Advent IV Year A – Preached at St Matthew’s Carver Street
Isaiah 7:10-14
Psalm 24
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-24
Ahaz the king of Judah faced an insurmountable enemy. Rezin the king of Syria had joined forces with Pelkah king of Israel and were marshalling along the northern border preparing to invade, to conquer, and to depose Ahaz. Of course it comes as no surprise that the ancient world is not all that different to our own. With the long and uneasy ceasefire enforced by the amassing of nuclear weapons in the 20th century being the notable exception, empires have expanded, nations have struggled, and tribes have quarrelled in every age and place. Ahaz in the 7th century before Christ plays his part in the drama of history, leading Judah who were at odds with their brother Israel in the north. The two sons of the great king Solomon, the son of David, had divided their father’s inheritance and began the slow yet inexorable decline which would end with both kingdoms conquered and the people dragged off into Exile.
From might and glory to shame and subjugation.
Yet Israel and Judah are not like the other nations. Long forgotten, these nations were forged by the promise and providence of the God who had saved them from slavery in Egypt and delivered them into this fruitful land to be His beloved people and to be witnesses to the goodness and justice of Godso that all the other Nations would see and also put their trust in God. It is the promise and pursuit of God, (whose discipline and anger might continue to the third or fourth generation, but whose steadfast love and faithfulness continues to the thousandth) which marks out this story as one worth reading more than all the petty triumphs and squalid atrocities of the heathens.
This faithfulness is why the Lord visits and speaks to Ahaz in today’s reading from the Old Testament. The Lord sends the great prophet Isaiah with a Word for Ahaz, assuring him that though Syria and Israel threaten now their kingdoms will not endure forever. While Ahaz may have his eyes set on his own glory and his own security the Lord remembers his promise to the House of David that he would dwell with them and through them would reveal Himself to all the nations. And so in the midst of their transitory squabble the Lord challenges Ahaz to ask him for a sign – a sign that He has not given up on His inheritance, a sign of His presence and His faithfulness.
As we heard, Ahaz comes across as rather pious. We know don’t we that it is wrong to test God. He asks for our humble trust. Ahaz demurs “I will not put the Lord to the test” but the Lord is not impressed. God knows Ahaz he has seen his actions. He has seen how Ahaz looked with envy at the success of the Assyrians and built an Altar to their false gods; he sold off the precious things which had been given to the Lord God in the temple so desperate was he for financial security; and in the darkest of desperations seeking the attention of the heathen gods he slaughtered his own son as a twisted offering of blood.
The Lord has not come to speak to Ahaz on account of any great piety of his own. He has come to visit him in pure and unmerited grace. But even this grace is rejected. And so the Lord speaks up, not remembering Ahaz’s sins but remembering what He promised to the House of David:
“Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel”
Ahaz betrayed the God who had been faithful to him. He betrayed the faith of his ancestors. He had even made a demonic offering of the flesh and blood of his precious son. The answer from Heaven, from the Throne of God is that this man-made offering, all these desperate works to save himself, are not accepted. I suppose many of us think of these matters as exciting history and pity the regressive ignorance of Iron-age tribes who think the course of the wind or the whims of emperors can be moved by shrieking sacrifice, but when we re-name the gods “success”, “security”, “safety”, “wealth”, or “peace” we may discover that the deepest parts of us still believe they can be bought by some bargain with powers greater than ourselves.
God confronts us like he did Ahaz. What do we ask of Him? Do we trust in His promise or do we turn away in doubt? God knows all the secret ways by which we doubt Him and declares an impossible sign:
A virgin will conceive and bear a son.
Ahaz sought his security by bartering his own children to bend the ear of heaven. But God will bring forth a son not by our wanting, nor our begging, nor any other wicked scheme that we may devise. God will beget a Son by His own power, as a pure gift, responding to His own ancient promise that the House of David “shall be established forever” and this promised Son shall “build a house for my Name”.
Kings and rulers may have in mind their own times or perhaps the generation of their children. But God’s promised Son, a king of the House of David yes but destined to be a King for all people, does not come to solve Ahaz’s temporary foreign security problem. The prophecy is given but this is not the time of its fulfilment. There is still much that must transpire before the Advent of the Son of God.
The years move on and the old Kingdoms of Israel and Judah fade into memory and song, a vestigial political unit called “Judah” remains as an administrative region in the Roman empire. The descendants of the once-glorious Kingdom of David dwell in it though many are scattered across the world. Life goes on and people work and worship, they marry and have children, they go to their rest.
And a man called Joseph loves a woman called Mary.
He has asked for her hand in marriage but during their engagement it becomes apparent that Mary is pregnant. Matthew calls Joseph “a just man” which sounds to us like a perfunctory description put in to be glossed over. But Joseph is a son of David’s line. His ancestry includes the child-sacrificing Ahaz along with innumerable adulterers, idolators, fools, traitors, doubters, and murderers. The Line of David is not replete with men of intrgrity. But here, and this might be a clue as to why Our Lord has waited so long to bring forth the promised Child, in the Carpenter from Nazareth, finally one of David’s heirs reveals himself to be the wise man the book of the Proverbs looked for. Mary is with child; righteousness would command the man who is the father to take Mary as his wife and so Joseph seeks to release her from the engagement.
Joseph walks in wisdom, he is a just man. But studied insight does not disclose to him the full truth. That comes to him unbidden while he sleeps. An angel visits him not just with a word about his future but with a reminder of his past:
Joseph son of David! Remember who you are! Remember what God has promised!
Long ago your ancestor heard how a virgin will conceive. The woman you have chosen to be your wife: She is the Virgin! I suppose all those who marry seek the best possible spouse and Mary and Jospeh have found purity and prudence in one-another.
Joseph! Son of David! You have a mission. The time has come for your line to be raised up again because the One promised who would sit on David’s throne is here. Joseph! Son of David! You must give him a name. It is one you have heard before: Joshua which means “our God saves”. But the salvation He will being is not like the first Joshua who saved the people from the wilderness wanderings and brought them to the Promised Land. No, this Jesus will save people from their sins. Sin, the disobedience which turns us away from God and makes us into His enemies, has ensnared the human race since our first parents and has devoured generation after generation. Sin, which leads us – drags us – to the gloomy depths of eternal death. God has preserved and rescued this little kingdom of Judah so that from it may come a Saviour who will pay the price of all our sins and restore us to friendship with God again.
The Lord Jesus Christ in twofold in nature. From this announcement as Jesus (Joshua) the heir of the Kingdom of David he is revealed to be a Man, fully human purposed to be our deliverer. But in that ancient Prophecy of the Virgin conceiving He is not called Joshua. He is given another name:
Emmanuel
By the power of the Holy Spirit God Himself has assumed Flesh in the Womb of Mary. God keeps His word: He will dwell with us. He will live amongst us. And this is not because now, of all times in history, there is finally some new offering made, some new standard of holiness met, some particularly ardent prayer made. No, God has become flesh in order to save us from our sins and to bring peace to all creation.
And after the long years of Israel’s sad story we know that we will never regain our original Friendship with God by overcoming our sins.
The sin which has trapped us in the cruel cogs of history and circumstance will be overcome by the Lord Jesus Christ who, overcoming our sins for us, now calls us to be His friends.
Emmanuel, God with us. Amen.
Finally Human 