Joy, joy, for Christ is born, the Babe, the Son of Mary. Amen. Amen. Let us turn to the Word of God. Chapter 8. That's page 728 in the Bible's Under the Seats, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Isaiah, chapter 8. Just a couple of words as you're turning there. We saw the first reference to the prophecy of the special royal child who would be born of a virgin in chapter 7 verse 14 and that special child is certainly in view in the following chapters. We're going to get more detail especially about this Emmanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ in chapter 9 and Lord willing that's where we'll be Christmas morning. That special child is mentioned just just briefly here in chapter 8, but it all links together. It's all part of the darkness against which the light of the promise shines brighter. There's also another child, not to be confused with Emmanuel, and that is the second child of Isaiah and his wife who will be born. And so we have That's part of chapter 8. We have the birth of a different child mentioned here also. We'll work through that as we get into the text. Let us read now the Holy Word of God, Isaiah chapter 8. We'll read all of chapter 8 in the first verse of chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 8 beginning at verse 1. The Lord said to me, take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, belonging to Meher Shalal Hashbaz. And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jebek Uriah to attest for me. And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, call his name Meher Shalal Hashbaz. For before the boy knows how to cry, my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria. The Lord spoke to me again, saying, Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently and rejoice over Rezan and the son of Ramaliah, therefore, behold, The LORD is bringing up against them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the King of Assyria and all His glory, and it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah. It will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land O Emmanuel, be broken, you peoples, and be shattered. Give ear, all you far countries. Strap on your armor and be shattered. Strap on your armor and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy, let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken. They shall be snared and taken. bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in Him. Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, They will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their King and their God and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the later time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations." And so far the reading of the Holy Word of God. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, to march an army in the days of Isaiah was no small matter. Transportation was difficult. Feeding the army was difficult. Transporting an army is not an easy thing today, but it's much easier comparatively. Feeding an army is not an easy thing today, but even from such things as dried foods and easier ways to store foods and all these things. Feeding an army is much easier than it was. And so in the days of Isaiah, when a mighty power such as Egypt or Assyria would march out for battle, it was no simple matter. It was a long campaign. If they were to march against distant lands, you're talking about a two, three year campaign of war. gather up the army, march out. And what about feeding all of those soldiers? What do you do? Well, you feed them off the land that you're destroying. You plunder, you pillage, you destroy. The cities that you don't destroy by force of threat, you make them to pay you plunder and tribute and promise to pay you to not attack again next year. and then eventually you march home. And after maybe three years, the campaign of war is over. Warfare is always full of destruction. It is one of the sad realities of this sin-cursed earth that there will always be wars and rumors of war. But there was a, you might say, a special terror in those far-reaching campaigns of the old military powers. Because they were not just conquering armies that stood before them. They were wiping out the land. They brought not only the threat of military destruction, they brought the threat of the destruction of people groups. Marching, raiding, pillaging. Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria at this time, he is about to march his powerful army over the Euphrates River and down into the area of the Promised Land. One of these campaigns is about to begin. Who will survive in the face of the enemy? Will those smaller nations in the Palestine area be able to unite together to stop the plunder and destruction What will the promised land of God's people look like when this military campaign is over? The short answer is this, the promised land will never look the same. From this point forward, things will not be as they were and they will be irreversibly broken. This is a time of physical brokenness, and darkness, even as it is also a time of spiritual darkness, because there is much unbelief in the land at this time. All of this again, brothers and sisters, for those who were here last week, it's into this especially dark time that we get the special promises of light, and those are especially detailed out in chapter 9 but we have the glimmers of that light and of Immanuel God with us here also in chapter 8 anticipating that further language in chapter 9. So our theme is this, wait for the child of peace who ends the darkness and we're going to look at the irreparable darkness in Ephraim and then the irreversible darkness in Judah and then anticipating, seeing the glimmers in Chapter 8 and anticipating our move to Chapter 9, we'll look at a light in the darkness. Well, we begin with the irreparable darkness in the Northern