Isiah 7:10-17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die for all who would accept  Him. Jesus give His life in exchange for ours…no greater love than this exists. He is, and always has been, in total control!

Isaiah 7:10–17 (NKJV)

¹⁰ Moreover the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”

¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”

¹³ Then he said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? 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. ¹⁵ Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. ¹⁶ For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings. ¹⁷ The Lord will bring the king of Assyria upon you and your people and your father’s house—days that have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah.”

Ahaz’s refusal to ask for a sign is rebellious, not pious. The sign for Ahaz is meant to indicate that the threat from Aram (Syria) and Ephraim is short term and will pass within a few years. By the time the boy has been born—but before he knows right from wrong—Aram and Ephraim will be out of the picture. Faithlife Bible.

Isaiah is speaking to the entire royal line of David. God responded to Ahaz in indignation. This petty and arrogant king dared to refuse the Lord; he would not trust in God even when his enemies surrounded him. Isaiah turns from the king whom he has dismissed in judgment and addresses all who are present. The sign is for many. The word Lord speaks of the sovereignty of God, of His great control over all His creation. The pronoun Himself adds an absolute certainty to the impending sign. The Hebrew word rendered virgin means “a young woman of marriageable age.” But the word also connotes the idea of virginity, for the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made in the second century b.c., translates the Hebrew word with a Greek word that specifically means “virgin.” Curds and honey contrast with “bread and wine” from cultivated lands and symbolically represent the Judean’s simple diet after the Assyrian invasion. Thus the Child, similar to Isaiah’s son Shear-Jashub, would be identified with the remnant. Similar prophecies were spoken of the Child’s birth and Isaiah’s other son Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.Israel and Syria would be destroyed before this child and Isaiah’s son would reach maturity. Syria is referred to as Damascus and Israel as Samaria. NKJ Bible.

Immanuel “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” During the Christmas season, this verse becomes a part of our common vocabulary. Most Christmas pageants recite the verse, and pastors explain the meaning of Immanuel, “God with Us.” How the prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of Christ is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. But there are still questions that surround this prophecy. For instance, how could the birth of Jesus be a sign to Ahaz?

Sometimes unraveling biblical prophecy can be difficult. This is one of those cases; Christians have interpreted this prophecy in several different ways. Some have thought the anonymous “virgin” may refer to a royal mother—more specifically Ahaz’s wife. Thus the child would be Hezekiah, Ahaz’s successor. Hezekiah would be a sign to Ahaz that God was in control: The Lord was with Ahaz; He would save Judah from the enemies that surrounded Ahaz, enabling his son to inherit the throne. Yet the reference to the child eating “curds and honey” was a prediction of Assyria’s eventual domination of Judah.

Others have identified Isaiah’s wife, “the prophetess” of 8:3, as the “virgin.” She was a young woman of marriageable age, another meaning of the Hebrew word translated virgin. The child in this case would be Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. According to this view, the child’s two names, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz meaning “Speed the Spoil, Hasten the Booty,” and Immanuel meaning “God with Us,” symbolize judgment and salvation. In fact, Isaiah himself described his children as “signs” to the nation, and he delivered a similar prophecy for this son

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Some cite the parallel between the prophecy that a “virgin shall conceive” and Jesus’ miraculous birth as evidence that this prophecy was fulfilled only in Jesus. Mary was the virgin mother; and the birth of Jesus was the sign of God’s salvation. His name would be Immanuel, “God with Us,” because Jesus was the Son of God and He lived among us. According to this view, Isaiah’s prophecy had no fulfillment prior to Jesus’ birth. It is not uncommon for biblical prophecies to have one level of fulfillment in the immediate future, and a final fulfillment many years later in the person and work of the Savior, Jesus. Thus the pregnancy of Isaiah’s new wife and the birth of her son could have been a sign to King Ahaz. However, this would have been a fulfillment, not the fulfillment. The prophecy was completely fulfilled in the coming of God’s only Son to the earth. He is the only Child who can truly be called Wonderful, Counselor, and Prince of Peace. NKJ Bible.