Firm Up Your Faith

Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm. [Isaiah 7.9b]

When Ahaz, king of Judah, was about to be attacked by the kings of Syria and Israel, this message was given by Isaiah from the LORD.

As part of this continued interaction between Isaiah and Ahaz, and at a later time, Isaiah instructed Ahaz to request a sign that God would in fact deliver him from King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel. But Ahaz would make no such request and so Isaiah delivered a message from God about an event that would take place signaling a time frame when the lands of these two kings would be deserted (and that they should therefore not be feared). That event was the birth of a male child called Immanuel born to a virgin.

In a nutshell, Isaiah's interaction with Ahaz (the scripture above and context following) was in regard to Judah's survival in the face of impending attack by the kings of Syria and Israel.

I know the virgin-born child has been understood to be Jesus. So, for our own confirmation, we should be able to see that by the time Jesus was old enough to know right from wrong the lands of Syria and Israel would be deserted. Furthermore, we should see that Assyria also takes control of Judah.

Now, what did Isaiah's message from God (above) have to do with all this? It would seem that Ahaz would naturally suffer as well if Assyria was to inflict hardship upon Judah. What was it that Ahaz's faith would be firm about? It would seem, based on Isaiah's predicted outcomes of not only Syria and Israel, but Judah as well, that bad stuff was in store for all three entities! What was it that Ahaz's firm faith would be accomplishing?

I make no pretense here of having even limited knowledge of Bible history or doctrine. However, for those of us fortunate enough to live in the A.D. side of history, we know that Jesus, Who was recorded to have been born to a virgin, lived out and taught faith. I think it is important that we connect the dots between Isaiah's prophecy regarding faith to Ahaz and the life and message of Christ!

Many times, I think Christians are all too quick to simply recognize the 'Christmas Card Scriptures' while failing to understand the context of those scriptures! We need to understand how the religious leaders of the time before Jesus' birth were looking for a Messiah based on Isaiah's prophecy to Ahaz! It helps to understand how the prophecy of a male child being born, not based on any history except the Bible itself, always signaled a leader's arrival! If we don't understand some of this, then, viewed only out of context, Isaiah's prophecy naturally seems out of place... and there is no way for faith to be firm in that limited understanding. Sure, emotions can be triggered (i.e. Christmas Cards), but faith, not so much.

We need to stand firm! But it will not happen unless we make our faith firm! We need not be confused about the prophecies in the Bible! It is in understanding these prophecies that our faith is strengthened! Otherwise, we are only emotional riffraff posing as Christians. Ouch!

Father, help me to only be satisfied with seemingly out-of-place prophecies like Isaiah's prophecy of a child to be born when I firm up my own faith in understanding these prophecies!