Sermon -- 4th Sunday of Advent (December 18, 2022)

ISAIAH 7:10-14

THE SAVIOR IS REVEALED BY AN UNMISTAKABLE SIGN.

In the name + of Jesus.

     Throughout Jesus’ ministry, the scribes and Pharisees opposed Jesus.  They spied on him to find fault with his words.  They accused him of being lawless in his actions.  They plied him with trap questions in order to charge him with either rebellion against Moses or rebellion against Caesar.  They even accused Jesus of being in league with the devil.  But the one challenge which will always leave me dumbfounded is this one.  “Some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, ‘Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you’” (Matthew 12:38).  After all the miracles Jesus had done—including miracles that the scribes and Pharisees had witnessed and acknowledged!—they came to Jesus and asked to see a miraculous sign from him!?  That is unbelievable.  Jesus refused to grant their request.  He came to proclaim, not to perform.

     Jesus usually replied to such demands this way: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign” (Matthew 12:39).  If they would not believe what he taught, they would not be converted by a miracle either.  Nevertheless, to this day, people look to God for a sign.   The sign often grants people permission to do something God clearly forbids.  Or, perhaps, the sign is proof that one can believe what the Bible does not teach.  When we look for signs rather than turning to the Scriptures, we are willingly deceiving ourselves.  Anything can be interpreted as a sign if you want it to, but God’s word stands unmistakably clear.  Therefore, Jesus’ condemnation stands: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign” (Matthew 12:39). 

     In the days of Isaiah, we have the opposite.  Ahaz was king in Jerusalem, and the nation of Syria banded together with the northern tribes of Israel to attack his kingdom.  Isaiah wrote that “the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind” (Isaiah 7:2).  Syria and the northern tribes had planned to overthrow David’s throne and to replace King Ahaz with some stooge who would serve Syria.  King Ahaz was understandably concerned about defending himself and his kingdom.  The Lord, rather, was concerned about defending the Promise of the Messiah.

     Isaiah was sent to King Ahaz to declare that God would defend and protect Jerusalem.  God would even cast away the northern tribes so that they would never pose a threat again.  The Lord had declared, “Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people” (Isaiah 7:8).  Then he warned King Ahaz, “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” (Isaiah 7:9).

     Now, these are a lot of big promises for a tense time.  In fact, the promises seemed too good to be true.  Jerusalem was outmatched and overpowered by their enemy.  Isaiah merely gave him words to believe.  How would they stand up against the swords, the soldiers, and the horses from Syria?  So, to back up his words, the Lord offered to give King Ahaz a sign.  “Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: ‘Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven’” (Isaiah 7:10-11).  Note this: King Ahaz did not demand a sign from God.  God told him to ask for one. 

     Suddenly, King Ahaz began to act more pious than he really was.  Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test” (Isaiah 7:12).  Oh, how noble Ahaz pretended to be!  It sounds like he was saying what Jesus said when the devil tempted him.  Jesus replied, “It is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Matthew 4:7).  But King Ahaz did not believe the word of the Lord when it was preached to him, so he rejected the miraculous sign that God wanted to give him, too.  He would not believe by faith, nor would he believe by the sight of a miraculous sign. 

     The Lord gave him a sign anyway.  God would act no matter what King Ahaz thought.  Isaiah “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’” (Isaiah 7:13-14).  The prophecy went on to declare that within two years, the enemies who were threatening Jerusalem would be overthrown.  This would be the Lord’s doing, even if King Ahaz considered it impossible.

     The miraculous sign was a sign of judgment against King Ahaz.  God’s will would be done not because of Ahaz, but despite him.  King Ahaz was powerless to save himself no matter what political tactics he tried.  That’s why God had to step in.  God would produce salvation.  Sadly, it was a salvation that King Ahaz did not even want to hear about.

