Sunday morning, December 15, 1996
Jesus Fulfills Prophecies
Isaiah 9:1-7
By P. G. Mathew, M.A., M.Div., Th.M.
Copyright © 1996 by P. G. Mathew
For Christians, Christmas is the celebration of the
incarnation of Jesus Christ. The incarnation is not an
unanticipated surprise or a freak of nature, as some people might
maintain. No, it is the fulfillment of prophecy, the fulfillment
of God's great promise to grant us the seed of the woman who
would crush the head of the serpent. In this study we will
examine the scriptures which received their fulfillment in the
incarnation and virgin birth of Jesus Christ our Savior.
First, though, I must make that point that in order to believe in
the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, which the Bible clearly
teaches, one has to believe in the God whom the Bible reveals.
This God, as J. Gresham Machen says, is "the Creator of the
universe yet immanent in it, but also eternally separate from it
and free." Many people speak about the birth of Christ as
though it was something that happened in nature, but nature did
not and could not produce this historical event. Jesus of
Nazareth came into the universe from outside the universe to do
what nature could never do.
The Necessity of Faith in the Virgin Birth
Christians must believe in the supernatural virgin birth of
Christ. Why? If they refuse to believe in the virgin birth of
Jesus Christ, they cannot be saved by him. Jesus Christ our
Savior was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin
Mary. He is Immanuel, God with us, Christ the Lord, Son of the
Most High, the Holy One. The essence of Christianity is that God
took upon himself perfect human nature to be our mediator.
In this church we maintain that belief in the virgin birth of
Christ is necessary for our salvation. That is not merely our
peculiar belief. We believe in it because the Bible teaches it
and the creeds affirm it. If we examine the Apostles' Creed,
which comes to us from the second century after Christ, we read,
"I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, who was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary."
The Nicene Creed, which comes to us from the early part of the
fourth century, also tells us that our Lord was incarnate by the
Holy Spirit by the Virgin Mary and was made man. The Nicene creed
also affirms the miracle of the virgin birth, the supernatural
aspect of it. And the Athanasian Creed says, "Furthermore,
it is necessary to eternal salvation, that he also believe
faithfully the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the
right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus
Christ the Son of God is both God and man. He is God, of the
substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds, and he is
man, of the substance of his mother, born in the world; perfect
God, perfect man, of reasoning soul and human flesh subsisting;
equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, less than the Father
as touching his manhood. Who, although he be God and man, yet he
is not two but he is one Christ; one, however, not by conversion
of Godhead into flesh, but by taking of manhood into God; one
altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of person.
For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is
one Christ." The Athanasian Creed insists that belief in the
virgin birth of Christ is necessary for salvation. Thus, if we do
not believe in in the virgin birth, then we do not have a Savior,
Christ the Lord, who is able to save us.
Some refuse to believe in the virgin birth because it means that
a child was born without the begetting act of man. However, if
one refuses to believe in the virgin birth, he or she will have
trouble believing in any other miracle the Bible teaches. If one
believes in a truly transcendent triune God, as J. Gresham Machen
says, one would have no problem in believing in the miracles of
this God as recorded in the Holy Scriptures. When I hear people
say that because they are so intelligent they are unable to
believe in miracles, I tell such people that their problem is not
their intelligence, but rather that they are blinded in their
understanding and they do not see the eternal God who created the
universe by the word of his power yet is beyond creation. Any
person who believes in an eternal, transcendent, creator God will
have no trouble believing in the virgin birth, the resurrection,
the ability of Jesus Christ to walk upon the waters or any other
miracle recorded in the Bible.
Incarnation Fulfills Prophecies
The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is, as I said, no accident. The historic event of the virgin birth, which the New Testament records, was foretold in the prophecies of the Old Testament. It is good to study the prophecies of the Old Testament, where God, who calls the end from the beginning, reveals to us what is going to happen long before such things ever take place. No one is able to prophesy and see the future except God. But he reveals the future to us through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, and it is good to pay attention to such revelation.
The Seed of Woman
The first prophecy came in the third chapter of Genesis. The
very day sin entered into the universe and man died, God gave a
prophecy of great hope: "I will put enmity between you and
the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush
your head, and you will strike his heel" (Gen. 3:15). The
seed of the woman would one day crush the head of all his
enemies, and so in this verse God promises to save his people
through this seed of a woman.
