Author: Wick

Isaiah 7:14 “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.”

Here we have the first appearance of the word we’re familiar with at Christmas. “Immanuel – which means ‘God with us'”. We hear it as part of the X-mas story, and smile inside. Warm fuzzies remind us that God is comforter, and brings peace, and desires good things for us. We align ourselves with our 4 year olds and remember “God is Bigger Than the Boogie Man“. Only our boogie men no longer have teeth and claws. They now they have bills, pink slips, pipe bombs, criminal records, more success than us, and take our taxes.

But looking at the first instances of the word “Immanuel”, (Isaiah 7:14, 8:8) we find something other than encouragement to be comforted. King Ahaz is not a very good king at all. (2 Kings 16) Disregarding the God of Israel, and even making sacrifices of his own children at the altar of pagan gods…Ahaz was pimping out Israel to whatever he thought might help.

Then in Isaiah, the Lord speaks to Ahaz. He basically offers to help make things right again, and wants to reveal himself as God to Ahaz. He even tells Ahaz to ask for a sign…anything at all. Ahaz knows his entire existence has been built up against the God of Israel, and pretends he doesn’t want to “put God to the test”, refusing to ask for a sign. Then God responds that He will give a sign anyway, and the center of it will be “Immanuel” which means “God with us.” This sounds like a good thing, as God says Ahaz no longer needs to worry about the two kings from the north. But then comes 7:17 – “he will bring the king of Assyria”. Judah is conquered by the Assyrians and eventually from that, the Babylonians. They experience many years of pain, suffering, oppression, and want. God uses those many years to remind His people of what it means to be a child of God.

Fast forward to the next time we see “Immanuel” in scripture..Matthew 1:23. The hearers of this word would not have immediately responded with joy alone. Imagine the intense fear and reverence, deferring whatever may come into the hands of God. Celebrating God’s coming, but knowing that it may mean letting go of life as we know it…ESPECIALLY the comfortable bits.

May we be challenged this week, just as Mary was, to bear Jesus into our worlds. May we respond “I am the Lords’ servant”, and be willing to carry His presence into our daily lives, knowing full well that it may change things entirely. May His Love, His forgiveness and grace, His Holiness & Spirit give source to new life within us…life that swallows up what once was. May Immanuel come, and may He begin here and now…

Isaiah 35:5-8 “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.”

There is this discussion on holiness, and holy living. A response to God, a transformation God works in our hearts, a way of living that proclaims Jesus as Lord and no other. A Spirit-sourced life bringing thing, from which we draw our identities and toward which we lean our lives.

There is sometimes the unspoken assumption that things will be completely different when God completes what has begun. Indeed things will be entirely different. But what will remain is the way of Holiness we catch mere glimpses of today. And not just “present”, but celebrated and traveled by God’s people. It won’t be stumbled on accidentally, as seen in the scripture above. It will be “for him who walks that way” literally.

We have joy that this “way of walking” that we are learning, is not temporary. It is not a way of existing we train ourselves toward, in order to “earn” eternity with God, or to “prove” we can make the cut, or that we’re sincere enough, etc. We learn this way of walking, because it is the way we will walk when Heaven and Earth are joined as one, and God is poured out – transforming the very nature of everything. We are given the Holy Spirit to enable us to walk today in the way we will walk forever.

May that give us joy, as the decisions we make and our life is transformed…sometimes in ways that seem uncomfortable in the moment. We know it’s not about this moment, or even tomorrow. It is about the way we will be existing forever in the presence. May we live in a way that invites others to join in walking a life responding to God. A life that joins Peter on the water. That joins John and Paul in their cells. That joins the disciples in welcoming the resurrected Christ, and receiving His Spirit that transforms us and begins something that will never end…