Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, June 20, 2010
Does any of you in this room this morning doesn’t know how to ride bike because you have never learned how to ride bike? Good, you all know how to ride bike. Now, do you remember who taught you how to ride bike?
So, far I’ve taught my two oldest girls how to ride bike. I’ll let you in on how I train my girls to ride bike on their own. I start off their training by first removing the training wheels. Second, I have my girls sit on their cushion and have them balance their bike without trying to ride on them. I tell them to put their feet off the ground as long as they can. The goal is for them to feel the force of gravity trying to topple them down; but more importantly I want their bodies to learn to balance against the gravity. The last stage is the most crucial stage. While holding their bikes, I have them put their feet on the pedals and tell them to pedal hard as they can. With a bit of my help pushing their bikes and helping them balance, they take off and I take off with them. Now, this is where it really gets tough on daddy. Around the age of four and five, their bikes are quite low. So, I have to bend down, flex my knees and slightly lean towards to my right in order to hold on to the back of their seats. That’s how I have to run with them as they pedal hard as they can and gain the momentum to work against the gravity. I do this for 10 minutes, 20 minutes until I see that my girls are able to balance well on their own. Then comes the crucial moment when I let my hand go but still right there to hold on to the seat, and still running next to them awkwardly. 5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet, 25 feet… uh, uh, they start losing their balance, but I am right there to catch them from the fall. That’s when I get really excited. I yell out, “Did you feel that? Did you feel that? It was all you. I didn’t have to hold your bike. You rode your bike on your own!” And, my girls reply, “I did?” “Yah, that’s right. You did. I am proud of you. Let’s do it more.” All the pain in my back, the strain on my knees, lungs burning, it’s all worth it for the proud daddy seeing his girls ride their bikes on their own.
I am still working on my middle child. She is still working on the fear part. She need to learn to overcome her fear of falling off her bike; she is going to be able to overcome fear when she learns to trust that her daddy running next to her awkwardly with his hand on her bike won’t let her fall. Well, I know it is a matter of time she learns to trust me and will allow me to train her to ride her bike. Perhaps, before the summer is over.
God is like that. He goes out of his way to help his children. And when his children succeed with his help, he gets really pumped up. I could see God going off, “Hey, everyone do you see what my kid can do?”
Today, on Father’s Day, I want you to know God as your Father who goes out of his way to help you. He holds nothing back to help you. And as it is a child learning to ride bike, all you need to do is to trust God is with you, runs next to you, he holds on to you and always ready to catch you when you fall.
Ahaz’s perspective
The perspective that a father has about riding bike and a child’s perspective on learning to ride bike is vastly different. Initially, all that a child can think of is falling off the bike and getting hurt. For a child to learn to ride bike, fear must be overcome by trust in his or her father. In the case of Ahaz in Isaiah 7, he never got over the fear part. God went out of his way to help Ahaz, but he never learned to trust God.
Around the time Isaiah 7 was written, sometime in 734 B.C., the Assyrian empire became the new bully in town. To deal with the new bully, the king of Aram and the king of Israel, the northern kingdom splintered off of Judah the southern kingdom, formed an alliance together to oppose Assyria the new bully. But, they knew that the alliance was still weak and needed to shore up their force. This is where Ahaz, the king of Judah comes into play. According to Isaiah 7:6, the new alliance of Aram and Israel aka Ephraim plotted to topple down the king Ahaz in order to replace him with a puppet king. And, this puppet king would be anti-Assyria and pro-alliance to lead Judah to join the alliance.
That’s what we see in Isaiah 7:1, the alliance of Aram and Israel marching up to topple Ahaz the king of Judah. But, they didn’t succeed for it says, “they could not overpower it.”
Even though the alliance’s attempt to topple Ahaz and force Judah to join the alliance failed, Ahaz and his people became fearful; Isaiah 7:2 described their fear level to that of the trees of the forest being shaken by the wind of hurricane like force.
What was Ahaz to do against Assyria the new bully in town and the alliance formed to oppose the new bully? 2 Kings 16:5-9 shows what Ahaz did.
Ahaz placed his bet on Assyria and against the alliance of Aram and Israel. He was a shrewd politician. He instinctively knew that Assyria was a force to be reckoned with; he knew that neither his country nor the newly formed alliance could match themselves against Assyria. So, instead of trying to fight off the bully and get beat up by the bully, he reasoned that he should join the bully and let the bully beat up the guys messing with him.
