Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”

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? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:10–14)

The Lord spoke to Ahaz during a moment of crisis. Armies threatened his kingdom, and his throne trembled with fear. Into this scene God sent his prophet with a word of assurance, and to anchor that word he commanded Ahaz to ask for a sign. The scope of the offer stretched from the deepest realm of Sheol to the highest reaches of heaven. Nothing was off limits. Ahaz could have asked for a miracle that shook the earth or displayed the glory of the skies. The God of Israel stood ready to prove his promise with any wonder the king might request.

Instead of receiving the offer, Ahaz cloaked himself in false piety. He said he would not ask, lest he put the Lord to the test. At first the words sound devout, even biblical, since Deuteronomy warns against testing God. Yet the situation made the difference. When God himself commands a sign, refusing one is disobedience, not faith. Ahaz’s reply was an evasion, a way to mask his unbelief and justify the political path he had already chosen. He intended to trust Assyria rather than God. His words served as a shield for rebellion, not a confession of reverence.

Professing believers often repeat Ahaz’s error in their own way. They say they will not test God, and use the language of humility to cover their unbelief. In truth they have already decided where to place their confidence. They trust in medicine, economics, politics, science, or even their sheer effort, anything but God’s power to work miracles. They borrow Ahaz’s words and follow his path, trusting the arm of flesh while pretending to revere God.

Isaiah saw through the hypocrisy and issued a sharp rebuke. By rejecting God’s command, Ahaz had insulted heaven. He had wearied men by his failures as king, and now he wearied God by rejecting his word. To expose the offense, Isaiah announced that God would give a sign anyway, one far greater than Ahaz could have imagined. The virgin would conceive and bear a son, and his name would be Immanuel, God with us. This sign bypassed the unbelieving king and pointed forward to the Christ who would embody the promise of divine presence. Ahaz’s refusal did not cancel God’s word, but it excluded him from its blessing.

Faithless men misuse the question of signs in two ways. Some demand them before they will believe, setting conditions for God as if his word were not enough. Others refuse them when God offers, hiding behind claims of humility while they rely on their own schemes. Both paths amount to unbelief. Ahaz exemplified the second. The Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ time exemplified the first. They asked for signs to test him, not to trust him. His reply exposed their evil: only a wicked generation seeks signs as a prerequisite to faith.

The history of God’s people shows a different pattern for those who believe. Moses received signs to confirm his mission, though he had not thought to ask. God turned his staff into a serpent and made his hand leprous and whole again, so that Israel would know the Lord had sent him. These signs did not arise from skepticism, but from God’s initiative to strengthen the faith of his servant and his people. Peter, when he saw Jesus walking on the sea, asked to join him on the water. Jesus approved the request and called him out. The rebuke came only when Peter faltered midway. His failure was not in asking, but in doubting after he had begun. Jesus himself promised that those who believe in him would do the works he did and even greater ones, because he was going to the Father. Signs and wonders are not bargaining chips for the skeptic but the rightful pursuit of the believer.

If you demand signs before faith, you imitate the Pharisees and align yourself with unbelief. If you refuse signs when God commands them, you imitate Ahaz and weary the Lord with hypocrisy. If you use the absence of signs as an excuse against the gospel, you reveal that you do not belong to Christ. And if you challenge those who believe by demanding proofs on your own terms, as cessationists often do, you parade your faithlessness under a religious banner. In every case, the sin lies in resisting the signs that God gives for his word and his people.

But if you believe, the situation is altogether different. Faith welcomes the signs that God offers. Faith asks for more and is approved. Faith presses forward to greater works because Christ has spoken. The Christian duty is not to shy away from miracles but to seek them. The church is called to expand in signs and wonders, to display the power of God in healing, deliverance, and works that point to Christ. Every refusal to pursue them diminishes the witness of the gospel and contradicts the command of the Lord. Seek signs because you believe, not because you do not believe.

The story of Ahaz warns against refusing God’s offer. The rebuke of Jesus warns against demanding signs because of unbelief. The record of Moses, Peter, and the promise of Christ show the right course for those who trust God. Faith does not shrink from signs. It seeks them, receives them, and multiplies them. The believer must never make excuses to avoid them, for to do so is sin. Faith looks to the word of God and presses forward into miracles as its proper fruit. God promises greater miracles, and his people must embrace them as their duty.