Immanuel
Isaiah Chapters 7-12
The Nature of Prophecy
The chapters we are given for our lesson today contain many powerful passages with which we are very familiar, even though we are more familiar with them in the context of their New Testament fulfillment, rather than their Old Testament origin. We are, for instance very familiar with the prophecy of the birth of Christ:
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14b KJV)
The Old Testament context, however (Isaiah 7:10-15) is less familiar to us. For those of us who are familiar with the New Testament context, it is very striking that in its original context, the prophecy is very clearly given as a sign to Ahaz as a sign which would be fulfilled in his lifetime. In the context of Isaiah, the term that is translated “virgin” simply means “young woman.” It is not until the sign is interpreted in the New Testament context (Matthew 1:18-25) that the idea of “virgin birth” is applied.
What, then, is the nature of prophecy? A prophet is one who speaks to us the word of God to us, and sometimes one who speaks to God on our account. This dual role began with Abraham (Genesis 20:1-7) who spoke freely with God and in whom God established tradition for many generations to come. But how does prophecy work? If Isaiah's prophecy of the child that was to be born is so important to us today, why is it that the prophecy of the Lord whistling for flies and using a hired razor almost meaningless to us? (Isaiah 7:18-25)
Today we are called a people of the Book. We believe in that scripture is the true word of God, sufficient for salvation. But we cannot limit God to this book, and certainly not to our understanding of it (John 21:25). Even the Bible is a thing of this world which came into being and may pass away, but the Word of God always been and will always be (John 1:1-5; Isaiah 40:8; Mark 13:31). Who knows if we may see the prophecy of the hired razor fulfilled in our lifetime, either to all of us as a nation or to any of us individually? The word of God is not letters on a page which are printed today and discarded tomorrow, but as active, unchanging presence in our lives.
The Zeal of the Lord Almighty
Chapter 9 also begins with a very familiar passage (9:2-7). And again, the Old Testament context of the passage, as expressed in the middle section, is not so familiar to us. In this passage, the prophet speaks with such confidence in the word of the Lord that he presents his message in the present tense, so that a child is born, and a son is given. A word from the Lord is a deed already done. But the zeal of the Lord is a sword which cuts both ways, and though the prophet speaks with assurance the blessings that are already real, he speaks as assuredly of the judgment which is at hand. This judgment is expressed in the refrain of a motif introduced in Chapter 5 (verse 25) and repeated throughout Chapter 9 and into Chapter 10 (9:12; 9:17; 9:21; 10:4).
Chapter 11 begins with more familiar passages (11:1-9) which reemphasizes the inseparable nature of the love of God and the judgment of God. The same righteousness that condemns the powerful will redeem the needy and the judgment which destroys the wealthy will support the poor. In that day, the balance of the earth itself, destroyed in the Garden of Eden will be restored by the full knowledge of the Lord, as waters that cover the sea (Romans 8:22).
Immanuel
The entirety of Chapter 12 is a psalm to the Lord, whose anger has become comfort This is a reminder that the unchanging love of God is a terror to those who reject it, and the strength of those who accept it. This chapter also speaks of the power of the very name of God, which in Old Testament time was held in such high regard that it did not even have a spoken form. In consideration of the import placed on names in the time of Isaiah, we should consider the way names are used in the book of Isaiah.
In Chapter 8 we are given a reminder of the earlier statement “Here am I. Send me!” (6:8) as Isaiah says “Here I am, and the children the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols…” (8:18) And so we have the name “Isaiah” which means “Yahweh is Salvation.” Isaiah's two sons also have symbolic names: the name of the older son (which means “a remnant will”) is symbolic of the prophecy that a remnant of the people will turn again to God and be saved. The name of the younger son (quick plunder, swift spoil) is more enigmatic and not so easily understood.
Then, of course, there is the name “Immanuel” which means “God is with us”. In fact, in the passage in Isaiah 8:6-10 we see the same word used first as a name and then as a benediction. As we have already seen, the Gospel of Matthew (1:22-23) tells us that the birth of Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of the one who will be called Immanuel.
There is some similarity in the names, even though they do not sound at all alike to us. “Jesus” is the English form of the Latin rendering of the Greek translation of the Hebrew name that is spelled (in English letters) “Yehoshua”. The name “Joshua” is the English version of the same name. That is, “Jesus” and “Joshua” are both English forms of the same name. The former is used in New Testament settings (which come to us by way of Greek and Latin) and the latter in Old Testament settings (which come to us more directly from the Hebrew). In any case, the name (“Jesus” or “Joshua”) means “The Lord Saves.”
Was Matthew simply stretching the point a bit by telling us the name “Jesus” and the name “Immanuel” had meanings similar enough that the former name could fulfill the prophecy in regard to the latter? I think not. Matthew was well-acquainted with Old Testament prophecy, as evidenced by the more than forty references found in his gospel to the way Jesus fulfilled the prophecy concerning the Christ. Instead, I think Matthew was telling us something new. We have already mentioned that, in the setting in Isaiah, the reference to the “virgin” was not intended to indicate virgin birth. Further, the Jewish scholars and teachers did not (and still do not) see the passage in Isaiah as having messianic import.
However Isaiah may have understood his own prophecy and however it may have been understood until the time of Christ, it is through the witness of Matthew that we understand the prophecy of Isaiah as fulfilled in the life of Jesus, and we are able to call our Lord “Immanuel, Wonderful Counselor, the Prince of Peace.”
