The Salvation Expressed in God’s Name

The theme of this study is A Name Like No Other.  We have been looking at the Names of God that describe some of God’s Character.  

The point of today’s lesson is that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved.  We are looking at Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25.

Saved.  It is a word that we frequently use.  But what is it referencing?  What is saved?  The word save is derived from very ancient word root *sol which referred to whole, well-kept.  Sol, incidentally is the name that humanity has given to our sun.  The Sun’s name is Sol.

 

I just learned that sol is also the fifth note in the do re me scale.  It is not do, re, me, fa, so, la…. It is do, re, me, fa, sol, la…. Just an interesting bit of trivia.  In music theory a fifth interval is the music interval between a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2.

 The word saved has come to be defined as delivered from damnation, destined for Heaven.  I find it interesting that the word is a past participle describing an eternal circumstance.  Because God is eternal, once we were saved we are saved for eternity and that includes the past, the present AND the future.  

 Eternity past Eternity Future

We are used to thinking of the now and the future, but have you ever stopped to think about how your salvation extends to the You in your past?  There’s a mind bender for you to contemplate sometime.

Today we look at why the character of God, the character of his messiah – Jesus, results in being saved. We look at the very familiar Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:18-25 as we reprise a portion of the Christmas story.  

Let’s briefly overview the book of Isaiah.  Isaiah lived in Jerusalem during the latter half of Israel’s kingdom period and spoke to the leaders of Jerusalem and Judah on God’s behalf. Isaiah brought with him a warning about God’s judgment, telling Israel’s politically corrupt leaders that their rebellion against the Hebrew’s covenant with God would come at a cost. Isaiah also said that God would use the great empires of Assyria and later Babylon to judge Jerusalem if they persisted in idolatry and oppression of the poor.  

In fact, the first 12 chapters of the book of Isaiah focus on the prophet’s vision of judgment and hope for Jerusalem. It all begins as Isaiah accuses the city’s leaders of covenant rebellion, idolatry, and injustice and notes that God will judge the city by sending other nations to conquer Israel. Isaiah says this will be like a purifying fire that burns away all that is worthless among his people. But this fire doesn’t only destroy. It will also create a new Jerusalem populated by a remnant of Israel that has repented and turned back to God. 

Isaiah goes on to say that, through these events, God’s Kingdom will come and all nations will gather at the temple in Jerusalem to learn of God’s justice. This will bring about an age of universal peace and harmony. This basic storyline of the old Jerusalem changing over to the new will get repeated over and over throughout the book, and it will get filled in with increasing detail.

At the center is Isaiah’s grand vision of God sitting on his throne in the temple. He’s surrounded by heavenly creatures, all shouting that God is “holy, holy, holy.” Isaiah suddenly realizes just how corrupt he and his people are, and he’s certain that he’ll be destroyed by God’s holiness. Instead, God’s holiness, in the form of a burning coal, comes and burns Isaiah, not to destroy him but to purify him of his sin.  As Isaiah ponders this strange experience, God commissions him with a difficult task. 

Isaiah is to continue announcing the coming judgment, but since Israel has already reached a point of no return, his warnings will have the paradoxical effect of hardening their hearts. However, Isaiah is to trust in God’s plan—Israel will undergo its own purification like Isaiah. It will be chopped down like a tree with its stump scorched and burned. But God says that this smoldering stump is a “holy seed” that will survive on into the future. It’s a small sign of hope, but who or what is the holy seed?

The rest of this section offers up an answer. Isaiah confronts Ahaz, a descendant of David and king of Jerusalem, and announces his downfall. God says that the great empire of Assyria will chop Israel down and devastate the land, but there’s hope! Because of God’s promise to David, he will send a new king named Immanuel, or “God with us”. Immanuel’s kingdom will free God’s people from violent, oppressive empires. 

Then Isaiah goes on to describe this coming king as a small shoot of new growth emerging from the old stump of David’s family, the holy seed. This king will be empowered by God’s Spirit to rule over a new Jerusalem and bring forth justice for the poor. All nations will look to this messianic king for guidance, and his kingdom will transform all creation, bringing peace.

Now, as you finish these chapters you come away with a pretty good understanding of Isaiah’s message of judgment and hope. But Isaiah saw another empire rising up after Assyria.  Babylon would also attack Jerusalem and succeed in destroying it.  The book of Isaiah then goes on to illustrate just what has historically happened to Israel and Judah.

But let’s focus on Isaiah 7:14:

Isaiah 7:14

14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

Interestingly the word you is plural.  So read it as “…the Lord himself will give y’all a sign…”. But let’s break this down further.  

The historical setting of this passage is during the Syro-Ephraimite war of about 734 to 732 BC. Assyria was moving westward toward Israel and Judah with ideas of conquest.  The King of Israel made an alliance with Syria, Ashkelon, and Gaza to stand against the Assyrians.  They invited the King of Judah to join the alliance, but Judah refused.  The kings of Israel and the Arameans joined forces and besieged Judah.  They wanted to remove the King of Judah, Ahaz, and install a puppet king that would do their bidding…you know, politics.

Isaiah was sent to Ahaz by God with God’s message that the coalition of kings would NOT be successful against Judah.  God encouraged Ahaz to ask for a sign that this would be so, but Ahaz refused because he feared Assyria more than he feared God.  So God had Isaiah prophesy the downfall of the king and his house.  The concept here is “follow the world and play the world’s games and you get to suffer by the world’s rules.  Follow God and play the game God’s way and you get to have God’s protection and promises.”

Isaiah told Ahaz that God said ask for a sign, ANY sign…a symbol, action or occurrence, that points to something beyond itself.  It could have been something as wild as have the Sun rise blue tomorrow, to as mundane as the opposing army turned around and going home.  But Ahaz refused to ask for a sign.  Maybe this is just a way of illustrating that the king placed his trust in the physical world rather than in the spiritual world – “look, with our THREE armies, we have a 3:1 advantage…we don’t need no preaching, we just want you to join with US!”

Since he refused, God said “ok then, I’LL give You a sign…” and proceeded to tell him this passage.  But what’s so special about a girl getting pregnant, having a son and naming him Immanuel?  In the physical realm not much.  In Ahaz’s Physical world mindset this “sign” would probably have been a “ho hum” moment. But in God’s spiritual realm it WAS a big deal, as we will see in Matthew.  Such a sign would have given a king that trusted God hope, but for a “secularist” like Ahaz who lived by the political strategies of the world it would have been a constant threat. Kind of like with King Herod … “what do you mean King of the Jews!?  I’M the King of the Jews!”

A second part of God’s message in Chapter 8 parallels the message of Chapter 7.  Of “Immanuel” God said “By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating curds and honey. For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.” 

So Isaiah is saying that this child can’t choose between good and evil UNTIL he is weaned enough to eat curds and honey, or solid food. What age would a child have to be to eat curds and honey? Whatever age that is, it seems infants can’t choose good and evil before that.  

When children can refuse evil and choose good they:

1. Become like Adam and Eve when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;
2. Can develop consciences;
3. Are no longer innocent;
4. Have reached the biblical age of accountability.

In chapter 8 Isaiah is told to write the phrase swiftly to the plunder, quickly to the spoil in front of witnesses.  He is then told to name his new son this title and says “for before the boy knows how to call ‘Father,’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.”  It looks like the imagery of saying mommy or daddy, or of eating solid food, is another way of saying look, in just a few years such and such will happen.

But Ahaz didn’t trust God and instead appealed to the regional political powerhouse  in Assyria.  As expected, Assyria defeated Syria in 732 BC.  It then defeated Israel ten years later in 722 BC.  But it wasn’t until 586 BC that Judah, some 135 years later than the fall of Israel was decimated by the Babylonians and carried them away into captivity, destroying Solomon’s Temple in the process.  As we learned previously: “God had left the building!”  

