Immediately preceding the quote of Isaiah 7:14 in the first chapter of Matthew, the author relays the words of the messenger to Joseph saying,

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21

Most understand the author’s mention of “she shall bring forth a son” and the fact that the child shall be called a name as being the spark that ignites the reference to the words in Isaiah 7:14.

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Matthew 1:23

I agree, but I don’t believe the author’s intent was to highlight the sexual behavioral status of the “she” in his story or to suggest the son that was being brought forth was going to be God in the flesh.

Rather, I believe, the author’s reference to Isaiah 7:14 was meant to be more about God’s doing in that modern age than about any single person living at that time, be it the mom who was pregnant, or the son being formed in her womb, in this snippet of storytelling.

Why do I believe this? Consider the focus of Matthew’s quote of Isaiah 7:14.

Many hone in on the word “virgin” in the passage quoted by Matthew, however is that where the author wanted his reader to focus?

The author never uses that word to describe Mary, although she likely was a virgin, having been espoused to Joseph, before they came together. Given the lack of its usage, that description appears to be irrelevant to the message at hand.

What is the message at hand? This half of the chapter starts out:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:…

Matthew 1:18a

However, when we read the verses that follow this introduction through to the end of the chapter, there is no physical birth story told. We’re just told in the last verse that it happened. What we are told is a story surrounding the naming of that child.

Before I go further, let me review the beginning of the chapter.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1

In the first half of this chapter, the author lays out a physical genealogy tying Jesus, who is called Christ (verse 16) back to Abraham, by way of David the King (verse 6), and he does so through Joseph. That is the foundation for the second half of the chapter.

Furthermore, the author highlights three specific points in the course of those generations, with a clear recap in Matthew 1:17. I believe this is foundational to the second half of the chapter as well.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

Matthew 1:17

Now, when the author quotes from Isaiah in Matthew 1:23, he hones in on the word “Emmanuel“, by explaining to his reader its interpretation: “God with us“.

It seems that this is the most relevant portion of Isaiah’s words to the overall message of the entire chapter being conveyed by the author to his audience.

God with us.

The question is, Who is “us” and how is He “with” them?

To answer this, one needs to be familiar with the historical events found in the Old Testament. But not only that, he/she also needs to be familiar with the promises made by God to His people, and more specifically to men, regarding their physical seed.

To answer the who is “us” portion, one need simply look to see to whom the sign in Isaiah 7 was given.

And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 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 7:13-14

With that, and the fact that this story in Matthew pertains to Joseph, who was of the house of David, I think that connection is pretty clear.

To answer the how is He “with” them takes a bit more explanation for those who might not be familiar with the Old Testament.

Here’s a brief overview (although I encourage one and all to read & study the entire Old Testament for themselves to glean all that they can).

God Makes a Promise to Abraham

Abraham was promised by God that kings would come from his loins.

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

Genesis 17:4-6

Jacob Speaks a Word over his son, Judah

It was foretold that Judah would be a savior of some kind and his father’s brothers would bow down to him.

Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Genesis 49:8-10

God’s Promise to Abraham is Kept

David, the son of Jesse, was anointed by Samuel to become king while Saul was still on the throne.

And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

1 Samuel 16:1

Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.

1 Samuel 16:13a

Later, after Saul died, David became king, and he was used to save God’s people from their enemies.

Now then do it: for the LORD hath spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies.

2 Samuel 3:18

God Makes a Promise to David

When David had it in his mind to build God a house of cedar, God had it in his mind to build David a house, and his physical seed would have a kingdom, with his throne established forever.

Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.

And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

2 Samuel 7:8-16

And there was a successions of sons of David who reigned as king on his throne. Although, his immediate son, Solomon, did not follow in his father’s footsteps — he departed from the ways of God.

And as a result the kingdom of Israel was rent in two. The larger portion (the northern kingdom of Israel) was handed over to a servant of Solomon, Jeroboam, to rule in the next generation, while Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, continued the royal succession of his father David.

Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake which I have chosen.

1 Kings 11:11-13

God Reassures His Promise to David will be Kept

During the time surrounding the carrying away to Babylon (which remember, Matthew references earlier in his 1st chapter), David ceased to have a son sitting on his throne. But a prophecy was made concerning David’s lineage by Jeremiah:

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Jeremiah 23:5-6

This is one of the reasons why the house of Judah in the first century were anticipating a Messiah figure (“horn of salvation”) to come out of the house of David, and save them from their enemies, which they knew had come against them due to their sins.

FLASHBACK: Evidence that God is a Keeper of Promises

Now, flashback to the time when Isaiah’s words quoted by Matthew were spoken, prior to the carrying away to Babylon — it was during the reign of King Ahaz (the generation mentioned in Matthew 1:9), when David still had a son on the throne.

There was a conspiracy between the northern kingdom of Israel and Syria against the kingdom of Judah, where it was feared that the king seated on David’s throne would be overthrown, breaking the promise God made with David concerning the perpetual reign of his seed.

And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. Then said the LORD unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field; And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.

Isaiah 7:1-7

But God said that which the house of David (King Ahaz) feared would not come to pass, rather something else would happen — the shattering of the northern kingdom (Ephraim).

For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.

Isaiah 7:8

God followed up those words by giving a sign to them at that point, which would be called “Emmanuel”, and then he explained in greater detail what would come to pass — essentially, the Assyrian invasion of the north, and David’s throne would remain intact.

And history tells us that is what happened.

FASTFORWARD to Joseph’s Day

Matthew knew all of this, and his intended audience knew all this.

So, when Matthew referred to the words of Isaiah, particularly drawing attention to the name of the sign, Emmanuel, on the heels of relaying the explanation for the name of the child Joseph’s wife would bear to him, and the fact that God was raising up a righteous branch to David at that time, one who would save his people from their sins, I believe the author saw this action to be a further demonstration that God was still with the house of David.

Therefore, the bottom line is this…

God Keeps His Promises

The author demonstrated that God was still with the house of David (and the greater house of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob), by communicating to his audience in this chapter that:

Mary and Joseph evidently came together (Joseph physically sowed his physical seed in her), and the author states that she was found with child of holy spirit (demonstrating she physically conceived).

(I know Virgin Birth doctrinal advocates will argue this point until they’re blue in the face, claiming the Holy Spirit made her pregnant, not Joseph. But, the Natural Order established by the Creator God makes it that women can only get pregnant after having been inseminated with the seed of a man & with the help of God imparting a living spirit. Besides, the author already said in verse 16 that Jesus was physically begotten of Joseph & Mary.)

Furthermore, God sowed a word (a kind of seed) into the heart/mind of Joseph concerning his physical son that was soon to be born. Joseph laid hold of that seed when he believed the word that was told him (a kind of conception), and he brought it forth (a kind of birth) when Joseph did what was told of him.

The author of Matthew said from the beginning this son was called “Christ” (which interpreted is, the Anointed). And then, he relayed the message of the messenger to Joseph, saying this son would save his people (first the house of Judah, then the whole house of Israel/Jacob) from their sins, therefore Joseph was to call this son’s name “Jesus” (or Ye’shua). (This name interpreted is YHVH is Salvation.)

Joseph named the child as he was told after Mary physically brought him forth. Thus, the birth of Jesus Christ (in more ways than one).