How was the birth of Jesus a sign to Ahaz? After all, the events of today’s passage happened more than 700 years before Jesus was ever born. Ahaz never heard the angels sing. He never saw what the wise men and the shepherds saw. How could he have drawn strength or encouragement from the tremendous fact of the Incarnation?

Well, that’s precisely the point. Remember, Ahaz didn’t want a sign from God (v. 12). Oh, he had tremendous problems. He was threatened with invasion by a coalition of foreign powers. But he wasn’t willing to trust God to save him.

And unfortunately, the same thing is true of so many people today. After all, when we face our own tough times, instead of looking to God to solve our problems don’t we often rely on our own ingenuity? Instead of trusting in the baby born of a virgin, Jesus Christ, don’t we sometimes give in to despair or discouragement? Instead of trusting in Immanuel, God with us, to rule over those forces too powerful for us to conquer, don’t we often lean on the advice of our friends, even if that advice doesn’t agree with the Scriptures? Do we ever rationalize away God’s Word in order to do what makes sense or feels good to us?

Well, the good news is that none of our disobedience can ever undo any of God’s promises. God promised that Ahaz would not be conquered by his enemies, and he wasn’t. And God still sent Jesus, Immanuel, to be a sign of His faithfulness to keep His promises.

But here’s the sad truth: because Ahaz wasn’t trusting in God’s faithfulness, he never saw that sign. And those today who look to their own reason or experience to solve their problems, those who rely on tradition or institutions or governments to protect them and keep them safe, well, they just might be missing the same sign as well. For unless we look to Jesus, we’ll never see God’s love or feel God’s peace or hear God’s truth – and we won’t find the best solutions to the worst of any of our problems, either.

Yes, God has given all of us a sign to prove His faithfulness – the sign of the manger and the cross and the empty tomb, the sign of Immanuel, the sign of Jesus. Will we look to that sign and trust God today?

Isaiah 7:10-17 (ESV)

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.
15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
17 The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah– the king of Assyria!”