2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27; St Luke 1:26-38
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Emmanuel for whom we pray, whom we bid come and ransom us from our lonely exile, is a sign against Ahaz. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (Is 7:14). Indeed, He is a sign against all fallen men, beginning with Adam. That is not how we are used to hearing that verse, but it is true. The virginal conception of Jesus Christ is a sign against our impotence. Of our culpability of standing idly by while Eve is seduced.
We are sinful. This is true. But its more than that. Everything we conceive is full of sin. Even, saddest of all, our children. Everything we conceive dies. Our malice and our greed, our lust and violence are passed on to our children. And those sins kill them.
Three hundred years after King David had his plans to build a house for the Lord, King Ahaz hatched his plans too. He had good reason to be afraid for his life and for his country. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had allied with Syria, the enemies of God’s people. They would march on Jerusalem together. Brother was against brother and a pagan country was mixed in.
But Ahaz conceived of a strategy that would make a corrupt politician proud. He would play his enemies against one another. He would outsmart them. Ask a sign of the Lord your God, the prophet told him. But he would not ask God for a sign because he didn’t trust God to give what he needed. He didn’t need platitudes about trust and letting go. He figured that what he needed were real and pragmatic things. And God simply couldn’t be trusted to give him those things. The steel of Syria’s swords wasn’t imaginary. He wanted something tangible. So he refused a sign from God. He rejected God’s Word. And he rejected it because he didn’t want God to interfere with his plans.
But God grows weary of men who feign piety. Who rely on philosophy and man’s wisdom to excuse themselves for their lack of faith and for their evil deeds. He is weary of men who twist His Word to bring it in conformity with modern sensibilities. Those who dismiss His Word as meaningless and impractical fluff. God will not be mocked with our false theologies and excuses. Repentance is needed.
The spirit of Ahaz is still with us. We are still tempted to his pretend piety. Sadder still, the spirit of David is still with us. The dangerous inclination to do what is in our hearts and call it pious. “Did I ask you to build Me a house?” The Lord has to correct not only David, but Nathan too. If kings and prophets are called to repentance, what of Christians and pastors? There is a pretend piety for every sinful man ever born. A false theology inherent in all of us. One is not better than another. God won’t wink at yours or not mind it as much as another’s. Repent.
But also rejoice. That which David desires to build, that for which Ahaz would not ask, the Lord God established. He gave. And it was better than David or Ahaz, or even Abraham for that matter, could have imagine or hoped! God establishes the House and Throne of David to give His people rest; to open wide their heavenly home. He conceives a Son in the Virgin’s womb. Not only to rescue men from a pagan oppressor, a military conqueror and enslaver, but from the devil himself. He is Wisdom, Branch, Key and Dayspring for our salvation. But He is also a Sign against our impotence.
You see, dear friends, despite our lies, rebellion, and hatred, in contrast to our philosophy, false theologies and pragmatism, God is with us. Our Immanuel. The Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. The Child born is called holy - the Son of God. He has taken up our flesh. He wears our skin. He moves about with muscles, bones, and cartilage of a Man. He was conceived in one of us. He has a body like ours taken from the Virgin’s womb.
And like our bodies, His Body was bruised and dying. Indeed, He was conceived and born for the very purpose of being bruised and crucified.
He has a human soul as well, for He is an actual Man. His soul was composed for the purpose of being separated from His Body, that He endure physical death in our place and be set, Adam-like, dust to dust, into the ground. He is one of us, in life and in death. He is with us. He is Immanuel who lives our life and dies our death.
Here is a sign for Ahaz and we who are prone to think like him: the Lord has come in the Flesh, into this dreary and deadly plain, to join our cause. To make us His. To deliver us not just from the Assyrians, but from hell itself. In this way, by the sign that Ahaz refused, but was spoken to the Virgin Mary, He is our Savior and has meet the enemy’s attack in Himself. In dying, He has broken down the prison bars that held us in. Hell swallowed Him and can take no more. He bursts it like new wine in an old wineskin. In rising He has paved the way to heaven. For if He lived our life and died our death, so also has He risen our resurrection and ascended our ascension.
