Isaiah 7: God Among Us and Ahaz, with Grace and Judgment -- 2019/09/23

Rev. David Boisclair, pastor of Faith and Bethesda Lutheran Churches in North St. Louis County, Missouri, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Isaiah 7. “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Many of us have heard these words from Isaiah 7 around Christmas time, but what was going on when they were first spoken? Isaiah confronts the faithless king Ahaz with this prophecy, a mixture of blessing and curse. On the one hand, Judah’s enemies of Ephraim and Syria will be destroyed. On the other hand, the one destroying them is also going to destroy most of Judah. The name Emmanuel means “God is with us” or “God is in our midst.” As we saw in the previous chapter, being in the presence of God is a fearful thing, because it means a reckoning for human sin. Ahaz wanted nothing to do with “Emmanuel,” and yet within a few short years Isaiah’s prophecy would come to pass. Yet the prophecy is also for us: when our Lord was born, it was in the midst of chaos. Judah was ruled by a puppet king and had been subjugated to the Romans. Jerusalem was on the verge of destruction yet again. And yet even with all that, God reveals His ultimate gracious presence that reckons with human sin through the forgiving and all-atoning sacrifice of His Son.