Colin Badger - Thematic Study of Isaiah - Class 3 - Emmanuel and the Waters of Shiloh

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1. 0:00

   This is day three of the 1988 Idlewild Bible School. Our third period speaker is Brother Colin Badgers and his general subject is Schematic Study of Isaiah. His subtopic for today’s class is Emmanuel and the Waters of Shiloha for the Badgers. Good morning, brothers and sisters and young people. We could have spent the whole week on Hezekiah. I’m sure you’re perhaps aware of that, having just begun to explore some of the fringes of those chapters in Chronicles and Kings.

2. 0:37

   We’ll continue with that just for a few moments this morning and do a little recap, but we’ve got to move on. Our intention is not to do a detailed study of Hezekiah. Our mandate is to study Isaiah’s prophecy and have a better idea by the end of this week as to what makes Isaiah’s prophecy what it is. And our intention was, as we set out at the beginning of the week, to deal with six major themes that touch on Isaiah’s prophecy.

3. 1:06

   Hezekiah, you can see, is a major one, figures largely both before and after the midpoint of the prophecy. You can see. You can see perhaps that obviously you need to draw from Kings and Chronicles if you’re to get the full background of Isaiah’s prophecy when you deal with Hezekiah. We’ve mentioned too, that you need a little bit of help from Hosea’s prophecy, that a reading of Micah is also very helpful. So great was this man Hezekiah really, next to David, the greatest king of Israel.

4. 1:39

   No question about it. Besides those chapters 66 in Isaiah, besides the chapters in Kings and Chronicles, beside the prophecy of Micah, besides the prophecy of Isaiah, and possibly two other minor prophets, he wrote a number of the Proverbs. Later on you check Proverbs. Chapter 25 to chapter 30 are Hezekiah’s Proverbs, and it says so.

5. 2:06

   When we think of the Proverbs, we often think of Solomon. But Hezekiah was a lover of Proverbs, and thus in the book of Proverbs there’s an entry from him. Moreover, it seems that there’s a number of Psalms that have either been written by Hezekiah or organized by Hezekiah. We’re Speaking of Psalms 120 to 134.

6. 2:31

   A number of them have titles as being attributed to David or Asaph. Some of them are anonymous, but there are good reasons which we can’t explore this week, to consider the songs of degrees, Psalms 120 to 134 as either being written or organized in the psaltery by Hezekiah. In fact, as you’re reading The Life and Times of Isaiah and the Life and Times of Hezekiah, it’s.

7. 2:58

   Very fruitful to have those psalms in mind. There are a number of thoughts expressed in Psalms 1:20 to 1:34 that have some very useful bearing on the times of Isaiah and Hezekiah, but that’s another study. Back to Hezekiah for a few moments. We noticed yesterday he was a man of action. We noticed in that passage in Chronicles that in the very first month of the first year of his reign, in fact the very first day of the first month of his reign, Hezekiah went into action. 16 intensive days of reform, rolling back 16 years of Ahaz’s corruption. All of which was intended to prepare the people for a proper celebration of the Great Passover, sometimes known as Hezekiah’s Great Passover.

8. 3:56

   We haven’t time to look at that Passover in any detail. It’s just as rich in exhortation as what we surveyed yesterday in the reform period. Now, for the help of putting thoughts on hooks in your minds, it’s useful to think of three main chapters in Hezekiah’s life. Three, the first, the early years, and his reform in those sixteen days. Perhaps instead of saying the early years, we could say the early days, the reform period of Hezekiah, which we considered yesterday chapter 2 in his life would be the great Passover, falling right on the heels of the period of reform. And perhaps we could say the 3rd chapter in Hezekiah’s life was the Assyrian crisis, That period which is covered for us in chapters 36 to 39 in the middle of Isaiah, found also in Kings and Chronicles.

9. 4:56

   The Assyrian crisis is the only chapter in Hezekiah’s life that is really given any detail in Isaiah’s prophecy, because, as we said yesterday, it has an important bearing on the first part of Isaiah, and it’s a springboard for much which is said in Isaiah after chapter 40. Many of those chapters, many of the phrasing, point back to what has happened in the Assyrian crisis, the invasion by Sennacherib, and the great deliverance which we saw yesterday.

10. 5:26

    Very briefly now, what do you think was the springboard for Hezekiah’s action, first day of the first month of the first year of his reign? A man doesn’t suddenly spring into action with a program of reform, a 16 day program of reform, unless he’s had some plan beforehand. It’s clear Hezekiah must have been ready for action before that very first day of the first month.

