God is With We His People

Isaiah 8:1-10

1 Moreover the LORD said to me, "Take a large scroll, and write on it with a man's pen concerning Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. 2 And I will take for Myself faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; 4 for before the child shall have knowledge to cry 'My father' and 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria."

5 The LORD also spoke to me again, saying:

6 "Inasmuch as these people refused
The waters of Shiloah that flow softly,
And rejoice in Rezin and in Remaliah's son;

7 Now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up over them
The waters of the River, strong and mighty—
The king of Assyria and all his glory;
He will go up over all his channels
And go over all his banks.

8 He will pass through Judah,
He will overflow and pass over,
He will reach up to the neck;
And the stretching out of his wings
Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

9 "Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces!
Give ear, all you from far countries.
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.

10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
For God is with us."

With Assyria set to invade the land, the message from God’s word is ultimate victory.  God is with us, we who are His people, then and now.  A child was born called Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty, to demonstrate as a witness against the invaders how quickly it would be over in their defeat.  The witnesses to this word of God to Isaiah were Uriah and Zechariah, faithful and true.  This child of the prophets was named appropriately to show how quickly the enemy would lose their riches as well as the spoils taken.  It would be a quick defeat at the LORD’s hand and Isaiah gave a verbal and physical message to all that it was God’s doing, that the people who had God with and among them would be protected and delivered.  But this was also a rebuke to those of God who refused God’s healing waters of Shiloah (also known as Siloam - John 9:7, 11) and looked up to unrighteous leaders instead for protection and guidance.  God allowed the Assyrian army to pass through the river to invade the land but find themselves almost over their heads, leading to being broken by God in their imagined victory in their pride.  Their counsel against God’s children would come to nothing.  Because God’s was with His people the words of the enemy would not stand, but God’s word stands firm forever.  There is the victory in Immanuel as a hope for us in the Messiah to come for them and who we know has come as our Christ, Jesus, living in and among us (1 Corinthians 15:57, Colossians 1:27).  God is certainly with us, we His people, Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female (Romans 10:12-13, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Colossians 3:11, Galatians 3:28).  Praise be to Immanuel, God with us!  Who can oppose we who are His church (Romans 8:31, 37-39)?  We must therefore speak His word and trust in Him in the face of the enemy because of His promises and examples of the scriptures giving us an everlasting hope (Romans 15:4).