Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2004 : December 19, 2004
Prepare Your Hearts for Christ's Coming -- Watch for the Sign of Immanuel!
Advent 4
Have any of you had to make a difficult decision in your life lately -- maybe a big career change or what college you want to go to or what church you want to go to? Wouldn't it be great if God would give you a sign so you would know what to do! A while back I heard of a boy who was really interested in a girl and he wanted God to show him if this was the right girl for him. He liked to play basketball, so he figured that if God would allow him to make 10 free-throws in a row, without missing even one, then that was the sign that he should ask the girl out and everything would turn out OK. If he never made 10 straight free-throws, then God obviously didn't want him to go out with this girl. Well, as you can imagine, the boy would go out day and night and try to make 10 free-throws in a row, but he could never do it. But he really liked the girl, so he kept at it and kept at it. Finally, he made the ten free-throws in a row without a miss. But he thought, "That was way too easy for it to be a sign from God," so he raised it to 12 free-throws in a row. When he made 12 in a row, he changed it to 15. It kept going higher and higher. Eventually, because of all the time he had spent shooting free-throws, he lost interest in the girl and never did ask her out, and the girl always thought that he was much more interested in basketball than her because that was all he did.
Some people are certain that they received an actual sign from God. One person told me he thought he saw an angel sitting on the end of his bed when he was six years old. It was comforting to him because his grandmother was about to die, so he saw it as a sign from God that his grandmother would be OK even if she died. I just heard another story of a WELS pastor visiting a man in the hospital. As they were finishing the Lord's Prayer, the pastor looked up to see the man with his eyes wide open and staring past him. The pastor said, "Are you OK?" And the man said, "It's beautiful! Can't you see it?" The pastor turned around to see just a white wall, and when he turned back to the man, he saw that the man had died. Did the boy see an angel? Angels appeared to people many times in the Bible. Could the man in the hospital have seen a glimpse of heaven before he died? In the Bible, the first Christian martyr, Stephen, did just before he died. Could those things happen? Sure they could. But we're still pretty skeptical, aren't we? It's hard to know if these modern-day stories were signs from God or, as Scrooge would say, an undigested piece of meat or potato.
But there can be no doubt about the sign we'll be looking at this morning. We'll see a time in which God himself told us to watch for a sign that he would give -- and it would be a sign for the whole world. It was the sign of Immanuel, which means, "God with us." This morning we prepare our hearts for Christ's coming as we Watch for the Sign of Immanuel. That sign shows us that God is with us in mercy and that God is with us in power.
When God gave the sign of Immanuel, things were rough for the southern kingdom of Judah. It was being attacked on three fronts by four enemy nations, including the Northern Kingdom of Israel. On top of that, the king of Judah, Ahaz, despised God by following the detestable practices of the Canaanite religions, even to point of sacrificing his own children to a Canaanite false god. Things looked very bad indeed for God's people.
But God was with Ahaz with his mercy. God sent Isaiah to ask King Ahaz: "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." In effect, God was saying, "I will be with you during this terrible time and deliver you from your enemies as I have promised. And to prove it to you, you can ask for anything you want as a sign, so that you know that I am with you." It's interesting that God used two different names here for himself: LORD and God. The name, "the LORD," showed the height of God's covenant grace and faithfulness -- his mercy. Certainly God was being merciful to the evil king Ahaz by saying he could ask for anything in the whole world as a sign that God was with him. But Isaiah also used the word, "God," to show that as God almighty he was powerful enough to grant whatever Ahaz asked of him.
