Isaiah 7:10-17, Who was the Virgin in Isaiah?

Lately I have been dwelling in “Immanuel’s Song” (Isa. 7-12).  It is such a wonderful place to be. There is a controversy (not with anyone I know but in the wider circle of Christendom) over the identity of the virgin in Isa. 7:14. One way to ask the question is, “should Ahaz have understood that this applied to the Messiah?  Matthew obviously understood this (Mt. 1:23).  But Matthew had the benefit of Jesus teaching the disciples.  Perhaps a better question would be, “should the average Jew have understood this applied to Messiah?”

Those who deny that this was intended to refer to Mary, the mother of Jesus, tend to believe that Isaiah was referring to a woman in his own time.  Perhaps he referred to an unmarried woman present in the court of Ahaz that day.  Or perhaps it referred to Isaiah’s wife, who is said to give birth to a son in Isa. 8:1-4.  The conclusion is that they accuse NT writers of taking a verse out of context and applying it to Jesus’ Incarnation.  They deny the virgin birth itself.  The end result of any of these conclusions is that they deny the uniqueness of our Lord and Savior.

As to the identity of the “virgin” in the context, there is no reference here or later concerning some woman in the court of Ahaz.  And as for Isaiah’s wife, she gave birth to a son and he was not names Immanuel but rather Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.  She was not the focus of the prophecy.

 As to whether Ahaz should or should not have recognized that this applied to the Messiah is irrelevant.  He was a godless, wicked king.  Right thinking was not one of his strong points.  So the better question is whether or not an Israelite who understood that “religion” revolved around the promise of God to provide a remedy for the sin of Adam and Eve understood Isaiah’s words as Messianic?  The answer is, if they were aware of God’s revelation to that day, they could have known that what Isaiah said was part of the truth about the coming Savior.

First, the people of Israel would have been aware of Gen. 22 and the story of Abraham offering his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah.  The story revealed God’s plan, that He was going to offer His Son.  If you think that truth is a bit hidden, it should have become clear when joined to Psalm 2 where God plainly says that His Son would be the Messiah.  To that you can add Prov. 30:4 concerning God’s Son. 

Second, there were already available passages that declared the deity of the Messiah.  Jesus Himself used David’s words in Ps. 110:1 to declare His deity (Matt. 22:41-46.  In Immanuel’s Song Isaiah declares that Messiah is “Mighty God, Everlasting Father.” Later, there would be additional declarations of Messiah’s deity (e.g. Jer. 23:5-6; Zech. 6:12-13). 

And finally, by the name “Immanuel” Isaiah brought these together.  That name, meaning “God with Us,” appears not only in 7:14 but also 8:8,10.  Further, in “Immanuel’s Song” Isaiah makes further reference to this “Son” in 9:6-7 (another well known prophecy often quoted at Christmas time) as well as 11:1-2 and 10 where the Messiah is both the Rod who comes from Jesse and the Root of Jesse (how can that be except that He is both the God who created Jesse and the Man whose lineage was through Jesse). 

As is the case today, so in Old Testament times and also in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  The issue is faith.  Trusting God to keep His promise of atonement for sin.  If men do not see that Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise, it is nevertheless the truth.  There were people who saw this before the cross and resurrection (Luke 1:47,55,68-75; 2:25,38).  There are many today who have this same faith!