But Ahaz said, “I will not ask (for a sign); I will not put the Lord to the test.”

Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you House of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of My God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son and they will call Him Immanuel.”

It happened in 1946 in the atomic laboratory in Los Alamos. Dr. Louis Slotin and seven co-workers were experimenting with several pieces of plutonium, which by themselves were relatively harmless but could be deadly if placed in the wrong combinations. Suddenly the instruments in the laboratory registered an upsurge of neutrons- a sign that a chain reaction had begun. The room was filling with deadly radioactivity. All would soon perish. Dr. Slotin acted at once. He yanked the pieces of plutonium apart with his bare hands. In doing so he saved his coworkers but he exposed himself to an overwhelming dosage of radioactivity and died nine painful days later he of radiation sickness.

When God became Immanuel – God with us, He didn’t come into the world as a safe sterile laboratory to study how things were down here. He became part of our world- our sinful, corrupt world, a world where death lurks all around. It was sin and death that He got all over His hands knowing that it would painfully kill Him, but He did it to save us!

In our Old Testament lesson, Judah under the rule of corrupt King Ahaz is in real peril. Israel, the Northern Kingdom that broke away from Judah after the days of Solomon, had allied itself with Syria and they were coming south to attack Judah. King Ahaz and the people were not certain that they could defeat these enemies. Their hearts were shaken just as the trees of a forest are imperiled by a strong wind. Living in Boulder we understand how a strong wind can imperil even the seemingly strongest tree.

The hearts of people are shaking. King Ahaz is shaking. They are in need of a sign, a sign that they would not have to fight this battle alone. God through the prophet Isaiah came to Ahaz to assure him that if he would trust in the Lord, the God of David, that these enemies would not be able to defeat them. God told him in the 7th verse (7.7) It will not take place. God called on Ahaz and the people of Judah to stand firm in their faith.

But their enemies looked so powerful, so overwhelming. To believe in God was one thing but to trust Him against archers, war chariots, and endless lines of infantry was quite another. They needed a sign of God’s favor, a sign of God’s trustworthiness and strength. They needed a sign that God was with them and for them.

And again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

We, too, are in need of a sign. Enemies besiege us. Our enemies are numerous and seemingly overwhelming. There are Islamic extremists; we are reminded that they could and will most likely strike again, but there other enemies just as real and just as certain: crime, addictions, accidents, and unfairness. What if we contract one of those long-term debilitating diseases? How about the giant of an uncertain financial situation; what about dying before our time? How about the enemies of selfishness and those who blatantly disregard the needs of others? Our enemies are real. We, too, need a sign that God is with us and for us that He will take care of us.

And again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” “You name it and I will do it”, says the Lord. Do you want me to make the sun to go backwards as I did in the days of King Hezekiah? Do you want me to cleanse a leper as in the days of Elijah? Part the sea…you name it and I will do it, declares the Lord. But Ahaz suffered from weak faith and a sinful heart. He knew all that God stuff; he knew all the stories, but he feared the things of this world more than he feared and trusted the One who created it.

Ahaz didn’t want a sign. He says, I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test, but it isn’t because he has great faith, quite to the contrary, he has little or no faith. He has faith that is like mine at times, and probably like yours. Oh, we believe in here on Sundays but when our enemies of ill-heath, or unfairness, or uncertainty come against us we put down God, we throw down God and seek earthly alliances and earthly solutions. We profess great love and trust in God and in the next breath we sin grievously against God putting our trust in the things of this world or not believing God is at work answering our prayers.

Ahaz didn’t want a sign from God because he’d already put his trust in an alliance he’d made with the Assyrians. He had in effect made a deal with the devil. The Assyrians would come and defeat Israel and Syria but they would then turn on Judah.

Despite Ahaz’s unfaithfulness God would not be put off. Whether Ahaz wanted a sign or not God would give one to him and one for future generations, to you and to me. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: a virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel which means “God with us.”

The sign was, as we now know, fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Out Gospel text today tells us that although Mary was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph and although they had not “come together” she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. She did give birth to that Son and that Son was God in flesh appearing for in Him the fullness of God dwelt, lived among us.

The birth of Jesus is then the sign that God is for us- a sign of His favor. Jesus is the sign that God loves us and will take care us. We see this in dramatic fashion. Remember how Ahaz feared his enemies? Well, Jesus came to defeat our enemies the greatest of which are sin, death, and the devil. He did that by laying down His life for us. He did it by suffering and dying for the all the times we sought to make alliances with a crumbling and deceitful world; He did it for all the times we feared “them” more than we trusted God; He did for all the times we doubted his ability and desire to save us, protect us, and provide for us. He did it by dying on a cross and rising again to life on the third day.

And what will be the signs that God is for us? They will be: baptism. He saved us by a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit which He poured out generously upon us. (Titus 3.5) Look to the font and see where God rescued you as you were drowning in sin.

He has given us the sign of His Word, words which create and sustain our faith. For it is written “Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of God.” (Romans 10.17) and He has given us His Supper. A meal not just of bread and wine eaten in remembrance of Him but a meal where He has joined Himself in a real way, yet sacramental way, to the bread and wine. All that is God coming to us and saying I am here with you and for you. I fight for you. My victory over sin, death, and the devil is your victory. I am with you now and to the end of the age. I will be with you and for you in all things, not just the big things but in all things.

All around us are people like the workers in that laboratory in Los Alamos who were in real peril. The workers set off a chain reaction by experimenting with plutonium. Well, all around are people who done worse and are doing worse. They are experimenting with sin, dabbling with it, embracing it, chasing after it and it has a disastrous consequence- death and eternal damnation. They, like us, are in need of hearing of the One who saved us from that fate. They, like us, need to hear about Jesus - a Jesus who comes to us and for. Amen.