prays, Lord open his eyes, and the Lord opens his eyes and he sees that those who are with them are greater than the Syrian army. That's what's going on here. Faith is the antidote to fear. And faith is necessary to being firmly grounded or established. You see, these are the same word in Hebrew.

And saving faith, the Bible tells us is expressed as having three might say dimensions to it. Knowledge, ascent and trust. Knowledge, ascent and trust. Saving faith consists in the knowledge of what we believe in, the object to believe in. It consists in an ascent to its worthiness to be believed in.

And it consists in a commitment of ourselves to it that's true and trustworthy. But we don't want to understand these three dimensions as meaning that saving faith consists of knowledge plus assent and trust. It's not like they are three distinct parts. They are three parts that are connected together. Saving faith consists first of knowledge.

We have to know something about what we are believing in faith. You see, it's not just a leap in the dark. It's not a blind submission to church leaders. It's not even a confidence in miracles. The apostle John tells us in the second chapter of his gospel that many people believed in Jesus when they saw his miracles but Jesus did not commit himself to them because he knew what was in their heart.

Jesus told one man who had believed that he was from God because no one could do the miracles that he did unless God was with him, unless he was from God. In other words, he believed in the miracles. Jesus told him that he must be born again. So saving faith is an experiential knowledge of divinely revealed truth, truth that God has revealed to us. Saving faith knows in what it believes.

And that knowledge is not based on our subjective experience. It's based on the objective truth of the word of God. Saving faith is based on the objective truth of the word of God, knowing that truth. But secondly, saving faith consists in a persuasion of the truth, a constant ascent to every word of God. This is a personal conviction of our sin and of our great need of Christ.

That's what it means to ascent to the truth. Ascent is a knowledge that's passed into a conviction. It's a hearty and willing submission to the truth of God's word. A hearty and a willing submission. The wicked can give ascent to some doctrines as being true.

But see, they hate the truth. The wicked hate the truth and they do not submit to it. They know it's true, but they don't assent to it. And so through the submission of assent, The word of God is permanently woven into the heart of believers, the heart of man. But saving faith is also a competent, heartfelt trust In the object of our faith in Jesus Christ, it's a trust in him.

It is relying on him. Faith is a heartfelt trust in Christ to be justified, sanctified and glorified. Faith is resting in Christ for salvation. See, it's like that chair that you face this this confident trust is when you actually sit in the chair, you can believe it's a chair You can believe it can hold you, but there isn't a trust in it until you sit in it. And one of the places in the scripture that brings these three components in separate brings them together inseparably is Second Timothy one or twelve where Paul says for this reason, I also suffer these things.

Nevertheless, I am not ashamed. And here he gives them, for I know in whom I have believed. I know in whom I have believed. There's the knowledge and am persuaded that he is able. There's the ascent, the persuasion, the conviction.

That the one he believes in is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day. There's the commitment. There's the trust. There's an act of committing, of trusting in Christ. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed.

Paul is trusting, he's saying, I've committed my life, myself to Jesus Christ. I know whom I have believed. I have experiential knowledge of Christ, who He is and what He has done. I am persuaded that He will do as He has promised. And I trust that He will keep what I have committed to him until that day.

You see, when you commit to someone, you are placing confident trust in them. And Paul is committed to Christ. See, saving faith possesses supernatural knowledge with which the Holy Spirit works in the heart of believers so that the object of our faith is seen in the light of the Word. That is the evidence of things that are not seen visibly. Ascent is faith on men.

Faith on men as it embraces that knowledge. And in assenting. Ascent is the evidence of things that are not seen visibly. Ascent is the evidence of things that are not seen visibly. And so this is Isaiah's exhortation to Ahaz, if you will not believe, if you will not exercise this saving faith, surely you will not be established.

But Isaiah's response is tragically sad. Ahaz, sorry Ahaz, he has no intention of trusting in the Lord. And as we'll see, he's going to trust in Assyria. He's going to put his confidence in Assyria, but that hasn't come out yet. However, knowing, I think that his heart, God through Isaiah warns him about the consequences of rejecting this offer, this very gracious offer.

If you will not believe, surely You will not. You shall not be established. God's offers are freely and sincerely given. But they are not rejected without consequences. If you've heard God's offer, his gracious offer to deliver you from the wrath of God, that offer is not rejected without consequences.

For the head of Aram is Damascus and the head of Damascus resin. And in sixty five years, Ephraim will be as a people broken in pieces. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria, the son of Remaliah. And if you do not believe, you will not be established. See, these two verses contain a parallel, an ominous parallel.

The head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is King Rezin. And in 65 years, Ephraim will not exist as a country. And verse 9 is an exact parallel. Just as Ephraim, which is covenant with Syria, will cease to exist as a nation in the course of 65 years. As they say in you, King Ahaz, if you do not believe and trust in Jehovah and covenant, but covenant with Syria, you also will cease to exist.