11. 5:56

    Now what moved Hezekiah? He had come out of a dark and dismal rain from his father. Was there anything in the life of Hezekiah that might shed some light on the reason for motivation for such quick action? A ready program already devised, and just a matter of putting it into action. Now here’s where the other prophets might be helpful. We suggest that Micah is the answer. Micah was working, we think, just a little before Hezekiah’s reign, and Micah had pronounced a number of important prophecies, 2 in particular, that Samaria was to be doomed, destroyed, and left like a field. Micah also prophesied that Zion, Jerusalem would also be plowed like a field and left like a heap. Both times.

12. 6:55

    Those two cities are described as fields or farms in Isaiah’s prophecy. One of the indictments that he has against the land and the people was that in Isaiah’s day there were greedy rulers, there were gluttonous overlords and nobility who had by their own greedy means taken field upon field. And Isaiah describes this in one of his chapters. Field is against field.

13. 7:25

    Land against land has been taken by these people and they dispossessed the poor, greedy land owners, taking as much property as they could and with very little thought to the poor. Now it seems to me, brothers and sisters, that in those two prophecies in Micah, when God threatens to make Samaria like a field and Zion like a field, God is saying you have taken the fields of the poor. My people, I am going to take the city of Samaria and make that my farm, and I’m going to take the city of Jerusalem and I’m going to.

14. 7:59

    Plow it like a field. I’m going to take it from you. And by taking it from you, you will experience the desolation that your greedy nobles and rulers have brought upon the poor of this land. So God is going to, by the help of the Assyrian, plow these two cities and leave them like an open field. And God threatens that through Micah. And we believe that those threats have come before Hezekiah came to the throne.

15. 8:27

    And there’s a reason for believing that Jeremiah, one of the most remarkable threads outside of Isaiah, which connects with our times. Consider the force of this Jeremiah 26, a very fascinating little section here, one of those that you read over in your readings and perhaps in your mind don’t connect with Isaiah, which you read the previous month. Jeremiah 26.

16. 8:59

    This is at a time when Jeremiah is being cross examined by his accusers. They are ready to send him to a dismal end. And there’s a court scene in Jeremiah 26. There are witnesses and there are cross examiners, for we have, starting in verse 10, the Princess of Judah setting up a kind of court scene to cross examine the prophet. However, some come to Jeremiah’s defense. Now notice the defense verse 16 of Jeremiah 26. Then said the Princess and all the people, unto the priests and to the prophets, This man Jeremiah is not worthy to die. For he hath.

17. 9:40

    Spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God then rose up certain of the elders of the land and spake to all the assembly of the people saying now picture this as a court scene. There’s Jeremiah sitting in the box being cross examined back and forth. Verse 18. Say the elders Micah the Moorish site. That’s the prophet Micah.

18. 10:03

    Micah, the Moorish site prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and spake to. All. The people of Judah saying now they quote Micah 3 verse 12. Your margin says so. And what’s the quote? Thus saith the Lord. This is what Micah said in the days of Hezekiah. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

19. 10:35

    They ask, did Hezekiah king of Judah, and all Judah put him at all to death? Did they kill Micah for saying such a horrendous thing? Did they? Did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, And the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them. Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.

20. 11:07

    Now the result is that Jeremiah temporarily is freed because of this witness. But here’s the point to notice in the days of Hezekiah. Micah, the marsh site prophesied that Zion would be plowed like a field and Jerusalem would become heaps. Did that happen in the days of Hezekiah? It did not. And the key is verse 19 again, did Hezekiah king of Judah, and all Judah put him at all to death?

21. 11:37

    Of course they didn’t put Micah to death, for who’s the he of verse 19? We suggest it’s Hezekiah. He did not. Did he not fear the Lord and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had prophesied against them. In other words, through the intercession of Hezekiah and the work of Micah, Not, of course, to neglect the importance of Isaiah the prophet.

22. 12:06

    The threat of the prophecy of Micah chapter 3 and verse 12 was thwarted. Suggests, brothers and sisters, that we have a scene, something like this just before Hezekiah gets the reins of power. Micah has in some way issued this warning that Zion shall be plowed as a field, that Zion and Jerusalem should become Heaps. And thus it’s a no wonder that when Hezekiah comes to the throne on the first day of the first month of the first year, he’s ready to go.

23. 12:39

    He’s a man of action. What’s the first thing he does? Get the people to repent. Get the people to respond quickly. 16 days. It’s done suddenly. Then let’s have a great Passover. Let’s rededicate our lives. We’ve cleanse the temple. The house is ready. Let’s bring in our brethren from the north. We send out invitations.