In Genesis 22:18 it is clearly stated that this seed is to come
through Abraham. God chose Abraham, a pagan, and saved him. Then
he told him, "through your offspring" that is, the
offspring, the seed of Abraham,"all nations on earth will be
blessed." That is the gospel, and we can rejoice in this
prophetic disclosure of the seed of the woman who has become our
salvation, who paid ransom by his life for our salvation!
The Great King
In Genesis 49:10 we are told, "The scepter will not
depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the
nations is his." Here we see that this one is also a seed of
Jacob, a seed of Judah. He is the King of kings and the nations
must obey him, we are told here prophetically.
In Numbers 24:17 we find a prophecy that God gave to a man named
Balaam. Balaam was a pagan but God opened his eyes and gave him a
vision of this one who was going to be the King of kings and Lord
of lords. And Balaam the pagan said, "I see him, but not
now; I behold him, but not near." Balaam saw him who was
promised, but he was not going to come then. Then he continued,
"A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of
Israel." This one would be a king who had a job to perform.
What was he going to do? In Genesis 3:15 we were told he would
crush the head of the serpent. And here Balaam says he will crush
the foreheads of Moab, which is a metaphor for all the enemies of
God. This star, this king is going to come and his job is to
crush all his enemies. Keep that in mind if you are an unbeliever
in Jesus Christ.
The Deity of Christ
In Psalm 45:6-7 we find a strange statement, "Your
throne, O God, will last forever and ever." In context this
has reference to the Son of David, Jesus Christ, and affirms his
deity. "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a
scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You love
righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has
set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of
joy." Here we see deity and humanity. He is God, and yet he
calls God "God." This is a prophecy concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ.
In Micah 5 beginning with verse 1 we read, "Marshal your
troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They
will strike Israel's ruler on the cheek with a rod." Here
Micah is speaking about the domination of Israel and Judah by all
the powers of this world. God had called them to exercise
dominion over his people because they refused to believe in him.
But now in verse 2 he says, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will
come for me one who will be ruler over Israel," as we were
also told by Jacob and others, "whose origins are from of
old, from ancient times." This prophecy comes to us from the
ninth century before Christ. And here again we learn that this
one is not just a man. This ruler is God. He is from eternity.
In Micah 5:3 we are told, "Therefore Israel will be
abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth. .
. " That is speaking about Mary, the mother of Jesus, who
would give birth to this one, this God/man, the King of kings,
who is of ancient times. And in verse 4 we read, "He will
stand and shepherd his flock. . ." Yes, this one, Jesus
Christ, is the good shepherd. He gives his life for the sheep,
saves them, feeds them and leads them to still waters. It is he
who anoints our head with oil. And Micah continues, "He will
stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the
majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live
securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the
earth. And he will be their peace." Micah is not speaking
about everyone; he is speaking about God's people. He is not even
speaking about national Israel; he is speaking only about those
who have been chosen from ancient times and for whose salvation
God the Father sent the Son that he may die on the cross to
effect their salvation and therefore their peace.
Isaiah's Prophecies
We find prophecies about Jesus Christ in the book of Isaiah,
particularly in the seventh, ninth and eleventh chapters. In this
study we will consider the prophecies in the seventh and ninth
chapters, beginning with Isaiah 7 where the prophecies come to a
king of Judah named Ahaz, who was a son of David but wicked.
In 2 Kings 16 we get further understanding of Ahaz. In verses 1
and 2 we read, "In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of
Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham the king of Judah began to
reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king and he
reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he
did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God."
What did Ahaz do? Verses 3 and 4: "He walked in the ways of
the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire,
following the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven
out before the Israelites. He offered sacrifices and burned
incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every
spreading tree." Ahaz was a wicked king.
But what happened to Ahaz? In verse 5 we read, "Then Rezin
king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up
to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz. . ." Do you
see what is happening here? Here is this king who is wicked and
who abandoned God, preferring to follow the ways of Israel. All
of a sudden he finds himself besieged by a coalition of Aram and
Israel who came together to conquer and depose him and to put
someone else, a weakling, as king in his place. In other words,
Aram and Israel were coming to destroy the house of David which
God had promised would endure for ever and ever, and this
happened in 735 B. C. As Assyria rose in prominence and power,
Damascus and Samaria joined together to oppose the spread of
Assyrian power.
A Shaking King
How did Ahaz react to the news of this coalition? In Isaiah
7:2 we read, "Now the house of David was told, 'Aram has
allied itself with Ephraim'; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people
were shaken as the trees of the forest are shaken by the
wind." Every unbeliever in Jesus Christ, when faced with
trouble, will be shaken to the very core of his being. Why? He
has no foundation to stand upon. He has no Savior, no Redeemer,
no God. So here we see a king being shaken.
