The Emmanuel Prophecy

By Jeremy Kapp

This study has been made to remove some of the confusion about how Jesus fulfills prophecy.

Matthew 1:22-23 (ESV)
22
All this took place to fulfill what the LORD had spoken by the prophet:
23
  "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).

*They will call him “God with us.” The word translated fulfill literally means complete.

Isaiah 7:14 (ESV)
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.

*The Immanuel of Isaiah’s day was not the fulfillment, only the first part of the prophecy.

Isaiah 8:3 (ESV)
 3And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me,
“Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

*The Immanuel of Isaiah’s day was not named Immanuel either, but rather, represented that
God was now with them.

Isaiah 8:8 (ESV)

8
and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its
outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel."

*The child born to the virgin in Isaiah was certainly understood as representing God with them.

Isaiah 8:10 (ESV)
10
Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God
is with us.
*This prophecy first showed that God was with Jerusalem, and later would show that God
walked among men.

Isaiah 7:1 (ESV) 
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.

*The child born marked the time when God would liberate them from their enemies.

The Messiah was never intended to receive the name Immanuel; his appearance completed the
prophecy of Isaiah, and let the world know that God was now literally with them. The virgin
mentioned in Isaiah 7:14 was actually a young girl that would later marry and bear her son
naturally, but the words of this prophecy foreshadowed what would later be a literal virgin birth.