     Just as King Ahaz did not have the power to withstand his enemies, neither do we.  We do not have the power to overcome our sins.  Oftentimes, we choose not to put off our sins.  The man who gives more attention to video games than to his family does it because he is annoyed by his responsibility as a father.  Women gossip because they like it and because they don’t like the people they gossip about.  Rather than just love our fellow man, we calculate the risks of loving our fellow man and justify ourselves when we withhold our patience, our charity, or our forgiveness.  Our sins have seized us, and we cannot overcome them.  Sin marks us for death, and we cannot overcome that either.  We are helpless, and just having regrets will not save us. 

     Because we cannot overcome our enemies, God must act.  The Savior is revealed by a miraculous sign: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).  This is the Savior who was promised from the first moment when people were overcome by sin, death, and the devil.  God promised that the Seed of the woman could come to crush the serpent’s head.  Now, women don’t have seeds; women have eggs.  Men have seeds.  But the Savior would come from a woman.  The virgin would conceive and produce a Savior without a human father.  The Savior is revealed by a miraculous sign.

     Of course, when the virgin Mary became pregnant, her betrothed, Joseph, felt betrayed.  What other conclusion should he draw?  Joseph knew where babies come from.  If you heard about a teen pregnancy today, you would not assume that God is working miracles again.  You would deduce that someone fathered a child.  So did Joseph.  Therefore, the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to let him know what God had done.  “‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matthew 1:20-23). 

     The Savior is revealed by a miraculous sign.  Joseph was not the father of Jesus.  Of course, Joseph knew that.  What had to be revealed to Joseph is that the baby in Mary’s womb had no earthly father.  What had to be revealed is that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  What had to be made known is that his father is God, and in fact he is God himself.   He is Immanuel, God with us.  And he is God with us so that he would overcome sin, death, and the devil for all of us.

     Jesus has come to overcome our enemies for us.  Jesus has come for those who are pretending to be more holy than they are so that they can stop pretending.  Rather than pretend we have done better than we have, we can rely on Jesus whose holy life is what we need to be saved.  Jesus has come for those who are so crushed by their sins that they fear they are too far gone to be saved.  Rather than be destroyed by guilt, we can see how Jesus has taken up the guilt of all people and was condemned and crucified for us.  Jesus does not merely put up with us.  Jesus became one of us.  He is Immanuel, which means he is God, but he is God with us.  God as one of us.  God sent to save all of us.  And he does.  To pay for your sins, Jesus died for you.  To deliver you from death, Jesus rose from the grave for you.  To assure you of a heavenly home, Jesus ascended to heaven and prepares a place for you. 

     The Savior is revealed by a miraculous sign.  And it is not only his virgin birth that is the miraculous sign.  Jesus gave one other sign.  Jesus’ enemies pestered him for a miraculous sign.  Even though Jesus charged them with being “an evil and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39), he did give them a sign after all.  He said, “No sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:39-40).  Just as Jonah returned alive out of the great fish on the third day, so Jesus returned alive out of the grave on the third day.  Now, this could not be faked.  The Romans were exceptional at crucifying people.  No one survived it.  Jesus’ death was well attested to, and so was his resurrection.  Since Jesus died and rose from the dead, your sins have been fully paid for.  Death has been completely overpowered.  And the devil lies crushed under Jesus’ feet.  Your enemies have been overcome.  Your Savior lives, and you are free.

     The Savior is revealed by a miraculous sign.  And now he comes with one more sign, or rather, a sacrament.  When Jesus rose from the dead, he did not stop being a man.  But now, all of the attributes of God are employed by this man.  No longer does Jesus live in humility.  Now he is full of all glory.  So, when he promises to be with you always to the very end of the age, it means he is still Immanuel.  He is still God with us.  And since he is omnipresent, it means that he gives you his body and blood on this altar just as he is does from altars all over the world.  He gives to you what has paid for your sins.  He gives you to what has overcome death.  He gives you to eternal life.

     If you want to know about God’s love for you, you don’t have to demand a sign.  God gives you one.  The Savior is revealed by a miraculous sign, and that sign is revealed to you in the word of God.  Even if King Ahaz would not believe it and the whole world thinks it is foolish and stupid, God’s word reveals to you that his salvation is real and his forgiveness is true.  Immanuel has come, and he is still with us to save us. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.