Sermon 12-21-25

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Based on the First Lesson and the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Advent: Isaiah 7:10-17, and Matthew 1:18-25 

A Virgin Birth?

Matthew expressly tied his narrative of Jesus’ birth to a prophecy found in Isaiah 7:14, “. . . Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” In the last 150 years a controversy erupted over Matthew’s use of Isaiah 7:14. Therefore, in some English translations you will hear “a young woman shall conceive.” Those who choose to translate the Hebrew this way claim that the Hebrew word “alma” can mean both a young married woman as well as a virgin. They claim that the word simply means a young woman of marriageable age. Indeed the context of verse 14 seems to support the claim. The surrounding verses, Isaiah 7:10-17, make it sound like the prophecy of verse 14 sits entirely within the context of events that took place around 700B.C. Therefore, those who choose “young woman” as the translation claim that this verse has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. They assert that Matthew made an error by quoting it. 

By making such a claim, these scholars have come in on one side of a controversy that has been raging for years. Is the Bible the inerrant and infallible Word of God or is it merely a fallible human document that may contain the Word of God? Those claiming inerrancy are Biblical conservatives. Those claiming fallibility are Biblical liberals. This is a huge controversy that has divided many historic denominations. The Methodists recently split over this controversy. A Reformed denomination is in the process of splitting.

Such splits often revolve around the issue of homosexuality. Is this sexual practice sinful or not? Should homosexual people be ordained? These are the kind of controversies that have roiled denominations recently. Those who accept the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture say homosexual practice is sinful and practicing homosexuals should not be ordained. Those who do not accept inerrancy and infallibility say God approves of homosexuality.

Lutherans have been involved in the inerrancy and infallibility controversy since the 1970’s and 80’s when the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod repelled a takeover by Biblical liberals. But in 1988 the liberals consolidated their gains with the formation what is called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Trinity itself was directly involved in the controversy. In 1988 this congregation and this pastor chose to side with Biblical conservatives and leave the liberal Lutheran Church for a small conservative Lutheran organization called The American Association of Lutheran Churches. At the time, one of the things that swayed me was a lengthy, detailed analysis of the virgin controversy in Isaiah 7:14 done by a conservative scholar. I still have the article in my files.

Now it’s true that the Hebrew word “alma” in Isaiah 7:14 can be translated young woman or virgin depending on context. However, there’s an important fact that supports “virgin” as the proper word. In the 300’s B.C., Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire and introduced the Greek language and Greek culture to the Middle East and Egypt and even as far as present day Pakistan and India. As a result, in the 300’s a committee of seventy Jewish scholars was formed to translate the Hebrew Bible into the Greek Language. The result is what is called the Septuagint. The Septuagint was used by Jews right up to the time of Jesus and beyond.

In ancient Greek there is one word for young woman of marriageable age and an entirely different word for virgin. There is no confusing the two. It’s either one or the other. The Septuagint translators unequivocally chose the Greek word for virgin to translate Isaiah 7:14. When Matthew wrote His Gospel in the ancient Greek language, he quoted Isaiah 7:14 from the Greek Septuagint translation. And remember, that translation was made sometime between 300 and 200 years before Jesus. So it wasn’t influenced by Christians. The seventy Jewish scholars of the Septuagint made it clear that the proper understanding of the Hebrew “alma” in Isaiah 7:14 is “virgin.” Period.

Now in all of human history, how many truly virgin women have conceived and given birth to a child? Only one that I know of — Mary of Nazareth. So if Yahweh gave Isaiah a prophecy that a virgin would conceive and give birth, only Mary and her son, Jesus fulfill it. But this morning’s first lesson contains more than Isaiah 7:14. Therefore, what does the rest of the prophecy have to do with the virgin birth? That’s where the controversy comes in.

In High School, one of the instruments I played was bass trombone. So I know how to operate the slide that trombonists use to get the right note. In a fast piece of music the slide may have to go all the way out, come all the way back in and then go out part way in quick succession.

Something similar happens when we read the Old Testament prophets. In a quick succession of verses or even words, the time frame of prophecy can go from the distant indefinite future out to the very end of time, back close up to the immediate future then back out to the moderately distant future. We know this because many of the things the prophets proclaimed for Israel have already happened. Other things have not happened yet. Still other things may be in the process of happening before our eyes.

When we read Isaiah 7:10-17, this feature of sliding history has to be taken into account. So, we begin with what was happening when Isaiah wrote these verses.

