Isaiah 7:10-14; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 1:26-38

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

God’s Word always works. Sometimes, it’s instantaneous. At creation, God said, “Let there be…” and whatever God said on each of the six days of creation simply was (Gen. 1). We see this same thing in many of Jesus’ miracles. Our Lord would say, “Receive your sight,” to blind eyes (Mt. 9:28-29); “Be opened,” to deaf ears (Mk. 7:34); “Your son lives,” to a frantic father (Jn. 4:50, 53); and “Come out,” in front of the grave of dead-as-a-doornail Lazarus (Jn. 11:43). And all of things happened immediately.

However, it’s also true that God will say something, and time passes. The thing God says still happens. It just takes a while. God told Moses to go back to Egypt, deliver His people out of slavery, and bring all of them to worship Him on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 3:10-12). It happened, but it took a while (Ex. 19:1-2). God told Noah that He would send a flood to destroy all flesh (Gen. 6:13-22). That happened too, but only when enough time elapsed for Noah to build the ark and herd the animals onto it – possibly about 100 years (Gen. 5:32; 7:6). Ultimately, It doesn’t matter if God’s Word is delayed. What God says happens.

But we are impatient people. Even though time after time God has proven His faithfulness to His Word, we wrongly start to doubt and take matters into our own hands. Abraham believed God’s Word that he would be the father of many nations (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:1-6), but the delay in the fulfillment of that promise led Abraham to have a son with his wife’s servant, Hagar (Gen. 16:1-4). That momentary unbelief of Abraham, though forgiven, still has devastating repercussions to this day. You can wait and trust that God will come through on His Word (Hab. 2:3).

In our text tonight from Isaiah, King Ahaz of Judah is facing a problem. Neighboring countries are attacking Judah. The king of Israel and the king of Syria joined forces and invaded his land, they have besieged Jerusalem, but they hadn’t been able to destroy it. So, Ahaz devises a plan, but it’s a stupid plan. He asks for help from another one of his enemies, the king of Assyria, to fight against Israel and Syria. Ahaz even takes the gold out of the Temple to buy Assyria’s help (2 Kgs. 16:5-8). But God sends the prophet Isaiah to tell Ahaz that He’s in control and that Ahaz doesn’t need to fear Israel and Syria because they are nothing more than smoldering stumps (Is. 7:1-9).

That Isaiah text (Is. 7:10-14) begins when God invites Ahaz to request a sign for proof that He will deliver Judah from her enemies, and it is an open-ended invitation. Ahaz could ask for a sign as deep as Sheol or as high as heaven. In other words, Ahaz could have asked for anything. He could have been selfish and asked God for a million tons of gold to put in his treasury. But Ahaz refuses in a pious sounding way, “I will not put the Lord to the test.” Ahaz preferred to forge ahead with his own plans. He fancied the formidable Assyrian army over God’s invitation to simply trust and be firm in faith that God would deliver (Is. 7:9b). Bad idea. By rejecting that sign, Ahaz also rejected God’s Word and promise. He treated God’s Word as though it was meaningless and impractical. Ahaz had his own plans, and he didn’t want God to interfere with them.

God wasn’t fooled by Ahaz’s fake piety. But still God is merciful and will give Ahaz not just one but two signs of deliverance. One of them, which we didn’t hear, would be fulfilled in Ahaz’s lifetime (Is. 7:15-17). But the sign we did hear is more wonderful because it isn’t only a sign that Judah would be delivered from her enemies. Instead, the promise is that God would deliver all humanity because God would come and dwell among us.

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel,” which means ‘God with us’ (Mt. 1:23). God promises that He is coming. And when He comes, He comes to deliver and save. But when God’s acts of salvation are met with unbelief, those acts become a judgment to the one who disbelieves. So, for Ahaz, Immanuel means judgment.

About 700 years later, God came through on His promise of Immanuel. In our Gospel text (Lk. 1:26-38), God sends the angel Gabriel to Mary. Gabriel announces to her that the time to fulfill that promise given to Ahaz has come. Though she is a virgin, she will conceive and bear a Son who will be the fulfillment of God’s promise to dwell with His people as well as all the other promises God had given to save His fallen creation. Mary’s response is completely different than Ahaz’s response. She seems to be filled with surprise and curiosity, “How will this be?” Gabriel simply reassures her that nothing is impossible for God (Lk. 1:37), and Mary simply trusts. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38).

Sure, God’s promise that the virgin would conceive took a while – 700 years. But it happened at exactly the right time. God sent forth His Son, born of a woman. Born with your flesh and bone. Born to bear your sins to the cross. Born to redeem you. Born so that you could be adopted, chosen, selected into God’s family. Born so that you would be an heir of God (Gal. 4:4-7).

Dear saints, because God has already given you what is most precious to Him and most needful for you, you can believe that He won’t go back on any of His other promises to you. All of God’s promises find their ‘yes’ in Christ, in Immanuel (2 Cor. 1:20).

Jesus is God with you. And even more than that – Jesus is God for you. God is on your side. You can take His Word to the bank. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.