Prophecy of the Virgin and Emmanuel

Madonna and Child by Marianne Stokes
1907 Public Domain

In case you couldn't tell by the current Advent series, there seem to be several prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. The Old Testament and New Testament are two parts to the Bible, and the Old Testament has been Scripture long before the New Testament was even in existence (but perhaps I'll save a history lesson for another post).

This particular prophecy happens earlier in the book of Isaiah than the other two I wrote about (Light and Names). This is the prophecy of the virgin birth.

We Christians (whether we're Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox) believe that Jesus Christ was born from a virgin named Mary. It's one of the basic tenants of the Christian faith and you can see it reflected in the Apostles Creed and Nicene Creed. Two of the three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew and Luke, speak about the virgin birth. Matthew even quotes Isaiah! To state that you don't believe in the virgin birth puts you on the path towards heresy (but I digress).

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14 ESV

(I'm going to use the romanized spelling 'Emmanual' because that's just what I'm used to using so don't let the differences in spelling confuse you).

When Isaiah spoke this prophecy I think I can hazard a guess that it sounded really weird to people. It still sounds weird to people nowadays even with all our fertility treatments. A virgin giving birth? Absurd!

But we know it's not because several hundred years later we get Mary. We call her many titles: Blessed Mary, Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and so on and so forth. But several hundred years after Isaiah speaks we get Mary and nine months later we get Jesus. Or Emmanuel.

Emmanuel - 'God with us'

That's the miracle of Christmas isn't? Past the virgin birth, past the angels, past the star in the sky. God came down at Christmas. God became human. Not "I'm going to play human for a few years" but actually became a human and lived from birth to death to resurrection to ascension to the right hand of God as human. We've got a human in the Trinity, guys, it's Jesus the Son. To this day Jesus is still fully God and fully man. We Christians state it in The Chalcedonian Creed which was created to address the Incarnation and the Athanasian Creed which talks about the Trinity.

God with us. What an amazing promise.

So as the Advent season continues, as we prepare our hearts and minds for Christ's birth and as we look forward to Christ's return, let us remember that Emmanuel is still a reality. A reality we could all do better at remembering.