God with us

All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/isa.7.14.NLT

Did you know the background of this verse? King Ahaz had been told by God to ask for a sign and he refused, probably for religious reason of not wanting to test God. King Ahaz was being threatened by Jerusalem and its allies and the king was in fear. God said, through the prophet Isaiah, "it will not happen!" For refusing to ask for a sign the king is rebuked by Isaiah for trying God's patience, and then Isaiah prophesied the above verse.

My natural inclination is to question, why? Why this prophesy when a natural man is having natural threats made against him? The prophesy goes on to talk about the child born of the virgin (Young maiden) will grow to a knowledge of right from wrong, generally considered age 12. There is a belief that the young woman is actually Isaiah's wife in the immediate instance but Mary in Matthew. How did that help this King? The Northern Kingdom and those who plotted against King Ahaz were indeed dealt with, within 13 years. However verse 9 gives Ahaz a warning, 'if you do not stand in your faith,  you do not stand at all'.

How does this help us? We have before us a celebration of the Messiah, Jesus, who did come, He dies for our sins, and rose again. He sent the promised Holy Spirit. He not only lived among mankind personally, His Holy Spirit does now as well. We have God in our midst. We have the same challenge, will I stand in my faith or fold?

I will stand. How about you?

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