April 29, 2025 • 8 mins
The general rule is don't test or tempt God, however, God there is a time to do just that - when God wants to prove Himself to us and build our confidence in Him.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Every time I go through this I actually see it
better.
So I realize there's over yearsof going through these passages
, there's so much more to gainfrom this than what you might
see at first, than what youmight see at first.
Isaiah 7,.
Isaiah is 700 plus years beforethe Messiah was born, and this
(00:31):
is a very difficult passage, butI'm going to try to make it as
simple as I can.
There's a situation happeningbetween the northern kingdom of
Israel and the southern kingdomof Israel, known as Judah.
We notice in verse 1, it cameabout in the days kingdom of
Israel known as Judah.
We notice in verse 1, it cameabout in the days of Ahaz, the
son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, the
(00:52):
king of Aram and Pekah, the sonof Ramaliah, king of Israel,
went up to Jerusalem to wage waragainst it.
What you have here is the kingin Judah, whose name is Ahaz in
verse 1, has two kings who areallying against him.
These two kings are Rezan, whois the king of Aram, and Pekah,
who is the king of Israel.
They allied against the king ofJudah and of course, you read
(01:18):
of this in the end of verse 1.
It says that they went up toJerusalem to wage war against it
, but they could not conquer it.
It says that they went up toJerusalem to wage war against it
but they could not conquer it.
Now, when it was reported tothe house of David now that's an
interesting phrase, right,house of David.
We've studied in the OldTestament Davidic covenant.
Right, god made a covenant withthe house of David.
So remember that, becausethat's going to come back
(01:43):
several verses later.
House of David, this isn't justabout Ahaz, that king of Judah.
He's part of the house of David, he's in David's line, but he's
not the whole house of David,he's just the representative at
that time.
So when it was reported to thehouse of David saying the
Arameans have camped in Ephraim,which is northern Israel, his
(02:05):
heart and the hearts of hispeople shook as the trees of the
forest shake with the wind.
So was he scared?
Yeah, he was shaking in hisboots.
Ahaz is worried that thisalliance between Pecah and the
northern king of Israel I'msorry Rezan and the northern
king of Israel, pecah, that well, they're going to get
slaughtered.
So, yeah, he's shaking in hisboots.
And then, verse 3, the Lord saidto Isaiah go out now to meet
(02:28):
Ahaz, the king of Judah, you andyour son Shear-Jashub.
Now, that's very interesting.
Take your son along.
Don't forget that son, becauseGod tells him to take the son.
There must be somethingimportant about this son.
He says take him, go out and atthe end of the conduit of the
(02:49):
upper pool, on the highway tothe Fullers Field, and say to
him, say to King Ahaz, take care, be calm, have no fear, do not
be faint-hearted because ofthese two stubs of smoldering
firebrands.
Who are the two stubs?
Well, it's these two kingsright that have allied against
him Rezin, the king of Aram, andthe son of Ramaliah, that would
(03:12):
be Pekah.
Don't be afraid of these twokings.
Nothing's going to happen Verse5, because Aram, with Ephraim,
which is Israel, the son ofRamaliah, has planned evil
against you, saying let's goagainst Judah, let's terrorize
it, let's make for ourselves abreach in its walls, let's set
up the son of Tabeel as king inthe midst of it.
(03:32):
So these two kings who'veallied want to knock off Ahaz
right and they want to set inhis place another king named
Tabeel.
This isn't that difficult tounderstand.
This is politics.
We want to put a guy in officewho will do what we want.
Ahaz won't do it.
(03:55):
Let's put Tabeel in.
Tabeel will do whatever we want.
That's basically what we havein presidential elections.
That's really all it is Otherpeople wanting to get their will
done through a certainindividual.
So they get these guys to bepresidents, whatever.
Okay, nothing new under this.
This has been going on forcenturies and centuries and
(04:17):
millennia and millennia.
It's about holding power andputting people in places of
power that are really justmostly pawns, frankly, but they
make everybody think this guy'sreally important.
I would downplay its importancein the real world.
So let's go against Judah andterrorize it and make for
ourselves a breach in his walls.
We'll set up the son of Tabeelas king in the midst of it.
(04:39):
Thus says the Lord God, youdon't have to fear.
This is what they want to do.
Verse 7, the end of it says itshall not stand, nor shall it
come to pass.
Does King Ahaz of the house ofDavid have anything to worry
about?
No.
Now the interesting thing isthe reason.
It's not just because God saidso.
(04:59):
It's because God made acovenant with the house of David
, verse 2.
And God's not going to allowhis covenant to be broken
because it's his word.
So this isn't going to happen.
He's going to protect the houseof David, he's going to protect
King Ahaz.
Verse 8, for the head is anexplanation, for the head of
(05:21):
Aram is Damascus, that's thecapital city of Aramea, and the
head of Damascus is Rezan,that's the king.
