A Sign Given

A Sign Given

The Third Wednesday in Advent – 12/17/2025

Isaiah 2:2-5, 7:10-15; Luke 1:26a-38

Rev. Dr. Christopher W. Brademeyer

That portion from God’s holy Word for consideration this evening is our second lesson from Luke chapter one with special emphasis on verses thirty through thirty-three which read as follows:

“And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’”[1]

Thus far the Scriptures.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God certainly knows how to give a sign. The problem illustrated before us today is not that God is unwilling to give signs, but that fallen man is unwilling to receive the sign God gives. This is a willful sort of ignorance that has been attested to by more than the observation of Christians. Even Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher saw that people prefer comfortable ideas to profound truth, famously illustrating this with a famous example of people in a cave. This truth is shown in simple, everyday things. The reluctance of communities, churches, and businesses to change even when the old and familiar isn’t working any more. The bad habits that seem to ensnare us despite our best efforts. The refusal of many to pick up a book or listen to someone that they disagree with lest they be challenged too much.

Refusal of Ahaz

In our Old Testament reading from Isaiah chapter seven, King Ahaz exhibits a particular form of this preference for the familiar and the comfortable. He is commanded by God through the Prophet Isaiah to ask for a sign from the Lord. The Lord Himself says, “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” This was not a trick. This was not temptation. This was the mercy of God in action. God was stooping down to strengthen a weak and fearful king with a concrete promise and its fulfillment.

But Ahaz refused. He answered with words that sounded pious: “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” On the surface, this certainly seems faithful. Indeed, this particular sentiment is even quoted by Jesus when tempted by Satan. In reality, it is unbelief dressed up as humility. There is a stark lesson in this. Things which may be good and pious generally are not when God tells us to do otherwise. In the case of Ahaz, he had already made up his mind to trust political alliances and human power rather than the Lord to save his kingdom from the Assyrian Empire. He did not want a sign, because a sign would bind him to trust the Lord  and His deliverance alone.

The Response of God

But God responded anyway. He did not meet Ahaz’s refusal  with silence, not with withdrawal, but with resolve. “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.” Notice that word: Himself. God does not delegate this important work. He does not outsource His promises. The Lord Himself gives the sign. “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” God-with-us. This sign is not vague reassurance. It is not symbolic encouragement. It is not simple sentimentality.  It is a specific promise of salvation that comes entirely from God’s initiative. The sign does not arise from Ahaz’s faith; Ahaz was noted to be particularly faithless. No, the sign overcomes Ahaz’s unbelief even as it overcomes our own.

That brings us to the second reading from Luke chapter one. Here the sign promised in Isaiah is no longer future tense. It was announced as a present reality. The angel Gabriel was sent, not to a king in Jerusalem, but to a young virgin in Nazareth. Nazareth was a place of no political importance and had no spiritual prestige. Mary did not ask for a sign. She did not demand proof. The sign came to her anyway, because salvation is always God’s work before it is ever our response.

“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.” Those words alone are already Gospel. God’s favor was declared before Mary has done anything at all. Yet Mary was troubled. She was not serenely confident. She was confused and afraid. Faith does not mean the absence of fear; it means clinging to God’s Word in the midst of fear.

When Mary asked, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” she was not refusing God’s Word as Ahaz did. She was not rejecting the promise. She was asking how God will accomplish what He has promised. And the answer was clear: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” In other words, this salvation will be entirely God’s doing.

Here the sign given to Ahaz is fulfilled in a way far greater than that ancient king could ever have imagined. The virgin conceived a Son. God truly became Immanuel. No longer is He merely God for us at a distance, but became God with us in our flesh. He put Himself under the law and subjected Himself  to suffering and death.

And then comes the heart of this passage: “Nothing will be impossible with God.” This is not a general motivational slogan. It is a chief theological confession. It means that God’s promises do not depend on human ability, human cooperation, or human understanding. What God promises, God accomplishes.

Mary’s response stands in stark contrast to Ahaz. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” This is not some extraordinary, heroic obedience. It is faith. It is the posture of one who receives rather than controls, trusts rather than manages. Mary does not offer God a plan. She receives God’s promise.

This is where the Law confronts us. Like Ahaz, we often prefer not to receive the sign God gives. We want a sign that fits our expectations, our timelines, our understanding. We want a God who reassures us without disrupting us. We want salvation without vulnerability, forgiveness without repentance, comfort without the cross. We crave a socially respectable, customizable religion, rather than submitting ourselves to the Word and word of God.

And when God gives us His true sign, Christ crucified, we are tempted to look elsewhere. The cross does not look powerful. A virgin birth does not look reasonable. Bread and wine do not look like forgiveness and life. Yet these are the signs God has chosen.

The Gospel, then, is this: God saves us not by waiting for our faith to be strong enough, but by giving us a sign strong enough to create faith. That sign is Jesus Christ, true God and true man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, given into death, raised for our justification.

Advent reminds us that God comes whether the world is ready or not. He comes whether kings believe or not. He comes to sinners, to the lowly, to the fearful. He comes with a promise that does not fail and a sign that cannot be undone.

Conclusion

Even now, God continues to give His sign. He speaks His Word into our ears. He places Christ’s body and blood into our mouths. He declares forgiveness where there is sin and life where there is death. These are not signs we invented. They are the signs God Himself has given.

So we wait, not anxiously, not skeptically, but in faith. We wait with Mary’s words on our lips: “Let it be to me according to your word.” For the One who promised is faithful, and the sign He has given, Immanuel, God with us, will never be taken away.

In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

[1] Luke 1:30-33 English Standard Version. All further quotations from the Holy Scriptures are from the ESV.