Immanuel-With Us is God

[00:00:03] We have to start by looking at some history. [00:00:06] Maybe it's not your favorite thing, but just picture a map of the Holy Land, if you would. And in the Holy Land at the time of Isaiah, Judah was called the Southern kingdom and Israel was the Northern kingdom. [00:00:25] Are you with me so far? [00:00:28] Good. And the Mediterranean Sea is out there. It's full of water. Okay, so you got the picture. [00:00:36] Now, the King of Judah at that time was Ahaz. [00:00:45] And Israel had made an alliance with Syria to take over Judah. [00:01:00] And Judah found out about it, and they didn't want that to happen. [00:01:06] But the reason why Syria and Israel wanted to grab hold of Judah was so they were real mighty and powerful and they could go fight off Assyria, which was vanquishing everybody around, conquering the world, the Assyrian Empire. [00:01:31] Well, as I said, the king of Judah in those days was Ahaz. [00:01:38] While I'm not here to denigrate Ahaz, I have to tell you, he was an evil king, Judah. [00:01:48] Now, as I said, I don't want to denigrate him, because if you look in Matthew chapter one, he's actually listed among the genealogy, the family line of Jesus. [00:02:00] And that was all in fulfillment of God to keep his promise to always have an heir of David on the throne of Judah. [00:02:09] If you want to read all about this history, it's in 2 Kings 16 and 2nd Chronicles 28, and I would commend that to you. You can go and check out my history if you want. [00:02:22] But I told you, Ahaz was an evil king. [00:02:26] Even though he was king of Judah, he had adopted the gods of all the nations around and kind of kicked the true God Yahweh out of Jerusalem and out of Judah. [00:02:40] He shut down the entrance to the holy of Holies inside the temple, the Holy of Holies, where the priest went once a year to confess the sins of the people and have them forgiven. And he fashioned a whole new altar inside the temple after the gods of Assyria. [00:03:00] And he set up altars and idols all around Jerusalem for people to worship these false gods. [00:03:08] The worst of it all, Ahaz sacrificed his own son to foreign gods. [00:03:20] Let's pray. [00:03:23] Lord, teach us from youm word today to trust yout and only youy. [00:03:30] Amen. [00:03:33] So we all have worldviews, right? [00:03:38] Ahaz worldview was truth is relative. [00:03:44] Who says Yahweh is the one true God? Maybe it's a serious God also. [00:03:55] Ahaz worldview was one that told him that moral law, right and wrong is relative and that humankind's purpose is to please the Gods, whoever they may be. [00:04:09] And to attain an afterlife, especially a good one, would depend on the amount of pleasure that you can bring to those gods. Now you might say, how on earth did he adopt this kind of a worldview? [00:04:24] Well, he did it because he looked at all the nations that were around him and he thought, well, they're all so successful, I think I should admit. Adopt their gods to be our gods as well. [00:04:36] The problem is Ahaz is trapped because he sees, remember, Israel and Syria coming to try to take him over, take over Judah. And on top of that, Assyria is going to conquer everybody. [00:04:57] So he's trapped, and he's been invited to unite against Assyria. But he knows if he does that, he's going to lose his throne. [00:05:09] And if he loses his throne, there goes God's promise of always having someone from the line of David on the throne. And you don't mess with God's promises. Do you see how he's kind of caught between a rock and a hard place? [00:05:24] Are you with me so far? [00:05:27] Oh, boy. [00:05:31] So Ahaz is shaking nowhere really to turn. Well, what he did was he went and made an alliance with Assyria, thinking this will solve all of his problems. And in a worldly way, that's true. But as far as God is concerned, didn't solve a single problem. Ahaz is shaking nowhere to turn, allies with Assyria, which is basically that old adage about the enemy of my enemy is my friend. [00:06:02] Well, not so true in this case. In the long run. This is where our text from Isaiah comes in. [00:06:10] So there's our introduction. [00:06:15] Isaiah comes on the scene. [00:06:18] Isaiah comes to bring to Ahaz the word of the Lord. Given this horrible situation. [00:06:27] Listen again. [00:06:30] Again. The Lord spoke to Ahaz. [00:06:33] Ask a sign of the Lord your God. Let it be as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. [00:06:40] Basically, God is saying, look, I know you're having trouble believing that I can come and save you, so give us a sign. Give yourself a sign. Make it anything, anything at all. [00:06:55] High as heaven or as deep as h e double toothpicks, just to prove to yourself, Ahaz, that God not only can, but will save you. [00:07:13] Verse 12. Ahaz said, I will not ask and will not put the Lord to the test. [00:07:20] And he said, this is Isaiah speaking. Hear then, O house of David. [00:07:28] Is it too little for you to weary men that you would weary God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. This is the word of the Lord. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his Name Immanuel. And he shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the e and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. [00:07:54] So if we just visit Ahaz in his day and age in Judah, what has happened is God is going to put under Ahaz's nose, or in his vision, maybe even in his household, a firstborn child whose growth and development will not be completed before God deals with this problem. [00:08:17] Israel and Syria and Assyria. [00:08:21] And guess what? [00:08:23] God kept his promise. [00:08:31] See, now Ahaz just can't believe in God's power to save. I can't help but think that maybe, just maybe, when Isaiah was speaking to him, he didn't quote Proverbs 3, 5, 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. And in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. [00:08:58] And then this offer, name anything, high or low. Ahaz declines it all. He's feigning this kind of piety. [00:09:09] And that's when the famous pronouncement comes. