Daily Devotional For Tuesday, June 23,2026
Good morning Southside! Our daily devotional for today comes from Isaiah 7:13-14:
“Then Isaiah said, ‘Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? (14) All right then, the Lord Himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’” (NLT).
This is a passage most Christians know because it is often read at Christmas in Advent readings. Matthew says that this Isaiah passage was a prophecy about Jesus coming (Matt. 1:18-25). But the context of Isaiah 7:13-14 links this passage to Isaiah’s day and time. So, which is it? A reference to the birth of a child in Isaiah’s day or to the birth of Jesus? Well, both. Some of this is a reference to Maher-shalalhashbaz, Isaiah’s own son. We read about this in Isaiah 8:1-4. So, this passage served two purposes — to foretell Isaiah’s own son’s birth and some 700 years later the birth of Jesus. Isaiah’s son’s birth was tied to the fall of the Syro-Ephraimite alliance, which is the context for this passage.
Understanding the context helps us know how to interpret this passage. Isaiah’s son’s name (Maher-shalalhashbaz) means “the spoil seeds, the prey hastens.” So, God was with His people (Immanuel) so that the end of the Syro-Ephraimite alliance was assured. Matthew’s use of this Isaiah passage to refer to Jesus is this way of proving that God was with His people in a way never before in history. God Himself was coming personally to bring salvation so that His people could be with Him always.
Political alliances come and go. In Isaiah’s time we see this with the Syro-Ephraimite alliance. Though at war against Israel and Judah, God was with His people. In Jesus’ time, Jesus came to go to war against sin, evil and the demonic. In Isaiah’s time, God comes to be with His people politically. In Jesus’ time, God comes to be with HIs people spiritually. This is the point of Matthew in Matthew 1:21.
In verse 12, King Ahaz of Judah is rejected and this sets the stage for God to deal harshly with the abandonment of God by the last remnants of the Davidic dynasty. This would be the destruction of what was left of the Davidic dynasty by God. How was this done? The northern kingdom and Syria was under attack by Assyria. Pekah, the king of Israel and Rezin, the Syrian king wanted Ahaz, king of Judah in the south, to join them as a united front against Assyria and its king, Tiglath-pileser III. If Ahaz refused, Pekah and Rezin wanted Ahaz replaced.
Yet, God was not pleased at all. When we read 2 Kings 16:1-4 and 2 Chronicles 28:1-4, this lets us know that God’s anger against Ahaz was due to his sin of infanticide. Ahaz was a worshiper of Baal and Molech and he offered his newborn son to this pagan god by placing his infant son on a fiery altar as an idolatrous sacrifice. God then acts to “burn” (destroy) Judah for this.
Therefore, as punishment for these sins, God brought the Syrians and Israelites against Judah (2 Chron. 28:5, 9). In this war the Syro-Ephraimite armies killed over 120,000 soldiers from Judah, took around 200,000 people captive, and plundered the land (2 Chron. 28:6-8). Nevertheless, the city of Jerusalem was not conquered. Since Ahaz saw no way to win this war, he sent gold and silver from the royal palace and the temple (2 Kgs. 16:8-9) to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III and offered to be his vassal if the Assyrians would rescue him from these enemies. Assyria agreed and made both Israel and Judah vassal states.
God has used Isaiah to tell King Ahaz that God would protect Judah if Ahaz put his trust in God only – not in some alliance or in paying tribute to Assyria. Because King Ahaz failed to trust God, God sent Assyria to conquer them. “Immanuel” is the future promised son who will be a Davidic ruler replacing Ahaz. Scripture is clear in the New Testament Jesus did this. He fully submitted to God the Father’s will in everything and thus provided a means to save us from our own sins of idolatry today.
Reflection Assignment: Take a moment and answer this question. What does it mean to you that God is with you in spite of your sins of idolatry? So, out of gratitude, what can be your gift to God expressing your commitment to be with God as He leads you?Scripture To Meditate On: Deuteronomy 31:8, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, Your patience with me is so amazing. I can easily get distracted by all kinds of idols and even find ways to justify it. I do not want to be rejected by you as King Ahaz was. Instead, I want to be used by You to help others experience the liberating truth that “God is with us” – that You are with them. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly