The Promised Child - Messiah

A Child Is Born:

Our leaders had failed. They allowed the people to stumble into idolatry, which was the path to doom. King Ahaz, in his pursuit of military alliances, was sending a message to the people that there was no God in Judah who would watch over his people. Ahaz’s behavior indicated his belief that the future of the nation depended upon the alliances he could forge and the cunning he could exercise in the political arena.

King Ahaz had forgotten the words of King David who came before him:

Behold, He who keeps Israel, neither slumbers nor sleeps. (Psalm 121:4)

The future of the nation appeared grim. When the leaders fail, the people are without hope. Where does a people go when they cannot trust their leaders? Societies throughout the ages have been faced with this problem of leadership without a mandate. A nation without sound leaders is left to drift in a sea of tyranny and folly.

Against that backdrop Isaiah declared that God himself would intervene in the future of the nation, and the prophet directs our focus—away from the dealings of kings and princes—to the activities of children.

Chapters 7-10 of Isaiah have been called, “The Book of Immanuel.” This portion has also been referred to as “The Discourse of the Three Children.” The three children mentioned are: Shear-Yashuv (Isaiah 7:3), Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14, 8:8,10) and Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah 8:1,3,4).

Why children? How can a child prevail in the face of a war? After all, we expect children to be innocent and vulnerable. They are ones we must protect and nurture. While they can be pleasant and lovable and teachable, they are seldom regarded as the solution to national threat. And the enemies of Israel were terrifying foes.

The answer just might be that sometimes God chooses to reveal his strength through a child. This is characteristic of our Creator, who can triumph over all adversities and can solve the troubles of a people through the frailty of a child.

Surely, the book of Isaiah indicates frequently that God was powerful enough to destroy his enemies in an instant, yet again and again, when the prophet comes to the heart of the means of deliverance, a childlike face peers out at us. God is strong enough to overcome his enemies by becoming vulnerable, transparent, and humble, the only hope, in fact, for turning enmity into friendship.7

A child would be born in Ahaz’s court. This child would grow and develop under normal circumstances, but before he was old enough to choose right over wrong, the Assyrians would lay waste Syria and Israel, as happened in 733-732 B.C.E.

The sign of the child was an indication that God had the situation completely under control. Opposing armies could not threaten the Lord of Hosts. Nor did the lack of faith of God’s chosen people cause him to abandon them. While the prophecy was a rebuke to King Ahaz for his lack of faith, it was also a message of hope that God’s divine intervention in the affairs of the nation would not in any way be hindered.

The Meaning of Immanuel

Traditional Jewish teaching on the significance of Immanuel is seen in the following description:

“With us is God,” the name to be given to a still unborn baby boy according to Isaiah 7:14, apparently as a symbol which verse 16 is intended to explain. The name is commonly supposed to be apostrophized; but in fact the words immanu’el here are, as they are universally admitted to be in 8:10, not a proper name but a simple statement to the effect that “with us is God.” The name Immanuel does not appear at all in the talmudic or midrashic literature.8

The medieval Jewish commentator, David Kimhi, commented on the Isaiah 7:14 passage that the sign was only to strengthen the conviction of the prophet’s message. He believed that the sign (the child) had to be a contemporary of Ahaz and not a symbol for a future occurrence.9

But what does the Scripture indicate? Remember, that Ahaz had refused the sign of Immanuel and turned to the King of Assyria. The sign was for the benefit of the Jewish people—then and in the future. God was restoring the lost faith, not only for Ahaz’s generation, but for future generations of Jewish people. It’s reasonable to consider that the prophecy had an application beyond the time that it was given.

The prophet told the king that the sign would be something miraculous. And if this birth was to be something unusual, it would have to be more than just a name an optimistic mother would choose for her firstborn son in order to express her hope for a more secure future. Nor was the prophecy a mere word of comfort to the king. This was God’s promise to change the course of history—a sign that would transform the way God related to humanity.

The Identity of Immanuel

If this prophecy was to have more than a local reference—if this pronouncement was to be the revelation of God to his people—the child would have to be someone outstanding.

Some have suggested it was Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, the most prominent person of the period. However, he is disqualified from being the child since “when Ahaz ascended the throne, Hezekiah had already attained his ninth year.”10

Some say the child was Isaiah’s or another of Ahaz’s children. However, since the mother in the prophecy is referred to as “almah,” (a young woman of marriageable age) both these suggestions are untenable. The mother is not the wife of Isaiah or Ahaz.

Could the mother refer to all mothers in Judah, who will give their offspring names which symbolize hope in God? Or could she be a royal contemporary of the prophet and her child’s name symbolize the presence of God with the people? Could her child’s name allude to a coming Messiah? If so, is the mother, as Christians believe, Miriam (Mary) and her child Yeshua (Jesus)?

The basis for the teaching of the virgin birth is in the birth accounts of Yeshua in the New Testament, which state that Mary had not had sexual relations with a man. Matthew 1:23 quotes the Isaiah 7:14 verse and sees it being fulfilled in Yeshua.11 It is a legitimate application, since Isaiah had spoken of God’s sovereign intervention in the affairs of Israel.

The Matthew passage implied God’s miraculous intervention to the advent of the long-awaited Messiah. The ultimate protection of the nation of Israel would not come through tenuous treaties nor through the might of armies. Rather it would be from the hand of God through the Messiah.

Immanuel, God’s Messiah

God commissioned Isaiah to bring a message of hope at a crucial time in the history of Israel. The time was coming when God would draw close and dwell amongst his people. As a nation, Israel needed the assurance that despite coming judgments, the promise of God’s presence remained. That presence was not to be apparent in some intangible or abstract manner, but in a very visible way, as Immanuel—Yeshua.

In sending his son to earth, God caused eternity to invade time. This was not a temporary visit; when Jesus came, he wedded dust and deity—time and eternity into one. The eternal Word was made human flesh, and that union will last forever. As the perfect man here on earth, Jesus Christ showed us what it is like to live by the eternal.12

As Immanuel, Yeshua also gives us the promise of his abiding presence which means he will be with us always, “…even to the end of the age.“13 The words of assurance that were lost on King Ahaz, have found their final meaning in the lives of the followers of Yeshua.

The announcement Isaiah made to Ahaz was a great opportunity for the king to reverse a bleak situation. He should have eagerly sought God’s guidance, not only for the good of the nation, but also for the good of his soul. Ahaz needed the prophetic word of Isaiah to resolve the crisis in his own spiritual life. But Ahaz made a baleful choice. He insisted on seeking security on his own terms and his land was crushed by his alliance with the Assyrians.

Ahaz in his show of piety wouldn’t ask God for a sign. God said, “Is it a little thing?” God, in a day, created the sun and stars and then made that sun to stand still in the day of battle. He opened the sea to the Israelites and drowned the Egyptians. This same God who can do anything, anytime he wants, isn’t going to be stymied by the seeming impossibility of a virgin-born child. The greater part of the wonder is that this promised child is not only a human, but Immanuel—God with us—as well.