December 23, 2007— Fourth Sunday of Advent
Christ Lutheran Church, Clarksville/Columbia, MD
Pastor Jeff Samelson
Isaiah 7:1-17
“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you
ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in.” Amen.
The Word of God for our study this
Sunday is found in Isaiah 7:1-17:
When Ahaz son of
Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son
of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they
could not overpower it.
Now the house of
David was told, “Aram has allied itself with Ephraim”; so the hearts of Ahaz
and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
Then the LORD
said to Isaiah, “Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end
of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. Say to him, ‘Be careful, keep calm
and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two
smoldering stubs of firewood—because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and
of the son of Remaliah. Aram, Ephraim
and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, “Let us invade Judah; let us
tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king
over it.” Yet this is what the Sovereign
LORD says:
“ ‘It will not take place,
it will not
happen,
for the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of
Damascus is only Rezin.
Within sixty-five years
Ephraim will be
too shattered to be a people.
The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of
Samaria is only Remaliah's son.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
you will not
stand at all.’ “
Again the LORD
spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths
or in the highest heights.”
But Ahaz said,
“I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to
try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a
sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call
him Immanuel. He will eat curds and
honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the
wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid
waste. The LORD will bring on you and on
your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim
broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria.” (NIV)
This is the Word of our Lord.
Dear People who are loved by God
and called to be saints:
What a contrast, huh? God sent messengers to them both: the angel Gabriel to Mary and the prophet
Isaiah to King Ahaz. But Mary’s faith-full
response to God’s message was “May it be to me as you have said” while Ahaz’s
faithless response was “I will not put the Lord
to the test.” It’s belief vs. unbelief
and humility vs. arrogance. It’s human
weakness & simplicity lined up against human strength & cunning. In this corner we have the young virgin, with
God behind her — in the other corner we have King Ahaz, with … his pride.
Who’s going to win that
contest? Ahaz certainly has every human
advantage, but it’s part of God’s judgment on him and his unbelief that
deliverance for his people will not come through Ahaz or any other king of
David’s line: it will come from the
weakest and most unlikely of places — a baby boy born to a virgin. Yes, the danger posed to Judah by the kings
of Aram and Israel will be past by the time this son arrives on the scene, but
Ahaz and his plans would have nothing to do with it.
And this
would be nothing but an interesting exercise in comparing historical figures —
Mary and Ahaz — if Ahaz weren’t such a familiar character for us. Oh, sure, his is a name you don’t hear very
often — if at all — but there are modern Ahazes all around, perhaps even among,
us. They are characterized not just by
unbelief, but by a cloying and patronizing profession of piety. That’s what we see here from Ahaz — while his
words seem to be saying, “Oh, I’m not worthy to ask the Lord for a sign — I can trust him without putting him to the
test,” his meaning was more like, “Me?
Ask the Lord for a
sign? Yeah, right — like that could
actually make any kind of difference, like this God of yours would actually pass
any test I might come up with
for him!”
Now, the
first people that Ahaz might remind you of are the public figures — sadly,
often politicians and opinion-makers — who want to come across to us as people
of deep faith, but whose positions and pronouncements seem to show a disdain
for true Christians and an unwillingness to actually be influenced by what
God’s Word actually says about certain issues.
Their references to religion often go something like, “Well, yes, God
says _________, and that’s very nice, but
now it’s up to us to do what
really matters.”
Still, the
essence of Ahaz’s refusal to put the Lord to the test wasn’t simply
unbelief: it was stubborn, sinful
pride. God was trying to give him and
his people a message of comfort — to tell them that God was going to take care
of their enemies — he was going to give them peace. But the king wasn’t interested because he
thought he already had it covered: he
had asked the big bully from the next block, Assyria, to come and beat up the
two bullies on his block, Israel and Aram.
That plan didn’t go so well in the end — yes, Assyria came and whipped
the other two kingdoms, but it didn’t stop there, it kept going and eventually
Judah itself had to submit to Assyria.
Most of us
probably know people just like Ahaz in that respect: they may even profess to be Christians, but
they don’t actually rely on God for anything that matters. Whatever the problem may be, whether spiritual
or temporal, they think they’ve “got it covered” — and sometimes they almost
view it as insulting if someone suggests they should trust God instead of
themselves. They’re like — and sometimes
actually are — addicts who foolishly insist that they are in control, not their
addiction, and insist that they can stop any time they want. That doesn’t go so well in the end, either.
