When the Floodwaters Rise, Who Do You Trust? | Murray Colville | Isaiah 7-8

Isaiah sets Ahaz in a moment where the horizon is full of enemies. Aram and Israel have joined forces against Judah, and the hearts of Ahaz and his people shake like trees in the wind. Yet the Lord meets Ahaz right where he is checking the city’s water supply and says, “Be careful, keep calm, and don’t be afraid.” The nations look huge, but God calls them “two smoldering stubs of firewood.” Their kings are only men, and their plans will not stand.

The house of David carries God’s promises, but Ahaz has to decide whether those promises are real enough to trust. Isaiah puts the issue plainly: “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” Ahaz can make plans, check the water, form alliances, and call for help, but none of it can give the security that God offers. God even gives Ahaz a blank check for a sign, from the deepest depths to the highest heights. Ahaz’s holy-sounding refusal is not humility. It is disobedience dressed up as piety, because Ahaz has already decided to trust Assyria.

Assyria becomes the very thing Ahaz thinks will save him. Ahaz calls the cat to rescue him from the rat, but the cat is hungry too. God brings Assyria against Judah’s enemies, yet Assyria does not stop there. The gently flowing waters of Shiloh, God’s provision, are rejected, and the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates overflow into Judah up to its neck. Immanuel means God is with them, but for Ahaz that presence becomes judgment because he will not trust the God who is with him.

Isaiah’s sign has a near fulfillment in a child whose life marks the coming downfall of Judah’s enemies. Yet Immanuel also points forward to Jesus, the truest fulfillment of “God with us.” Jesus is not merely a reminder that God is present. He is God among his people in the flesh, and by his Spirit he remains with them to the end of the age.

The fear-filled horizon still comes for God’s people. Floodwaters rise, temptations fill the eyes, and control feels safer than trust. But Jesus has faced the greatest enemies, sin and death, and defeated them at the cross. Christ becomes either a stumbling stone for those who insist on standing by their own strength or the firm foundation for those who trust him. God’s promises remain the best place to stand because Immanuel is God with his people and God for his people.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Trust God beyond the visible horizon [25:30] Ahaz sees his immediate enemies, then looks a little higher to Assyria. His mistake is not that he sees danger, but that he does not look high enough. God’s rule reaches beyond every threat, power, diagnosis, and plan that fills the horizon. [25:30]
• 2. Pious refusal can hide unbelief [16:55] Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign, and his words sound humble and religious. Yet God has commanded him to ask, so the refusal exposes a heart that has already chosen another refuge. Religious language can sometimes keep God at arm’s length rather than surrendering control to him. [16:55]
• 3. False saviors eventually demand everything [25:10] Assyria appears strong enough to solve Ahaz’s problem, but it becomes Judah’s oppressor. The things trusted instead of God often promise protection while quietly taking more and more. Money, comfort, self-reliance, and control cannot bear the weight of ultimate trust. [25:10]
• 4. Immanuel changes what fear can do [27:54] God with his people does not mean floodwaters never rise. God’s presence means the floodwaters are not the biggest reality in the room. Jesus gives a deeper safety than control because his presence reaches into the highest heights and deepest depths. [27:54]
• 5. Christ is rock or stumbling block [33:08] Jesus cannot simply remain a symbolic part of life, kept nearby but not trusted. Self-reliance stumbles over him because it refuses to receive him as God with us. Faith finds in him the cornerstone and firm foundation that cannot fail.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [06:23] - What Happens When Faith Is Tested?
• [08:28] - Saved by Jesus’ Strength
• [09:57] - Isaiah, Ahaz, and Judah
• [12:36] - Hearts Shaken Like Forest Trees
• [13:31] - God’s Promise to the House of David
• [15:10] - Ahaz Checks the Water Supply
• [15:55] - God Offers Ahaz a Sign
• [17:17] - Ahaz Trusts Assyria Instead
• [18:39] - The Sign of Immanuel
• [22:28] - Floodwaters of Assyrian Judgment
• [23:54] - Human Plans Will Not Stand
• [25:10] - Calling the Cat to Save the Mouse
• [26:24] - Jesus, the True Immanuel
• [29:11] - The Pull of Control and False Gods
• [32:05] - Do Not Fear What They Fear
• [33:08] - Christ the Stumbling Stone and Foundation
• [34:20] - Trust God’s Promises No Matter What

1. Isaiah 7:9 — “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.” [01:39]
2. Isaiah 7:14 — “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” [02:10]
3. Isaiah 8:6-8 — “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” [22:28] [23:07]
4. Isaiah 8:14 — “And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” [32:29]

1. What details show how afraid Ahaz and the people of Judah were when Aram and Israel joined forces against them? [12:40]
2. Where does Isaiah meet Ahaz, and what was Ahaz doing there? What does this location reveal about the immediate threat facing Judah? [13:47]
3. What words does God use to describe the powerful kingdoms that Ahaz fears, and how does that differ from the way Ahaz seems to view them? [13:57]
4. In Isaiah 8:6-8, what is contrasted between the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and the flooding waters of the Euphrates? [22:28]

1. Why is Ahaz’s refusal to ask for a sign not true humility, even though his words sound religious? What does his refusal reveal about where he had already placed his trust? [16:37]
2. Isaiah 7:9 connects standing firm with faith. What does “standing firm in faith” look like for a person who still has real responsibilities, decisions, and dangers to face?
3. Why does seeking Assyria’s help become a dangerous choice for Ahaz and Judah? What does this show about the way false saviors can first promise help and later demand control? [25:10]
4. How can God’s presence, Immanuel, be both comforting and serious in Isaiah’s day? How does Jesus bring the fullest and greatest meaning of “God with us”? [26:44]

1. What fear, pressure, diagnosis, conflict, or uncertainty is currently filling your horizon? What would it look like to lift your eyes beyond that visible threat and remember that God is still ruling over it? [28:31]
2. Ahaz made plans for water, defense, and alliances, but he trusted those plans more than God. Where are you tempted to rely on planning, money, control, comfort, or self-reliance instead of bringing your need honestly to God? [30:28]
3. Religious language can sometimes hide a decision to keep God at arm’s length. Are there areas where phrases like “I can handle this,” “I don’t want to bother God,” or “I just need to be responsible” may be covering unbelief or a reluctance to surrender control? [30:53]
4. False saviors often begin by offering safety but end up taking more and more. What “Assyria” can be especially tempting for you—approval, achievement, financial security, comfort, control, or something else? How has it promised more than it can actually give? [25:10]
5. Jesus is Immanuel: God with us, not merely as an idea but through his presence with his people. What difference would it make this week to truly remember that Jesus is with you in a specific hard situation? [27:54]
6. Christ is either a stumbling stone to self-reliance or the firm foundation for faith. In what area of life do you most need to stop trying to stand on your own strength and instead build on Christ’s strength? [33:20]