Isaiah 7:10–14 [Advent 4 A]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
December 18, 2022
A Special Sign and A Special Savior You hear the sound coming from the piano…and it is wondrous! You’ve heard people play before—even excellent players—but nothing like this! This one—she is special. She deserves all the attention she gets and every penny she is paid to play like that. An entirely different kind of player separates himself from the others because of what he does on the field. No one else is that fast, has hands like that, has those kinds of moves. It’s not even close! “Special” is how they refer to him. Trophies are his reward—and glory. We are amazed when we see or hear someone or something that is truly special, unique, one-of-a-kind. We like it. We’re impressed by it. If you’re treating those truly special people or things right, you don’t take them for granted or get tired of them. It was about 730 BC, and Judah was a country on the brink of war. The land and God’s people were at risk. Another conflict waged as well. Judah’s king, Ahaz, was at odds with God. In the midst of conflict, a promise came through God’s prophet. What Isaiah talks about are truly special things, things that are one-of-a-kind, things that we ought to be continually impressed by, in awe of, things that we never take for granted or get tired of hearing about. Isaiah spoke of A SPECIAL SIGN and A SPECIAL SAVIOR— and these were not even remotely just for a king and his people back then, they are very much for you and me—and for all people. A Special Sign Therefore 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. This is one of the bestknown prophecies in the Bible. Even many people who are not Christians and who don’t know their Bible may be acquainted with this one! That’s because Isaiah’s message is one of the prophetical appetizers for the dinner that is Christmas. It whets the appetite. It gets you ready for the actual story of that simple couple, the pregnant Mary, the caring Joseph, following the dusty road from the north down to Bethlehem— maybe a week-long journey—only to get there and find that there was nowhere to stay except a stable. The baby would be born there—the one at the center of traditional Christmases. But it’s still Advent for another week! We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. Back to the prophecy that pointed in the direction of that Bethlehem birth. It feels kind of strange that God gave this promise, this SPECIAL SIGN, to a spiritual train-wreck of a king who didn’t want to hear it. It was also given at the time the Lord was discussing with this king the international conflict that threatened Judah, the land he ruled over— the area where Jerusalem and Bethlehem were.
I’ll be brief, but this is what was going on. To put it simply, King Ahaz was a horrible person. He ruled over God’s people in Judah, but he worshiped the Assyrian gods— the ones he threw his own sons into the fire for as a sacrifice (2 Chronicles 28:3). He was terrified because of these nations threatening war against him. Because God is gracious and merciful and had made promises about the Savior coming from his people there in Judah, he explained to Ahaz that he had nothing to worry about with these other nations. TV commercials at this time of year have brought it to my attention that I’m a terrible gift giver. For example, I have never surprised my wife with a brand-new car for Christmas—and I don’t believe I ever will. I’m fairly confident that she will never wake up on a Christmas morning and need scissors to cut the big red bow off her new ride so that she can drive it to church. It happens in commercials, but not in my driveway. I’m pretty sure that she knows she shouldn’t even ask for that. How different it was for Ahaz, King of Judah. God told him that he could ask for anything—not really something like a 200-horsepower chariot with a bow on it, but God pushed him to ask for anything as a sign that what God was telling him would happen would actually happen. The invitation was to see something miraculous, something out of the ordinary, some special sign to confirm the truth of the Lord’s message. God wanted to give him proof that these nations would not be a threat. “Ask for a sign from the LORD your God. Ask for it either in the depths below or in the heights above.” While it can be problematic if we are asking God for signs or trying to make sense of life’s happenings to determine what might be a sign from God, it is entirely different when God makes you a promise and says, “Ask for a sign…ask for it…” Ahaz dishonestly, hypocritically said that he would not test God by asking for a sign. There was no “testing” of God to avoid, he was simply rejecting God just as he had been doing as a heathen king ruling over God’s chosen nation. Ahaz was as bad as they come in his rebellion against God, but isn’t it also true that sometimes we don’t want to listen to what God has to say? Isn’t it also true that we are sometimes skeptical of God’s plans? Isn’t it also true that we get frustrated with God because he doesn’t give us a sign when we are faced with decisions? Isn’t it true that we also can be more concerned with worldly things than we are with godly things? Oh, we can test God’s patience, just like Ahaz did. All of these things we do are rebellion against God too, and they are as damning as the actions of an evil king. Ahaz would not listen to God with a heart of faith. And God’s invitation to see him as the only true God whose promises are sure did not sway him. Ahaz rejected God’s direction to ask for a sign, and God said, “You’re going to get one anyway!”
