Isaiah is one of the most influential and important prophets in the Bible.
He lived about 700 years before Christ was born, during a tumultuous time for the kingdom of Judah.
He is one of the few people who were able to foresee the future through a connection with God, predicting many of the most important outcomes that would occur centuries later.
In these verses, Isaiah is talking with the newly appointed king of Judah, Ahaz, who is stuck between a rock and hard place with several armies coming to invade his kingdom.
Lively, in his 20s, Ahaz did not know what to do and sought counsel with the wiser Isaiah.
In these verses, Isaiah has attempted to help Ahaz, offering him spiritual guidance, which Ahaz refuses.
Ahaz is trying to think of a way to save himself at all costs, willing to broker alliances with enemies in order to save his own skin.
Isaiah wants to send Ahaz and the kingdom of Judah a message, and he makes his proclamation here to reassure the people of Judah of the covenant that their ancestors made with God.
In hindsight, it may seem that Ahaz is a fool, but what would you have done differently?
Ahaz did not know what would happen, and he did not have a strong faith to rely on.
Isaiah had built a strong foundation based on faith that he could fall on in difficult times.
Like Isaiah, we need to foster our relationship with God so that when we see the armies of our enemies, of sin and temptation, we are strengthened by faith, with the knowledge that our God will not abandon us.
