Sitting in the waiting room at the Monash Cancer Centre this morning, an older lady on my left wrung her hands and tapped her foot repeatedly. On my right sat a lady about my age but with olive skin and an aquiline nose. Her head was covered with a black scarf and she wore a loose black coat and trousers. She curled up in a big chair and closed her eyes, stirring only when her hacking cough kicked in.
I was there for my four-year post-cancer check. Upon being informed that I remain ‘boringly normal’, my heart did a happy dance. As I left, a grin on my face and a spring in my step, I spotted the coughing Muslim lady slouched outside the radiation clinic. My smile faded and my heart sank on her behalf.
Fear……
Shaking hearts
It was in the context of fear that the promise of ‘Immanuel’, which we sing about at Christmas, was first announced. The ancient King Ahaz of Judah (8th century BC) heard that his two biggest enemies had made an alliance. And so “… the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” (Isaiah 7:2).
The LORD told the prophet Isaiah to take his little boy, Shear-Jashub, whose name meant ‘A remnant will return’ (Isaiah 7:3), and pass on a message to the terrified king. (Take note of the name of the child … its significance will become clear later on.)
“Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid,” was the first part of the message (Isaiah 7:4a).
“Do not lose heart because of these two smouldering stubs of firewood….” was the next line of the message (Isaiah 7:4b). From an earthly perspective, the enemy threat was ginormous, like a raging forest fire. But God’s perspective is far beyond ours, and they appeared as nothing but red embers to him.
As a sign that what God had promised would come to pass, King Ahaz was given a special sign, one which we sing about today. “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel….” (Isaiah 7:14b).
Immanuel … God with us. It’s a precious promise, and even more so in those times when our hearts shake like the leaves of the trees are shaken by wind.
Prophecy
Prophecy is like a mountain range. Just as one mountain comes after another in a mountain range, so there can be layers of fulfilment with prophecy. No doubt in King Ahaz’ day, there was a young woman who gave birth to a child who was named ‘Immanuel’. In the message brought by Isaiah and his son, the terrifying enemy would be obliterated by the time promised child was old enough to distinguish wrong from right.
But as any biblically literate reader knows, there was another layer of fulfilment to this prophecy. Hundreds of years later, Matthew would write up the story of the miraculous conception of Jesus, adding, “All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” – which means “God with us” ” (Matthew 1:22-23).
This child, Immanuel, is the one whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. One of my favourite carols, called ’Immanuel,’ by Michael Card (see the footnote for a link to listen online), contains the following lines:
“Immanuel, our God is with us,
And if God is with us, who can stand against us?
Our God is with us, Immanuel.”
I would like to finish this devotion by pondering the wonderful truth of ‘Immanuel – God with us.’ But if I am to remain true to the text, I cannot. For that wasn’t the end of the story for King Ahaz and his people.
A Warning
“Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights,” commanded the Lord (Isaiah 7:10).
“I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test,” responded the king (Isaiah 7:12).
On the surface, it sounded like King Ahaz was being pious. Israel had been in trouble in the past for putting God to the test. (See Exodus 17:1-7.) And yet I would suggest that the king’s piety and refusal to comply with God’s directive thinly disguised a sense of pride.
If only King Ahaz had seen the same vision of our awesome God in his holy temple which Isaiah saw and which is recorded just one chapter earlier in Isaiah 6. Surely he could not then have said, “I will not” to Almighty God.
Do we ever say, “I will not” to God’s gracious invitation for this or that?
In response to the refusal of King Ahaz to ask for a sign, God gave the sign of Immanuel. (See Isaiah 7:13-14.) And it wasn’t good news. For before the promised child was old enough to know right from wrong, not only would Judah’s enemies be vanquished, but Judah itself would be devastated by a bigger, stronger threat – Assyria. (See Isaiah 8:1-10.)
But in judgement lay mercy. This was foretold even right then by the name of the child standing by Isaiah. The child was named Shear-Jashub, meaning ‘A remnant will return’.
From that remnant, hundreds of years later, a virgin would conceive. Her son would be called Immanuel, meaning ‘God with us’. The book of Isaiah is rich in prophecy about this promised one.
Appropriate Fear
King Ahaz feared his nation’s enemies, and fair enough. The ladies in the cancer clinic today appeared nervous about their physical conditions, and fair enough. I don’t want to belittle their fears.
I do, however, want to turn my thoughts and perhaps yours to the God of Isaiah 6 who is frightening in his holiness. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary….” (Isaiah 8:13-14a).
It’s easy to write these words right now when life is going well for me. Feel free to remind me of this ancient wisdom when life is challenging. I so wish that I could have shared the hope of ‘Immanuel – God with us’ with the ladies sitting either side of me at the clinic this morning and extend God’s gracious invitation to them.
For now, though, I shall finish with another stanza from that magnificent Christmas carol, Immanuel, written by Michael Card. I hope and pray that the ladies I sat by this morning hear this good news too, perhaps by caring Christians in their communities this Christmas … perhaps by you or by me.
“So what will be Your answer? Will You hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son but gave Him for us all.
On earth there is no power, there is no depth or height,
That could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ.
Immanuel, our God is with us,
And if God is with us who could stand against us?
Our God is with us,
Immanuel.”
You can hear the carol ‘Immanuel’ by Michael Card here: https://www.worshiptogether.com/songs/immanuel-card/