The eighth century BC began with almost unparalleled prosperity for Israel and Judah, and ended in utter catastrophe, with the end of the Northern Kingdom, and the near complete destruction of Judah. Into this tumultuous century came something new for Israel, and an incredible blessing for us. Israel always had prophets, but in this century, their oracles were written and preserved. Amos, Hosea, Micah, and Isaiah were the “Literary Prophets,” of the eighth century.
We may think that their main business was forecasting future events. It was not! Though they did that, their main calling was to speak God’s word to their own generation and to their own time. The great prophet Isaiah was such a prophet. He spoke to his contemporaries in and around Jerusalem, among who were kings. One of the worst kings was a weak-kneed man, named Ahaz.
Ahaz was about to buckle to a coalition of forces, including Syria and his own kinsmen in the north, Israel. At that time of weakness, Isaiah confronted the king:
Isaiah 7:13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. 15 He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, 16 for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. (NIV)
Though Isaiah was looking to the future, this was the near future. A young woman (virgin), perhaps nearby, would marry and bear a son. As soon as he could tell right from wrong, the coalition would collapse under the onslaught of the Assyrian army. That child, Ahaz would see, would be called, God with us (Immanuel).
Well then, how did this text become such a part of the story of the birth of Jesus? To that we must turn to Matthew. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but was pregnant. What would Joseph do?
Matthew 1:20…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (NIV)
How could Matthew appropriate those timely words intended for the eighth century and apply them to the birth of Jesus? He could do so because he was inspired to see that Jesus, not that unknown son, was the true fulfillment of those words.
This idea came to Matthew, not out of the ether, but from Jesus, Himself. Jesus often said that He came to fulfill all Scripture. It’s Matthew who gives us the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus said, “Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (NIV) So, for Matthew, as well as all the New Testament, Jesus didn’t terminate the Law and Prophets, but instead, He was the goal to which they pointed.
Matthew didn’t, nor must we, deny the original fulfillment of Isaiah’s words to see their truest fulfillment in Jesus. Mary, unlike the unnamed young woman Isaiah saw, was a virgin at conception—a conception not by her husband, but by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was not just named “God with us,” but was actually God with us. It is not either/or, but both/and, with a giant exclamation mark after the “and!”
What Matthew celebrated, and we celebrate in Advent, was God’s climactic fulfillment of His saving purposes in Jesus. Matthew read his scriptures through Jesus’ lenses and constantly said, “See, here He is!” And we, nurtured by Matthew’s gospel, say, “YES! Here He is!” Amen!