What's Your Plan?

HOPE

What’s Your Plan?

Today we are celebrating hope for advent. CS Lewis, a famous 20th Century apologist, writer, poet and theologian who you might know as the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, writes about hope in his book Mere Christianity. “Hope” he says “means… a continual looking forward to the next world…It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present thought the most of the next.” He goes on to say “It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they are inefficient in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth “thrown in;” aim at earth and you will get neither.”

Hope is certainly part of the advent season. JC’ birth, arrival on earth had long been anticipated with hope by the people and prophets of old. Hope is the confidence that God’s redemptive acts in the past with our trusting response in the present lets us experience the fullness of God’s goodness both now in the present and in the future.

For us, the modern world has sought hope in human effort and a belief in the inevitability of progress of man that assumed everything would naturally get better and better. The threat and reality of unrest and disease challenges that optimism and has left growing despair in its wake.

Biblical hope is far more than just the anticipation of the birth of JC the Messiah. Biblical hope is hope in what God will do in the future. At the heart of Christian hope is the resurrection of Jesus. Christian hope is securely based upon the words and actions of God. The promises of God have proven to be dependable. The resurrection of Jesus becomes the ultimate basis for hope. Since God has already overcome death through Christ, the Christian can live with confidence in the present and have assured hope for the future. No matter how dark the present age seems, the Christian has seen the light to come.

John 1:1–5 NIV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

We light the candle for hope today, joining the lights for peace and faith. The light of hope will always win over darkness.

What’s Your Plan?

Galatians 4:4–5 NIV

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

That was God’s Plan. And “when the set time has fully come” is always God’s Plan. So What is your Plan?

At the risk of getting a song stuck in your head, I will mention that “You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall, the most famous reindeer of all?” Lyrics to a very famous Christmas carol that asks a musical question. Now of course, none of these names are found in the Bible, even in the book of Chronicles with seemingly endless lists of names. It’s an extra biblical story. But maybe if we reframed the lyrics, “You know Mary and Joseph and Jesus and Angels, Shepherds and Wise Men and Innkeeps and Mangers, but do you recall a most famous monarch involved?”...Ahaz.

Ahaz

You are probably thinking “Ahaz?!” Who is Ahaz and what connection does he have with Christmas? And “I have a nativity set and there is no Ahaz figurine.” And shouldn’t that be “A HAZ?” Let’s clear some of that confusion. It is a Hebrew name, and the best I have been able to discover is that the proper pronunciation is “ah HAZ.” So that is what we will call him. Yes, you are correct, you have no Ahaz figurine in your nativity set. And to “who is Ahaz?”, the simple answer is that Ahaz was king of Judah and has a story that needs to be told at Christmas. He was king when the prophet Isaiah said this Isaiah 7:14

Isaiah 7:14 NIV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Sound familiar? Ahaz was the man to whom God delivered the message of His plan by the prophet Isaiah. Notice that the prophecy starts “Therefore” so we must try to understand what was happening that would cause the Lord to have Isaiah give Ahaz (and by substitution, us) this sign. Of course, because of our position of hindsight, we know the significance of the prophecy. Even still, this is one of the most direct prophecies of the birth of JC found in the OT. Surely it was equally important at the time it was given. Have you ever noticed that prophecies are usually given to kings, judges, priests? Perhaps it was in the days of limited literacy, a prophecy being given to a leader would result in it being recorded and the people would be led in the proper direction.

The story of king Ahaz is found in 2 Kings 16 and 2 Chronicles 28. I will leave it to you to read the complete narrative. And it can be difficult to read Kings and Chronicles, so let me just fill in the background for you. King Ahaz, with the help of God, had defeated the nations around him. He was young when he became king, just 20 years old. He ruled Judah for 16 years and died. But as was true of so many of the kings or Israel and Judah, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He had strayed from the ways of his ancestor king David, even his own father Jotham. To his error, he also brought in the gods, idols of the surrounding nations. Even worse, he practiced idolatry in its most intense form: burning incense in the high places, sacrificing his own son by making him pass through fire to the god Molech. We would not want to follow in his error.

Ahaz was of the royal lineage of David, Just as JC was; in fact Ahaz is listed in the genealogy of JC in Matthew 1. That genealogy shows the fulfillment of the prophecy, a promise to David, that the savior would sit on his throne, the very prophecy delivered by Isaiah that we just read. And God fulfilled that prophecy despite men, ancestors, including Ahaz, who were not the most holy or righteous. It is important to know that God can use even the ungodly to fulfill His purposes, man will not thwart God.