24. 12:57

    And so the chapter reads and chronicles. Hezekiah sent out posts to the north of the country to the remaining brethren that were there from Zabulin, Naphtali, the Aries of Galilee, those who sat in darkness. And he calls them to Jerusalem, to a great light, as it were. A contemporary application in a minor way to the Emanuel prophecies which we’re now alluding to.

25. 13:20

    He calls them down as brethren come to Jerusalem. He calls them, come and celebrate the Passover. We’ve cleansed the house. We have prepared the way for a great celebration. Come, my brethren, He bids them. And the posts go all through the land. Chronicles shows us that some scorned. At all that. What was it that motivated Hezekiah to have such an immediate, definite plan of action? The jest, Brothers and sisters.

26. 13:47

    The key is right here in Jeremiah. He went to that throne with a very definite intent in his mind. Micah’s prophecy. Can we turn it back in our days? If the people repent and Yahweh is merciful, perhaps it will not be in our days. Hezekiah hoped and no doubt prayed. So you see, what seems at first to be highly peculiar.

27. 14:12

    A man, a young man, coming so quickly to the throne with such a definite program of immediate reform, the focus of which was to get them to repent, has no doubt a springboard from the workings of Micah the prophet. And here in the days of Jeremiah, Micah’s prophecy and Hezekiah’s behavior as one who did not put Micah to death, not he nor the people say Jeremiah.

28. 14:40

    For the whole logic of this chapter is Hezekiah and the people did not take offense at the words of Micah. If Hezekiah and the people did not put Micah to death, who not only prophesied that there’d be destruction in the land, but told the monarch that his throne and his city would be destroyed, that his capital city would become heap.

29. 15:04

    If Hezekiah didn’t put him to death, but responded and appealed to Yahweh for mercy and got the people to repent. If that’s what Hezekiah did, how can we put Jeremiah to death because he speaks against this land in this city? How can we? So the defense held. See, brothers and sisters, the usefulness of bringing to bear on any of our Bible studies as much information as we can from other prophecies or from other books that in some way touch on our study at hand. Now, we’ve said that the second chapter in Hezekiah’s life, main chapter was the Passover.

30. 15:44

    We move on from there to the Assyrian crisis. We’ll come back to some of the details of that a little, little later on in the week. Let’s just, however, notice a few final details. Second of Kings 18. The advance of the Assyrians into the land was no doubt quickened by the actions of Hezekiah himself.

31. 16:09

    He did something which triggered a reaction by the Assyrian lion. Second Kings chapter 18, verse 7, The Second Kings 18 verse 7. And the Lord was with him, that’s Hezekiah. And he prospered whatever so ever he went forth, and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not. He smote the Philistines even onto Gaza and the borders thereof, from the tower of the Watchmen to the fenced city.

32. 16:51

    Now we suggest that’s the trigger. It was inevitable that the Assyrian lion would sooner or later come clawing down from the north. It was a matter of time. But here, by doing what he did in verse seven, it was as though he was taking a stick and poking at the lion’s eyes. Go on.

33. 17:09

    It’s not that he wished for the lion to come down, but by rebelling against him, it was tantamount to poking a stick in the Assyrian lion’s eyes. For sure it would smart. For sure. It drew attention to Judah and Hezekiah for sure. It would mean some kind of retaliation. Now you might say then that was suicidal, wasn’t it? It wasn’t suicidal, as was proven Hezekiah. Knew.

34. 17:34

    That a man of God, a city of God, a people of God could not continue to give tribute to the hand of the flesh, and so he cut the ties in faith. It wasn’t a mad act. Go back to verse 5 and 6, for this is the prelude to those words in verse 7. One of the finest tributes to any king of Israel. Verse five.

35. 17:59

    He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he claimed to the Lord and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord God commanded Moses, and the Lord was with him, and he prospered. Now it’s in that context that we have presented to us in the Book of Kings, Hezekiah’s decision to rebel against Assyria. It wasn’t some mad, arrogant act on Hezekiah’s part. It’s in the context of his faithfulness to Yahweh, in the context of him prospering wherever he went, and in the context of him having defeat over the Philistines. Would you have done that, brothers and sisters, knowing the ferocity of the nation?

36. 18:52

    We’ve had a small glimpse of it from our slides and our studies thus far. It would have to humanize, seem to be the last thing to do to cut official ties from Assyria. You would know what the reaction would be sooner or later. Here, brothers and sisters, is a man of remarkable faith.

37. 19:11

    It’s like David standing before Goliath and defying the armies of the Philistines, which by the way, he did anyways, for in the end of verse seven, he does exactly what David did. He defied the Philistines. Here was a man truly like David, and his actions to the Assyrian are like David before Goliath.

