Ahaz is weary of prophets getting in the way
of politics and so even the offer of a sign as high as the heavens and as deep
as Sheol can’t get him to swallow his pride and ask the God of Israel for help.
God wearied by Ahaz’s feigned piety offers a sign anyway, a sign that Matthew
will apply to Jesus though Isaiah was most likely speaking of Hezekiah, neither
of which are named Immanuel, by the way, but then that is the way of
prophecies. They point to a truth larger than the literal one and the same word
that finds fulfillment in Hezekiah and in Jesus finds fulfillment in our
everyday. Immanuel, God with us is the point of the promise. God with us when
we go our own way, choosing the evil and refusing the good. God with us when we
feed ourselves with false promises and illusory hopes. God with us for the day when
we tire of wearying God and turn again to the promise as high as the heavens
and as deep as Sheol. God with us when we recognize that the hope of God with us is that we
would choose to be with God. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
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