Ahaz, of course, was listening to his counselors, and he began to
think about becoming a vassal to the rising Assyrian power. He
was a politician, which, by definition, means he was one who
listens to polls. So Ahaz looked and felt and smelled and
listened, not to God, but to everyone else. What was he hearing?
"Ahaz, the best way to deal with this situation is to become
the vassal of Assyria. Empty the treasury and give Assyria all
the monies you have. Become a vassal, a servant, of Assyria.
Abandon your trust in Jehovah! Abandon his Davidic covenant.
Become an apostate. Serve the king of Assyria and serve his
gods." These were the ideas that were going into the mind of
Ahaz.
God's Word for Ahaz
At this crucial time God, in his great mercy and love toward
the house of David, sent Isaiah the prophet to help wicked,
unbelieving King Ahaz. Ahaz did not seek God, and yet God took
the initiative toward him. So the Lord said to Isaiah, "Say
to [Ahaz], 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid'" (Is.
7:4). Let me assure you, when God speaks to us, this is what he
says to us in the midst of any particular problem which is
shaking us. In other words, God is saying, "Believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." And so, as he
spoke through Isaiah to Ahaz, so he said to us: "Be careful,
be calm, and don't be afraid."
Then God gave a prophecy for Ahaz. "Do not lose heart
because of these smoldering stubs," meaning Aram and Israel,
the two nations coming against Judah, were spent forces. They
were smoldering stubs. They were finished, with no vitality left.
The transcendent, almighty, all-seeing, all-governing God was
telling Ahaz, "Don't be afraid. Believe me, these two
nations are nothing. They are finished." Later in that
passage it says that in a short time they would be gone, and that
was fulfilled within a few years. In 732 Assyria came and
conquered Aram and devastated Samaria. By 722 Samaria was
completely defeated. So God was saying to the wicked king of
Judah, "Be careful. Don't do anything crazy. Don't be a
vassal to Assyria. Forget about political ingenuity. Listen to
the word of God and you shall be saved, because I tell you, these
two kingdoms are nothing."
Ahaz had listened to the politicians of his day. He took polls
and listened to his own head and the talking heads around him.
Ahaz had listened to everyone else, but now he needed to listen
to God. In verse 7 we read, "Yet this is what the Sovereign
Lord says. . ." The Adonai, the Almighty, self-existing,
self-sufficient, eternal God was speaking to Ahaz and he needed
to listen.
Brothers and sisters, are we, like Ahaz, listening to everyone
else? And when we hear their words, are we shaken to the very
core of our being? If so, it is time to look up and to listen to
the the word of Adonai, the Sovereign One, the eternal and
almighty God--the word of the one who rules the universe.
What did God tell Ahaz? "It will not take happen,"
meaning Aram and Israel could not come, conquer, and destroy the
house of David. Why? God himself had made a covenant with David
that his kingdom would endure forever and ever. But what did Ahaz
do? He did not want to listen to God.
Ask for a Sign!
Ahaz treated Isaiah with contempt and refused to listen to
God's clear word. But in verse 10 we read, "Again the Lord
spoke to Ahaz, 'Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the
deepest depths or in the highest heavens.'" In mercy and
grace God was speaking to Ahaz and encouraging him to increase
his faith. He told him to ask for a sign, for anything that would
help Ahaz believe. God was graciously putting himself at Ahaz's
disposal and offering to move heaven and earth to cause him to
believe in God.
Throughout the Old Testament God gave signs. Gideon asked for a
sign--not in unbelief but in order to increase his faith--and God
gave him two signs. In Isaiah 38 we read that Hezekiah, Ahaz's
son, was given a sign to increase his faith. The shadow
miraculously went back rather than forward. Why did God do this?
You see, he is interested in causing our faith to grow. So God
tells us sometimes, "Come on, ask me to do something. I will
do something for you that will increase your faith so that you
can believe in the gospel."
The Response of Ahaz
How did Ahaz respond to God's gracious offer? Look at verse 12.
Ahaz was an absolute hypocrite, but he clothed his answer in
piety. He said, "I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to
the test." Probably he was referring to Deuteronomy 6:16,
which says we should not test and prove God. But Ahaz was not
doing what God wanted him to do. When God himself proffers us a
sign, we had better receive it. If we deny it, it is sheer
unbelief. Many, many people reject God in terms of piety. Piety!