38. 19:31

    His trust was on the Lord. There’s an excitation to all of us, young or old, brothers and sisters. You think you have problems at home. I may think I have ecclesial difficulties or tensions and problems in my own family life or for example, in my own community or in the larger world around it.

39. 19:50

    You think perhaps you’re afflicted by certain sicknesses and ailments and that that is a necessary impediment to the truth. It’s not necessarily through the eye of faith. It’s what you make of it or what you allow God to help you to make of it. Not one of us in this room has had this kind of test to our faith. And we notice the key was not to put his trust on the arm of flesh.

40. 20:16

    But to trust God thoroughly. Now, brothers and sisters, we go a little further. Isaiah 10 now trying to use the prophet’s words to throw more light on these circumstances. Isaiah 10. God is nevertheless going to use the Assyrian in Hezekiah’s day, but unlike what was promised immediately by Micah, Zion will not be plowed.

41. 20:49

    Isaiah 10. However, in verse 5, a very important chapter well worth reading against the backdrop of the Assyrian crisis, we look at verse five. First of all, oh, says God, O Assyrian, the rod of my anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath. Will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like mire in the streets? Howbeit he meaneth not so.

42. 21:27

    Neither does his heart. Does his heart think so? But it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few. There is God through Isaiah telling the people and Hezekiah would have known of this there. Will be an invasion. The Assyrian will come into the land. Hezekiah had no positive assurance that the threat issued here and the one through Micah that Zion would become a heaps would necessarily be turned back. He didn’t know at the time how God would respond. He got words from Isaiah which assured him though finally in the end, not against an invasion, but against a total destruction.

43. 22:11

    So yes, there would be an invasion, yes there would be destruction, but Jerusalem would be preserved if the people followed the conditions. So it’s not like Hezekiah could simply sit back and know the whole plan. He was working through it by faith, and he felt at times great drags on his faith, as is obvious as he responds to the prophet Isaiah and begs for help.

44. 22:35

    What was it like to be in the walls of Jerusalem as this monster crept down the land one after the other, gobbling up the cities? 46 and all before he came to Lakish? What was it like? Well, I think in Isaiah 10 we have an inkling. Starting in verse 28, Isaiah’s prophecy breaks into a kind of verse, something like a poetic device.

45. 22:59

    And it seems that starting in verse 28, we have an echo of what must have been like a proverbial song at the time, or a a dirge, perhaps sung or repeated by the people in Jerusalem as they saw the northern advance of this great monster. Here’s the kind of panic feelings that must have swept through Jerusalem in the southern cities. He, that’s the Assyrian, he has come to AF. Now if you have a map and take a look at this, you’ll see that these are cities starting in the north, and he’s going down an order from the north to the South, as they would have been gobbled up one after the other.

46. 23:36

    He has come to AAF in the north. He has passed to Migron at Mikmash. He has laid up his carriages. They are gone over the passage. They have taken up their lodging at Giba. Rhema is afraid. Gibby of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Galam. Cause it to be heard unto Laish.

47. 23:54

    O poor Anapha. A small little town that housed many priests just north of Jerusalem. Madmanna is removed. The inhabitants of Gibbon gather themselves to flee. You see the pulp of those words, brothers and sisters. It’s like a flood of panic. The nations had toppled like bowling pins, one after the other, and the great monster advanced with his jaws wide open towards Jerusalem, until as he ends here in the last few verses to name the small towns and Hamlets just about 10 miles north of Jerusalem. On he advanced verse 32, says Isaiah, As yet shall he remain at Nob, small little town just a few miles north of Jerusalem. As yet shall he remain at Nob.

48. 24:49

    That day he shall shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. Behold, the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, shall lop the bow with terror, and the high ones of Assyria, the high ones of stature, shall be hewn. Down and a. Hottie shall be humbled, and he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one. It’s a prophetic assurance.

49. 25:19

    The Assyrian will come no closer than Nob, and then God will cut down the hottie as a man prunes the upper branches of a tree, the high and mighty Pines of Islewild. Just picture them, God seeing them as symbols of a great Assyrian might. He will advance only so far, and then God will prune Assyria. He will cut off the top of the bow. The proud and mighty and the haughty will fall, but not until he comes just on the verge.

50. 25:55

    Now, brothers and sisters, all of this language in Isaiah is drawn and is based upon what’s called the Emmanuel prophecy. Now that’s a little section in the prophecy of Isaiah. So we go back. Isaiah 7 to Isaiah 12 contains details which really are the springboard for what we just read in Isaiah 10. So think of Isaiah 7 to Isaiah 12 as a little unit known as the Immanuel prophecies.

