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 prophet Isaiah gives us perhaps the most startling and direct prophecies about the birth of the Christ. This prophecy from Isaiah 7 comes from one of the most horrific times in Israel’s history: the place is in complete disarray, and yet here we have this prophecy of a child being born to a virgin. That’s an outlandish miracle in itself, but then comes the name: Immanuel. Every Hebrew would know what this name means - God With Us. To call a baby God would have been unheard of, and yet what a wonderful prophecy they have received.
Immanuel tells you important things about the Messiah: He is God, for one, and that’s huge - but don’t miss this part: that God is with us. If anything was learned from the Genesis account of man’s first sin it was that God could not be with man. They were kicked out of the garden - away from the presence of God, though God used to walk with them in that place. Now the whole story of redemption is God drawing believers back to himself, making away for he, a holy God, to be in the presence of sinful people. The temple was one way, but had with me many regulations for coming into God’s presence. Only the high priest, cleansed and consecrated, could enter the Holy of Holies one day a year to make atonement for sin. That was how big this gulf would be between man and God, and yet God, in his mercy, made a way to be with his people.
But now we have this outstanding prophecy: God himself would be with us in human form, a baby - Immanuel, God with Us. Jesus is the temple, is the presence of God on earth, and made it possible for God and man to be reconciled.
Hymn for Reflection: The Hallelujah Chorus of Handel’s Messiah. Here’s a Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUZEtVbJT5c