The Lord gives a sign

Fourth Sunday in Advent

December 23, 2007

Isaiah 7:10-17

"The Lord himself will give you a sign."

You know the state of things:

• Not nearly enough people going to church.
• Believers not praying.
• Folks not knowing what the Word of God teaches.
• People living their lives as if they are their own god.

Since there is nothing new under the sun, you should not be surprised that I’m not talking about the church of today. Rather, I’m talking about the church of 2,700 years ago. I’m talking about Israel, in the days of Isaiah, the prophet.

The more things change, the more we find everything, today, that we find recorded in a book that hasn’t had anything new added to it for two millennia.

Israel was in a spiritual shambles. God kept sending faithful preachers to His people, but they just kept right on living as they felt like living. If they were alive, today, on Sunday morning, they would have been found anywhere but in church—out hunting, away camping, working, sleeping in—anywhere but in church.

The ears of the Israelites were turned by any new or different religious idea. Again, if they were dropped into our setting, they would be searching the mysteries of Kabbalah, looking to clear their minds through Scientology, or simply following every motivational mantra murmured on Oprah.

And yet, God did not give up on them. Week after week, His preachers ascended their pulpits and spoke the Word of the Lord. Every day, God was standing at the ready, eager to hear their prayers, willing to forgive their sins, happy to guide them in virtuous living.

Do you want to learn something about God, which should be of the utmost importance to you, since you did get yourself into church, today? Learn it from this period of Israel’s history, 2,700 years ago. Despite Israel’s sinful ways—despite how they chased after other gods—the true God did not wipe them from the face of the earth.

Despite Israel’s forsaking of God, God did not forsake them. Do you want to know the most wonderful thing about God? He never forsakes you. No matter the ways in which you forsake Him, deny Him, ignore Him, disown Him, He still patiently waits for you to return. And, if and when you do return to Him, tail stuck between your legs in the confession of your sins, He won’t turn a deaf ear to you, and He won’t take a switch and whip your behind, and He won’t scream at you for all of your horrible sins against Him.

But, how can you be sure this is true? You can be sure because of the holy day we are about to celebrate. You can be sure, because God has a track record of forgiving—He has given you a chronicle of His character in how He dealt with unfaithful Israel.

Even the faith of Israel’s king was in shambles. God told King Ahaz to ask Him for a sign, that God would save Israel’s hide. Ahaz was like so many of you, who know just enough of what is in the Bible to have a messed up theology.

It’s wrong to test God, right? Just like it’s wrong to judge others. Just like God helps those who help themselves. Right? Wrong, wrong, wrong. God helps those who cannot help themselves. God tells us to make correct judgments. And, God longs for us to test Him, when we do so in faith, trusting that He will only do right by us.

Ahaz’s problem was that his faith was overweight, he couldn’t push-up one decent prayer. So, when God told Him to pray—when God all but promised to give Him a promise of His faithfulness to unfaithful Israel—Ahaz couldn’t push-up his face from off the floor.

If you were God, what would you do, next? Thankfully, you’re not God, because you would say, "Enough of this bozo." Here is where God proves everything that I said about His faithfulness.

Ahaz declared, "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test." Despite Ahaz’s stubborn lack of faith, God declared, right back him, "Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary God also?" Ooo, God sounds angry, doesn’t He? Ahaz surely pushed Him over the edge. Let’s hear the rest of how God nailed the king. "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

What? What is this? God, here was your chance to show this faithless fellow who’s boss, and you make promises to Him of a son, to be born in the miraculous manner of a virgin, whose name will be Immanuel—which Israel knew, full well, means "God will us"?

They were against God, but God was still with them. And, do you think that God is any less with you—that God is any less by you and for you?

Israel needed a savior—they needed a war hero against an enemy nation. Now, Israel didn’t deserve a savior war-hero. In fact, the reason Israel needed a savior war-hero was of their own making. It was their sin that put them into the spot that God allowed their neighbor nations to rise up against them. It was their own fault that they needed the kind of help that only God can provide.

In all of this, my friends, have you yet seen yourselves? It is not God’s fault that you have enemies, of every sort. It’s not God’s sin that you are dying. It’s not of God’s making that you have troubles at work, or in your marriage, or of your health. God didn’t have a thing to do with your being a self-centered jerk, a complaining crybaby, a whining worrier.

God has given you everything that you need to have the life that He desires for you to have. He put into your heart the knowledge of right and wrong. He gave you a conscience so that, when you do wrong, you know how to repent and make it right. He had you baptized into His Immanuel, cleansing you in the blood of His Son, whom He sent, by way of the Virgin, just as He promised, so that you know that you belong to Him and have a heart which is open to hearing and believing His Word of promises fulfilled in His Son, your Savior War-Hero, Jesus Christ.

Yet, you are just like Ahaz and his people, Israel. You don’t listen to God; you listen to everyone else. You are not faithful to God; you are faithful to yourself. You don’t pray to God, testing His faithfulness to you, because you don’t know enough to know that God wants you to pray His promises right back into His face, seeking His good and gracious will.

You don’t know because you don’t listen. Modern Christians are just like old-time Israel. Indeed, we prove it, every weekend, by the number of folks who find their way to church. Shame, shame, shame on us. We are faithless, feckless, fruitless failures. What shall we do?

Turn. Turn to God. Turn and see and hear just what God promised to Ahaz: Immanuel.

You know that God fulfilled His promise because you know Christmas . . . and Good Friday . . . and Easter.

Immanuel. God with us. God with you. Hear His forgiving with you in the name of Jesus Christ, who died to win beat your enemy, sin. Be washed clean, once more, in the with you Baptism of Jesus Christ. Be fed in the with you Supper of Jesus Christ.

The Lord gave a sign: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Immanuel: God with us. This is Jesus: God with you—both now and forever, with you, for you, by you. Amen.