51. 26:31

    In our first class we noticed that these were the days of Ahaz. Uziah died in chapter 6 and by the time we get over into 13 and 14 we’re in the area of Hezekiah’s reign. So 7:00 to 12:00 in the days of Ahaz. Now here in these chapters 7:00 to 12:00, just notice how this ties in with the threat of the Assyrian crisis. 4IN Isaiah chapter 8, verse one, we have a kind of enacted parable once again, verse one of Isaiah 8 says Isaiah to us. Moreover, the Lord said unto me, Isaiah, take thee a great role, and write in it with a men’s pen. Concerning Maher Shallahel Hashfaz margin. If you’ll notice Hebrew, in making speed to the spoil, he hasteneth to pray.

52. 27:34

    So it’s the threat of invasion. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jabbarakaya and of Isaiah. I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived and bear a son. Then said the Lord to me, call his name in making speed to the spoil. He hasteneth the prey. That’s what his name is.

53. 28:02

    For as I has told before, the child shall have knowledge to cry. My father and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. There’s the invasion. Verse 5. The Lord spake also unto me a gainsaying, For as much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah, that go softly and rejoice in resin, and Remelaya’s son. Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river strong, and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory, and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks now.

54. 28:49

    That there are some key phrases to notice in Isaiah’s prophecy. One of them is that the enemy is often described as great waters. Here you have it, a great flood is going to come down on the land, and we saw the advance of the waves in Isaiah 10 as we read and saw the towns being swallowed by this advancing water, a great tidal wave coming down against Jerusalem.

55. 29:15

    How far shall it go? Well, the assurances in Isaiah 10, we said we’re the springboard from here, so let’s read verse 8. So on comes this tidal wave, verse 8 And he, the Assyrian, shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow and go over. He shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land. O Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God with us, God with us. The promise of the child back to Chapter 7 is involved in this Assyrian crisis.

56. 30:03

    Now this is peculiar. Why would there be a prophecy of the Christ child, the birth of Messiah in the midst of an Assyrian crisis? Well, this we call Chapter 7 verse 14. This was said to Ahaz after he had received a had refused a sign. A sign was nevertheless to be given to Ahaz the faithless king. 7 and 14 Therefore Isaiah told Ahaz, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us.

57. 30:48

    Now we know that that’s quoted in the New Testament in Matthew chapter one, verse 23. It’s in your margin, Matthew 1, verse 23. Clearly it’s the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us. But now here’s a question.

58. 31:05

    What relevance was that as a sign to Ahaz, Isaiah and their contemporaries? Nevertheless, I shall give you a sign. Furthermore, verse 16 of Isaiah 7. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. The Lord shall bring upon thee and upon thy people Ahaz, and upon thy father’s house. Days that have not come from the day that Ifreum departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.

59. 31:45

    And it shall come to pass, and that day that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria, and they shall come. How is it that this Emmanuel prophecy is intertwined with contemporary events?

60. 32:06

    What do you think we are to conclude? It’s not only a prophecy of Messiah to come as of so many years BC or AD. The prophet clearly wants us to understand by God’s inspiration that of all the Almighty will send one who will be Emmanuel, God with us. There is clearly in the context of contemporary events, some kind of assurance that God was with them too.

61. 32:41

    He would be with the redeemed or the remnant of that day. The events are that Assyria is about to come down. Hezekiah will very shortly rebel against Assyria as we saw and as we read in chapter 8, the greatest Syrian flood is about to come down and flood the whole land. What’s the hope? Anything contemporary?

62. 33:05

    Any assurances for the day? Or was it simply saying Jesus Christ will come some 700 and some odd years in the future? What did that mean to them, brothers and sisters? Well, the fact that He would come certainly is a great and mighty token of the fact that God will not forsake His people.

63. 33:26

    God is always with His people, not just when Jesus Christ came. Although that was the greatest testimony of it all to the contemporaries, there must have been some meaning. What assurance was there that God was Emmanuel with them?

64. 33:45

    Chapter 8 Again I will give you a sign. It was said. Now we read this, we’ll read it again in part. Chapter 8, verse 6. For as much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah, we’ll come to that in a moment what those waters exactly were. But they were waters that were like a wellspring coming out from underneath the city of Jerusalem, well known to Hezekiah. For it was those waters, as we said the other night, that he blocked up in the north part so that the water would be diverted through Hezekiah’s conduit, which we saw in the slides, and finally be saved and retrieved in the waters of Shiloh. So for as much as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloa that go softly and rejoice in resin and remalai a son, there’ll be a great invasion.

