Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. The text is prophecy of the Messiah (Matthew 1:23). I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH IT WAS SPOKEN. II. ITS FULFILMENT. For more than seven hundred years devout Jews waited for the Divinely predicted sign. Then came the day which Christmas commemorates, III. ITS PRACTICAL IMPORT. To Christians this prophecy is significant of those blessings which are pledged to us in Christ. In Him we have the assurance of God being — 1. With us in the sense of on our side. Nature shows us God as above us; law shows us God as against us, because we have made ourselves His enemies; but the Gospel shows us God with us to defend us from the. power of sin and to deliver us from the penalty of sin. 2. With us in the sense of in our nature. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"; became one of ourselves, shared with us — (1) The trials of a human life; (2) The temptations which assail us; (3) The penalty of sin — death of the body, the hiding of God's countenance. And so in Christ Jesus we the pledge of the three cardinal blessings of all Divine revelation — (a) The Divine sympathy, because He is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities."(b) The Divine salvation, because He has "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."(c) The Divine succour, because He "ever liveth to make intercession" for us; and His parting word to His Church is, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (T. H. Barnett.) Parallel Verses KJV: Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. |
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