It w a shrewd move to have the bully on your side, but it comes at a great cost. To have the bully’s protection meant Ahaz had to cough up his wealth to the bully; he had to strip off the silver and gold from the Lord’s temple and he had to dip into his savings from his treasuries, all in order to buy the bully’s protection; it also meant Ahaz was only a king in title, he was now nothing more than a pawn in the hands of the king of Assyria. But to Ahaz, his perspective was that it was better off being a vassal to Assyria than being terrorized by the alliance.
Going back to Isaiah 7 we see Ahaz at the aqueduct inspecting the water source for the city of Jerusalem. He was out there making sure the supply line for water was working properly. He was not only a shrewd king, but he also was a smart king who knew the important of securing the water source for the defense of his city.
We see Ahaz making a political treaty with Assyria for protection, doing his part to protect the water source. But, what we don’t see is Ahaz turning to God for help. Another word, Ahaz’s perspective on overcoming his fear was to cling to the biggest bully in town, while shoring up his defense. He never learned to trust God.
God’s perspective
When a father works with his child to learn how to ride bike, his perspective is quite different from that of his child. While the child is fearful of falling, the father doesn’t fear it because he is right there to catch the child from falling. While the child doesn’t know how to ride bike, the father does.
From a human perspective of a commander-in-chief, what Ahaz did was the right move. Why wage war against the bully you know you cannot overcome even with the help from other guys? Why experience the sure defeat from the bully when you can be on his side and the bully can be on your side to fight for you? Ahaz thought he could protect himself and his country by being a shrewd manipulative politician, by protecting the water source.
But, that’s not how God saw it. From God’s perspective, the survivability of Judah depended not on Ahaz, but on God himself. Although Isaiah 7:1 doesn’t say explicitly why the alliance couldn’t overpower Jerusalem, in the context, it becomes clear that it was because God protected the city. However, in spite of God protecting Jerusalem the capital city of Judah, Ahaz and his people panicked because they trusted in themselves to figure things out; they didn’t trust God was running with them, .
At times, we just don’t get it and we simply cannot see what God is doing in our lives. And, God has to show us how he is helping us. Ahaz and his people didn’t get it either. So, we see God dispatching Isaiah to Ahaz in order to show him that God was running next to him.
God told Isaiah to take his son Shear-Jashub which means “A remnant will return.” It meant that God was going to protect those who trust in him. Isaiah’s son’s name was like a subliminal message flashing in the back ground to inform Ahaz God is God of help.
But, this subliminal message through Isaiah’s son’s name didn’t get through Ahaz’s fear. So, God decided to speak straight up to Ahaz through Isaiah.
“Come on Ahaz! Be careful now. Don’t lose your cool. Be calm. Think this through instead of panic in fear. Don’t be discouraged by the alliance that is attacking you. You and your people are terrified of them. But, let me tell you my perspective on this. The alliance is nothing more than burned off stubs. The alliance could plan all they want to rid of you, but mark my words Ahaz, it won’t happen. It won’t happen because the alliance between Aram and Israel would be broken off because the nations themselves would be broken apart; they would be too shattered to even be recognized as a people any longer in the near future.”
That’s what God told Ahaz through Isaiah verses 6-9. It was a straightforward, undiluted perspective from God that he was going to help Ahaz and his country as God already helped by protecting the city of Jerusalem.
God sent a subliminal message about his help through the name of Isaiah’s son. God sent a direct message of his help through Isaiah. But, just in case it was still hard for Ahaz to trust God’s help, he decided to make it really easy for Ahaz to get it.
We see in Isaiah 7:10-12 how God spoke to Ahaz through Isaiah to ask for a sign from God. God was saying to Ahaz, “Let me help you trust me on this. I want you to ask me any sign you can think of that would help you to trust in me. Don’t hold back. Ask for a sign, weather in the deepest depths or in the highest heights, meaning there is no limit on what sign you can ask from me.” As Ortlund illustrates, essentially God handed Ahaz a blank check. He could put whatever the amount he wanted and cash it.[i]
Gee, can God make it any easier for Ahaz to ask for help? What else could God do to help Ahaz realize God really wanted to help him?
