The sign of hope: Immanuel

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

What a dark time for the people of God, for Judah. The king of Syria is about to attack Judah and divide the country. And king Ahaz, do not know what to do. The dark clouds hang over the country, there is an invasion coming and there's only one thing that can save them: faith in God.

Isaiah is sent to the king and must speak words of hope. The enemy will not beat you, but you have to believe it. You should not be afraid, because they can actually do anything. God can stop them, he will make sure that nothing happened, but then you have to believe that God will do. You even get a sign from God, so that you can be sure that God will keep His Word. But Ahaz thanks for the character, with beautiful words he says he does not want God to the test. And that is precisely not what God wants to hear. Confidence must be in God, but not nice words. Since God pierces through, and if we are not open to God, we keep fooling ourselves. For God knows us through and through.

But Isaiah is the words of God: I will give you a sign. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel. And that sign is the salvation for humanity. Not only for Judah, but for all the nations on earth. But Judah is already occupied by other nations, where the sign will come out. For it will be only 700 years later and this is not only a sign to the king, but for the whole world.

God gave us this sign 2000 years ago. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and Jesus is the Son of God and at the same time God himself. Immanuel, God with us. And that sign was not just for the people of that time, but also for you and me a sign. The promise from Isaiah, 700 years before Christ was born, is also a promise for us has been fulfilled. For here we can see how faithful God, He keeps His promises and so has sent a Savior to save us from the great enemy. This character can give us security in times of doubt and this sign we can cling. God is with us and He has fought the battle for us.

The hope that we can draw from this, we read in Revelation 12 and the subsequent chapters. The battle is heavy, the cost is high, but the victory is certain. Child has defeated death, the boy has overcome sin and paid the penalty, and the child will eventually give the death blow to the dragon. Jesus reigns! And nothing and no one can change this simple truth. Evil fights until the end all will be destroyed when Jesus returns. But evil can not win. We stand strong by the power of the blood.

So we may face in life, so we may live in Advent. Yes, we may soon celebrate Christmas, because the child has overcome and will never let us hold out his hand. The fight is tough, sin always draws heavily on us, the devil wants us in his possession, but Christ is on our side. He asks believe in His words, in His work and He is with us, Immanuel!