Kingdom, sometimes called the Kingdom of Israel, sometimes called the Kingdom of Ephraim. And for this, the birth of Isaiah's second son will be a sign. This birth in the present time is not to be confused with the child who's coming in the later time. The later time mentioned in the middle of chapter 9 verse 1, the child who's called Emmanuel, who has a much different name and a much different character, that is a different royal special child for the house of David, but there's a different birth, the birth of a prophet and a different son with a much different name who is also mentioned here in chapter 8. We should not confuse the two baby boys. We have a baby boy who is not named Immanuel, but who is named Meher Shalal Hashbaz. What does that name mean? It means speed, spoil, haste, plunder. And his very name is a prophecy. for the destruction that is coming very soon. This is not about a special child to be born at a later time. This is about a boy who is to be born soon. Verse 3, Isaiah says, I went into the prophetess, which is the name here for Isaiah's wife, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, call his name Meher Shalal Hashbaz. This is shorthand for the prophecy of Isaiah. He's put a sign out with these words. We're not sure where, perhaps in the temple, perhaps in front of his house. And there's some details about that sign in verse 1 and 2. It's all part of the prophecy of Isaiah. It's a sign. It's publicly out there. It's the name of his son. Nobody can deny that Isaiah has given this prophecy. There's witnesses who can testify to the time that he gave it. And it's what? It's a prophecy of the coming destruction. It will happen soon before the boy, verse 4, knows how to say, my father or my mother, the wealth of Damascus, And the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria. What is Damascus? What is Samaria? It's the capital of those two nations to the north of Judah. It's the capital of Syria. It's the capital of Israel. They will be plundered. It will happen very soon. We have record of this not only from the holy history, chapters such as 2 Kings 16. We also have details of this from other historical records as well. J.A. Motyer summarized this march of the Assyrian army in this way. In 734 BC, Tiglath-Pileser marched down the Israelite seacoast as far as the Egyptian border. In 733 BC, Israel lost Galilee, Transjordan, Megiddo, and other cities. And only the prompt submission of Hosea gave the kingdom a few more years. What happened was the king of Israel in Samaria, he said, well, we'll give you all of our wealth, all of our spoil and plunder, if you just don't destroy our capital the way you just devastated most of our cities. And Tiglath-Gileser said, OK, we won't destroy you yet. 10 years later, Samaria would be completely destroyed. That's 722 BC. But here they're already plundered. They are already reduced to almost nothing. All of this, why? Because of their Unbelief. Verse 5 and verse 6, the prophet Isaiah zooms in on Israel, the northern ten tribes, the special chosen people of God, and why they will be destroyed. The Lord spoke against me, because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah. There are very few references to Shiloh. So if you're like me, you read that and you're like, wait, doesn't that mean Shiloh? No. Shiloh, the city, is different than Shiloh, the river. What is Shiloh, the river? It's the gentle river flowing from the intermittent springs of the Gihon Spring, which is the water source of Jerusalem. It's, in other words, symbolic for Jerusalem and the kings of David. The kings of David's house, whom the northern ten tribes should be under. They should have never left. They should have never made their own kingdom. They should have never rejected God's specially chosen house, special promises made to the house of David. No, they have rejected it. And symbolically, what is it to trust in? In God's promises? In God's special line? God himself, ultimately, of course, symbolically, it is to trust in that gentle stream of Shiloh, which supplies all the city of Jerusalem with water. Instead, because they have rejected Jerusalem and the kings of Jerusalem, they will be destroyed by a much different river. Verse 7, Therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over its channels and go over its banks. You've rejected my gentle stream." You think of Jesus Christ, who, yes, we should not just think of a little baby, tender and mild, but when we think of Jesus, he does describe himself. How? Come to me. For I am gentle. Matthew chapter 11. But they have rejected God's promises. They have rejected God's kings in Jerusalem. And so instead, a much different river, the mighty river of Euphrates, which is the symbol for the king of Assyria, that is going to come against you and it's going to destroy you. Maher, Shalal, Hashbaz. Speed, spoil, haste, plunder. Israel. the northern 10 tribes will be destroyed. They're trusting in other sources. They're now serving Rezan, verse 6, who is the king of Syria to their immediate north. They're trusting the son of Remaliah, one of their non-Davidic kings that they've trusted for 200 years. Oh, the Lord has been patient. For 200 years they've lived in this rejection. But the time has come. Israel will be no more. Euphrates will destroy them. Now, what was the King of David's house doing at this time? We know from various places in the Old Testament that they were faithful prophets of God. who were calling the northern 10 tribes to repent. Repent. Trust in the Lord. You will be restored. Or seek shelter in Judah and these kinds of calls to repentance and calls to seek safety. But what about the king? What was King Ahaz, the king of David's house, what was he doing? Was he saying? Come, and I'll give you shelter in Jerusalem. I will do all I can for you, body and soul." That's the kind of thing he should have said. His