“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)
Quite often in our life we become filled with fear when it comes to making difficult decisions or dealing with threats from others. We can find strength to persevere from the Word of God and from the Holy Spirit as He speaks through the Church. In Old Testament times the Spirit of the Lord spoke through prophets. Isaiah was the prophet who the Lord sent to King Ahaz of Judah to allay his fears. Ahaz became filled with fear from threats made against Judah by Samaria and Syria who tried to force him to ally with them against Assyria. He refused, preferring to ally with Assyria.
Isaiah counseled Ahaz to keep trusting in God, but he rejected the message and the sign. When Ahaz rejected the Lord he rejected the protection the Lord could give him. Consequently he could receive no hope from the sign and its fulfillment. Immanuel as we know from Matthew 1 is the Messiah, Jesus, “God with us”. Yet the immediate reference is possibly the birth of the remnant of Israel, the righteous group of Jews who would remain faithful to the Lord or it could refer to an actual birth to a young woman in the court of Ahaz. The point is the by the time the child was weaned, in 2 or 3 years, Assyria will have overrun Syria and Samaria and will threaten Judah.
The faithful remnant of Jews did understand 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 the remnant 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, it is used in Matthew’s gospel as the sign to us of the hope of all mankind who will redeem us, Jesus, who is God with us. Knowing by faith that God is with us gives all who believe great comfort and peace.