I want to finish up "the virgin will be with child" but before I do look what my friend the Messianic Jew Derek Leman sent me in the e-mail today! You will note we have taken a very similar trek. Perhaps his slant will flesh mine out more?
http://www.derekleman.com/musings/2012/11/26/what-isaiah-714-really-means/
Please note this is the third installment on this text and each one builds on the previous one.
Isaiah, accompanied by his son with a symbolic name (a remnant will return), confronts the king of Judah. He tells him there is no need for worry and fear. The threats of the nations surrounding Judah will come to naught. God says that they (Aram and Ephraim) will fall, but he warns, the king to be strong in faith in order to be strong. Then the Lord speaks to the King: "Ask for a sign, deep as Hades or high as Heaven!" To the Divine offer King Ahaz is disdainful, "I will not ask." He claims that he does not want to tempt the Lord, but it is the Lord Who has made the request. God's response is frustration. "Isn't it enough to weary men, must the king now weary God?" And what follows is the full promise, not just one verse....
"The Lord will give you (i.e. King Ahaz) this sign: the maiden is (the Hebrew is in the present tense, so a pregnant woman is there) with child, and will (future tense) bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall be living on curds and honey by the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good. For before the child learns to reject the bad and choose the good, the land of those two kings whom you dread will be deserted."
The pregnant woman and baby is a sign that "Immanuel", God is with us. This is the message of Isaiah to the king. It is the message to us. This is a fundamental message of the OT, God is the One Who is with His people for salvation. God is faithful to His covenant, even when His people sin.
It continues with God's threat to of judgment on the enemies of Israel.
Isaiah 7:14 does not sound at all like a prediction about a future Messiah hundreds of years later. If anything, it is a Messiah (annointed King) who will be born in a matter of months (which would make the unborn baby the crown prince). This birth is a sign of God's abiding presence with Judah (His saving presence).
There is much debate about who the young woman is. She may be Isaiah's wife (as with the other son's symbolic name), the wife of the king (as above), or some young woman standing in the court (whom Isaiah saw and used as an illustration). Her identity is uncertain to us, but no doubt Isaiah and Ahaz were very clear. The promise is also simple and direct. Before the child reaches the age of decision making, i.e., when the child can choose between good and bad, at the time when he eats curds and honey (food after weaning?) God's judgment will have fallen upon Ephraim (also called Israel or Samaria) and Syria (Damascus) who conspire against Judah.
The prophecy is about the future, but it is the immediate future, set in the life time of a fetus become a young child. And the time frame is not uncertain at all. Read all of Isaiah 7 and you will see there is nothing which leads one to assume it is disconnected with Ahaz and his problems. This is reinforced even more by the next chapter. In Isaiah 8 the prophet and his wife have another son, this one called Maher-shalal-hash-baz, and "before the child knows how to call father or mother by name" Damascus and Samaria will be ruined (by Assyria). This is exactly what happened, so the 'prediction' came true, however it was fulfilled in the time period Isaiah gave, namely within a couple of years.
So.... what on earth did Matthew mean? Why did he quote Isaiah in reference to the birth of Jesus? In a sense I explained it earlier in my discussion of the word pleroo. Jesus FILLS UP the deepest meaning of the OT, so Jesus fills up each text. Jesus is the archetype, the model, the image. He is the true which all others imitate but only partially. If the birth of the baby in Ahaz's court is a sign of God's salvation, then Mary and Jesus and His birth is the perfect, complete fullness of the sign. The first birth, in Isaiah's time, is a type of the Final Birth of Messiah. This is what Matthew means. Jesus's birth is The sign of God among us. Jesus is the salvation of God and the wrath of God. In Jesus the judgment is final and complete. Choose, King Ahaz (now you and me). Choose and live... or choose and die. The judgment is final.
When we grasp the truth we are obedient to God. We serve God; He does not serve us. Too often we make the text say what we want it to say. Like Ahaz, we dress it up in pious language ("I do not want to tempt God") but if God is True (and He is) then we can never fear truth. We must hear the prophets' voice. Only then can we fully understand what it means as applied to Jesus.
I invite you to read Isaiah 6-8 and ponder what you read. Then, see the story anew in Jesus. See the old story as taken up in the life and death of Jesus. Understand that the whole OT is found, perfectly summed up and Fulfilled in Jesus. Understand why the OT is Scripture, sacred revelation of God to us. Understand and give glory! Understand the Old Testament so you can understand Jesus and the New Testament.
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