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Following Jesus
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His Name Is
Apostles Creed
Dealing with Feelings
Jonah
Get Real
Promised Land Living

Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

Email:
Pastor Scott Carson

Secretary Patti Hall

PASTOR'S PENS 2007

Grace Church of Burlington December 9, 2007                    “The name we give to something shapes our attitude to it.”   Katherine Patterson               More than seven centuries before the arrival of the baby in Bethlehem, the southern kingdom of Israel, known as Judah, was ruled by a king called Ahaz. It was a time of great uncertainty for Judah with nations all around them preparing for war and aligning themselves in different combinations to try to maximize their chances of success. Two of Judah’s nearest neighbors, Syria and the northern kingdom of Israel (called Aram and Ephraim in Isaiah) moved together against Judah. King Ahaz was terrified of this prospect, his heart was shaken “as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind” (Isaiah 7:2). Rather than draw strength from the unique relationship that Israel had with God, rather than putting his trust in the Lord, King Ahaz sought an alliance with the nation of Assyria to try to defend Judah.             Here is the occupant of the throne of King David, one of God’s most faithful servants, turning from God and trying to find his strength and protection in political allegiances with ungodly nations. It’s into this situation, the prophet Isaiah came to Ahaz with both a promise and an offer: The promise was that the threat from Aram and Ephraim that Ahaz feared would come to nothing and the offer was to ask God for a sign to confirm His faithfulness to His people.             Nearly 3000 years later our focus is on the offer. God offered Ahaz the chance for any sign he wanted, all he had to do was ask. And King Ahaz turned God down! Oh, he dressed it up in right sounding language about not putting God to the test, but in reality he just simply had no time for God or for signs. God’s response was again twofold. Through Isaiah, God gave His own sign, and then also gave a warning that the disobedience of Ahaz would bring disaster on him and his kingdom.             So what was the sign? “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Remember that this was spoken at a time of crisis for God’s people. The Lord had long before promised to be with them and to be their God, but the very existence of the nation and of a relationship between them and God was under serious threat in the 8th century B.C. Into this context God makes a remarkable statement – the sign that He is faithful to His people, the sign that He will continue to act as their Savior, would come in the form of a virgin giving birth to a baby boy who would be given a name that means “God is with us.”             Some people try to belittle this sign by saying the Hebrew word for “virgin” means nothing more than “young woman.” That is simply not true. The word is “almah” and it is correctly  translated  as  virgin. It  definitely  means  a  woman  who  is not only unmarried, but who is also not immoral. In short, it definitely means what we understand the word ‘virgin’ to mean. Therefore, Isaiah is saying nothing less than that God will provide a miraculous child as His sign to Israel. And He did this almost 800 years later in the virgin birth of Jesus. As the words of the carol put it: “Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.” But wait, there’s more...             Isaiah 9 continues the prophecy and tells us that “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Over the course of the next few weeks we’ll be studying these names in more detail.             This morning we’re starting a new series: His Name Is. It’s based on this prophecy of our Lord’s coming that was given some seven hundred years before His birth. I trust that this series will be a blessing and an encouragement to you. I hope that it will give you a clearer and bigger picture of who Jesus is.             This prophecy is also a wonderful reminder that man cannot change what God wants done. We see that truth over and over again, particularly in the Old Testament. It does not therefore depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s grace, mercy and sovereignty. God is in control.             Isaiah wrote, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” and it happened. God always keeps His Word. As we work through these names over the next few weeks, please remember that the One Who is called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” is the One who you can completely trust! He always keeps His Word!