Message One: “The Virgin Shall Conceive”

Celebrating the Coming of the Messiah – 2004 – “The Doctrine of the Virgin Birth”

TEXT: Isaiah 7:14 – Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee – December 12^th, 19^th, and 24^th, 2004

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….”

Matthew 1:18-25 ¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. ²⁰ But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." ²² So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ²³ "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." ²⁴ Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, ²⁵ and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.

The Lord Himself will give you a sign

This amazing prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, actually starts with a king who is being a pain in the neck. If you look up Ahaz in a good study bible you will probably find a reference like the one I have in mine. “King of Judah; pursues idolatry; submits to Assyrian rule; desecrates the temple, 2 King 16”. That’s not a great start, but we are not yet finished with the bad news. The list continues as follows: “Defeated by Syria and Israel, 2 Chronicles 28:5-15”. Finally, citing our text for this morning, the following note appears: “Comforted by Isaiah; refuses to ask a sign”.

Let me explain. Ahaz was King of Judah. Israel and Syria had joined forces together and wanted to replace him with their own man. God sent Ahaz an encouraging prophecy through Isaiah stating that ultimately the plans of Israel and Syria “shall not stand” (Isaiah 7:7) and that within sixty-five years the northern kingdom of Israel, the enemy of Judah in this case, would be completely defeated.

In order to authenticate His word to this unbelieving king, God did an unusual thing. He instructed the wicked Ahaz to choose any sign at all, and God would do that sign to show that the prophecy He had just given to Isaiah was true. Now this king decided that God’s order should not be obeyed, pretending to be too pious to need a sign from God. When God tells us to pick a sign, he must know that we need a sign. So when Ahaz says, “I will not ask,” God is right to rebuke him. He says through Isaiah, “Hear now, O house of David!” (More than just Ahaz) “Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?” Then the words of our text are given as read to you.

God will give a sign. God will give a baby who is more than a miracle. This is a story that is bigger than Ahaz and his enemies. This is news that is of the greatest importance. This is about the coming of the God/Man Messiah Jesus. Without Jesus, there would have been no meaning for the nation of Israel, and no point to any prophet, priest, or king, including the reprobate Ahaz.

Behold

Let’s look at the words of the prophecy more carefully. It begins with the word “behold” which is used 593 times in the Bible. Why would anyone bother to say this word? It tells us to listen up. Pay attention. There is something amazing here, something significant. This is very true. It is time for all men everywhere to behold this sign. Our lives are short, and there is nothing more significant to any of our lives than the truth of the Messiah Jesus.

Obviously the message of Jesus is important for everyone to hear. Do not presume that you have heard this message enough. The church needs to see the truth about Jesus more clearly than ever before. Could it be that we who are here this morning do not have a right understanding of Jesus Christ? Behold!

The Virgin Shall Conceive

Our translation then continues with a sentence that is not immediately remarkable. “The virgin shall conceive.” I know this seems miraculous, but that is because you know the rest of the story. When Ahaz heard these words they would have seemed utterly unremarkable. The text does not say that a virgin will conceive and after she has conceived she will still be a virgin. That would be something, but that is not what it says. That is what it means, but the full wonder of the words could not be appreciated until the event actually happened according to God’s plan.

Think about this first from the standpoint of Ahaz. “Ahaz, you are troubling God. Here is your sign. A young woman shall conceive.” I have gone one step further in the direction of “ordinary” here by using the words “young woman” rather than “virgin.” While the Hebrew word in Isaiah 7 is most often used to refer to a young woman who has not yet been married, it can just mean “young woman” or even “girl.” Young women are conceiving all the time. That is not necessarily an amazing sign.

Furthermore, the way that the sign is given in Isaiah 7 is extremely vague. Who is this young woman? There are many young women. Where and when will she conceive, and why will this be significant? Finally there is the question that will ultimately be most important in terms of the sign value of this event. How will this young woman conceive? More on that in a moment.

Though the word “virgin” is a very good and defensible translation of the original Hebrew word, when the Old Testament was translated into the Greek language long before the birth of Jesus Christ, the Greek word used here would more clearly point to the idea of a “virgin.” This would be quoted in the New Testament in the passage that we read from Matthew’s gospel. But it is not the words spoken to Ahaz that should cause us all to marvel. What should send us to our knees is the reality that they so subtly pointed forward to through the use of the word “Immanuel” at the end of the verse.

That reality would come hundreds of years after Ahaz was dead and buried. This virgin would not simply be any young woman. She would be a particular young woman who was betrothed to a particular young man. And that young woman would not know marital intimacy until after her first son was born! Yet she conceived. This is more than a miracle baby. Abraham and Sarah had a miracle baby. His name was Isaac. They were both too old to have children, and Sarah was barren. But God did a miracle and this elderly woman became pregnant. The result was a miracle baby who was genuinely the son of Abraham and the son of Sarah, resulting from Abraham knowing Sarah.

This is different. This baby will be Immanuel – “God with us.” There is something about the way that this young woman is going to conceive that is going to be a sign that God is with His covenant people and that His purposes are unstoppable. A virgin is going to conceive, and she is still going to be a virgin!

A word of caution is appropriate here. Jesus is not the Son of God because of this miraculous conception. Jesus is the Son of God from all eternity. The miraculous virginal conception is simply a sign from God of the reality that Jesus IS the Son of God. God is simply telling us how it came to pass that the prophecy from Isaiah was fulfilled. God is the Father. This happened by the work of the Holy Spirit. We see this in Matthew 1, Luke 1, and John 1, for the Word, the eternal Son of God, was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The only begotten Son of God has come.

The Significance of the Miraculous Conception of Jesus

Later in John’s gospel we read these words:

John 12:37-41 ³⁷ But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, ³⁹ Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ⁴⁰ "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." ⁴¹ These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

Did you catch that last verse? The “Him” that John is writing about is this same Son of God, who was miraculously conceived in the womb of a woman who had no relations with a man. John is saying that Isaiah saw the divine Son of God in His glory, and he saw Him hundreds of years before the birth in the manger!

When did this happen. John tells us by quoting words that were spoken in Isaiah 6, the chapter before our text. Do you remember what happened in Isaiah 6? The prophet was given an overwhelming vision of God in all His holiness. This is what He said:

Isaiah 6:5 "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts."

This is the same divine King who took on human flesh and took up residence in the womb of the virgin. This is the significance of the virgin conceiving. This is what we need to know about Jesus. He is the very holy God of Isaiah 6. It is an unspeakable blessing that He calls us His friends, and even dies for our sins. We need to listen to Him. We have in Him a far better King than Ahaz. He is God the Son. He is with us, and He is for us. Hear Him today in His Word, and adore Him.