What did Isaiah tell Ahaz in verse 9? "If you do not stand
firm in your faith," in other words, if you do not believe,
"you will not stand at all." What is the simple
translation? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be
saved; if you do not believe, you won't be saved. In other words,
Isaiah was saying, Ahaz, don't trust in anything but God. Why?
Political ingenuity will not help us. Listening to our own head
will not help us. Listening to our own counselors will not help
us. Taking polls will not help us. What is the only thing that
will help? If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we will be
saved.
In verse 13 we read,"Then Isaiah said, 'Hear now, you house
of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you
try the patience of my God also?'" I personally have
experienced what Isaiah is speaking about. When I come and speak
to people and they do not listen, what does that do to me? It
tries my patience. It wearies me. But forget about my weariness.
Here Isaiah is saying if we do not listen to God's word, whom are
we wearying? God Almighty himself.
A Prophetic Sign
In spite of Ahaz's unbelief, God imposed a sign upon him. In
other words, in verse 14, God gave Ahaz a sign, not necessarily
for Ahaz's comfort but to tell his people that God will save
them. He was reassuring his people that the Davidic covenant
would not fail and that one day there would come a person who
would crush the head of the serpent, crush the forehead of Moab,
defeat all enemies, shepherd his people and give them peace. God
proceeded to speak, to give a sign, which Ahaz could take or
leave.
God told Ahaz, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not
enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of
my God also?" And then he says, "Therefore,"
meaning despite Ahaz's unbelief, "the Lord himself will give
you a sign. . ." which would tell Ahaz that he was going to
be devastated and would take his country into devastation for six
hundred years, and at the end one would come from the house of
David who would be the Savior.
What was the sign? "The virgin will be with child and will
give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel," which
means God with us. We see the word Immanuel two other times in
Isaiah 8:8,10. Immanuel is an individual whose is the land of
Israel.
A Virgin Shall Conceive
Isaiah said "The virgin will be with child." This
word used for virgin is almah . In every place in
the Old Testament where that word appears in a clear and explicit
context, almah refers to an unmarried female of
marriageable age, a virgin. We find this word used in Genesis
24:43, among other places. So we must ask what the Holy Spirit is
saying in his usage of this word. And we conclude that he is
speaking about a miraculous birth, one in which a virgin
conceives. Isaiah used the word almah as that which
came the nearest to expressing the miracle of the virgin birth.
In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, almah
is translated by the word parthenos , which
indisputably means virgin. And so in his gospel, Matthew writes
in chapter 1, verse 23, that what happened to Mary was in
fulfillment of what the Lord had said through the prophet,
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel--which means 'God with us.'"
Unbelief Brings Destruction
Did this prophecy benefit Ahaz? No. Did he listen to the word?
No. In 2 Kings 16 we read that he emptied the treasury and sent
all the money to Assyria, an action which resulted in great
trouble for Judah. Through Ahaz's unbelief Judah came under
Assyrian domination, Babylonian domination, Medo-Persian
domination, Greek domination, and Roman domination--six hundred
years of domination and devastation. The house of David declined
and eclipsed because of the singular rebellious unbelief
demonstrated by Ahaz.
We can apply this in our own lives. There are some people I have
met with, speaking to them, beseeching them, and doing everything
I could to bring God's word to them. Did they respond in faith?
No. And in those situations the result I have seen is not faith
but destruction, devastation, grief and everything else--not only
of the individuals but of their families as well. Let me assure
you, these things will happen to us also if we do not believe in
God's word. We will experience destruction, devastation,
domination, misery, slavery, apostasy, decline, and poverty. We
must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved--we and all
our household!
Light in Darkness
We find another prophecy about Jesus Christ in Isaiah 9. The
chapter opens telling us about light in the midst of darkness. It
is speaking about salvation, not for everyone but for God's
people. Let me tell you, Jesus did not come to save everyone. No,
he came to save only his people.
And so the ninth chapter of Isaiah begins, "Nevertheless,
there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In
the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the
way of the sea, along the Jordan--" And in verse 2 we read,
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great
light." That is speaking about Jesus Christ, who was brought
up in Nazareth, and about his ministry in that part of the world.
Not everyone saw the light, but his people did.
Isaiah continues, "on those living in the land of the shadow
of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and
increased their joy; they rejoice before you. . . ." That is
what happens to people who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They
emerge from pitch darkness into the marvelous light and there is
joy. Gloom is gone, misery is gone, guilt is gone, and they are
saved to the uttermost. And such people enter into light that
shall never dim. They enter into joy that ever increases into
greater and greater joy. This is what Isaiah is speaking about.