Now let’s look at the long term fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy.

Matthew 1:18-21

18 The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way: After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 So her husband, Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly.  

20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

 

Over 500 years after the diaspora into Babylon, Isaiah’s prophesy would again come into play.  This passage describes the fulfillment of how God’s messiah would come into the world.  He would be BORN in just like every other human, but his conception would be MUCH different.  

We are familiar with the story of Mary and Joseph.  Roughly, ancient Hebrew marriage was a three stage process.  Stage one was the contract.  The couple’s marriage was arranged by their parents and a contract agreed upon.  Stage two was the betrothal. Maybe in our era it might be called Marriage WITHOUT benefits.  

The third stage was the wedding ceremony AND the consummation of the marriage.  After the appropriate ceremony, the marriage would then be consummated usually while the wedding party was just outside the bed chamber. Afterward, the couple could enjoy marriage with benefits. 

During this second stage, before stage three of marriage, it was “discovered” that Mary was pregnant.  Joseph just wanted to call the whole thing off, quietly without public disgrace, but an angel of God confirmed to him that it was indeed a special circumstance and that Joseph should proceed ahead.  Also given that Matthew 1:24–25 says, “When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son…” the historical testimonies suggest some sort of wedding celebration would have taken place—even given the extraordinary circumstances of Mary and Joseph’s courtship.

So it looks like Mary and Joseph proceeded through stage 1 of marriage, contractural intent; passed into stage 2, “marriage without benefits”; and before stage 3 it was discovered that Mary was pregnant.  Both parties were informed of the special circumstance of the pregnancy and Joseph took her as his wife, presumably proceeding to stage 3 quickly, but without consummation on their wedding night, since Mary was already pregnant.

Shortly thereafter Mary learns that her relative Elizabeth, who was past childbearing age – one calculation has her being mid to late 50-60s, but another tradition calculates her to be 88 years old!   YIKES!  The point is, it was “old enough” to cause Mary to want to go and assist her relative in her last trimester. 

So Mary leaves Nazareth and given cultural traditions and the need for security, Joseph probably accompanied Mary to Elizabeth’s house in Judah and then returned to Nazareth while Mary stayed to assist Elizabeth for her last three months. Joseph may have then returned after three months to return her to her home as his pregnant wife, only to have to then travel with her back down to Bethlehem.

Matthew states that this child would “save his people from their sins.”  This was a new concept for the Messiah.  Most people believed that the messiah would liberate Israel from Roman occupation and rule.  Now let’s look at how Matthew says this passage relates to the Isaiah prophecy.

Matthew 1:22-25

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord’s angel had commanded him. He married her 25 but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son. And he named him Jesus.

Written about 700 year before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah’s prophecy had spoken about his own time about the birth of a child as a sign of God’s deliverance of the people of Judah.  In Jesus’ day this was the sign of the coming of God’s Messiah, the true “God with us”, Immanuel.

So Matthew states here that Joseph did indeed move from stage 2 of marriage to stage 3 completing the process of marriage, all but the wedding night consummation.  After Jesus’ birth Joseph consummated the marriage.  This we can know for the Bible tells us that Jesus had additional brothers and sisters.  The Apostle Mark names James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, and there were sisters besides.  

Humanity is both a physical and a spiritual being. People need connection with the spiritual God.  It is part of our basic spiritual DNA.  

God promised a child who would be “God with us.”  Jesus IS this promised Immanuel.  

Because, as we have studied, Jesus IS God the one who his with us, we can look to him for wholeness with God. So, for a time, God returned to the Temple in Jerusalem, and the political authorities sought to put him to death.

But because they did, and because God raised Jesus from death, and because Jesus ascended to return to be with God in the Heavens we can know that EVERYONE who calls and relies upon the name of Jesus will be made whole with God.

We can turn to God’s character to make us one with THE ONE.