It’s not so much the prophecy of Isaiah that we’re interested in this morning, but the nature of prophecy itself.
One very specific point about Isaiah 7 needs to be emphasized. The Lord was not obligated to give that wretched king this prophesy. And that is true in regard to any and all the prophesies which are found in the Word of God. The Lord doesn’t owe anyone anything, and He wasn’t enriched by these acts of His own grace. Throughout history there have been professed human prophets and prophesies. Perhaps you have heard of Nostradamus and a decade ago there was Jeanne Dixon. In some ways, every single one of those human prophets were just like the woman of Acts 16. When Paul and Silas began to preach the gospel in the Roman/Macedonian community of Philippi, they were accosted by a demon-possessed woman, who was in the employ of a group of religious thieves. This poor woman was “possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.” Every human prophet, from Balaam, and Jannes and Jambres in the Old Testament to Elymus the Sorcerer in the New Testament and then on to Nostradamus…. Every human prophet, whether demon-possessed or merely a fraud, have been in the business of predicting the future – for some sort of personal gain. They have been prophets for profit.
On the other hand, Jehovah has never been enriched by telling us about our futures. He has never been obligated to tell any of us what He was planning to do. Every prophesy was a gift of His grace. Every prophesy has been a great gift. Multitudes of people have ignored that gift without ever seeing its value. Others have rejoiced in it but spent it immediately – you might say superficially. But the wise invested it, banking it in their hearts by faith, and ultimately they were enriched by it at the time when it matured.
Here is an example: In Jeremiah 25, about the year 606 BC, God gave to Israel this prophesy. “Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.” Seventy years later, Daniel, a captive in Babylon, looked at the calendar and knew that the Babylonian captivity was about over. Despite some confusion, Daniel was blessed by knowing that prophesy – he prepared for its conclusion. And then in regard to the same thing there was in even more spectacular prophesy given to Isaiah about a hundred years before that – the king who would crush Babylon was actually named. Can you image the boost to his faith and courage when Daniel learned that the king outside the gates of Babylon was named Cyrus, just as Isaiah had declared?
God has often described future events and given that information to special, attentive people. It was not for God’s financial profit – it was done out of grace. Whether a man benefits from that gracious gift is entirely up to him. And that applies to you and me as much at to Joseph or Daniel.
An in-depth study of all God’s prophecies could really be a wonderful and beneficial thing. Everyone of them which have been completed should be like another stave around the barrel of our faith. Another nail binding one plank of our faith to another. Each prophecy is just one more rubber band around the all the documents of our faith and religion. But there could be an added blessing in such a study…. We should be more acutely aware of what to look for and what it is that we are currently experiencing.
Take for example, Jesus so-called “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem just a few days before the crucifixion. John 12 – “On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon.” Some of you are probably aware that Jesus went out of his way to arrange that very special ride into town. Matthew 21 – “And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.” There was certainly a great deal going on at that moment to distract the disciples, but they should have noticed their Lord’s unusual behavior. Sadly, it wasn’t until later that all of this clicked in their minds. The people of Jerusalem cut palm branches, throwing them down on the road in front of the colt and the Saviour, crying… “Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord… As it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.” This prophecy about the ass’s colt was given to Zechariah about 500 years before the birth of Christ. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” I will not deny that Christ Jesus went out of His way to make sure that the prophecy was fulfilled, but I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, it is my next point. But my point right now is that because the disciples were so distracted, they missed the fulfillment – and thus they missed the blessing of that prophecy until some time later.
Every Biblical prophecy is a promise from God. Just like my promise, the Lord must take the steps necessary to bring that promise to pass. And praise the Lord, Jehovah has a little more power and control over things than I have. He is omnipotent, meaning that there is nothing which He cannot do. This takes us back to that rather tiny prophecy about the ass’s colt. Some commentaries try to say that the animal’s owner was a disciple – but there is no proof of that. Some want to explain away anything miraculous about the event. But others say that everything about it was miraculous, from the granted permission to the actual riding of an unbroken and untrained animal. Some don’t like the fact that the Lord Jesus asked for this colt in order to specifically fulfil the prophecy. He did the same thing while hanging on the cross, forcing events in order to fulfil specific prognostications. But actually every prophecy is fulfilled in exactly the same way – the complete control and command of God. Some of the hundreds of Biblical predictions required miracles in order to be satisfied, while others only need the control of simple circumstances. But even in that case, aren’t we on the edge, the verge, the cusp of the miraculous?
