Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel. --Isaiah 7:14
How do you feel when you receive a birth announcement in the mail? Are you overjoyed for the mother-to-be? Are you amazed at the miracle of birth itself? Or are you in awe of how the lives of the young parents will be changed? Perhaps you recall your own experience of pregnancy and childbirth, or maybe you were not able to have children of your own; in either case, the emotions that well up can be overwhelming for some. For others, they count it all joy when they recall experiencing the baby's first steps or his first words.
We know that Jesus had a very special birth announcement, which came even before He was conceived. Scripture tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary with the news that she would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, that "a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Immanuel, meaning God with us." Further, she was told her child would be the Child of Promise as foretold in Genesis 18, during the birth announcement to Abraham and Sarah of their son Isaac.
As we study Scripture, we see that Mary was not the first to receive a prophetic birth announcement prior to conception. There are in fact seven passages of Scripture where the birth of a son is foretold, and all of them point to Jesus in a particular way. I want to touch on all of them today, because each announcement came with a promise, and that promise was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
Isaac
Isaac was the original "child of promise." God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. In Genesis 15, Abraham looks at his circumstances and starts to get worried. "Behold," he says in verse 3, "You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." God reiterated the promise of a son in the very next verse: "And the word of the Lord came to him: 'This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir."
A few years later Abraham still had no son. He was met with a Christophany, an appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus described as "the Angel of the Lord." It was Jesus Himself who told Abraham in Genesis 18:10, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." When she heard about it, Sarah laughed. She had reached menopause many years ago, and the thought of having a baby at her age was hilarious. Abraham had laughed out loud as well, as we see in Genesis 17.
"I will bless her (Sarah), and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him." (Genesis 17:16-19).
The name Isaac means "he laughs." Indeed, we see Abraham literally rolling on the floor laughing when he heard the news. God tells Abraham that it is true, then gives a promise: "I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him." That covenant, that promise, was three-fold in nature: the promised land, the promise of descendants, and the promise of blessing and redemption.
We have untold joy and laughter, not because we are descendants of Abraham, but that through Christ we have received the blessings of the promise. Our inheritance (the "promised land") is heaven; our descendants are those who come to know Christ by our testimony; and our blessing and redemption is through Christ Himself.
Ishmael
We saw this name mentioned in the verses above. Ishmael was indeed Abraham's first son, but he was not the child of promise. We see the foretelling of his birth in Genesis 16. Sarah was jealous of her servant Hagar, because she was pregnant and Sarah was not. Hagar ran away after Sarah mistreated her. Hagar then experienced a Christophany of her own, when the Angel of the Lord (the pre-incarnate Christ) found her in the wilderness next to a spring of water.
And the Angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." (Genesis 16:11-12)
"Ishmael" means "God will hear." The promise was that "he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren"(NKJV). The ESV translates this phrase "he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen"; in the Amplified Bible it is rendered "he will dwell in defiance of all his brothers". The Hebrew word pānîm, which is translated "over against" or "in the presence of" or "in defiance of" could be translated "in your face".
When Jesus was on earth, He was always,"up in the business," of the Pharisees and the spiritual leaders--that's why they hated Him enough to put Him to death. Many times we hear the testimony of how a hardened sinner came to know the Lord. They will often describe Jesus as being "in their face" or "all up in their business", encouraging them to repent and follow Him. Acts 2:25 says, "For David says concerning Him: 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken'."
Samson
Let's look now at Judges 13, where the wife of a man named Manoah, was visited by the Angel of the Lord.
Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines." (Judges 13:2-5)
The child was named Samson, which means "like the sun". Psalm 84:11 says, "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." We know that Samson did not always walk uprightly, and that his blessing was taken away because of his sin. But the promise was fulfilled, that he would begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
The promise is fulfilled further through Jesus, who not only saved Israel from the hand of her enemies, but saves the elect from the grip of sin and despair. The very name Jesus (Hebrew yeshua, derived from the name Joshua) means "Jehovah is Salvation."
Samuel
Hannah was a godly woman who prayed earnestly for a child.
She (Hannah) was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your servant and remember me and not forget Your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head." As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved and her voice was not heard. (1 Samuel 1:10-13)
Eli was the priest at Shiloh, serving at the Tabernacle of the Lord. He saw a woman in dire straits, and at first thought she was drunk. When she explained to him that she was not, he said to her, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to Him."
Samuel means "His name is God" and the promise is that he was the answer to Hannah's prayers. The parallel with Jesus is obvious: He is God; He is the answer to our prayers. Ultimately Jesus is the answer to Hannah's prayers, and to thousands after her who prayed for a Messiah.
Josiah
Jereboam was an evil king in Israel. He was the first king of the divided kingdom: Israel in the north, and Judah to the south. Jerusalem was the center of worship, and it was in the Southern Kingdom. Jereboam stopped all pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and set up golden calves to worship, one at Behel and one in Dan. An unnamed prophet foresaw that Jereboam would have a son called Josiah, and that Josiah would tear down the idolatrous altars.
And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel. Jereboam was standing by the altar to make offerings. And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.' And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: 'Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out'." (1 Kings 13:1-3).
The king did have a son and his name was Josiah, just as had been promised. Josiah did, in fact, kill the false priests and burned their bones on the altars. Josiah means "whom Jehovah heals." Part of the ministry of Jesus was that he came healing. Matthew 11:4-5 says, "And Jesus answered them, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them'."
The son of the Shunamite woman
The prophet Elisha often stayed in the home of a wealthy woman in Shunem. She would feed him and give him lodging. Elisha inquired what he could do for her. She lacked for nothing, except that she had no son, and her husband was old. He called her and gave her this message: "At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son." (2 Kings 4:16). This was the prediction of the child's birth by the prophet, which is why it is listed here.
There was no express promise made, but what happened later was telling. The child went to his father in the field, and complained of terrible headache. The child was carried home, where he died. The woman, heartbroken, sent for Elisha. Elisha came and laid his hands on the child. Miraculously, the child was raised from the dead. This whole story is a precursor to the life of Jesus, who was Himself raised from the dead.
John the Baptist
Finally, we come to a story we are perhaps more familiar with. Zechariah was a priest, serving in the Temple at Jerusalem. He and his wife Elizabeth were older, and they had no children. An angel of the Lord appeared to him, and told him he would have a son. We are not sure whether this was the Angel of the Lord (Christophany) mentioned in the Old Testament, or an unnamed angel serving as the messenger. Not only did he tell Zachariah that a child would be born, but that his name would be John.
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