Signs of the Times
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.”Isaiah 7:14
Part of what makes us human and set apart from other creatures is that we have the capacity to reason. We are able to take in stimuli from the outside world, see how it connects or relates to what we already know, and to make a judgment that is moral and conscience-based. We are able to interpret the signs that are around us and as a result of that, we are able to make changes in our lives.
What are the signs around us? Violence and war. Gun fatalities and murders. Drug addiction and substance abuse. Poverty and homelessness. These are the signs that I see and the signs that I feel God is allowing us to see and perceive. Some may perceive this as signs of God’s absence and apathy. How do you see these signs? For Christians we know that God is good and that He is love and that He is omnipresent. So, He can’t be absent or apathetic. For Christians then, perhaps, these signs may lead us to a seemingly helpless “I am sure God has a reason.” But there is more. These signs of death and violence lead us not to believe that the Enemy has conquered life, but ought to lead us to realize and remember that there are also other signs. This ought to lead us to see that there is indeed life and peace.
Although these signs of violence and death are prominent — right before our eyes, on the news, we know, deep down in our hearts and souls that there are signs of hope and life. Yes, we read of homicides everyday, but we also know that new lives are being brought into the world everyday. There are numerous cases of robbery, but we also know there are organizations out there who give to the less fortunate. Yes, we see the enemy at work, but we also know God is at work and that He has already conquered the world. He gave us a sign — a sign that is Himself, a sign that tells us He is with us always; He is Emmanuel.
When the Prophet Isaiah asked King Ahaz to ask God for a sign, he refused. At face value this seems like a very pious decision, showing that he dare not ask God to prove Himself. However, Ahaz has already done evil in the eyes of God, forming alliances with foreign nations. He chose to not turn to God and beg for His help, but rather placed his trust in the Assyrians, under which the Kingdom of Judah was nothing more than a region controlled by them. Like the Israelites who complained to Moses that they rather be slaves in Egypt than to fight and struggle for their freedom, Ahaz led the people of God to slavery once again. But Isaiah tells Ahaz that God will give a sign, a sign that there will be a Savior, a Messiah, who will be God Himself. Even when man turns away from Him, God is already planning for his redemption. This is the sign on which we must keep our eyes: God’s abiding promise, the incarnation, the gift of God becoming one of us to save us from ourselves.
Let not the signs of the times trouble our hearts, but rather, allow them to lead us to see the greater sign that is God Himself, God who gives us hope in the midst of despair, life in the face of death, and light that scatters the darkness. He is Emmanuel, God-with-us, and He will never part from us.
