FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT 21 12 2025
FIRST READING: Isaiah 7.10-16
NEW TESTAMENT READING: Romans 1.1-7
GOSPEL Matthew 1.18-end
‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’.
We hear this verse very often during the Christmas festival.
Matthew while narrating the birth account of our Lord Jesus Christ, uses this prophecy Isaiah made at a particular point in the history of Israel.
It was the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah and he hears that, King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel are planning to attack Jerusalem.
This is happening after Solomon the great king. Israel which is one family is divided as two nations, in the north Israel and in the south Judah. King of Aram is collaborating with the King of Israel to attach Jerusalem.
For the King of Judah, this comes as a great shock and dismay, Isiah tells us, ‘the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind’. The whole of the nation of Israel is terrified, the king and the people. The enemy in their perception is too powerful.
God sends Isaiah to give this promise, ‘Take heed, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah’.
God tells Ahaz, if you are in doubt ask God for a sign if these words of Gods assurance are true. Ahaz does not have the faith and says I will not test God by asking for a sign.
God then tells Isaiah to tell king Ahaz that he is not wanting to believe that God is willing to save him and his people nor is wanting to ask a sign, God is going to give a sign. ‘Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.’ This pronouncement of Isaiah was a sign that God is not happy that Ahaz and the people are not able to trust God and God assures Ahaz and the people of destruction.
Mathew uses this prophecy to give a new message, ‘She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel’, which means, ‘God is with us.’
This Immanuel is going to be different, not a sign of destruction but a sign of God’s saving presence. An assurance that God is going to be with people, the world and that is why God gave his Son Jesus, the saviour of the world to be God Immanuel.
Jesus comes into the world and into our lives as God Immanuel:
God with us to assure us of his presence as we face difficulties and trials,
God with us as are afraid of our enemies, to assure us of his victory
God with us in our loneliness, to make us confident
God with us when we do not see a future, to tell us God will shape our future.