Devotion 12.8.23

Isaiah 7

13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

When I was a freshman in college, I came home at the logical times of year to visit: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break.  I called on a girl I had dated in high school when I came home, and each of those times, I was told she was unavailable. It turns out that she had been shipped off due to a pregnancy produced in a relationship in her first year of college. That is what you did in those days (the practice was coming to an end at that time, but people still put their daughters in hiding if they became pregnant out of wedlock).

Isaiah is prophesying to King Ahaz, but his prophecy, God's promise, will take place much later. The story Isaiah foretold will pick up in Matthew 1 and Luke 1. Think about Isaiah's "sign" for a moment. A woman getting pregnant is a sign? Not just any woman, but a virgin. That would be remarkable and known throughout the area, and Ahaz would certainly get chills knowing it had happened.

That's exactly what happens in the gospel accounts. Joseph, Mary's fiancé learns of it and decides to move on and divorce her quietly. The Jewish law would have been crushing to Mary for her "misdeed." Imagine the impossibility of the explanation: "You don't understand; it's God's baby."

Pastor Travis touched on this theme last night in our first Advent devotional service. It's a story too hard to believe or comprehend. "Your explanation sounds like a lie to me," would be our likely response. After God intervenes in both accounts with Joseph and Mary (an angel explains to Mary all that will happen and tells Joseph in a dream to stay with Mary), Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, who was pregnant with another foretold baby John.

Pastor Travis speculated as to why Mary went to see Elizabeth, but we are given no explanation in scripture. My thought takes me back to my friend who became pregnant in college: Mary is leaving town and leaving the gossip and rumors that will be occurring. It's not scriptural but it enters my mind.

Isaiah is a book filled with Messianic prophesies. The one given in chapter seven is a big one and the accounts in Matthew and Luke make it all clear for us. We learn from all this that God's ways are not our ways, but we also learn to trust God. As He shows us in Matthew and in Luke, He has a plan and is in firm control.

Our prayer is to follow God and to seek His plans in our lives. Our prayer is that we are open to put our trust in Him. Mary and Joseph put their full and complete trust in God as His plan unfolded, regardless of the shame or punishment they may face.