This king Ahaz of Judah had already defeated enemies (Israel & Syria) in battle. But they regrouped and devised a scheme to attack again. Ahaz heard of their scheme and came up with a plan. God sent the prophet Isaiah to Ahaz and told him not to worry, “It will not happen” because the leaders of his enemies would soon be dead. Even though Ahaz was not following God, God did step into the situation. Isaiah really had some clout; he had been a prophet for a long time, serving the father and grandfather of Ahaz. You might say Isaiah was the Billy Graham of his day. But Ahaz pursued his own plan involving Assyria, an up and coming nation, a nation that would eventually take Judah into exile. Assyria had developed a powerful army, extended its borders even into the northern kingdom of Israel and was becoming a world power. Ahaz feared Assyria would capture Judah and take them into exile like they had Israel. The military of Assyria was stronger than Ahaz’s army. Even though Ahaz was not following God, God did step into the situation. Isaiah really had some clout; he had been a prophet for a long time, serving the father and grandfather of Ahaz. You might say Isaiah was the Billy Graham of his day.

The really interesting thing here is that the Lord spoke to Ahaz through Isaiah and is told “ask for a sign.” As a side note, we can learn that God will call to the ungodly in order to get their attention. Anyway, this is what Isaiah tells Ahaz.

Isaiah 7:11 NIV

“Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”

It was to build faith in the God who had just told him he didn’t have to fight. And the invitation to ask for a sign is really something quite bold. Ask anything, whether it is from the highest of all things or from the very depths of depth itself. What an open invitation! It would show that God would (and will) keep His word. Imagine an invitation to ask God for a sign, a miracle, any kind a sign you want. That was an awesome opportunity that had been given to Ahaz.

Given the same opportunity, what would you request? This request would really be a prayer of petition, asking for something, in this case a sign. Have you prayed before and wondered if God really heard your request or if He would really answer? Did you pray again to “to cover your bases” just in case you “forgot” something in prayer? Now, there is biblical prayer that is persistent praying. At other times, there is laying our request before the Lord and believing that He has heard us and leave it at that.

Well, back to Ahaz, when asked to ask for a sign, his response: “I don’t need to ask God for anything.” It was a unbelievably gracious offer, and Ahaz gave a bold, defiant response. What was he thinking?! Here he had been given essentially unlimited access to God -and he turned it down flat. Ahaz got a rebuke for that

Isaiah 7:13 NIV

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?

Wouldn’t that make you tremble in your boots?! Despite the arrogance of Ahaz, God in His infinite mercy goes on to give Ahaz a sign.

Isaiah 7:14 NIV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

There’s the link to Christmas. We often cherry pick this verse out of Isaiah for the prophecy we review at Christmas, and it is a wonderful bit of Scripture; but it was given in a rather contentious encounter between Isaiah and a rebellious king. Even in our worst moments, God can and will be active in our lives, if only we would have the sense and humility to realize it.

Despite being given a sign, Ahaz once again is facing war with Israel and Syria. So he sends messengers to the king of Assyria, a man named Tiglath-Pileser (also called Pul), who had apparently helped him before fending off invaders by capturing Damascus. Now this king of Assyria was not a follower of the God of Israel. In fact, he was pretty bad. He had expanded Assyria’s borders, including Israel (the northern kingdom). In fact this king of Assyria had already attacked parts of Israel and carried the people into exile. Assyria would deport important people from the places they conquered so there would be no rebellion. (See I Chronicles 5) His army could greatly exceed anything Ahaz’s army could do.

Ahaz was defended against the attack. However, rather than giving God credit, Ahaz was thinking “My plan worked!” - so for added security, he asks for a meeting with Tiglath in Damascus to further secure this “unholy” alliance. As a goodwill offering, Ahaz strips the gold and silver off the temple and sends it ahead. Why not? He wasn’t worshipping God anyway, so why should he care about dismantling part of the temple. Then Ahaz sets off to visit Tiglath. While in Damascus Ahaz saw an idol altar that he liked and sent word back to Jerusalem for craftsmen to make an identical one, remove the altar that is already in the temple and replace it with this new one. You see, he and the rest of Judea and Israel were in the throes of idol worship. When Ahaz returned to Jerusalem, he burned sacrifices to a heathen god in front of the temple. That really took a lot of hubris to do that - to defile the temple and worship a heathen god. For us, we can and should honor, reverence, the holy things of God.

