The Virgin Shall Concieve
Back in 1961, Redbook magazine polled theological students from 8 different seminaries. And one of the questions they asked them was "Do you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ?" And 56% of the ministerial students said ’No. We DON’T believe in the virgin birth." That is an astounding statistic. And what’s amazing about it is that these are the ministers who have been filling the pulpits of America for the past 40 years! I just want to reassure you right now that I support the minority position!
The part of Isaiah we’re going to look at today is precious for Christians. Because this is the part of the Bible that gives us the prophecy of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ! Isaiah 7:14 says that "the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
The first thing I want you to notice this morning is the historical occasion of this sign. Christians didn’t come up with the idea of the virgin birth out of the blue. This great prophecy arose out of a terribly difficult time in Jewish history. Verse one tells us that King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel were attacking Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah. They weren’t able to take it over. But they were causing a lot of problems for the people of Judah.
There are two things we need to keep in mind at this point: Number one, the Jewish people weren’t following the Lord very closely during this time in their history. 2 Chronicles 28:6 says that "Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers." And once you have rejected the One Person in the whole universe who could possibly help you, where else can you turn? And furthermore, Ahaz was one of the most wicked kings the country ever had! 2 Chronicles 28 says that he made idols to worship Baal. He burned incense at the high places to all the false gods. And he even sacrificed his own sons as burnt offerings. He was a terrible man!
And not only that, you have to understand that Judah has already suffered back to back military setbacks. In 2 Chronicles 28:5 we learn that Judah lost a costly war at the hands of the king of Aram. And in 2 Chronicles 28:5-6, we’re told that Judah suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Israel. In fact, verse six says that in one day, the king of Israel killed 120,000 soldiers in Judah! In one day! 120,000!!! That’s a lot of people! Especially considering that back then, all they had for weapons were arrows and swords and clubs and shields. They didn’t have any of the hi tech weapons that we have today.
And then, we’re told in Isaiah 7:2 that when the house of David found out that Aram and Ephraim had united together to attack them, "the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind." In other words, they were scared out of their sandals. They thought, "We are in big trouble now. We couldn’t beat these two countries individually, and now they’ve together! We don’t have a chance! We’re dead!" It didn’t seem like there was any way out!
Then in Isaiah 7:3, God in his mercy decides to extend to the Judean people a ray of hope. The Lord tells Isaiah, "Take your son to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman’s Field." At that time, that’s where the city’s water supply was. And Ahaz was probably checking it out to make sure that there was enough water for the people just in case the invading armies cut off the water supply from the outside. And in verse four, Isaiah tells Ahaz, "Be careful. Keep calm. And don’t be afraid."
And I’ll bet Ahaz said, "Keep calm? Don’t be afraid? What are you talking about, Isaiah? Can’t you see that we’re under attack? Don’t you know that these are the same two countries that annihilated us last year? How can you stand there so piously and say, ’Keep calm, don’t be afraid?’ Of course I’m afraid! I’m terrified!"
Ahaz was scared because he didn’t have a personal relationship with God. I’ve ministered at the bedside of both Christians and non Christians. I find that it is easier to minister to the people of faith.
And later in verse five, Isaiah says to Ahaz, "Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood. They are just a couple of burned out stubs of wood. Don’t worry about them. They can’t hurt you anymore."
And you know what? He was right. A year later, the king of Israel was dead. 2 Kings 15:30 says that he was murdered by Hoshea. The year after that, the King of Aram was murdered by the invading armies of Assyria. Just like God said, they were just a bunch of burned out stubs. The truth is that compared to the power of God, all of our enemies and all of our problems and all of our obstacles are like burned out stubs. None of these things can get in the way of what God wants to do in your life if you’re willing to stand firm in your faith and let him do it!
And then in verses five through six, we get an idea of what the kings of Aram and Israel were thinking. "Since Judah won’t join our anti-Assyrian coalition, we’re going to go down there, rip the country apart, kill Ahaz, kill his children, divide the country among ourselves and put our own king in there! We whipped him before. We’ll whip him again!"
