Isaiah 7 · a question people ask
The sign of 7:14 was given in Ahaz's day. How is it about Jesus?
In the war of 7:1, the LORD told Ahaz, "Ask a sign of the LORD your God" (7:11). He wouldn't (7:12), and the answer came, "Listen now, house of David" (7:13), "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (7:14). Matthew tells of Jesus's birth to Mary "before they came together" (Matthew 1:18) and says, "Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet" (Matthew 1:22), quoting Isaiah 7:14 and adding, "which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”" (Matthew 1:23). Christians agree that Matthew is right: Jesus's birth to the virgin Mary keeps this word (Matthew 1:18, Matthew 1:25, Luke 1:34). They read the sign in Isaiah's own setting in two main ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A sign in Ahaz's day, kept fully in Jesus
Some read the sign as speaking to Ahaz's own day as well. The chapter goes on, "For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken" (7:16), a time-mark they read as falling in Ahaz's own day, with the two kings of 7:1. In the next chapter a son is born with a like time-mark: "I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son" (Isaiah 8:3), and "before the child knows how to say, ‘My father’ and ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria" (Isaiah 8:4). And Isaiah says, "I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs" (Isaiah 8:18). On this reading, Matthew's "fulfilled" (Matthew 1:22) means the word is kept in its fullest sense in Jesus, who is "God with us" (Matthew 1:23).
Isaiah 7:16 · Isaiah 8:3-4 · Isaiah 8:18 · Matthew 1:22-23
A sign of Jesus's birth alone
Others read the sign as pointing to Jesus's birth alone. It is given to the "house of David" (7:13) as one "the Lord himself will give": "the virgin will conceive, and bear a son" (7:14). The land is called "your land, O Immanuel" (Isaiah 8:8), and two chapters on, Isaiah speaks of a child whose name "will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6), who reigns "on David’s throne" "even forever" (Isaiah 9:7). On this reading, Matthew 1:22-23 names the one birth the sign spoke of, the birth of a son to a virgin, as Mary said, "How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?" (Luke 1:34).
Isaiah 7:13-14 · Isaiah 8:8 · Isaiah 9:6-7 · Matthew 1:22-23 · Luke 1:34
The verses
“In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.”
““Ask a sign of the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.” But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask. I won’t tempt the LORD.” He said, “Listen now, house of David. Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.”
“Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel,” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.””