14:1-16 – The Sign Of .

I. (1-2) The northern nation of and Syria combine to attack .

Rezin king of Syria and , a son of the king of Israel made an alliance to attack . So his () heart and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind.

In a study of risk taking, participants who were fearful consistently made judgments and choices that were relatively pessimistic and amplified their perception of risk in a given situation, such as fleeing, hiding, freezing, anger, anxiety, shock, panic, and sadness.

II. (3-12) The Word of the LORD to Ahaz through Isaiah.

Isaiah was told to take his son, named Shear-Jashub ("A Remnant Shall Return."), and bring a word from the LORD to Ahaz.

God’s Word to Ahaz, “take heed, be quiet, do not fear or be fainthearted, it shall not stand…these are just men (ungodly)…you need to trust in me.” They looked like a big, flaming threat to Ahaz, but God looked and saw two stubs of smoking firebrands. One thing was going to change the course of Ahaz’s reign, faith; “If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.”

Through the Isaiah, God invites Ahaz to ask for a sign. God has just challenged Ahaz to believe and be blessed, and now God offers to give Ahaz a basis for belief - a sign for yourself, but he wouldn’t.

The attack on Jerusalem was ultimately unsuccessful, but the war against Judah took a great toll against the southern kingdom.

2 Chronicles 28:1-6 - 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, as his father had done. For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molded images for the Baals. He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. Therefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. They defeated him, and carried away a great multitude of them as captives, and brought them to Damascus. Then he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him with a great slaughter. For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed one hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.

God wanted Ahaz to know that because of the kind of ungodly trust he put in the king of , Judah would eventually be taken into captivity, and only a remnant would return.

III. (13-16) The LORD's sign to Ahaz: the sign of Immanuel – God with us.

"The 'sign' of the child, therefore, constitutes an indication that the all-sovereign and all-knowing God has the situation completely in hand, and it rebukes the king's lack of faith in him." Grogan.

The near fulfillment of this prophecy centered around Ahaz, Jerusalem, and the attack from Israel and Syria. For Ahaz, the sign centered around a time span; God would give Ahaz a sign that within a few years, both Israel and Syria would be crushed.

John 12:37-38 - But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

We know this passage speaks of because the prophecy is addressed not only to Ahaz, but also to David's entire house (O house of David!).

Psalm 34:8 - Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Psalm 112:5-7 - A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

John 14:1 - “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

Jesus is God with us in his body, by the influences of his Holy Spirit, with His Word, in private prayer…to comfort, enlighten, protect, and defend us, in every time of temptation and trial, in the hour of death, in the day of judgment; and God with us and in us, and we with and in him, to all eternity." (Clarke)