And now, within another 65years, ephraim, that's Israel,
will be shattered.
That means Ephraim, which isnorthern Israel, will go into
exile to the Assyrians, sothere's no longer a people.
They're a scattered people, nota separate nation.
In verse 9, and the head ofEphraim is Samaria, that was the
(05:44):
capital of Israel, and the headof Samaria is the son of
Ramaliah, who was Pekah.
That was their king.
He says if you will not believe,king a has, if you will not
believe my word, you surelyshall not last.
In other words, your kingdom,the southern kingdom, will also
go into exile, just like thenorthern kingdom is going to do
in 65 years.
(06:04):
Right?
If you will not, what?
Believe and look.
I always tell people what doesgod want?
One thing, hebrews 11 sayswithout faith, it's impossible
to please god.
What does god want from you?
He wants you to respond to himwith faith.
That's it.
Believe the gospel, believe hispromises.
That's what he wants.
That's what he's looking for.
Trust him.
(06:25):
So if you don't trust him, hesays, you surely shall not last.
Your kingdom will go into exiletoo.
Then the lord spoke again toahaz that's the king of Judah,
and he said something veryinteresting.
Think if God said this to youAsk a sign for yourself from the
Lord, your God.
Make it deep as Sheol or highas heaven.
Just ask whatever you want.
Make the earth, go out and goaround Pluto and come back, and
(06:50):
go around Pluto and come back.
Ask whatever you want.
Anything, bring me to the thirdheaven.
Ask it.
It's an open-ended offer.
Anything in the world that hecan ever dream of.
The Lord says ask for it as asign, as a sign of what?
That the Lord's word is true.
(07:11):
It should be believed.
Right, but notice verse 12.
But Ahaz said I will not ask,nor will I test the Lord.
I'm not going to test the Lord.
I'm pious.
We're not supposed to test him.
He's trying to come off asspiritual.
He's not spiritual at all.
(07:32):
What did the Lord say at thebeginning of verse 11?
Ask A sign.
Ask.
What does verse 12 say?
Ahaz says I will not ask.
That's called what Disobedience?
(07:52):
It's called disobedience.
The guy's not spiritual at all,the guy's just disobedient to
the Lord.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
So I'm not going to ask the Lord Disobedience Thank
you for joining us on Beyond theWalls with Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in
(08:23):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Every time I go through this I actually see it
better.
So I realize there's over yearsof going through these passages
, there's so much more to gainfrom this than what you might
see at first, than what youmight see at first.
Isaiah 7,.
Isaiah is 700 plus years beforethe Messiah was born, and this
(00:31):
is a very difficult passage, butI'm going to try to make it as
simple as I can.
There's a situation happeningbetween the northern kingdom of
Israel and the southern kingdomof Israel, known as Judah.
We notice in verse 1, it cameabout in the days kingdom of
Israel known as Judah.
We notice in verse 1, it cameabout in the days of Ahaz, the
son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin, the
(00:52):
king of Aram and Pekah, the sonof Ramaliah, king of Israel,
went up to Jerusalem to wage waragainst it.
What you have here is the kingin Judah, whose name is Ahaz in
verse 1, has two kings who areallying against him.
These two kings are Rezan, whois the king of Aram, and Pekah,
who is the king of Israel.
They allied against the king ofJudah and of course, you read
(01:18):
of this in the end of verse 1.
It says that they went up toJerusalem to wage war against it
, but they could not conquer it.
It says that they went up toJerusalem to wage war against it
but they could not conquer it.
Now, when it was reported tothe house of David now that's an
interesting phrase, right,house of David.
We've studied in the OldTestament Davidic covenant.
Right, god made a covenant withthe house of David.
So remember that, becausethat's going to come back
(01:43):
several verses later.
House of David, this isn't justabout Ahaz, that king of Judah.
He's part of the house of David, he's in David's line, but he's
not the whole house of David,he's just the representative at
that time.
So when it was reported to thehouse of David saying the
Arameans have camped in Ephraim,which is northern Israel, his
(02:05):
heart and the hearts of hispeople shook as the trees of the
forest shake with the wind.
So was he scared?
Yeah, he was shaking in hisboots.
Ahaz is worried that thisalliance between Pecah and the
northern king of Israel I'msorry Rezan and the northern
king of Israel, pecah, that well, they're going to get
slaughtered.
So, yeah, he's shaking in hisboots.
And then, verse 3, the Lord saidto Isaiah go out now to meet
(02:28):
Ahaz, the king of Judah, you andyour son Shear-Jashub.
Now, that's very interesting.
Take your son along.
Don't forget that son, becauseGod tells him to take the son.
There must be somethingimportant about this son.
