Immanuel - God is with us!

God is with us! Immanuel! This Sunday – the Fourth Sunday of Advent – we focus on the prophecy of Isaiah 7:10-16.

¹⁰Again The Living God spoke to Ahaz: ¹¹“Request a sign of confirmation from The Living God, your God. Make it deep like the underworld or high like the sky.” ¹²And Ahaz said, “I will neither request nor test The Living God.”

¹³Then Isaiah said, “Hear, O House of David. Is it a little matter for you all to weary people that you weary also my God? ¹⁴Therefore, my God will give you all a sign: Look! The young woman is pregnant and about to give birth to a son. She will name him With-us-is-God. ¹⁵By the time he knows to reject evil and choose good, he will eat cream and honey. ¹⁶Before the youth knows to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings whom you abhor will be abandoned.” (Isaiah 7:10-16)

Isaiah 7 affirms God is with the House of David during this challenging period of its history. The name Immanuel carries this promise to ancient Judah. As Christians, we also affirm that God is with us in the person of Jesus, the Christ.

Reading Isaiah 7 during Advent reminds us of this profound truth: God’s promise of presence. In addition, God’s presence is a theme throughout the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel ends in Matthew 28:20 with the promise, “I will be with you until the end of the age.” Thus, “the final admonition of the gospel in 28:20 and the formula quotation in 1:23 effectively bookend Matthew’s gospel with the concept of the enduring presence of Emmanuel within the community.” (Richard Beaton, “Isaiah in Matthew’s Gospel,” in Isaiah in the New Testament, ed. Steve Moyise and Maarten J. J. Menken (London: T&T Clark, 2005), 63–78, here 65.)

Matthew reminds his first readers and readers down through the centuries of this powerful promise. So the promise of presence ties together the theological imaginations of Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1 with the Advent season. The theological promise of Immanuel (Emmanuel) may look different for King Ahaz’s and Matthew’s communities. Nevertheless, the promise is still available to both communities.

Speaking of God’s presence with us raises the question of God’s presence with others. It is tempting to focus so much on God with us (as contemporary Christians) that we forget God was with the Israelites and their leaders and God is also with others such as contemporary Jews and Muslims. This sentiment can be especially tricky to articulate given the broader context of Isaiah 7, which proclaims that two other nations will not succeed in the end.

Questions naturally arise. Is God still with them? Is God perhaps not in favor of their war-making? For God to be with Ahaz, does God turn away from other nations? These are enormously relevant questions for the Advent season. The season of Advent can be a time to remember and affirm God’s presence to all God’s creation. As Creator of the world, God’s Immanuel presence does not pertain only to Christians.

This passage, when situated within its originating context, helps us theologically ponder challenging issues during Advent. Whom is God with? In Isaiah 7 God promises to be with God’s people, the ancient Judahites; these people are obviously not Christians.

Isaiah 7 helps us to think about God’s presence with others throughout history and in today’s world, others who need Immanuel. How might we read this prophetic passage in ways that affirm God is present to all of God’s children?

A Benediction (Or Miscellaneous Thoughts)

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