Isaiah 7:10-14 10The Lord spoke to Ahaz again. He said, 11“Ask for a sign from the Lord your God. Ask for it either in the depths below or in the heights above.”
12But Ahaz responded, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”
13So Isaiah said: Listen now, you house of David. Is it not enough for you to test the patience of men? Will you test the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give a sign for all of you. Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.
A yellow diamond sign with black letters on the side of the road is always a warning sign. The signs might be warning of a no outlet, hidden driveway, dead end or a sharp turn. They might be warning about a crossing of some kind – like a school or train or deer or ducks. I’m sure when you’ve been driving you’ve seen signs like this often.
Ignoring signs like these can cause people to become seriously injured.
But have you ever seen a sign warning, “Immanuel Ahead”?
In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz is given a warning. Ahaz was a descendant of David. But unlike David, Ahaz was a wicked, unbelieving king. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord. His kingdom of Judah was facing fierce opposition from the neighboring countries. All Judah’s enemies were teaming up to rip Judah apart. Ahaz was worried because he didn’t believe in the true God like King David did.
God sent his prophet Isaiah to assure Ahaz that he didn’t need to worry. God was going to protect him from his enemies. To prove this, God told Ahaz to pick a sign – any sign – as proof of his protection.
Ahaz could have asked for anything. He could have gone simple and asked for a shooting star across the sky that night. He could have gone big and asked for an asteroid to come crashing down on his enemies. He could have asked for any sign he wanted.
The problem was that King Ahaz did not trust God. He trusted in the alliances he had made with other kingdoms. Because he did not trust God, there was no sign that would have convinced him of God’s power to save his throne or country.
To prove to Ahaz and to the world that his promises can be trusted, God decided on his own sign. It was a sign that was an embarrassment to Ahaz because it was so simple, yet so miraculous. It was also a sign that would take 700 years to fulfill. God said, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.”
Even though Ahaz sinned with his false humility, lack of trust, and refusal of God’s words, the Lord still gave him the promise of the Savior. The sign of the Savior was not something Ahaz wanted to hear. King Ahaz did not want a baby to be more powerful than he was. Ahaz wasn’t able to save his kingdom. But God promised a child who would save the whole world. Ahaz didn’t want God to come to be with us in such a weak way – a helpless baby born to a woman who wasn’t even married.
We can often refuse God’s Word, too. We don’t want to hear how we should listen to our parents or follow our teachers. We don’t want to hear how we should love our enemies, be polite to those who hate us, and be respectful to governing authorities we disagree with. We don’t want to hear how we should always be thankful and not complain. We don’t want to hear that we have sinned and are not the good people we think we are.
Even though as adults and children we can be like King Ahaz by not wanting to listen to God’s words, God still loves us. He still gives us signs to warn us that if we don’t listen to his words and believe his promises, we can become seriously injured now and will become seriously injured in hell forever.
God loves us enough to give us warnings. He loves us enough to give us promises and then fulfills those promises. He loves us enough to give us his Son Jesus to be born as a baby at Christmas and be given the name Immanuel. That name means that God is with us.
During the holiday season, people – whether it’s parents, children, or friends – can become too busy to hang out with us. But we have a God who is always with us. A God who always loves us. A God who always forgives us. He is Immanuel.
The sign that God gave to Ahaz is the same sign that God gives to all of us. It was a warning sign for King Ahaz – “Immanuel Ahead.” It is also a warning sign for us if we don’t want to listen to God or believe his promises. But it is also a sign of love – that God is with us – when we do listen and believe. Amen.