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name. Immanuel. [00:09:21] Well, what happened was Assyria came and did crush Syria and Israel, and they tried to take over Jerusalem, but they failed. That's another whole story. [00:09:34] But Ahaz, Ahaz and his fears. [00:09:44] He just can't trust God. [00:09:47] And I think it calls upon us, this text from Isaiah today calls upon us to ask ourselves, can we trust God? [00:09:58] Because it's so much easier to trust in alliances and powers and investments and insecurities other than God. [00:10:07] Jesus comes on the scene in his Sermon on the Mount and says, don't worry about tomorrow. [00:10:15] It's easier said than done, right? [00:10:22] We put our trust in all kinds of things. [00:10:27] Technology, medicine, politics, finance. [00:10:38] Now, don't get me wrong, these are all gifts from God in many ways. [00:10:45] But when we elevate them to the place of God, when we trust those things rather than God, they become our idols. [00:10:58] So Ahaz has refused God's offer of a sign. He's feigning this piety, which is a true sign of little or no faith. [00:11:10] He's thinking, he can do it my way, you know, only to be given a sign anyway from an exasperated Isaiah and an all knowing and all loving and albeit wearied God. [00:11:27] And here's the thing. God comes always to bring life and salvation. [00:11:34] But get this. He does it by exposing sin and purging everything away that stands in the way of complete trust in him. [00:11:49] And that's why we get this word Immanuel. [00:11:53] Immanuel, literally, it's with us is God. [00:12:01] Immanuel. With us, El God. With us is God. [00:12:10] It was true in Ahaz Day. With us is God, says Isaiah. Not with us is baal. [00:12:20] Not with us is Asherah. Those were the Assyrian gods. [00:12:27] Or look at Joseph in the Gospel lesson. With us is God. [00:12:32] Because Joseph is fear filled because he's looking at Mary and he finds out Mary is with child. And well, that's not going to make a very good marriage if Mary is taken up with somebody else. And so he determines to himself, I'll just silently put her away. I don't want anything bad to happen to her, but I can't marry her. It wouldn't work except he gets a visit from an angel in a dream. [00:13:02] Fear not, says the angel. [00:13:07] And in that conversation, Matthew unveils to us our verse of the day. Behold, the virgin Mary shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel. [00:13:24] With us is God. And guess what? With us is God. [00:13:31] Today. [00:13:33] Now the word of God. The word of God is living and active and really sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. [00:13:50] In other words, God's word, it kills and then makes alive in every generation. [00:13:57] Always, always needs to be proclaimed anew in every generation. [00:14:07] Jesus says Matthew, Jesus is that new thing that God is doing. And it's a surprise perhaps, but Jesus is Immanuel. He is. Go with us. [00:14:24] The details of all of that, as interesting as they are and as miraculous as a virgin birth is, that's not the point. [00:14:35] The point is the promise. [00:14:39] God keeps his promises. [00:14:46] 12 Think about it this way. [00:14:53] How would you feel about a visit from a prophet, you know, like Ahaz got, which completely had to open him up to the subterfuge that he was caught in and the trap that he was in? Or how would you feel about a visit from an angel like Joseph got? [00:15:19] His whole mind was dug open with what he was struggling with. [00:15:25] We get something better. [00:15:27] We get Jesus a visit from Jesus. It's better than anything else because a visit from Jesus brings his word and he is God with us. [00:15:43] And while Christmas is supposed to be the promise of peace and joy and love and nostalgia and hope and wonder, what Christmas really brings is God to earth in human flesh. [00:16:02] Emmanuel which changes Everything changes. Everything we think about God, and it challenges everything that we might be thinking about ourselves. For example, do we want our inner thoughts revealed like Ahaz's were? [00:16:22] Well, only if we really want them cleansed. [00:16:25] And as hard as that might be to go through, it's what Immanuel does. [00:16:31] Or do we want to see our God in diapers? [00:16:41] Only if we're prepared to see him go to the cross. [00:16:45] But that, again, is what Immanuel does. [00:16:50] See, Jesus is God with us, bringing both the wonder and the worry of that reality. Jesus is God with us. So close we cannot escape his scrutiny, but so real he cannot escape doing something about our sin and death problem. [00:17:14] The sign that God gave to Ahaz, the sign that God gave to Joseph, the sign that God gave to us is Immanuel. God is with us, and we can go further. [00:17:30] His name is to be called Jesus because he will save his people from their sin. And that truth makes all the difference. [00:17:39] Look, it's in the final words of the Great Commission. Right? [00:17:43] The Great Commission. When Jesus is about to ascend into heaven, he says to his disciples, go and make disciples of all nations. All of that. But then he ends with, and remember, I am with you always. [00:18:00] That's Immanuel. [00:18:02] That is Immanuel. [00:18:06] And so it's right that we discover the deeper truths of Isaiah 7:today. [00:18:13] So that whenever we rush to attach ourselves to another protector out of fear that we will lose what we sort of desperately wish to hang on to, our way of life or our national security or our individual safety, whenever the worries of this world or the stress of this world, or the relationships or the frustrations or the deficits or aging or carelessness or wrong priorities or mistakes or sin, when any of those come rushing in to afflict us, our hope in our own solutions for solving them is forever destined to be dashed. [00:19:02] And that's a good thing. [00:19:07] That's why Isaiah calls us to learn the lesson that the birth of Immanuel at Christmas proves that God is with us in the midst of our greatest fears. [00:19:19] Listen again, Joseph, son of David. [00:19:27] Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son. And you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. [00:19:39] And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken of by the prophet. [00:19:45] Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means with us is God. [00:20:06] Come, thou long expected Jesus born to set your people free. [00:20:14] And from our fears and sins release us. [00:20:18] Let us find our rest in Thee. [00:20:24] Amen.