A Fear of Trust
As we enter this season of Advent, it is prudent to reflect upon the prophet Isaiah, the foremost prophet of the incarnation of our Lord. We should seek to understand why the Lord sent Isaiah and how we can use this understanding to shape our faith as we enter Advent.
After the reign of King Solomon, the once united kingdom of Israel split into two. The northern tribes revolted against the legitimate Davidic heir, formed their own kingdom, and chose Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim as their first King. This northern kingdom, containing the ten northern tribes, is most often known as the Kingdom of Israel. The two southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the Davidic heir and became the Kingdom of Judah. As Isaiah enters the scene, the Kingdom of Israel and the gentile Kingdom of Syria attack Judah, aiming to install a new king there who would be more amenable to their geopolitical goals. This would end the reign of the Davidic line altogether. As such, King Ahaz of Judah was profoundly concerned about the future of his kingdom and line. It is in this moment of fear that God sends Isaiah to confirm to Ahaz that his line will not die out, which we read in Isaiah 7:13-14:
“Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman [virgin] is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel [God is with us]” (NRSV-CE).
This prophecy is an assurance to Ahaz that his kingdom and the house of David will survive its current turmoil.
This turmoil was unique as well. The upheaval in the ancient Levant and the threat to the house of David was at its highest point at this time. This tension would have been frightening given God’s promises of the preservation of the Davidic line. But frightening why? After all, if the perpetuation of the line of David was promised by God, surely it would come to pass. Therein lies the problem. The fact that Ahaz and many in Judah were afraid and sought foreign help puts on full display their mistrust of God and His promise to them. In addition to their failure to rely upon God and His Covenant, corruption and spiritual failures were steadily growing in Israel and Judah, such as the worship of false gods and the oppression of the poor. No one better epitomized this character of the age than King Ahaz of Judah. Ahaz did not want to trust God and even refused an offer of a sign from Isaiah (Isaiah 7:10-12), meant to demonstrate that the prophecy of Isaiah 7:7 has the will of God behind it. Ahaz chose to lean upon human solutions rather than the promises of God, pledging himself to the gentile kingdom of Assyria in a petition for aid and paying Assyria using gold from the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kings 16:7-8). Ahaz did not trust in the promises of God, and as a result, Judah was brought under foreign domination. This is why Isaiah came at this time: to renew faith in the promises of God through his prophecy of Immanuel, and to confront Judah about its crisis of faith. He came to give a greater understanding of the promise God had made of the coming Messiah, someone more than a King or prophet to lead Israel for a time -- an Immanuel to lead mankind forever.
We know that the promise of Immanuel extends not only to Judah, not only to the tribes of Israel, but to all humanity. Isaiah 9:6 is ever relevant: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (NRSV-CE). This child, this Immanuel, is born for us, and authority over all is His. This child of the house of David is the fulfillment of God’s promises in Isaiah, and it is to Him that we must turn for salvation, not towards man. The fears of Israel to which Isaiah is speaking often mirror our own fears. We fear a future outside our control, where political and economic chaos are everywhere, where wars are commonplace, and where every event confirms the pessimism to which we so often succumb. We misplace our trust and weaken our society with idolatry. Most of all, we fear that God isn’t worthy of our trust. God can seem to us like a distant, intangible entity, and that can make it hard to place our trust in Him. Further, we deem people worthy of our trust when they follow through for us, and oftentimes this tendency can lead us to feel let down by God. For we often impose our own will onto His. Instead, we put our trust in material human things. It is through a reflection on Isaiah, God’s answer to these fears, that our hope in the Lord, and in His second coming, can be restored, just as these words prepared a hope for His first.
A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God’ (Isaiah 40:3 NRSV-CE).