“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)
These last few years we have seen and endured and continue to endure much chaos and confusion concerning sexual immorality and gender identity. Perhaps this is why the concept of a young unmarried woman being a virgin is quite irrelevant these days. And perhaps this is why so many reject the core Christian truth of the virgin birth of Jesus, a doctrine prophesied by the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah gave a sign to King Ahaz of Judah, a young woman giving birth to a son. The Lord gave the sign to the King to comfort him because he had become filled with fear of the threats made against Judah by Samaria and Syria who tried to force him to ally with them against the Assyrian Empire. He refused, preferring to ally with Assyria. Isaiah encouraged Ahaz to keep trusting the Lord God, but he rejected the message and the sign. , the virgin bearing a child to be called Immanuel, “God with us”.
Immanuel, as we know from Matthew 1 is the Messiah, Jesus. Yet the immediate reference is possibly the birth of a son to a young woman in the court of Ahaz, perhaps who would grow up to be the righteous King Hezekiah. Regardless, the point of the sign was that by the time the boy was weaned, in 2 or 3 years, Assyria would have overrun Syria and Samaria and would threaten Judah.
The righteous Jews did understand the sign and had hope. They would undergo travail from the ungodly yet would remain faithful to God no matter what happened to them. In time, a young woman would spring forth from Judah who would give birth to a new King, Immanuel, God with us. The young woman who would give birth was a virgin for in Hebrew understanding an unmarried woman of childbearing age was a virgin. Although the sign of the virgin birth meant judgment for ancient Judah, in Matthew the Lord uses it to convey to us the hope of all mankind, the one who is born to redeem us from our sins, Jesus. He is God with us. Knowing by faith that God is with us gives all who believe in Him great comfort, peace and eternal life.