All this the Lord has done not because we asked or because we believed or had the facts and details right. Mary doesn’t conceived the Child in her womb because she choses to or decided. He does it because He is good and His mercy endureth forever. He gives signs to those who refuse. But also graciously enables Virgins to respond in faith, Let it be to me according to your Word. He lived our life. He died our death. He has instituted our resurrection and ascension. In this way He has elevated our nature to the Father’s right hand. For He is still our Emmanuel. He is still with us.
He is still and forever God. But what we seem prone to forget, though, is that even now, even after the resurrection and ascension, He is still and forever Man. He was born as a Man. Lived as a Man. Died as a Man. Rose as a Man. Ascended as a Man. As a Man He sits at the Father’s right hand, receiving the throne of His father David, and establishing an eternal kingdom.
And yet, He is still with us. Having fulfilled the Father’s will, establishing a House and Kingdom, He does not deny Himself His divine rights and attributes as a Man. So He is, as both true God and true Man, capable of more than one mode of presence. He can be there as a Man, yet also here, with us, as a Man. This is the mystery that was hidden for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, as St Paul writes.
Behold, here is the Mystery - He is in heaven at the right hand of the Father, but He is also here, as both God and Man. There, as High Priest and Mediator. Here in His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. There as Advocate. Here in the Word. There pleading His precious Blood. Here in Holy Baptism. He is Jacob’s ladder. But we don’t climb up on Him to heaven. He brings heaven down to us.
And Ahaz, wherever he raises up his head, will not stop Him. This Sign - the Virgin shall conceived and bear a Son, our Immanuel, God with us - will not be stopped by vanity, violence, or lies. He has conquered sin and has conquered Ahaz as surely as He has conquered Assyria and Babylon.
All the children of God, all believers, are thus conceived. What we conceive is full of sin and dies. But what God conceives rises and ascends for it is life and salvation. All God’s children go the way of Christ who is your true Brother, by flesh and Spirit. For you were not born by the will of a man. You were born in water and in Word, born from above, and by His grace, are made virgin pure, being released from your fears and sins. You find your rest in Him.
And you will follow Him, not just in the way of suffering and the Cross - though you will drink the Cup He drank - but that is not the end or the goal. You will follow Him in the resurrection and the ascension to come. Thus do you sing and pray and wait. “O come, Thou Dayspring from on high and cheer us by Thy drawing night; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” (LSB 357:6)
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The Emmanuel for whom we pray, whom we bid come and ransom us from our lonely exile, is a sign against Ahaz. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (Is 7:14). Indeed, He is a sign against all fallen men, beginning with Adam. That is not how we are used to hearing that verse, but it is true. The virginal conception of Jesus Christ is a sign against our impotence. Of our culpability of standing idly by while Eve is seduced.
We are sinful. This is true. But its more than that. Everything we conceive is full of sin. Even, saddest of all, our children. Everything we conceive dies. Our malice and our greed, our lust and violence are passed on to our children. And those sins kill them.
Three hundred years after King David had his plans to build a house for the Lord, King Ahaz hatched his plans too. He had good reason to be afraid for his life and for his country. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had allied with Syria, the enemies of God’s people. They would march on Jerusalem together. Brother was against brother and a pagan country was mixed in.
But Ahaz conceived of a strategy that would make a corrupt politician proud. He would play his enemies against one another. He would outsmart them. Ask a sign of the Lord your God, the prophet told him. But he would not ask God for a sign because he didn’t trust God to give what he needed. He didn’t need platitudes about trust and letting go. He figured that what he needed were real and pragmatic things. And God simply couldn’t be trusted to give him those things. The steel of Syria’s swords wasn’t imaginary. He wanted something tangible. So he refused a sign from God. He rejected God’s Word. And he rejected it because he didn’t want God to interfere with his plans.
But God grows weary of men who feign piety. Who rely on philosophy and man’s wisdom to excuse themselves for their lack of faith and for their evil deeds. He is weary of men who twist His Word to bring it in conformity with modern sensibilities. Those who dismiss His Word as meaningless and impractical fluff. God will not be mocked with our false theologies and excuses. Repentance is needed.
The spirit of Ahaz is still with us. We are still tempted to his pretend piety. Sadder still, the spirit of David is still with us. The dangerous inclination to do what is in our hearts and call it pious. “Did I ask you to build Me a house?” The Lord has to correct not only David, but Nathan too. If kings and prophets are called to repentance, what of Christians and pastors? There is a pretend piety for every sinful man ever born. A false theology inherent in all of us. One is not better than another. God won’t wink at yours or not mind it as much as another’s. Repent.
