Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Looking for a Sign

 

Read Isaiah 7:10-16

 

http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=222887846

 

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

 

Signs of the season are all around us.  I’m sure you feel the little bit of nip in the air, see the stores changing their displays to reflect the holiday rush, and hear the Christmas music coming on the radio.  Ahaz was told to ask a sign of God, a sign that would reflect the Lord’s faithfulness to the line of David.  As we talked about on Monday, God promised to secure the house of David a throne forever, and so when it is threatened, God says, “Trust me, and more than that, ask me for a sign.”  When Ahaz refuses, verse 14 tells us of a sign to put all other signs to shame.
 
The signs of the season that we see are indeed reminders that we are excited about Christmas, but are they really signs of what Christmas is all about?  The sign foretold in verse 14 is this: “Look the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”  Immanuel means “God is with us.”  The true sign of Christmastide, the sign that we are looking for, is that we are not alone.  God sends salvation and hope through his Son.  And so we once again, today, we wait, we pray as we sing for a sign, “O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel.  That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.”
 
We may be exiled from God, separated from his holiness until the Son of God appears, but the good news is that God is with us, that we are not alone. 
 
Brandi Tevebaugh

Eternal and loving God, pour out in our hearts this day the light of your love, warming us to one another, enlightening our understanding of others, and revealing the path of charity upon which you have called us to walk. Amen.