Think, now, about the centuries-old statement which touch upon the Lord Jesus’ birth. There is the prophecy of the virgin birth. And it was also prophesied that Christ would be of the tribe of Judah – one of the descendants of David. We touched on these when we looked at Joseph’s genealogy. But here is another – One of my absolute favorite prophecies in regard to the Lord is found in Micah 5:2. Micah served the Lord about 700 years before Christ. There is absolutely no way for the most ardently liar or Bible-hater to say that the fulfilment took place before the prophecy was written. Micah said, “thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
I love this verse for a half-dozen reasons. One is that it teaches that the baby born in Bethlehem will be the Messiah – “ruler in Israel.” A second is the way that it indirectly teaches the deity of that Messiah – “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” And then there is the reference to the somewhat insignificant town of Bethlehem. Remember that later some will reject Jesus, denying that He is the Messiah, because they thought that he was from Nazareth, way up by the Sea of Galilee. Those Jews knew from Micah 5:2 and other scriptures, that the Messiah had to be a son of David, and to be born in Bethlehem – or at the very least in Judah. Now, think back upon the way that Mary and Joseph were brought from Galilee to Bethlehem. Was it miraculous that the Romans had demanded that everyone had to travel to the city of his fathers to be taxed? Or was the timing miraculous? The unbeliever will talk about coincidences, but based upon the prophecies – the promises of God – there was nothing accidental, coincidental or serendipitous in it. Yes, this was miraculous, and wonderful, and God-honoring, and faith-building.
God raised up a servant – a prophet to minister on His behalf during the days of wicked king Ahaz and righteous king Hezekiah, 750 years earlier than the birth of Christ. Jehovah blessed that prophet, protecting him from the wrath of some kings, and bringing him to the attention of others. He filled that man’s mouth with some dire, terrible predictions, and also with some blessed ones. In many ways, I’m sure that Micah lived an ordinary life, but in other ways he was almost unique. I’m not going to tell you that his most important prophesy was about Bethlehem, Ephratah – that is not my prerogative. But that prophesy was made and three-quarters of a century later there was the fulfilment. God raised, protected and used the prophet, and God guaranteed, called orchestrated, and moved all of the characters which brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy. We might call the power through which God could do these things is called His “sovereignty.”
And I’d like to impress upon you the realization that this sovereignty is not confined to control over a few hundred special prophesies. God is sovereign over everything. Granted, He permits sinners and Satan to do certain things, but He retains ultimate control. Just as he will order a chain to be put around Satan during the Millennial Kingdom, there is a sense in which there has always been a chain about him, and there is at this moment. Satan cannot do everything that he’d like to do, because only Jehovah is God. And certainly the Lord did not command Adam to eat of the forbidden fruit, nor did He command those terrorists to fly their stolen airplanes into the twin towers. As I have said many times recently, God is not responsible for the sins of man or devil. But sinners cannot do anything which God has decreed that he cannot do. Furthermore, those sinners cannot go beyond the abilities of their depraved natures.
And here is the point…. Beyond the hundreds of prophesies, there have been a million quintillion other things in the last 6,000 years over which God has been in complete control. There has never been an accident, at least as far as Jehovah is concerned. There has never been the introduction of a tiny germ, which caused a major disease without the Lord being in complete control. And you are here in this church service today, because the sovereign God ordained it. In your sin, you may have been bored throughout this message, but I am convinced that a sentence or two pierced through the fog and entered your heart. One day you will have to stand before the sovereign God to give an explanation for your reaction to those things which God ordained for you to hear.
For example, God has given to every one of us evidence that Jesus is the Christ – the Son of God. Among other things, there are dozens and dozens of prophecies which do that. Then extending our thoughts from this miraculous conception and marvelous birth, on down to the crucifixion, our admiration, respect and faith should follow and strengthen every step of the way. This One who so miraculously came into the world, came “to save his people from their sins.” And what else has the sovereign God told us in regard to this salvation? He has told us that we must repent before Him and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We must with broken hearts for our sin, bow in humble sorrow and repentance before His holiness. And we must look to Christ Jesus and His death on the cross as the only way that our sins could be forgiven and covered. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”