65. 34:45

    But now see verse 8 again. This great flood, the Assyrian shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow, go over, He shall reach even to the neck, but that’s important to the Neck, to the walls of Jerusalem. Take all the cities, flood all of the land from north to South and encircle Jerusalem, the last city to be taken, the city of God.

66. 35:17

    And he’ll come right against the walls, as it were, and like a mighty flood, he will come right around it, up to the neck. But the Assyrian will not drown Jerusalem, nor Isaiah, nor Hezekiah, nor the faithful remnant within its walls. Come, he will write to the extremity, but he will not drown Zion, the city of God’s choosing.

67. 35:44

    And then he will reach even to the neck, and that stretcheth out. His wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, which the Assyrian did. Now the Emmanuel prophecy is woven in again. For why does he call the land by this harkening the breath of thy land, O God with us, O Emmanuel, that demands.

68. 36:12

    We suggest, brothers and sisters, that the Emmanuel prophecy in Chapter 7 had definite meaning, concrete assurance, some kind of limited fulfillment in the days of this Assyrian crisis. Otherwise, why is it folded in like it is there in verse 8 with the mention of the Assyrian flood? I will flood the land, but only to the neck, Oh, Emmanuel, because it would only go to the neck and not drown the city, the final city, the city of God’s choosing. That in itself would be proof to Hezekiah that God is Emmanuel. He is with us.

69. 36:58

    And the next morning when the Assyrian army lay like dead ants all over the hills, and the people went out of the city gates or peered over the walls and looked across the Kidron, and they saw thousands of dead Assyrians. Was there assurance of Emmanuel, of God with us through the saving work of Isaiah, Yahweh, a Savior, through the work of faithful Hezekiah and his preparatory reforms, Hezekiah, Yahweh’s strength, There was testimony and proof through the work of those two men that God was with the land.

70. 37:39

    He was with the remnant of his people, those who had chosen to come down from their cities and stay in the walls of Jerusalem, found security for is it not so with us? Brothers and sisters? Just turn over. Look at the force and the beauty of these psalms that have this kind of background behind them. Psalm 87, please.

71. 38:08

    Now remember that phrase, the waters of Shiloa, that the people had refused, or at least as a has had refused, the waters of Shiloa, those waters that went out from Jerusalem, from underneath the Temple Mount. Let’s just keep those in mind as we read Psalm 87. His foundation is in the Holy Mountains. So it was Jerusalem.

72. 38:39

    The Lord love the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, For by the way they were sacrificed, the Assyrian took them. Verse 3. Glorious things are spoken of the old city of God. I will make mention of Rahab. A word for Egypt and Babylon. To them that know me. Behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia. This man was born there, and of Zion it shall be said this and that man was born in her, and the highest himself shall establish her.

73. 39:17

    Now the Greek of verse 5, if you were to read the Septuagint, the old Greek translation that was done from the Hebrew before Christ reads this way in verse 5, a man shall say, Zion is my mother, and such a man was born in her. Zion is my mother. There are definite connections there with Galatians. 4. We haven’t time to explore it.

74. 39:43

    Let’s go on. A man shall say, Zion is my mother, and such a man was born in her. Verse 6. The Lord shall count, when he writeth up his people, that this man was born there as well. The singers as the players on instruments shall be there. All my springs. The word means gushings.

75. 40:06

    All my springs or my gushings are in thee. It’s a prophetic, figurative picture of God’s eternal care and love for Zion. For despite all her, her waywardness and her rebelliousness, God looks at Zion like he looks on no other city of the world. All our springs are in her. You know, that would have been very graphically portrayed, especially in the days of Hezekiah. Four underneath that Temple Mount gushed out periodically and mysteriously from time to time. The waters of Shiloa, the waters came out from an opening up here in Guyhon, which, as we’ve said, were tapped by Hezekiah and channelled through his conduit.

76. 40:58

    So they emptied out within the city walls so the Assyrian would have no water supply. But where that water originated, nobody yet really knows. The geologists have done studies of Jerusalem. They know what the rot formation is like. But exactly how far down or where under the Temple of Mount this water springs from, no one is totally sure. Now there’s a geologist’s profile of the city, and you’ll notice that where Jerusalem is perched is obviously a high point in the land of the hills of Judea. Underneath Jerusalem, especially under the Temple Mount, are obviously a number of very important geological formations, essentially limestone beds.

