Immanuel- God with Us- Isaiah 7

Hope In Tigard

Isaiah 7:2-14. I’m guessing you’ve never heard that full story before. Give it a read before Sunday if you never have before. This isn’t an account that really fits into Sunday School curriculums. It’s not a story that Veggie Tales is going to make a movie about. Ever. And I get why. It’s certainly not child friendly. It’s not even all that compelling on its surface. I get that why this text doesn't get a whole lot of attention.
I can even understand that despite the fact that I think that this prophecy isn’t just a prophecy of the Christ, I think it is the most recognizable prophecy of Christ in the Bible. But still almost nobody knows where this prophecy came from. No one wants to tell this story.
Who wants to tell the story about a king who was such a bad man that he killed his own kids? He sacrificed them to other gods. That’s king Ahaz. Who wants to tell that story? The story where God's people are getting set to be sieged. The story where the fear is so palpable and real, that even the king is frozen with it.
I want to tell that story. You know why? It's real. This is a real story about real fear in real people, and it's a story where real hope breaks in. The hope of a savior. The hope of one who will be called Immanuel, which means: "God with us."