Two kings have marched against Jerusalem, and the city is shaking: the hearts of Ahaz and his people 2"shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind." A young king is out inspecting the water supply at the end of the conduit of the upper pool (7:3) in case of siege, so frightened that God sends Isaiah to meet him at the very spot where fear has brought him.
Isaiah brings his son, whose name is a sermon: Shear-jashub, which means a remnant shall return. Before Isaiah speaks, the boy at his side is already saying something. Then Isaiah names the threat with near contempt: 4"two smoldering stumps of firebrands." The kings who alarm Ahaz look, in Isaiah's mouth, like the last embers of a fire already gone out. 7"It shall not stand."
Then comes the sentence the scene turns on: 9"If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all." In Hebrew, both halves come from the root behind "amen." Believe, or you will not be established. Ahaz's throne rests on faith.
God then invites Ahaz to ask for any sign at all: 11"let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." There is no limit. And Ahaz refuses: 12"I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test." It sounds devout, and it quotes Scripture correctly. Isaiah's reply shows what it is: 13"Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?" Isaiah says "my God" where we would expect "your God." Something has already broken between the king and the Lord he was supposed to represent, and Isaiah names the break by changing one word. Ahaz would soon send messengers to the king of Assyria for help (2 Kings 16:7).
14"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign." A sign refused becomes a sign given. What God is doing in the world never depended on a frightened king's willingness to ask. Before the child is old enough to know right from wrong, the two threatening kings will be gone. But the sign carries a warning too. The days coming on Ahaz's house include 17"the king of Assyria," the very empire Ahaz will run to instead of trusting God. His unbelief invites the greater threat.
Centuries later Matthew reaches for this scene and this name to explain another child (Matthew 1:22-23). Ahaz stood at the water supply, afraid and unwilling to believe, and God gave him Immanuel anyway. What was warning to an unbelieving king became good news for everyone willing to receive it: God is with us, whether or not we ever work up the nerve to ask for proof.
Ask whether you have given God a devout-sounding no. Piety can be a cover for a decision already made, and the God who gave Ahaz a sign he refused to ask for is patient with that too.
Prayer
Father, we have worn Ahaz's false piety, refusing to ask because we had already decided not to believe. Thank you that your purposes never depended on our willingness to test you. You gave Immanuel to a king too afraid to ask for a sign, and you have given him again to us. Make us firm in faith and not in our own fear. In Jesus' name, amen.