He was certain that neither a weakling like Ahaz nor a terror like
Tiglath-Pileser could bring destruction upon the city that God had
selected as the center of His worship, or upon the people whom God had
chosen, to reveal Himself to them and to entrust them with His law.

The patriotic and religious backsliding of Ahaz and his counselors,
however, seemed to point to the destruction of both. But Isaiah was
not dismayed. Trusting faithfully in God's protecting hand over His
people, he could not conceive that God would desert them for long. God
would not permit a backboneless king to reign over His people. The
successor to Ahaz would be a different type of man--an ideal prince in
the sight of God and men:

"And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse,
And a branch of his roots shall bear fruit.
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and might,
The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
Neither arbitrate after the hearing of his ears;
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor,
And arbitrate with equity for the afflicted of the land:
And he shall smite the tyrannous with the rod of his mouth,
And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked,
And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins,
And faithfulness the girdle of his reins,
And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;