Good Morning Friends,
Today we look at a prophecy of Isaiah during the reign of King Ahaz and how despite his lack of faith and his failure, that seemed so dark for the Davidic lineage, that God was working out a plan for His Kingdom in a new way that is announced by an angel to Mary in our Gospel reading. And here is the deal… God created everything so that the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of the Universe could have a relationship with us, and we could have a love relationship that unites us. God loves us and keeps the promises made, and so we need to figure out as best we can what we are going to do with this life we have been given. And because God is timeless, so too are the things that form our experience of the divine in the stream of Holy History. This timeless love is never more evident than in God’s story of Jesus…. God coming to live with us as hope and love and birthing in us this Spirit. We are that important. December 25 is less than a week away and the shortest day of light is almost upon us. Interestingly, the weather reporters claim that although Florida might not have a white Christmas it is projected that we will have a cool Christmas. Hopefully the story of the season will warm us whether we do Christmas or not. Like the parable of the virgins, we are to keep our lamps trimmed and burning regardless of the season. So, I wonder, Will We Find Hope, Peace, Joy And Love In The Story Of God With Us?
Scripture: Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 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.
Isaiah 7:10-14 (NRSV)
Then the Lord said to me, Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, “Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz,” and have it attested for me by reliable witnesses, the priest Uriah and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah. And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the child knows how to call “My father” or “My mother,” the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria. The Lord spoke to me again: Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and melt in fear before Rezin and the son of Remaliah; therefore, the Lord is bringing up against it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory; it will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks; it will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel. Band together, you peoples, and be dismayed; listen, all you far countries; gird yourselves and be dismayed; gird yourselves and be dismayed! Take counsel together, but it shall be brought to naught; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. For the Lord spoke thus to me while his hand was strong upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what it fears, or be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. He will become a sanctuary, a stone one strikes against; for both houses of Israel he will become a rock one stumbles over—a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.
Isaiah 8:1-15 (NRSV)
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV)
Message: King Ahaz had a problem. He did what he did because he thought what he thought, and he thought what he thought because he wanted what he wanted regardless of God. The army of Judah was no match against the strength of Israel and Aram. This war meant the end of the reign of Ahaz, and the end of the Davidic dynasty. It meant the destruction of Jerusalem and the demise of the Temple and the priesthood. The war against Judah that followed was completely devastating. Isaiah 7 provides the background of this story, and the plea from Isaiah to Ahaz to turn to the Lord for deliverance. Ahaz refused and instead turned to Assyria, which eventually conquered the entire land and placed Ahaz and Judah as his vassals. The cost of Ahaz’s lack of faith was that he raided the treasuries of the Temple and presented gifts to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him. At the time of Judah’s great despair, God gave a promise: A virgin will bear a son. The promise is further explained in Isaiah 8:1-15, where the virgin/son prophecy is reiterated. I think the Lord spoke to Isaiah for three reasons. The first was to challenge Ahaz to trust the Lord for deliverance from his enemies. The second was to put Judah on notice that nothing would negate the promises of God! And the third was for our time and promise revealed in Christ. You see, God promised that David’s throne would endure forever, and even though wicked kings like Ahaz proved to be failures, God would still fulfill his promise. The thing is that if you want to be self-sufficient, God will allow you to try. He will not force his presence upon you, but he will accomplish his plan – with you or without us. The disobedience of Ahaz did not prevent the Lord from fulfilling his promise to deliver to his people. And although not everyone agrees on who Isaiah’s Virgin was for Judah, the fact is the promise is a foreshadowing of the ultimate deliverance through the Messiah. Ahaz lost the opportunity to experience God’s presence. He did not experience “God with us,” even though the promise and the provision were right in front of him. He wanted to do things his own way, and the Lord allowed him to do so. And that might well prompt us to consider the ambitions of our lives and if we want to be successful and loved and happy and be driven in seeking them even without God’s help. Friends, we must seek our satisfaction in God regardless of the season, for God has promised to be with us. We are to find hope, peace, joy, and love in the birth of the child who was destined to change everything. So, let us recognize that the world needs more people that believe in the promises of God with us. Let us recognize that we too can have a relationship with Jesus’ Spirit birthed in us…a relationship that is always available to us, even now.
And So, let us find hope in the birth of the child who was destined to change everything. Let us recognize that the world needs more people with the commitment of Mary. Maybe we would not characterize Mary as highly favored if scripture did not say it was so. That would be the wrong motivation for her anyway. But let us be honest. This was not easy even if this young peasant girl was touched by an angel. And there is a message in that for us if we struggle. The thing is that she believed and in fact, was the first in a way to believe, for if she had not believed she could never have conceived. But having committed, it seems to me she submitted and responded in an amazing way. Look at the facts. Herod was trying to kill her newborn son. They had to escape to Egypt. And then after her son came of age he was about his Father in heaven’s business. Blessings because of this existed to be sure. Jesus honored his mother at a wedding in Cana. But the tears and suffering later were great. When Mary was at the foot of the cross, she saw her son die. But then she was one of the first in the Upper Room to have the Holy Spirit fill her as it did the disciples. Mary leaves an amazing legacy and lesson for our chaotic world. Her humble obedience is priceless and a precious gift that we cannot fully emulate. But the thing is we too can have a relationship with Jesus’ Spirit birthed in us…a relationship that is always available to us, even now.
Pray we find hope, peace, joy, and love in the birth of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit into a young woman that changed the future of the world. Pray that the Holy Spirit changes our lives too. Pray we learn from history but not be trapped in it. Pray we see the old in the new and the new in the old, but also the hope of something even better. Pray, if things get difficult in the world and its disruptions of our routines challenge us, that we continue to endure to the end, and follow Christ who was and is worthy of all things. Pray we are not afraid. Pray we shine a light of service into the world realizing that God does not so much want our sacrifices as our love shared for the sanctification of us all. Pray therefore that the holidays do not distract us from our true mission in the world. Pray that we realize that we belong to Christ …. that Jesus was born, lived, died, and was resurrected so we might be as one body of believers. Pray that we live in harmony with one another glorifying God as He permeates our hearts…our minds and our very being, binding us together with His love. Pray that we accept what is, let go of what was and have hope in what we believe God wants us to be. Pray the God of hope fills us with the joy and peace in believing in the promise of God with us. Pray our minds and hearts are focused on the hope of Christ and the gift of love we experience at Christmas. Pray we realize that Jesus is our Hope and Love and Peace and Joy.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 