Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
God's stated desire is to bless His people. We seem surprisingly slow to get the memo. In Isaiah 7:10-14, God asks King Ahaz to name a sign he would like to see from God. "Whatever the sign you want to see to know God's favor, name it." Ahaz responds by saying he is too humble to receive a sign from God.
Why is it that we think our humble refusal to trust God's stated will is actually humble? It says that God's promise is not needed. It refuses God's grace. Ahaz effectively says he would find God's gift useless.
The God of the Bible is not ready to let Ahaz or any of us call the shorts. He is going to do something to demonstrate the validity of his promise. But now he will choose the sign. Ahaz doesn't get to choose.
God's sign, given to Israel, is also given to us at a later date. The virgin (Isaiah uses a word which can indicate a young woman who is not necessarily a virgin) will conceive and bear a child. Not much of a sign in itself, but if you were looking for a king born of a young woman, you would find someone who fit the description. In Christ, we have an actual virgin and an inexplicable pregnancy.
Jesus is the one we look for. He is God's sign, the favored one, God with us. We dare not refuse him.
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