Isaiah 7

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

The Prediction of the Virgin Birth of Christ

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Isaiah predicted the birth of a son as a sign for Ahaz.

  2. Isaiah predicted the hard times of Judah at the hands of the Assyrians.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let the Lord choose the sign.

QUESTIONS

  1. What do we know about King Ahaz?

  2. What predicament did King Ahaz face in this chapter?

  3. How was Isaiah sent to comfort King Ahaz?

  4. Why was it wrong for Ahaz to say, “I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!” (verse 7)?

  5. Explain why the phrases “abundance of milk” and “curds and honey” (verse 22) are not describing times of plenty.

ANSWERS

  1. Ahaz, the king of Judah, was in the line of David, but he was not a good king. He is known in the Bible for sacrificing his son to the god Molech and for erecting a pagan altar in the courts of God’s Temple.

  2. Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the king of northern Israel (Ephraim) had conspired together against Ahaz. They wanted to force the southern kingdom of Judah to form an alliance with them against the super power of that day, the Assyrian Empire.

  3. Isaiah told King Ahaz not to fear this coalition of Ephraim and Syria because they would fall to Assyria, and within 65 years the northern kingdom of Israel (Ephraim) would not even exist.

  4. Isaiah told Ahaz to ask for a sign from the Lord to prove that all of this would come to pass. Ahaz piously and hypocritically said that he would never test the Lord by asking for a sign. But the Lord gave Ahaz a sign anyway.

  5. There would be an abundance of milk during these hard times because there were not a lot of young cows and goats to nurse and consume the milk. Curds and honey describe the food of nomadic people when there was no longer the regular harvesting of crops.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Read Isaiah’s predicted sign in verse 14. Discuss the three views of the fulfillment of this prophecy (historical, exclusively Messianic, typical). Which of these views makes the most sense when considering the whole of Scripture?

  2. Review how the Samaritan people came to be. How do biblical insights such as this round out your knowledge of Scripture? Do they cause you to marvel at God’s work throughout history?

CHALLENGE

  1. As believers we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Yet sometimes the Lord gives us a confirming sign to encourage us. Let the Lord choose the sign.

KEY VERSES

  • “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

  • “And it shall come to pass in that day that the LORD will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.” Isaiah 7:18

Isaiah, Talks, Old TestamentRon ReidIsaiah 7