faithful son, Hezekiah, acted in this manner. And so the few survivors left in the north, what did Hezekiah do? When Hezekiah restored the right worship in Jerusalem, he invited any Israelite from any of the 12 tribes and said, come, let us worship the Lord together in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover feast. That was Hezekiah. Hezekiah said, come, let's worship God together. But what does Ahaz do? What was Ahaz's role in all of this? Ahaz is encouraging all of this. Second Kings, chapter 16, verses 6 to 10, asked Tiglath-Pileser to destroy Israel. That's the spiritual situation of the day. That's the council of the kings of the day. We have the wicked kings of the nations, and we have wicked rulers over God's chosen people. even the king of David's house at this time, is only encouraging this destruction and looking to the world, to the powers of the world, and saying, well, maybe Tiglath-Pileser can be my ally and he'll destroy Israel for me. Brothers and sisters, it is darkness. It is irreparable darkness. because the northern kingdom will be no more. Now there is no hope for a reunited kingdom. And Ahaz is only encouraging this darkness and destruction. And so what's going to happen? Irreversible darkness also in Judah. Now Brothers and sisters, look closely with me at verses 5 to 8. For verses 5 and 6 and 7, as Isaiah is describing what his son's name in this prophecy means, there are many people in Judah who are thinking, great, good, we don't care about those people anyway. I hope Tiglath-Pileser destroys them, because you know what, they don't like us, and they've been attacking us recently, so Forget it. We don't want them to repent. We don't want them to return. We're not worshipping the Lord either anyway, as a general population. Sounds good. Let him march in and destroy them and plunder them. That's what we want. But because of their unfaithful attitude, because there is no affection even for yes it's true Israel was trying to destroy Judah also but because of their unfaithful attitude what's going to end because of their trust in the powers of the world right Ahaz says no I'm not gonna ask for a sign of God I'm gonna misquote scripture back to him remember that from the from the middle of chapter 7 I'm gonna go my own way which is what to trust in the world say well Tiglath-Pileser will be my friend he'll help me his power is what I want No, because of their unfaithful attitude, turning away from the Lord and turning to the powers of this world, what's going to happen in Judah? Verse 8, and it will sweep on into Judah. Okay, now, now ears are listening. Wait, Isaiah, we're fine with Israel being destroyed, but you're saying the Euphrates River, that symbolic image of the power of Assyria, it's going to hurt us too? God is gracious. Jerusalem will not yet be totally destroyed, but they will be up to their neck in the waters of godless foreign powers. It will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land. O Emmanuel. Kingdom of Judah will continue to exist, but from this time on they will be paying tribute, they will be vassal kings, they will be subject to the kings of Assyria and the kings of Babylon. They are up to their neck, barely treading water, because of their unbelief, because of their trust in the powers of this world. This, brothers and sisters, is a description of what's going on in Judah and Israel at this time. As we know, this passage is applied to belief and unbelief so plainly in places like 1 Peter 2. This is also a picture of unbelief. The Lord is patient. He did not destroy the northern ten tribes for 200 years, but the time came when God said, That is enough. You are done. And what about the unfaithful attitude in Judah? Well, God will allow them to exist for even another hundred years. But what is trusting in the powers of this world? What place does that put them in? They're up to their neck. They're barely treading. How often do we look at the powers of this world, the ways of this world, the thoughts of this world and say, well, that's what I need. God is patient. You are still here. Every breath you draw is because of him. But if you do not trust in him, the distress will continue. Your earthly situation may very well become distress. When that happens, you'll hate everyone. You'll hate the people you thought were your friends, and you'll hate God. Look at verse 21. They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and they will speak contemptuously against their king and their God. They used to like their king. They never really trusted God. When things get bad, what do they say? I hate the world and I hate God. And they will turn their faces upward and they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness. This is This is the darkness of this time, but it's also language about the darkness of unbelief at any time. Israel is soon to be completely destroyed, removing all hope of a reunited kingdom. And the King of Judah is encouraging this destruction. Judah will suffer up to its neck because of its own unfaithfulness. And the king of Israel is trying to destroy the Davidic line as one of his final acts. It is all a big mess. And unbelief is always a mess of looking the wrong way, trusting the wrong sources, looking for the wrong powers and pleasures and all these things. But what do we say? on the earthly level, the faithful remnant is not exempt from this suffering. But when the darkness comes, the people of God are not, verse 21, enraged against their king, against their God. No, the righteous, in contrast, hope in the Lord even when all of the powers of the world are against them. And so we come to our third point, a light in the darkness. And look again at the end of verse 8. This is what's going to happen. The northern tribes are going to be destroyed. The southern kingdom of Judah is also unfaithful. It's up to its neck. and the outspread