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DECEMBER 23, 2007
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, “Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” And He said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:10–14
Do you believe that “God helps those who help themselves?” It’s easy to believe that it’s true. After all, this is America where effort and hard work are rewarded with success. And success comes to those who earn it and deserve it. If somebody’s walking the street and homeless, it’s because they’ve reaped the reward of their laziness. If somebody succeeds it’s because God rewards those who have paved their way to success with blood, sweat, and tears.
In our culture, success is measured in dollars. And success comes to those who deserve it! . . . “Look at this self–made man,” we say. “He is where he is because he never quit, because he refused to say no to his dreams, and because, when the going got tough, he got going! So here’s to all you winners out there. Yes, we hail you as ones who have reached the pinnacle of the American dream:
You don’t need salvation; you need motivation!
You don’t need repentance; you need independence!
You don’t need grace; you need glory!
You don’t need preaching; you need to preach to the poor peons who want to be just like you!
And the self–made man surely must have God on his side or else he wouldn’t have become so successful. Yes, who can doubt that such a man is right with God because God helps those who help themselves! But it’s a lie. Earthly success is no measure of spiritual wealth.
In our text, we find that wicked king Ahaz trusted in himself more than God. He was ruling Judah in about 735 B.C. when things got politically uncomfortable. This was a perilous time for God’s people, for her powerful enemies were about to attack her. Both king and people were scared silly, for we are told that they were shaking in their sandals like “trees of the forest shaken by the wind.”1 It was then that God sent the prophet Isaiah to deliver a message of hope to his people. The message was this: “Fear not, Ahaz, for the LORD will protect Judah from her enemies. You shall be safe.”2 In other words, Ahaz was to do nothing. He was to “be still” and know that the LORD would take care of them. If ever there was a time when God’s people needed God’s intervention, it was now. Would Ahaz trust the LORD and let God do what he had promised? Or would he rely on his own devices in the firm belief that God helps those who help themselves?
To assure Ahaz of Judah’s promised safety, God invited him to ask for a miraculous sign. He said, name your miracle and I will do it. But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I put the LORD to the test.”3 Though the king sounds pious and god–fearing, he was really wasn’t. It was his pride that was speaking. He would not ask for the offered sign because he felt himself in no particular need of the LORD’s help. Unbelief refuses God’s goodness and tries to go it alone. Ahaz didn’t want to “be still” (Psalm 46:10) and let God be God because he was sure he had already solved the problem himself. You see, he had struck a deal to form a military alliance with Assyria, the most powerful nation of that time. The Assyrians, Ahaz thought, would make mincemeat of his enemies. Thus, we see that he trusted in men more than God. And so, he says, “I don’t want a sign because I’ve already made up my mind.” Ahaz would have agreed with the “great theologian,” Frank Sinatra, who sang, “I did it my way!”
There is a King Ahaz in all of us. Scripture calls it our flesh, our sinful nature. It does not trust God or cling to his promises but clings to the god of self. When our security is threatened, the old nature sends us running to those things that offer us safety and comfort—to booze, bad company, and lying. We make agreements with whomever will offer us help. We seek easy alternatives to the hard road of repentance. Yes, there is an Ahaz inside all of us.
But we must move on. Because Ahaz, in unbelief, rejected the sign of his choosing, God now removes the choice from him. The Almighty will now give the sign of his own choosing. God now speaks through Isaiah. He says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.”
My friends, I don’t know how many times I have read and quoted these words. But as I was looking at the original text again, I discovered that the word “you” in “I will give you a sign” is plural, not singular. For some reason, I had always assumed that it was singular and that the sign was intended for but one person, either Ahaz or the Virgin Mary. Not so! The sign is intended for all people, for your benefit and mine.
