Anyone Preaching Isaiah 7?

[Eric Frey]

Advent 4's OT lesson is from Is. 7. It is the oft quoted (by us and St Matthew) prophecy about the "virgin" and "Immanuel."

I have done a lot of reading and am wondering how you suggest balancing the traditional (Matthean/Christological) interpretation, ie what the church has taught and believed, with the more contextual (modern scholarly and seemingly common sensical) interpretation of a young woman who King Ahaz knew who would very soon be giving birth to a son who would act as an hour glass indicating the duration of the syro-emphramite war?

How do we balance the too, being honest to both the text and the Tradition? How do we preach this as an Advent text?

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I dealt with this in our more informal Sunday night gathering last week. I had worked on that passage last August in my Devotional writing. It is nothing spectacular, but if you are interested, it is at: http://pastorscott.blogspot.com/2007/08/isaiah-8-because-when-all-is-said-and.html


Advent 4's OT lesson is from Is. 7. It is the oft quoted (by us and St Matthew) prophecy about the "virgin" and "Immanuel."

I have done a lot of reading and am wondering how you suggest balancing the traditional (Matthean/Christological) interpretation, ie what the church has taught and believed, with the more contextual (modern scholarly and seemingly common sensical) interpretation of a young woman who King Ahaz knew who would very soon be giving birth to a son who would act as an hour glass indicating the duration of the syro-emphramite war?

How do we balance the too, being honest to both the text and the Tradition? How do we preach this as an Advent text?

[Scott Daniels]

There is an interesting contrast between the way Ahaz deals with the Syria-Ephraim threat in Is. 7 and the way his son (most likely the "unto us a child is born" son) Hezekiah later deals with the threat of Sennacharib (Is. 36-37). They are almost identical political situations, however when Ahaz is threatened he makes an unholy alliance with Assyria (which ends up coming back to haunt Judah) but his son Hezekiah throws himself before the altar and trusts Yahweh for Judah's future.

In that way Hezekiah does fulfill Isaiah's expectations in chapter 7 - unlike Ahaz, Hezekiah reminds the people of what they (we) too often forget - that "God is with us."

I think an important question with these kinds of prophetic expectations is: "Can these hopes only be fulfilled once?" I believe the answer is no, they can be fulfilled several times because they serve as the inspired spiritual hopes for what the leaders of God's people ought to look like.

In that sense, Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of these expectations. In the Garden of Gethsemane, like Ahaz, he calculated out the future and feared for what lay ahead, but unlike Ahaz (and like Hezekiah), he threw himself into the will of God in trust. In that way (and in many other ways) Jesus became the greatest reminder of what we too often forget - that God is with us.

But the hopes of Isaiah 7 still remain for those who would lead God's people today. What the prophet still hopes for are men and women who like Hezekiah, and most importantly like Christ, will live by faith and trust in such a way that they too will remind the world of what it so often forgets - that God is with us.

[Dennis Bratcher]

Advent 4's OT lesson is from Is. 7. It is the oft quoted (by us and St Matthew) prophecy about the "virgin" and "Immanuel."

I have done a lot of reading and am wondering how you suggest balancing the traditional (Matthean/Christological) interpretation, ie what the church has taught and believed, with the more contextual (modern scholarly and seemingly common sensical) interpretation of a young woman who King Ahaz knew who would very soon be giving birth to a son who would act as an hour glass indicating the duration of the syro-emphramite war?

How do we balance the too, being honest to both the text and the Tradition? How do we preach this as an Advent text?

FWIW: Immanuel in Isaiah and Matthew (http://www.crivoice.org/immanuel.html)

Dennis B.

[Ryan Scott]

There is an interesting contrast between the way Ahaz deals with the Syria-Ephraim threat in Is. 7 and the way his son (most likely the "unto us a child is born" son) Hezekiah later deals with the threat of Sennacharib (Is. 36-37). They are almost identical political situations, however when Ahaz is threatened he makes an unholy alliance with Assyria (which ends up coming back to haunt Judah) but his son Hezekiah throws himself before the altar and trusts Yahweh for Judah's future.

In that way Hezekiah does fulfill Isaiah's expectations in chapter 7 - unlike Ahaz, Hezekiah reminds the people of what they (we) too often forget - that "God is with us."

I think an important question with these kinds of prophetic expectations is: "Can these hopes only be fulfilled once?" I believe the answer is no, they can be fulfilled several times because they serve as the inspired spiritual hopes for what the leaders of God's people ought to look like.

In that sense, Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of these expectations. In the Garden of Gethsemane, like Ahaz, he calculated out the future and feared for what lay ahead, but unlike Ahaz (and like Hezekiah), he threw himself into the will of God in trust. In that way (and in many other ways) Jesus became the greatest reminder of what we too often forget - that God is with us.

But the hopes of Isaiah 7 still remain for those who would lead God's people today. What the prophet still hopes for are men and women who like Hezekiah, and most importantly like Christ, will live by faith and trust in such a way that they too will remind the world of what it so often forgets - that God is with us.


That's a great advent connection. Thanks for sharing it.

[Dale Cozby]

I find many contextual stories in the OT that point very clearly to the coming of Jesus. In fact one might go so far as to say the whole of the OT prepares the stage for the Messiah in God's plan of salvation.

On the one hand they show the real world situations happening in thier current context and yet on another we see them as a forshadowing of things to come. Many common stories in the OT point to either the 1st or 2nd advent of our Lord Jesus

[Scott Daniels]

I find many contextual stories in the OT that point very clearly to the coming of Jesus. In fact one might go so far as to say the whole of the OT prepares the stage for the Messiah in God's plan of salvation.

On the one hand they show the real world situations happening in thier current context and yet on another we see them as a forshadowing of things to come. Many common stories in the OT point to either the 1st or 2nd advent of our Lord Jesus

Of course the NT writers might also be telling the story of Jesus in the paradigms and patterns of the OT stories that were so deeply ingrained into the oral culture of the first century.

[Wilson L. Deaton]

Advent 4's OT lesson is from Is. 7. It is the oft quoted (by us and St Matthew) prophecy about the "virgin" and "Immanuel."

...

How do we balance the too, being honest to both the text and the Tradition? How do we preach this as an Advent text?

I'm preaching from Isa. 7 tomorrow (12/23).

Here's a quick rundown of my message:


I'm starting by playing Bonnie Tyler's, Holding Out for a Hero. (partial lyrics excerpt below)
I'll then ask the congregation, "Do you ever need a hero?"
I'll then ask, "How about God? Afterall he promised to be with us."
I'll then run through a list of OT, "I'll be with you..." (Thanks, Dennis!)
I'll talk about Ahaz thinking he needed a hero but he forgot about God.
God sent Isaiah to remind him.
"Immanuel--God with us" was to be a constant reminder--a living billboard.
Years later Matthew realized something more was going on.
Brief explanation of "prophecy" being "forthtelling" rather than "foretelling."
The fulfillment was not simply a "prediction" of a virgin giving birth coming true. The fullfillment was about the "proclamation" of God with us being fulfilled in an expanded and ultimate way: The word made flesh!
Thus true meaning of Christmas is "Immanuel--God with us." No wonder we celebrate.


I believe this is faithful to both Isaiah and Matthew.

Wilson

For those not familar with the song here are some of the lyrics:

Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need

I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero till the end of the night
he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast
and he's gotta be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero till the morning light
He's gotta be sure and he's gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life
Larger than life
...
Up where the mountains meet the heavens above
Out where the lightning strikes the sea
I would swear that there's someone somewhere watching me
Through the wind and the chill and the rain
and the storm and the flood
I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood
I need a hero, etc.
...