77. 41:47

    Now, limestone is known to be a very porous rock. Geologists that have studied the area have noted the scarcity of springs in and around the city of Jerusalem. But they have always noted the fact that seemingly by coincidence, there in the very center of the city of Jerusalem, right under the Temple Mount, there is some kind of eternal spring. Geologists have suggested it seems to be a collecting point in the limestone beds, and being fairly porous, the limestone beds under the Temple Mount manage to act like a sponge and absorb, somehow drain off or water from other areas around the hills of Judea.

78. 42:31

    It’s a collecting point, and somehow, mysteriously, it gushes forth at Guyhon, which means to gush forth. Thus, brothers and sisters, is the meaning of the waters of Shiloa, which God says you have refused. What did he mean by that? You’ve refused the waters of Shiloa? Ahaz had just done it. Ask me a sign, says God through Isaiah in Chapter 7 to Ahaz.

79. 43:00

    Ask me a sign, either from heaven above or from earth below. Ask me a sign. No, Ahaz says, I won’t ask you a sign. Can’t tempt the Lord Won’t do that. Well, says Isaiah, I’ll give you a sign anyways, and the sign will be Emmanuel. There’s your sign. And Ahaz had refused it. So had many people refused it.

80. 43:24

    Not everybody, but many in Israel and Judah had refused. They had refused God for years. Ahaz had clearly refused God, and many people obviously went with him in their lot. And by doing so, what were they refusing? They were refusing, figuratively the waters of God, the wellspring, the source of eternal life. They had refused the waters of Shiloh that went softly.

81. 43:55

    Now do you think that figure of speech is brought in there just for coincidence sake? It’s not, for in refusing the waters of Shiloa, Isaiah 8 puts that against what? The mighty rivers of Assyria. Assyria will come down like a mighty thundering tidal wave. And you’ve refused the waters of Shiloa that go softly a very mysterious source of water springing out of Guy Han in gushes unpredictably from an invisible source. Soft but sure, like the still small voice that was mentioned to Elijah.

82. 44:42

    The still small voice, not a great Monty mighty torrent like the Euphrates as pictured figuratively of the Assyrians. Not a great mighty flood that would impress mankind through the might of its own power and fleshly greatness. No God pictured himself and the life giving power he could offer to the nations through Emmanuel as the waters of Shiloa that go softly. Think of Paul’s words in Corinthians, brothers and sisters, that which is despised by man, that which appears to be weak and ignoble, that which man would despise and take very little of attention of, says Paul. That is what God has made strong for himself, that no flesh will be able to glory in his presence. So God works consistently on that principle. Who is Emmanuel?

83. 45:43

    Well. A man on a cross, Isaiah 53 is Emmanuel. That which the nation has despised, Isaiah 53, The despising of Isaiah 53 is to be lined up with Isaiah 8. The waters that were refused? Unlikely, said man. Not a saviour on a cross, not a crucified individual, not one whom we would unlikely take as our Messiah, not one who we would despise.

84. 46:16

    Surely not. That the waters of Shiloh, that’s what’s on the cross. That which was despised and not highly esteemed by most of the nation. That’s what God used. That’s who God used, that is Emmanuel. So in Ahaz’s refusal of the waters of Shiloa, very much like name in the leper who said my I’ve got all kinds of great rivers back in Syria, why would you want me to wash in this dirty Creek called Jordan?

85. 46:48

    Well, it was a question of obedience. That which was despised by man brought life to the leper. God wasn’t looking for some great mighty display of the flesh when the Word was made flesh. There was no room for him in the city. Man rejected him right from the beginning and his birth was in a lowly stable, the waters of Shiloa, which you have refused.

86. 47:15

    Ahaz was typical of the rebellious nation, the faithless king and the sick people both together. And you see, brothers and sisters, in in Psalm 87, those of us who will allow ourselves to be enlightened about this great city, the city of Zion, and like the people in Hezekiah’s day, will flee to Zion.

87. 47:41

    Those of us who wish to be the remnant and be redeemed and drink of the waters, where do we go? Los Angeles, Toronto, where do we go? We go to Zion. And thus in Hezekiah’s days, you can be sure that before the Assyrian reached Jerusalem, there were people from all over the towns, North and South that thought wisely. Some thought wisely and said, I’m leaving. I’m going to Hezekiah.

88. 48:12

    I’m going to where Isaiah is. I’m going to Jerusalem. I’ll forsake my house. I’ll leave this town. And before the Assyrian gets any further down here, I’m going There were no doubt people who immigrated and came into that city as a faithful remnant, besides those who always lived in Jerusalem. There’s no doubt, brothers and sisters, I think that it worked that way.

