{"id":8106,"date":"2024-12-19T16:02:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T15:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=8106"},"modified":"2024-12-19T16:21:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-19T15:21:17","slug":"achaz-and-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=8106","title":{"rendered":"Achaz and Mary."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>King Ahaz of Judah<\/strong> and Mary, a poor girl from Nazareth, are separated by seven centuries, but they have something in common: both come from the dynasty of David, are heirs to God&#8217;s great promises, and must pass the test of faith and courage. King Ahaz of Judah had fallen away from God and even sacrificed his son to Moloch by burning him (2 Kings 16:3). When the armies of Syria and Ephraim invaded Judah to dethrone him, the frightened king sent a message to Tiglath-Pileser, the powerful ruler of Assyria. He handed over the treasures of the Jerusalem temple with a request that sounded like a blasphemous prayer: \u201cI am your servant and your son. Come and save me &#8230; \u201d(2 Kings 16:7).<br \/><br \/><strong>The<\/strong> prophet Isaiah wants to encourage Ahaz in faith, so he tells him: \u201cAsk a sign from the Lord your God. Ask him whether in the depths of the underworld or on high.\u201d I will not tempt the Lord, was Ahaz\u2019s diplomatic excuse. The king does not want to listen to God. Nevertheless, the prophet announces to him: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call his name Immanuel. God\u2019s faithfulness surpasses his unfaithfulness, and he receives a sign. The house of David will not fall. It is fulfilled: \u201cIf we are faithless, God remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself\u201d (2 Tim. 2:13).<br \/><br \/><strong>This sign has two meanings.<\/strong><br \/><br \/><strong>The<\/strong> first was fulfilled with the birth of Ahaz\u2019s son Hezekiah. For the Jews, Hezekiah became a messianic figure, a symbol of God\u2019s affection for his people\u2014and a call for the people to be faithful to God. This prophecy of Isaiah also foreshadows Jesus Christ, God\u2019s Messiah. He was born of a virgin and was called Immanuel, \u201cGod with us.\u201d He came to save people from something more significant than conquerors. He came to free us from sin and death.<br \/><br \/><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: left;\"><strong>Seven centuries later<\/strong>, the Virgin Mary is expecting a child, although she has not yet lived with her husband, Joseph, and they have not entered a relationship.<\/span> Unlike Ahaz, Mary has received a sign. She answered not to a prophet but an angel: \u201cBehold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.\u201d God has fully fulfilled what he promised. And he continues to fulfill the sign. Jesus assured us that he would be with us always, until the end of time, and through the Eucharist, he fulfilled his promise (Mt 28:20). He is faithful, always \u201cGod with us.\u201d<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>King Ahaz of Judah and Mary, a poor girl from Nazareth, are separated by seven centuries, but they have something in common: both come from the dynasty of David, are heirs to God&#8217;s great promises, and must pass the test &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=8106\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nezaradene"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Achaz and Mary. - predication.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=8106\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Achaz and Mary. - predication.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"King Ahaz of Judah and Mary, a poor girl from Nazareth, are separated by seven centuries, but they have something in common: both come from the dynasty of David, are heirs to God&#8217;s great promises, and must pass the test &hellip; 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