So verse eight is a prophecy announcing Ephraim's destruction for trusting in Syria. Verse nine is a warning threatening Judah with destruction if she rejects God and trusts in Assyria. And this. Promise prophecy happens in sixty five years. So Ephraim was broken as a people.

It says that they will be broken and they will not be a people within 65 years. So Ephraim was. The northern tribes were taken and relocated into other cultures across the Assyrian Empire and rapidly assimilated into other cultures such that all trace of them as a distinct people was lost. And for that reason, they are often called the 10 lost tribes of Israel. But the 65 years that's mentioned here connects another event to this breaking of Ephraim.

Second King 1724 tells us about a second step. Then the king of Assyria, we read there, brought people from Babylon, Katha, Avah, Hamath, and from Sepharvim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they did not fear the Lord. Therefore, the Lord sent lions among them and killed some of them.

And the Assyrian king, we know, solved the problem by sending some Israelites to teach these heathens how to worship the Lord. But they didn't they didn't convert and become Jews. They simply sync the worship of their idols with the worship of God. And that's why the Samaritans were despised by the Jews in the New Testament. You see, the land of Ephraim was forcibly resettled by heathen.

And these few impoverished Israelites that were left behind were absorbed into these heathen cultures. And they became the amalgamated people of Samaria. Now this resettlement of Ephraim was done by Ezra Haddon, king of Assyria during the reign of B'nasa. And we know this from Ezra chapter four, where we read that when the Samaritans there heard that the descendants of the captivity, these are the descendants from Judah that had returned from Babylon, when they heard that they were rebuilding the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of their father's houses and they and they said, let us rebuild this temple with you. For we seek your God as you do.

No, that wasn't true. They didn't seek God. They had syncretized the worship of God and corrupted it with the worship of all their idols. But this is what they say. And we have sacrificed to him since the days of Ezerhadon, king of Assyria, who brought us here.

And they said, we have sacrificed to him And so we know when these other heathens were brought into Israel in the days of as a head and as a hadn't rained about 12 or 13 years. And so if you add up the 16 years of Ahaz's reign, And the 29 years of Hezekiah's reign, 65 years puts us about 20 years into Manasseh's reign. Remember there's Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh. And that time falls perfectly into the beginning of Ezerhaddon's reign. Now, this brings us into the beginning of as our hadn't rain.

Now, this brings us to the amazing offer of a sign that is given to a has Moreover the Lord said to a has as a sign for yourself from the Lord your God ask it either in the depth or the height above. In other words, God's saying you have permission to ask whatever you want. Would you like the sun to go back 15 degrees? Would you like the ocean to be parted? Would you like the dead to be raised?

Nothing is too hard for God and God invites, indeed commands Ahaz to ask a sign, whatever he wants. It's an incredible offer. But Ahaz turns it down. He turns it down because he doesn't And he's certainly not seeing any trust in Jehovah. In other words, there is no saving faith here in Ahaz.

But he tries like sinners to be very clever in his rejection of God's gracious offer to him. He actually quotes, alludes to scripture. He says that he won't ask for a sign because essentially the Bible says not to test the Lord. And it's true. Deuteronomy 6, 16 does indeed say, you shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him at Massa.

This is actually the passage that Jesus quoted to Satan when Satan tempted Jesus to cast himself off the temple. But this is a wicked misuse of scripture. It's like Satan misused the scriptures. It's not the response of faith. It's not the response of knowing the truth, assenting to it, and trusting in the Lord.

See when God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering Abraham didn't say no Lord. That would be murder. He obeyed God because it would not have been murder. God owns us. We are his people and those who sin are worthy of death.

And every day sinners outside of Christ or every day that sinners outside of Christ live is an undeserved day of life. But Hebrews 11 tells us that by faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said in Isaac your steed shall be called. God also calls us to test him in the matter of tithing. In Malachi 3, 10, he says, bring all the ties into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and Try me in this now. Try me.

God says test me We have his permission to test him in this matter Test me that says the Lord of post if I want not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such A blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it This is an area where we we are to test the Lord in our ties. God says, Yes, try me, and see if I don't richly bless you. But Ahaz here does not obey the Word of God. He says, I will not ask. I will not tempt the Lord.

And Isaiah replies in verse 13. Here now. Here now, O House of David. Is it a small thing for you to it is a small thing for you to weary men. But will you weary my God also?

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. It says curds in the New King James, but that's really butter, butter. It's the word is butter, butter and honey. He shall eat that he may know to refuse evil and choose the good.

For before the child knows to refuse evil and choose the good that you let the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. And the child will be forsaken by both her kings. And the child will be forsaken by both her kings. Now on one level, This is a very clear and direct prophecy fulfilled with Jesus Christ in the incarnation. But what Isaiah connects to this clear promise adds no small difficulty for us in that it seems to tie this prophecy to some sort of fulfillment in Isaiah's day for before the child shall know to refuse evil and choose the good the land that you dread will be forsaken by her kings.

