Isaiah 7:1-17 Advent 4 CWS A
Pastor Ron Koehler Grace—Tucson, AZ December 22, 2019
Stories of the Promise: Promises Made Dear Friends in Christ, Over the last few weeks, during this season of Advent, we have considered Stories of the Promise. We’ve heard about Noah and Daniel and Job. All of them prepared for future events because of promises the Lord had given them. The damaging effects of sin were part of those accounts as was God’s promise of salvation. On this last Sunday of Advent, sin and the promise of salvation are again at the heart of PROMISES MADE by God through his prophet Isaiah. When we make a promise, it is normally something we can follow through on and have every intention of doing. If I promise to go watch a child’s play at school or their sporting event, I know that I have a vehicle that can get me there and a calendar that allows for that to happen. Something could come up or the vehicle could break down, but barring something unforeseen, I will be there. You can debate whether it is wise to use the word “promise” or not, but we sometimes do because we are confident that we will follow through. So I wouldn’t make a promise to give my wife a million dollars in a briefcase with a bow on it for Christmas! I don’t have the ability to do that! I could do the briefcase and bow part, but that’s it! We don’t make promises we know we can never keep. I wonder if Isaiah had any questions about the promise God gave him to speak and record for all time. I know there’s a lot in our lesson from Isaiah chapter 7—and we’ll unpack a lot of that—but I’m thinking specifically of this part: 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. WHY would you make a promise that could never come true?! Virgins do not have babies! It reminds of that GEICO commercial from several years back where an older lady is explaining social media to her friends and one of them says, “That’s not how it works. That’s not how any of this works!” Even with limited understanding of biology, we know that virgins don’t have babies— that’s not how it works! It’s good for us to look at this promise, made 700 years before it happened, so that we can recall and treasure God’s plan of salvation through Jesus. It will also remind us that God’s Word is true and that when he makes a promise, we are to fully trust him. If you’re like me, some of the Old Testament history of God’s people can be a little confusing. Combine that with how weird prophecy can sound and this lesson is a handful! But we really should understand a little about how and when this prophecy about Jesus, our Savior, was given—since it ends up on our Christmas cards…and in our Christmas songs like Silent Night (“round yon virgin mother and child”)…and we even read about it in the New Testament, as we heard in Matthew’s gospel today.