Season 4 - Episode 16

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Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

One of the great Old Testament prophecies read during this time of year is from Isaiah 7. There, the prophet wrote, “the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).” In Matthew’s gospel, this is a part of the angel’s discourse with Joseph to assure him that Mary’s pregnancy is a part of God’s long-standing plan to redeem and rescue his people. There is great assurance when we see the story of Christmas as a) a part of God’s long rescue plan for the world and b) as “God with us” entering our struggling reality. But as we reflect on this prophecy, it is good for us to read it in its original context. Because with the assurance also comes a bit of a warning. We’ll look at that this morning in this Covenant Weekly for December 24, 2024.

Isaiah 7:1-16
7 When Ahaz, son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, set out to attack Jerusalem. However, they were unable to carry out their plan.

2 The news had come to the royal court of Judah: “Syria is allied with Israel against us!” So the hearts of the king and his people trembled with fear, like trees shaking in a storm.

3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Take your son Shear-jashub and go out to meet King Ahaz. You will find him at the end of the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed. 4 Tell him to stop worrying. Tell him he doesn’t need to fear the fierce anger of those two burned-out embers, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah. 5 Yes, the kings of Syria and Israel are plotting against him, saying, 6 ‘We will attack Judah and capture it for ourselves. Then we will install the son of Tabeel as Judah’s king.’ 7 But this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

“This invasion will never happen;
    it will never take place;
8 for Syria is no stronger than its capital, Damascus,
    and Damascus is no stronger than its king, Rezin.
As for Israel, within sixty-five years
    it will be crushed and completely destroyed.
9 Israel is no stronger than its capital, Samaria,
    and Samaria is no stronger than its king, Pekah son of Remaliah.
Unless your faith is firm,
    I cannot make you stand firm.”

10 Later, the Lord sent this message to King Ahaz: 11 “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.”

12 But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.”

13 Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? 14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). 15 By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey. 16 For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted.

In this story, the people of God - the Hebrew people - are divided into two kingdoms. Israel is in the North and Judah (where Jerusalem is) is in the South. The Assyrian army has overwhelmed Israel and forced it to join them in aggression against the Judah and Judah’s King Ahaz. Ahaz is in the line of David and, like most kings, didn’t do well at following what God called kings to. 

Despite this, when Ahaz is facing this threat from the North, God sends his prophet with the message that as long as he trusts in God to deliver him, Judah will be fine. Israel will fall. The Assyrians will falter. But God will deliver Judah. But the message concludes with the caution, “Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.” Ahaz is faced with a choice…trust God and God’s promise to deliver Judah or try things his own way.

To help convince Ahaz, the prophet continues with God’s message - an invitation to choose any sign he wants to verify the trustworthiness of God’s promise.

Ahaz, who was not one to trust God, has a sudden fit of spirituality. He feigns righteousness by insisting, “I will not test the Lord like that.” Several commentators suggest that he doesn’t want to test God because he has no plan to trust God no matter what. The response from Ahaz is a religiously veiled way of distancing himself from God’s promise.

In response, Isaiah says that God is going to give him a sign anyway. And this is the sign, “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).” This is the context for the promise that Matthew picks up as pointing forward to Jesus.

But there is more to Ahaz’s context. The prophet continues to say that because Ahaz won’t trust God, he’ll miss out on the protection and help that God wants to provide. Israel and Syria will fall, and Ahaz’s family will suffer and struggle by not trusting in God.

God was with him and he was going to miss out because he refused to trust.

As we embrace Christmas, may it be more than just hearing the message that God is with us. May we also trust that God with us is at work in the struggles and turmoil of the world. May we also trust in God’s ways through the struggle, not relying on human power, wealth, and might, but in the hope, peace, joy, and love that came embodied in a humble manger 2,000 years ago. God is with us and we don’t want to miss out on his work in us and among us. Let’s not just acknowledge Immanuel, let’s keep trusting his way through this world.

On this Christmas Eve, I’ll leave this hope as expressed in the carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heav'n.
No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.

Merry Christmas, Covenant Family.