Emmanuel Foretold
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Emmanuel Foretold
Isaiah 7:10-16
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-18
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25
One of the most amazing things that we may see throughout scripture is the promises of God being fulfilled. Prophecy becoming reality. This can only be found in scripture. No where else in writings or in history do we see such things actually happening. Sure, some people may predict the weather and every once in awhile they may get it right but this does not make the weatherman a prophet. Sure, there are people who look at data and events and predict how things might unfold. This to does not make them a prophet. Only in scripture do we find prophecy foretold in such detail and then see these details unfold exactly how they were prophesied. Our scripture in Isaiah today shows this miracle coming forth in exact detail.
Isaiah was writing in the time of King Ahaz of Judah. King Ahaz was actually a wicked king. He joined forces with the king of Assyria to fight back against Israel and Aram which were attacking Jerusalem. In order to impress the king of Assyria Ahaz gave into all sorts of idol and pagan worship. He removed the altar of the Lord and replaced it with the pagan altar and cut to pieces many articles from within the temple. Although he did keep the altar of the Lord in safe keeping to acquire of the Lord when needed. Even though he is an evil king the Lord still protects Judah from falling. Before we get to our passage Ahaz is dealing with these attacks on his kingdom and the Lord is communicating through Isaiah for him to remain calm and to trust in the Lord. In the middle of all of this the Lord gives Ahaz permission to ask for any sign of how things will be ok. Ahaz claims that he will not put the Lord to the test. However, he gives this prophecy and sign anyway. To me it seems kind of random that suddenly God fits this prophecy into the middle of everything. It almost seems off subject to the topic at hand. Nevertheless, the Lord still delivers this message and sign nearly 750 years before it is to take place. This prophecy foretold the coming of one who will save the entire world. It tells us exactly in detail of how this promise will be fulfilled. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Fast forward 700 plus years and we see in Matthew chapter 1 the lineage of Immanuel. I find it an interesting fact that it so happens that Ahaz the evil king also happens to be part of that lineage. It wasn’t just some off shoot from David’s line. It was part of the royal lineage. By all rights Joseph should have been king of Israel and yet we see him in this humble of circumstances that also breeds righteousness in him. His wife is found to be with child before they have even come together as one. Well, if all you know a understand is of the natural world it would seem obvious that Mary had been naughty. However, Joseph in being righteous and still caring he did not want to make such a big deal about the situation to where as it would cause harm to Mary but instead, he was going to try to divorce her in secret from the rest of the village. However, an angel speaks to Joseph in a dream and reveals to him the promise of the prophecy being fulfilled. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.” This promise shows that Mary had not sinned and that Joseph did not have to worry about taking her as his wife.
On a sidenote, how interesting it is that the world has changed in regards to this. Men and women seldom save themselves for marriage and if this were to happen in today’s world, would Joseph really have worried so much about Mary being a virgin or not before marriage? In any case though he really did not need to worry because Mary in fact was still a virgin. God’s promises were being fulfilled and at the timing in which it needed to be fulfilled and in the exact detail in which it was said to be fulfilled. To me this is the most wild and amazing thing to ever happen in the history of the world. God with us in this world as a child to grow into a man.
Paul also points to this very thing at the beginning of his letter to the Romans. Paul claims to be set apart for the gospel of God. He even says as I said earlier, “the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.” Paul is basically saying that we don’t have to take his word for these facts for the facts themselves are written in the prophecies hundreds of years before all this took place. He even describes how in his earthly life was a descendant of David. When we read about them calling Jesus the son of David in the gospels, I think we tend to see this as a term or name of divinity. However, I would not be so sure. They are speaking this because they know that he is in fact a descendant of David and therefore they call him as such because they have this knowledge. When they are calling him the son of David, they are acknowledging his royal lineage. Which in retrospect was probably another reason why the Pharisees did not like him. Through his resurrection he was appointed as the Son of God in power. Through him all the Gentiles are called to obedience that comes from faith in his name. The Romans were among those gentiles and we today are also among those Gentiles.
There are many other prophecies through out scripture that have been fulfilled and many still to be fulfilled as we read them in Revelation. However, it is blatantly obvious through out scripture that it does not matter how many years pass in between the prophecy and it being fulfilled, we can be sure with certainty that it will be fulfilled. We can sure with certainty that God will fulfill His promises. We know all of this to be true because Emmanuel was foretold and Emmanuel came just in the same way as he was foretold. It was foretold that he will come again in the same way that his disciples saw him leave. What does this mean for us today then? It means that He will return and He will return in the same way that we are told that He left. It was foretold just as Emmanuel was foretold.
Christmas is just 7 days away. I believe that this Christmas will be a special Christmas and a lot of it is because of the way that the calendar is playing out this year. It is very rarely the case that we would complete 4 weeks of advent leaving one more full week left for Christmas day. 7 days has always been a special number since the beginning of time and all creation. I believe that this signifies something special just as special as Emmanuel foretold.