89. 48:33

    For when you look at Hezekiah’s Passover, there were some from the north and the other towns that responded. Some came down and responded to Hezekiah’s call. Some realized that although they’d always lived in the north around Samaria, the real capital was Jerusalem. And thus Hezekiah’s Passover must have prepared the minds of a few in the north who had gone down on that day for the Passover and had rejoiced in its festivities and realized that their springs were in Jerusalem, not Samaria.

90. 49:10

    Thus it’s likely that when the Assyrian began his advance, some of those people who came down to the Passover, their first reaction would be, I’m getting out of here. I’m going down to Jerusalem. I was in the Passover. I know where my springs are. For it’s there that a man of Israel is born, as the psalmist has said, beautiful Psalms, brothers and sisters, and passages in Isaiah which stress the beauty and the importance of Jerusalem.

91. 49:40

    You know those passages as well as I do. Isaiah 2, Isaiah 11, Isaiah 66, Isaiah 65. Passage after passage in Isaiah’s prophecy. Why are they there? Because in his days there was a literal fulfillment of the reality of those prophecies, a foretaste of greater things to come. In the Assyrian crisis, the waters of Shiloah were protected by God. The whole project had been inspired by him. Those waters were not taken by the Assyrian, they were only for the inhabitants within those walls. And thus all our springs are in the nowhere else. Now, brothers and sisters, we sample just a few more of these passages to have perhaps a deeper appreciation. Isaiah 22, most of the chapter is dealing with a rebuff against the people that have been faithless. Verse 5, the Assyrian invasion is in the background here. 22 and verse 5, four, says Isaiah to the faithless. It’s a day of trouble, and of treading down and of perplexity by the Lord God of hosts in the valley of vision breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains. And Elam, mercenary troops used by the Assyrians. Elam, bear the quiver with Chariots of men and horsemen. And Kerr uncovered the shield.

92. 51:23

    And it shall come to pass that thy choicest valley shall be full of Chariots, as they were, and the horsemen shall set themselves an array at the gate. And he discovered the covering of Judah. The Assyrian did. And thou didst look in that day to the armor of the House of the forest, relying on the arm of flesh, as some did.

93. 51:45

    Verse 9. Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they were many. And ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. And ye have numbered the House of Jerusalem, and the houses have been broken down to fortify the wall. Ye have made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But but ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof, neither have respect unto Him that fashioned it long ago. Was it just human ingenuity that the waters of Shiloha were there when they were needed?

94. 52:33

    Was it just coincidence that there was a water supply that could be blocked from the Assyrian and kept within the walls of Jerusalem during the siege? Was it mere coincidence that there was such a source of life giving water when holding out against the enemy of God? No coincidence. For many years before those events, God had ensured that there’d be a water supply, a mysterious gushing forth of life, giving water from beneath the Temple, the Mount of Moriah. God claims to have been the maker thereof, and he fashioned it long ago.

95. 53:16

    Now let’s just conclude Micah Five. Look at once again how the events of the coming of Messiah are intertwined with the mention of the Assyrian verse. One now says, Micah, gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops, he hath laid siege against us, and now you know what that’s all about. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

96. 53:47

    But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be notice this. Little. The waters of Shiloh that go softly, the still small voice to Elijah. 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 old, from everlasting.

97. 54:18

    Now don’t miss the connection, brothers and sisters, whose goings forth, what’s the word mean? Check it in Strongs peculiar what it says. It says a sewer or a descent or a draft house. Now when you look at that, you think, well, that’s puzzling. How would that ever be associated with this kind of messianic prophecy? But a careful check and strongs, especially at the origin of the word, shows that the base meaning of that word goings forth means to spring out or to descend, to be as a fountain, and it is translated watercourse. In Second Chronicles 32 and 30 it’s translated spring, part of a word spring, and Isaiah 58 and 11. It’s also translated spring and Isaiah 41 verse 8, so it’s associated with a water spring whose water springs have been from old.

98. 55:24

    The language of Isaiah 22. You have not looked unto the Maker of Shiloha, the Maker who knew it and did it of old, says Isaiah 22. Thus here in Micah 5 is the promise of one whose water springs, or whose springing forth have been from old, like the waters of Shiloh. And thus, brothers and sisters, look at this assurance, both for past days and Micah’s time, and now for us in the future.

99. 55:56

    He shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall abide, for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces.

100. 56:19

     Then shall we raise against him 7 shepherds and eight principal men. You see the point, the events of Hezekiah and Isaiah interwoven with events for us in the future, and the focus, the center of attention. Emmanuel. All our springs are in Him, for He is as the waters of Shiloa that go softly.