Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanu-el.
Isaiah 7:14 RSV
Observe the word Immanuel.
It means God with us.
Right here is the Citadel and Fortress of the Christian faith.
God entered the ranks of humanity, became a man in the person of his son Jesus Christ, and paid the penalty for human sin, laying upon himself in the person of his Son the iniquity of us all.
All of the nonsense one encounters in such studies as “Comparative Religions” runs completely out of “comparisons” in this very event. In all of the ethnic cults, it is man who always pays.
The most valiant young man goes out to fight the dragon, or it is the fairest daughter in the tribe that becomes the sacrifice.
It is some Prometheus who is forever chained to the rocks where the vultures eat out his liver…
In the Christian religion, God Himself pays the penalty of redemption.
But consider what this entails. God will become a man? How? Would God kill a man and take his body?
All of the unbelievers on earth have never come up with a better suggestion as to how God could become a human being than the plan prophesied and executed in the Holy Bible.
Human procreation always produces a new person; but Christ was not a new person! He was present even in Creation (John 1:1ff).
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people In the remission of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, Whereby the DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH SHALL VISIT US, To shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death; To guide our feet into the way of peace.
Luke 1:77-79 ASV
Here in this word Immanuel we have the prophecy of what took place when Christ was born, the same prophecy repeated by Zacharias at a time much closer to the event itself, namely, The Dayspring from on High shall visit us (Luke 1)!
“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called IMMANU-EL” (which means, God with us).
Matthew 1:23-25 RSV
When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name JESUS.
The question of whether Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14) fully understood this as applying to the virgin birth of Christ is irrelevant. God’s great prophets did not always know the true meaning of the words God gave them.
Peter did not know the full meaning of what he prophesied on Pentecost (Acts 2:38,39); and a miracle was required later (Acts 10) to convince Peter that the Gentiles should be permitted entry into the church. See 1 Peter 1:11,12.
In this verse, Matthew uses for the first time an expression found ten times in his gospel and nowhere else in the New Testament, “that it might be fulfilled, etc.”
That the virgin birth is clearly included in Isaiah’s prophecy is certain. Matthew declares it IN.
The fact that the rabbis and Pharisees had overlooked it is only an indication of spiritual blindness on their part.
This beautiful prophecy not only reveals the virgin birth but also sets forth the dual nature of Christ.
His name means “God with us!” but his diet is that of a man, “butter and honey”; Here, then, is the GOD-MAN in prophecy!
“Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she was delivered of a son.
Isaiah 66:7-9 RSV
Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her sons.
Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? says the Lord; shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb? says your God.
The student should not be confused with the profusion of Old Testament terminology throughout the remainder of this chapter.
Such things as the temple, animal sacrifices, new moons, sabbaths, etc., clearly concerned the Old dispensation; but, “Isaiah 66:7-9 clearly concern the end-time.”
Such expressions as “Who hath heard such a thing”? stress the newness of what is being revealed here.
The rapidity of the rise and expansion of Christianity “Will mock the slow processes of history.”
This is prophesied by the metaphor of birth without travail.
This was fulfilled, by the far-flung commonwealth of the Christian Church springing up all over the Roman empire in a single generation.
The oldest Christian understanding of: “She was delivered of a man-child …” (Isaiah 66:7). – this passage identifies it with the birth of the Christ.
This was the position of Jerome and we have never seen any improvement on that view.
And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child.
Revelation 12:3-6 ASV
And she was delivered of a son, a MAN CHILD, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
The New Testament quotation of the word man-child (Revelation 12:5) from Isaiah 66:7 requires our understanding of this as a reference to this designation.
But the New Testament references have a double emphasis on the masculinity of the child, “A SON, A MAN CHILD.”
Alexander Campbell translated it, “She bore a MASCULINE SON.”
Albertus Pieters rendered the words, “A son, a he-man, a fierce assertion of the virility of Christ.
The words give the lie to the pretended artistic representations of Jesus Christ, always showing our Lord as a weak, effeminate-looking homosexual!
The mother in this analogy is the Jewish race, fulfilling God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:3), as proved by Matthew 1:1.
Genesis 12:3 ASV