Despite his godless plan and the desecration of the temple, the plan of Ahaz worked. It saved his kingdom in the short run. But God, the God of Israel, the One true God, sends Isaiah again to Ahaz who essentially says “You are short-sighted. Your plan may work now, but inviting the Assyrians will mean they will overrun every part of the kingdom and your culture, like a flood! Your plan, your choice, will take you farther than you ever thought. And by the time you finish with Assyria, they will cover the whole of Israel and Judah.” Sure enough the judgement of God came upon Judah, and this pagan king who was to help Ahaz turned on him. Ahaz’ plan to rely on man rather than God resulted in divine judgement for the people of the kingdom which he ruled. God, through Isaiah, tells of that plan of judgement, but reiterates His plan of a savior.

Isaiah 8:7–8 NIV

therefore the Lord is about to bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates— the king of Assyria with all his pomp. It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land, Immanuel!”

Immanuel appears again. It is that the flood will not be the end, because God is with us. Essentially it is “Ahaz, regardless of your choice, those upon whom you might rely, God is going to do something on His own.” God is clear that the future would be determined by a child called Immanuel. That was God’s plan.

So what does this narrative have to say for us today?

Immanuel “God is with us”

Immanuel is “God is with us”, He has a plan. Isaiah 8:10 NIV 10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us. God’s plan is seen in John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. From the very beginning, all things were made by God, through God. And God had a plan to send a forerunner of His son JC. John 1:6 NIV 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. Ahaz had a plan for the short term, but God’s plan was to send His Son (the Christmas experience), born of a virgin, to bring life and light to the world. Ahaz received this prophecy, yet makes the choice to follow his own plan because he thinks it is working.

Immanuel “God is with us”

Immanuel says “if God is with us" God has a purpose. Judgement can be announced with prophets or angels - but why would God come just to bring judgement? In fact, in Isaiah 8:8 it tells us Assyria would not be successful ultimately because God was with them. JC did not come to condemn the world but that through Him the world might be saved. He didn’t come to call the righteous, rather He came to call sinners to repent.

Immanuel “God is with us”

Immanuel is a sign of the future. Our present problem, no matter what, is not the future. Regardless of how dark the day, there will come a time; when people will acknowledge “God is with us.” We have to keep our vision beyond the “right now.” For instance, the story is not completed. What God is saying to Ahaz, when He steps in and that the virgin will bring forth a son, He will be Immanuel, God with us, God on my side, God on your side.

Immanuel “God is with us”

Immanuel is a sign of hope. Children are a sign of the future. Birth rates drop in countries where there is no hope. Here a child was born. JC, coming as an infant, meant that God was confident in His plan. He didn’t worry that someone would destroy the baby. God’s plan would continue. There would be drama, but the child JC would grow and become great. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts was behind Him.

Skip ahead 600 years.

Galatians 4:4-5

Galatians 4:4–5 NIV

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

This addresses the “fullness of time.” Paul writing here says it was just at the right time. A lot of positive and negative things were happening all at the same time - but it was God’s time, not man’s timing of events. People of that time of JC’ birth missed the sign, except for a few - some shepherds, eastern mystics, Anna, Simeon and perhaps a few others unknown to us. It didn’t look like things had changed, but Immanuel had come. Not everyone recognized it then, later or even now.

The woman with the issue of blood recognized there was something different with JC. Her plan was to just touch the hem of His garment. From where did that faith come that healed her? It was because, Immanuel, God was there.

Or Blind Bartimaeus. A poor man, yet when he heard that JC was coming by him, he quickly developed a plan and cried out for healing “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Why? Because Immanuel, God was there.

How about the leper who stopped Him and asked Him to heal? His plan was based in the utter hopelessness of his situation. Why? Because Immanuel, God was there.

For us, this was God’s fullness of time to bring JC into the world, our world, for the purpose of healing and forgiveness. Again Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV2011) 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. That is as I have said before, the God that created us has come to rescue us. That was God’s Plan. And “when the set time has fully come” is always God’s Plan. So What is your Plan?

Is everything going as planned, are you in control of everything? If you are like me, and I don’t think we are that different, there is very little that is actually under my or your control. We are all pulled in many directions, and sometimes we have things that have to wait - wait before we can deal with them, wait to find the help we need, wait to find the answer we don’t believe we can ever find. But it doesn’t mean we have no hope. Why? Because of Immanuel, God is with us. God is with us today and God will be with us tomorrow, and the next day and the next day. There is not a time when God is not with us. When Ahaz, the kingdom of Assyria, the prophet Isaiah are gone, God will still be with us. And that needs to be our plan.

If you are using a different plan, one that relies only on yourself, excludes God - learn to lay it aside and follow God’s plan. We have the sign from heaven. When mankind needed a sign Isaiah gave the prophecy of God the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. We need to join ourselves to God’s plan. God is with us now, today.