Scripture Daily

Context No. 4136 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 7:10-17: in context

10The LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11“Ask a sign of the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” 12But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt the LORD.” 13He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken. 17The LORD will bring on you, on your people, and on your father’s house days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah, even the king of Assyria.

God, through Isaiah, offers the faithless King Ahaz a sign of any kind he wishes, to strengthen his trust. But Ahaz, feigning piety, refuses to ask. So God gives a sign anyway, a sign that reaches far beyond Ahaz's day: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, which means, God with us.

This promise, given in a dark and threatening time, points beyond its immediate setting to the birth of Christ, God himself come to dwell among us. Two things stand out. God gives the sign even to a faithless king. Ahaz did not deserve it and would not even ask for it, yet God, in his grace, gave a sign of hope anyway. And the heart of that promise is captured in a single name: Immanuel, God with us. In the fullness of time, God did not merely send help or a message; he came himself, in Christ, to be with his people. Whatever we face, the promise of the gospel is Immanuel, God with us, not distant, not aloof, but present, having come to dwell among us in Christ and, by his Spirit, to be with us always.

Do I find my hope and comfort in Immanuel, God with us, the promise that God has come to dwell among his people in Christ and is present with us always, not distant but near, whatever we face?

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