What would you have asked for in Ahaz' position -- if you were as wicked as Ahaz and God showed you so much mercy? You might say, "Well I can't imagine being in such a position. I never sacrificed my children to any false god, and God has never offered me a sign." And you would be wrong on both counts. We are just like Ahaz because we are sinners. That is a scary thought. Have you ever thought about that? You and I might think we are pretty good compared to some druggy or some adulterer or some prostitute or some wife-beater. But when God looks at us as sinners, we are all just at detestable as someone who sacrifices their own child to the devil. On top of Ahaz' numerous other sins, he didn't trust in the Lord for deliverance. Do we always have unshakable trust in God, even when we're facing a surgery or when someone close to us dies? Or do we seek comfort and strength somewhere else. Ahaz also closed the temple and built shrines to false gods all through Judah. Do we sometimes fail to see the importance of God's Word in our lives, and even play hookey from church from time to time? Suddenly Ahaz' sandals fit us all too well. But thankfully God has offered and given us also a sign of deliverance. It was the same sign that God gave to Ahaz after Ahaz refused to ask for one. Verse 14 tells us, "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."
God gave us the sign of Immanuel. It was a sign of deliverance better than anything else we could have imagined because the sign was that a virgin one day would conceive a child. It would be a miracle. And when that baby was born, it would announce to the world that the long-awaited Savior of the world had been born. That son of a virgin would be true man to be our substitute under the wrath of God against sin. And he would also be able to die after shedding his own blood. That son of the virgin was also conceived by the Holy Spirit and so was true God. As true God Jesus was could make his life of perfection become the sacrifice that covers every sin. He earned the righteousness God demanded from all of us, and gives it to us as a free gift. God gave us the sign of Immanuel to show us that God is with us in his mercy by sending his own Son to save us from our sins.
God gave us the sign of Immanuel to show us that God is with us with his power as well. King Ahaz was eventually delivered from those enemies that were at war with Judah. God showed that he was powerful enough protect Judah from all her enemies. That is because God was with his people. We have a similar promise that God made directly to the New Testament Church in Matthew 28:20: "I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." Just because Jesus, our Immanuel, has ascended into heaven, doesn't mean that he is no longer with us. We have his promise that he continues to be with us to the very end of the world. He is with us now as we worship him. He continues to be with us throughout our lives with his mercy and with his power.
God is with you always -- is that comforting or terrifying? If God is always with you, that means he sees the good things you do as well as the bad things. That song says that Santa knows who's naughty and who's nice. We know that's just a song. But with God it's absolutely true. Because of the times we've failed God and fallen into sin, God's presence would be a nightmare. But do you realize that whenever God says, "I will be with you," in the Bible, it is meant to bring us comfort? Every single time. When God gave us the sign of Immanuel, it was meant to comfort us in knowing that God had become man to save us from all of our sins. When Jesus said, "I am with you always," it was meant to comfort us in knowing that God is at our side every day, every minute of our lives, protecting us, guiding us. That's certainly a comfort to us. And it shows in how we live our lives as God's children. The Apostle John tells us that we know the Holy Spirit is in our hearts when we live as his children. A cheerful five-year-old girl named Jenny waited with her mother at the checkout stand, and she saw a glistening white pearl necklace. "Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?" Her mother couldn't resist the pleading eyes, and the fake pearls were only $2, so the mother bought them. Jenny loved her pearls. She wore them everywhere -- Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. Jenny had a very loving father, and every night he would read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?" "Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you." Then give me your pearls." "Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my white horse you gave me last Christmas. She's my very favorite." "That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he kissed her good night. About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?" "Daddy, you know I love you." "Then give me your pearls." "Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday." "That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you. Daddy loves you." And as always, he kissed her good night. A few nights later when her father came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed crying. "What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?" Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her father. When she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quaver in her voice she finally said, "Here, daddy, this is for you." With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's father reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure.
As I mentioned, the Apostle John tells us that we know the Holy Spirit is in our hearts when we live as his children. Then we make decisions in our lives that give him glory. Do you have a difficult decision to make in your life? Do you want God to give you a sign of what you should do? He already has. He's given you the sign of Immanuel, and we'll celebrate once again in a few days the fulfillment of that promise and see the sign for ourselves. What dime store pearls do you need to let go of so your heavenly Father can give you real pearls? Take all your sins, things that look good and feel good, but really aren't, and give them to God. Then see that he's given you a sign that shows that all your sins are forgiven and has promised to guide you in making God-pleasing decisions as he lives in your heart and as you live for him. "God is with us": Immanuel -- that makes our hearts ready to meet him.
