Friday 05March2010, Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1: 18-23.
Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel
The following is my own observation, which I made, when I came across the words
Immanuel in the book of Isaiah, one day during my own devotion several weeks
ago. The interpretation is entirely my own, without reference to or adaptation
from any articles or books by other authors:
Many Christians have been taught in church that this prophecy of the virgin
birth of a Son, who is to be called Immanuel (God with us), a prophecy which was
to be subsequently fulfilled in the words of Matthew 1:23, testifies to the
divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Apparently, the title given to Jesus,
Immanuel, "God with us" is supposed to indicate that Jesus himself is God. This
also appears consistent with the notion that "the Second person in the Godhead"
has been sent to this world to "be with us".
In believing such teachings, however, we have failed to realise how the word
Immanuel was used several times in the book of Isaiah, particularly when one
compares the use of "Immanuel" in Isaiah 7:14 with two more occurrences of the
same word in Isaiah 8:8 and 8:9, when Isaiah prophesied that God will send the
armies of the Assyrian King to invade their land, quoted below:
Prophecy about Assyria's invasion:
Isaiah 8:8
He will pass through Judah,
He will overflow and pass over,
He will reach up to the neck;
And the stretching out of his wings
Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel
Isaiah 8:9
"Be shattered, O you peoples, and be broken in pieces!
Give ear, all you from far countries.
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces;
Gird yourselves, but be broken in pieces.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
Speak the word, but it will not stand,
For God is with us.” (in Hebrew: Immanuel)
It is obvious from the above verses that the title Immanuel was not used to
address God, nor any "divine person within the Godhead". Instead, it was used to
address people. That is, people who are called Immanuel are those who have the
presence of God on their side, protecting them and giving them victory over
their enemies.
In 8:8 the prophet appears to be writing somewhat satirically when he addressed
the land of Judah as "O Immanuel" i.e. a land whose people were living in
complacency, presuming that God was with them, when actually God was sending the
armies of their enemy to "overflow" their land! Then, in 8:9, when announcing
the impending doom that would come upon all the lands under invasion by Assyria,
Isaiah even attributed the title "Immanuel" to the Assyrian army, telling Judah,
Samaria etc that it was futile for them to "take counsel together" against such
an invincible army, that it was as though God was with Assyria!
It is in this sense that we should interpret the meaning of Immanuel in Isaiah
7:14, when he prophesied that a virgin will conceive and bear a Son who's name
would be Immanuel - i.e. God was present with him, or that God's presence was to
be found in him! This is consistent with what has been said by the apostle Paul
about "God in Christ, reconciling the world to himself" (2Cor. 5:19), and also
Col 1:19,20
"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace
by the blood of his cross. . . ."
Furthermore, when we look at the passage in Matthew chapter 1 where this verse
was quoted, we learn that Matthew referred to the child that Mary conceived as a
child "from the Holy Spirit", rather than as a child "from the Trinity", or a
child "from the Godhead". Of course, both these latter terms did not exist in
Matthew's vocabulary, as he was a monotheistic Hebrew!
Matthew 1:18-23
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary
had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be
with child from the Holy Spirit. And
her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame,
resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David,
do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her
is from the Holy Spirit. She will
bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people
from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by
the prophet:
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).