And we’d be
lying if we thought we didn’t at least occasionally behave that way
ourselves. That, of course, is Satan’s
oldest lie, and the one our sinful natures are quickest to latch onto — that we
are God’s equals, and that therefore we can handle our lives just fine without
his help. We don’t want him to interfere
– there’s no need for him to get involved!
A pastor once related the story of a man with that attitude, despite
much evidence that he couldn’t handle things on his own:
It was nearing Christmas, and I
received a phone call from a man who needed to talk to a counselor. I met him
at my church office, where he told me his tale of woe.
A decade earlier, he killed his
wife in a fit of anger, and spent several years in prison for manslaughter. He
and his wife had a daughter who was in the custody of his in-laws. He had not
seen her since, and now, as Christmas neared, his heart ached. With tears
streaming, he lamented, "I could pass her on the street and not even know
who she was."
What I remember most about our
counseling session, however, was what he said when he first walked into my
office. Dramatically raising his arms, he said, "Now, preacher, let's just
leave Jesus out of this, okay?"
As
he sadly went his way that day, I thought to myself, That's the whole problem. You've left Jesus out.
So when we
find it in our own lives or that of others, we want to recognize this, “No
thanks, God — no need for you to get involved” attitude for what it is: outright unbelief, or at the very least
sinful blindness. Ahaz’s example shows
us that it really shouldn’t be that hard to comprehend — I mean, think about
it: when the almighty Lord and Creator
of the universe comes and tells you to ask him for a sign … ASK HIM FOR A SIGN!
I mean, imagine that you’re a 90 pound weakling sinking in quicksand, and
there’s a 350 pound NFL lineman standing on solid ground nearby, and he’s got
ropes and ladders and boards and nails and hammers and hoses and just about anything
you can think of that could be used to help you, and when he says, “Hey, tell
me what you need so I can save you,” you say, “Go away! If I wanted your help,
I’d ask for it. I’ll handle this on my
own.” Doesn’t make sense — but that’s
what Ahaz did, and what we do far too often when God invites us to turn to him
in our troubles.
So
obviously, when the Lord gives us
that kind of invitation, we want to listen — we want to obey (although that
hardly seems the right word) when he tells us: “Be careful, keep
calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart.
Ask the Lord your God for
a sign.” But what exactly does that
mean?
God makes it plain just before he tells Ahaz to ask for a
sign. He says, “If you do not stand firm
in your faith, you will not stand at all.”
The Lord wants us to trust
him. He wants us to put our faith in
him. He wants us to take him at his Word
— to hear his promises, as he promised deliverance to Ahaz and his people, and
to put him to the test — to say, “OK, God, you said you’d bless and take care
of me: Now, please, do it!”
And we test him in these things in the same place we find
his promises: in the means of grace —
the gospel in his Word and Sacraments.
In Baptism, where he makes us his
own and tells us that he has washed us clean.
Put him to the test. Take him at
his Word. “I am a new creature in Christ
— I know that, because I have been baptized.”
In the Lord’s Supper he promises
forgiveness and life and salvation. Put
him to the test. Come to the Lord’s
Supper. Take it. Believe it.
Hold onto it.
And in the Word of God — in the
pages of the Bible — he promises to tell us everything we need to know, for
this life and the next. To make us wise
toward salvation. Put him to the
test. Say, “OK, God, I don’t need
anything else — I’m just going to rely on you and your Word.”
And when we
do that, what do we get? What is the
result? We get deliverance — rescue,
salvation, from whatever problem we may have, just as the Lord delivered Judah
from the problems they were facing in Isaiah 7.
Whatever our problems may be — illness, injury, job
troubles, money troubles, whatever — trust him — put him to the test!
And here’s one of the interesting
— and comforting things — about the example of God’s deliverance in our text
today: God even promises to deliver and
rescue us from the problems that are of our own making. Why was Judah facing this trouble? It was because they as a nation had been
forsaking the Lord, and because their king in particular had forsaken the Lord,
trusting in himself and in other nations.
And yet God was still saying, “I have a plan for you — I’m going to
protect and take care of you.”
And aren’t so often the problems
that we have the most trouble with — that mess us up the most — the ones that
are of our own making? Yet those are the
very ones that we are most likely to say, “Oh, well, I guess I’d better not ask
God for help on this one because it’s my fault and I’d better be the one to fix
it.”
Maybe it’s a lie you told. Maybe it’s a bad habit you have. Whatever it is, turn it over to God. Put him to the test on that one, too. Because he will deliver you.
