The Question Box

"Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name, Immanuel."—Isaiah 7:14

P. L. Read

Question: What is the lesson from this text?

Answer: Some prophecies have more than one fulfillment. Isaiah 7:14 is one such. Failure to recognize this constitutes one of the main difficulties confronting the student of prophecy. One school of thought notes an early application, but is not able to see a later (usually a higher) fulfillment. This is particularly true of orthodox Jews—and perhaps especially in their understanding of Isaiah 7:14. Another school of thought, Christian in concept, sees the higher fulfillment but is not always able to recognize any earlier application.

In the study of any prophecy having, or which appears to possess, a predictive character it is important to obtain first an understanding of the immediate application; in other words, it is necessary to ascertain what it meant to the writer and those to whom he wrote. What was its meaning to them? Only after this question has been satisfactorily answered are we in a position to properly grasp the later application (or applications).

Let us look at a few illustrations of this. Consider, for example, Hosea 11:1. There we read: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." Quite obviously, this has reference to the infant nation of Israel and its deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh. No orthodox Jew could fail to recognize this. Yet Christians, under the guidance of the New Testament, see that it has reference not only to the coming of Israel out of Egypt, but also to the coming of Jesus out of Egypt centuries later (Matt. 2:15, 19, 20). Moreover, guided by the holy spirit, the passage is seen by Christians to have yet another fulfillment—the calling out of spiritual Israel (the Gospel age church) from that which Egypt typifies, namely, the world (its aims, ambitions, associations, spirit).

Again, when David in Psalm 22, wrote, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" he was without doubt writing concerning himself. Most people unacquainted with the New Testament could come to no other conclusion. Yet we know that the Lord was overruling David’s choice of words so as to make him speak prophetically of the Messiah who was to come (Matt. 27:46).

Take the words of Isaiah 61:1, "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings." Here Isaiah, of course, could refer only to himself and his ministry. But he was a prophet through whom God spoke (2 Peter 1:21). Consequently his words could also be prophetic in nature; Jesus showed they were predictive, when in Luke 4:21, he applied them to himself and his ministry, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." While, therefore, we know that there was a measure of fulfillment with Isaiah and his ministry, it is not difficult for us to recognize that only with Jesus are the words completely fulfilled.

Jesus Born of a Virgin

Returning now to Isaiah 7:14: As already noted, this prophecy appears to have had a dual fulfillment. It foretold an event shortly to occur, namely the birth of a son to a woman who was then a virgin, that therefore, could be known only to God. Hence this event could be recognized by King Ahaz as a sign that God would be with him and with the nation. The words of the prophecy, however, also describe a future glorious event, even the birth of Jesus of a woman who should be appropriately called the virgin, and who would remain so at the time of his birth. If the name Immanuel (God with us) was appropriately given to the boy in Isaiah’s day, how much more fittingly might it be given to Jesus! He filled the prediction to the full. At the time of his birth, Mary, his mother, was a virgin, and he had no earthly father—Joseph being his foster father. As the angel Gabriel, in answer to Mary’s question as to how she could have a son and still remain a virgin, replied (RSV): "The holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

Corroborative Scripture

When we meditate for a moment on the virgin birth of Jesus, many corroborative scriptures come rushing to mind. We recall, for example, John the Baptist’s testimony recorded in John 3:31, "He that cometh from above is above all; he that is of the earth is earthly; and speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from heaven is above all." Here John the Baptist is contrasting himself with Jesus. How shall he find appropriate words? "After the flesh" he was his cousin, yet it is obvious that he recognized Jesus as a being of another order, as being unique—in his perfection, his mission, his spirit. He found no words strong enough to mark the difference between himself and Jesus. Jesus is "from above"—"from heaven." I am "of the earth" and "speak of the earth." Jesus said of John that he was a burning and shining light. John, however, knew himself to be unworthy to loose the Lord’s shoe-latchet. While the Baptist is not discussing the "virgin birth," his words certainly do not conflict with that doctrine.

Let us look next at the disciples’ words found in John 16:29, 30: "Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb . . . now we are sure that thou camest forth from God."

These words were the response of the disciples to a very clear statement of our Lord, which he had made in the preceding verse: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father." Of what other member of the human race could these words be truthfully spoken?

But "the time would fail me" to list all the scriptures which come to mind. Peter’s reference to "a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19)—surely this would require a virgin birth! Job’s inquiry, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean" (Job 14:4)—a question which had only a negative answer in his day. The description of our Lord given in Hebrews that Jesus was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners"; the Apostle John’s reference to Jesus as "the only begotten of the Father" (John 1:14); as the "Word" of God (John 1:1); "the Word made flesh" (John 1:14); Paul tells us of one who "though being in God’s form yet did not meditate a usurpation to be like God" (Phil. 2:6 Diaglott); who "was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor" (2 Cor. 8:9)—these all mark Jesus as one different, who took our human nature, and was "in all points tempted as we (his brethren) are," and was "yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).

In writing a biography, it is customary to trace a man’s career "from the cradle to the grave." In the case of Jesus one must go back further than the cradle and continue on beyond the grave. One must go back to "the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14) to find the origin of the "only begotten one" (John 1:14), the Firstborn of all creation" (Col. 1:15). Only from that beginning may we trace the circumstances whereby a clean thing was brought forth out of an unclean—a root out of dry ground; a perfect man out of the imperfect, contaminated race. This was accomplished by a miracle. The mighty Logos became flesh— being born of a virgin.

Why is the Doctrine of the Virgin Birth Important?

The doctrine that Jesus was born of a virgin, rightly understood, is of great importance to both the church and the world. Had Jesus derived his life from an earthly father, the quality of that life would have been no different than ours. Ours was contaminated at the fountainhead, in father Adam. So also would have been the life of Jesus. It would have been a dying one, just as ours. Receiving such a life, he would have been on his way, willy-nilly, to the grave—just as we are. His death would not have been a voluntary one, but one from which he could not escape. He would thus have been without power to save us; he would not even have the wherewithal to save himself.

But when, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son made of a woman (Gal. 4:4), it was not a case of an earthly father passing on to him the spark of a dying life. No, indeed! It was as Jesus himself declared, "I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me" (John 8:42).

An inspired writer puts the matter succinctly: "Such an high priest became us"; that is to say, such an high priest was appropriate to the necessities of our case; namely, one who was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb. 7:26).

Emmanuel—God With Us

This is the great message of the New Testament to the church, and eventually to the world: Emmanuel, God with us. God was with his ancient people, and spoke to them often and unmistakably by the mouth of his angels and his prophets. He was there in the burning bush, in the Shekinah of the tabernacle, and in the pillar of cloud and fire, as well as in the angel of Jehovah, whom many believe was the pre-human Logos. But he came into new and closer relationship when he sent his Son, and when the mighty Logos became flesh. Jesus Christ was "God made manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16); he was so true and accurate a manifestation of God, so at one with the Father (in purpose and in spirit—not in person) that he could truthfully say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). This was a fulfillment of the prophecy, "God with us," indeed—it was the fulfillment before which the earlier one fades into relative insignificance.

"God is with us" in the life of the church, for Jesus laid its foundations in his blood, and became himself its cornerstone, and the bishop of our souls. "God is with us" in our personal experiences, or Christ Jesus is our brother and Savior, our refuge under the consciousness of sin, our strength in temptation, a very present help in trouble. Therefore with the psalmist we say, "We will not fear," whatever may be our present lot, and whatever may befall us. "God is with us" under our present burden and in the unknown events of the future. "God is with us" in life, in death, in time, and in eternity.