“Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” – Isaiah 7:14 KJV
This passage in Isaiah has been hotly disputed by unbelievers who have tried to undermine the vital doctrine of the unique sinlessness of Christ. In fact, I remember being at Oregon State taking a religion class and the professor stood in front of the class and boldly proclaimed that the word virgin in Isaiah means, “young women,” and not young virgin.
In the context, however, a young women giving birth naturally would surely not be a miraculous sign. A virgin giving birth, however, would obviously be an attention getter! ☺
Since Ahaz refused the proffered [to put forth something for acceptance] sign, God would, in due time, give the whole “house of David” (7:13) a sign, a miracle unique in all of history.
Almah, the Hebrew word for “young woman,” is translated seven times in the Old Testament and requires no other meaning other than, “virgin.” In Matthew 1:23 the apostle Matthew used the word Parthenos (a Greek word which can only mean “virgin”) when he translated and quoted from Isaiah 7:14.
Both passages in Matthew and Isaiah use the definite article “the virgin” in this great prophecy. God has indeed “sent forth His Son, made of a woman” (Galatians 4:4), and only a woman fulfilling the primeval [earliest ages in the history of the world] promise of “the seed of the woman” who would someday bring deliverance from Satan and sin and death. (Genesis 3:15).
As followers of Christ, we believe that God miraculously placed within Mary a Y chromosome. She then gave birth to the Lord Jesus Christ a child born without sin and, therefore, able to cancel out our sin by Him being willing to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).
With the overwhelming trend to secularize Christmas, it really is a beautiful time to reflect and marvel at our Lord’s virgin conception.
Merry Christmas in Christ,
Dale