IMMANUEL

The two figures wending their way to the fuller’s field were coming with a message of hope. Isaiah and his son, Shear- jashub, approached the kingwho was preparingto defend Jerusalem against attack by the enemy alliance of Syria and Israel. The king was Ahaz, a godless monarch, whose disastrous reign had caused the Lord to bring Judah low, 2 Chron. 28.19.

The message they brought was that Ahaz should ask a sign of the Lord and, by so doing, acknowledge that Jehovah was God. If he refused to make alliances with the world, the Lord would deliver Judah. This the king would not do, under the guise that he could not possibly put God to the test in this way, but leaving unsaid his intention of allying himself with Assyria. Isaiah’s response is that despite this refusal the Lord will give a sign, for ‘a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel’, v. 14. What a momentous message this! The coming One was none other than ‘God with us’.

And how great a sign this would be! It was a miraculous sign in that a virgin would conceive, something that only God could bring about; a sign of condescending grace, that He would become a man, making the great stoop from the highest height of glory. He who was rich becoming poor. He before whom seraphim sang ‘Holy, holy, holy’ coming to live in the midst of sin. He who was in the bosom of the Father, lying in the arms of Mary. Great mystery, great wonder, but what great comfort! ‘God manifest in flesh’, caring for us so much that He was willing to ‘make himself of no reputation’.

His coming brings hope to the hopeless, light to those in darkness and life to those who are dead in sins. So many years before His birth Isaiah had promised it, and, like all the promises of God, it was fulfilled. Let us rest on Him with confidence. Let not doubt or wavering intervene. No matter how long a waiting period, look up! He will keep His word!

‘Brightness of th’eternal glory
Shall Thy praise unuttered lie?
Who would hush the heaven-sent story
Of the Lamb who came to die?’ [Robert Robinson]