A number of solutions have been proposed. And Psalms center on the fact that the word translated virgin could also mean a young woman. And so this prophecy is referring then to the birth of a child named Emmanuel to a young woman in Isaiah's day. But the New Testament clearly applies this to Christ. When Joseph found out Mary was pregnant before Joseph knew her and he wanted to divorce her to put her away.

Remember, the angel appeared to him and said, don't be afraid to take her as a wife, because his child that's within Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Yes, a virgin conceived. And the angel said that this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. God with us. And then Joseph being aroused from sleep, that is the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son.

So this passage is speaking of Christ. The Bible infallibly tells us that. But the other problem with this view is that it's not much of a sign for a young woman to bear a son and call him Emmanuel. We have an Emmanuel in our midst, a son named Emmanuel, born by a young woman. It happens all the time.

That wouldn't be a sign if that's all that it was. Dad. If it's something we routinely witness today in our small congregation, it would certainly not be something noteworthy. And Ahaz is day. I think it's better to see this child as a reference to the son.

You remember that son that Isaiah was told to take with him. The son with that unusual name, Shirjazab, a name which means a remnant will return. This was a member of family visit. Isaiah has come to visit the king with his young son, Shirjazab. And it's to this child that he then refers to when he says that before this child knows how to discern right from wrong, Ephraim, both these lands would be forsaken of their kings.

Notice there's two different things that were promised. In the 65 years it would be if he was broken as a people and that happened when they were repopulated by these heathen that totally sync amalgamated their culture And they are broken as a people. But this prophecy of the child or this this statement about the child is what happened in the near term. And it says that both these lands that he feared, which was Syria and Ephraim would. Would lose their kings.

They would be forsaken by their kings, And that's a slightly different statement. As sure jazz and men. A remnant shall return. That was a promise. That in that name was a promise that unlike the northern tribes which were lost and amalgamated that God would preserve a remnant which would return to the land of Israel.

And that was testified to in the very name of this son. And we'll see that Isaiah has another son with another very unique name that also testifies to what God would do. But God goes on here to didn't to pronounce what would happen. So come to pass in that day that the Lord will whistle for the fly that's in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt and the bee that's in the land of Assyria and they will come and all of them will rest in the desolate valleys and in the cliffs and on the thorns and all the pastures. And in that day, the Lord will shave with a hired razor.

He will shave with those from beyond the river. That's a reference to Assyria. Assyria is beyond the Euphrates River on the other side. It's in the land of Mesopotamia where Abraham came from, where Iran is today, where Iraq is, where Nineveh was, where the Assyrian nation had its beginning where Babylon and the Persian nations are it's over there. It says he will shave with those beyond the river with the king of Assyria the head and the hair of the legs.

And if you have a different translation it may say the word is literally hair of the feet. The new King James said well we don't have hair on our feet. That must not be what it's talking about. It must be the hair of the legs. But that's probably not what it's talking about either.

It will shave the head and the hair of the legs and will remove the beard. Now some version, the modern versions, believe that this is a euphemism for the pubic hairs. So, but whatever it is, the word is literally hair of the feet. And it will be in that day that a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep and they were from the abundance of milk they will give he will eat honey and butter. History their scriptures go on to record in 2 Kings 16 that Ahaz took silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord in the treasuries of the house of the kings and he sent them as a present to the king of Assyria.

And so the king of Assyria heeded him for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it and carried its people captive to Kyr and killed Rezin. And so this prophecy came And so this prophecy came to pass before this child, Shere Jazza, could discern between right and wrong. This is a tragic tale of a man who has given a gracious offer and he spurned it instead of putting his trust in God, Jehovah, instead of putting his trust in Jesus, which man's Jehovah saves, he put his trust in this king, a king who in himself, as we'll see in these later chapters, be judged by God as well. The same kind of judgment will be put in Jesus, which man's Jehovah saves. He put his trust in this king, a king who would himself as we'll see in these later chapters be judged by God as well.

But brothers and sisters, we all have the same choice before us today as well. Who are we going to put our trust in? We're going to put our treasure in heaven or in holes, pockets with holes. Ahaz tragically put his trust in a man. And the Bible says, cursed is everyone who trusts in man.

He put his wealth, all this money, he put it in a pocket full of holes, in a cistern that can't hold water. May God give us wisdom that we trust in the one who alone is trustworthy, who alone is worthy of that trust. Let's pray. Almighty Heavenly Father, We thank you for the clear teaching of your word. We thank you that these things have been written for our example and our profit and learning.

We pray that you will give us wisdom to heed your word, to put our faith and our trust in you, and not in the things that are around us that we see with our eyes, but we know are passing away, Things that can be stolen, that can be compromised, that can be corroded and destroyed. We ask, Lord, for a saving faith that knows you in a sense to the truth of your word, that brings a conviction of our sin and of our unworthiness and of our need of you. And, grandfather, that we might be doers of your word and not hearers only, trusting in ourselves, in our riches, in our good deeds, in our works, to earn acceptance and favor with you. Father, we ask