wings, the predator wings of mighty Assyria will fill the breadth of your land? Oh, Emmanuel! Oh, special child of the house of David! Oh, King that we need! What will your land look like when you are born? Will you be born in the palace in Jerusalem or will that palace be destroyed? Oh, it will be destroyed. It is because of what is going on here that Jesus will not be born in the palace of Jerusalem as the king of God's people. No, he will be born the legal heir of the throne of David through his adopted father Joseph, the descendant in the flesh of David by Mary, the virgin. But he will be born in a destroyed land. He will be born in a humble place. What will happen to your land, O Emmanuel? But then, when I say the name Emmanuel, when I say God with us, when I think of the child who is to be born at the later time, when I think of the true King, not like faithless King Ahaz, not like the faithful kings who are yet full of rash decisions and not what we need. When I think of Emmanuel, what do I say? After I say, O Emmanuel, it brings me to a prayer of confidence. Be broken, you peoples, verse 9, and be shattered. Give ear, all you far country. Strap on your armor and be shattered. Strap on your armor and be shattered. What do you mean, Isaiah? They're going to come and destroy you too. The people of God are not going to be exempt from the physical suffering and the physical pain. What are you talking about? Take counsel together, Isaiah says in verse 10, echoing the language of Psalm 2. But it will come to nothing. Speak a word, but it will not stand. Whatever the world does, whatever swords they strap on, whatever words they say, it will not stand. The end of verse 10. For God is with us. When I think about this world, it's all mess and brokenness. And oh, Emmanuel, God with us, what is the situation into which you will be born? Well, it will be a very humble birth. The King of Kings will be placed in a feeding trough. More than that, he will have to suffer death on a cross. But when I consider His name, I am ready for the swords of this world. I am ready for the words of this world. Because whatever they say, I still have hope, because God is with us. Verses 11-22, it is full of the contrast between what the unfaithful say and what those who trust in the Lord say. We won't be able to work through it all, a few of the things I've mentioned already. But look at verse 17, I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. What's that a reference to? It's all that brokenness. It's all that darkness. Not only the physical darkness, but also all of the unbelief in the land. The unfaithful kings on the throne. Things will never be the same in Israel. For both houses it will be disaster, both houses of Israel being mentioned in verse 14. And of course, brothers and sisters, we read not only this context, but again we take it to all of the mess of this world. For Isaiah, it was seen the crumbling of the 12 tribes of Israel. For us, there may be other events in our life where it feels like God is even hiding His face from us. But whatever is going on, this is the testimony of the faithful remnant of Isaiah and the other disciples mentioned at the end of verse 16. God's people say this, I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him." The earthly circumstances are the same. The unbelievers in Israel are going to suffer the plunder and pillage and destruction of the Assyrian army. The believers, and there are still some believers in the Northern Ten Tribes, will suffer also The unbelievers and the believers in Judah, they're all gonna suffer up to their neck and they will never really be a free kingdom from this point onward. The physical circumstances are all the same. The body is not yet renewed. Believers and unbelievers suffer pain and all the weakness of the flesh and all the pains of this world. Believers and unbelievers suffer in war-torn situations. But while the unbeliever in the time of distress is enraged against their king who they used to like, verse 21, and against God whom they never trusted, the people of God have hope verse 17, no matter what is going on, because Emmanuel. That's why. Because God is with us. For trusting in the powers, voices, anything of this world, then there is nothing. There is only gloom and darkness. There is, the end of verse 20, no dawn. But when we wait upon the Lord, when we wait upon that special child who is unlike anyone else, because He's true Son of David, but also the very Son of God, God with us, when we hope in Jesus Christ, then we stand firm. There is a light in the darkness. We've read 1 Peter 2, for our assurance of pardon. I'll turn back there. The Apostle Peter takes all of this to the language of belief and unbelief. That's what makes the difference. Again, the believers and unbelievers in Israel and Judah, they all suffered the same outward circumstances. But the difference is belief or unbelief. Fear of man or fear of the Lord. 1 Peter 2, verse 7. So the honor is for you who believe. But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. quoting from Isaiah 8, 14, and 15, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the Word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us, of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. That is the distinction that matters. To hear the call to repent, to trust in the Lord, whatever the mess of this world that's going on around us, the difference, the only question that matters, is you a believer or an unbeliever? Do you believe in Jesus Christ or do you not believe in Jesus Christ? And believing in Jesus Christ, we have dawn, we have light from the darkness of our own sin and from every darkness that we face. God with us. Amen. Lord, our Lord, may the light shine in the darkness May we see the lights of your being and your promises. Whatever the darkness of our earthly situation, may we see, Lord. The darkness