He says take him, go out and atthe end of the conduit of the
(02:49):
upper pool, on the highway tothe Fullers Field, and say to
him, say to King Ahaz, take care, be calm, have no fear, do not
be faint-hearted because ofthese two stubs of smoldering
firebrands.
Who are the two stubs?
Well, it's these two kingsright that have allied against
him Rezin, the king of Aram, andthe son of Ramaliah, that would
(03:12):
be Pekah.
Don't be afraid of these twokings.
Nothing's going to happen Verse5, because Aram, with Ephraim,
which is Israel, the son ofRamaliah, has planned evil
against you, saying let's goagainst Judah, let's terrorize
it, let's make for ourselves abreach in its walls, let's set
up the son of Tabeel as king inthe midst of it.
(03:32):
So these two kings who'veallied want to knock off Ahaz
right and they want to set inhis place another king named
Tabeel.
This isn't that difficult tounderstand.
This is politics.
We want to put a guy in officewho will do what we want.
Ahaz won't do it.
(03:55):
Let's put Tabeel in.
Tabeel will do whatever we want.
That's basically what we havein presidential elections.
That's really all it is Otherpeople wanting to get their will
done through a certainindividual.
So they get these guys to bepresidents, whatever.
Okay, nothing new under this.
This has been going on forcenturies and centuries and
(04:17):
millennia and millennia.
It's about holding power andputting people in places of
power that are really justmostly pawns, frankly, but they
make everybody think this guy'sreally important.
I would downplay its importancein the real world.
So let's go against Judah andterrorize it and make for
ourselves a breach in his walls.
We'll set up the son of Tabeelas king in the midst of it.
(04:39):
Thus says the Lord God, youdon't have to fear.
This is what they want to do.
Verse 7, the end of it says itshall not stand, nor shall it
come to pass.
Does King Ahaz of the house ofDavid have anything to worry
about?
No.
Now the interesting thing isthe reason.
It's not just because God saidso.
(04:59):
It's because God made acovenant with the house of David
, verse 2.
And God's not going to allowhis covenant to be broken
because it's his word.
So this isn't going to happen.
He's going to protect the houseof David, he's going to protect
King Ahaz.
Verse 8, for the head is anexplanation, for the head of
(05:21):
Aram is Damascus, that's thecapital city of Aramea, and the
head of Damascus is Rezan,that's the king.
And now, within another 65years, ephraim, that's Israel,
will be shattered.
That means Ephraim, which isnorthern Israel, will go into
exile to the Assyrians, sothere's no longer a people.
They're a scattered people, nota separate nation.
In verse 9, and the head ofEphraim is Samaria, that was the
(05:44):
capital of Israel, and the headof Samaria is the son of
Ramaliah, who was Pekah.
That was their king.
He says if you will not believe,king a has, if you will not
believe my word, you surelyshall not last.
In other words, your kingdom,the southern kingdom, will also
go into exile, just like thenorthern kingdom is going to do
in 65 years.
(06:04):
Right?
If you will not, what?
Believe and look.
I always tell people what doesgod want?
One thing, hebrews 11 sayswithout faith, it's impossible
to please god.
What does god want from you?
He wants you to respond to himwith faith.
That's it.
Believe the gospel, believe hispromises.
That's what he wants.
That's what he's looking for.
Trust him.
(06:25):
So if you don't trust him, hesays, you surely shall not last.
Your kingdom will go into exiletoo.
Then the lord spoke again toahaz that's the king of Judah,
and he said something veryinteresting.
Think if God said this to youAsk a sign for yourself from the
Lord, your God.
Make it deep as Sheol or highas heaven.
Just ask whatever you want.
Make the earth, go out and goaround Pluto and come back, and
(06:50):
go around Pluto and come back.
Ask whatever you want.
Anything, bring me to the thirdheaven.
Ask it.
It's an open-ended offer.
Anything in the world that hecan ever dream of.
The Lord says ask for it as asign, as a sign of what?
That the Lord's word is true.
(07:11):
It should be believed.
Right, but notice verse 12.
But Ahaz said I will not ask,nor will I test the Lord.
I'm not going to test the Lord.
I'm pious.
We're not supposed to test him.
He's trying to come off asspiritual.
He's not spiritual at all.
(07:32):
What did the Lord say at thebeginning of verse 11?
Ask A sign.
Ask.
What does verse 12 say?
Ahaz says I will not ask.
That's called what Disobedience?
(07:52):
It's called disobedience.
The guy's not spiritual at all,the guy's just disobedient to
the Lord.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
So I'm not going to ask the Lord Disobedience Thank
you for joining us on Beyond theWalls with Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in
(08:23):
growing closer to God andwalking more obediently with Him
.
If you found this podcast to beuseful and helpful, then please
consider rating us in yourfavorite podcast app, and until
next time, we hope you have ablessed and wonderful day.
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