Imagine you’re the king of a nation surrounded by enemies who are threatening your entire world. They’ve formed an alliance that appears irresistible. But imagine at the same time that your nation is one that God has chosen as his own special nation. What would you think as you listened to the reports of the armies getting closer and closer to the capital city?
Well that’s the context of the passage from Isaiah that we’re looking at today. Judah is under threat from an alliance of Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel. Ahaz the king is getting worried and he doesn’t know what to do. He could form his own alliance with the much stronger nation of Assyria or he could wait it out and trust that God will protect him.
It’s one of those situations that Christians are faced with regularly. Do we trust God to help us in a difficult situation, or do we use our own political savvy, our own applied logic, to find a way out by ourselves?
There was a question that was regularly included in the theology exam when I was at Ridley. It simply said: "Pray for rain, dam it. Discuss." Apart from the cleverness of the question itself, it sums up this particular dilemma doesn’t it? To answer the question you needed to discuss the options of acting to solve our problems or praying that God will do it for us.
Well, in the case of Ahaz, God helped him out. He sent Isaiah to speak to him and say "’Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood." Ahaz could relax in the face of this threat, because God was with him. This was God’s city and he wasn’t going to let these almost burnt out enemies take it captive. Now you’d think that when the prophet of the Lord speaks to Ahaz he’d be reassured, wouldn’t you? But maybe this is too soon in Isaiah’s career as a prophet, because Ahaz doesn’t seem to be reassured. So Isaiah speaks on. He tells him that within 65 years Ephraim, that is, Israel, the northern kingdom, will be shattered. Their alliance with Syria will bring about their own downfall as Syria takes them over. So too, if he decides to take up an alliance with Assyria he risks Judah being swallowed up. He says: "If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand at all."
Still, Ahaz isn’t ready to trust God, so God speaks again (v10): "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." All Ahaz has to do is ask God for a sign that he’s with him. You may remember that this was what Gideon did when the angel told him God was making him the leader of his people. He asked God for a sign that he really would be with him. And God gave him that sign. In fact he gave it to him twice. So too, here Ahaz is told to ask for a sign to reassure him of God’s intention towards Judah and Jerusalem. But Ahaz refuses. He uses pietistic language to excuse himself, but it’s fairly clear that he really doesn’t want a sign because then he’ll have to risk trusting God.
Do you find that sometimes it’s easier to rely on our own solutions than to wait and see what God will bring out of a situation? It can be much more risky to wait for God to act can’t it?
Well by now Isaiah is getting impatient. He doesn’t want Ahaz to form this alliance. He wants him to continue to trust the Lord to protect them. So he prophesies that God will give him a sign anyway. He says: "A young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel." The naming of a child is a common technique in the prophets to bring a message to God’s people. Hosea uses it to warn them of God’s judgement, then to promise his restoration. Here the child is to be named Immanuel, that is, God is with us, to assure them that God is ready to defend them against their enemies.
Well, in the end the things God warned them of happened. Both Israel and Syria were taken over by Assyria. Even Jerusalem was threatened, though not taken, because God protected them.
But of course the history of Israel isn’t actually our focus today. Today we’re interested in the way that prophecy had its outworking in the birth of Jesus. As we read in the passage from Matthew 1, Matthew identifies this child with that prophecy of Isaiah 7: "They shall name him Emmanuel," which means, ’God is with us.’"
Now I think that we’re so familiar with those words that we’ve lost some of their import. We tend to think of Jesus’ name as simply signifying the incarnation. Here is a child who is also God. God has come to dwell among us in human form. Now certainly that’s true. The passage we’ll read on Christmas day, from John 1 makes that very clear. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." But in this passage from Matthew, I think there’s a little more to it than that. You see, Matthew knew his Old Testament. He delighted in pointing out the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus had fulfilled. And so too, here, he points to the prophecy of Isaiah being fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. This child, born of a virgin, is the sign that Isaiah pointed to. He’s a sign that God is with us. A sign, that is, not just of God’s presence, but of God’s protection, of God’s salvation.
Now the people of Israel in Jesus’ day were in a similar situation to Isaiah’s time. In fact if anything, their situation was worse. They were already a conquered people, under the control of Rome. They were in danger of losing their national identity. So they needed to be reassured that God was with them still.
The only trouble was, God being with them wasn’t to save them as a nation. It wasn’t to preserve Jerusalem from defeat, as it was in Isaiah’s day. In fact, as we know, some 70 years later Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans.
No, this child, as God with us, was a sign to assure us that our separation from God was coming to an end. The name the angel gave him was Jesus, because he’d save his people from their sins. God is with us, not to make us feel safer, but because he’s about to save us from the reality of the judgement we deserve.
It’s a complex idea isn’t it? Jesus is both a sign of God’s protection and the means of that protection. Jesus both assures us that God is fulfilling his promise to restore the creation and is the means by which God brings about that restoration.
And what about right now? We look back on the events of the first century and we understand what happened. We know that God has brought about the salvation he promised in this young child. And that might be all we get out of a passage like this. But that would be to miss, again, the deeper significance of this name, Immanuel. Because this baby Jesus continues to be a sign for us, doesn’t he? He continues to act as a reminder, as a token of God’s ongoing love and protection. When we look back to the birth of Jesus, and to his death and resurrection, we’re reminded again and again and again, that God is mighty to save.
We read about Ahaz hearing about the alliance of Syria and Israel and being afraid that they might come and defeat him and it all seems such a long time ago. But really, his situation isn’t that much different from what most of us experience from time to time. We all experience times when it seems like everything is stacked against us; when it feels like the whole world is coming down on us like a ton of bricks. And as Christians we often feel like we’re on our own; pitted against forces beyond our ability to resist, let alone overcome. You may be feeling that particularly at this time of year as the forces of political correctness, led by the secular humanists, try to limit the celebration of Christ’s birth and turn it into the holiday season instead. You may have seen the news item about the nativity scene at the Cathedral where children can have their photo taken dressed up as characters in the nativity. Now I mention that, not because it was my grandchildren who were in the nativity scene, (though that was pretty exciting!), but because, if you saw it on the ABC, you’ll have seen it was immediately followed by a similar report of children having their photos taken with Santa. And you couldn’t help but think the two images were being equated. The clear message was that Jesus is no different really to Santa. He’s just one of those mythical, fun characters that make Christmas special.
But of course we’re the only ones who would think that that was an issue. The rest of the world couldn’t care less. We’re just a small minority in an increasingly secular world. But here’s the good news of Christmas. We’re not alone. We’re not facing insurmountable opposition. God is with us. He came in the form of the baby Jesus. He lived as one of us. He died and rose again. And in his last few hours with the disciples before his death he promised them this: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 18’I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.’"
Then before he ascended to the Father he gave this promise: "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Immanuel is still with us. His Holy Spirit dwells within each and every Christian. He is with us so we need never be afraid.
Paul puts it like this in Rom 8: "What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?" God promises to remain with us. He’s given up his only Son for us. What could we ask for that he wouldn’t give if that’s the level of his generosity towards us?
So let me encourage you today to have confidence, not in your own ability to overcome those who oppose the gospel, but in the God who sent his only Son as both a sign of his love for us and the means by which that love could bring about its purpose for his people. Have confidence in the God who continues to be with us through all the trials of life.
We’re going to finish by listening to a song by Michael Card that sums up beautifully this idea of Immanuel, God with us.
For more sermons from this source go to home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos/
