Immanuel, God with Us: Isaiah 7:10-16

In our last episode, we focused on the first of two prophecies found within one verse in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Let’s pick back up where we left off and look at the other amazing prophecy found within this verse.

However, to give us a little more context for this prophecy, let’s read some surrounding verses in our time together. Our passage and prophecy is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 7, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 10:

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹ “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” ¹³ Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. ¹⁵ He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. ¹⁶ For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.

In our last episode, we focused in on the virgin becoming pregnant with a son, and in this episode, let’s focus our attention onto the last portion of this prophecy, specifically that the name this virgin would give her son would be the name Immanuel.

This prophecy is fascinating in my mind, because throughout the entire Bible, the only time I can see Jesus being called Immanuel is prior to His birth, specifically within a quotation of Isaiah’s prophecy that we find in Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew’s gospel, as Matthew transitions away from Jesus’ genealogy, he shifts to describing Joseph’s perspective after learning that his fiancée was pregnant, and not by him.

In Matthew, chapter 1, starting in verse 18, Matthew writes:

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. ²⁰ But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” ²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ²³ “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” ²⁴ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, ²⁵ but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

In a strange twist, the angel Gabriel tells Joseph and Mary to name their baby Jesus, but this doesn’t seem to be aligned with Isaiah’s prophecy about the name of the Messiah being Immanuel.

I wonder whether this was one such prophecy the religious leaders used to discredit Jesus in their minds. With a clear name given in the writings of Isaiah, we don’t see a straight-line fulfillment in the naming of Jesus. Throughout the gospels, Jesus is often called Jesus Christ, or Jesus Messiah, but I don’t believe Jesus is ever called Jesus Immanuel.

While this distinction might be a reason for a skeptic to discredit Jesus, this discrepancy is only visible on a shallow reading of the text.

To dig a little deeper, let’s look back at how Matthew interprets the name Immanuel to get an idea of how best to understand this prophecy. In Matthew, chapter 1, verse 23, Matthew tells us the name Immanuel means “God with us.”

While we don’t see Jesus being directly called, God with us, or Immanuel, we do see an amazing fulfillment of this concept within Jesus’ ministry. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, we discover what God is like through how Jesus lived and interacted with people.

In one event that is found in Luke’s gospel, Jesus, His disciples, and a crowd approach the town of Nain, and they meet a funeral processional leaving the town. Against all socially accepted norms, Jesus stops the funeral processional, touches the coffin, and resurrects the child.

Luke’s gospel describes the crowd’s reaction in chapter 7, verse 16 by saying: The people were all filled with wonder and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.”

While we might not have a clear, direct, or repeated use of the name Immanuel within the gospels to describe Jesus, every time He healed, helped, or moved God’s kingdom forward, He fulfills this prophecy being God’s representative to humanity.

In a similar but less profound way, when we step into the life and plan God has placed before us, we can fulfill a tiny portion of God being with us. When we help other people and show God’s love in the world, we are God’s representatives and we are able to lead people in exclaiming that God is willing to be with and help His people!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose today to live your life in a way that brings God glory, and in a way that show’s God’s love in the world around you. The closer you draw to God and lean on Him for help living in the world today, the better you will be able to show others His love for you and His love for them.

To do this, continue to regularly pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn what God is like, and to realign your life with Jesus’ life. When we open our lives and hearts to Jesus in prayer and Bible study, we allow God to send His Holy Spirit into our hearts and transform us from the inside. When we let God work through us, and when we let Him use us to draw people to Jesus, don’t be surprised when the Holy Spirit shows up in your life in amazing ways.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!