In verse 4 we read, "For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered the yoke that burdens them." This one
Isaiah prophesied about--this seed of the woman who is to crush
the head of the serpent and the foreheads of Moab--is the one who
will destroy sin, Satan, and hell. (PGM) He is the one who will
liberate us and bring us into marvelous light and great joy. It
is he who removes death and gives us eternal life.
The Reason for Celebration
After this wonderful depiction of salvation in Isaiah 9:1-5,
Isaiah then gives us the reason for this great salvation and
celebration. Verse 6 says, "For to us a child is born. .
." What is the reason? To us--to the elect of God in the
plan of God for our salvation--a child is born. This speaks of
the human nature of the our Lord Jesus Christ, who was perfect
man.
"To us," Isaiah says again, "a son is given. .
." The eternal Son of God, the son of David, the King of
kings is given to us. A child! A son! ". . . and the
government will be on his shoulders." To this one, this
child, this son, is given all authority in heaven and on earth.
He is the Sovereign Lord of the universe and unto him shall the
obedience of the nations be. He is not just the God of the
Americans. He is the God of the Chinese, he is the God of the
Africans, he is the God of the Indians. He is the God of
everyone. To him obedience will be rendered, as we read in
Philippians 2:10, "every knee should bow. . . and every
tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father."
"To us a child is born, to us a son is given." This one
is the Sovereign Lord, which means that nothing happens in the
universe without his express permission. And what shall this one
be called? "Wonderful Counselor," Isaiah says. He is
wonder, which speaks about his deity, and he gives supernatural
counsel. He is deity, in other words.
But if you do not believe that, look at what else he is called:
"Mighty God." This child, this son, this ruler is
mighty God, as we saw the Athanasian Creed affirming. We find the
same phrase in Isaiah 10:21, "A remnant will return, a
remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God." We must
understand that this child is given as a gift. "For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" as a
gift, as the one who will shepherd us, give us peace, and shatter
our enemies. This one is God--Mighty God--deity and humanity.
What else does Isaiah tell us about this one? "Of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."
Every space in the universe shall be filled by his sovereignty.
Not a nook or a crevice will remain where his sovereignty is not
felt. He will deal with our little unbelief now and then.
"He will reign on David's throne," this son of David,
"and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with
justice and righteousness, from that time on and forever."
And then we see a signature: "The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this." God put his seal on this prophecy to
tell us that because of his love for his people he would perform
it. A child would be born, a son would be given, and to him would
be given all rule and power. He would crush the head of the
serpent, shepherd his people, and be the King of kings and Lord
of lords.
Have You Made Up Your Mind?
Have you made up your mind about the gospel? Are you like Ahaz
who told Isaiah, "I have made up my mind. Don't disturb me.
Don't tell me facts"? I have spoken to some people about the
gospel, but they have made up their minds, and they ask me not to
disturb them. They do not want to listen to me. But when God
sends someone to speak to us, he is demonstrating his love for
us. In spite of our problems, difficulties, wickedness, and
unbelief, God loves us enough to send someone to us. And what
does he say? "Be careful. Be calm. Don't be afraid.
Everything will be all right. I will help you. You will stand by
faith and trust in the sovereign Lord, rather than in this little
Assyrian power."
Some people will respond to God's gracious words and say,
"No, I have made up my mind. Don't disturb me. I want to
effect salvation by my own works and not by the gift of God's
grace." How mistaken we can be! What we need is not
ingenuity and self-understanding. We need faith in our Lord Jesus
Christ.
The truth is, a child was born and a son was given. And the truth
is, the government is upon his shoulders, and that is why he
destroyed the burdens that were resting on your shoulders. The
truth is, he is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and he
defeated all enemies on the cross. That is the truth, brothers
and sisters.
Do you know what the gospel is? It is that God loves us and sent
his Son to ransom us. And the psalm 49:7,8 tells us that the
ransom for a man's life is costly. No one can pay it. But what
did Jesus say? "The Son of Man did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
I am not Isaiah or Jeremiah, but I am a preacher of the gospel, commissioned and sent to urge you to trust in Jesus Christ and be saved. Have you wearied God with your arrogant words as Ahaz did? Have you been rebellious, stubborn, pretentious, proud, hypocritical and self-adulating? If so, may you repent even now and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. May God generate faith in you that you may trust in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and be saved, that you may be brought out of your darkness into his marvelous light, leaving your gloom and coming into joy unspeakable. Amen.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of International Bible Society.
"NIV" and "New International Version" are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society.
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