Isaiah 7-8

Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray


Isaiah 7-12
This section of Isaiah is also known as The Book of Immanuel. It contains some of the most important messianic prophesies in the Old Testament: Jesus' birth, lineage, activities, return to glory, etc.


Isaiah 7-8
This blog post focuses on Isaiah 7-8, and a major prophesy is found in Isaiah 7:14. The gist of Isaiah 7-8 is that the Northern Kingdom and Syria had formed an alliance to fight against Assyria. They wanted the Southern Kingdom to join, but it king (Ahaz) had secret plans of joining Assyria instead. God sent Isaiah to warn Ahaz against joining any alliance, to reassure Ahaz that is he would place his faith in God, God will protect the Southern Kingdom. However, Ahaz had little faith but too much pride, which led to God's judgment on the Southern Kingdom. In addition to discussing the political turmoil painted in these two chapters, Pastor Terry Gray also uses the prophesy of Jesus' virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) to illustrate properties found in Old Testament prophesies.


Isaiah 7:14
Isaiah prophesied the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus.
- This prophesy was written 2700 years ago.
- This prophesy was written 700 years before Jesus' birth!


Old Testament prophesies share this property: There is often a near fulfillment of the prophesy that occurs during the time of the prophet and far fulfillment that occurs in the future.


For example, Isaiah 7:14 was partially fulfilled during Isaiah's time, 700 years before Jesus' birth. It was fully fulfilled 700 years later, at Jesus' birth.


The near fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 was that during Isaiah's time, Israel had split into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. The Northern Kingdom (Ephraim) and Syria (Aram) had teamed up against Assyria (Isaiah 7:2) and wanted the Southern Kingdom (Judah) to join. However, under the leadership of Ahaz, the Southern Kingdom refused to join their alliance. Instead, Ahaz had secret plans of joining Assyria. When the Northern Kingdom and Syria could not force the Southern Kingdom to join, they started threatening the Southern Kingdom.


Isaiah 7:2-9
Ahaz sees a huge threat coming from the alliance of the Northern Kingdom and Syria. However, God told them not to worry. God told Ahaz to be quiet and not do anything. God will take care of the Southern Kingdom. Ahaz just had to trust Him.


Inspiration: As long as we are on God's side, we're always on the winning team. There is nothing too big, nothing impossible for God.


Isaiah 7:10-11
Unfortunately, Ahaz did not trust God. He trusted Assyria instead. God even offered to give Ahaz a sign as a confirmation of His promise, but Ahaz basically said, "Thanks but no thanks."


And instead of placing his trust in God, Ahaz continued to make an ungodly alliance with Assyria, turning the Temple into a pagan temple. This is one of the reasons why Ahaz was known as a terrible king.


Isaiah 7:13-25
Isaiah prophesied that before the son reaches 2-3 years of age (an age where he learns to discern from right and wrong), both the Northern Kingdom and Syria will be destroyed by Assyria. That's great news for Ahaz. However, the bad news is, Assyria will also come after the Southern Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom would not be harassed by just the Assyrians from the north. They will also be harassed by Egypt from the south. The Southern Kingdom will be harassed but not conquered.


Isaiah 8:1-10
Before Isaiah's child is 2-3 years of age, Assyria will conquer both the Northern Kingdom and Syria.




The Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14)


Near Fulfillment of the Virgin Birth
Some scholars propose that its near fulfillment could be that there is a virgin at the time when Isaiah gave the prophecy. They propose that there was no miraculous virgin birth, but that the woman was simply a virgin at the time when this prophesy was given.


The most popular explanation is offered by Jewish rabbis and scholars. They propose that this young virgin of a royal court would soon marry King Ahaz and give birth to a son, Hezekiah, who we know today as one of the great kings of Israel. We may not know the name of this woman today, but back then, everyone would. This is why this would be an obvious sign to them.


Alternatively, this prophesy could be partially fulfilled by Isaiah and his relations with the prophetess (Isaiah 8:3-4). There are a couple of problems with this theory. First, Isaiah already had a son before this one, which means the prophetess couldn't have been a virgin, if we assume Isaiah had only one wife and was faithful. Some therefore countered that Isaiah could have had two wives; or, his first wife died and this prophetess was his second wife; or, his first "son" was not his biological son but a son by virtue of being a part of his religious family (for example, Paul call Timothy his son in Christ. The idea here is that Isaiah taught at a prophecy school and had disciples, and the "son" was his disciple). Ultimately, we simply do not know. There isn't much supporting evidence. Second, the name of Isaiah's son was not Immanuel. Some countered argued that the name Immanuel is not the official name of the son but the announcement of the significance of the son's birth. The idea they propose here is that God commanded the son to be named that Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz (Isaiah 8:3), but the significance of his name is Immanuel, meaning "God with us." And because God would be with them once the son was born, the Southern Kingdom would see the fall of the threats coming from the Northern Kingdom and Syria. This concept has some merit, because Jesus was not named Immanuel. Immanuel was a title to describe the significance of Jesus' birth. Is there any other way to describe the significance of His birth other than "God with us"?


Far Fulfillment of the Virgin Birth
Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14 when Jesus was born, showing that the prophesy has been fulfilled.


To those who argue the Hebrew word for virgin really means a young maiden (aka, refuting the miracle of Jesus' virgin birth), consider this: When Jewish scholars translated the Old Testment to Greek (aka, the Septuagint), they used the Greek word "parthenia" that unequivocally means "virgin."


The virgin birth is one of the most critical fundamental basis of Christianity. If Jesus was born of a human father, He would have been born with sin. But, Jesus was not. The Bible is clear about that. Scholars discredit Christian fundamentalism to confuse and deceive. Study the Word of God and do our homework. Think and don't be blinded. 


Inspiration: Immanuel means God with us. We have a God that became one of us. He isn't just some distant power who watches us make mistakes and falls and stumbles. He KNOWS our pains and struggles because He has lived through them all. In fact, He lived through it perfectly so that He could die for us to offer us eternal life.