Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 7:1-17
Isaiah chapter seven begins at the time of the reign of King Ahaz. King Ahaz was the grandson of King Uzziah who was king of Judah when Isaiah began to see his visions way back at the beginning of Isaiah’s book. Ahaz became king when he was about 20 years old. Judah was a separate kingdom from Israel and was situated south of Israel. To its north was Israel, also called Ephraim, then further north was Syria (Aram), then further north was Assyria.
Assyria was becoming the dominant power in the region so the kings of Syria and Israel wanted to ally with Judah and form a coalition to stand against Assyria. King Ahaz refused to join them so the kings of Syria and Israel decided to attack Judah. Their plan was to overtake Judah, depose Ahaz and install a puppet king who would ally with them. This is where Isaiah chapter seven begins.
King Ahaz and the people of Judah were frightened over their impending doom (vs. 2). So God calls Isaiah to go meet with King Ahaz while Ahaz is out investigating his aqueducts (vs. 3). The water supply to Jerusalem came from the north so this was one of their vulnerabilities. Also note that God tells Isaiah to take his son Shear-Jashub with him to meet the king.
When Isaiah meets with Ahaz, he tells him that the kings to the north are coming after him but God says that it won’t happen. In fact, within sixty-five years Israel will cease to exist. So “stand firm in your faith” or else “you will not stand at all” (vs. 9). Then Isaiah tells Ahaz that God wants him to ask for a sign to help strengthen his faith.
King Ahaz “did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God” (2 Kings 16:2). He was an evil king who worshiped idols and even burned his son as an offering. So needless to say he wasn’t interested in strengthening his faith in God so he refused God’s offer to ask for a sign. But God is going give him one anyway!
Isaiah changes his tone at this point. He is done with Ahaz! In verse 11, he refers to “your God” when speaking to Ahas. Now in verse 13 he refers to “my God.” Ahaz has rejected the Lord and Isaiah calls him on it. We learn from 2 Kings that “Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, ‘I am your servant and your son’” (2 Kings 16:7). Ahaz has rejected his obligation to serve under God and has replaced God with the king of Assyria. Ahaz has switched sides.
So Isaiah reveals a prophetic sign to Ahaz: “he virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria” (vs. 14-17).
This is both a direct prophecy that was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day and also a future event that would be fulfilled by Mary giving birth to Jesus. The woman in Isaiah’s day was likely Isaiah’s second son’s mother – a prophetess whom we meet in Isaiah chapter eight. At the time of this prophecy, she is a virgin. Assyria would indeed attack both Syria and Israel and within three years of Isaiah’s second son’s birth, the two kings who had threatened Ahaz were dead. Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled within ten years after it was given to Ahaz.
It was also filled with the arrival of Jesus. “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’ (which means “God with us”)” (Matt 1:22-23). Mary was a virgin at the time of conception and Jesus is literally God in the flesh who would come to us.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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