Now the LORD tells us what the miraculous sign will be. We read, “Behold, a virgin shallconceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.”4 Our first reaction is to think like rationalists and to say that this is not possible. Virgins do not bear sons. But not so fast. With God nothing is impossible.5
In the Bible, there are three important supernatural births: Isaac, John the Baptist, and Jesus. Ninety–year–old Sarah was well past the age of child–bearing.6 And though Elizabeth was probably not as old as Sarah, she too was barren.7 Likewise, everything was against Jesus being born of Mary. After all, she had never known a man. So here we have three women, three of the most unlikely candidates for motherhood you can imagine. Two are old; one is young. Two are barren; one is a virgin. Yet, they all conceive—the two by their husbands, the one by the Holy Spirit. Each brings forth a miracle child—the first, a forefather of the Savior; the second, the forerunner of the Savior; and the third, the Savior himself. Are we to learn from these examples that, with God, nothing is impossible? Yes! And, perhaps this as well, that our salvation, from beginning to end is entirely the work of God. Of what could Sarah, Elizabeth, or Mary boast? Nothing! The most they could say is that they were, by grace and not by merit, the human vehicles through whom God worked in order to accomplish our salvation.
Seven hundred years after Isaiah’s remarkable prophecy, it came to pass. The sign promised by the Lord was born in a Bethlehem stable. In so doing, the Lord himself has given you a sign: In him hangs your eternity.
The birth of Jesus is God’s sign for you. You won’t find him in all the best stores. You will find him in the most unlikely of places, for he hides himself and crosses the centuries and the miles and comes to you and me in the Word and in the Sacraments. See who he is, for Isaiah gives him the name of Immanuel. Immanuel is not merely a name like Tom, Dick, or Harry. Biblical names are revelatory. That is, they reveal something about the person so named. In this particular case, it is a revelation of the Messiah’s true identity. Immanuel means “God with us.” That is to say, Jesus is God, and specifically, he is God amongst his people. He is with us today in the Word and in bread and wine of Holy Communion.
For many, time and familiarity have dulled the amazing nature of this prophecy and its fulfillment. Think what it means for earth to visited by God himself. While the world is fascinated by UFOs and extraterrestrial beings, both history and Scripture tell us that planet earth has already been visited by its Creator. That is an eerie, yet awesome, thought! Many questions arise. Why would he want to come to this world in the first place? What would he do when here? Would he come as friend or foe?
There is more than a hint in our text that Immanuel’s coming would be friendly. How so? Consider this: If his intentions were hostile, why would he be born of a human mother and enter this world as a baby? Babies, by their very nature, are virtually helpless and powerless. Tell me, how much wrath and destruction can a little baby inflict on the world? None!
See him in the manger. He is true man in all the fullness of humanity. But he is also true God in all the fullness of deity. Here lies your Immanuel. Here lies the wonder of the ages, the Savior of the world, your Savior and mine. This little baby is destined to say things such as no man has ever heard before. This little baby is destined to do things such as no man has ever done before.
This little baby is destined to suffer under Pontius Pilate, to be crucified, to die, and to be buried. This little baby is destined to atone for the sins of the world. This little baby is destined to rise again from the dead. This little baby would one day make an astonishing promise, saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”8 He also said that all who trust in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.9 Yes, in matters of eternity, this little baby will help only those who know that cannot help themselves.
This Savior of ours is truly God–with–us.
A final observation: Nothing changes life like a baby. Past routines become distant memories. Baby rooms have been made ready for the new arrival. New fathers take time off work. New mothers often quit their jobs and devote themselves to the nurturing and care of their infants. For first–time parents, their lives are turned upside–down. The freedom they previously enjoyed has vanished. They didn’t realize how much joy midnight feedings and dirty diapers can be. Yes nothing changes life like a baby!
And in the gift of the Christ child, God has given us a baby. Has he changed your life? Has he changed your priorities, your behavior, your giving, and your service to others?
Beloved, with the entrance of virgin–born son of Mary, God has given us a sign. It’s the sign of hope, of forgiveness, and eternal life. Trust in him alone and all is yours. This is God’s greatest promise! In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Endnotes
1 See Isaiah 7:2.
2 See Isaiah 7:7.
3 See Isaiah 7:12.
4 See Isaiah 7:14b.
6 In Genesis 18:12, Sarah even laughs at the impossibility of giving birth, for we read, “So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?’”
7 See Luke 1:7.
8 See John 11:25-26.
9 See John 3:16b.
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