So that was their plan. The only problem was that their plan was going against God’s plan. God’s plan was for Jesus Christ to be virgin born in the line of David as a descendent of Ahaz. And if Ahaz and his descendents get murdered, then guess what? There’s no more house of David, no virgin birth, no Christmas story, and no Messiah! The devil wins.
The kings of Aram and Israel aren’t aware of it. But Satan is making a strategic move to destroy the house of David. But in verses seven through nine, the Lord says "It’s not going to happen.”
“For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son."
Ahaz thinks these two guys are really formidable. But God says, "They’re nothing! They’re nobody! They’re mere mortals! They can plan and plot and maneuver against the house of David all they want. But they’re going to be dead in a couple of years! And their plans will come to nothing."
So this is the occasion for the sign. Now we see the offer of the sign. At the end of verse nine, God says to Ahaz, "If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand firm at all." In other words, ’Ahaz, this is the hour of decision. It’s now or never! I’m giving you another chance. I’m giving you a chance to stop your idol worshipping. To stop your politicking. To stop sacrificing your children in the fire. And to start putting your faith in the true God. Are you going to do it? Are you going to trust me? Or are you going to throw it all away?"
And then in verses ten and eleven, the Lord gives him a tremendous offer, one of the greatest offers God gave any man in the Old Testament. He said, "Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." In other words, "You can ask me for anything you want me to do to prove that I am a trustworthy God! You want me to make the moon jump up and down? You want me to make it rain cats and dogs? You want me to make the sun turn purple? Ask me for any kind of a sign you want and I’ll do it!"
Now what did Ahaz do with this offer? Watch what he did. Verse 12: "I will not ask! I will not put the Lord to the test!" Amazing! God said, "I’ll do anything you want me to do so that you will trust me and not go over to the Assyrians and trust them. And instead, he blurts out, "I will not put the Lord to the test."
He’s quoting the book of Deuteronomy. Actually, he’s MISQUOTING the book of Deuteronomy. Because it’s not testing God to do what God asks you to do! Ahaz cloaks his unbelief with pious language. But don’t be fooled by this career politician.
When said, "I’m not going to test the Lord," what he REALLY meant was ""I’m not going to TRUST the Lord." You know why he won’t trust the Lord? Because, he isn’t willing to trust God because He’s trusting in himself. Ahaz is a control freak. You don’t think so? What commander in chief is inspecting the plumbing on the eve of battle?
According to 2 Chronicles 28:17, Ahaz has already decided to look to the king of Assyria for help. He didn’t want to trust God. He wanted to be self sufficient instead of God reliant.
There are people like King Ahaz still living today. They want to make their own way. They also know that if they put their faith and their trust in God, that their life would have to change, they would have to stop sinning and start living for the Lord, and they don’t want to do it. Their minds are made up, and they’re not going to change!
And that brings us to to our last point: We’ve seen the occasion of the sign. The offer of the sign. And thirdly, we see the sign itself. Ahaz, the king of God’s theocracy refuses to believe God. He was obstinate. He refuses to let God demonstrate that he can do what he says. And so in verses 13-14, God says "Since you don’t have the faith to ask me for a sign, I’m going to give one anyway. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call his name Immanuel. And before the child is old enough to know right from wrong, the land of the two kings will be laid waste."
Last week we talked a little about multiple prophetic fulfillment and this is one of those prophecies. We know that Jesus’ virgin birth is the ultimate fulfillment of this prophecy—but for it to have meaning in its context it also had to have an immediate fulfillment
Isaiah’s wife? Another young lady or virgin?
But when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem 730 years later, the prophecy was finally fulfilled. Matthew 1:22 says that "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call his name Immanuel, which means "God with us."
When Matthewe quotes the verse in Greek he uses a term that is unmistakable in it’s meaning—it means virgin. Remember also the Gen 3 prophecy of the woman’s seed (important because normally "seed" is used to refer to a man’s offspring).
Meaning of Immanuel. "God with us," God came near, he came in a way we could understand. Jesus was the true Immanuel and is God with us