But of course the most important
deliverance that God wants us to put him to the test for is our deliverance
from sin and death. That is what the whole
promise of Immanuel was all about. When
the angel came to Joseph in the dream, as we see in our reading from Matthew,
he made it very clear — he put a meaning to all of this that may not have been
perfectly obvious to Isaiah and his people, but he said, “She will give birth
to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.” Why?
Because he will save his people from their sins.
That’s what “God with us” came
for" — to save his, people, all people, from their sins. That’s why he was born. That’s “the reason for the season”. That’s why he lived. That’s why he died.
Jesus is the reason for Good
Friday, too. And the reason behind
Easter. On the cross he washed away all
our sins. And then when he rose from the
grave on Easter morning — which Paul talked about so wonderfully in our reading
from Romans — he paved the way to eternal life for us as well.
We get whatever we
need from God — and our deepest need — salvation, a way to heaven — when we put
God to the test — when we trust him. Oh,
and beyond that there’s blessing up on blessing — all the things he loves to
give us — material, spiritual, temporal. God loves to give gifts — not just at
Christmas — but all the time.
Now, there is a “funny” thing
about God’s promises: when you fail to
put God to the test, you fail his test.
That’s what Ahaz found — too late.
This wonderful gospel promise in our text — the promise of the virgin
giving birth to Immanuel — was actually a judgment to Ahaz because he rejected
it.
The theologians call this “the
alien work of the gospel”, because it’s not the “good news” we associate with
the gospel, but is judgment instead.
What we hear as comfort and joy was a message of judgment for Ahaz.
You probably memorized at some
point Mark 16:16: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved…” — wonderful
gospel truth! Comforting! But what’s the next half of that verse? “… But whoever does not believe will be
condemned.” Or from John 3 — very
familiar words: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God
did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned….” What wonderful comfort — the gospel in a
nutshell! But what follows? “… But whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only
Son.” [John 3:16-18] God’s grace, when
rejected, means condemnation.
Sadly we find this rejection that
becomes judgment fairly frequently in this post-modern, relativistic society of
ours. There are those who hear the truth
claims of Christianity, where Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” [John 14:6]. They hear that and say, “How exclusive! How judgmental! No, no, no, no — that can’t be right!” and in rejecting that they completely miss
out on the message that in Jesus they
have the way they need to the Father in heaven!
It’s sad. It’s tragic.
But, hey, let’s put God to the test when he says he’ll give us the
strength and the encouragement and the gifts and even the very words we need
when we witness to those who are lost in unbelief — who hae rejected the
gospel. When we tell them the truth, we
give them God’s comfort.
Everyone’s mind is on
Christmas. Christmas is an opportunity —
an invitation — to put the Lord to the test.
It was for Mary & Joseph —
think about that — the message Mary gets:
“Wait — you mean me? I’m going to
have a what? How?” But she believed.
And Joseph: “You mean, she’s pregnant, and it’s not … but
I’m still supposed to … ?” But he
believed
And the shepherds: “Who
was born over there in Bethlehem? You’re
telling us? He will be what? OK!”
What will you hear this Christmas, and how will you respond to the
invitation? Ahaz didn’t listen, and responded poorly. What about you — and what will you help your
friends and loved ones and others hear?
Are you going to hear the good news that God intended all people to
hear: the promise of salvation from your sins being fulfilled? Or are you going to hear the message (as we
talked about in Bible Class this morning) of “Peace on earth” — a peace that
has nothing to do with spiritual salvation. Or are you going to hear the
thought, “Christmas is all about helping the poor and less fortunate.” Or perhaps it’s the message, “Christmas means
we pretend that there is peace in our family when in fact our problems haven’t
been solved so we can all sit around the table or the tree and act like we get
along.” Or the message that everyone
hears too much of: “It’s Christmas — buy
our stuff!” What are you going to hear?
So, what’s going on in your life
right now? You’ve probably guessed I
have a cold. What about you — what’s on
your heart, on your mind? Maybe you have
financial troubles — the end of the year really brings those into focus. Family troubles? Illness?
Job problems? Is there anything
that — to use Isaiah’s phrasing — that has your heart “shaken, as the trees of
the forest are shaken by the wind”?
Then follow the
simple encouragement of these verses from Isaiah this holiday season, and all
year. Remember the Lord’s promises. Whatever the problem might be, whenever
trouble might come: put the Lord to the
test. Amen.
May the God of hope fill you with
all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by
the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Copyright 2007 – Rev. Jeffrey L.
Samelson