Isaiah knew that the Lord’s command to have King Ahaz stay quiet and not mobilize his armies may have seemed ludicrous to the king, but Isaiah told the king to ask for some monumental sign so that he may know that this command is really from the Lord and the king can depend upon it. But the king says he wouldn‘t ask for a sign because he doesn’t want to tempt the Lord. He preferred, in other words, to rely on his own judgment.
Isaiah was so disgusted with the insulting arrogance of the king that he decided to reach down over 700 years and tell the king about a sign that God would give the world that would be miraculous indeed. And so he gave him the Christmas message. “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”1 If the king had been imbued with the slightest curiosity, he would have wanted to know more about this virgin who could conceive and actually have a son, but King Ahaz was totally indifferent.
When Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she would have a child she at least had the presence of mind to ask, “How can this be, seeing that I know not a man?” And the answer of the angel was illuminating, however only Luke among the gospel writers record what really happened. According to Luke, Gabriel said to Mary, “Behold, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”2 If King Ahaz had been sufficiently alert to ask Isaiah the slightest thing about this virgin who would miraculously conceive, he would have heard a story that would have amazed him. Isaiah had seen it all in vision, and so he knew all of the details. But the king was like a stick of wood. He was totally indifferent and asked nothing.
Now in the sixteenth verse Isaiah says something which deserves a brief comment. He said that when this virgin conceived and brought forth a son, the two kings that Ahaz feared would be gone before the child was old enough to know right from wrong. If this verse is read merely as a measurement of time before the Assyrians came to conquer these kings, it would be an accurate calculation, but if it is read to mean that these kings will be destroyed before Jesus reaches the age of accountability it would be misleading. That the first interpretation is the correct one is suggested by the fact that the maturation of a baby to measure time before the Assyrian attack is used in chapter 18, which we will study next.