If the meaning of a name matters, why did Isaiah call the promised one “Immanuel”?
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This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is December 3, 2024 and this episode of Scripture for Students is called What’s in a Name? Grab your Bible and let’s get started.
We’re going to look today at Isaiah chapter 7. While you’re turning there, let’s think about the significance of names in our culture. In America, we have a very loose interest in the meaning of a person’s name. It’s the kind of conversation you might get into at a party, but it doesn’t really matter that much to me or to my personal history that the name Stephen comes from the Greek word stephanas, which means something like “crowned one.” But in some cultures, names are way more important.
So maybe this would be a fun conversation to start with your family at dinner tonight: find out what your names mean. And what names would you give each other if you were starting fresh right now?
Today we’re going to look at a passage in Isaiah 7 where the meaning of a name is very important.
We’re going to start with one verse and work outward to think about the whole passage.
I want us to look at one of the essential Christmas verses. This is one of the verses to put on your Christian Christmas card starter kit. Some of you probably already know this by heart. Let’s read Isaiah 7:14,
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This verse is amazing. But it’s not like Isaiah was thinking: They’re gonna have Christmas some day, I better serve up a nice tidy verse that people will be able to print on green napkins for Christmas parties and turn into songs and stuff like that.
Have you ever thought about what this verse meant to Isaiah? One of the major principles of interpreting the Bible is that we have to understand what the verse meant to the original author and to the original audience. So Isaiah is writing about 700 years before Jesus is born; there’s no record of any other virgin birth in the Bible, so what could this have possibly meant to Isaiah?
For that, we need some more verses. We’re going to look at the paragraph that this verse is in. Let’s read some selections from Isaiah 7. First, there’s a lot of difficult Hebrew names and places here. Here’s a quick lay of the land. Isaiah’s prophecy is to and about King Ahaz. Ahaz is the king of Judah, which is the smaller and southern portion of what used to be Israel under King David.
We’re going to see that two other kings want to team up and crush Ahaz and Judah. Those guys are Pekah, the king of Israel, which is the much larger, weather cousin of Judah, and Rezin, the king of Syria, which is way bigger and way stronger, and just north of Israel. If I said to you today that New York State and Pennsylvania were going to team up to invade Maryland, that’s kind of the same idea. You would be thinking: how is this a fair fight?
Ok, so let’s read Isaiah 7:1–2, 10–16.
1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it.
2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
Now skip down to verse 10. 7:10–16
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.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.”
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. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
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.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
There is a lot going on here, but for the sake of time, let’s get right to the point. The nation of Judah is under siege, about to get double teamed by two kings who are much more powerful. God reassures the king in a highly unusual way: Isaiah promises that a baby will be born to a virgin. The Hebrew word here for virgin can also just mean young woman, and many Bible scholars think this means that Isaiah’s wife is going to have a baby and by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good—which any parent will tell you is a very short period of time—these two strong kings that are threatening to invade Judah will be turned back and decisively defeated.
And that’s why Isaiah prophesies that the baby shall be called “Immanuel,” because the name means “God is with us.” This looks like an incredibly bleak situation. There is no way that Judah can win a military victory against these two far stronger nations. But God wants to remind Judah that he is with them.
And he wants them to remember this truth every day, he says, name your child this, so that every time you call him or tuck into bed to introduce him to a friend, you’ll be reminded that “God is with us.”
So, it probably isn’t hard to see why Christians have always treasured this verse as part of Advent. Jesus came to rescue sinners from an even more serious siege: slavery to sin. And his coming and his virgin birth fulfill Isaiah 7:14 and remind us that God is with us. So let this work for you: every single twinkling Christmas light, every nativity scene, every last chord of that Christmas carol, every gift under the tree, they are all reminders that Jesus was born, so every December, we are surrounded by reminders that “God is with us.” That’s why his name is Immanuel.
How do you need to be reminded today that God is with you?
- Are you anxious about exams or the final few weeks of school before the break? God is with you to help you study well and remember what you’ve learned.
- Are you weary from fighting sin over a long semester? God is with you to help you grow to become more like Jesus Christ.
- Have you become apathetic and bored with reading God’s word, God is with you to help you see and to remind you that he is with you. Personally. Right now. And he will help you remember and know that truth in all its depth.
And if you’re not convinced that God is with you, read Isaiah chapter 7 again. God is with you. Immanuel. It’s in his name.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!