Geographically, Israel sits between the two great river valleys that spawned empires in the ancient world. Where there’s water, food can be grown. Where there’s abundant food, there’s civilization. So, to Israel’s south and west there is the great Nile River valley that supported the ancient Egyptian Empire. To the north and east are the great valley systems of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present day Iraq. In ancient times these rivers supported numerous ancient empires.

Therefore, located between powerful competing empires, Israel was often in a precarious political and military situation. This was especially true after Solomon’s kingdom was divided in two by civil war. Neither the northern kingdom of Israel nor the southern kingdom of Judah was strong enough to stand on its own. Frequently, both kingdoms owed allegiance to one or the other of the great empires surrounding them. Sometimes a battle would change their allegiance from one empire to the other. Sometimes they would play off one empire against the other. At other times their allegiance to one empire would produce destruction by the other, depending on which empire won a war. At other times one or the other kingdom tried to assert its independence and got crushed by the empire it owed allegiance to.

King Ahaz of Judah was in one of these precarious situations. On top of it, he had local problems. The neighboring kingdoms of Israel and Syria were trying to destroy Judah. In this distress, Yahweh sent the prophet Isaiah to Ahaz.

We read in Isaiah 7:10-11, “10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: 11 ‘Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.’” These verses are astounding. In the midst of great fear and uncertainty, Yahweh invited Ahaz to ask Him for a miraculous sign that all would go well. What would you give for a direct sign from God? But foolish Ahaz refused to believe the Word of the Lord that came through Isaiah. We read in Isaiah 7:12,  But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.’” On the surface Ahaz’ reluctance to ask for a sign sounds most humble and obedient. For there is a commandment in Deuteronomy 6:16, “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test . . . .” But when Yahweh Himself invites you to ask for a sign, it is most disrespectful not to do so. Ahaz may have sounded pious but he was really hiding unbelief under outward piety. Therefore, this response came from Isaiah in Isaiah 7:13-14, “13 And he said, ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.’”

Notice something here. This is key. Isaiah didn’t address Ahaz directly for his unbelief. Yahweh directed His rebuke to the entire royal house of King David’s descendants. This means the Lord’s rebuke was directed not only against Ahaz but also against all the Davidic kings who had come before Ahaz and would come after him. Do you see the broad sweep of history here? The rebuke included all the descendants of David that sat on the royal throne of Judah for approximately five hundred years. Therefore, what Isaiah is about to prophesy has a wide open time frame. It can cover any distance into the future. By addressing the entire house of David, the prophecy is NOT confined to Ahaz and his immediate future. It’s for the whole house of David. Therefore, the sign that the Lord will give is given not only to Ahaz but to all of David’s line. Ahaz never saw the promised sign. It will not materialize until Jesus.

So here is the sign from Isaiah 7:14, “. . . Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The Greek of the Septuagint text makes it clear that this is a virgin and not merely a young woman.

But now comes the part of the prophecy that Biblical liberals love to jump on. Isaiah 7:15-17, “15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The LORD will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

Here’s the question. Is the child of the virgin in verse 14 the same child described in verses 15 through 17? Conservative commentators say NO. For, in just a few words the time frame has shifted from the indefinite future to the immediate future. The prediction of verses 15-17 is that in the same amount of time it takes from the birth of a child until a child knows the difference between good and evil — let’s say four years — in this amount of time, both kingdoms that were attacking Judah — Israel and Syria — will be deserted.

When we read the history of King Ahaz recorded in 2Kings and 2Chronicles, we discover that this king was the son of a king who was devoted to Yahweh. We discover that Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah, is one of the great kings of Judah, devoted to Yahweh. But Ahaz himself went astray into idolatry. Therefore, for his apostasy, Yahweh punished Ahaz by stirring the nations around him into war with him and Judah. Those nations were the northern kingdom of Israel, Syria and Edom. Edom lived in present day Jordan. 

Now, Ahaz might have been able to save himself and Judah from their enemies if he had repented and turned to Yahweh. Instead, Ahaz took many treasures out of Yahweh’s temple and with them hired the king of the Assyrian empire to make war on his enemies. Assyria was located in the Tigris and Euphrates valleys. The king of Assyria, ever happy to expand his empire, came to the rescue. He conquered both Israel and Syria.