The LORD wanted there to be a SPECIAL SIGN that his people could look for—one that even went beyond the immediate concerns of threatening nations. Why? So that they would have a promise from him to cling to. So that they would know that he cared. So that they would have confidence that a solution to their spiritual troubles was in the works and on the way. It would happen when God determined the timing to be best. It didn’t really matter if Ahaz wanted it or believed it, God had bigger things in mind! With prophetic eyes, Isaiah saw what God was planning as the vision shifted away from kings and wars. He proclaimed this promise of a SPECIAL SIGN: Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel. When God said “Look,” he was drawing special attention, changing the dialogue, expressing this vision of the future, revealing a promise of his salvation! There is no doubt that if God was saying that a virgin would give birth, this would be a SPECIAL SIGN! A Special Savior God’s message through Isaiah was that this SPECIAL SIGN would point to a SPECIAL SAVIOR. Ahaz was worried about being saved from threatening nations when he should have been more concerned about being saved from God’s judgment on him personally. He needed this Savior who would come far more than he needed saving from hostile nations! But he rejected him. The son who would be born of the virgin would be named Immanuel. The Bible gives us a number of names and titles for the Savior: Jesus, which means Savior, and Messiah and Christ, which both mean Anointed One. Isaiah later uses the title Prince of Peace. Each of these and others tell us something about the Savior. Immanuel is no exception. This name means something. If you didn’t know the meaning or had forgotten it, the gospel from Matthew today quoted this very prophecy from Isaiah and added the meaning of that Hebrew name for his readers—Immanuel: “God with us.” There are times when it is extremely important to have a certain person with you, aren’t there? If you aren’t a member of an exclusive country club, you can’t get in unless you’re with someone who is. How important it is for a little kid to have grandpa hold his hand so they can walk safely across the street. Peaceful sleep might only come if mom is sitting there on the edge of the bed until the eyes close. So it is with us when it comes to our peace and safety with God which give us access to heaven. The One who is with us came to forgive our sins—even the ones of disrespect, doubt, lack of trust, frustration with God, the ones that resemble those of King Ahaz. Immanuel came from heaven, born as a human being, to live in a sinful world and to be tempted by sin and to defeat it. “God with us” conquered sin and, like a warrior battling to save his country and its people, he paid the price with his sinless life. Different from a dead warrior though, Jesus rose from death, a SPECIAL SAVIOR, one like no other.
What Jesus did, no one else could do. He is unique. Jesus is SPECIAL because he came to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy. His purpose was to bring spiritual safety to those threatened by the devil’s war with them, to bring peace to souls scared because of their sins, to open up access to God in heaven. Immanuel did all of that. God promises that he did. He promises that by faith in him, you are forgiven and will have eternal life in heaven. Jesus became “God with us” so that we would be with God. And please, do not miss this: Immanuel is for everyone, not just you and me. Listen again to the promise about this SPECIAL SAVIOR: Therefore 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. Did you catch it? “…all of you.” “…a sign for all of you.” You’re going to hear it again a week from now when we celebrate the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. An angel will say to you: “Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10-11).” For a world full of people in need of saving, Jesus came. He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy for us and for everyone. Isaiah was God’s messenger then; now it is our turn to share this very same news with those around us. It’s easy—invite them to see what you see. A SPECIAL SIGN. A SPECIAL SAVIOR. Immanuel—God with us. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.