Ahaz was a wicked king. The book of 2 Kings informed us that he bowed to many pagan gods and made offerings and sacrifices to them. He even committed the most abominable heathen sin of all when he sacrificed one of his sons to the Canaanite god Molek. The Lord is going to give Ahaz an opportunity to renounce idolatry and place his faith in Almighty God.
Isaiah met with Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, as the Lord instructed him, and he told Ahaz not to fear the army coming against him. Ahaz need not shake at the thought of two mere men; he needs to bow in reverent fear before the living God. In order to prove to Ahaz that Jerusalem will be delivered from the enemy, in today's text the Lord invites Ahaz to ask for a sign so he can trust that the Lord's words will come true. This is very gracious of the Lord, that He would be so merciful to a man who has rejected Him in so many ways. I believe the Lord is trying to help Ahaz not only for the man's own sake but for the sake of the entire nation. As we noted during our study of the kings, whenever a godly king was on the throne, the people followed his example. And whenever a wicked king was on the throne, he was a bad influence on the people.
Through the prophet Isaiah the Lord offers a sign to the king. "Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 'Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.'" (Isaiah 7:10-11) Nothing is too hard for the Lord. It would be impossible for King Ahaz to ask anything of the Lord that He could not do. You may recall from our study of the kings that Ahaz's son, King Hezekiah, asked for a great sign from the Lord. The Lord promised him he would not die from an illness that had come upon him and the Lord promised him that Jerusalem would not fall to the enemy that was plaguing Judah in Hezekiah's day. Hezekiah asked the Lord to make the sun go ten degrees backwards. The Lord obliged him. The sundial which Hezekiah could see from the window by his sickbed was, ironically, built by his faithless father. The sun went backward ten steps (ten degrees) on the sundial just as Hezekiah had asked.
Hezekiah demonstrated a faith that his father does not have. When offered a magnificent opportunity of a sign from the Lord, Ahaz declines it. "But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.'" (Isaiah 7:12) The Lord instructed the people in Deuteronomy 6:16 not to put Him to the test. This is the verse Ahaz is quoting but he is using it out of context. The remainder of that passage of Scripture makes it clear that the Lord is talking about the type of testing the people put Him through at Massah, where they grumbled against Moses and the Lord, claiming that the Lord and Moses led them into the wilderness to cause them to die. They demanded a sign, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" (Exodus 17:7)
The Lord had already performed many great signs and wonders for them, including parting the Red Sea, and He had provided for them in the wilderness up to that point. Their "testing" of Him was actually a statement of faithlessness. It displayed an attitude of disrespect toward Him and an attitude of suspicion regarding His character. That incident in no way compares to what is happening in Isaiah 7. The Lord Himself invites Ahaz to ask a sign of Him but Ahaz hypocritically sticks his nose in the air and states in a pious tone: "I will not test the Lord!" He's putting on a front of respecting the Lord when the events of his life so far have proven that he does not respect the Lord.
The Lord is displeased with Ahaz's reply. This was a generous offer on the Lord's part, considering how wicked Ahaz was, and Ahaz has refused a marvelous display of the power of the living God. The Lord is angry on behalf of Ahaz and on behalf of the people; the king and all the people could benefit from a magnificent display of the glory and power of the Lord. "Then Isaiah said, 'Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?'" (Isaiah 7:13)
The king refuses to ask for a sign from the Lord but the Lord is going to provide a sign anyway. In our next study session we are going to take a look at this sign. It's a fitting sign to be studying at the Christmas season, for it involves the birth of the Son of God: this will be the sign of Immanuel.
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