DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

The Nativity in the Flesh of our Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ       December 25, 2007

Prophecy 6th Royal Hour: Isaiah 7:10-16; 8:1-4, 8-10

Epistle: Galatians 4:4-7                                                                        Gospel: St. Matthew 2:1-12

 

Immanuel: Isaiah 7:10-16; 8:1-4, 8-10 LXX, especially vs. 14: “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold, the Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His Name Immanuel.”  This present passage begins (vs. 10) in the middle of a conversation (Is. 7:3-9) between God the Almighty, “the Lord of Hosts” (Is. 7:7), and King Ahaz of Judah.  The Lord spoke to the king through His Prophet Isaiah.  It was a time of national crisis, an attack on the nation of Judah.  Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, had formed a military coalition and come up “against Jerusalem to war against it” (Is. 7:1).  Their intent had been to remove Ahaz as king of Judah and put “the son of Tabeel” (Is. 7:6) on the throne.  They were motivated by the desire to survive the aggression of the Assyrian empire, actively conquering the entire region.  The Syrian and Ephraimite kings first tried to convince Ahaz to join them in an anti-Assyrian coalition, but Ahaz refused, and so they sought to effect a coup d’etat and establish a friendly government in Jerusalem.

Isaiah reports that the soul of King Ahaz “was amazed, and the soul of his people, as in a wood a tree is moved by the wind” (Is. 7:2).  In response, God was seeking to reassure the king: “take care to be quiet, and fear not, neither let your soul be disheartened because of these two smoking firebrands: for when My fierce anger is over, I will heal again....This counsel shall not abide” (Is. 7:4,7).  However, King Ahaz was not convinced, and so the Lord invited the nervous king, “ask for yourself a sign of the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height” (Is. 7:11).  Ahaz, not able to see beyond his fear, evaded the Divine offer of reassurance with a pious demur: “I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord” (vs. 12).

The Lord’s response to King Ahaz touched both the depth of the creation, that is, the lowly earth and all its inhabitants, as well as the height of all God’s creation, the visible and the invisible.  By the power of God from Heaven, that which is impossible in the depths of earth is to occur: “the virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son” (vs. 14).  And thus, the poor, ineffectual, unbelieving, and timid king of Judah is told of the wondrous Incarnation of God in the flesh.  Further, he is informed of the child’s dual nature (being fully God and fully man), “you shall call his name Immanuel” (vs. 14), that is, to say, “God with us.”

The remainder of the reading focuses on the work of Immanuel - of God with us.  First, the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus is revealed: “before the child shall know good or evil, He refuses evil, to choose the good” (vs. 7:16).  In this prophetic utterance, the Lord declared centuries in advance the birth of our Savior that the Apostle affirmed after the death and Resurrection of Christ our God: “we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but [One Who] was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). 

Then, God directed His counsel to the immediate circumstances of the Syro-Ephraimite invasion and the looming threat of Assyria.  These were temporal threats with consequences for the nations of mankind at a certain point in history, but in no way would their plans disrupt the counsel of God.  Centuries later the counsel of Herod and Pilate would lead to the crucifixion of Christ and would scatter the Disciples, but those decisions did “not stand...for God is with us” (Is. 8:10).  “Whatsoever counsel [men] shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought” wherever it conflicts with His purpose to give eternal life in Christ Jesus.  “For God did not send [Immanuel] into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (Jn. 3:17).

God is with us, understand, O ye nations, and submit yourselves: for God is with us.  Hear ye unto the ends of the earth, for God is with us (Is. 8:10, as used in Great Compline).

Return to the December Calendar