Isaiah 7:10-16
December 22, 2019
My Grampa Busse was a tent
revivalist, hell, fire, brimstone sort of preacher. He had piercing blue eyes,
and he believed that his calling in life was to save souls. To say that he was
intent on saving souls by scaring the “heck” out of people is an
understatement. My Uncle Dudley, my mom’s older brother, told me once that
whenever he would happen to meet my grandfather at extended family functions,
Grampa would take Dudley’s hand to shake it. But he wouldn’t stop with a simple
handshake. He would hold his hand, focus his blue eyes on Dudley’s face, and
say,
“How are you with the Lord?”
Dudley told me that he would stammer
and respond,
“We’re good. We’re good. We’re
really good. We’re just like this.” Hold up two fingers.
I suspect that whether Dudley was
“good with the Lord,” or not didn’t really matter. He didn’t want to give my
grandfather any opening to make a sermon illustration out of him. And I am
assuming that he didn’t want to hear what my grandfather might say if Dudley
admitted that the wasn’t good with the Lord.
It wasn’t comfortable for my uncle
to be put on the spot like that, even if it was my grandfather who was doing
the spot-putting. So, he answered his question in the best possible way. I’m
good. We’re good. Everything is good. Let’s move on shall we.
This is the situation Isaiah is
describing in the passage before us today. Although King Ahaz is not asked a
question by the prophet, he is put into the uncomfortable position of being
offered a sign by the Lord.
“Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let
it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Azah said, I will not ask, and I
will not put God to the test.”
At first glance, it doesn’t seem to
make sense why this isn’t the right answer for Ahaz to give. He is quoting the
scripture. Doesn’t Jesus say basically the same thing when he was being tested
by Satan in the wilderness? Why isn’t the response to Ahaz’ words,
“Well done, good and faithful
servant! You have answered correctly.”
But that’s not what Isaiah on behalf
of the Lord said, is it? No, it’s not.
“Hear then, O house of David! Is it
too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also?”
Wait. What? How is Ahaz quoting
scripture about not putting God to the test wearing? If we want to understand
this, we must understand the larger context of the passage. This is an awkward
and even misleading place to begin our part of the story, because it does make
it sound as though Ahaz is being pious and righteous. But in truth, Ahaz does
not want a sign. Ahaz does not want a sign from God at all.
Ahaz is the king of Judah, which is
the southern kingdom. Israel was split into two kingdoms after the death of
Solomon: the northern kingdom, which was Israel, and the southern kingdom,
which was Judah and Jerusalem. Ahaz finds himself in a tough situation. The
king of Israel and the king of Aram, our present-day Syria, are united. They
want to pull Ahaz into their circle, not as an equal, but so they can split
Judah between the two of them. If that means taking Judah by force, so be it. So,
Judah and Jerusalem are figuratively and literally shaking and quaking with
terror at the threat that is bearing down on them.
Ahaz is so afraid of what might
happen that he has already begged for help not from God, but from the Assyrian
empire. But this is not a solution, because Assyria won’t let Judah remain an
independent kingdom. Under Assyria, Judah will become a vassal state.
The story that we walk into is one
where Isaiah is assuring Ahaz that the two kings united against him are nothing
more than smoking stumps. They may look dangerous and sound dangerous, but they
will soon burn out.
Ask me for a sign, the Lord tells
Ahaz through Isaiah. Ask for me a sign, any sign that you want. It can be as
high as heaven or as deep as Sheol. Ask me.
This doesn’t sound like a
circumstance where Ahaz is testing God. This is a moment when God is offering
to show Ahaz, to prove to Ahaz, that all shall be well. But Ahaz does not want
a sign. He has already sold out to the Assyrians. He does not want a sign from
the Lord, because that sign would reveal just how little faith he has in God’s
power to work good for him and for his kingdom.
Let me give you a sign.
No, that’s okay. I don’t want to put God
to the test.
But the Lord refuses to be put off.
You won’t ask me for a sign, but you’re going to get one anyway.
“Look, the young woman is with child
and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey
by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the
child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose
two kinds you are in dread will be deserted.”
“Look, the young woman is with child
and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”
What does Immanuel mean? God with
us.
God with us. The young woman will
bear a child; and that child’s name states the great truth: God is with us.
But Ahaz didn’t believe that God was
with him. If he did say those words, clearly it was lip service only. He was
faced with destruction from two united enemies. If God was with him, then it
looked like God was on a lunch break. He had to do something, so he sold out to
another enemy; an enemy that would be even more devastating in the long run
than the enemies he currently faced.
Ahaz doesn’t want a sign from God. I
suspect that in his mind it was too late for signs. But maybe if he gives the
right sounding answer, God will be satisfied and go away. Then he can get back
to handling things the way he thinks they should be handled. But God was not
satisfied. God offered a sign, and whether he liked it or not, God was going to
give him one.
You want to know where your hope is,
Ahaz? Your hope is in the child who is about to be born. You want to know if
God is truly with you, then look to the child. You think that God being with
you is about winning battles and defeating enemies, but God is with you in the
child. This isn’t about victory in war, my enemies must surely be God’s
enemies, this is about God being found in the most vulnerable among us: a
child.
This is where Advent leads us. This
is what we are preparing for. It is about the birth of a baby. God became one
of us. God was born like us. The Word became flesh and lived in our midst. It
is about a baby. It is about a child. Immanuel – God with us.
But aren’t we a little more like
Ahaz than we care to admit? Don’t we also long for the coming of a warrior, a
mighty leader who will defeat our enemies and crush every threat of violence
breathed in our direction?
We want a sign, but we want the sign
we want. We want God to be with us, but only in the way that we think works
best. We want God’s help, but we want to control how that help proceeds. We
want to do things our way, and we invite God to join us for the journey.
Ahaz did not want a sign that would
prove his actions wrong. He may have been pious, but he was not righteous. He
did not trust God. He did not put his faith in God. So God gave him a sign.
Look to that young woman. See the child that she will bear. His name will be
Immanuel, God with us.
Look to the young woman and the
child she will bear. He is God with us. God did not come as a warrior. God came
as a child. God did not come in strength. God came in profound weakness. God
did not come in battle. God came in birth. God came as a vulnerable, weak,
helpless infant to teach us that salvation comes not through might or strength
but through love.
That’s really the point, isn’t it? Love. That’s what Advent is leading us to. It
is about Love. If it isn’t about Love, then we have missed it completely. It is
about Love. God with us is about Love. God loves us. God doesn’t just love us,
God created us, each and every one of us, because of Love and for Love and
through Love. God loves us, and that is why God is with us. Look to the young
woman. Look to the child she will bear. His name will be Immanuel. God with us.
God with us. God with us.
Amen.
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