Then Jesus Came #3

 

Isaiah 7:10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

It has often be said that we should not ask God for a sign (based on the experience of Gideon and others), but here we have God actually calling on King Ahaz to ask for a sign.  That's because Ahaz did not want to hear from God what His plan, opinion, or will was.  So he refused to ask.  God gave him the message anyway. It was a two-fold announcement: one for the present and one for the future. The sign for the future was the virgin birth of Christ, His incarnation which we celebrate during Advent.  It displays the infinite wisdom of God - the way for our Savior to be both human and sinless, to be qualified to be our sacrifice for sin and to defeat sin at the same time.  It also brings up a question for us each to consider: are we willing to hear God's voice, or are we afraid He will interfere in our plans, our will, what we want to do? Are we, like Ahaz, wanting and willing to hear from Him?