But also rejoice. That which David desires to build, that for which Ahaz would not ask, the Lord God established. He gave. And it was better than David or Ahaz, or even Abraham for that matter, could have imagine or hoped! God establishes the House and Throne of David to give His people rest; to open wide their heavenly home. He conceives a Son in the Virgin’s womb. Not only to rescue men from a pagan oppressor, a military conqueror and enslaver, but from the devil himself. He is Wisdom, Branch, Key and Dayspring for our salvation. But He is also a Sign against our impotence.
You see, dear friends, despite our lies, rebellion, and hatred, in contrast to our philosophy, false theologies and pragmatism, God is with us. Our Immanuel. The Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. The Child born is called holy - the Son of God. He has taken up our flesh. He wears our skin. He moves about with muscles, bones, and cartilage of a Man. He was conceived in one of us. He has a body like ours taken from the Virgin’s womb.
And like our bodies, His Body was bruised and dying. Indeed, He was conceived and born for the very purpose of being bruised and crucified.
He has a human soul as well, for He is an actual Man. His soul was composed for the purpose of being separated from His Body, that He endure physical death in our place and be set, Adam-like, dust to dust, into the ground. He is one of us, in life and in death. He is with us. He is Immanuel who lives our life and dies our death.
Here is a sign for Ahaz and we who are prone to think like him: the Lord has come in the Flesh, into this dreary and deadly plain, to join our cause. To make us His. To deliver us not just from the Assyrians, but from hell itself. In this way, by the sign that Ahaz refused, but was spoken to the Virgin Mary, He is our Savior and has meet the enemy’s attack in Himself. In dying, He has broken down the prison bars that held us in. Hell swallowed Him and can take no more. He bursts it like new wine in an old wineskin. In rising He has paved the way to heaven. For if He lived our life and died our death, so also has He risen our resurrection and ascended our ascension.
All this the Lord has done not because we asked or because we believed or had the facts and details right. Mary doesn’t conceived the Child in her womb because she choses to or decided. He does it because He is good and His mercy endureth forever. He gives signs to those who refuse. But also graciously enables Virgins to respond in faith, Let it be to me according to your Word. He lived our life. He died our death. He has instituted our resurrection and ascension. In this way He has elevated our nature to the Father’s right hand. For He is still our Emmanuel. He is still with us.
He is still and forever God. But what we seem prone to forget, though, is that even now, even after the resurrection and ascension, He is still and forever Man. He was born as a Man. Lived as a Man. Died as a Man. Rose as a Man. Ascended as a Man. As a Man He sits at the Father’s right hand, receiving the throne of His father David, and establishing an eternal kingdom.
And yet, He is still with us. Having fulfilled the Father’s will, establishing a House and Kingdom, He does not deny Himself His divine rights and attributes as a Man. So He is, as both true God and true Man, capable of more than one mode of presence. He can be there as a Man, yet also here, with us, as a Man. This is the mystery that was hidden for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, as St Paul writes.
Behold, here is the Mystery - He is in heaven at the right hand of the Father, but He is also here, as both God and Man. There, as High Priest and Mediator. Here in His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. There as Advocate. Here in the Word. There pleading His precious Blood. Here in Holy Baptism. He is Jacob’s ladder. But we don’t climb up on Him to heaven. He brings heaven down to us.
And Ahaz, wherever he raises up his head, will not stop Him. This Sign - the Virgin shall conceived and bear a Son, our Immanuel, God with us - will not be stopped by vanity, violence, or lies. He has conquered sin and has conquered Ahaz as surely as He has conquered Assyria and Babylon.
All the children of God, all believers, are thus conceived. What we conceive is full of sin and dies. But what God conceives rises and ascends for it is life and salvation. All God’s children go the way of Christ who is your true Brother, by flesh and Spirit. For you were not born by the will of a man. You were born in water and in Word, born from above, and by His grace, are made virgin pure, being released from your fears and sins. You find your rest in Him.
And you will follow Him, not just in the way of suffering and the Cross - though you will drink the Cup He drank - but that is not the end or the goal. You will follow Him in the resurrection and the ascension to come. Thus do you sing and pray and wait. “O come, Thou Dayspring from on high and cheer us by Thy drawing night; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” (LSB 357:6)
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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