Isaiah

Isaiah 7: God gives the sign of Immanuel

Begin in prayer

Before we hear God speak to a trembling king, let us place our fears before Him. Ask the Lord to strengthen faith in His promise and show our family the wonder of Immanuel.

I will not break my covenant, nor alter what my lips have uttered.

Psalm 89:34

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us see Your faithfulness when people are afraid. Show us Jesus, Immanuel, and help us trust Him over our own plans. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Syria and Israel come against Jerusalem, and Ahaz and his people tremble like trees in the wind. God sends Isaiah and his son to meet Ahaz by the upper pool. The two kings plan to replace Judah’s king, yet God says their plan will not stand. Ahaz refuses God’s command to ask for a sign, and the Lord Himself promises a virgin’s son called Immanuel. The threatening kings will lose their land before the child knows to reject evil and choose good. God also announces Assyrian devastation that will leave the vineyards overgrown and the survivors living on butter and honey.

As you read Isaiah 7, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God keeps His promise to David’s house and gives the sign of Immanuel.

The attack threatens David’s royal house, so God addresses the king with a promise he must believe. Smoking torches picture enemies whose strength will burn out. The command to ask for a sign gives Ahaz a reason to trust God’s word. His refusal sounds reverent, yet it rejects what God has invited him to do. The Lord gives the sign despite the king’s unbelief. Immanuel means God with us, and Matthew identifies the promised virgin birth with Jesus (Matthew 1 verses 22 and 23). Matthew says the Child in the virgin Mary was from the Holy Spirit, so God the Son became a man (Matthew 1 verse 20). The promise stands alongside a near warning, as Syria and Israel fall and Assyria devastates Judah. Trusting God remains the dividing line between security in His word and the ruin unbelief brings.

How does Isaiah 7 show us that God keeps His promise to David’s house and gives the sign of Immanuel?

God’s word stands above the plans of kings.

The enemies intend to divide Judah and set up their own king. God says their plan will not happen. Ahaz is called to believe the promise rather than tremble before those two rulers.

God promises Immanuel despite Ahaz’s refusal.

Ahaz declines the sign God commands him to request. Isaiah addresses David’s house and announces what the Lord Himself will give. The virgin will bear a son whose name declares God’s presence.

God will judge unbelief through Assyria.

The razor pictures how thoroughly the Assyrian king will strip the land. Valuable vineyards become ground covered with briers and thorns. Butter and honey describe the survivors’ food in a land where farming has collapsed.

Memorise

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what fear is leading me to distrust the promise God gives in Jesus?

Ahaz refuses to ask, and the Lord still gives His sign. Isaiah announces, “the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” God’s faithfulness holds when a king fails to trust Him.

Matthew names Jesus’ virgin birth as the fulfillment of this promise (Matthew 1 verses 22 and 23). God the Son came among sinners to save His people. Their guilt brought God’s judgment upon Jesus, who died in their place at the cross and rose from the dead. His obedience and death accomplished salvation once for all. This Savior’s completed work lacks nothing needed to reconcile guilty people to God.

Turn from unbelief and put your trust in Jesus. Do not shelter behind religious words while refusing God’s promise. Whoever believes in Immanuel receives the forgiveness He secured. The faithful God has given His Son, and His promise is a firm place to rest.

Parent's note

Tell your children that Ahaz’s unbelief did not overthrow God’s promise. Jesus was born of the virgin and died and rose to save His people. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that His promise stands and His Son has come, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and will call his name ‘Jesus.’

Luke 1:31

Faithful God, thank You for keeping Your word and giving Immanuel. Please turn us from unbelief and teach us to trust Jesus. When fears press upon us this week, bring Your promises to mind. Help us obey what You say and stop hiding behind excuses. Amen.