God with Us

Jesu Juva

Matthew 1:18-25                                       

December 21, 2025

Advent 4A           

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        King Ahaz was scared to death—literally shaking like a leaf.  His enemies to the north had forged an alliance and were planning an attack on Jerusalem and Judah.  The entire kingdom was on high alert—Def-Con 1.  Troops were mobilizing.  Battle stationed were manned.  War was imminent.  King Ahaz was terrified.  His heart sank. 

        Right then the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to reassure the troubled king.  The Lord’s message was simple and direct: Don’t worry.  Don’t do anything.  Fear not.  Be still and know that I am God.  Those two kings you’re so worried about are about to go down in flames.  Don’t be afraid.  Trust me.  And as if that wasn’t already the best news possible, Isaiah sweetens the pot even further: “Ask for a sign from the Lord—anything you want.  Whatever it takes to convince you that the Lord is with you—just name your price.”

        But Ahaz—faithless Ahaz said, “Thanks . . . but no thanks.  Far be it from me to put the Lord to the test.  I’ll handle things my way.”  Can you imagine?  The Lord promises that your biggest problem—the thing that keeps you up at night and fills your heart with fear—will be handled by the Lord.  Problem solved!  You don’t have to do a thing.  And for good measure—the Lord will give you a sign—whatever you want—to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Lord is with you.  And you say, “Nah.”

        Isaiah gives Ahaz a sign anyway—whether he wants one or not: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.  Now, what Ahaz would have heard is this:  In the time it takes for a young maiden to conceive and bear a son—in nine short months—you will know Immanuel, God is with us.  Nine months, Ahaz.  Be still and know that I am God for nine months, and it will be unmistakably apparent, God is with us.  And by the time the kid is old enough to know the difference between good and evil, those two kings up north will have been dealt a fatal blow by the Assyrian Empire.

        But Ahaz did not believe it.  He did not trust.  He had no faith in the Lord.  He preferred to take control.  He preferred to engineer and orchestrate his own solution and protection.  He’d fight his own battles—secure his own salvation—thank you very much.  But refuse the Lord’s salvation, there’s nothing more foolish and faithless than that. 

        And then came nothing.  Nothing happened.  O sure, the threat from the north faded away, just like Isaiah said it would.  The sign of Immanuel, promised by Isaiah, was written down, recorded and filed away.  For 700 years the sign of Immanuel lay hidden like a seed buried in the soil of history, waiting for the fullness of time, when the stump of David’s family tree would sprout a righteous branch. 

And then, something.  Something happened that had never happened before.  The Word of the Lord came to a young virgin named Mary who was engaged to a man named Joseph.  And now she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  With God nothing is impossible.  A virgin conceives.  God is with us.

        The sign of Immanuel, first spoken by Isaiah seven centuries earlier, now takes on its fullest meaning.  It is fulfilled.  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  God is with us.  He is one with us; and He is one of us.  And God became one of us by way of a virgin mother.

        Mary and Joseph didn’t know anything about genetics or chromosomes, or DNA.  But they did know a thing or two about where babies come from.  Virgins don’t conceive.  One of the interesting conversations not recorded in Scripture would have to be the conversation where Mary tells Joseph (her betrothed) about the special baby she’s carrying.  Of course, Joseph didn’t believe her—not at first.  He wanted to call off the marriage.  But he was also a pious and decent man.  Instead of exposing Mary to public shame and humiliation, he planned to divorce her quietly so that she could marry the father of her child.

        But then, something happened: The Word of the Lord came to Joseph.  It’s always the Word—to Ahaz, to Mary, to Joseph—to you.  The power is in the Word.  And the Word of the Lord comes to Joseph in a dream. This Joseph dreams, just like the Joseph in Genesis dreamed.  An angel in a dream tells Joseph what Isaiah once said to Ahaz long ago: Don’t worry.  Fear not. Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife.  Things are not as they appear.  Her child is not from another man but from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you (Joseph!) you (as his surrogate father and guardian) you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.  And then Matthew adds a footnote that brings everything full circle—from prophecy to fulfillment:  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with Us).

        There are lots of miracles going on here.  First of all, a virgin conceives.  It’s biologically impossible, but with God nothing is impossible.  An even greater miracle is that Joseph believed it—believed the Word of the Lord.  That’s the miracle of faith.  Joseph heard the Word and the Word worked faith in Joseph.  Unlike King Ahaz, who rejected the sign of Immanuel, Joseph received it and believed it and acted according to it.  He took Mary to be his lawfully wedded wife.  Joseph heard and believed and did what the Lord asked of him. 

And it wouldn’t be the last time.  Come back next Sunday and you’ll hear about another dream where Joseph is warned to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt.  If I’m Joseph, I’d have to think twice before going to sleep.  Each time the Word comes to Joseph, he is inconvenienced, challenged, pushed, pulled, and tested.  And quietly, faithfully, Joseph obeys. In fact, there’s not a single word from Joseph recorded in the Bible.  Joseph just walks by faith.  He’s the strong, silent type.  His actions speak louder than any words.

        Think of faithful Joseph the next time you are inconvenienced because of your faith.  Or the next time you are led by God outside your usual zone of comfort and complacency.  Or the next time you’re shaking like a leaf with fear.  Or the next time you doubt that God will do what He has promised.  Or the next time doing the right thing means that you will be mocked or persecuted, or worse.  Think of Joseph, the husband of a pregnant virgin, a man of faith who believed the impossible, and by that faith did what was given him to do, without saying a word.  Think of Joseph, the silent surrogate father of our Lord.

As the father figure, it fell to Joseph that on the eighth day he—Joseph—would be the first man among men to name and claim Jesus as the Son of God and his Savior.  And for all the times when you haven’t lived like faithful Joseph—for all the times when you have lived by lies, faithlessly and selfishly and fearfully—remember the reason for the season—the reason why God sent His Son and why we will celebrate for twelve days beginning Thursday:  He (Jesus) will save His people from their sins. 

From conception to death, from the womb to the tomb, from the wood of the manger to the wood of the cross—see how much you are loved by God.  Through faith in His Son you are justified.  You are sanctified.  And the Lord Himself gives you the signs to prove it! (Even without your asking!)  You are washed in holy baptism (like little Erik), and fed in His holy supper.  These sacramental signs run higher than heaven—showing that your sins are forgiven, and declaring definitively:  God is with us. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.