The Sign Given by the Lord

The days were dark in Judah’s two-tribe kingdom when the Lord began to punish Israel because they refused to listen to His calling voice and His warnings. The Assyrians had increased their might more and more, and the king of Syria was therefore forced to strengthen his position by setting up alliances. Pekah, the king of Israel, was prepared to do that, but King Ahaz of Judah was not interested. And now Israel and Syria were preparing themselves to go to war against hated Judah. The circumstances did seem to be in their favor, because Ahaz was young and had not been king of Judah for such a long time yet.

We read in 2 Kings 16 about Ahaz: “Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.” Although Rezin of Syria and Pekah, king of Israel, did not succeed in taking Jerusalem, there was still a terrible battle; many were taken captive and were carried away, and 120,000 valiant men were slain during the siege. All this because they had left the Lord, the God of their fathers. Is it therefore any wonder that the heart of Ahaz and his people were moved “as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind”?

This was the moment that the Lord sent Isaiah with a message to Ahaz, who was just then at the end of the conduit of the upper pool inspecting the vital water supply to the city to ensure that there was enough available for the population of Jerusalem. The Lord sent an encouraging word to Ahaz by means of Isaiah: He did not have to be afraid of the fierce anger of Syria and his wicked plans against the kingdom of Judah. The Lord guaranteed that, but Judah and the king must believe and trust the Word of the Lord. Verse 9b: “If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”

The Lord spoke furthermore to Ahaz: “Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” The Lord knew how difficult it was for Ahaz and his people to trust the Lord only, and He therefore, in His goodness and long-suffering, allowed Ahaz to demand a sign so that they could see the Word of the Lord and believe in it. How disappointing was Ahaz’s answer however! He said: “I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD.” It surely sounds very pious, but it was in essence a godless thing to say. Ahaz hid his resentment to trust in the Lord alone behind some sanctimonious and hypocritical words. In order to believe and to trust, it is necessary that the heart surrenders to the Word of the Lord, and Ahaz was not willing to do that. He wanted to protect himself, establish his own security, and keep his safety in his own hands. The Lord, however, does not let go, because He is gracious and full of compassion.

This time Ahaz received a reproaching and encouraging answer from the Lord, to shame him. Isaiah said to him in verse 13-14: “Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” This is the sign that the Lord is giving you. The text says: “Behold” to draw all the attention to this God-given sign. Immanuel, God with us, not your strength and your military prowess, but the LORD will perform it; He will be with you.

It was actually a very wonderful, supernatural sign that the Lord was giving here, and we may see in it already a reference to the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a message of light and salvation in these dark days of the year. It was a sign that should give Israel food for thought and bring her to believing and having faith in the Word of the Lord — faith that nothing is too wonderful for the Lord, and that we must learn to look away from people and look at God alone. Immanuel, God with us. What a penetrating message for Ahaz and Judah! They were depending on self and man for help, but this sign told them: “Don’t expect salvation from man, but only from the Lord.”

It was Ahaz who received this sign, but its significance had a much wider scope than for Ahaz and his people only. This sign is still given today, and still today this God-given sign asks and demands acceptance. The Lord should have rejected us a long time ago because of our sins, but He still remembers His covenant. Also today the preparation for Christmas points to this God-given sign: Immanuel, a sign that is still there. Let everyone examine his heart to see in what relationship he is to this God-given sign.

When we read in this part of Scripture how Ahaz rejected this sign, we see the corrupting power of unbelief being revealed. Examine yourself, reader, if you are in the faith. Unbelief is not desirous at all for this God-given sign. Why not? Because we then could not maintain ourself anymore. Unbelief is totally unwilling to embrace what the Lord is saying and offering, and it feels that by such a God-given sign guilt and sin are exposed.

The very thought that God is with us is unbearable for an unconverted person. The further he is away from God the better it is. He has no desire to have communion with the Lord, a life according to His will, and a trust in Him alone. He therefore does not want to have anything to do with the sign which is such “a comfort in affliction.” This not only applies to him who lives in gross unbelief, to the worldling who lives in sin; no, it was also applicable to the sanctimonious belief of Ahaz when he, with hypocritical words, rejected this sign. This repeats itself in history: When Jesus was before the Sanhedrin, the high priest rent his clothes when Immanuel was standing before him crying out, “He is guilty of death.” We also can dismiss this sign so very easily in a decent way. I am thinking of people living a life of self-righteousness, or those who are hiding behind their incapability, and as soon as this sign comes to the foreground, enmity reveals itself. We do not want to listen to the Lord; we reject the gift of God because we do not want to hear anything about God’s grace.