Unbelief
In spite of God going out of his way to assure Ahaz of his help, Ahaz refused to ask for the sign. Ahaz actually used the scripture to reject God’s help. Deuteronomy 6:16 says not to test the LORD and Ahaz equates asking for a sign as testing the LORD. The irony is that it was God himself who told Ahaz to ask for a sign from him. Isn’t it illogical to think that doing what God has told you is tantamount to testing him? To step out of fear and to trust God’s promise to help you is not testing God. It is faith. But, what we see here is Ahaz in his unbelief driven by fear making a bad decision.
We see also his unbelief masked behind religiosity. He sounded religious and pious, but really he didn’t trust God for help, nor desired for God’s help. What we see here is that piety is not the same as faith. Oswalt said, “Piety is the appearance of religion while trust in God is the substance of religion.”[ii] Ahaz had the façade of spirituality, but inside he was nothing more than a cynical unbeliever.
Ahaz refused to embrace God’s perspective over his own deeply flawed and troubled perspective. He knew that trusting God and accepting God’s help meant doing things God’s way. He would rather hold on to being in control in his way. That’s unbelief.
The consequence of unbelief
What happens when you reject God the Creator, the Great Redeemer, the Savior who wants to come along side of you and help you? God doing everything he could to help you which is a lot when you remember it is God doing everything… when you reject this God who really wants to help you, then what happens?
The answer comes from the sign the Lord himself gave to Ahaz. Since Ahaz refused to ask for a sign in trust, Isaiah 7:14, God himself gave him a sign.
And the sign was that “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God with us.” As it was the case with the name of Isaiah’s son, here another child’s name carries spiritual significance.
Immanuel, “God with us,” carries a double edge sword. On the one hand, for those who accept God’s perspective and God’s help, Immanuel means the Great Companionship, God’s abiding presence of help. It can be your source of comfort as well your confidence if you walk in faith.
But on the other hand, if such abiding presence of God’s help is rejected, it is no longer the presence of neither comfort nor confidence, but it is the presence of judgment.
That’s what we see in Isaiah 7:15-25. Before the prophesized child came to the age of understanding right from wrong, the two kings would be destroyed by Assyria, the bully (7:16). But, Assyria would not stop there. It would also turn against Judah that sought its help. A rather strange image from Isaiah 7:20 of the king of Assyria shaving off hair from Ahaz is essentially the vision of Ahaz being shamed and crushed by the Assyrian king he once trusted.
Faith response
In the light of the double edged sword reality of Immanuel, God with us, how should we respond to God?
Raymond Oswalt said “faith is the God-awakened capacity to respond fully to Christ.”[iii] Although we don’t see the name of Jesus Christ here in Isaiah 7, Isaiah 7:14 is one of the most celebrated verse for the Christians. Do you know where this sign of Immanuel God gave to Ahaz as a sign of judgment is picked up in the Bible? Matthew 1:23 quotes the sign of Immanuel from Isaiah 7:14 on the account of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The whole world will rise or fall on the account of Jesus Christ. There is now no excuse to ever think that God doesn’t care for you. There is no excuse ever to think that God isn’t with you. There is no excuse ever to think that God doesn’t want to help you. There is no excuse ever to think that God doesn’t love you. There is no excuse ever to think that God isn’t looking out for what’s best for you. There is no excuse any more to question God’s motive. You simply do not question the motive of someone who lets his own son be executed in place for you, to pay your monstrous crimes you committed. The sign of Immanuel was partially fulfilled in Isaiah’s time as a sign of judgment. But, now the sign of Immanuel fulfilled in Jesus Christ two thousand years ago the sign of grace, that which you and I must respond in faith.
Isaiah 7:9, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Ahaz rejected in unbelief the gospel of God who helps. How about you? Are you standing firm in your faith? Are you standing at all? Are you standing firm in the radical surrender to the love of God fully expressed and demonstrated in the sign of Immanuel, [iv] in Jesus? Do you have the faith that produces calm confidence in the hurricane size storms?
Do you know that God is running next to you holding onto your seat, ready to catch you when you fall, cheering you and empowering you to succeed so that you become an effective witness in the world?
[i] Ibid., p. 90.
[ii] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (142). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
[iii] Ortlund, Raymond C. Isaiah: God saves sinners. Crossway Books: Wheaton, IL. 2005. P. 89.
[iv] Oswalt, J. (2003). The NIV Application Commentary: Isaiah (145). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
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