Isaiah Chapter 8

Isaiah 8 is a continuation of the Immanuel prophecy, which started in chapter 7, and concerns God’s salvation for His people through Jesus. Immanuel means “God with us”, and we see both “Immanuel” and “God with us” appearing in this chapter (v8, v10). The prophecy of Immanuel is also God’s promise to His people that He will be with them, both in the near term and in the far future. 

In a recent sermon, it was explained that though the actual fulfillment of the Immanuel prophecy was to occur over 700 years later when Jesus came to bring the rule of God, God also provided immediate accompanying signs to show His deliverance in the near term. These signs came in the form of Isaiah’s 2 children – Shear-Jashub (in Isaiah 7:3) and Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz in this chapter. Isaiah clearly mentions this in Isaiah 8:18:

“Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me!
We are for signs and wonders in Israel
From the Lord of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion.”

This is just like how when Jesus was on the earth, He preached the kingdom of God and forgiveness of sins – things that were not immediately visible to those He was preaching to. However, to accompany this message of Jesus, He gave extra signs of healing and other miracles. This is explicitly mentioned by Jesus in Matt 9:5-6, when He forgave the sins of a paralytic man and healed him.

“or which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” “

Today, God works the same way in our lives. He has already given us all His words and His promises in the Bible. However, He did not simply leave His words with us only to come back on the Last Day to check whether we believed and obeyed His words. He allows us to experience Him as we live our lives – just as He gave Judah immediate signs to show His deliverance. 

Let’s reflect on our experiences with God up to this point. Have we experienced God in any way before? Have we thanked Him for allowing us to feel Him, be it in His protection or even chastisement? Do these experiences reinforce our belief in His future promises?

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