Now again, in this month of Advent, this message comes to us in a special way. Because you hold fast to sin, because you continue to go on in your wicked ways of unrighteousness and self-righteousness, therefore will the Lord Himself give you a sign — Immanuel, God with us, for He shall save His people from their sins. There is in today’s world no lack of means to celebrate Christmas. There is no lack of Christmas trees, lights, presents and parties. But all these things ignore this God-given sign, for they do not want to have anything to do with Immanuel, God with us. Who thinks about Him? Who longs for Him? The thought of sin and of being delivered from it does not even dawn on them. Rebellious, lawless man, and also self-righteous man does not know what sin is, and he therefore never gives one thought to being delivered from sin. Let us not look outside our own circle though! The question comes also to us: What is our relationship to this God-given sign? Are we looking at this sign with aversion or with a true desire for salvation? Or don’t we have an answer at all, because we just keep on living being unconcerned about our eternal destination? May the Word urge us to examine ourself very closely.

“What is the condition of your heart? Rejecting ... or longing?”

It is also possible that things are different in your life: That confessing Immanuel as your personal Savior is the last thing that you dare to do. That you are standing afar off, laden with your sins and guilt! You know deep in your heart that you cannot live without Him, and yet, although you have heard of Him and your heart goes out to Him, you cannot find Him. You are discovering more and more that outside of Him there is no life, and that His Word must also be true for you: “No fruit on thee henceforward for ever.” God’s law condemns you, and all your works cannot give you anything at all. You are going over this world as one who is unhelped and unsaved. Your deep and unsatisfied desire is to be reconciled with God by Him. You do not dare to ask for a sign because you deem yourself so unworthy. But, see now what the Lord does. He Himself gives this sign. He is there for guilty ones, for people who are deeply unworthy, and He will do what you cannot do yourself: He will redeem, because He is Immanuel, God with us. Will that not become a wonder to us when we may receive Him as the great Gift of God, as a Mediator who is willing and able to save sinners?

The Holy Spirit may have taught you to know yourself more deeply as a death-guilty sinner, and you are so often uncertain whether there is a work of the Lord in your heart or not. You must agree wholeheartedly that there is such a Redeemer, but the personal application of this benefit is missing so often. Do not forget that the Lord wants to be patient and that He wants to strengthen the weak in faith with this sign. You are pointed here to the Child that was born, to this Child which is the God-given sign. May you learn to stammer: “Immanuel, God with us.” Is it your greatest sorrow that you have turned yourself away from the Lord, that the Lord must be against you forever and ever, and that you cannot heal that breach? Yes, then there is place for this sign, which speaks of God’s goodness and eternal good pleasure. Then it is He alone!

Dear reader, when you can keep yourself on your feet with some shallow, superficial religion — when you think that you are not guilty enough, or that you are too old, or too unworthy, or when all your thoughts are taken up with the cares of this temporal life, and you do not want to know Him, or hear about Him, then you are still on the path that leads to perdition. Oh, although our heart is so very deceitful, we cannot deceive the Lord, because He knows what lives in that heart. He also knows that deep down in your heart there is an aversion to this sign. Remember how terrible it will be to reap the fruits of gainsaying this sign. How dreadful will the judgment be for all those who have rejected this way of salvation! Fear the hardening of your heart when you continue on this disastrous path; oh, seek to embrace this sign! Advent preaching is not something superficial, but it is nothing less than the preaching of the God-given sign. Oh friends, pray that the Lord may make your heart desirous for Jesus Christ, the Only Savior. It is He and He alone!

When Simeon, with the Child in his arms, was praising the Lord, he said: “This Child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against.” It was like that in Ahaz’s days, it was like that in Jesus’ days, and it is still like that in our days.

In conclusion I would like to place this question at the door of your conscience: “What is the condition of your heart? Rejecting ... or longing?”

Rev. H. Hofman is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed congregation of Chilliwack, British Columbia.

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