Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your[a] God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he[b] said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.[c] He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.” – Isaiah 7:10-15
Sunday past was the last Sunday in Advent. In our celebration of Advent, we are reminded that our God of love calls us to share and demonstrate his love in the way that we live. We are to proclaim the good news of the gospel with those around us.
Love was the central teaching of Jesus. That was his life, to love one another. That is what the Christian is called to do.
God has demonstrated his love for humanity through his gift of hope. That hope came to us in the person of Jesus, the Christ. He was born of a woman, lived among us, and sacrificed himself for the sins of the world.
In the text above, God sent his prophet Isaiah, to the king of Judea, who was of the dynasty of David, to reaffirm that he was with him and that he would keep the promise he had made to the house of David. He had promised David that the coming Messiah, who was to come into the world, would come from his line. However, Ahaz, a most evil king, displayed contempt and disregard for God and his prophet.
Because of Ahaz’s wickedness, the kingdom fell into the hands of a foreign king. During the reign of Ahaz, Judah was a vassal state of Assyria. God’s people became subject to Assyria and never again did the kingdom exist free from foreign dominance.
Notwithstanding Ahaz’s disregard for righteousness, God did not abandon his people. Through his prophet, he reached out to the King.
Even so, the king displayed a cavalier attitude when God’s prophet went to him with a message from the Lord. The Lord instructed Isaiah to say to the king, “I will remain your God, I will establish David’s kingdom forever.”
Then he requested that the king make a request of the Lord. That request was that he ask the Lord for a sign. “Ask a sign of the Lord your[a] God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.”
However, Ahaz, being the diabolical person he was, blatantly refused to ask for a sign. He responded, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” He was simply intimating “I really don’t care. I am not interested.”
Notwithstanding his indifference and callous attitude, the prophet told the king or the house of David, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.” The sign which the Lord will give will be, in addition to the house of David, to all people of all times. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.[c].”
A virgin did conceive and bore a child who was given the name Immanuel, which means “God with us.” In the fulfillment of this promise, we see a God of love and a God of fulfilled promise.
Just as he reached out to Ahaz, God in his love and mercy reaches out to us. That love which the Lord has demonstrated in his gift of his son, he calls us to share with our fellow men. When we demonstrate a love for our fellow men, we are demonstrating God’s love in us. Amen.
• Rev. Samuel M. Boodle, pastor of the Lutheran Church of Nassau, 119 John F. Kennedy Dr., P. O. Box N4794, phone 242-426-9084, web page: www.nassaulutheranchurch.org.
