Immanuel: God with Us

At Christmas, Christians remember the birth of the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, but Christmas is about much more than the birth of a baby.1 In his Gospel, Matthew describes what the angel of the Lord told Joseph in a dream.

“She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Matthew 1:21–23)

Matthew sees the birth of Jesus as a fulfilment (cf. Matthew 2:15, 17, 23, 4:14) of the messianic prophecy given to the house of David from Isaiah 7:14:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

In referring to the virgin conception with reference to Jesus, some scholars question Matthew’s use of Isaiah 7:14 (as if he were taking it out of context) when he is in fact following a careful reading of the prophet Isaiah.

Context of Isaiah 7:14

Isaiah was prophesying during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah, around 734 BC. At this time an alliance had been made between the king of Syria (Aram) and the king of the northern kingdom of Israel (Pekah) to make war against King Ahaz (Isaiah 7:1). This caused fear in the house of David (Isaiah 7:2, 9) because the alliance wanted to conquer Judah and set up another king (the son of Tabeel) in the place of King Ahaz (Isaiah 7:6). God would later command Isaiah not to fear these circumstances as King Ahaz did, but to honor the Lord of hosts as holy (Isaiah 8:13; cf. 1 Peter 3:15) because his word is reliable (Isaiah 8:10). Nevertheless, it is this danger to the house of David that helps support the messianic nature of the passage. The future Messiah was to be a descendent of King David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). If the house of David was destroyed, any messianic hope would end. Therefore, a long-term promise about the Messiah would reassure them that the messianic hope was still secure.

A significant detail in the passage (see below), that is often overlooked, is that when God sent Isaiah to give assurance to King Ahaz, he was to bring his son Shear-jashub (whose name meant “a remnant shall remain”) (Isaiah 7:3). God, through Isaiah, told King Ahaz that the attack by the alliance would not come to pass (Isaiah 7:7). As confirmation that the attack on Judah would not succeed, God told Ahaz to choose a sign that could “be deep as Sheol or high as heaven” (Isaiah 7:11). God was calling King Ahaz to ask for a sign astonishing enough to produce faith. The sign (ʾôt) King Ahaz was to ask for was supernatural (cf. Exodus 4:8–9, 7:3; Deuteronomy 4:34). However, King Ahaz, true unbeliever as he was, piously rejected God’s offer of a sign and refused to put God to the test (Isaiah 7:12). Nevertheless, Isaiah responded to King Ahaz by stating, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). The sign contains familiar phrases used in promising the birth of a son (Genesis 16:11; Judges 13:5).

The Content of Isaiah 7:14

One of the reasons scholars argue that Matthew is misusing Isaiah 7:14 is that the prophecy would appear to be fulfilled within a couple years of Isaiah meeting with King Ahaz, not 700 years later with Jesus’ birth.2 However, a closer reading of the text shows two prophecies, not one—“a long term prediction addressed to the house of David (7:13–15) and a short-term prediction addressed to Ahaz (7:16–25).”3

In his vision, Isaiah sees a pregnant virgin who would be a sign of hope for the house of David.

Since the house of David was in danger, a long-term sign provided the hope that Messiah would be born, the sign being the child’s virgin conception. Isaiah’s prophecy moves away from King Ahaz to the whole house of David (Isaiah 7:13).4 God was tired of wicked King Ahaz (2 Kings 16:1–4) and so he addressed the royal house he represented. The sign that God would give the house of David would be of his own choosing. It would be a supernatural sign (cf. Isaiah 38:1–8). God calls for the house of David to “behold!” (pay attention to) this sign (Isaiah 7:14; cf. Genesis 1:29). The sign that God promised would be of an ʿalmâ who would give birth to a son (Isaiah 7:14). Although scholars dispute the meaning of the Hebrew word ʿalmâ (“virgin” or “young woman”), it can be shown that the word is used of a virgin (see Genesis 24:43; Exodus 2:8; Song of Songs 1:3, 6:8; Proverbs 30:19).5 Furthermore, the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX) translated the Hebrew word ʿalmâ (עַלְמָה) as parthenos (παρθένος) which refers to virginity (Matthew 1:23; cf. 25:1, 7, 11).6 In his vision, Isaiah sees a pregnant virgin who would be a sign of hope for the house of David.

The name given to this unique child would be Immanuel, which means “God with us.”7 Isaiah was not only prophesying that this child would be supernaturally born but that he (the Messiah) would be God (cf. Psalm 45:6–7; Jeremiah 23:5–6). The message then to the kingdom of Judah was that God would be with them in a unique way through this child. The name even suggests the divine nature of the child (cf. Isaiah 8:8, 10). Furthermore, in another vision of the coming Davidic king, the child receives other divine titles: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father [Father of eternity], Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). This Davidic child would come after a time of great darkness (Isaiah 9:1–2; cf. Matthew 4:14–16). Isaiah further clarifies that the child Immanuel will come in the distant future. When the mighty tree of David had been “hewn down” with “terrifying power” (Isaiah 10:33) and the house of David had become just a simple stump, then “a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1; cf. Matthew 2:23). This king from David’s house would be empowered by the Spirit of God and would establish a righteous rule (Isaiah 11:2–5). When read in light of Isaiah 9 and 11, it is clear that Isaiah 7:14 is a messianic prophecy.

Isaiah even prophesies the situation the child would be born into. The child would eat “curds and honey” (Isaiah 7:15), not the food of royalty but of oppression (Isaiah 7:22). In other words, the child would grow up in a time when Judah was oppressed by a foreign power.8

The good news of Christmas is not simply about a baby being born, but about the eternal Son of God taking on humanity to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).

After giving hope to the house of David, Isaiah then turns to the immediate threat and gives a near prophecy to wicked King Ahaz. It has been argued that the adversative phrase “For before (kî bǝṭerem)” signals a different child is in view in Isaiah 7:16. Rydelnik states, “In light of Isaiah being directed to bring his own son to confrontation with the king at the conduit of the upper pool (cf. 7:3), it makes most sense to identify the lad as Shear-Jashub. Otherwise there would be no purpose for God directing Isaiah to bring the boy. Thus having promised the virgin birth of the Messiah (7:13–15), the prophet then points to the very small boy that he has brought along and says, ‘But before this lad (using the article with a demonstrative force) knows enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.’”9 This is how Shear-jashub was a sign to King Ahaz. In verse 16, Isaiah went back to using the second person singular pronoun: “the land whose two kings you [singular] dread” (Isaiah 7:16; cf. 7:10–11). Two years later (732 BC), the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser defeated Israel and Syria (2 Kings 15:29), just as Isaiah had predicted.

Matthew relates the virgin conception to the Messiah being called “God with us,” that is, deity (cf. Matthew 18:20, 28:20). It is foundational to the Christian faith that the Son of God was born of a woman to redeem us from our sin (Galatians 4:4–5). If we do not have the virgin conception, we deny the deity of Jesus and lose the truth of his redeeming death on the cross (Matthew 20:28). The good news of Christmas is not simply about a baby being born, but about the eternal Son of God taking on humanity to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).