Isaiah 7:10-14
Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Matthew 1:18-25
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means, “God with us.”
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
“Here’s Your Sign”
Some of you may be familiar with the comedy styling’s of Mr. Billy Engvall. He’s a comedian that is best known for the routine that made him famous… a routine based on a very simple principle… You can’t fix stupid. So… he believes we should develop a system where stupid people can wear signs to let us know exactly who we are dealing with. To this, Mr. Engvall developed a routine where whenever he encountered someone truly stupid… he would say “Here’s your sign.” Here are a few examples of Mr. Engvall’s sign-worthy people. He says:
It’s like before my wife and I moved from Texas to California our house was full of boxes and there was a u-Haul truck in our driveway. My friend comes over and says, "Hey, You moving?" "Nope… we just pack our stuff up once or twice a week. Just to see how many boxes it takes." "Here’s your sign."
Last time I was home I was driving around I had a flat tire, I pulled my truck into one of these side-of-the-road gas stations, the attendant walks out, looks at my truck, looks at me, I swear he went, "Tire go flat?" I couldn’t resist. I said "Nope… I was driving around and those other three just swelled right up on me." "Here’s your sign."
I was out in the front yard with my boy the other day and he was playing with his little friend, and he hit his friend and I went up to him and I said "Hey, (smacks his boy), we don’t hit." He looked up at me like, "Dad! Here’s your sign."
You are probably wondering… maybe even quite confused why I am bringing up Billy Engvall to start out this Christmas sermon, to be honest I’m a little surprised too… it was simply a Holy Spirit thing. As I was studying the Old Testament and New Testament lesson’s… I was looking at both of the main characters… I listened to the prophet Isaiah and the Angel speaking to Ahaz and Joseph… and you know what I heard through the lens of our modern language? I heard Isaiah and the Angel saying to Ahaz and Joseph… “Here’s your sign.”
Just look at what I am talking about. Let’s look to the Old Testament first. Here is what is going on behind the text this morning. Ahaz was king of the Southern Kingdom of Judaism known as Judah… and Israel and Syria had formed an alliance against him… and King Ahaz saw doom and freaked out… Chapter 7 - Verse 2b, “so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”
Enter Isaiah. Isaiah the prophet advices the King as many prophets of the lord have advised the Jewish Kings… he tells Ahaz, don’t worry about it. Your Lord will take care of you. Verse 7, “It will not take place, it will not happen, … Within sixty-five years (they) will be too shattered to be a people. … If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”
And what does Ahaz do? Instead of listening to Isaiah, He joins into a pact with kingdom of Assyria for protection. It was a pact that would drain Judah of all its resources in tribute, a pact that would force Judah to place false Assyrian gods within the Jewish temple. It was a pact that would destroy everything that the Jewish Kingdom was supposed to be about.
And poor Isaiah, you can practically hear him… “Are you KIDDING me?!?!” Yet the Lord still had compassion on Ahaz and Judah, and sent Isaiah to speak to the king AGAIN. This is where we pick it up in verse 10, “Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest of depths or in the highest of heights.’” If you won’t believe the words of the prophet I sent… then ask for a sing and I will PROVE to you that I will be faithful and deliver you.
And what does Ahaz respond with, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.” Essentially… he was saying… get off my back, my mind is made up… I am going to join a pact with Assyria.
And what does Isaiah reply with? “Here’s your sign.” Verse 14, “The Lord himself will give you a sign.”
If there is absolutely any doubt to what Isaiah is thinking at this point, we need look no further than the opening words of Isaiah addressed directly to the rebellious nations specifically mentioning King Ahaz. Chapter 1 verse 2 and 3, I’ll read from “The Message” because I simply love how Eugene Peterson puts it “Heaven and earth, you’re the jury. Listen to God’s case: ‘I had children and raised them well, and they turned on me. The ox knows who’s boss, the mule knows the hand that feeds him. But not Israel. My people don’t know up from down.’”
So Isaiah looks Ahaz right in the eye and says, “King Ahaz, Here’s your sign!” Verse 14 one more time, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Now it was quite funny to me that in our New Testament scripture, we find Joseph real busy getting his stupid on too! Mary had just become pregnant, she’d been visited by the angel foretelling what a special child this was going to be… God’s own son! And when Joseph hears… what’s his response. “I’m getting out of dodge! I mean… this girl has taken the short bus to crazy town and I’m not going to stay on for the ride!”
And do you know which words the Lord chose to send to Joseph during this time? Those exact same words from the prophet Isaiah. “Here’s your sign!” The angel directly quotes Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (which means God with us).”
In both cases this morning, we have people who displayed serious lack of faith. And while the subtext coming out of Isaiah given to both people was an irritated “Here’s your sign,” there was also something else going on.
They both had human failings, they both doubted, they were both half out the door… ready to abandon the path that God had laid in front of them… but God wasn’t even close to ready on giving up on them. He was willing to go the extra mile to give them what they needed to have peace and assurance in the midst of his path.
In the case of Ahaz, even after he had been defiant once… God sent Isaiah back to him with this message, “If you need assurance I will give you assurance. Ask for a sign and you shall have it.” And even after Ahaz defied God again and said, “No thanks!” God does not abandon him or the Hebrew Nation. Despite his rebelliousness, Isaiah tells him that God will still provide deliverance. “Here’s your sign. Despite the fact that you have handed the Kingdom of Judah over to Assyria on a silver platter… God will deliver you… a virgin will bear a child, and his name will be Immanuel (which means God with us). A savior… to bring us all back onto the path of God. A messiah… to save us all.
Fast forward 700 years, and we have Joseph… also ready to abandon God’s path. And we discover that the messiah promised to Ahaz, is also promised to Joseph. Only then did Joseph realize the huge scope of what was going on… this wasn’t just about him anymore… this was about the entire Hebrew Nation… this was about reconciliation for the entire world. And Joseph got back on the right path with God.
Fast forward another 2000 years, and you have another set of rebellious people… a people who far too often look to serve their own desires, a people who far too often disregard God’s calling in their lives, a people who far too often think they do not need God… do not need a savior. And this people can be found as easily as looking into a mirror… for it is you and I. And the message that comes to us is the same one that came to Ahaz and Joseph. “Here’s your sign.”
“And this shall be a sign unto you, you will find a babe wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Our savior, our messiah, the only person able to bring us back into relationship with God… the only person able to save us from our sins and bring us salvation.
Tomorrow night we will finally reach Bethlehem, tomorrow night we will be face to face with the babe in then manger, Tomorrow night we will be faced with the fulfillment of Isaiah in the person of Jesus Christ. In the light of this, will we continue in our stubborn ways, will we continue on our own path, will we continue to believe we can do it all on our own? Isaiah has only three words for us… “Here’s your sign.”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