It was the Assyrian practice to empty conquered lands of their people and scatter those people throughout the empire; then to draw other people from around the empire and settle them in the conquered lands. Thus, just as Isaiah prophesied, the ten northern tribes of Israel were removed from their land and dispersed. These are the fabled ten lost tribes of Israel. The people of Syria were also removed and dispersed. So, the land of both these nations was depopulated within about four years of the prophecy. The new people hadn’t been brought in yet. The lands of the two kings were deserted, just as the prophecy said they would be.

Ahaz was a fool for hiring the king of Assyria. For, the Assyrian and Egyptian armies clashed in the territory of Judah, causing great destruction. As a result, Judah’s remaining population had to survive on milk from animals and wild honey from the forest until crops could be planted and harvested again. Thus, the child spoken of in verses 15-17 would have to live on curds and honey in the first several years of his life.

Here we see that the child spoken of in verses 15-17 was a child of Judah’s immediate future. However, the prophecy about the virgin giving birth to a child is in the indefinite future. In the distance of a few words, the prophetic time frame shifts from the indefinite future to the immediate future. Therefore, the child of verse 14 is not the child of verses 15-17.

There’s another reason. A virgin giving birth is a sign that fits the deep as death or as high as heaven requirement in verse 11. The kid eating curds and honey in verses 15-17 does not fit that miraculous criteria. And speaking of miraculous criteria, that’s just the reason Bible liberals try to make the kid of verse 14 and the kid of 15-17 the same. They just don’t believe in the virgin birth. It’s as simple as that. I know this because a month before the ELCA was formed the pastors I knew then agreed in a meeting that it was a great day in the morning that they wouldn’t have to teach the virgin birth anymore.

There’s much more to be said about Isaiah’s prophecy in chapter 7. But I’ll save it for one of the Bible studies. The important point this morning is how the time frame shifts dramatically from the indefinite future addressed to all the house of David to the immediate future facing Ahaz and Judah. Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus. From Isaiah’s perspective, Jesus’ birth was in the indefinite future. Therefore, Matthew was correct when he proclaimed Jesus’ birth a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 — a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.

Now, why Jesus needed to be born of a virgin is a big matter. I’ve covered this in previous years by comparing Eve’s son, Cain, to Mary’s son, Jesus. Suffice it to say that Eve thought she might have given birth to the Messiah promised by Yahweh on the day Adam and Eve sinned — promised in Genesis 3:15. But Cain became the first murderer. And this proves that no one conceived and born in the normal human fashion is free of Original Sin.

All who are born with Original Sin are not free to perfectly choose Yahweh’s righteousness. For all born with Original Sin can easily be tempted into sin. As Jesus said in John 8:34, “. . . ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’” And as it says in James 2:10, “. . . whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” Thus, all born with Original Sin are not free. We are subject to sin and slaves of sin.

However, Messiah had to be born without Original Sin so that He could be truly free to choose between the will of Yahweh and the temptations of Satan. He had to have the same freedom Adam originally possessed before falling into sin. Messiah had to be free to remain totally righteous and sinless before Yahweh. He had to be free to love Yahweh with all His heart, soul, mind and strength. Only then would He be able to undo what Adam had done.

Therefore, Jesus was not conceived and born in the ordinary way. His conception had to be a miraculous work of God in the womb of a virgin woman. And so, God the Son, humbled Himself and took on our human flesh. His physical human body was implanted in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the work of God the Holy Spirit. Nine months later, Mary was still a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus. Thus, the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled.

The great marvel and mystery we celebrate at Christmas is that Yahweh, the Son, humbled Himself and became incarnate in human flesh. He did so in order to take Adam’s place and undo what Adam did. We know from Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection that by the power of the tree of the cross, He, in fact, succeeded in undoing what Adam did.

Therefore, all who repent and call on the Name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins can be saved from sin, sin’s destructive power and the wrath of God it incurs. All who call on the Name of the Son of God will be raised from the dead in immortal righteous human bodies free from Original Sin. Yahweh Himself will dwell with all those raised to righteousness. And such eternal life with righteous Yahweh will be holy, perfect and absolutely amazing for ever and ever. This is the Gospel of the Lord. And one reason we can be sure of this Gospel is because Matthew correctly proclaimed Jesus’ miraculous birth a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14.

Therefore, let us marvel. A virgin conceived and birthed a Son. We call Him Emmanuel, God with us. And all who call on the Name of Jesus can be saved from sin’s destructive power. We can be saved from sin for eternal righteous life. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV.