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The Birth of Jesus Christ Seen from the Old Testament
by Samson Hutagalung

He is Born of a Virgin (Is. 7:14; ref. Luke 1:26-27, 30-31)

Having seen the prophecies of the lineage and position of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Old Testament scriptures, this chapter would discuss the details of the birth of Jesus Christ. Truly the Old Testament Scriptures have provided for our learning what the Lord has promised concerning His begotten Son. The plan of salvation the Lord has promised for mankind, beginning in the Garden of Eden, would surely come to pass. However, no matter how firm the Scriptures may be, there will be some that reject this truth.[1] In fact among the evangelical theologians many have rejected this truth which will be discussed in this chapter. Nevertheless, they still claim to be defenders of faith and Christianity.

Isaiah 7:14 is well known as the prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. It says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This prophecy actually refers to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ as clearly seen in the words of the angel Gabriel who was sent to Mary to declare that she would conceive in her womb and bring forth a son, who would be called Jesus (Luke 1:31). In the same way, the angel Gabriel also appeared and spoke to Joseph concerning the conception of Mary, his spouse. She would bear a son and his name would be called, Jesus (Matthew 1:21). In this regard, Matthew with the help of the Holy Spirit understood that the prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of Isaiah 7:14. Matthew wrote, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23).

A careful study of Isaiah 7:14 gives us the true fulfilment of this verse. It says, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign” (v. 14a). The sign mentioned here was true. The Lord kept His promise. The sign was both heavenly and earthly. “A sign both in heaven and earth, namely, the promised Messiah; who being the Lord from heaven, would take flesh of a virgin on earth; and who as man, being buried in the heart of the earth, would be raised from thence, and ascend up to heaven.”[2] The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was truly a sign to the whole world because He was born of a virgin.

On the other hand, many have considered Isaiah 7:14 as not referring to Jesus Himself but Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz. This interpretation is common among the Jewish writers, but sadly it is also among the evangelical theologians. The question asked is: How valid is this interpretation? Sion answers that the promised Son mentioned in Isaiah 7:14 can only be interpreted as referring to Jesus Himself.

This son is not to be understood of Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, by his wife, as some Jewish writers interpret it. Jarchi refutes interpretation, by observing that Hezekiah was nine years old when his father began to reign. Since this being was, as he says, the fourth year of his reign, he must be at this time thirteen years of age…. Besides, his mother could not be called a “virgin.” For the same reason it cannot be understood of any other son of his either by his wife…or by some young woman. Moreover, no other son of his was ever lord of Judea, as this Immanuel is represented to be, in Isaiah 8:8, ‘the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel.’[3]

The birth of a son from a virgin is truly a great sign. That is why Isaiah wrote that it is worthy to behold as it has no precedent. As Pounds said, “For a virgin to conceive would fulfil the necessary meaning of the sign in the context of chapter seven. This sign would be a tremendous encouragement to the faith of the remnant of Israel. It would also bring judgment and condemnation to the unfaithful in David’s household. Thus, judgment and salvation are evident in the promised sign.”[4]  However the enemies of the gospel have tried their level best to destroy this truth by giving a wrong meaning to the word ‘virgin.’ They claim that a virgin here is not necessarily a woman who has never slept with a man. They consider a virgin here to be a young woman. On the other hand, Sion has observed,

To this may be added, that not only the Evangelist Matthew renders the word by parqeno", “a virgin”; but the Septuagint interpreters, who were Jews, so rendered the word hundreds of years before him. And this best agrees with the Hebrew word, which comes from the root alam, which signifies to “hide” or “cover.” For virgins are covered and unknown to men. In the eastern country virgins were usually kept recluse, and were shut up from the public company and conversation of men. And now this was the sign that was to be given, and a miraculous one it was, that the Messiah should be born of a pure and incorrupt virgin. Therefore a “behold” is prefixed to it, as a note of admiration. And what else could be this sign or wonder? Not surely that a young married woman, either Ahaz’s or Isaiah’s wife, should be with a child, which is nothing surprising, and of which there are repeated instances every day.[5]

When Mary heard the message from the angel concerning her conception, she felt upset knowing that she was a virgin and knew no man (Luke 1:34). Nevertheless the angel convinced her that the Son that she would bear would be great for He is the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:31-33). Based on the writings of Matthew, Matthew did not have any problem accepting the prophecy given by God to the prophet Isaiah, but rather Matthew understood what the prophet had written. He had seen its fulfilment before his eyes. Truly Jesus Christ is the Immanuel promised by God to His people. He is the Saviour of the world that will save sinners. Christians should not have any problem resolving the issue of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is worth remembering what Pounds wrote,

If you have a problem with the “virgin” conceiving and bearing a child that should be nothing in comparison to the thought of Immanuel—God with us in the flesh. That is the greatest feat. How else could the “Word become flesh and dwell among us” than by means of a virgin becoming pregnant and bearing a son? God in the flesh means “God with us.” The child to be born will be called Immanuel; therefore, the translation “virgin” is demanded in the sentence. It is nothing short of a miracle, and that is exactly where the problem lies with those who want to reject “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14.[6]

The Time for His Birth (Dan. 9:25; ref. Luke 2:1-2)

The birth of Jesus Christ was preordained by God before the world began. However, the salvation plan of God for human beings was revealed to Adam and his generation only after the fall of man. The Lord was the One who had promised to send the Saviour of the world in order to redeem sinners and to reconcile them with God. For this reason, from the time God had promised Adam the coming Saviour (Gen. 3:15), the Lord had shown progressive revelation to mankind through His holy people, the prophets. The Lord gave His Word to them so that they could preach to the people what the Lord had planned for mankind.

As the Lord had revealed Himself through His Word from generation to generation, the promise of the coming Saviour was not forgotten. On the contrary, He had revealed to His chosen people step by step things concerning the Saviour that they might believe in Him. Although the Old Testament Scriptures do not provide clear details of God’s plan of salvation as in the New Testament, they do provide several types that point to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. In no way the Old Testament believers could miss the point of what they believed. If Abraham who was chosen by the Lord and through whom the nation of Israel existed, believed and rejoiced looking forward to the day of Jesus Christ, then the generations after him would have believed in the same way, for the Lord Himself had revealed His plan more clearly to them.

One aspect of the promised coming of the Saviour given in the Old Testament is the time of His birth, when He would take the form of a human being to save mankind. The time of the Messiah’s birth was given to Prophet Daniel while he was still in captivity, in Babylon. The Lord gave His word when Daniel “was having devotion on the recent writings of Jeremiah (Dan. 9:2) when he realises that God said that Judah must go into captivity for seventy years. Now, that time has almost expired, Daniel turns to God in prayer and fasting, “confessing [his] sin and the sin of [his] people Israel and making [his] request to the Lord [his] God for his holy will” (v.20).”[7] When Daniel realised God’s plan for Judah, the Lord Himself instructed Daniel by giving him the right answer to what he had prayed and thought about (Dan. 9:23-24).

Nevertheless the climax of the prophecy given to Daniel in this time is in Dan. 9:25-27 which says, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” This passage tells us that there will be sixty-nine weeks of prophetic weeks before the Messiah will be cut off and the temple of God will be destroyed. This is to say that there will be a 483-year gap between the time of the decree for rebuilding the city and wall of Jerusalem in 444 B.C to the death of the Messiah.[8]  The common belief is that Jesus Christ began His ministry at the age of thirty in A.D 26 and he ended His ministry on His crucifixion in A.D 30.

Thus, the study of this subject shows that the Old Testament people must have known when the Messiah would be born. Although they might not be able to pinpoint the exact date of His birth, they were able to know the approximate time period of last few weeks of the 69 weeks. In reality, when the Messiah was born in Bethlehem there was not even one from the midst of Israel who knew the exact time of His birth. King Herod, the priest and scribes thought about the issue only after the Magi had come from the east to Jerusalem seeking to worship the newborn King.

Under the command of King Herod, the chief priests and scribes searched the Scriptures, and finally realised that the promised new King would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Nevertheless the response of these people was rather cold. They had no interest in this new King. On the contrary, King Herod tried to kill the Messiah through the massacre of babies (Matt. 2:16).

He is Born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2; ref. Luke 2:4-5, 7)

Five hundred years before the birth of the Messiah, prophet Micah had prophesied the place of His birth. Probably only few people realised the Messiah would be born in a place called Bethlehem. Though the city of Bethlehem was a very small city, the Lord had chosen it to be the place of birth of the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Messiah.  Truly this is “another instance of the perfect planning of God is seen in the way the place of our Lord’s Birth, as well as its time, are pinpointed in prophecy. How precise He is in His arrangements! He never leaves anything to chance.”[9] The priests and scribes who studied the Scriptures must have known what the Scriptures said about the birth of the Messiah. Nevertheless the New Testament writers tell us that in the time of the birth of Jesus, there was none that knew about His birth. One may ask, what was the reason for the priests and the scribes neglecting the city of Bethlehem as a possible place for the birth of the Messiah? The answer probably is because in their minds the Messiah would come from Jerusalem and not Bethlehem, the small city.[10]

When the priests and scribes failed to believe that Bethlehem was the place of birth of the Messiah, they actually failed to know that the city of David was Bethlehem. They did not know that David was not originally from the city of Jerusalem but from Bethlehem, the smallest city in Judea. Nevertheless, the Lord had kept His promise. Prophet Micah on this matter had recorded for us precisely that He would be born in the Bethlehem Ephratah. It was necessary for this name to be written in this way in order to distinguish it from the Bethlehem which was in Zebulon.[11] The Lord had told us what would happen hundreds of years before hand. This city of Bethlehem had also been called the city of David. As Calvin said,

There is indeed a reason, according to the perception of the flesh, why the faithful should despond; for whence does their confidence arise, except from the kingdom of David? And from what place is David to arise? Even from Bethlehem; for Bethlehem has been called the city of David; and yet it is an obscure and a small town, and can hardly be considered a common province. Since it is so, the minds of the faithful may be depressed; but this smallness shall be no hindrance to the Lord, that he should not bring forth from thence a new king.[12]

The writers of the gospels of Luke and Matthew clearly declared that Bethlehem was the city of David. Bethlehem was not the place where Joseph and Mary were living but it was because of the census conducted in Judea that every family must go back to their own city. Thus Joseph and Mary went back to Bethlehem because they were of the house and lineage of David (Luke 2:4). It was during this time that the new King, who is called Jesus, was born in Bethlehem. Thus, the believers in the Old Testament time, knew and believed what had been written in the Scriptures about the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were looking forward for the coming of Messiah, the Saviour of the world.

The life of the Lord Jesus Christ could be seen in the Old Testament through the prophecy given to the chosen people of God. New Testament believers in our generation look back at all the events related to the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and look forward for the events leading to the Second Coming of the Messiah. In conclusion, the Old Testament believers did not only know the promise of the first coming of Christ and His lineage and position but were also able to know the manner and the place of the birth of Jesus Christ.

[1]Lippard said, “Every case of alleged fulfillment of messianic prophecy suffers from one of the following failings: (1) the alleged Old Testament prophecy is not a messianic prophecy or not a prophecy at all, (2) the prophecy has not been fulfilled by Jesus, or (3) the prophecy is so vague as to be unconvincing in its application to Jesus.” This is to say that there is no prophecy that can be allegedly seen its fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Jim Lippard, The Fabulous Prophecies Of The Messiah, Accessed on March 6th 2000, from http://www.infidels.org/library/modern…/fabulous-prophecies. Internet.

[2]M. Sion, Gill’s Explanation of Isaiah 7:14, Accessed on March 6th 2000, available from http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/textm.sion/gill7-14.htm. Internet.

[3]Ibid. Pounds continues to say, “There is only one person in history of whom it can be said that He was God incarnate, God with His people, and that is Jesus Christ. The very presence of this child, born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem cannot be applied to anyone else. Jesus the Christ is the Son of the Virgin and the Mighty God.” Wil Pounds, God with us, Accessed on March 6th 2000, available from http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/isa7v14.html. Internet.

[4]Wil Pounds, God with us, Accessed on March 6th 2000, available from http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/isa7v14.html. Internet.

[5]M. Sion, Gill’s Explanation of Isaiah 7:14, accessed on March 6th 2000, available from http://www.icinet.org/pub/resources/text/msion/gill7-14.html. Internet. 

[6]Wil Pounds, God with us, Accessed on March 6th 2000, available from http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/isa7v14.html. Internet.

[7]Kaiser. The Messiah In the Old Testament, 201.

[8]Haan rightly remarks, “The 62 weeks plus the 7 weeks brings us the time of “Messiah the Prince” (v. 25), the Messiah who will be “cut off and will have nothing” (v. 26 NIV). Christian Bible scholars point out that the period of the first 69 “weeks” (483 years) ends in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, and that either start date of 458 BE or 444 BC is possible. Both the 458 BC and 444 BC dates have their advocates among Bible scholars. Beginning with 458 BC and using standard chronology, one arrives at AD 26, the year Jesus reached the age of 30 (He was born in 4 BC). It was at the age of 30 that a male descendant of Aaron began his priestly duties. The text tells us that after 69 weeks (7+62) Messiah is “cut off.” It doesn’t tell us how long after, nor does it indicate that the 70th week would begin as soon as the 69th ended. Bible chronologists generally take either AD30 or AD 33 as the year of Christ’s crucifixion. So adding 483 years to the 459 BC date brings us to the beginning of Jesus ministry in AD 26 and allows for Him being “cut off” in AD 30.” Martin R. De Haan II, The Prophecy Of Daniel 9: Daniel’s Messianic Calculations (Dan. 9:25-26), Accessed on March 29th 2000, available from http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/ds/q1207/point2.html. Internet.

[9]Lockery, All the Messianic Prophecies of the Bible, 64.

[10]Calvin said, “Even before the time of David Bethlehem was a small town, and one of the most common provinces. Who could have expected that a king would have been chosen from such a hamlet, and then, that he should come from a hut? For David belonged to a pastoral family; his father was a shepherd, and he was the least among his brethren. Who then could have thought that light would have arisen from such a corner, yea, from so mean a cottage? This was done contrary to the expectations of men. Hence the Prophet sets here before the faithful a similar expectation for their comfort; as though he said, - “Has not God once formed a most perfect state of things by making David a king, so that the people became in every respect happy and blessed? And whence did David come? It was from Bethlehem. There is then no reason why your present miseries should over-much distress you; for God can again from the same place bring forth a king to you, and he will do so.” Calvin, Micah, (Software), 129.

[11]Calvin said, “He calls it Bethlehem Ephratah; for they say that there was another Bethlehem in the tribe of Zebulon, and we know that Ephratah in meaning is nearly the same with Bethlehem; for both designate an abundance of fruit or provisions: and there David was born.” Calvin, Micah, (Software), 128.

[12]Ibid, 128.