Strengthen the Feeble

Advent 4 – December 21, 2025

Isaiah 7:10-16
Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

Isaiah finds himself called to confront Ahaz the King of Judah. Remember Judah is the southern kingdom after Israel. The northern kingdom continued to be called Israel, It is also called Ephraim in some texts. This confrontation between prophet and king is because Assyria was threatening Israel and Damascus and these two kingdoms wanted Ahaz to join forces with them. He refused to do this and Damascus and Israel were threatening to attack Ahaz in order to replace him with someone who would join Judah’s forces with theirs. To counter this attack Ahaz was planning to voluntarily submit to Assyrian control. In other words instead of having faith and trusting in God he turned to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pilser III. Ahaz refused the heed Isaiah’s call which brings us to today’s text where Isaiah calls on Ahaz to ask for a sign from God to test who is correct in what God wants to do. Ahaz refuses to ‘put the lord to the test.’ And so Isaiah gives a prophecy.  What Isaiah meant by this prophecy is that even though the times were good and the people saw God blessing them with prosperity – prosperity so great that young women would called their children Emmanuel for they saw God was with them – it  would not last. By the time their children became the age of responsibility (about 15 or 16) Ephraim and Damascus will be destroyed but they will suffer because of Ahaz’s decision to make an agreement with Assyria (verse 17 which we did not read).

We read this text today to go along with our gospel reading. The early Christians used this text as a prophecy foretelling of the coming of Jesus. That is why we find it in Matthew. Remember Matthew is the gospel that is written to a Jewish audience showing how Jesus fulfilled the promise from God to send a savior – the Messiah. To do that he quotes the Old Testament. So a prophecy that originally warned of the coming of God’s punishment is now seen by Christians as a prophecy of God’s salvation. 

That is the way of God. Turning a prophecy of doom into one of promise: Turning hardship into opportunity, sadness into joy, doubt into faith, death into life. The message is the same for us as it was to Ahaz – trust the Lord your God with all your heart, and mind, and soul. A reminder to us that this season is not determined but what we do, the gifts we give, or what the meal is like. It is about God’s promise to break into our world that is filled with so much worry and anxiety and fill us with peace. Do not be like Ahaz and try to solve your problems by yourself but take them to God in prayer.

I am not promising riches and prosperity. That certainly did not come to Mary and Joseph. But what did come to them was the assurance that God was with them in their journeys and struggles. Trust in God not in your worldly possessions. Give your life to God and live knowing that whatever happens you are in God’s care.